{ "verse_id": "15.18", "mūla": { "devanāgarī": "यस्मात् क्षरम् अतीतो ऽहम् अक्षराद् अपि चोत्तमः | अतो ऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथितः पुरुषोत्तमः", "iast": "yasmāt kṣaram atīto 'ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ | ato 'smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ", "chapter_position": "Chapter 15 (Puruṣottama-Yoga (The Yoga of the Supreme Person)), verse 18", "speaker": "Krishna", "addressed_to": "Arjuna" }, "word_by_word": [ { "surface_form": "yasmāt", "lemma": "yasmāt", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "क्षरम् अतीतः अहं संसारमायावृक्षम् अश्वत्थाख्यम् अतिक्रान्तः अहम् अक्षरादपि संसारमायारूपवृक्षबीजभूतादपि", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "क्षरं कार्यत्वेन विनाशिनं मायामयं संसारवृक्षमश्वत्थाख्यमतीतोऽतिक्रान्तोऽहं परमेश्वरोऽक्षरादपि मायाख्यादव्याकृतात्अक्षरा", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "यस्मात्" }, { "surface_form": "kṣaram", "lemma": "kṣara", "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "अतीतः अहं संसारमायावृक्षम् अश्वत्थाख्यम् अतिक्रान्तः अहम् अक्षरादपि संसारमायारूपवृक्षबीजभूतादपि", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "क्षरम्" }, { "surface_form": "atītaḥ", "lemma": "√atī", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular participle noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अतीतः" }, { "surface_form": "aham", "lemma": "mad", "grammar": "nominative singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अहम्" }, { "surface_form": "akṣarāt", "lemma": "akṣara", "grammar": "ablative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अक्षरात्" }, { "surface_form": "api", "lemma": "api", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अपि" }, { "surface_form": "ca", "lemma": "ca", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "च" }, { "surface_form": "uttamaḥ", "lemma": "uttama", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "उत्तमः" }, { "surface_form": "atas", "lemma": "atas", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अतस्" }, { "surface_form": "asmi", "lemma": "√as", "grammar": "present indicative 1st person singular verb", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अस्मि" }, { "surface_form": "loke", "lemma": "loka", "grammar": "locative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "वेदे च प्रथितः प्रख्यातः। पुरुषोत्तमः इत्येवं मां भक्तजनाः विदुः। कवयः काव्यादिषु च इदं नाम निबध्नन्ति। पुरुषोत्तम इत्य", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "वेदे च पुरुषोत्तमः इति प्रथितः अस्मि। वेदार्थावलोकनात् लोक इति स्मृतिः इह उच्यते। श्रुतौ स्मृतौ च इत्यर्थः। श्रुतौ तावत", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "वेदे च प्रथितोऽहं पुरुषोत्तम इति पुरुषाभ्यां क्षराक्षराभ्यां उत्तम इत्येवं वेदे ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परं [तै.उ.2।1] इति श्र", "school": "śuddhādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "vallabha" ] }, { "sense": "वेदे च पुरुषोत्तम इति प्रथितः प्रख्यातोऽस्मि। तथाच श्रुतिःस वा अयमात्मा सर्वस्य वशी सर्वस्येशानः सर्वस्याधिपतिः सर्वमिद", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] }, { "sense": "वेदे च प्रथितः प्रख्यातः पुरुषोत्तम इति स उत्तमः पुरुष इति वेद उदाहृत एव। लोके च कविकाव्यादौहरिर्यथैकः पुरुषोत्तमः स्मृ", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "लोके" }, { "surface_form": "vede", "lemma": "veda", "grammar": "locative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "च प्रथितः प्रख्यातः", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "च पुरुषोत्तमः इति प्रथितः अस्मि", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "च प्रथितोऽहं पुरुषोत्तम इति पुरुषाभ्यां क्षराक्षराभ्यां उत्तम इत्येवं वेदे ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परं [तै.उ.2", "school": "śuddhādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "vallabha" ] }, { "sense": "च पुरुषोत्तम इति प्रथितः प्रख्यातोऽस्मि", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] }, { "sense": "च प्रथितः प्रख्यातः पुरुषोत्तम इति स उत्तमः पुरुष इति वेद उदाहृत एव", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "वेदे" }, { "surface_form": "ca", "lemma": "ca", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "च" }, { "surface_form": "prathitaḥ", "lemma": "pra-√th", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular participle noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "प्रख्यातः", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "अस्मि। वेदार्थावलोकनात् लोक