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Not only does Sankara explain the various stages en route this Divine pilgrimage and describe exhaustively the Goal and its experience, but he, in this stanza, also insists that this is not a 'post-mortem' experience to be gained in some other future embodiment, after the death of this body, in another special area called the heaven or another world. He insists that a Muni realises the Bliss of Nirvāna "even here, now". Muni in Sanskrit, in its etymological meaning, has an import equivalent to a "man of discriminative reflection"-Manana Silavān.
यदबोद्धव्यं तवेदानीमात्मानात्मविवेचनम् ।
तदुच्यते मया सम्यक्छ्त्वात्मन्यवधारय ॥ ७१ ॥ yadboddhavyam tavedānimātmānātmavivecanam taducyate mayā samyak śrutvātmanyavudhāraya
यत् - whichever, बोद्वव्यम् - to be known, तव - to you, इदानीम् - now, 34TAATCHIN997 - discrimination between the Self and the non-Self, तत् - that, उच्यते - is described, मया • by me, संयक् • clearly, श्रुत्वा • listening to ( that ), आत्मनि • in the mind, अवधारय - receive well.
Now I am going to describe the discrimination between the Self and the non-Self most elaborately-it is what you ought to know. Listen to it properly and digest it fully in your mind.
Earlier, the student had asked the master some half a dozen questions* and among them was an enquiry on what exactly is the discrimination between the Self and the nonself. From this stanza onwards, Sankara is giving an elaborate description of the various layers of matter envelopments in man which together constitute the non-Self, identifying with which the Self behaves as though it is limited, bound and conditioned to suffer as the Samsārin. A mere repetition that “Viveka means discrimination between the
* Ibid Sloka 49. Among the questions "how is one freed from the limita
tions", has been answered in the last two stanzas; Sankara is taking up now the next question.
