Shloka 7
Chapter 43: Tumult of Battle-Sounds and the Proliferation of Dvandva
Paired Engagements
सम्बन्ध-- पहलेसे तीसरे श_लोकतक संसारवृक्षके नामसे क्षर पुरुषका वर्णन किया; उसमें जीवरूप अक्षर पुरुषके बन्धनका हेतु उसके द्वारा मनुष्ययोनिमें अहंता-ममता और आसक्तिपूर्वक किये हुए कर्मोकी बताया तथा उस बन्धनसे छूटनेका उपाय सृष्टिकर्ता आदिपुरुष पुरुषोत्तमकी शरण ग्रहण करना बताया। इसपर यह जिज्ञासा होती है कि उपर्युक्त प्रकारसे बँधे हुए जीवका क्या स्वरूप है और उसका वास्तविक स्वरूप क्या है; उसे कौन कैसे जानता है; अतः इन सब बातोंका स्पष्टीकरण करनेके लिये पहले जीवका स्वरूप बतलाते हैं-- ममैवांशो जीवलोके* जीवभूत: सनातन: । मनः:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति
mamaivāṁśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ | manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛtisthāni karṣati ||
The Lord declares: “In the world of living beings, the individual self is indeed an eternal portion of Me. Yet, while dwelling within material nature, it struggles by drawing to itself the mind as the sixth, together with the five senses.” Ethically, the verse frames bondage not as the soul’s corruption but as its entanglement through mind-and-sense identification; liberation begins with recognizing one’s divine origin and the mechanism of attachment.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The individual self (jīva) is eternal and is a portion of the Divine, but when situated in material nature it experiences struggle by identifying with and pulling along the mind and five senses; understanding this mechanism is a step toward freedom from attachment.
In the midst of the larger Mahābhārata war setting, the discourse turns inward: the Lord explains to Arjuna the constitution of the embodied being—how the jīva, though divine in origin, becomes entangled through mind-and-sense engagement within prakṛti.