इति स्मृतिः इह उच्यते। श्रुतौ स्मृतौ च इत्यर्थः। श्रुतौ तावत् -- परं ज्योतिरूपं संपद्य स्वे", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "प्रख्यातोऽस्मि", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] }, { "sense": "प्रख्यातः पुरुषोत्तम इति स उत्तमः पुरुष इति वेद उदाहृत एव", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "प्रथितः" }, { "surface_form": "puruṣottamaḥ", "lemma": "puruṣottama", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "इत्येवं मां भक्तजनाः विदुः", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "इति प्रथितः अस्मि", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja", "vedantadeshika" ] }, { "sense": "स्मृतः इत्यादिप्रसिद्धंकारुण्यतो नरवदाचरतः परार्थान्पार्थाय बोधितवतो निजमीश्वरत्वम्", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "पुरुषोत्तमः" } ], "intertextual_panel": [ { "verse": "3.24", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.9164, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8364, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 10.4081, "stem_prefix": 8.0 } }, { "verse": "15.16", "type": "thematic-cluster continuation", "score": 0.914, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.834, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 15.9162, "stem_prefix": 7.0 } }, { "verse": "10.30", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.9114, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8414, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 10.1785, "stem_prefix": 7.0 } }, { "verse": "10.33", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.905, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.845, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 10.6148, "stem_prefix": 5.0 } }, { "verse": "8.4", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.9014, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8514, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 7.4664, "stem_prefix": 4.0 } }, { "verse": "13.19", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.9006, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8306, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 6.8694, "stem_prefix": 6.0 } }, { "verse": "4.3", "type": "shared-vocabulary echo", "score": 0.8996, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8396, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 7.2706, "stem_prefix": 6.0 } }, { "verse": "10.25", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8974, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8474, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 9.0185, "stem_prefix": 4.0 } } ], "doctrinal_projections": { "advaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "shankara_15.18", "anandgiri_15.18" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Because I, the parameshvara, have utterly transcended the kshara — the phenomenal ashvattha-tree that is samsara-maya — and am moreover the highest (uttama) beyond even the akshara, the unmanifest seed-ground of that same tree, I am therefore celebrated in both the world (loka) and the Veda as Purushottama. Kshara and akshara are not co-equal ultimates: one is the mutable effect, the other is its causal substrate, and I surpass even that substrate. Devotees who truly know me know this name; poets embed it in their works — but both usages point to the same nirgunabrahman that stands beyond all upadhis." }, "viśiṣṭādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "ramanuja_15.18", "vedantadeshika_15.18" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Because I transcend the kshara-purusha — the bound jiva in samsara — by the nature described, and am moreover supremely superior (utkrishtatama) to even the akshara, the liberated mukta-jiva, I am proclaimed Purushottama in both shruti and smriti. Shruti declares 'sa uttamah purushah' (Chandogya Upanishad 8.12.3); smriti confirms 'amshavataram purushottamasya' (Vishnu Purana 5.17.33). The mukta is perfect but remains a mode (prakara) of Bhagavan; I am the irreducible ground that sustains and surpasses even perfected liberation." }, "dvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhva_15.18", "jayatirtha_15.18" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "*Yasmāt kṣaram atīto 'ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ* — Hari alone speaks here, and the declaration is ontological, not rhetorical. The *kṣara* is the class