15th Chapter of Gita-- 7th sloka

Hare Krishna,
After explaining the world at the empirical level as the tree whose substratum is brahmam, Krishna moves on to explain the jeeva. Like the approach of whole to part, we have seen in earlier slokas that Lord Krishna explains that he is all pervading in the universe. The moon and the sun don’t shine but he alone shines. He is the source of light to the sun and the moon. This is at the macrocosm level. In the coming slokas lord explains that even at the microcosm level he alone exists and everything is a part of him, the supreme self, the all pervading self, the pure consciousness.
We shall see how pure consciousness is also a part of Jeeva. Lord Krishna slowly unveils the truth of ultimate reality.

15.7 – mama eva amsah jeeva loke jeeva bhutah sanatanahah
Manah sasthani indriyani prakrithi sthani karshati

Meaning of words:
Mama – me
Eva – it is
Amsah – part
Jeeva loke --- world of human being
Jeeva bhutah – of the jeeva
Sanatanahah – eternal
Manah – mind
Sasthani – sixth
Indriyani – sense organs
Prakrithi-sthani--- abiding in nature
Karshati – origination

Meaning of sloka
I am the eternal part of jeeva or individual. Jeeva is associated with the 5 sense organs along with the mind. The sense organs and mind have there origination in prakrithi or nature.

Lord Krishna explains here that he is the eternal part of the jeeva. Here we may think that how can the supreme self have parts and whether Krishna is propounding dvaitam. The jeeva and brahmam are like bimba, prathibimba. The sunlight gets reflected by the mirror or water. Here sunlight is the bimba and the reflected sunlight is the prathibimba. Similarly the brahmam or original consciousness (OC) gets reflected in the medium of the body and is called prathibimba or the Reflected consciousness (RC). As the sunlight that is reflected is not different from the original sunlight, as the room space is not different from the space outside the walls of the room, so also the reflected consciousness or prathibimba is not different from the original consciousness bimba. As the qualities of the reflected sunlight is same are the original sunlight, as the room space has same qualities as the space outside, similarly the RC has the same qualities as OC. The only difference is that RC is limited whereas OC is limitless. As the room space is limited by the walls of the room, so also the RC is limited by the body. Once the walls are brought down, there is no difference between the room space and the outside space, so also once we loose the body consciousness, once we realize we are not the body, the limitations of the body are removed and RC becomes one with OC. Thus there is no question of duality or dvaitam.

When RC is associated with the sense organs and the mind it is called jeeva. These sense organs and mind are originated from prakrithi. The jeeva perceives and enjoys the wordly pleasures and sorrows due to the sense organs. This superimposition of the jeeva over the pure consciousness causes duality to exist. Due to this an individual perceives this world as full of dualities.
RC(eternal bliss)--------àsense organs+ mind ------à Jeeva(happiness and sorrow)

Once this veil of ignorance that jeeva is different from brahmam is removed , then he remains in the state of eternal bliss ,as that is the nature of brahmam. This is mukthi. Jeeva needs mukhti , which is attained through knowledge of ultimate reality which is “Aham brahma asmi” or I am brahmam. Through the detachment with the sense organs and the mind , one would attain self realization. Till then jeeva would be craving for the external materialistic world which is perceived as full of dualities, even though everything is brahmam. This would result only in sorrows. Thus man gets entangled in the ocean of samsaara doing more and more activities inorder to be happy , even though the eternal bliss is his very nature which he is ignorant of.


Hare Krishna

Thanks,
Aparna