________________
GĪTĀ, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CH. VIII 1031
अधिभूतं क्षरो भावः पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम् । अधियज्ञोऽहमेवात्र देहे देहभृतां वर ॥ ४ ॥
parama (that is, higher-Trans.), (than anything else), and aksara (this is, immutable), is BRAHMAN; (and) the fundamental quality of each and every object itself (that is, its SVA-bhava) is called ADHYATMA'. That 'visarga' or 'creative activity' which creates (the moveable and immoveable) created things (from the immutable Brahman) is called KARMA. (4) The ksara (that is, 'conditioned by Name and Form', or 'perishable') state (of all things which have come into existence) is the 'ADHIBHUTA'; and the purusa (that is, the conscious (sacetana) Overlord (adhisthata), Who exists in all things) is the 'ADHIDAIVATA '. HE, who is called the ADHIYAJNA [that is, the Lord (adhipati) of all Yajñas] is Myself, Who am (ADHIDEHA), (that is, am the Installed-Trans.), in this Body, O Most Superior among all embodied beings !
[The word 'parama' in the third stanza is not an adjective of Brahma, but of aksara'. In Samkhya philosophy, the imperceptible Prakrti is also called
66
akṣara' (immutable), (Gi. 15. 16). But, the Brahman of the Vedantists is beyond this imperceptible and immutable Prakrti (see stanzas 20 and 31 of this chapter): and therefore, although the word 'akṣara' alone is used, it may mean either the Samkhya Prakṛti, or the Brahman. In order that such a doubt should not arise, the adjective " parama has been placed before the word 'akṣara' in defining the word Brahman (Gi. Ra. Chap. IX, pp. 274-277). I have explained the word 'svabhara' as the subtle form' (sūkṣma-svarupa) of any and every object", following the example given above from the Mahabharata. In the Nasadiyasūkta, the visible world is called the 'visrsti' (visarga), that is, 'growth' of the Parabrahman (Gi. Ra. p. 351); and the wordisarga' must be understood here in the same meaning. It is not necessary to interpret the word 'visarga' as meaning the 'havrutsarga of the Yajñas". Why this visible world is itself called' Karma' has been
