Chapter 8, Verse 1
अर्जुन उवाच किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम। अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते।।8.1।।
arjuna uvāca kiṃ tadbrahma kimadhyātmaṃ kiṃ karma puruṣottama. adhibhūtaṃ ca kiṃ proktamadhidaivaṃ kimucyate.।8.1।।
Word by word
- अर्जुनः उवाच
- Arjuna said
- किम्
- what
- तत् ब्रह्म
- that Brahman (the Absolute)
- किम् अध्यात्मम्
- what is the individual self (adhyatma)
- किं कर्म
- what is action (karma)
- पुरुषोत्तम
- O Supreme Person (Krishna)
- अधिभूतम्
- the domain of the material elements/beings (adhibhuta)
- च
- and
- किं प्रोक्तम्
- what is it called
- अधिदैवम्
- the domain of the divine (adhidaiva)
- किम् उच्यते
- what is it said to be
Commentary
1 — 2. What is that Brahman ? What about the Individual Self (Adhyatma)? What is action (Karma), O Purushottama ? And what is declared to be the physical region (Adhibhuta) ? And what is the divine region (Adhidaiva) said to be ? And how and who is Adhiyajna (the Entity concerned with Sacrifice) here in this body, O Madhusudana, and how at the time of death art Thou to be known by the self-controlled ?
Source: Alladi Mahadeva Sastri, The Bhagavad-Gita with the Commentary of Sri Shankaracharya (1897), public domain (verses 1-2 discussed as one combined teaching in the source)
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