Text 23

upadrastanumanta ca
bharta bhokta maheshvarah
paramatmeti capy ukto
dehe ’smin purushah parah

Translation

Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul. 

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada 

It is stated here that the Supersoul, who is always with the individual soul, is the representation of the Supreme Lord. He is not an ordinary living entity. Because the monist philosophers take the knower of the body to be one, they think that there is no difference between the Supersoul and the individual soul. To clarify this, the Lord says that He is represented as the Paramatma in every body. He is different from the individual soul; He is para, transcendental. The individual soul enjoys the activities of a particular field, but the Supersoul is present not as finite enjoyer nor as one taking part in bodily activities, but as the witness, overseer, permitter and supreme enjoyer. His name is Paramatma, not atma, and He is transcendental. It is distinctly clear that the atma and Paramatma are different. The Supersoul, the Paramatma, has legs and hands everywhere, but the individual soul does not. And because the Paramatma is the Supreme Lord, He is present within to sanction the individual soul’s desiring material enjoyment. Without the sanction of the Supreme Soul, the individual soul cannot do anything. The individual is bhukta, or the sustained, and the Lord is bhokta, or the maintainer. There are innumerable living entities, and He is staying in them as a friend. 

The fact is that every individual living entity is eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and both of them are very intimately related as friends. But the living entity has the tendency to reject the sanction of the Supreme Lord and act independently in an attempt to dominate nature, and because he has this tendency he is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity can be situated either in the material energy or in the spiritual energy. As long as he is conditioned by the material energy, the Supreme Lord, as his friend, the Supersoul, stays with him just to get him to return to the spiritual energy. The Lord is always eager to take him back to the spiritual energy, but due to his minute independence the individual entity is continually rejecting the association of spiritual light. This misuse of independence is the cause of his material strife in the conditioned nature. The Lord, therefore, is always giving instruction from within and from without. From without He gives instructions as stated in Bhagavad-gita, and from within He tries to convince the living entity that his activities in the material field are not conducive to real happiness. “Just give it up and turn your faith toward Me. Then you will be happy,” He says. Thus the intelligent person who places his faith in the Paramatma or the Supreme Personality of Godhead begins to advance toward a blissful eternal life of knowledge.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

Having spoken of the jiva, the Lord now speaks about the paramatma. Though the Lord already described paramatma in general and in detail from verses thirteen to eighteen, it should be understood that the present statement is made in order to clearly show that the paramatma is situated in all bodies along with the jiva, but different from the jiva.

In this body, there is another, supreme purusa, the great Lord, called the paramatma (paramatma iti ca api uktah). The word parama in paramatma indicates personal expansion of Lord (svamsa), distinct from the jiva, in order to defeat those who propound the theory of one soul only. He is the witness (drasta) situated close to (upa) each jiva, but separate from him. He is the bestower of favors (anumanta), showing mercy just by his closeness to the jiva. The sruti says saksi cetah kevalo nirgunas ca: He is the witness, the consciousness, pure, beyond the material gunas. (Gopala Tapani Upanisad 2.96) He is the supporter (bharta) and the protector (bhokta).