of *jīva*s bound in *saṃsāra*, each *paratantra* (eternally dependent) and subject to change. The *akṣara* is the immutable order: *Lakṣmī*, the *nityamukta*s, the unmanifest *prakṛti* in its stable aspect — *paratantra* still, but free of flux. Hari transcends both. Not as a third member in a continuous series but as *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient), the sole *puruṣa* whose being is self-grounded. The *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–*jīva*, Lord–matter, *jīva*–*jīva*, *jīva*–matter, matter–matter) holds at every level: no dissolution of the *kṣara* into the *akṣara*, no dissolution of either into Hari. *Ato 'smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ* — *Puruṣottama* is therefore a metaphysical designation, registered in both *loka* (common usage) and *veda* (scriptural authority), naming what *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy) entails: Hari stands not merely above but categorically other than any *paratantra* being. The name is the *siddhānta* compressed: two dependent orders exist; the third is the Lord alone.", "divergence_note": "Bucket changed from B to C: Madhva and Jayatīrtha are silent on this verse; rendering proceeds by siddhānta reconstruction from the mūla.", "provenance": "siddhānta_reconstruction" }, "śuddhādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "vallabha_15.18" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Vallabha reads this verse as Krishna's own self-announcement (svayam nirdeshana) of his Purushottama-nature: having surpassed the kshara and being superior even to the akshara, he alone is saccidananda-akrti — pure being-consciousness-bliss in formed embodiment. The appearance of plurality (maya) is real only as his lila; the siddhanta is explicit: 'saccidanandakrtir evahm' — I am that saccidananda form itself, and any contrary appearance is maya. In Pushti-marga this means Krishna's very body (svaroopa) is non-different from brahman, so seva of that form is the highest upasana." }, "bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "sridhara_15.18" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Shridhara derives the name Purushottama by nirukti: because I am eternally free (nityamukta) I transcend the kshara — the inert and bound world (jadavarga); because I am the inner controller (niyantri) I am superior even to the akshara — the class of conscious beings (cetanavarga). Shruti confirms: 'sa va ayam atma sarvasya vashi sarvasya ishanah sarvasyahipati sarvam idam prashasti.' The name is thus not a theological claim but a logical derivation from two demonstrable properties: freedom and sovereignty." }, "advaita-bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhusudan_15.18" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Madhusudana weaves jnana and bhakti together: the verse is Krishna's self-disclosure (atmana darshana) confirming the 'brahmanah pratishthaham' already declared. The kshara is the ashvattha — the maya-born, destructible samsara-tree; the akshara is the avyakrta-maya, the unmanifest causal ground, identified with 'aksharatparatah para' of shruti. I, Purushottama, stand beyond both as the utkrishthatama. Madhusudana then quotes a devotional verse: 'narayanasya mahima na hi manam eti' — the greatness of Narayana, who out of karuna takes human form to enlighten Arjuna, surpasses all measure. Jnana establishes the ontology; bhakti is the only appropriate response." }, "vishishtadvaita": { "score": 0.5 }, "shuddhadvaita": { "score": 0.5 } }, "prosodic_information": { "meter": "anuṣṭubh", "meter_shift_from_previous": false, "meter_shift_to_next": false, "pragmatic_context": { "vocative": "", "preceding_question": "", "following_response": "" } }, "theme_list_memberships": [ { "list": "अक्षर", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "8.3", "8.11", "10.25", "10.33", "11.18", "11.37", "12.1", "12.3", "12.5" ] }, { "list": "अपि च", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "2.8", "2.31", "4.36", "6.9", "6.25", "9.30", "11.2", "17.10", "17.12" ] }, { "list": "पुरुष", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.1", "2.15", "2.16", "2.21", "2.60", "7.11", "8.1", "8.4", "8.8", "8.10", "8.22", "9.3", "10.12", "10.15", "11.3", "11.18", "11.38", "13.19", "13.20", "13.21", "13.22", "13.23", "15.4", "15.16", "15.17", "15.19", "17.3", "18.4" ] }, { "list": "पुरुषोत्तम", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "3.3", "8.1", "10.15", "11.3", "15.19" ] } ], "audit_trail": { "substrate_version": "v2.6-frozen", "fitted_weights": { "a": 