Shloka 22
सम्बन्ध-- इस प्रकार प्रकृतिस्थ पुरुषके स्वरूपका वर्णन करनेके बाद अब जीवात्मा और परमात्माकी एकता करते हुए आत्माके गुणातीत स्वरूपका वर्णन करते हैं-- उपद्रष्टानुमन्ता च भर्ता भोक्ता महेश्वर: । परमात्मेति चाप्युक्तो देहेडस्मिन् पुरुष: पर:,इस देहमें स्थित यह आत्मा वास्तवमें परमात्मा ही है*। वही साक्षी होनेसे उपद्रष्टा और यथार्थ सम्मति देनेवाला होनेसे अनुमन्ता, सबका धारण-पोषण करनेवाला होनेसे भर्ता, जीवरूपसे भोक्ता, ब्रह्मा आदिका भी स्वामी होनेसे महेश्वर और शुद्ध सच्चिदा-नन्दघन होनेसे परमात्मा--ऐसा कहा गया है
upadraṣṭānumantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ | paramātmeti cāpy ukto dehe 'smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ ||
Arjuna said: Within this very body there is a higher Puruṣa who is called the Paramātman, the Supreme Self. He is the Witness who observes, the Approver who grants inner assent, the Sustainer who upholds and nourishes, the Experiencer who tastes the fruits of embodied life, and the Great Lord who rules even over the highest powers.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the indwelling Self as the Paramātman: the inner Witness and Lord who sustains and permits experience. Ethically, it supports acting with responsibility while cultivating detachment—recognizing that the true Self is untouched by the changing guṇas and their actions.
In the Bhīṣma Parva dialogue of Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna on the battlefield, Arjuna is being taught the distinction between body/nature and the conscious Self. Here the teaching intensifies by describing the inner Self as the supreme indweller—witnessing, sanctioning, sustaining, and ruling—so Arjuna can act in war without confusion about identity and moral agency.