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BG 15.16 — 15.16 Two Purushas there are in this world, the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are the perishable and the Kutastha the unchanging is called
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द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च |
क्षरः सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थोऽक्षर उच्यते ||१५-१६||

dvāvimau puruṣau loke kṣaraścākṣara eva ca . kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭastho.akṣara ucyate ||15-16||


15.16 Two Purushas there are in this world, the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are the perishable and the Kutastha the unchanging is called the imperishable.

Word-by-word meanings

15.16 द्वौ two? इमौ these? पुरुषौ Purushas (beings)? लोके in the world? क्षरः the perishable? च and? अक्षरः the imperishable? एव even? च and? क्षरः the perishable? सर्वाणि all? भूतानि beings? कूटस्थः the immutable (unchanging)? अक्षरः the imperishable? उच्यते is called.Commentary Now the Lord describes the three aspects of the divine existence. One is the individual soul called the perishable? the second is the imperishable or the Maya Sakti of the Lord and the third is the Purushottama or the S

Commentaries

Non-dualism. The individual self and Brahman are one. The world is appearance (maya). Liberation through knowledge.

Sri Shankaracharya

15.16 There are imau, these; dvau, two-grouped separately; purusau, persons, so called [Persons-so called only figuratively, since they are the limiting adjuncts of the supreme Person.]; loke in the world; the ksarah, mutable-one group consists of the perishable; the other person is the aksarah, immutable, opposite of the former, the power of God called Maya, which is the seed of the origin of the person called the mutable. That which is the receptacle of the impressions of desires, actions, etc. of countless transmigrating creatures is called the immutable person. Who are those persons? The Lord Himself gives the answer: Ksarah, the mutable; consists of sarvani, all; bhutani, things, i.e. the totality of all mutable things. Kutasthah is the one existing as Maya: Kuta means a heap; kutasthah, is that which exists like a heap. Or, kuta is maya, deception, falsehood, crookedness, which are synonymous; that which exists in the diverse forms of maya etc. is the kutasthah. It is ucyate, called; the aksarah, immutable, because, owing to the countless seeds of worldly existence, it does not perish.

(Showing excerpt)

Swami Gambirananda

15.16 There are these two persons in the world-the mutable and the immutable. The mutable consists of all things; the one existing as Maya is called the immutable.

This interpretation draws on the Advaita tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

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