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Chapter 15 · The Yoga of the Supreme Person · 20 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Soul & knowledgeChapter 15 · The Yoga of the Supreme Person
15.815.10

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 15.9

The jīva as Krishna’s eternal fragmental part

Jīva · The soul

श्रोत्रं चक्षु: स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च ।

अधिष्ठाय मनश्चायं विषयानुपसेवते ॥ ९ ॥

śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca

rasanaṁ ghrāṇam eva ca

adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṁ

viṣayān upasevate

Translation

The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Consciousness Shapes the Next Body

  1. 1

    In a new body, the soul receives senses grouped around the mind and enjoys the sense objects suited to that body.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that material qualities change our originally pure consciousness, leading to a corresponding body—not necessarily a human one.

  3. 3

    Cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is our real, pure consciousness.

Key points from the purport

Process of transmigration — Thus carried by the mind he enters various bodies to obtain different senses for the goal of sense enjoyment

a

Analogy — Original consciousness is pure like water

Spirit soul is originally pure

Consciousness is changed according to association of material qualities

Analogy: Water mixed with different colours

b

Real consciousness is Krishna consciousness

If adulterated with qualities of cat or dog etc. – One can get any of 8.4 million species

Connected verses · 1

Texts 15.8 & 15.9

The quality of the mind, as explained in the following verse, attracts its next gross body, like a magnet attracts an iron nail.

Further reading

Transmigration

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

Chapter 15, section II: Transmigration
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. śrotramears
  2. cakṣuḥeyes
  3. sparśanamtouch
  4. caalso
  5. rasanamtongue
  6. ghrāṇamsmelling power
  7. evaalso
  8. caand
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: ātmā, jñāna.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 15.9 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to soul & knowledge?

Practice

Spend five minutes reflecting on what in you does not change.

5

The story behind it

Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.

All stories for chapter 15 ›
6

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 15.7The living being belongs to KrishnaBG 15.8The jīva as Krishna’s eternal fragmental partBG 2.13The self endures bodily changeBG 4.34The humility of real inquiry
Live this todayDetachment Through Surrender to KṛṣṇaA practice from BG 15.3-4, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

  1. Learn
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  3. Lead
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