Text 7] Lord Vignu’s Appearance in the Sacrificial Arena 771

ekah—one; suddhah—pure; svayam—self; jyotih—effulgent; nirgunah—
without material qualifications; asau—that; guna-asrayah—the reservoir of
good qualities; sarva-gah—able to go everywhere; andurtah— without being
covered by matter; saksi—witness; niratma—without another self; atma-
atmanah—to the body and mind; parah—transcendental.

TRANSLATION

The individual soul is one, pure, nonmaterial and self-effulgent. He is
the reservoir of all good qualities, and He is all-pervading. He is without
material covering, and He is the witness of all activities. He is completely
distinguished from other living entities, and He is transcendental to all
embodied souls.

PURPORT

In the previous verse two significant words are used: asamsak tah, mean-
ing “without attachment,” and budhah, meaning “fully cognizant of
everything.”’ By full cognizance it is meant that one should know about
his own constitutional position as well as the position of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. According to Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura,
in this verse Lord Visnu is describing Himself or the Paramatma. The
Paramatma is always distinguished from the embodied soul as well as the
material world. Therefore He has been described as para. That para, or
Supreme Personality of Godhead, is eka, meaning one. The Lord is one,
whereas the conditioned souls embodied within the material world exist in
many varieties of form. There are demigods, human beings, animals, trees,
birds, bees, and so forth. Thus the living entities are not eka but many. As
confirmed in the Vedas: nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. The living
entities, who are many and who are entangled in this material world, are
not pure. However, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pure and
detached. Due to being covered by the material body, the living entities are
not self-effulgent, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramatma, is
self-effulgent. The living entities, being contaminated by the modes of
material nature, are called saguna, whereas Paramatma, the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead, is nirguna, not being under the influence of the
material modes. The living entities, being encaged in material qualities, are
gunasrita, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead is gunagraya. The
conditioned soul’s vision is covered by material contamination; therefore
he cannot see the cause of his resultant action and he cannot see his past
lives. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, not being covered by a material
body, is the witness of all the activities of the living entity. But both of
