A declaration · expansive in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“Even the imperishable witness is not the final reality.”
The Supreme Self is beyond both the perishable and the imperishable. The imperishable ruler enters the three worlds and sustains them all.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallysupreme · person/self · indeed · other · supreme self · thus · who · the three worlds · entering · sustains · imperishable · ruler
Beyond the changing world and even beyond the unchanging witness stands the highest reality, which enters all three worlds and sustains them.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Purushottama Yoga" (The Yoga of the Supreme Person).
Verse 17 sits in Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad Gita — Purushottama Yoga, "The Yoga of the Supreme Person". The chapter has 20 verses in total.
In a joint family, the house and the people in it keep changing, yet someone holds it all together. Krishna speaks of a Supreme Self beyond both the changing and the unchanging, who enters and sustains everything.
Did you like this verse?
Beyond both the perishable and the imperishable stands the Supreme Self, who enters and sustains the three worlds.
What this verse means
Beyond the changing world and even beyond the unchanging witness stands the highest reality, which enters all three worlds and sustains them.
Context & commentary
Arjuna is being led through the structure of existence itself. Krishna has already distinguished the changing body from the imperishable witness, and now points higher still: beyond both stands the Supreme Self, the sustaining ruler of all three worlds.
What it looks like today
In a joint family, the house and the people in it keep changing, yet someone holds it all together. Krishna speaks of a Supreme Self beyond both the changing and the unchanging, who enters and sustains everything.
“What seems highest is still not the highest. There is a greater presence holding everything together.”
Explore related themes: purushottama (14 verses)