BG 13.23

13.23 उपद्रष्टा the spectator? अनुमन्ता the permitter? च and? भर्ता the supporter? भोक्ता the enjoyer? महेश्वरः the great Lord? परमात्मा the Supreme Self? इति thus? च and? अपि also? उक्तः is called? देहे in the body? अस्मिन् (in) this? पुरुषः Purusha? परः Supreme.Commentary Upadrashta A spectator? a witness? a lookeron? a bystander? one who sits near. When the priests and the sacrificer perform the sacrificial rites? an expert who has good experience in sacrifical matters sits by their side. He does not take any part at all in the sacrifice. He sits as a silent witness. He guides them. He points out their defects and corrects them. Even so the Supreme Self does not act. It does not take any part in the activities of the body? the mind and the senses. It is entirely distinct from them. It is a silent witness of their activities. It sits near Nature and silently watches Her actions.It may be explained in another way. The body? the eyes? the mind? the intellect and the Self are the,seers. Of these the body is the most external seer the Self is the most internal and nearest seer. Beyond the Self there is no other internal seer.Anumanta Permitter. The Supreme Self gives consent. It expresses Its approval or satisfaction regarding the actions done by the senses? the mind and the intellect. The King consents and says Yes. The Prime Minister and the other officers carry out his orders. Even so the Supreme Self consents or gives permission the body? the mind? the intellect? and the senses perform their respective functions. Or? though It Itself does not work while the senses? the mind and the intellect work? It appears to be engaged in action? it seems to cooperate with them. As It is an onlooker or mere witness? It never stands in the way of the activities of the body? the mind? the intellect and the senses.Bharta Supporter. Just as the huand is the supporter of his wife? so also the Self is the supporter of this body? mind? intellect? lifeforce and the senses. It is different from them? just as the father who supports the children is different from them.Bhokta Enjoyer the Self? of the nature of eternal intelligence. Just as heat is the inherent nature of fire? so also eternal intelligence is the inherent nature of the Self. All the states of the mind such as pleasure? pain and delusion are permeated and illumined by the intelligent Self. Just as Govindan who takes the food is different from the foo? so also the Self is different from the intellect? the mind and the senses.Mahesvarah The great Lord. As He is the soul or essence of everything and as He is independent of all? He is Mahesvara. The sky is very big. Mahesva is bigger than even the sky? and so He is called Mahesvara. Just as the king is different from his subjects? so also the Self is different from Nature and the effects or modifications of Nature.Paramatma The Supreme Self. It is supreme because It is superior to all those things? from the Unmanifested to the physical body? which are mistaken for the Self on account of ignorance. Just as an iron piece moves in the presence of a magnet so also the mind and the intellect which are insentient move and function in the presence of the Supreme Self. Just as the moon borrows its light from the sun? so also the mind and the intellect borrow their light from the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self is selfluminous. Mind and intellect have no selfluminosity. In the Vedas also He is called the Supreme Self. Lord Krishna says in verse 17 of the fifteenth chapter But distinct is the Highest Purusha spoken of as the Supreme Self.Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all the fields? has been described in detial and the subject is concluded in this verse.

— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗

It is stated here that the Supersoul, who is always with the individual soul, is the representation of the Supreme Lord. He is not an ordinary living entity. Because the monist philosophers take the knower of the body to be one, they think that there is no difference between the Supersoul and the individual soul. To clarify this, the Lord says that He is represented as the Paramātmā in every body. He is different from the individual soul; He is para, transcendental. The individual soul enjoys the activities of a particular field, but the Supersoul is present not as finite enjoyer nor as one taking part in bodily activities, but as the witness, overseer, permitter and supreme enjoyer. His name is Paramātmā, not ātmā, and He is transcendental. It is distinctly clear that the ātmā and Paramātmā are different. The Supersoul, the Paramātmā, has legs and hands everywhere, but the individual soul does not. And because the Paramātmā is the Supreme Lord, He is present within to sanction the individual soul’s desiring material enjoyment. Without the sanction of the Supreme Soul, the individual soul cannot do anything. The individual is bhukta, or the sustained, and the Lord is bhoktā, or the maintainer. There are innumerable living entities, and He is staying in them as a friend. The fact is that every individual living entity is eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and both of them are very intimately related as friends. But the living entity has the tendency to reject the sanction of the Supreme Lord and act independently in an attempt to dominate nature, and because he has this tendency he is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity can be situated either in the material energy or in the spiritual energy. As long as he is conditioned by the material energy, the Supreme Lord, as his friend, the Supersoul, stays with him just to get him to return to the spiritual energy. The Lord is always eager to take him back to the spiritual energy, but due to his minute independence the individual entity is continually rejecting the association of spiritual light. This misuse of independence is the cause of his material strife in the conditioned nature. The Lord, therefore, is always giving instruction from within and from without. From without He gives instructions as stated in Bhagavad-gītā , and from within He tries to convince the living entity that his activities in the material field are not conducive to real happiness. “Just give it up and turn your faith toward Me. Then you will be happy,” He says. Thus the intelligent person who places his faith in the Paramātmā or the Supreme Personality of Godhead begins to advance toward a blissful eternal life of knowledge.

— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