Chapter 13 Shloka 22

उपद्रष्टानुमन्ता च भर्ता भोक्ता महेश्वर:।

परमात्मेति चाप्युक्तो देहेऽस्मिन्पुरुष: पर:।।२२।।

That Supreme Purusha dwelling in this body

is the supreme witness, controller,

sustainer, experiencer, the Overlord

and the Supreme Atma, so it is said.

Chapter 13 Shloka 22

उपद्रष्टानुमन्ता  च  भर्ता  भोक्ता  महेश्वर: ।

परमात्मेति  चाप्युक्तो  देहेऽस्मिन्पुरुष:  पर: ।।२२।।

The Lord says, Arjuna!

That Supreme Purusha dwelling in this body is the supreme witness, controller, sustainer, experiencer, the Overlord and the Supreme Atma, so it is said.

My little Abha, the Lord has just spoken of the Kshetra and Prakriti. Now He is expanding on the Kshetragya and the Purusha or the Atma.

He said at first, “Know Me to be the Kshetragya.” Now understand the essence of theKshetragya and the Purusha.

The Purusha, the Kshetragya, the Atma is ever:

a) uninfluenced,

b) detached,

c) devoid of any aberration or modification,

d) devoid of duality,

e) blameless,

f) ever satiated,

g) dispassionate,

h) uninfluenced by any attributes.

Since that Kshetragya is unborn, He is devoid of form. Since He transcends the body, He is devoid of form. He is the pure and divine Truth. He is the indestructible Essence.

The Purusha aspect in the individual is a detached witness:

1. The Purusha witnesses all without being influenced by anything.

2. He watches all interactions of the body dispassionately.

3. He is witness to the conjugation of the sense organs with their objects but is untouched by it.

4. He watches the utilisation of knowledge in life but in a dispassionate manner.

5. He is also witness to the use of knowledge as a business; detached, he watches all this from afar.

6. He is an impartial witness to his own interaction with the world and also to the atrocities perpetrated by his internal tendencies.

7. He watches his internal values and their external manifestation with dispassion.

8. He discerns his internal thought process and attitude.

He thus knows himself well.

Anumanta (अनुमंता) – He is the controller

a) It is he who gives the authority for any deed performed, for any task or activity.

b) It is he who grants permission.

c) It is he who gives the command.

d) It is he who grants freedom.

One must remember, all derive their vitality from the Atma. They either misuse that power or make good use of it. That controller of all has given full freedom to all to do as they wish.

Bharta (भर्ता) – He is the sustainer

1. He himself nourishes and sustains the body.

2. He looks after all within and without.

3. He fills life into one’s breath.

Bhokta (भोक्ता) – He is the experiencer

1. One cannot experience anything without his power.

2. It is he who experiences the purity or impurity of the inner being.

3. The ‘I’ produces the seeds of the fruits of actions due to its innate attachment. The ‘I’ then dies along with that body – but the Atma Self is reborn in accordance with its basic nature and attributes and as a consequence of those seeds.

4. The Supreme Atma grants life again to the individual, and organises and provides for his span of life in accordance with the fruits of actions that are in store for him.

5. Little one, that Purusha is a constant companion throughout the life of the body – in fact through every subsequent life as well.

Look at the divine play of the Lord! It is the ‘I’ that became attached to the actions performed, and it is He who is subjected to reaping the fruits of those deeds from life to life! Brahm created such a beautiful world, He has endowed the human being with such beauty! He endeavoured to make the world as beautiful as His own abode – Brahmloka; where only Truth, Consciousness and Bliss existed. He intended it to be an abode where naught but divine qualities existed. Look little one! Witness the catastrophe wrought by the individual’s ‘I’ thought. What has he made of the beauteous abode of the Gods created by Brahm Himself? And the Lord cannot even murmur a single word of complaint! He tolerates everything in silence. How free He has made us mortals! It seems as though He is saying:

1. “Do as you wish.

2. Love Me if you like.

3. Remember Me, if you so desire.

4. Unite with Me if you wish to do so.

5. Call Me if you desire, and make Me yours.

6. If you wish, you can include Me in your world. It is all up to you. I shall say nothing.”

Maheshwar (महेश्वर)

It is the Atma which is referred to as ‘Maheshwar’:

a) He is the Supreme Lord.

b) He is theAtma of all.

c) He is the Lord of all the worlds.

d) He is the Supreme Overlord.

e) He is the highest of all.

He is the Supreme Lord since He is the Self of all. He is Omnipresent and a complete Whole. If you try to understand this through the example of the dream witness, you will clearly understand the Truth and you will comprehend how all the attributes described here are in fact attributes of That Supreme Witness.

The dream witness

1. The dream witness pervades the entire dream.

2. Thus the experiencer of the dream is the dream witness.

3. The one who sustains and nurtures the dream, is the dream witness.

4. If one looks carefully, one will understand that even the actors who participate in the dream are in fact the dream witness.

5. The joys and sorrows of those dream participants are also an integral part of the dream witness.

However, that dream witness is fast asleep. He is the actor in the dream, but he cannot take birth within the dream. Even though whatever is in the dream is nothing but that dream witness, the dream is not the complete dream witness. The witness is beyond the dream. Understand the Atma in similar terms. That Atma encompasses all, yet It is not any part of that which it encompasses. It is the Supreme Witness – ever untouched and dwelling in equanimity, yet perceiving all.

Little one, if you understand this carefully, you will realise that the Lord is explaining the essential likeness of the embodied soul and the Supreme soul.

1. If knowledge is translated into life, only that Indestructible One remains.

2. If all mental aberrations cease, only the Atma will remain.

3. When Purusha becomes attached to Prakriti, it becomes enmeshed in countless rebirths. When conjoined with the Atma, it becomes one with the Supreme Lord.

In fact, Purusha is ever the unborn, indestructible Atma.

This is the essence of the Kshetragya.