Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, Verse 8

Chapter 15 – Purushottama Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वरः ।
गृहीत्वैतानि संयाति वायुर्गन्धानिवाशयात् ॥

Transliteration

śarīraṃ yadavāpnoti yaccāpyutkrāmatīśvaraḥ .
gṛhitvaitāni saṃyāti vāyurgandhānivāśayāt ॥

Meaning

When the lord of the body acquires a body and when he leaves it, he takes these along and goes, as the wind carries scents away from their sources.

Word meanings

शरीरम् – a body
यत् – when
अवाप्नोति – obtains
यत् – when
च – and
अपि – also
उत्क्रामति – departs
ईश्वरः – the lord, master of the body (the jiva)
गृहीत्वा – taking
एतानि – these (mind and senses)
संयाति – goes
वायुः – the wind
गन्धान् – scents
इव – as, like
आशयात् – from their seats (flowers and the like)

Anvaya (word order)

ईश्वरः यत् शरीरम् अवाप्नोति यत् च अपि उत्क्रामति, (तदा) वायुः आशयात् गन्धान् इव एतानि गृहीत्वा संयाति ।

Explanation

Verse 7 said that the soul draws to itself the senses and the mind. Now Krishna explains what happens at death and rebirth. The soul is here called ishvara, lord, not in the sense of God but as the master of the body. Body, senses and mind function under its presence and direction.

When this master leaves one body it does not go empty-handed. As a breeze passing over flowers carries their fragrance away, leaving the flowers behind while the scent travels far, the soul leaves the gross body but takes with it the subtle body: the mind, the subtle powers of the senses and the stored impressions of past action. The image is exact. Wind is not itself fragrance and is untouched by it, yet it bears it along. So too the soul, distinct and pure, carries the instruments with it.

This develops the famous image of 2.22, of casting off worn-out clothes and putting on new ones. There we learned that the body changes; here we learn what travels on. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4) likewise says that when the soul departs, the vital breath and senses follow it, and its knowledge and deeds take hold of it.

Shankara clarifies that the Self does not really move; movement belongs to its adjunct, the subtle body, and the Self only appears to travel because of identification with it. Ramanuja and Madhva regard the soul as atomic in size and as genuinely passing from body to body under the governance of the Supreme. In both views the essential teaching is the same: death is not an ending but a turning point in the journey of our impressions.

Context

In verse 7 Krishna called the soul his eternal fragment that draws the mind and senses to itself. Here he shows that it carries them along at the change of bodies. Verse 9 explains that while in the body it experiences sense-objects through these same instruments.

Life lesson

At death, wealth, status and body are left behind, but our thoughts, habits and impressions travel with us. Good character is therefore the truest wealth. What we cultivate today becomes the fragrance we carry tomorrow.

Key terms

Ishvara: here, the soul as master of the body
Utkramana: the soul’s departure from the body at death
Sukshma sharira: the subtle body of mind, sense-powers and impressions
Ashaya: seat or source, as a flower is of scent