Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, Verse 16 (BG 15.16) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

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 Supreme Being.The perishable comprises the whole world of changing forms. From Brahma down to the tiny blade of grass? all movable and immovable objects? all that can be thought of by the mind? all that is made up of the five elements? all that is changing? all that has names and forms? all that appears to the naked eye and what is described as the body and the modifications of the field? in the thirteenth chapter? are Kshara or the perishable. Kshara is the changing one. It is the everchanging form of matter which is inert or insentient. Akshara is the changeless.In Samsara there are two categories arranged in two separate groups of beings? called Purushas? as they are the limiting adjuncts of the Purusha. Maya Sakti? the illusory power of the Lord? is the seed from which the perishable being takes its birth. It is the seat of all the latent impressions of desires? actions? etc.? of various perishable creatures. Maya Sakti is the Akshara Purusha. The unmanifest condition is generally described as deep ignorance or sleep for there is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. It is only a potential state. It is the condition in which all forms of life with its accompanying limitations lie latent? just as the tree lies latent in the seed of the fruit. In this state matter and energy are one. In this state sound? matter and energy exist in an undifferentiated state. In this state the Gunas exist in a state of eilibrium.The imperishable is known as the Kutastha? i.e.? that which remains immovable like a heap. That which is at the root (Kuta) of all these beings is the Kutastha. Or? Kuta also means illusion? and Kutastha means that which manifests itself in diverse forms of illusion. That which conceals the Truth and shows the false thing and deceives the worldyminded people is Maya or Kuta. That which is of the form of the AvaranaVikshepa Sakti (veiling and vacillating power) is Kutastha. As this Maya Sakti cannot be destroyed except by the knowledge of the Self? it is said to be endless. That is the reason why this is called Akshara. That seed of Samsara has no end. Therefore? it is said to be imperishable in the sense that it is not destroyed in the absence of knowledge of the Self. But the seed is scorched or destroyed in toto when one gets the knowledge of Brahman. The,illusion vanishes and everything is realised as the one Cosmic Consciousness. Only the illusory perception of matter is destroyed.Purushottama or the highest Purusha is distinct from these two -- the perishable and the imperishable. He is not affected by the evils of the two vehicles or limiting adjuncts of the perishable and the imperishable. He is eternal? pure? intelligent and free by nature.

From the discussion conducted thus far in this chapter, it becomes evident that what was referred to as the field in the thirteen chapters preceding this one is not, in truth, a substance separate from the Supreme Self. When that Supreme Self expresses itself as the light and heat of the sun, the cool radiance of the moon, the fertile power of the earth, knowledge in human beings, and the capacity for memory and forgetfulness—in all these forms, they are indeed revealed to be of the nature of the Supreme Self. Yet in such manifestation, there exists but one distinction: the Supreme Self, appearing as the field, seems as though it were subject to modification and destruction. By way of illustration, all ornaments fashioned from gold are indeed gold in their essence, yet in their form as ornaments, that gold appears limited and subject to change. Thus, in this verse, the entire field is called the perishable person. The atman, which knows the field and is called the field-knower, is here referred to as the imperishable person. Its imperishability is relative to this mutable world. Just as a person is called husband from the perspective of his wife and father from the perspective of his son, so too, the atman—the knower of the body, mind, and intellect with their perishable, changing conditions—is called the imperishable person. The word person means the complete and whole. Only the Supreme Self, free from all limiting conditions, is truly complete. Since the aforementioned perishable and imperishable principles are but two manifest forms of that one complete person, they too are given the designation of person. In Vedanta, this immutable and imperishable atman is called the unchanging witness. The word witness refers to the anvil upon which a goldsmith places gold to give it new form. In this process, the gold undergoes transformation, yet the anvil remains unaltered. Similarly, amid all the modifications of the limiting conditions, this atman remains unchanged; therefore it is called the unchanging witness. The complete person, distinct from these perishable and imperishable principles and untouched by their defects, is of eternal, pure, conscious, and liberated nature. The Blessed Lord declares: