Shloka 19
Nārada’s Protection of Kayādhu and Prahlāda’s Womb-Instructions: Ātma-tattva and the Path of Bhakti
आत्मा नित्योऽव्यय: शुद्ध एक: क्षेत्रज्ञ आश्रय: । अविक्रिय: स्वदृग् हेतुर्व्यापकोऽसङ्ग्यनावृत: ॥ १९ ॥ एतैर्द्वादशभिर्विद्वानात्मनो लक्षणै: परै: । अहं ममेत्यसद्भावं देहादौ मोहजं त्यजेत् ॥ २० ॥
ātmā nityo ’vyayaḥ śuddha ekaḥ kṣetra-jña āśrayaḥ avikriyaḥ sva-dṛg hetur vyāpako ’saṅgy anāvṛtaḥ
L’Ātma est éternel, impérissable, pur, unique, connaisseur du champ (le corps) et refuge de tout. Il est immuable, lumineux par lui-même, cause des causes, omniprésent, sans attache et non voilé. Connaissant ces douze attributs transcendants, le sage doit renoncer à l’illusion née de l’égarement : « je suis ce corps » et « tout ce qui s’y rapporte est à moi ».
In Bhagavad-gītā (15.7) Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ: “All the living entities are part of Me.” Therefore the living entities are qualitatively the same as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the leader, the Supreme among all the living entities. In the Vedas it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām: the Lord is the chief individual living entity, the leader of the subordinate living entities. Because the living entities are parts or samples of God, their qualities are not different from those of the Supreme Lord. The living entities have the same qualities as the Lord, just as a drop of sea water is composed of the same chemicals as the great sea itself. Thus there is oneness in quality but a difference in quantity. One can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by understanding the sample, the living entity, because all the qualities of God exist in a minute quantity in the living entities. There is oneness, but God is great whereas the living entities are extremely small. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān ( Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.20). The living entities are smaller than the atom, but God is greater than the greatest. Our conception of greatness may be represented by the sky because we think of the sky as being unlimitedly big, but God is bigger than the sky. Similarly, we have knowledge that the living entities are smaller than atoms, being one ten-thousandth the size of the tip of a hair, yet the quality of being the supreme cause of all causes exists in the living entity as well as in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Indeed, it is due to the presence of the living entity that the body exists and bodily changes take place. Similarly, it is because the Supreme Lord is within this universe that the changes dictated by the material laws occur.
FAQs
It describes the ātman as eternal, imperishable, pure, one, the knower of the body, unchanging, self-luminous, all-pervading, unattached, and never truly covered.
Prahlāda instructed them to replace bodily identification with spiritual understanding, so they could become free from material illusion and turn their lives toward devotion to the Supreme.
Practice observing thoughts and roles without defining yourself by them, and anchor daily decisions in spiritual identity—serving God and others—rather than ego and possession.