Sanskrit
उपद्रष्टाऽनुमन्ता च भर्ता भोक्ता महेश्वरः । परमात्मेति चाप्युक्तो देहेऽस्मिन्पुरुषः परः ॥
upadraṣṭānumantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ paramātmeti cāpy ukto dehe 'smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ
Translation
Supervisor and permitter, supporter, enjoyer, the great Lord, and also the supreme Self; thus is styled in this body the supreme Spirit.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Six names for the same principle from six angles: upadrashta (witness/overseer), anumanta (the one who permits or consents), bharta (supporter), bhokta (experiencer), maheshvara (great lord), and paramatma (supreme self) — the fullest single-verse portrait purusha gets in the chapter. “Witness” and “permitter” are doing the most philosophical work here: they describe a self that observes and, in some sense, consents to what nature does, without itself performing the action — the exact distinction verse 30 makes explicit.
Concepts