Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 8, Verse 4: Krishna to Arjuna — Akṣara-Brahma-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  The perishable (kṣara, 'that which flows away') refers to every born thing — body, world, all that has arisen. The cosmic Person (Hiraṇyagarbha, the aggregate of individual instruments) presides over the deities. The adhiyajña — the deity named Viṣṇu who pervades all sacrifice — is none other than I, residing within this body; for sacrifice is accomplished through the body and therefore has the body as its locus.

  divergence: Shankara bhāṣya present and used directly.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The transient adhibhūta — the specific modifications of space and the elements, with their substrates of sound-touch-form-taste-smell — is what the seekers of sovereignty are to contemplate as their attainment. The adhidaivata is the Person who lords over Indra, Prajāpati and all the gods, the supreme enjoyer of these sense-qualities. And the adhiyajña — I Myself — am worshipped through all yajñas, dwelling as inner self within Indra and all my body-formed deities.

  divergence: Rāmānuja bhāṣya present and used directly.

• Madhvadvaita

  The adhibhūta is that destructible product-object (kārya-padārtha) which governs embodied jīvas; even the unmanifest (avyakta) undergoes the destruction called anyathābhāva. The adhidaivata is either Saṅkarṣaṇa or Brahmā — the jīva who, dwelling in the body (puri śayana), rules all the gods. As the sole enjoyer of all sacrifices (bhoktr of yajña-tapas), Hari alone is the true adhiyajña; the phrase 'in this body' distinguishes Him from the familiar fire-deities who are secondary adhiyajñas.

  divergence: Madhva bhāṣya present and used directly.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The adhibhūta is the entire phenomenal range — from the cosmic Virāṭ down to the subtlest object — characterised by perishing. The puruṣa-jīva, as the universal enjoyer of sound and other sense-qualities, constitutes the adhidaivata shared by all; the solar and other presiding deities are included by implication. I, the adhiyajña, am the very ātman of all beings presiding as inner-controller (antaryāmin) — worshipped through sacrifice, the one who pervades the entire body of creation.

  divergence: Vallabha bhāṣya present and used directly.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The perishable adhibhūta is every transient object — body and all composites — that exists in relation to beings. The adhidaivata is the Vairāja-Puruṣa (cosmic person) dwelling at the centre of the solar orb, lord over all partial deities who are His own portions. I, as antaryāmin (inner-controller), reside in this body and am the adhiyajña — the presiding deity of sacrifice who sets all ritual activity in motion and bestows its fruits.

  divergence: Śrīdhara bhāṣya present; rendering uses Sanskrit prose content only — payload may contain HTML/JS artifacts in surrounding markup, excluded.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The perishing adhibhūta is every born thing; Hiraṇyagarbha — the aggregate-subtle-body, enabler of all individual instruments — is the adhidaivata, corroborated by śruti and smṛti. The adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, who presides over and distributes the fruits of all yajñas; and that Viṣṇu is none other than Vāsudeva — I Myself — not anyone distinct from Me. He dwells within the human body because sacrifice is accomplished through the human body (puruṣo vai yajñaḥ — 'the person indeed is the sacrifice'), resolving any doubt about whether He is within or without.

  divergence: Madhusūdana bhāṣya present and used directly.