[Advaita-l] The Purushottama of the BG 15th Ch. - Shankara throws a surprise

[V Subrahmanian]

In the BG 15th chapter we have this verse about the Purushottama:

Bhagavan says:

यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तमः।
अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथितः *पुरुषोत्तमः*।।15.18।।

15.18 Since I am transcendental to the mutable and above even the
immutable, hence I am well known in the world and in the Vedas as the
supreme Person, Purushottama.

Shankara's commentary:

*Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya*

।।15.18।। --,*यस्मात् क्षरम् अतीतः अहं* संसारमायावृक्षम् अश्वत्थाख्यम्
अतिक्रान्तः अहम् *अक्षरादपि* संसारमायारूपवृक्षबीजभूतादपि *च उत्तमः* उत्कृष्टतमः
ऊर्ध्वतमो वा | *अतः* ताभ्यां क्षराक्षराभ्याम् उत्तमत्वात् *अस्मि लोके वेदे
च प्रथितः* प्रख्यातः। *पुरुषोत्तमः* इत्येवं मां भक्तजनाः विदुः। कवयः
काव्यादिषु च इदं नाम निबध्नन्ति। पुरुषोत्तम इत्यनेनाभिधानेनाभिगृणन्ति।।


18.1. Since I surpass the 'perishable-the magic fig tree of transmigratory
life-and exceed even the 'imperishable', the seed of this tree, I am 'the
supreme', the highest. Being above these two, the perishable and the
imperishable, 'I am celebrated in common speech and the Vedas'. The
devotees call Me the Supreme Spirit. The poets employ this name in their
poems and so forth, extolling Me.

Here it is clear that the Purushottama is Bhagavan, Ishwara.

However, in the Chandogya 8th chapter, Prajāpati Vidya, 12.3, we have the
description of the jiva coming out of avidya and regaining its true self
(The teaching Indra, the aspirant, gets from Guru Prajapati) -

एवमेवैष सम्प्रसादोऽस्माच्छरीरात्समुत्थाय परं ज्योतिरुपसम्पद्य स्वेन
रूपेणाभिनिष्पद्यते स *उत्तमपुरुषः* ...

TEXT-Thus does the Serene Being, rising out of this Body and having reached
the Highest Light, appears in his own form. That is the *Highest Person*;
there he moves about, laughing, playing and rejoicing,-

Shankara comments:

 स येन स्वेन रूपेण सम्प्रसादोऽभिनिष्पद्यते — प्राक्प्रतिबोधात्
तद्भ्रान्तिनिमित्तात्सर्पो भवति यथा रज्जुः, पश्चात्कृतप्रकाशा रज्ज्वात्मना
स्वेन रूपेणाभिनिष्पद्यते, एवं च स उत्तमपुरुषः उत्तमश्चासौ
पुरुषश्चेत्युत्तमपुरुषः स एव उत्तमपुरुषः । अक्षिस्वप्नपुरुषौ व्यक्तौ
अव्यक्तश्च सुषुप्तः समस्तः सम्प्रसन्नः अशरीरश्च स्वेन रूपेणेति । *एषामेव
स्वेन रूपेणावस्थितः क्षराक्षरौ व्याकृताव्याकृतावपेक्ष्य उत्तमपुरुषः ;
कृतनिर्वचनो हि अयं **गीतासु । *

Translation:
That form in which the Serene Being appears, before being enlightened, is
due to Ignorance; just as the Rope becomes the serpent and then when
illumined by light, it appears in its own form of Rope. In the same manner,
the Highest Person - the Highest of Persons; there are many 'persons', such
as (1) 'the Person in the Eye', (2) 'the dreaming persons', (3) 'the
manifested' and the 'unmanifested' persons, (4) 'the person soundly asleep,
happy and serene', (5) 'unbodied, in his own form';-* and of all these the
'person' in his own form is the 'highest' as compared to the
'differentiated' and the 'undifferentiated'.-This has been fully explained
in the Bhagavad-Gitā.*

What comes as a surprise is:  In the Bh.gita and the Bhashya, it is the
Purshottama who is beyond the manifest world and the unmanifest Māya.
However in the Chandogya, the Uttama Purusha, same as Purushottama, as per
Shankara, is the jiva's Atman that is beyond the manifest forms of
experiences in waking and dream and the unmanifest experience of avidya in
sleep.  What is at the world-creation, Brahman level in the Bh.Gita is
replicated in the individual jiva Atma level in the Chandogya.

Again we notice the DSV in the Bh. Gita, from the wisdom gained from the
Chandogya Bhashya. It is the one Atman (Purushottama) that appears of the
entire world of manifest and the unmanifest.  We are again reminded of the
Mandukya scheme where the first two pāda-s are the manifest (kṣara) and the
third pāda (akṣara) the unmanifest (all in both vyaśṭi and samaśṭi levels)
and the Turiya that is beyond all the three pādas (kṣara and  akṣara of the
Bh.Gita).

It's only the Chandogya Bhashya that helps us appreciate all the above. The
Purushottama Bhagavan is none other than the Uttama Purusha jivātman.

Om Tat Sat