15-16

द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरः अक्षर एव च ।
क्षरः सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थः अक्षर उच्यते ॥ १६ ॥

dvAvimau puruSau loke kSaraH akSara eva ca |
kSaraH sarvANi bhUtAni kUTasthaH akSara ucyate || 16 ||

इमौ पुरुषौ [imau puruSau] The people लोके [loke] in My Universe द्वौ [dvau] are of two types - क्षरः [kSaraH] perishable च [ca] and अक्षर [akSara] imperishable. सर्वाणि भूतानि [sarvANi bhUtAni] All beings you see here क्षरः [kSaraH] are perishable. कूटस्थः [kUTasthaH] The ones who stay without deforming उच्यते [ucyate] are said to be अक्षर [akSara] the imperishable.

In My Universe, the perishable and imperishable beings are well-known. The person termed ‘perishable’ here is what we call ‘living beings’, starting with Brahma, the principal engineer of the material world, right up to even single-celled organisms. It’s in their nature to wither and perish, being created in combination with materials. In this Shloka, they are all bundled together as one person, since they all have a common characteristic - they are bound in the material world.

The one who does not change, called as the ‘imperishable’ is free from the attachment to the inanimate material world. He is free by nature and stays in his natural form.

Without attachments to anything inanimate, he does not have any characteristics to differentiate him. The rest of us are differentiated by the body we are bound to. That includes Brahma too.

Since the free Self does not vary, he is also called as ‘invariant’. Just as an anvil stays invariant while forging, every Self remains without changing. Since all of them are common in their characteristic of being free from the material world, this Shloka groups them together as ‘the imperishable’.

This group is not restricted to those who have been free forever - it also includes those who are free now, who were bound previously - as said in 4-10: ‘Many people have taken refuge in Me, discarding desire, fear and anger. They fill Me in their minds. They have been purified by pursuing My knowledge in a single-minded way and have attained My qualities’ and in 14-2: ‘Having gained this knowledge, they achieve My characteristics. They are not born again even at the time of creation, nor do they perish when the universe perishes’