Bg. 2.16

In this way, the Lord has criticized Arjuna’s stance of being learned, because of his inappropriate lamentation. Worship of Himself alone is the means of destroying lamentation, and this arises from recognizing the difference between the worshipper (jīva) and the object of worship (the Lord). Thus the Lord has taught the real (not illusory) dualism of the jīvas,or aṁśas (dependents), the worshippers, from Himself, the aṁśi (shelter of the dependents), the object of worthy of worship. Now there are statements like the following: yadātma-tattvena tu brahma-tattvaṁ dīpopameneha yuktaḥ prapaśyet ajaṁ dhruvaṁ sarva-tattvair viśuddhaṁ jṣātvā devaṁ mucyate sarva pāśaiḥ When the yogī realizes the Brahman, through the realization of the ātmā which is like a lamp, after knowing the unborn, unchanging, pure Lord with all His ornaments, he attains liberation from all bondage. Śvetāsvatara Upaniṣad 2.15 Such statements show that the person who has knowledge about the svarūpa of conscious aṁśa, the jīva, is qualified for knowledge of the svarūpa of the conscious aṁśī, the Supreme Lord. Because of such statements, first knowledge of the jīva is taught to all persons without distinction, including the saniṣṭha devotees. With this and the following verses, the Lord begins by giving an understanding of the difference between body and ātmā, since such understanding should not come in the middle of the work. An object which is subject to change, such as the body (asataḥ), does not have unchangeable nature (bhāvaḥ). The unchanging ātmā (sataḥ) does not have the nature of changing (abhāvaḥ). The body has the nature of change and the soul has the nature of not changing. This conclusion (antaḥ) about the body, designated by the word “asat—temporary,” and soul, designated by the word “sat—permanent,” is realized (dṛṣṭaḥ) by those men who know the natures of these two (tattva darśibhiḥ). Destructible, unconscious things such as the body is called asat and the indestructible soul with consciousness is called sat. The same conclusion is seen in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa: jyotīṁṣi viṣṇur bhuvanāni viṣṇur vanāni viṣṇur girayo diśaṣ ca nadyaḥ samudrāś ca sa eva sarvaṁ yad asti yan nāsti ca vipra-varya Viṣṇu is the planets. Viṣṇu is the worlds. Viṣṇu is the forests, mountains and directions. He is the rivers and oceans. He alone is everything which is conscious (yad asti) and unconscious (yan nāsti), O best of the vipras. Viṣṇu Puṛṇa 2.12.38 The word nāsti (does not exist) refers to dull matter and the word asti (exists) refers to the conscious entity. This is described in later verses: vastv asti kim kutracid ādi-madhya-paryanta hīnaṁ satataika rūpam: is there any object anywhere which has no beginning, middle or end and remains continually in one form? (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 2.12.41) Thus nāsti means dull matter and asti means a conscious entity, by the explanation in the verse of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa itself. Some say that the Lord speaks this verse in order to establish sat karya vāda, the idea of saṅkhya philosophers that the effect is inherent in the cause, but this is not the intention, since the verse merely serves to establish the true nature of body and soul, for a person bewildered by lack of ascertainment of the nature of body and soul, by eradicating the confusion concerning them. [Note: Sat kārya vāda maintains that the effect is inherent in the cause, since something which is real (effect) cannot arise from what is non-existent. By this, they conclude that prakṛti alone is the cause of the evolution and destruction of the universe, without the necessity of God. There is a similarity with the statement of this verse: there is no creation (na bhāva) of the non-existent (asat). But the meaning of the verse is: there is no permanence (na bhāva) of the body (asat).]