Text 37
purāṇy anena sṛṣṭāni
nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-devatāḥ
śete jīvena rūpeṇa
pureṣu puruṣo hy asau
purāṇi — residential places or bodies; anena — by Him (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); sṛṣṭāni — among those creations; nṛ — man; tiryak — other than human beings (animals, birds, etc); ṛṣi — saintly persons; devatāḥ — and demigods; śete — lies down; jīvena — with the living entities; rūpeṇa — in the form of Paramātmā; pureṣu — within these residential places or bodies; puruṣaḥ — the Supreme Lord; hi — indeed; asau — He (the Personality of Godhead).
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has created many residential places like the bodies of human beings, animals, birds, saints and demigods. In all of these innumerable bodily forms, the Lord resides with the living being as Paramātmā. Thus He is known as the puruṣāvatāra.
In Bhagavad-gītā (18.61) it is said:
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” The living entity, who is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, exists on the mercy of the Lord, who is always with him in any form of body. The living entity desires a particular type of material enjoyment, and thus the Lord supplies him with a body, which is like a machine. Just to keep him alive in that body, the Lord remains with him as the puruṣa (Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu). This is also confirmed in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.35):
eko ’py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ
yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ
aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who enters the existence of every universe and every atom by one of His plenary portions and thus manifests His infinite energy throughout the material creation.” The living entity, being part and parcel of the Lord, is known as jīva. The Supreme Lord puruṣa remains with the jīva to enable him to enjoy material facilities.