Chapter 15: Purushottama-yoga:: Verse 18
यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तम: ।
अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथित: पुरुषोत्तम: ॥
yasmāt-kṣaram-atīto’hamakṣarād-
api cottama:
ato’smi loke vede ca
prathita: puruṣottama: – 15.18
As I (the supreme Purusha) transcend the perishable existence and the imperishable (jīva), hence I am famous in the Vedas and the world as Purushottama.
Chapter 15: Purushottama-yoga: - Verse 18
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Purusha is a word indicating the Supreme, the very source of all existence, creation. It means the one that inheres in a body. Humans are also called purushas as each of them resides in a body, calling it ‘my body, my residence’. Earlier Krishna described the nine-gated city, the body, in which resides the indweller (5.13).
Here he describes prakrti itself consisting of the perishable, kshara purusha, and imperishable, akshara purusha, permeating the body and the world.
He also speaks of the still greater aspect, the Purushottama, the one from whom prakrti’s gunas begin to manifest. It is beyond the avyākrta, unmanifest nature. It permeates all the three worlds of wakefulness, sleep and dream. It is the controller and guide for everything within the three states. Hence, in the Vedas and the world it is famous as Purushottama, dwelling in the body and extending beyond.
