Bhagwad Gita - Post 189

Verse 16

Two Purushas there are in this world, the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are the perishable, and the Kutastha is called the imperishable.

There are two realities in this world, one being imperishable, the other being perishable. Which one is perishable, and which one is imperishable? 

All visible objects, including all jivas, are perishable. 

Yaddrsyam tannasyam is a brief sutra of Acharya Sankara:

Whatever is visible is perishable. This entire world is visible and, therefore, it has to be considered as Kshara, or perishable. This is cosmically true as well as individually true. 

But there is a Kutastha Atman inside us which transcends the five Koshas, beyond the physical, subtle and causal bodies there is a transcendental light shining within us; that is our real Self, that is the Atman, that is the Kutastha Chaitanya. It is the imperishable in us. 

Thus, there appears to be a twofold reality in this world, almost amounting to the peculiar relationship between the Purusha and the Prakriti of the Sankhya. 

For the Sankhya, there is nothing above Purusha and Prakriti. According to the Sankhya, there are only two realities—Consciousness on the one side and matter on the other side—and everything can be explained by the juxtaposition and the interaction of Purusha and Prakriti.

But, interestingly and very specially, the statement made here in this Bhagwad Gita verse is that there is a Being transcending this so-called Prakriti, and it is above even the Purusha. 

The perceiving consciousness and the perceived object are transcended in a universal consciousness that absorbs both into its original essence. 

It is here alone, in the Bhagawad Gita, that a transcendent opinion is held that there is an Absolute beyond the seeing or witnessing consciousness and the witnessed world. God is not simply consciousness; 

He is not simply an object of perception in the form of the whole universe. “Unthinkable Reality, Supreme Transcendence, Purushottama am I.”

Reader’s attention is drawn to the relevant exposition already covered under the theme “Creation of the Universe”, as under:-

“…….In the Gita, an entity / existence beyond Purusha and Prakriti is explained as PURUSHOTTAMA.

In the Gita, Purusha and Purushottama words are used frequently and one is used for the other term. Thus, if the existence of Purushottama is not properly grasped by the readers, then Purusha word used in the Gita may be interpreted as Purusha explained in the Sankhya.

In the Sankhya, Purusha and Prakriti, where Prakriti is not different from Purusha but only the primordial matter of the Purusha existing as spirit, are understood to be responsible for the creation.

If that be so, where were this Purusha and Prakriti (or the identity of Purusha as Spirit and Matter) before the creation took place?

Vedanta gives the answer, which aligns with the flow given above:

“Purusha (as described in the traditional Sankhya philosophy) and Prakriti are both latent in the Supreme. At the time of creation, they became operative”.

Thus, Bhagawad Gita conveys in a subtle manner that though one talks of Kshetra and Kshetrajna with respect to their  activated human body and for all such bodies, there is Kshetra and Kshetrajna, there is one Kshetrajna common to all, who is the Purushottama.

Love.