Bhagavad Gita · Purushottama Yoga — The Yoga of the Supreme Person
Chapter 15, Verse 7
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः। मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति॥
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
Meaning
The living beings in this conditioned world are eternal fragments of Me; they struggle with the six senses — the mind and the five senses — rooted in material nature.
इस संसार में सभी जीव मेरे ही सनातन (शाश्वत) अंश हैं। वे प्रकृति में स्थित मन सहित छह इन्द्रियों (पाँच ज्ञानेन्द्रियाँ और मन) के साथ संघर्ष करते हैं।
Explanation
This verse makes one of the Gita's most direct metaphysical claims: that every individual soul (jiva) is not separate from the divine in essence, but an eternal fragment (amsha) of it. The struggle described in the second line — the mind and senses "pulling" at the soul — describes the ordinary human condition: a fundamentally divine essence caught up in the pull of sensory experience and mental activity, which is why so much of the Gita's teaching is devoted to disciplining the mind and senses without denying or destroying them.
Life Lesson
This verse offers a particular kind of reassurance: the difficulty of managing a restless mind and distracting senses isn't evidence of some deeper flaw — it's described here as the basic, shared condition of being embodied at all. The struggle itself doesn't diminish what's fundamental and unchanging underneath it.
Context
Spoken by Krishna in Chapter 15, which addresses the nature of the self, the material world, and the "Supreme Person" (Purushottama) that transcends both — one of the more philosophically dense chapters of the Gita, dealing directly with the relationship between the individual soul and the divine.
Why this verse matters
This verse is a key textual basis for the concept, common across many Hindu philosophical schools, that the individual soul shares its essential nature with the divine — a foundational idea in Vedantic thought about the relationship between Atman (individual self) and Brahman (ultimate reality).
Related verses
This connects directly to the teaching on the eternal, unchanging nature of the soul in Chapter 2, Verse 20.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Bhagavad Gita 15.7 mean?
The living beings in this conditioned world are eternal fragments of Me; they struggle with the six senses — the mind and the five senses — rooted in material nature.
What is the life lesson of this verse?
This verse offers a particular kind of reassurance: the difficulty of managing a restless mind and distracting senses isn't evidence of some deeper flaw — it's described here as the basic, shared condition of being embodied at all. The struggle itself doesn't diminish what's fundamental and unchanging underneath it.
What is the context of this verse?
Spoken by Krishna in Chapter 15, which addresses the nature of the self, the material world, and the "Supreme Person" (Purushottama) that transcends both — one of the more philosophically dense chapters of the Gita, dealing directly with the relationship between the individual soul and the divine.