In plain words
An eternal portion of Myself, having become the jīva in the world of living beings, draws to itself the five senses and manas as the sixth, all abiding in their own seats.
Word for word
A part indeed of Me, become the jīva in the world of living beings, eternal, draws the senses with manas [as] the sixth, abiding in [their own] seats.
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनःमनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
यत् गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते इत्युक्तम्ननु सर्वा हि गतिः आगत्यन्ता, ‘संयोगाः विप्रयोगान्ताः’ इति प्रसिद्धम् । कथम् उच्यते ‘तत् धाम गतानां नास्ति निवृत्तिः’ इति ? शृणु तत्र कारणम् —
ममैव परमात्मनः नारायणस्य, अंशः भागः अवयवः एकदेशः इति अनर्थान्तरं जिवलोके जीवानां लोके संसारे जीवभूतः कर्ता भोक्ता इति प्रसिद्धः सनातनः चिरन्तनः ; यथा जलसूर्यकः सूर्यांशः जलनिमित्तापाये सूर्यमेव गत्वा न निवर्तते च तेनैव आत्मना गच्छति, एवमेव ; यथा घटाद्युपाधिपरिच्छिन्नो घटाद्याकाशः आकाशांशः सन् घटादिनिमित्तापाये आकाशं प्राप्य न निवर्तते । अतः उपपन्नम् उक्तम् ‘यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते’(भ. गी. १५ । ६) इति । ननु निरवयवस्य परमात्मनः कुतः अवयवः एकदेशः अंशः इति ? सावयवत्वे च विनाशप्रसङ्गः अवयवविभागात् । नैष दोषः, अविद्याकृतोपाधिपरिच्छिन्नः एकदेशः अंश इव कल्पितो यतः । दर्शितश्च अयमर्थः क्षेत्राध्याये विस्तरशः । स च जीवो मदंशत्वेन कल्पितः कथं संसरति उत्क्रामति च इति, उच्यते — मनःषष्ठानि इन्द्रियाणि श्रोत्रादीनि प्रकृतिस्थानि स्वस्थाने कर्णशष्कुल्यादौ प्रकृतौ स्थितानि कर्षति आकर्षति ॥ ७ ॥
In plain words
'Having gone there, they never return' — so the verse has said. But wait, comes the objection: isn't every journey, in the end, a round trip? 'What comes together must also come apart' — everyone knows that much. So how can it be claimed that those who reach that abode never come back? Listen, and I will tell you why —
I alone am the Supreme Self, Nārāyaṇa — and 'portion,' 'share,' 'fragment,' 'a single point of it' all mean the same thing here: in the world of living beings, among souls caught in this round of birth and death, that portion becomes a jīva — a doer, an experiencer — and this has always been so, from beginningless time. Think of the sun's reflection dancing on water: it is a fragment of the sun, and once the water is gone, it goes back into the sun itself and never returns, because it was never, in its own nature, anything but the sun. Or think of the space enclosed inside a jar: it is a portion of space, and when the jar breaks, that space simply rejoins space at large and never comes back to being 'jar-space' again. That is why it could rightly be said, 'having gone there, they do not return' (Bhagavad Gītā 15.6). But someone may object: how can the partless Self have any part at all? And if It did have parts, wouldn't It fall apart the way anything made of pieces eventually does? No, this is no real problem — that 'portion' is only a boundary drawn by ignorance; it is imagined into being, the way a jar imagines a boundary within space. This very point has already been shown in full, in the chapter on the field and its knower. So how, you may ask, does this jīva, imagined as a fragment of Me, wander through birth after birth, and how does it leave the body? Here is the answer: it draws along with it the mind and the five senses, hearing and the rest, which had been resting quietly, each in its own place within nature — the ear in its cavity, and so on.
Close to the Sanskrit
'Having gone, they do not return' — thus it has been said. Now: is not every going indeed ending-in-a-coming-back? 'Unions end in separations' — thus is it well known. How is it said, 'of those who have gone to that abode, there is no return'? Listen to the reason for that —
Of Me alone, the Supreme Self, Nārāyaṇa — 'portion,' 'share,' 'part,' 'a single locus,' being synonymous terms — in the world of jīvas, among souls, in the world, in transmigratory existence, [the jīva is] one who has become a jīva, an agent, an enjoyer — thus well-known, eternal, of long standing; just as the sun-image-in-water, a portion of the sun, upon the removal of the water-condition, goes to the sun itself and does not return, but goes by that very own nature — exactly so; just as space delimited by the condition of a pot etc., being a portion of space, upon the removal of the pot-condition, having attained space, does not return. Therefore it is proven, rightly said: 'having gone where, they do not return' (Bhagavad Gītā 15.6). Now: of the partless Supreme Self, whence a part, a locus, a portion? And in the state of having parts, there would follow the contingency of destruction, from the division of parts. This is not a fault, because the portion — delimited by a condition made by ignorance — is imagined as if it were a locus. And this point has been shown at length in the Chapter on the Field. And that jīva, imagined as a portion of Me — how does it transmigrate and depart? — thus asked, it is answered: the senses, with mind as sixth, beginning with hearing, situated in their own nature, in their own place, in the ear-cavity etc., in Prakṛti — he draws, draws out. || 7 ||