द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च ।
क्षरः सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थोऽक्षर उच्यते ॥ १५.१६ ॥
उत्तमः पुरुषस्त्वन्यः परमात्मेत्युदाहृतः ।
यो लोकत्रयमाविश्य बिभर्त्यव्यय ईश्वरः ॥ १५.१७ ॥

dvāv-imau puruṣau loke kṣaraś-cākṣara eva ca |
kṣara: sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭastho’kṣara ucyate || 15.16 ||
uttama: puruṣastv-anya: paramātmety-udāhṛta: |
yo loka-trayam-āviśya bibharty-avyaya īśvara: || 15.17 ||

Audio-BG-15.16

Audio-BG-15.17

There is a supreme Reality. It is all-permeating. Its locus is truly in every creation, mobile and immobile. That is the sole subject of discussion in the Vedas and allied Scriptures. All forms and procedures in religion, spirituality or yoga have, in reality, one focus – this supreme Reality.

As the mind is generally unable to think in depth and grasp the true dimension of the Supreme, people prefer to remain parochial in their concepts and approaches. But in reality the seeker’s intention must be to elevate his introspection and broaden his horizon to arrive at the right spiritual insight.

This transpires when the seeker processes his mind and intelligence through the finer spiritual concepts. Such personal inner interaction on the subtler notes of wisdom, as Arjuna is doing before Krishna, constitutes the true pilgrimage leading to the comprehension of the Self. There is no other way of purifying the mind, sharpening the intelligence and gaining spiritual worth and glory.

Transcending perishable and imperishable purushas

Krishna pointed out that right in the yonder sun (yad ādityagatam tejo), then in the nearer moon (somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ), down in the earth (gām āviśya ca bhūtāni dhārayāmi) and finally in one’s own heart (sarvasya cāham hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ), the Supreme alone dwells, instilling thoughts, feelings, memories and knowledge. Now, he brings in the discussion of uttama Purusha. By this he wants to emphasize that the supreme Reality in the form of Paramātmā, the greater, loftier and the ultimate Reality, Existence, transcends the two purushas:

There are in this world two kinds of purushas, the perishable and imperishable. All the beings come under the perishable purusha and the imperishable is said to be unshakeable and unaffected. It is the jīva in the body.

The Supreme, namely the transcendent Purusha, is still different. That is said to be the Paramātmā. It is the one permeating all the three worlds and sustaining them, thereby becoming the all-controller.

Generally prakṛti and purusha go together, making an inseparable couple, complementing each other. Their complementary qualities empower their mutuality. Prakṛti represents the changeful existence and Purusha the constant, unchanging support for it.

At this point Krishna brings in a different concept, namely, that of two Purushas. One akin to the transforming prakṛti and the other acting as the base and support for it. In fact, the words alone differ; the concept and connotation are the same. Of the many elements making the gospel unique, this also is one. All spiritual concepts and postulates mainly serve the purpose of enunciating a theory or proposition and thereby giving a proper message. In all this, what is conveyed is more important than the theories. Krishna’s twin-purusha exposition can be evaluated in this context.

Calling both of them ‘purushas’, Krishna says all beings and expressions of existence constitute the perishable purusha. Within, beneath and together with this perishable purusha is the other, immovable and imperishable.

Such an imperishable entity is there in every individual. Despite the changeful character of the body, senses, mind, intelligence and even ego, does not every one always carry a constant note of unchangingness in him? This he refers to as ‘I’, to which he relates all outer and inner changes. This is the imperishable purusha. Both the purushas go together, each enabling and fulfilling the other. The changeful part will not be there but for the changeless presence. Thus a question becomes inevitable: If the two are interdependent, then what is that independent superior factor that gives rise to both? Is not such a sovereign third factor inescapable?

Yes, says Krishna. And he calls it the supreme Reality, the Paramātmā. Is this merely a statement, or is there some tangible ground to posit such a Supreme? In spirituality, everything is sva-samvedyam (self-experiential).

The whole spirituo-philosophical thoughts and presentations are experiential. It is well-established that for presenting any proposition, there must first be experiential facts supporting it. And the proposition should be supported by well thought out reason too.

Krishna says that this third factor is the one that permeates ‘the three worlds’, remaining sovereign, all-controlling (Ìśvara). What can these three worlds be?

By the ‘three worlds’, Krishna refers to the three states of awareness we have within us. Mānḍūkya Upanishad (Mantra 5,6 & 7) discusses this avasthā-traya (the three mental states) in a unique manner. Gauḍapāda has written a detailed kārikā on it, which Sankara has commented upon.

The sense-perceived external objective world is in fact no other than the wakeful state manifestation. As a full contrast to this is the deep sleep state (suṣupti), wherein this whole wakeful objectivity becomes totally extinct, making the sleeper alone survive to fetch the wakeful manifestation again. In between the wakeful and deep sleep states prevails the dream state, which brings forth the dream creation and its effects.

These three states of our mind and the respective outcomes are the only ground for our experience, perception and evaluation. In fact, all our Scriptures and philosophical dissertations are based on these three mental states of ours. They alone give the clue to all the worlds, above and below. Krishna had mentioned the same earlier as well:

As the day dawns, all beings emerge from the unmanifest. And at night they glide back into the same unmanifest.

Waking state reveals the wakeful world of objects. The dream state brings in the subtle dream world, quite similar to wakeful world, but reigning within the sleeping individual, with no external relationship or identity. Sleep is yet a different one, from which we get the clue to the existence of a Subject distinct from all objects like the world, body, mind, intelligence and ego.

Something different from these three is there, due to which alone the three states occur one after another, each invalidating the other two. And that One, is sovereign, causing each state to be. Hence it is the Ìśvara, the Controller of all the three. The three states together with their gross and subtle, external and internal outcomes totally depend upon this, making it the distinct fourth, the turīya. This turīya alone causes and preserves the inter-dependence of the three.