Gita 15.18
Purushottama Yoga
यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तमः | अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथितः पुरुषोत्तमः ||१८||
yasmāt kṣaram atīto 'ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ | ato 'smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ ||18||
In essence: Since I transcend the perishable and am higher even than the imperishable, I am renowned in the world and in the Vedas as the Supreme Person (Purushottama).
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "This is an immense claim—to be higher than even the imperishable! How can anyone be beyond the unchanging eternal?"
Guru: "The unchanging, by itself, is a principle—impersonal, static, without quality. The Purushottama is the source of both changing and unchanging. He is like the painter who is beyond both the painting (changing forms) and the canvas (unchanging ground). He creates, sustains, and transcends both. This is not arrogance but metaphysical fact—the living personal God is the ultimate reality, not an impersonal principle."
Sadhak: "Is Purushottama just another name for God, or is there something specific about this term?"
Guru: "The term is specific: 'Uttama' among 'Purushas.' It distinguishes Krishna from other divine forms, from the jiva-purusha (individual souls), and even from the akshara-purusha (unchanging cosmic principle). Purushottama is the proper name for the Supreme who encompasses and transcends all other categories of spirit. When you call on Purushottama, you are addressing the Highest, the Beyond-Beyond."
Sadhak: "If Krishna is renowned in the Vedas, why don't all scholars recognize Him as Purushottama?"
Guru: "Recognition requires spiritual sight (jñāna-cakṣus, verse 10). The Vedas are vast; some get lost in ritual details, others in philosophical abstraction. But the culminating message—Vedanta in its true sense—points to the Supreme Person. Those with prepared minds and devotional hearts recognize Krishna in the Vedas. Others see fragments without grasping the whole. This teaching makes explicit what the Vedas implicitly teach."
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🌅 Daily Practice
Begin the day with the name: 'Purushottama.' This is not just theological vocabulary but an invocation of the Supreme. To speak or think this name is to orient toward the Highest. Let the first thought of the day acknowledge: 'I awake in the presence of the One beyond both changing and unchanging.'
When philosophy seems abstract or the spiritual path seems complex, remember: it all culminates in a Person. Purushottama is not a concept to master but a Presence to encounter. Let your seeking have this personal dimension—you are not solving a puzzle but approaching Someone who has revealed Himself and wishes to be known.
Before sleep, consider the day's relationship with the Supreme Person. Was there awareness of His presence? Were actions offered to Him? The teaching is not just that Purushottama exists but that He is the appropriate object of devotion, knowledge, and life. Rest in the recognition that the Highest is personal, and your relation to the Highest can be intimate, not merely philosophical.