📿 Shloka Collection

Uttamah Purushas Tvanyah

Gita 15.17 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15 — Purushottama Yoga
उत्तमः पुरुषस्त्वन्यः परमात्मेत्युदाहृतः ।
यो लोकत्रयमाविश्य बिभर्त्यव्यय ईश्वरः ॥
Uttamah purushas tvanyah paramatmety udahritah,
Yo lokatrayam avishya bibharty avyaya ishvarah.
उत्तमः पुरुषः तु अन्यः
but the supreme being is another, distinct
परमात्मा इति उदाहृतः
known as Paramatma (the Supreme Self)
यः
who
लोकत्रयम् आविश्य
pervading all three worlds
बिभर्ति
sustains
अव्ययः ईश्वरः
the imperishable Lord

Kshara and akshara have been named. Now comes a third reality — one that stands above both. This is the Supreme Being, called Paramatma. He is distinct from the perishable and higher than even the imperishable.

He enters all three worlds — the heavens, the earth, and the realms below — and sustains them from within. Just as a thread passes through every bead in a necklace and holds them together, the Paramatma pervades and upholds everything that exists.

This Lord is avyaya — he does not diminish, does not grow old, does not change. The perishable changes. The imperishable remains steady. But the Paramatma is the very ground on which both stand.

Shloka 15.17 is the center of the kshara-akshara-Purushottama triad (15.16-18). It defines Paramatma as the one who pervades and sustains all three worlds while remaining imperishable. The phrase 'lokatrayam avishya bibharti' has been read in tradition alongside similar declarations in the Vishnu Sahasranama and the Upanishads about the all-pervading nature of the divine.

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