Devanagari
योऽध्यात्मिकोऽयं पुरुष: सोऽसावेवाधिदैविक: ।
यस्तत्रोभयविच्छेद: पुरुषो ह्याधिभौतिक: ॥ ८ ॥
Verse text
yo ’dhyātmiko ’yaṁ puruṣaḥ
so ’sāv evādhidaivikaḥ
yas tatrobhaya-vicchedaḥ
puruṣo hy ādhibhautikaḥ
Synonyms
yaḥ
—
one who
;
adhyātmikaḥ
—
is possessed of the sense organs
;
ayam
—
this
;
puruṣaḥ
—
personality
;
saḥ
—
he
;
asau
—
that
;
eva
—
also
;
adhidaivikaḥ
—
controlling deity
;
yaḥ
—
that which
;
tatra
—
there
;
ubhaya
—
of both
;
vicchedaḥ
—
separation
;
puruṣaḥ
—
person
;
hi
—
for
;
ādhibhautikaḥ
—
the visible body or the embodied living entity .
Translation
The individual person possessing different instruments of senses is called the adhyātmic person, and the individual controlling deity of the senses is called adhidaivic. The embodiment seen on the eyeballs is called the adhibhautic person.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The covering on the jīva known as the subtle sense organ is not different from the presiding deities of the senses. The division of subtle sense organ and sense deity is not different from the gross organ of the material body.
Purport
The supreme controlling
summum bonum
is the Personality of Godhead in His plenary portion of Paramātmā, or the Supersoul manifestation. In the
Bhagavad-gītā
(10.42)
it is said:
athavā bahunaitena
kiṁ jṣātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat
All the controlling deities like Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva are different manifestations of the Paramātmā feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who exhibits himself in such manners by entering into each and every universe generated from Him. But still apparently there are divisions of the controller and controlled. For example, in the food-controlling department the controller of food is a person made of the same ingredients as the person who is controlled. Similarly, each and every individual in the material world is controlled by the higher demigods. For example, we have our senses, but the senses are controlled by superior controlling deities. We cannot see without light, and the supreme controller of light is the sun. The sun-god is in the sun planet, and we, the individual human beings or any other being on this earth, are all controlled by the sun-god as far as our eyes are concerned. Similarly, all the senses we have are controlled by the superior demigods, who are also as much living entities as we are, but one is empowered while the other is controlled. The controlled living entity is called the adhyātmic person, and the controller is called the adhidaivic person. All these positions in the material world are due to different fruitive activities. Any individual living being can become the sun-god or even Brahmā or any other god in the upper planetary system by a higher grade of pious work, and similarly one becomes controlled by the higher demigods by lower grades of fruitive activities. So every individual living entity is subject to the supreme control of the Paramātmā, who puts everyone in different positions of the controller and the controlled.
That which distinguishes the controller and controlled, i.e., the material body, is called the adhibhautic
puruṣa.
The body is sometimes called
puruṣa,
as confirmed in the
Vedas
in the following hymn:
sa vā eṣa puruṣo ’nna-rasamayaḥ.
This body is called the
anna-rasa
embodiment. This body depends on food. The living entity which is embodied does not eat anything, however, because the owner is spirit in essence. The material body requires replacement of matter for the wearing and tearing of the mechanical body. Therefore the distinction between the individual living entity and controlling planetary deities is in the
anna-rasamaya
body. The sun may have a gigantic body, and the man may have a smaller body, but all these visible bodies are made of matter; nonetheless, the sun-god and the individual person, who are related as the controller and the controlled, are the same spiritual parts and parcels of the Supreme Being, and it is the Supreme Being who places different parts and parcels in different positions. And thus the conclusion is that the Supreme Person is the shelter of all.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Lord has said viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat: I am situated by my portion everywhere in this world. (BG 10.42) Two verses now show the difference between this āśraya form situated as antaryāmī within all bodies and the individual jīvas. The covering known as the subtle sense organ (adhyātmikaḥ puruṣaḥ) is the controlling deity of the sense organ (adhidaivikaḥ), such as the sun deity who controls the eye, since both the eye and the presiding deity of the eye are aṁśas of the sun deity. Among all substances, that portion which has divisions of sense and sense deity (ubhaya) is not different from the covering on the jīva known as the visible organ. The gross organ and sense objects (tan-mātrās) are called the gross body. The word puruṣa is used in all these cases to indicate that these are coverings on the jīva. This meaning of puruṣa is found in śruti statements such as sa vā eṣa puruṣo ’nna-rasa-mayaḥ: the puruṣa is composed of food and taste. (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.1)