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Permitter

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 13 - 18

The individual soul enjoys the activities of a particular field, but the Supersoul is present not as finite enjoyer nor as one taking part in bodily activities, but as the witness, overseer, permitter and supreme enjoyer.
BG 13.23, Translation and Purport: Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul. It is stated here that the Supersoul, who is always with the individual soul, is the representation of the Supreme Lord. He is not an ordinary living entity. Because the monist philosophers take the knower of the body to be one, they think that there is no difference between the Supersoul and the individual soul. To clarify this, the Lord says that He is represented as the Paramātmā in every body. He is different from the individual soul; He is para, transcendental. The individual soul enjoys the activities of a particular field, but the Supersoul is present not as finite enjoyer nor as one taking part in bodily activities, but as the witness, overseer, permitter and supreme enjoyer. His name is Paramātmā, not ātmā, and He is transcendental. It is distinctly clear that the ātmā and Paramātmā are different. The Supersoul, the Paramātmā, has legs and hands everywhere, but the individual soul does not. And because the Paramātmā is the Supreme Lord, He is present within to sanction the individual soul's desiring material enjoyment. Without the sanction of the Supreme Soul, the individual soul cannot do anything. The individual is bhukta, or the sustained, and the Lord is bhoktā, or the maintainer. There are innumerable living entities, and He is staying in them as a friend.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 4

In the Bhagavad-gītā (13.23) the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Paramātmā is described as upadraṣṭā (the overseer) and anumantā (the permitter).
SB 4.24.64, Purport: Remaining within the hearts of all living entities, the Lord bestows remembrance by which the living entities can enjoy certain things. Thus the living entities create their enjoyable honeycombs and then enjoy them. The example of the bees is appropriate because when bees try to enjoy their honeycomb, they have to suffer the bites of other bees. Because bees bite one another when they enjoy honey, they are not exclusively enjoying the sweetness of the honey, for there is also suffering. In other words, the living entities are subjected to the pains and pleasures of material enjoyment, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, knowing their plans for sense enjoyment, is aloof from them. In the Upaniṣads the example is given of two birds sitting on a tree. One bird (the jīva, or living entity) is enjoying the fruits of that tree, and the other bird (Paramātmā) is simply witnessing. In the Bhagavad-gītā (13.23) the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Paramātmā is described as upadraṣṭā (the overseer) and anumantā (the permitter).

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

So one puruṣa, the living entity, ātmā, and another puruṣa is Paramātmā.
Lecture on BG 13.23 -- Bombay, October 22, 1973: Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):
upadraṣṭānumantā ca
bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ
paramātmeti cāpy ukto
dehe 'smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ
[Bg. 13.23]

Translation: "Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul."

Prabhupāda: So there are two puruṣas. One puruṣa is already explained. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi... (aside:) You can go. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān [Bg. 13.22]. So one puruṣa, the living entity, ātmā, and another puruṣa is Paramātmā. Sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not distinguish between ātmā and Paramātmā. But here it is distinctly explained by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that one puruṣa is enjoying the fruits of his activities, prakṛti-sthaḥ. Being influenced by the quality of the prakṛti, material nature, he is sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu, he is taking birth in different types and species of life. And another puruṣa is there who is upadraṣṭā. Upadraṣṭā means he is overseer. He is simply seeing how the other puruṣa is working. And according to his karma, work, he is giving the result. He is the witness.
Page Title:Permitter
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:18 of Nov, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:3