Chapter 8 Shloka 4

अधिभूतं क्षरो भाव: पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम्।

अधियज्ञोऽहमेवात्र देहे देहभृतां वर।।४।।

O peerless amongst embodied souls!

All that is perishable is Adhibhoot;

the Supreme Purusha is Adhidaiva;

and I Myself am Adhiyagya

who abides in the body.

Chapter 8 Shloka 4

अधिभूतं क्षरो भाव: पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम्।

अधियज्ञोऽहमेवात्र देहे देहभृतां वर।।४।।

Lord Krishna addresses Arjuna:

O peerless amongst embodied souls! All that is perishable is Adhibhoot; the Supreme Purusha is Adhidaiva; and I Myself am Adhiyagya who abides in the body.

Adhibhoot (अधिभूत) – Nature or Prakriti wrought by the Supreme through amalgamation of the animate and the inanimate

1. The transient gross universe is Adhibhoot.

2. That which is changeable is Adhibhoot.

3. That which is controlled by the gunas or attributes of Prakriti is Adhibhoot.

4. The transient nature is Adhibhoot.

5. The process of creation, sustenance, and re-absorption is Adhibhoot.

6. All objects that are susceptible to mergence and separation are Adhibhoot.

7. All objects that are susceptible to birth and death belong to the sphere of Adhibhoot.

8. The Vaishvanar aspect of the Supreme, where He Himself inheres all beings, is Adhibhoot.

9. That Supreme One is the support of all creation and also its form.

10. That One constitutes the gross Prakriti or nature and is also the threefold energy that pervades it. It is He who effects change through the attributes that inhere in all things. Therefore it could be said that He Himself is Adhibhoot.

The gross creation of the Supreme performs many works in the universe. This body, too, performs several deeds, spurred by the gunas bestowed by the Supreme. Gunas interact with other gunas and many a change is wrought. All this happens within the orbit of That Supreme One. Every guna comes from Him. The union between gunas is caused by Him. He is the greatest among all beings – the Lord of all. Hence He is Adhibhoot.

Adhidaiva (अधिदैव)

1. Adhidaiva is Brahm.

2. Adhidaiva is the Lord of all energy.

3. Consciousness Itself, Taijas can be called Adhidaiva.

4. The Principal Controller of mind, intellect and the ego is Adhidaiva.

5. The Supreme Being can be called Adhidaiva.

6. The hidden latencies of several births lie in Adhidaiva.

7. The Creator of the Universal law, its Upholder and the all-knowing Principle is Adhidaiva.

8. The Protector of all – the personal God is Adhidaiva.

9.   Negative and positive attributes spring forth from this source.

10. The constitution of power relegation to the sense faculties takes place here. Adhidaiva is the Lord of all the powers of Brahm. Adhidaiva is the Lord of all the divine powers. The subtle aspect of Brahm is Adhidaiva.

Adhiyagya (अधियज्ञ)

Bhagwan tells Arjuna, “O great one amongst all embodied beings! I am the Adhiyagya that pervades the body.”

1. In the body, the Lord is the Master of all yagya.

2. He is the protector of yagya.

3. He is the originator of yagya.

4. He silently pervades all yagya.

5. He is the sole support of all yagya.

Yagya originates from the Lord’s divine Name. It originates in the Truth. Selfless deeds are performed in the Lord’s Name. Selfless knowledge is acquired in order to know the Supreme. Nishkam Upasana or ‘sitting near That Supreme One with faith’ leads to the inculcation of the qualities of the Supreme in one’s life. That epitome of Adhiyagya accepts the yagya of all beings and bestows upon them, yagyashesh or the unalloyed joy that emanates from yagya.

This yagyashesh is bestowed by the Supreme Lord; this is the sanctified water of His divine feet (charanamrit), partaking of which, one is indeed blessed. As the aspirant who performs yagya invokes the Lord’s presence in his every deed, he begins to experience the attitude of selflessness and its resultant benefits:

a) transcendence from the gunas or attributes;

b) detachment;

c) deliverance from moha;

d) eternal satiation;

e) equanimity;

f) the inculcation of divine attributes;

g) absence of the idea of doership.

All these benefits accrue as a prasaad of yagya. All this transpires in the omnipresence of the Adhiyagya.

Little one, the Lord makes all these so-called classifications of that Indivisible, Indestructible Brahm for the individual’s understanding:

1. To explain to the jiva;

2. To help him to understand the nature of Brahm;

3. To annihilate his ego;

4. To eradicate his attachment;

5. To stress upon him that ‘All is Brahm’;

­­–  He is the Lord of the perishable world – Adhibhoot.

­­–  He is the Lord of the subtle, conscious world – Adhidaiva.

­­–  He Himself is Adhiyagya – the Essence of the Atma.