Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 7, Verse 5: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  The apara-prakrti (lower nature) just described is inferior (nikrsta), impure, the very form of samsara-bondana (bondage in becoming) — it is inert and serves ends other than itself. But know My para-prakrti (higher nature), distinct from that and pure, which is My very atman: it is jiva-bhuta (having the character of the knower of the field, the ksatrajna). That conscious power, entering the world from within (antar-pravistaya), is what holds the whole jagat (universe) from collapsing into inertia. The two are not two independent reals; the distinction is pedagogical — the jiva as para-prakrti is ultimately Brahman, and the eight-fold lower nature is its phenomenal expression under avidya (nescience).

  divergence: Advaita reads jiva-bhuta not as permanently distinct but as Brahman appearing as ksatrajna under the superimposition of avidya; jiva is not a second real beside Isvara.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The apara-prakrti (lower nature) already described is acatana (insentient) and exists as that which is enjoyed; now know My distinct, utterly different para-prakrti (higher nature): jiva-bhuta (the sentient, conscious beings) who are bhoktr (the experiencers), primary among the existents, and belong to Me as My possession. It is by this caitanya-rupa (conscious) nature — not by the inert eight-fold matter — that the entire acatana jagat (insentient universe) is upheld and governed. The jivas are real, eternal, and categorically different from matter, yet they are the sarira (body) of the Lord and thus inseparable from Him.

  divergence: Visistadvaita emphatically marks jiva as cetana (sentient) and constitutively distinct from acatana prakrti — not a transient appearance of Brahman, but a permanent, dependent mode.

• Madhvadvaita

  The lower prakrti is anuttama (not supreme), inert, and eight-fold. But the para-prakrti is Sri herself — the one who is prana-dharini (life-sustainer) of all jivas, eternally cit-rupa (conscious), and categorically exalted beyond the lower nature. The Naradiya Purana is cited as authority: Hari's consort Narayana-mahisi is the mother of Brahma himself; it is through Her and Hari together that the entire jagat is sustained. The jiva-s are real, eternally distinct from both Isvara and Sri, and utterly dependent (paratantra) on Hari.

  divergence: Madhva uniquely identifies para-prakrti with Sri (Laksmi), not merely with the jiva-class — a reading no other school holds. Jivas are a third, distinct ontological category.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The jiva-bhuta here is not produced by avidya (nescience) — that would require the word jivibhuta not jivabhuta, as with putrabhuta — but is a cid-amsa (conscious fragment) of Bhagavan, generated by His inherent iccha (will) expressed in 'bahu syam prajayeya' (Chandogya Upanisad 6.2.3). Krsna's vyamohika-maya (bewildering power), the cit-sakti of His own ananda-aspect, envelops the cid-amsa and produces jiva-tvam (the condition of being a jiva) — not by external contamination but as His own lila-vibhaga (playful differentiation). This jiva, holding on to the sutraatman (the vital thread), sustains the jagat-sarira (the universe as body) as a virad-rupa (cosmic form).

  divergence: Suddhadvita uniquely argues the jiva's separateness is not fallen but willed by Krsna's own bliss-nature; the differentiation is an act of His ananda, not a defect or illusion.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Summarizing the lower nature and now presenting the higher, Sridhara reads: the eight-fold nature already described is apara (lower) — inferior because it is jada (inert) and paratantra (other-dependent, instrumental). Know that My higher, more exalted prakrti is jiva-svarupa (the very form of the jiva), distinct and superior. The reason for this superiority: it is cetana (conscious), it is ksatrajna-rupa (the form of the knower-of-the-field), and it is through this — by means of the jiva's own karma — that the jagat is upheld (svakarmadvarenadha-ryate).

  divergence: Sridhara's reading is philologically clean and devotionally moderate; it does not identify para-prakrti with Sri (contra Madhva) nor dissolve the jiva into Brahman (contra Sankara).

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The eight-fold lower nature is apara — inferior because it is jada (inert), paratantra (instrumental to another), and the very form of samsara-bandha (bondage-in-becoming). By the force of the particle tu (but), the higher prakrti is utterly incapable of any identity with the lower, even a partial one — it is jiva-bhuta, the conscious and pure, My own atma-bhuta (belonging to My very self). This para-prakrti, entering within (antar-anupravistaya), sustains the insentient universe, which would otherwise dissolve — 'anena jivenaanatmanaa anupravishya nama-rupe vyakaravam' (Chandogya Upanisad 6.3.2). Without the jiva, nothing could be held.

  divergence: Madhusudan holds the advaita line (jiva is ultimately Brahman, difference is mithya) but quotes bhakti-canonical sruti (Chandogya) and frames Krsna's inner presence devotionally — the synthesis is the signature.