Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 7, Verse 9: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  I am the pure (punya) fragrance that inheres in earth — not the corrupted smell that arises from contact with conditioned beings, but the pristine nature of earth itself as an aspect of my being, through which earth is threaded on me. I am the light (tejas) in fire; I am the life-force (jivana) in all beings — that by which they live. I am the austerity (tapas) in ascetics, who are themselves strung on me as beads on a thread. Impurity in these qualities is not their nature but arises from the superimposition of avidya (ignorance) and its effects on samsara — remove that superimposition and only Brahman remains.

  divergence: Shankara: punyata of gandha is svabhavatah (by nature); apunyata arises from avidya-dharma-adi contact in samsara — not intrinsic. Tasyam mayi gandha-bhute prthivi prota — earth is threaded on me as its fragrance-ground.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  All these distinguished modes of being — pure fragrance in earth, luminosity in fire, life-sustaining power in all creatures, the endurance of ascetics — arise from me alone, subsist as my body (mac-charira), and rest in me as attributes in their substratum. I, their inner controller (antaryamin), am the qualified Whole of which they are modes. To perceive earth's fragrance is already to perceive Bhagavan as its ground; to perceive fire's radiance is to perceive Bhagavan as its inner ruler. The entire world stands disclosed as his body when known through this bhakti-enriched vision.

  divergence: Ramanuja: ete sarve vilakshana bhavah mat-shesha-bhuta mac-charirataya mayi eva avasthi-tah — all these distinguished modes are my body, my servants, resting in me. Tat-prakarah aham eva avasthi-tah — I subsist as their qualifier.

• Madhvadvaita

  I, Hari — the Lord of all — am the essence (sara) among fragrances, the sustaining power in life, the rigor in tapas; yet the jiva (individual soul) and its natural properties remain forever distinct from me, subordinate and dependent. The punya fragrance is so described because it is fitting for upasana (worship): only the purified may approach what is pure. Scriptures confirm that Hari is the enjoyer of essence everywhere (sara-bhokta sarvatra), while the jiva remains anadi-bandhana (bound from beginningless time) — the two are never to be conflated. This verse is upasana-artha (for the purpose of meditative worship), not identity-assertion.

  divergence: Madhva cites Gitakalpa: sara-bhokta ca sarvatra yato 'to jagad-ishvarah — Hari is the supreme enjoyer of essence everywhere. Jiva-svabhavo niyatah — jiva's nature is fixed and distinct. The two — nityamukta and anadi-bandhana — are ever separate (Naradiye bhedashrutesh ca).

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The pure, sweet fragrance of earth — that is Krsna himself, not a symbol or trace of him but his very presence made sensory. The radiance in fire, the breath (prana-dharana) sustaining every creature, the purifying endurance of the ascetic body — all are his prasada (gracious self-gift), the taste of his lila flowing through matter. Vallabha is terse here because the truth is spashta (self-evident): every good quality is Krsna's own nature (svarupa) moving through creation, not a separated power. To smell the earth after rain is to receive his darshana through the nose.

  divergence: Vallabha: punya — surabhi-gandha prthivyam tejash ca asmi vibhavasau: spash-tam eva — self-evident. Sarva-bhuteshu jivanam pranam — life as breath-sustaining. Tapah kaya-shodhanam — tapas as body-purification, Krsna's own action in the ascetic.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The unmodified fragrance (avikrta gandha) — the pure tanmatra of earth, its foundational characteristic untouched by contingent corruption — that is Bhagavan as the ground of earth's being. Equally, the natural radiance (sahaja dipti) in fire is him; the life-principle (prana-dharana, ayus) in all creatures is him; the endurance of heat, cold, hunger, and thirst (dvandva-sahana) practiced by forest-dwellers and ascetics is him. The devotee who recognizes these qualities as Bhagavan's vibhuti (glorious manifestation) finds every sensory encounter a doorway to bhakti rather than an occasion for attachment.

  divergence: Shridhara: gandha-tanmatram prthivya ashrayabhutam aham — gandha as tanmatra substrate of earth is the lord. Vibhuti-rupenashraya-dharttvam vivakshitatvat surabhi-gandhasyaiva utkrshthataya vibhutit-vat. Tapasvishu dvandva-sahana-rupam tapas.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The universal (sarva-prthivi-samanya-rupa), unmodified fragrance — the tanmatra itself, not any particular scent — runs through earth as its underlying thread, and that thread is Krsna-Brahman, the non-dual ground expressing through matter. The ca (and) in the verse gathers: touch (sparsha), form (rupa), taste (rasa), sound (shabda) — all pure in themselves by nature; impurity arises only from particular dharma-conditions of beings, never from the qualities themselves. Life in all creatures, the complete tapas both outer (dvandva-sahana) and inner (citta-ekagrata, sense-restraint) — all are unified in Krsna who is simultaneously Brahman (advaita ground) and Bhagavan (bhakti object). The ca at the close collects all tapas, inner and outer, into one.

  divergence: Madhusudan: sarva-prthivi-samanya-rupa-stan-matrakha prthivyam anusyuto 'ham — universal tanmatra runs through earth as its inner thread, that is Krsna. Sha-bdas-parsha-rupa-rasa-gan-dhanam hi svabhavatah eva punyatvam — purity is intrinsic; apunyatvam from adharmadya, not svabhava. Final ca: cittaikagryam antaram jihvopasthadi-nigraham bahyam ca sarvam tapah samucci-yate.