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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 15.7
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
Living beings are the Lord’s eternal parts. In conditioned life, they struggle with the six senses, including the mind.
Prabhupāda explains that each soul remains an individual forever, even when liberated, and is an eternal servant of the Lord.
Use your small independence to lovingly serve the Lord rather than forget Him.
This verse gives the “Identity of living entity”
Original position – Living entities are eternal part and parcels of Krishna
They belong to Him in the spiritual world
Current position – They are now struggling hard with mind and senses in material world
Identity of Living entity
Eternal fragmental part and parcel – indicated by the word “Sanatana”
Not that jiva assumes individuality only in conditioned state
This refutes Mayavada philosophy
Ref. Vedic version — Supreme Lord manifests and expands
As primary or personal expansions – Vishnu-tattva e.g. Rama, Nrsimhadeva
As secondary or separated living entities – Eternal servants
All the expansions are always present as separate identities, even the living entities
Living entity has fragmental qualities, being the fragmental portion of the Supreme
Therefore has fragmental quality of independence
Using independence
Every living entity has personal individuality and a minute form of independence
If properly used in the service of the Lord – One gets liberated
If misused (forgets the service of the Lord) – Gets dominated by the modes of material nature and thus gets conditioned
Misuse leads to hard struggle for existence
In quality every living entity is eternal like the Supreme Lord
All living entities including the Supreme controllers like Brahma or Siva are eternal parts and parcels of Krishna
Importance of the word “Karsati” — Struggling or grappling hard
Conditioned soul is bound by the false ego – this is the “Cause of struggle”
Analogy: As if bound by iron chains
Chief driving agent for conditioned soul – ‘Mind’
Mind in goodness – Activities are good
Mind in passion – Activities are troublesome
Mind in ignorance – One travels to lower species
Quotes about “Achieving spiritual body after liberation”
This verse clarifies that the conditioned soul is covered by a material body and will get spiritual body after liberation, in an individual capacity
Ref. Madhyandinayana Sruti – In spiritual world one gets spiritual body and can talk and hear with Supreme Lord face to face
Ref. Smrti – One lives in the same bodily features as Supreme Personality of Godhead and expansions of Vishnu murti
Meaning of ‘Mamaivamsah’ — Fragmental part and parcel of Supreme Lord
It is not like a broken material part – This is established by the word “Sanatana” (eternally a fragment)
Ref. Bg. 2.24: explains that spirit soul cannot be cut into pieces
Ref. Bg. 2.13: indicates that in each and every body, a separate fragmental portion is present
Texts 15.6 & 15.7
QUESTION — Why a living entity will not be satisfied until he has reached that Supreme abode. ANSWER: Because it is his constitutional position to be related with Krishna as explained in Text 15.7
Texts 15.7 & 15.8
This verse hints at the mind’s power to determine the living entity’s future, and the next verse continues that thrust, explaining how, determined by his thoughts, a soul attains his next body.
Belonging
Goal should be to leave material world and return to spiritual world
All living entities are eternally part and parcel of Krishna, yet they struggle from body to body in search of pleasure
Transcendentalists can see this clearly, but the blind materialists cannot see this
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Individual soul
Living beings are Krishna’s eternal fragmental parts.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
Where am I seeking identity without remembering my eternal relationship with Krishna?
Recall your identity as a servant of Krishna before one important decision.
Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.