Chapter 15

Lord Krishna said: The eternal Jivatma in this body is a fragment of my own self and it is that alone which draws around itself the mind and the fve senses which abide in prakriti. It is while dwelling in the senses of hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell as well as in the mind that this jivatma enjoys the objects of senses. The ignorant know not the soul departing from or dwelling in the body or enjoying the objects of senses even when it is connected with the three gunas; only those endowed with the eyes of wisdom are able to realise it. Striving yogis too are able to realise this self enshrined in their heart. The ignorant, however, whose heart has not been purified know not this self inspite of their best endeavours.

The perishable and the imperishable too, these are the two kinds of purushas in this world . Of these, the bodies of all beings are spoken of as the perishable while the jivatma or the embodied soul is called imperishable. Since I am wholly beyond the perishable world of matter or kshetra and I am superior even to the imperishable soul, jivatma, hence I am known as the purushottama, the supreme self, in the world as well as in the vedas. Arjuna, the wise man who thus realises me as the supreme person knowing all, he constantly worships me (the all-pervading Lord) with his whole being.