उत्तमः पुरुषस् त्व् अन्यः परमात्मेत्य् उदाहृतः । यो लोकत्रयम् आविश्य बिभर्त्य् अव्यय ईश्वरः ॥
uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ | yo loka-trayam āviśya bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ ||
Beyond both stands the uttama Puruṣa — Paramātmā, the inexhaustible Lord pervading and sustaining all three worlds.
Word by word (3)
- uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ
- — but yet another (tu anyaḥ) is the uttama (highest/supreme) Puruṣa, referred to/declared (udāhṛtaḥ) as Paramātmā — the Supreme Self beyond both kṣara and akṣara
- yo loka-trayam āviśya bibharti
- — who, entering (āviśya) the three worlds (loka-trayam — earth, atmosphere, heaven / waking, dream, deep sleep), sustains/upholds (bibharti) them
- avyaya īśvaraḥ
- — the inexhaustible (avyaya) Lord (Īśvara) — avyaya echoes the avyaya of V1 (aśvattha) and the avyayaṃ padam (V4); now the avyaya is the Puruṣottama Himself
But there is yet another, the Supreme Purusha — referred to as Paramātmā, the Highest Self. As the inexhaustible Lord, He enters and upholds the three worlds.
A modern analogy
In a hierarchy: workers (kṣara), management (akṣara), and the founder-owner (Puruṣottama). Management is unchanging within the company, but the founder transcends the entire company structure — he is both within it (bibharti, sustains it) and beyond it. The three worlds are inside the Puruṣottama like a thought inside consciousness — sustained, pervaded, held.
V17 delivers the chapter's philosophical summit: the Puruṣottama who is beyond kṣara AND akṣara. This is the most direct ontological statement in the Gita about Krishna's absolute nature. The name Paramātmā (Supreme Self) is the Upaniṣadic Brahman made personal — He pervades and sustains the three worlds from within. After the aśvattha tree (V1-5), the supreme dhāma (V6), the cosmic manifestations (V12-15), and the three-tier ontology (V16) — the chapter culminates HERE.
The three-Puruṣa schema (kṣara/akṣara/Puruṣottama) is unique to the Gita. Śaṅkara interprets: kṣara = the unenlightened jīvas; akṣara = māyā (cosmic creative power) or the enlightened jīva; Puruṣottama = Brahman, nirguṇa and saguṇa simultaneously. Rāmānuja: Puruṣottama = personal God who is the inner controller of both kṣara (souls) and akṣara (matter). In both readings, V17 declares the supreme ontological ground that transcends and includes all created levels.
Advaita lens
Paramātmā as uttama puruṣa is Brahman viewed from the standpoint of the jīva's recognition. The three levels collapse in jñāna: kṣara (phenomenal world) is mithyā; akṣara (unmanifest) is also a superimposition on Brahman; only Puruṣottama-Brahman is absolutely real. 'Yo loka-trayam āviśya bibharti' — Brahman pervades and sustains the three worlds without being affected, like space pervading pots without becoming 'pottish.'
Bhakti lens
The bhakta hears V17 as the declaration of the Beloved's supreme status: He is not just the best among the gods, or the highest in the hierarchy — He utterly transcends the entire framework of kṣara/akṣara. When the devotee takes refuge in Puruṣottama (prapadye from V4), they are surrendering to the One who is inexhaustible (avyaya) and who sustains all three worlds — the ultimate Shelter.
Karma-Yoga lens
The karma-yogin who knows Puruṣottama as the avyaya Īśvara — the inexhaustible Lord — acts from a different ground. Actions are no longer offered to a finite person or cause. They are offered to the Inexhaustible itself. This transforms every action from labor to worship: the world one acts within (loka-traya) is already pervaded and sustained by Him, so every righteous action participates in His sustaining activity.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
But distinct is the Highest Spirit spoken of as the Supreme Self, the indestructible Lord who penetrates and sustains the three worlds. [1]
But there is another, the Supreme Purusha, called the Highest Self, the immutable Lord, who pervading the three worlds, sustains them. [4]
But the being supreme is yet another, called the highest self, who as the inexhaustible lord, pervading the three worlds, supports them. [9]
But the Highest Person is Other (than these two), called the Highest Self, the indestructible Lord who pervading the three worlds supports them. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
I am the ātman, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the heart of all beings — their beginning, middle, and end.
But why such detail, O Arjuna? With a single fragment of Myself I establish and uphold this entire universe.
I am in every heart — source of memory, knowledge, and forgetting; all Vedas point to Me, their author and knower.
At creation, the Creator embedded yajna into existence itself — give and the cosmos gives back.
For those freed from desire and anger, with controlled minds, knowing the Self — brahma-nirvāṇa exists on all sides.