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190
VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
166 This sloka says that dehātmabuddhi (the identification of the body with the ātman) should be given up by him who wishes to get out of the material sheath (the annamayakośa).
देहात्मधीरेव नणामसद्धियां
जन्मादिदुःखप्रभवस्य बीजम । यतस्ततस्त्वं जहि तां प्रयत्नात्
त्यक्ते तु चित्ते न पुनर्भवाशा ॥१६६॥ dehātmadhireva nrnāmasaddhiyām
janmādiduḥkhaprabhavasya bijam yatastatastvam jahi tām prayatnāt
tyakte tu citte na punarbhavāśā il
For men whose intellect rests on the asat (non-ātman), the notion that the body is the ātman itself forms the cause for the rise of sorrows beginning with birth. Therefore, . put an end to this notion with effort. Once the mind is detached (from body, etc.), there is no possibility of being born again.
asaddhiyām: Of those whose intellect rests on the asad-vastu, i.e., on what is anātman being different from Brahman.
dehātmadhīḥ: deha eva ātmā iti dhīḥ: the belief that the body itself is the ātman.
janmādiduḥkhaprabhavasya bijam: that belief itself is the seed of the series of sorrows which include birth and death. For, birth and death are attributes of the body.
As a man thinks that his body is the ātman, he believes that birth and death pertain to the ātman.
As this dehātmabuddhi is the source of all sorrow, it ought to be given up with effort, i.e., by hearing the words of the guru, reflection on them, and by contemplation based on śāstra.
jahi: give it up or destroy it.
If the mind is detached from the body etc., there will be no mental activity and there will be no trace even of attachment to it. Hence, there will be no possibility of being born again. Vide what will be said infra: ahambhāvasya dehe'smin niśćeşavilayāvadhi lisāvadhänena yuktātmā svādhyāsāpanayam kuru (śl. 285). Also, dehātmajñānavaj jñānam dehātmajñānabādhakam ātmanyeva bhavedyasya sa hivannapi mucyate (Sūtra Bhāșya): "He who has in the
