Devanagari
उत्तम: पुरुषस्त्वन्य: परमात्मेत्युदाहृत: ।
यो लोकत्रयमाविश्य बिभर्त्यव्यय ईश्वर: ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ
paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ
yo loka-trayam āviśya
bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ
Synonyms
uttamaḥ
—
the best
;
puruṣaḥ
—
personality
;
tu
—
but
;
anyaḥ
—
another
;
parama-ātmā
—
the Supreme Self
;
iti
—
thus
;
udāhṛtaḥ
—
is said
;
yaḥ
—
who
;
loka
—
of the universe
;
trayam
—
the three divisions
;
āviśya
—
entering
;
bibharti
—
is maintaining
;
avyayaḥ
—
inexhaustible
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the Lord.
Translation
Besides these two, there is the greatest living personality, the Supreme Soul, the imperishable Lord Himself, who has entered the three worlds and is maintaining them.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
17. But the highest person is different from this. He is described as the Paramātmā, who having entered the three worlds, though being the controller and unchanging, supports it.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
17. The highest person is different from this. He is described as the paramātmā, who, having entered the three worlds, though being the controller and unchanging, supports them.
Purport
The idea of this verse is very nicely expressed in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.13). It is clearly stated there that above the innumerable living entities, some of whom are conditioned and some of whom are liberated, there is the Supreme Personality, who is Paramātmā. The Upaniṣadic verse runs as follows: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. The purport is that amongst all the living entities, both conditioned and liberated, there is one supreme living personality, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who maintains them and gives them all the facility of enjoyment according to different work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in everyone’s heart as Paramātmā. A wise man who can understand Him is eligible to attain perfect peace, not others.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Having just spoken about the impersonal Brahman, which the jṣānīs worship, the Lord now speaks about the Paramātmā which the yogīs worship. The word tu indicates a distinction from what was previously spoken. As the yogī is a different worshipper than the jṣānī, the object worshipped by him will also be different.
The Lord shows the nature of Paramātmā. Paramātmā is He who, though having the nature of commanding (īśvara) and being unchanging (avyayaḥ), enters into the three worlds completely and supports and protects it (bibharti).
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
The reason the two were delineated is now described in this verse. There is another (anyaḥ) person, who is different in conception from the two types mentioned. He is described according to the scriptures as paramātmā (iti udāhṛtaḥ). The quality which makes Him supreme (uttama) is then described. He enters the three worlds and supports everything. This position of supporting and protecting the universe cannot refer to the conditioned jīva because he cannot perform such actions. It cannot refer to the liberated jīva because he is devoid of interaction with the world.
Surrender Unto Me
Krsna explains here, directly and clearly, without the examples that He is the One, 'bibharty avyaya isvarah', He is the controller, He is the maintainer of this world, He is the Supersoul...
When Krsna describes the 'aksara', the infallible, He said 'kuta‑stho 'ksara ucyate', the infallible ones, they are one with Krsna in desire. That is the quality that one needs to be in the spiritual world ‑ one has to be harmonious with Krsna in desire, which means that one has to be detached from the material world. Therefore Krsna in the beginning had said:'surrender to Supreme Personality of Godhead, give up your independent desire to be the enjoyer!' That is the state of infallibility ‑ one has to accept his position as the servant.