Lord Krishna
Divine TeacherThe Supreme Lord, the charioteer and divine guide of Arjuna. Krishna delivers the eternal wisdom of the Gita, revealing the nature of the soul, duty, and the path to liberation.
Speaking: Chapter 8, Verse 3
Verse 3
Hard VerseThe Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and its eternal nature is called adhyatma, the self. Action pertaining to the development of the material bodies of the living entities is called karma, or fruitive activities.
Context & Meaning
Krishna answers with precision. Brahman is the imperishable supreme. The individual self's own inner nature is adhyātma. And karma — often misunderstood as mere fate — is specifically the creative action that brings material bodies into being. These three are distinct but deeply interrelated.
Scholar Commentaries
1 commentary · Public domainAdi Shankaracharya
AdvaitaBrahman here is the absolute, imperishable substratum. Adhyātma is the individual self (jīva) in its own essential nature. Karma is the primal action-force responsible for the manifestation of bodies — the engine of saṃsāra.