Shloka
अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम् |
जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत् ||७-५||Transliteration
apareyamitastvanyāṃ prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām .
jīvabhūtāṃ mahābāho yayedaṃ dhāryate jagat ||7-5||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
7.5. This is the lower [nature of Mine]. Not different from this is My superior nature which has become the individual Soul and by which this world is maintained. O mighty armed (Arjuna), you must know this.
Shri Purohit Swami
7.5 This is My inferior Nature; but distinct from this, O Valiant One, know thou that my Superior Nature is the very Life which sustains the universe.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
7.4-5 Bhumih etc. Apard etc. [The demonstrative] ’this’ denotes what is being perceived [as objects] through sense-organs by all men at the stage of mundane life. This is only one and at the same time is divided eigth-fold. Therefore the universe is one and unitary, because it is made of one single material cause. By this statement, monism is demonstrated even while following the Prakrti theory. The selfsame Prakrti has become the living one i.e., the personal Soul. Hence it is superior [to what has become eight-fold]. It also belongs to Me alone and not to anybody else. This Prakrti is [thus] two-fold and varied in the form of the universe consisting of the knowables and the knower. That is why this Prakrti (the basic material nature), being the substratum of all beings reflected on the surface of the clean mirror, viz., the Self , is nothing but Self’s own nature and [hence] never leaves Him. This world : the Earth etc. [mentioned in the 4th verse].
Sri Ramanuja
7.5 This is My lower Prakrti. But know My higher Prakrti which is different from this, i.e., whose nature is different from this inanimate Prakrti constituting the objects of enjoyment to animate beings. It is ‘higher’, i.e., is more pre-eminent compared to the lower Prakrti which is constituted only of inanimate substances. This higher Nature of Mine is the individual self. Know this as My higher Prakrti through which the whole inanimate universe is sustained.
Sri Shankaracharya
7.5 O mighty-armed one, iyam, this; is apara, the inferior (Prakrti)-not the higher, (but)-the impure, the source of evil and having the nature of worldly bondage. Viddhi, know; anyam, the other, pure; prakrtim, Prakrti; me, of Mine, which is essentially Myself; which, tu, however;is param, higher, more exalted; itah, than this (Prakrti) already spoken of; Jiva-bhutam, which has taken the form of the individual souls, which is characterized as ’the Knower of the body (field)’, and which is the cause of sustenance of life; and yaya, by which Prakriti; idam, this; jagat, world; dharyate, is upheld, by permeating it.
Swami Adidevananda
7.5 This is My lower Prakrti. But, O mighty-armed One, know that My higher nature is another. It is the life-principle (Jiva-bhuta), by which this universe is sustained.
Swami Gambirananda
7.5 O mighty-armed one, this is the inferior (Prakrti). Know the other Prakrti of Mine which, however, is higher than this, which has taken the from of individual souls, and by which this world is uphelp.
Swami Sivananda
7.5 This is the inferior Prakriti, O mighty-armed (Arjuna); know thou as different from it My higher Prakriti (Nature), the very life-element, by which this world is upheld.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
7.5 अपरा lower? इयम् this? इतः from this? तु but? अन्याम् different? प्रकृतिम् nature? विद्धि know? मे My? पराम् higher? जीवभूताम् the very lifeelement? महाबाहो O mightyarmed? यया by which? इदम् this? धार्यते is upheld? जगत् world.Commentary The eightfold Nature described in the previous verse is the inferior Nature. It constitutes the Kshetra or the field or matter. It is impure. It generates evil and causes bondage. But the superior Nature is pure. It is My very Self? Kshetrajna (knower of the field or Spirit) by which life is sustained? and that which enters within the whole world and upholds it. It is the very lifeelement or the principle of Selfconsciousness? by which this universe is sustained.