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Slogam 32

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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13.32

anāditvān nirguṇatvāt

paramātmāyam avyayaḥ

śarīra-stho ’pi kaunteya

na karoti na lipyate

Translation

Those with the vision of eternity can see that the imperishable soul is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature. Despite contact with the material body, O Arjuna, the soul neither does anything nor is entangled.

Author Name:-Sri Ramanuja

Purport

Sri Ramanuja

13.32 This ‘supreme self’ (Atman) has been defined as having a nature different from that of the body. While existing in the body, It is ‘immutable’, i.e., It is not liable to decay as It is ‘without a beginning,’ i.e., never created at any point of time. Because It is ‘free from Gunas,’ being devoid of Sattva and other Gunas of Prakrti, It neither acts nor gets tainted; It is not tainted by the qualities of the body. Granted that the self being without Gunas, does not act; but how is it possible that the Atman is not tainted by Its constant association with the qualities of the body? To this, Sri Krsna replies:

Author Name:-Sri Adi Shankaracharya

Purport

Sri Adi Shankaracharya

13.32 Anadivat, being without beginning: Adih means cause; that which has no cause is anadih. That which has a cause undergoes loss of its own characteristics. But this One, being causeless, has no parts. This being so, It does not suffer loss. So also, nirgunatvat, being without qualities: indeed, It si only something possessing qualities that perishes owing to the losss of its qualities. But this One, being without qualities, does not perish. Hence, ayam, this; paramatma, supreme Self; is avyayah, immutable. It suffers no depletion. Therefore It is immutable. Since this is so, therefore, api, although; sarira-sthah, existing in the body-since the perception of the Self occurs in the bodies, It is said to be ‘existing in the body’; even then, It na, does not; karoti, act. From the very fact that It does not act, It na, is not; lipyate, affected by the result of any action. For, one who is an agent of action becomes affected by its result. But this One is not an agent. Hence It is not affected by any result. This is the meaning. Objection: Who is it, again, that acts in the body and becomes affected? On the one hand, if there be some embodied being other than the supreme Self who acts and becomes affected, then it has been improper to say in, ‘And also understand Me to be the Knower of the field,’ etc., that the Knower of the field and God are one. Again, if there be no embodied being who is different from God, then it has to be stated who is it that acts and gets affected. Or it has to be asserted that the supreme One does not exist. [If the supreme One also acts like us, then He is no God.] Thus, since the Upanisadic philosophy as stated by the Lord is in every way difficult to understand and difficult to explain, it has therefore been abandoned by the Vaisesikas, the Sankhyas, the Jainas and the Buddhists. Reply: As to that, the following refutation has been stated by the Lord Himself in, ‘But it is Nature that acts’ (5.14). Indeed, Nature, which is nothing but ignorance, acts and becomes affected. In this way empirical dealing becomes possible; but in reality it does not occur in the one supreme Self. It has been accordingly shown by the Lord in various places that there is no duty to be performed by those who adhere to this philosophy of discriminating knowledge of the supreme Reality, who are steadfast in Knowledge, who have spurned actions arising out of ignorance, and who are mendicants belonging to the highest Order of monks. The Lord cites an illustration to show like what It does not act and is not affected:

Author Name:-Sri Madhvacharya

Purport

Sri Madhvacharya

Lord Krishna explains that there is no annihilation for paramatma or the Supreme Soul as it is not material but completely spiritual and eternally existing. Normally material things are subject to disintegration and are subject to the decaying effects of time. But this is not applicable to paramatma which has no relationship to material nature and is never implicated or affected by the activities of the jiva or embodied being. The word nirgunatvat means the absence of qualities and attributes this denotes that paramatma has no material qualities and material attributes due to being completely spiritual.

Now begins the summation.

The jiva is established in the physical body. The Supreme Lord is His localised expansion as paramatma is causing the jivas to sleep at regulated intervals and is giving illumination to them. Yet the Supreme Lord remains without sleep and is full of illumination. The jivas established within the physical bodies identify themselves as their body. Yet the Supreme Lord even though dwelling within each and every physical body all over creation never identifies with the physical body. Experiencing pleasure and pain in the physical body makes one become attached to it. Due to the absence of the material and presence of the spiritual the Supreme Lord has no attachment to the physical body of any jiva.

Because the Supreme Lord is eternal, without any beginning and is devoid of any material attributes, qualities or accruements. The Supreme Lord is always distinctly exalted and superior to all jivas who are always subject to birth and the three fold miseries of old age, disease and death. Everything is created completely from the Supreme Lord alone, who is one without a second. Yet He is totally neutral and impartial to His creation. Even though residing within the physical body as paramatma of every jiva the Supreme Lord is witnessing all the activities performed. Yet no merits or demerits are attached to Him. This is the true purport of the ancient aphorism of neti neti meaning not this, not this.

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Slogam 32

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13.32

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