1.0, "b": 0.01, "e_v": 0.005, "z": 0.2, "h": 0.0, "th": 0.01 }, "corpus_provenance": { "mūla": "Belvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness", "panel_witnesses": [ "bg-mula", "bg-shankara", "bg-ramanuja", "bg-madhva", "bg-vedantadeshika", "bg-vallabha", "bg-jayatirtha", "bg-anandgiri", "bg-sridhara", "bg-madhusudan" ] }, "extraction_date": "2026-04-21", "score_methodology_documented_at": "Paper 1, Section II.B", "word_by_word_parser": "ByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)", "post_generation_repairs": [ { "date": "2026-05-03", "fix": "verb-lemma-misidentification (broader heuristic: prefix-√root canonical for all verb-tagged tokens)", "scope": "word_by_word[].lemma", "loci": [ "atītaḥ: atī -> √atī", "asmi: as -> √as", "prathitaḥ: prath -> pra-√th" ] } ] }, "so_what_questions": [ "If Purushottama transcends both kshara (mutable) and akshara (immutable), what is the experiential difference between worshipping an immutable principle and worshipping Purushottama directly?", "The verse says 'loke vede ca prathitah' — famous in both world and Veda. What does it mean for an ultimate reality to have a reputation? Does fame imply plurality of knowers?", "Kshara and akshara are presented as a binary, yet Krishna claims to exceed even the higher term. When you encounter apparently exhaustive binaries in your own life (success/failure, known/unknown), what stands outside the binary?", "Each school derives a different ontology from the same words. What does it reveal about a sacred text that doctrinally opposed communities can each find authoritative support in an identical verse?", "Purushottama is simultaneously a philosophical category and a personal name. Does naming the absolute change your relationship to it?", "The akshara is described as the 'seed' of samsara (Shankara) and as the liberated mukta (Ramanuja). How does the identity of the 'unchanging' determine the scope of what liberation means?" ], "everyday_applications": { "advaita": "When you find yourself clinging to a 'permanent' identity — a role, a reputation, a fixed self-image — recognize that even that stable, unchanging sense of 'who I really am' is still an akshara-level construction. The witness is not the witness-role. Release the witness-role too.", "vishishtadvaita": "Service rendered to another person is complete when you recognize they are a mode (prakara) of Bhagavan — neither identical to him nor separate. This prevents both the error of dissolving the person into abstraction and the error of treating them as merely instrumental. Kainkarya honors the prakara without forgetting the ground.", "dvaita": "In any relationship, clarity about difference is an act of love, not distance. Pretending you and another person are 'ultimately one' can mask the failure to actually see them. Dvaita practice: before each significant interaction, name three ways this person is genuinely, irreducibly other than you.", "shuddhadvaita": "Every sensory encounter with beauty — a piece of music, a face, a meal — is an encounter with saccidananda in formed manifestation (akrti). Pushti-marga practice: do not deflect the beauty upward into abstraction. Receive it fully as Krishna's own body presenting itself. Gratitude is the correct response, not detachment.", "bhakti": "Sridhara's two criteria — freedom and sovereignty — are immediately applicable: ask of any authority figure in your life (employer, institution, tradition) whether they exercise genuine freedom (nityamukta) and genuine care for all (niyantri). If neither is present, the authority is kshara — useful, but not ultimate.", "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusudana's synthesis suggests that intellectual clarity about ultimate reality (jnana) without an affective response (bhakti) is structurally incomplete. When you understand something deeply — a scientific truth, a philosophical insight, a moment of self-recognition — let the understanding generate wonder, not just satisfaction. Wonder is the bhakti-reflex that keeps jnana alive." }, "primary_meaning": "Because I stand above the perishable and am higher still than the imperishable, I am celebrated in scripture and in the world as *Puruṣottama*, the Highest Person." }