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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
is the ātmā?' and the answer to it: "Prāņa stands for indriyas and the vital airs and the ātman is not said to be any of these which are near it.' Similarly, the buddhi too is near the prāņa etc. But there is a difference which is referred to by the expression: hşdi sphurat svayamjyotiḥ. Buddhi is what envelops the caitanya jyotis which shines in the lotus of the heart, which, while not capable of being illumined by anything else, itself illumines everything. This vijñānamaya caitanya is never found to exist in the jīva apart from buddhi since from the beginning till the moment of release it is known as vijñānamaya. Or, by the rule that 'mayat' also indicates one's own self it may be spoken of as the form of vijñāna (vijñānasvarūpa).
Such an ātmā is said to be kūțastha i.e., it stands for ever like an anvil without undergoing any modification. It is without change. Yet, getting identified with buddhi with its function of knowing and action, it becomes tainted by avidyā and becomes an actor and an experiencer, even as due to delusion, a crystal appears red by contact with a red colour.
kuțasthassan: api is to be added as kūțasthassannapi: though it is kūtastha.
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The same is made clear: स्वयं परिच्छेदमुपेत्य बुद्धेः
तादात्म्यदोषण परं मृषात्मनः । सर्वात्मकस्सन्नपि वीक्षते स्वयं
स्वतः पृथक्त्वेन मृदो घटानिव ॥ १९२ ॥ svayam paricchedam upetya buddheḥ
tādātmyadoșeņa param mộşātmanaḥ 1 sarvātmakaḥ sannapi vikșate svayam
svataḥ prthaktvena mrdo ghatāniva 11
By the defect of adhyāsa (false identification) of the mithyātman, namely buddhi, the ātman, which is the all, attains limitation and looks upon itself as different like pots from the clay.
mrşātmanah: of buddhi which is of the nature of mithyā. By wrong identification with buddhi which is of the nature of mithyā by virtue of adhyāsa and not by its real nature, though by itself it is of the nature of all (Vide the śrutis: idam sarvam yadayamātmā (Mund.); sarvam khalvidam brahma (Chänd.), it seems to attain
