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VIVEKACŪDAMANI
185
Hence, as it has limbs, and as it is the ruled, it is not the ātman which has no limbs and is the ruler. That is the general meaning.
159
Having explained that the body is different from the atman, its special quality is further explained for clear understanding.
देह-तद्धर्म-तत्कर्म-तदवस्थादिसाक्षिणः ।
सत एव स्वतस्सिद्धं तद्वैलक्षण्यमात्मनः ॥ १५९ ॥
dehataddharma-tatkarma-tadavasthādisākṣiṇaḥ | sata eva svatassiddham tadvailakṣaṇyamātmanaḥ 11
The ātman is different from the body, its qualities, its activities, and its states. Being self-subsistent, and as the witness of them, it is different from them all.
tasya dehasya dharmaḥ: the qualities of that body; form, touch, smell etc.
tatkarmāņi: its actions: getting what is pleasant and avoiding the opposite; going forth etc. tadavasthah: its conditions like entering, sitting, lying down etc. adi is intended to include changes like fatness, leanness etc.
sākṣinaḥ: of the witness: the atman is the mere witness of the body, its qualities, activities and conditions.
In all the different states like boyhood, the ātman is unchanging i.e., in any of the three periods of time it is not sublated. So it is distinctly different from the body. Its being different from the body is established by reason of the very fact of its being a witness.
The ātman is different from the body etc., being their witness. What is not different from the body etc., cannot be their witness.
160
Thus by reason of its transiency and by the fact of its being subject to perception, it was shown that the body is not the ātman. Now the same is said giving the body's impurity as the reason.
acurıfa: ziafoat umquifsfameum: 1 कथं भवेदयं वेत्ता स्वयमेतद्विलक्षणः ॥ १६० ॥
śalyarāśiḥ māmslipto malapūrṇo'tikaśmalaḥ | katham bhavedyam vetta svayametadvilakṣaṇaḥ 11
