yasmāt kṣaramatīto’ham akṣarādapi cottamaḥ | ato’smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ ||15.18||
Because I am beyond the perishable and above the imperishable too, therefore, in the world and in the Veda, I am renowned as puruṣottamaḥ.
When something is said to be beyond and above means it is pervading and yet not being limited by others. Bhagavān says, “I am uttamaḥ” transcend kṣara and akṣara. They can’t touch me, not because of I am far away from them. In fact there is no distance between me and them, but still I can’t be tainted even a bit by their attributes, because I am the basis of this superimposition. Just like the projected snake is not able to leave it’s coldness on the rope which is the basis of projection. In the same way, no matter what kind of body and thoughts are there, they leave no trace upon ātmā. This fact is unfolded by Veda by the knower of Veda in this world. Summing up the chapter we have the next two verses.
yo māmevamasammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam | sa sarvavid bhajati māṃ sarvabhāvena bhārata ||15.19||
The one who is not deluded, who knows Me in this way, he, (becoming) the knower of (that which is) all, gains Me as the self of all, Bhārata (Arjuna)!
yo māmevamasammūḍho - the one who is not deluded knows me in this way, the way was told in this chapter that entire universe including the very self is brahman alone. When we see the beings are born, actually they are just changes from imperishable un-manifest to perishable manifest names and forms. It is not that they didn’t exist and after being born, they exist now. In the same way when we see death, it is not that they are not going to exist anymore, existence is constant, only name and form change. This is the cycle of samsāra being nourished by the attachment towards this body and notion of I-ness where experience towards sense object is there. This cycle will end only by self-knowledge because it is rooted in wrong notion about the nature of oneself.
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