Chapter 2
Story Analysis
Verse 4
This verse says:
“When the jīvātmā, who moves from one body to another, leaves this body, what remains in it? Whatever remains—that alone is the Supreme you asked about.”
The idea stated earlier is being repeated in another way:
The jīvātmā leaves one body and enters another.
When it leaves, the old body becomes lifeless—there is no motion, no vibration.
So here the point is:
The presence inside as jīvātmā is also the same conscious power.
When the jīvātmā departs, the body retains only the underlying conscious essence—called self, consciousness, or Supreme.
This completes verse 4.
Verse 5
“Not by prāṇa nor by apāna does any mortal live. But by that One in whom prāṇa and apāna are supported, all live.”
This repeats what was said in verse 3 in a different way.
As children we think, “Life is because of prāṇa—when prāṇa goes, life ends.”
But prāṇa and apāna exist because the conscious presence exists within.
Prāṇa and apāna are only powers, functions.
Their very presence depends on a “third”—the conscious Self.
So here the verse says:
– No one lives because of prāṇa or apāna.
– Everyone lives because of that in which prāṇa and apāna themselves are resting.
– That is the conscious Self, the Supreme.
This is verse 5.
Verse 6
“Now I will tell you, O descendant of Gautama, this secret eternal Brahman, and how the jīva exists after death.”
Here “Gautama” is used in the physical, genealogical sense.
Earlier we discussed the deeper meaning of “Gautama,” but in this verse it is only the family name.
The verse says:
– The hidden, eternal Brahman is this very conscious power.
– The same Self, when conditioned, becomes the jīvātmā.
– When it leaves the body and exists apart, how it remains—that will now be explained in the next verse.
So verse 6 is incomplete without verse 7.
Verse 7
“According to karma and according to the state of mind formed by what one has heard, some jīvās enter various moving births, and others follow the unmoving state.”
The printed commentary usually gives the meaning:
– According to one’s karma and inner impressions, some enter moving bodies (animals etc.)
– Others enter stationary forms (plants etc.)
But the speaker explains this differently.
Two key words appear: yathā karma and yathā śrutam.
– “According to karma”
– “According to the inner disposition formed through learning and impressions”
According to many traditional texts:
– If someone’s inner state is low or ordinary, after death the jīvātmā enters another human body very quickly—anywhere between a moment to about thirteen days.
– If someone’s state is high and elevated, the jīvātmā does not immediately enter a new body. It remains in a subtle, quiet, “stable” condition in space, waiting for a suitable womb.
So:
– A high, refined jīva does not instantly take birth.
– It remains steady (this is the meaning of sthāṇu).
– Only when the appropriate womb becomes available does it enter.
Therefore, the idea that a human jīva becomes a plant, insect, or animal is not taken literally here.
Different species have different “seeds.”
A human seed cannot enter an insect seed, just as a mango seed cannot transform into a sapodilla seed.
Stories in Purāṇas—such as King Bharata becoming a deer—are symbolic, intended to warn and guide, not literal biological transformation.
Thus the true sense explained here is:
– A human jīva remains in human lineage.
– The difference is only whether it takes birth immediately or waits, depending on the level of its inner state.
This completes verse 7.
Verse 8
“That One who stays awake while all sleep, who creates each being’s experiences according to their karma—that alone is pure, that alone is Brahman, that alone is immortal. All worlds rest in it, and none can go beyond it. This is the Supreme you asked about.”
The meaning is straightforward:
– There is only one element that never sleeps.
– That ever-awake element is the Self, Brahman, the immortal principle.
– Everything depends on it; everything rests in it.
– Nothing in the universe can surpass or cross beyond it.
The verse also says:
“kāmam kāmam puruṣo nirmimāṇaḥ” —
The Supreme creates the various experiences each person undergoes according to karma.
This is the same as the “law of karma.”
In stories it is said that “Chitragupta writes down actions,” but this is only a symbolic way of expressing the same idea. In truth, it is the single conscious principle—the Supreme—that expresses itself as the law of karma.
No element in the universe can overrule this principle.
That is verse 8.