7. Nature of the Person Within

Adhyaya 1 – Pada 1 - AdhikaraNa 7


The Nature of the Person Within


1. ViShaya (Statement): The ChAndogya UpaniShad explains:


atha yA so .antar Adityo hiraNmayaH purusho dR^ishyate hiraNya-shmashrur hiraNya-kesha aprANakhAt sarva eva suvarNas tasya yathA kapyasaM puNDarIkam evam akshiNi tasyodeti nAma sa eSha sarvebhyaH pApmAbhyah udita udeti hA vai sarvebhyaH pApmAbhyo ya evaM veda tasya R^ik sAma ca gesnau tasmAd udIgithas tasmAt tv evodgataitasya hi gAthA sa eSha ye cAmuShmat paraNco lokas teShAM ceShTe deva-kAmAnAM cety adhidaivatam. . . athAdhyAtmam atha ya eSho .antar-akshiNi puruSho dR^ishyate saiva R^ik tat sAma tad ukthaM tad yajus tad brahma tasyaitasya tad eva rUpaM yad amuShya rUpam. yAv amuShya gesnau tau gesnau yan nAma tan nAma.


"Within the sun-globe is a golden person, with golden hair, a golden beard, and a body golden from His fingernails to all His limbs. His eyes are like lotus flowers. He is above all sin. One who understands Him also becomes situated above all sin. The R^ig and SAma Vedas sing His glories. From Him the highest spiritual planets, where the demigods desire to go, have become manifested. This is the golden person present among the demigods. . . Now I shall describe the person within the human mind and heart. Within the eyes a wonderful person may be seen. The R^ig, SAma, and Yajur Vedas glorify Him. He is identical with the golden person who resides in the sun."

2. SaMshaya (doubt): "Is this an individual spirit soul who by great piety and spiritual knowledge has attained this exalted position, or is this the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears as the all-pervading Supersoul?"

3. PUrvapakSha (the opposing argument): Because this person has a form and various humanlike features, He must be a pious spirit soul. By his piety and spiritual knowledge he has become able to become the great controller of demigods and human beings, who fulfills their desires, and grants them the results of thier actions.

4. SiddhAnta (Conclusion): shrIla VyAsadeva addresses these views in the following sUtra.


SUtra 20

antas tad-dharmopadeshAt


antah - within; tat - of Him; dharma - nature; upadeshAt.a because of the instruction.


The person within (the sun and the eye is the Supreme Personality of Godhead), because the Vedic literatures explain that His nature fits the description of the Lord.


Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa


The person within the sun and the eye is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present everywhere as the Supersoul. This person is not the individual spirit soul. Why? Because the Vedic literatures describe Him as being sinless and possessing all the qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For example, He is free from all sin and all karma. The slightest fragrance of karma cannot touch Him. This is not possible for the individual spirit souls, who remain subject to the laws of karma. In many other ways also the individual spirit soul does not fit the description of this person within the sun and the eye. For example: the individual spirit soul is not the fulfiller of the desires of the living entities, nor is he the awarder of the fruits of action, nor is he the object of the worship of the living entities.

At this point someone may raise the following objection: Because the person within the sun and the eye is described as having a body, therefore He must be an individual spirit soul, for the Supreme Brahman has no body.

To this objection I reply: This is not necessarily so. The puruSha-sUkta prayers (R^ig Veda 10.90) and many other Vedic verses describe the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The SvetAshvatara UpaniShad also describes the Supreme Lord as transcendental body in the following words:

vedhAham etaM puruShaM mahAntam
Aditya-varNaM tamasaH parastAt


"I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose form is transcendental to all material conceptions of darkness."*


SUtra 21

bheda-vyapadeshAc cAnyaH


bheda - difference; vyapadeshAt - because of the statement; ca - also; anyaH - another.


The Supreme Personality of Godhead is different from the individual spirit soul because this doctrine is taught in all Vedic literatures.


Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa


The golden person within the sun is not the individual spirit soul who is the solar deity and who thinks the sun-planet is his own body, but rather that golden person is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul who is present in every atom. This is confirmed by the following statement of the BR^ihad-AraNyaka UpaniShad:

ya Aditye tiShThann AdityAd antaro yam Adityo
na veda yasyAdityaH sharIraM ya Adityam antaro
yamayaty eSha ta AtmAntaryAmy amR^itaH


"That person situated within the sun, who is not the sun-god, whom the sun-god does not know, who manifests the sun-planet as His own body, who controls the sun-planet from within, that person is the immortal Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present within the heart of every living entity as the Supersoul."


From this description we may understand that the golden person within the sun is not the individual spirit soul who is the sun-god, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Both this passage and the previous quoted passage from the ChAndogya UpaniShad agree on this point.