Why does the “yena sarvam idam tatam” in Gita 2.17 refer to the body and not all of existence

Transcript

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thank you question in the Bhagavad Gita 2.17 while talking about the soul Krishna says so he says that that which pervades everything sarvam, that is indestructible so when there is no further elaboration of what this sarvam is why does Prabhupada say that this sarvam refers to the body and not to all of existence impersonalists say that this sarvam refers to all of existence and therefore they conclude that that basically soul is the all pervading Brahman so how do we respond to that answer we can respond to it contextually experientially and logically so contextually if we see this is 2.17 just before this Krishna has talked about the body in 2.13 he says and immediately after this also just the next verse in fact 2.18 is so the body is temporary whereas the body is destructible whereas the soul is indestructible so if you look at the context its very clear that what is being referred to is the body over there there is no reference there is no word which talks about jagat or there is no generic reference at all in that section which talks about all of existence so contextually the sarvam refers to the body then if we look at it experientially our consciousness does not pervade all of existence it pervades our body sarvam idam tatam so it refers to the body and similarly if we look at it overall scripturally from the point of view of logic the scriptures say in the same chapter Krishna says that that the soul just as we give up old clothes and accept new clothes similarly the soul gives up old body and accepts new bodies and similarly later on Krishna will say that in 14.18 he says that those souls who are in goodness go upward those who are in ignorance go downwards now this whole point of soul going from one body to another or soul going upward or downwards will have no meaning if the soul were all pervading if the soul’s consciousness is itself pervading all of existence then there is no point in saying that the soul was in one body now it is going to another body or the soul is in one loka and going to another loka so that has meaning only when we understand that actually this is referring to not the all of existence but the body itself so contextually experientially and logically based on scriptural logic we can understand that this sarvam refers to the body and not the soul not all of existence thank you