THE LORD AS THE LIFE OF THE  UNIVERSE

mamaivaamsho jeevaloke jeevabhootah sanaatanah
    manah shashthaaneendriyaani prakritisthaani  karshati // 15.7 //

A  fragment of My own self, having become a living soul, eternal, in the world of life,  draws to itself the five senses with the mind for the sixth, that rest in  nature.

The  nature of Jiva, ego, is explained in this verse.

A  portion of Myself: Although the Infinite has no parts or divisions, the Infinite  when expresses through a limited entity called body, is considered limited by  the ignorant, just as pot space and total space.

The  eternal Jiva suffers no limitation although it undergoes pain and pleasure when  it is associated with the body. Hence the Self in man is eternal Jiva.

Attracts  senses: The Consciousness gives life to the entire body and maintains the sense  faculties and mental capacities around itself. The power of seeing, hearing  etc. is really the power of Consciousness functioning through the sense organs.  Hence It is referred to as functioning with the mind and five senses. The  conditioned Self is experienced as the limited ego, Jiva, the mortal, or an  imaginary part of the Indivisible Whole, because of our ignorance.

The  Jiva or the individual soul is that aspect of the Supreme Self which manifests  itself in every one as the doer and enjoyer. It is limited because of ignorance;  but in reality both (individual soul and Supreme Soul) are one and the same. It  is like pot space and outer space. The pot space is a portion of the outer  space and becomes one with the latter on the destruction of the pot, the cause  of the limitation.

shareeram yadavaapnoti yacchaapyutkraamateeshwarah
    griheetwaitaani samyaati vaayurgandhaanivaashayaat  // 15.8 //

When  The Lord obtains a body and when He leaves it, He takes these (senses and mind)  and goes with them as the wind takes the scents from their seats (flowers etc.)

When  The Lord acquires the body and leaves it: The Infinite conditioned by mind and  intellect is Jiva and the Jiva takes various bodies from time to time. From the  time Jiva enters the body and till it leaves i.e. constantly it keeps the sense  faculties and mental impression with itself.

At  death the subtle body departs from the gross body and it is left inert.  Although the dead body is found to maintain its physical frame it neither has  the sense faculty nor mental and intellectual capacity which it had before  death. These physical, mental and intellectual expressions gave the body its  individual personality and they are called subtle body. The gross body is  called dead in the absence of the subtle body.

It  is stated here that at death the subtle body moves off taking with itself all  faculties -senses, mind and intellect - as the wind takes away the scent from  its source i.e. flowers. Thus the mind is a bunch of vasanas which can exist  only in Consciousness. This light of  Awareness  illumining the vasanas is called the Individual Personality - Jiva.

The  Jiva is called The Lord here because the Individual Personality is the ruler of  the body regulating all actions, feelings and thoughts.

shrotram chakshuh sparshanam cha rasanam  ghraanameva cha
    adhishthaaya manashchaayam vishayaanupasevate // 15.9  //

Presiding  over the ear, the eye, touch, taste and smell, as well as the mind, He enjoys  the objects of the senses.

The  subtle body is explained in more details. The Jiva enjoys the world of objects  through sense organs and mind. Consciousness never directly illumines any  object but when reflected upon mind and intellect It becomes Intelligence in  which the sense objects become illumined. The Jiva, using the mind along with  sense organs, enjoys the sense objects such as sound, touch, taste, smell etc.

utkraamantam sthitam vaapi bhunjaanam vaa gunaanvitam
    vimoodhaa naanupashyanti pashyanti  jnaanachakshushah  // 15.10 //

The  deluded do not see Him who departs, stays and enjoys, united with the Gunas;  but they who possess the eye of knowledge behold Him.

The  Self is visible to the eye of knowledge only. Though the Self is the nearest  and comes most easily within the range of their consciousness in a variety of  functions, still the ignorant and deluded do not see Him because of their  complete subservience to the sense-objects.

But  those who are with intuitive vision could see the Self. Those with the inner  eye of knowledge behold the Self as entirely distinct from the body.

yatanto yoginashchainam pashyantyaatmanyavasthitam
    yatantopyakritaatmaano nainam pashyantyachetasah //  15.11 //

The  seekers striving for perfection behold Him dwelling in the self; but the  unrefined and unintelligent, even though striving, do not find Him.

Two  conditions are necessary if meditation is to yield results. 
•The purification of the mind - removal of agitations created by attachments to sense objects. 
•The intellect has to be tuned to the correct understanding of the Self and thus all doubts about its perception are removed through study, reflection and practice.

If  these two requirements are not met through devotion (Bhakti) and service  (Karma) all attempts at meditation in the Path of Knowledge will be futile.  Those minds which are not purified despite sincere meditation have no chance of  realizing the Divine because of attachment to sense objects.

So  far the Self has been indicated as 
•that which cannot be illumined by the known physical source of light  like sun,       moon and fire, 
•that which, having reached, none returns from the       state of perfection 
•that of which the individual entity is Jiva.

To  show that this goal is the essence of all and the reality behind all  experiences Sri Krishna gives in the following four verses a summary of His  manifestations. He is described as 
•the illuminating light of the consciousness 
•the all sustaining life 
•the subjective warmth of life in all living       organisms. 
•the Self in all.