Adhikarana 7

The Nature of the Person Within

1. Visaya (Statement): The Chandogya Upanisad explains:

atha ya so 'ntar adityo hiranmayah puruso drsyate hiranya-smasrur hiranya-kesa apranakhat sarva

eva suvarnas tasya yatha kapyasam pundarikam evam aksini tasyodeti nama sa esa sarvebhyah

papmabhyah udita udeti ha vai sarvebhyah papmabhyo ya evam veda tasya rk sama ca gesnau tasmad

udigithas tasmat tv evodgataitasya hi gatha sa esa ye camusmat paranco lokas tesam ceste deva-

kamanam cety adhidaivatam. . . athadhyatmam atha ya eso 'ntar-aksini puruso drsyate saiva rk tat

sama tad uktham tad yajus tad brahma tasyaitasya tad eva rupam yad amusya rupam. yav amusya

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 Rg 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 Rg, Sama, and Yajur Vedas glorify Him.

He is identical with the golden person who resides in the sun."

2. Samsaya (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. Purvapaksa (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): Srila Vyasadeva addresses these views in the following sutra.

Sutra 20

 antas tad-dharmopadesat

    antah - within; tat - of Him; dharma - nature; upadesat' 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 Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana

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

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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 perosn 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 purusa-sukta prayers (Rg Veda 10.90) and

many other Vedic verses describe the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The

Svetasvatara Upanisad also describes the Supreme Lord's transcendental body in the following words:

 vedhaham etam purusam 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-vyapadesac canyah

    bheda - difference; vyapadesat - 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 Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana

The golden person within the sun is not the individual spirit soul who is the solar diety 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 Brhad-

aranyaka Upanisad:

ya aditye tisthann adityad antaro yam adityo na veda yasyadityah sariram ya adityam antaro yamayaty

esa ta atmantaryamy amrtah

"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 Upanisad agree on this point.