Gita 15.7

Purushottama Yoga

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः | मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ||७||

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ | manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati ||7||

In essence: The eternal living being in this world is My very fragment, drawing to itself the mind and the five senses which rest in prakriti.

A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply

Sadhak-Guru Dialogue

Sadhak: "If I am a fragment of Krishna, why do I feel so separate, so limited?"

Guru: "The fragment has 'become' (bhūtaḥ) a jiva—it has taken on a role, like an actor forgetting his true identity while absorbed in a character. The mind and senses, pulled from prakriti, create a compelling costume and script. You feel limited because you identify with the costume rather than the eternal consciousness wearing it."

Sadhak: "But if I'm truly part of Krishna, shouldn't I automatically know everything, be all-powerful?"

Guru: "A drop of ocean water is truly ocean-water—same essence—but it does not contain the whole ocean's volume. The 'aṁśa' (fragment) is the same substance as the whole but participates in a limited way. Your consciousness is divine consciousness, but operating through a particular mind-sense apparatus, it appears limited. Realize your essence, and the limitation is seen through—even if the apparatus remains."

Sadhak: "The verse says I 'draw' the mind and senses. So I am not my mind?"

Guru: "Precisely! This is the key teaching. The eternal jiva attracts—karṣati—the psychophysical equipment. The equipment is 'prakṛti-sthāni'—belonging to nature, borrowed from the material field. You are the consciousness that has magnetized these elements around itself. The mind is your instrument, not your identity. Liberating wisdom is exactly this: recognizing yourself as the eternal fragment rather than the attracted apparatus."

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🌅 Daily Practice

🌅 Morning

Upon waking, recognize: 'I am an eternal fragment of the Divine, having attracted this particular mind-body for today's journey.' This reframes the day's events: you are not a struggling mortal but an eternal consciousness having a temporary experience. This recognition does not cause arrogance—it is about divine origin, not personal superiority.

☀️ Daytime

When the mind agitates or senses clamor, remember: these are 'prakṛti-sthāni'—belonging to nature, attracted to you like iron filings to a magnet. They are not you. From the vantage point of the eternal fragment, watch the mind and senses as borrowed equipment. This creates healthy distance without denying their usefulness.

🌙 Evening

Before sleep, release the day's identifications with mind-sense experiences. The equipment 'attracted' today will be released in sleep; what remains—the continuous awareness through sleep—is closer to your eternal nature. Rest as the sanātana aṁśa, the eternal fragment, who has worn today's experiences like clothing and now disrobes for rest.

Common Questions

Is 'aṁśa' (fragment) literal? Does God divide into pieces?

Different schools interpret this carefully. Advaita says 'aṁśa' is figurative—like space in a pot is not a separate piece of infinite space, the jiva appears limited but is actually unlimited Brahman under the spell of maya. Vishishtadvaita takes it more literally—jivas are real parts of Brahman's body, distinct yet inseparable. Dvaita maintains jivas are eternally separate souls dependent on but not part of God. The Gita itself holds the tension: 'My very fragment'—not alien, yet not the whole. The practical teaching is that your essence is divine, not material.

If the jiva is eternal, why does it become bound? Was there a 'fall'?

The teaching is not of a temporal fall but of beginningless association. 'Sanātana' means the jiva is eternal—it never 'began' to be bound because bondage, like the jiva itself, is beginningless. However, beginningless does not mean endless: what has no beginning in time can still have an end through knowledge. The question 'Why did an eternal being become bound?' is ultimately unanswerable from within time because it presupposes a 'before' that never existed. The focus is on ending bondage, not explaining its origin.

What happens to the 'fragment' after liberation? Does it merge back into Krishna?

Liberation is the recognition of what always was: the fragment realizes its identity with the source. Whether it 'merges' completely (Advaita), remains as a perfected individual in eternal loving relationship (Vaishnava schools), or both simultaneously (Gaudiya Vaishnavism's acintya-bhedabheda), all agree that the sense of isolated, suffering selfhood ends. The eternal fragment no longer suffers the illusion of separation. It is 'with' Krishna in the deepest sense, whether as identity or intimate proximity.

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