Devanagari
एक: शुद्ध: स्वयंज्योतिर्निर्गुणोऽसौ गुणाश्रय: ।
सर्वगोऽनावृत: साक्षी निरात्मात्मात्मन: पर: ॥ ७ ॥
Verse text
ekaḥ śuddhaḥ svayaṁ-jyotir
nirguṇo ’sau guṇāśrayaḥ
sarva-go ’nāvṛtaḥ sākṣī
nirātmātmātmanaḥ paraḥ
Synonyms
ekaḥ
—
one
;
śuddhaḥ
—
pure
;
svayam
—
self
;
jyotiḥ
—
effulgent
;
nirguṇaḥ
—
without material qualifications
;
asau
—
that
;
guṇa
—
āśrayaḥ — the reservoir of good qualities
;
sarva
—
gaḥ — able to go everywhere
;
anāvṛtaḥ
—
without being covered by matter
;
sākṣī
—
witness
;
nirātmā
—
without another self
;
ātma
—
ātmanaḥ — to the body and mind
;
paraḥ
—
transcendental .
Translation
The individual soul is one, pure, nonmaterial and self-effulgent. He is the reservoir of all good qualities, and He is all-pervading. He is without material covering, and He is the witness of all activities. He is completely distinguished from other living entities, and He is transcendental to all embodied souls.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Paramātmā is pure, self-revealing, beyond the material guṇas, the shelter of the guṇas, all-pervading, uncovered by matter, the witness of all things, independent of all others, and different from the jīva and his body.
He teaches knowledge of Paramātmā, caused by detachment, for those absorbed in ātma-jṣāna. The Paramātmā (ātmā) is different (paraḥ) from the body and the jīva (ātmanaḥ). He is one, whereas the jīvas and their bodies are unlimited in number. The jīva is impure without knowledge, and covered by the guṇas, whereas the Paramātmā is pure, with knowledge and without material guṇas. Because he produces the guṇas and is independent of them, he is called the shelter of the guṇas. The jīva is not pervading everywhere, since he has a material body and conforms to it. The jīva is covered by house and other objects. The jīva is not the witness because he is often unconscious and has clouded vision. The jīva is a small conscious entity, dependent on Paramātmā, whereas the Paramātmā is the greateset conscious entity and independent of the jīva (nirātmā). Thus nine qualities distinguish the Paramātmā from the jīva and his body. By this statement as well, nine differences between the jīva and his body are shown.
Purport
In the previous verse two significant words are used:
asaṁsaktaḥ,
meaning “without attachment,” and
budhaḥ,
meaning “fully cognizant of everything.” By full cognizance it is meant that one should know about his own constitutional position as well as the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, in this verse Lord Viṣṇu is describing Himself, or the Paramātmā. The Paramātmā is always distinguished from the embodied soul as well as the material world. Therefore He has been described as
para.
That
para,
or Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
eka,
meaning “one.” The Lord is one, whereas the conditioned souls embodied within the material world exist in many varieties of form. There are demigods, human beings, animals, trees, birds, bees and so forth. Thus the living entities are not
eka
but many. As confirmed in the
Vedas:
nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām.
The living entities, who are many and who are entangled in this material world, are not pure. However, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pure and detached. Due to being covered by the material body, the living entities are not self-effulgent, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramātmā, is self-effulgent. The living entities, being contaminated by the modes of material nature, are called
saguṇa,
whereas Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
nirguṇa,
not being under the influence of the material modes. The living entities, being encaged in material qualities, are
guṇāśrita,
whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead is
guṇāśraya.
The conditioned soul’s vision is covered by material contamination; therefore he cannot see the cause of his actions, and he cannot see his past lives. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, not being covered by a material body, is the witness of all the activities of the living entity. But both of them, the living entity and the Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are
ātmā,
or spirit. They are one in quality, yet they are different in so many ways, especially in regard to the six opulences the Supreme Personality of Godhead has in full. Full knowledge means that the
jīva-ātmā,
the living entity, must know both his position and the Supreme’s position. That is full knowledge.