Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 219

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

CHAPTER 13 The Body called the Field, the Soul called the Knower of the Field and Discrimination between them Nature and Spirit 19. prakrti guru a same cat 'va viddhi anãdi ubhãv api vi karats ca gunman cai 'va viddlii prakrtis shaven 19) Know thou that prakrti (nature) and purusa (soul) are both beginning's; and know also that the forms and modes are born of prakrti (nature) As the Supreme is eternal, so are His prakrti. Through the possession of the two prakrti, nature and soul, Isvara causes the origin, preservation and dissolution of the universe. The purusa described in this section is not the multiple purusa of the Samkhya but the ksetrajna who is one in all fields The Gita does not look upon prakrti and purusa as two independent elements as the Samkhya does but looks upon them as the inferior and the supenor forms of one and the same Supreme. 20. kdrya karana kartrtve hetuh prakptir uciate purusah sukhadultkhanayn bhoktytve hetur ucyate (20) Nature is said to be the cause of effect, instrument and agent (ness) and the soul is said to be the cause, in regard to the experience of pleasure and pain. For karyakaranakartrtve, there is another reading "Mryakaranakartrtve." See Franklin Edgerton : Bhagavadgita, Vol. I, p. 187 note. The body and the senses are produced by prakrti and the experience of pleasure and pain is by the purusa subject to certain limitations. The blissful nature of the self is stained by joy and sorrow on account of its identification with the objects of nature 21. purusah prakrtistho hi bhunkte prakrtijan gunan kãrazañ gunasango 'sya sadasadyonijammasu (21) The soul in nature enjoys the modes born of nature. Attachment to the modes is the cause of its births in good and evil wombs 22. u padrasta ' numanta ca bharta bhokta mahesvarah pararnatme 'ti ca 'py ukto dehe 'smin purusah parah (22) The Supreme Spirit in the body is said to be the Witness, the Permitter, the Supporter, the Experiencer, the Great Lord and the Supreme Self Here the Supreme Self is different from the psychophysical individual who becomes the immortal self by transcending the separatist consciounness, due to entanglement in the activities of prakrti. In the Gita, no distinction is made between the knower of the field and the Supreme Lord. 23. a evam vetti purusam ya prakrtini ca gunaih saha sarvatha vartamano 'pi na sa bhuyo ' bhijayate (23) He who thus knows soul (purusa) and nature (prakrti) together with the modes, though he acts in every way, he is not born again. sarvatha vartamano 'pi: though he acts in every way, whatever state of life he may be in. R.