7.4–5
Chapter 7, Verses 4–5
भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च। अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा৷৷ अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम्। जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत्৷৷
bhūmirāpō.nalō vāyuḥ khaṅ manō buddhirēva ca. ahaṅkāra itīyaṅ mē bhinnā prakṛtiraṣṭadhā৷৷ aparēyamitastvanyāṅ prakṛtiṅ viddhi mē parām. jīvabhūtāṅ mahābāhō yayēdaṅ dhāryatē jagat৷৷
Translation
Verse 4
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and personality; this is the eightfold division of My Manifested Nature.
Verse 5
This is My inferior Nature; but distinct from this, O Valiant One, know thou that my Superior Nature is the very Life which sustains the universe.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
Verse 4
भूमिः earth, आपः water, अनलः fire, वायुः air, खम् ether, मनः mind, बुद्धिः intellect, एव even, च and, अहङ्कारः egoism, इति thus, इयम् this, मे My, भिन्ना divided, प्रकृतिः Nature, अष्टधा eightfold. Commentary: This eightfold Nature constitutes the inferior Nature or Apara Prakriti. The five gross elements are formed out of the Tanmatras or rootelements through the process of Pancikarana or fivefold mixing. Tanmatras are the subtle rootelements. In this verse, earth, water, etc., represent the subtle or rudimentary elements out of which the five gross elements are formed.Mind stands here for its cause Ahamkara intellect for its cause the Mahat Ahamkara for the Avyaktam or the unmanifested (MulaPrakriti) united with Avidya which is conjoined with all kinds of Vasanas or latent tendencies. As Ahamkara (Iness) is the cause for all the actions of every individual and as Ahamkara is the most vital principle in man on which all the other Tattvas or principles depend, the Avyaktam combined with the Ahamkara is itself called here Ahamkara, just as food which is mixed with poison is itself called poison.
Verse 5
अपरा lower, इयम् this, इतः from this, तु but, अन्याम् different, प्रकृतिम् nature, विद्धि know, मे My, पराम् higher, जीवभूताम् the very lifeelement, महाबाहो O mightyarmed, यया by which, इदम् this, धार्यते is upheld, जगत् world. Commentary: The eightfold Nature described in the previous verse is the inferior Nature. It constitutes the Kshetra or the field or matter. It is impure. It generates evil and causes bondage. But the superior Nature is pure. It is My very Self, Kshetrajna (knower of the field or Spirit) by which life is sustained, and that which enters within the whole world and upholds it. It is the very lifeelement or the principle of Selfconsciousness, by which this universe is sustained.
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.