Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 7, Verse 5
अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम्।
जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत्।।
जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत्।।
apareyam itas tvanyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām
jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
also searched as "apareyam itastvanyam prakritim viddhi me param"
Translation
This is My lower Prakṛti. But, O mighty-armed one, know that My higher nature is another. It is the life-principle (Jīva-bhūta), by which this universe is sustained.
Vāṇi's rendering
But that is my lower nature. My higher nature is the very life in beings — it holds this world up.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अपराaparā | lower, the nearer one |
| इयम्iyam | this — the eightfold nature just named (joins as apareyam) |
| इतःitaḥ | than this |
| तुtu | but |
| अन्याम्anyām | another, a different one (itaḥ tu anyām joins as itas tvanyām) |
| प्रकृतिम्prakṛtim | nature |
| विद्धिviddhi | know |
| मेme | my |
| पराम्parām | higher |
| जीवभूताम्jīva-bhūtām | having become the living — the life in beings |
| महाबाहोmahā-bāho | O mighty-armed one |
| ययाyayā | by which |
| इदम्idam | this (yayā + idam joins as yayedam) |
| धार्यतेdhāryate | is held up, is carried |
| जगत्jagat | world |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Verse 5 mean?
Krishna divides his own nature in two. The eight elements listed a verse earlier — from earth to the sense of I — are aparā, the lower. The higher is jīva-bhūtā, the life that has become beings, and it is what carries the world. Both are his. Only one is what you are.
What does apareyam itastvanyam prakritim viddhi me param mean?
This one is the lower — know that my other nature is higher. Krishna is not rejecting matter; he is ranking it. The mind and the ego belong to the same order as water and air. What holds them all upright is of another order entirely, and it is nearer to you than any of them.
What is the difference between the lower and higher nature in the Gita?
The lower can be listed, weighed, described. Body, mind, reason, the sense of being someone — all of it can be looked at. The higher cannot be listed, because it is the looking. Krishna calls it jīva-bhūtā, life become living. Everything countable in you rests on something uncountable.
Why does Krishna call his higher nature the life in beings?
Because he refuses to place it somewhere else. It is not a distant power sustaining the world from outside; it is the very aliveness in whatever breathes. The word is dhāryate — held up. Nothing in you keeps you standing. You are what keeps it standing.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has just finished counting: earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, reason, the sense of I. A tidy inventory of everything you would list if asked to describe yourself. Then he says — that is the lower one. Not false, not to be despised, only lower. Above it is the life by which the whole inventory stands and moves, the same life in every breathing thing. Notice the word holds. Your body does not hold you up; you hold it. What you have been calling yourself is mostly the eight items. What is reading this line is the ninth thing, which is not a thing.