1334 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 28

deliberation; saksinam—the witness; virarama—became indifferent; ha—
certainly.

TRANSLATION

King Malayadhvaja attained perfect knowledge by being able to distin-
guish the Supersoul from the individual soul. The individual soul is localized,
whereas the Supersoul is all-pervasive. He became perfect in knowledge
that the material body is not the soul but that the soul is the witness of the
material body.

PURPORT

The conditioned soul is often frustrated in trying to understand the
distinctions between the material body, the Supersoul and the individual
soul. There are two types of Mayavadi philosophers—the followers of the
Buddhist philosophy and the followers of the Sankara philosophy. The
followers of Buddha do not recognize that there is anything beyond the
body; the followers of Sarikara conclude that there is no separate existence
of the Paramatma, the Supersoul. The Sarikarites believe that the individual
soul is identical with the Paramatma in the ultimate analysis. But the
Vaisnava philosopher, who is perfect in knowledge, knows that the body is
made of the external energy and that the Supersoul, the Paramatma, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, is sitting with the individual soul and is
distinct from him. As Lord Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita:

ksetrajfiam capi mam viddhi
sarva-ksetresu bharata
ksetra-ksetrajnayor jnanam
yat taj jianam matam mama

“O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in
all bodies, and to understand this body and its owner is called knowledge.
That is My opinion.” (Bg. 13.3)

The body is taken to be the field, and the individual soul is taken to be
the worker in that field. Yet there is another, who is known as the Super-
soul, who, along with the individual soul, simply witnesses. The individual
soul works and enjoys the fruits of the body, whereas the Supersoul simply
witnesses the activities of the individual soul but does not enjoy the fruits
of those activities. The Supersoul is present in every field of activity,
whereas the individual soul is present in his one localized body. King
Malayadhvaja attained this perfection of knowledge and was able to distin-
guish between the soul and the Supersoul and the soul and the material
body.
