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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
215
diminution. Clay is the material of all mud pots. There is no mud pot apart from clay. Yet, they are seen (spoken of) as if different from clay. So too, the one universal ātmā seems disparate by virtue of association with buddhi as 'I', 'he', 'this', 'you' etc., though, being the material cause of all, there is nothing different from it.
193 This meaning is explained with reference to the (apparent) changing nature of what is changeless and the expression kūtasthassannātmā (being unmoving and unchanging like the anvil).
उपाधिसंबन्धवशात् परात्मा
प्युपाधिधर्माननुभाति तद्गुणः। अयोविकारानविकारिवह्निवत्
सदैकरूपोऽपि परः स्वभावात् ॥ १९३ ॥ upādhisambandhavaśat parātmā
pyupādhidharmānanubhāti tadguṇaḥ 1 . ayovikārānavikārivahnivat
sadaikarūpo'pi paraḥ svabhāvāt 11
Though of the same form, and without any change, by virtue of association with upādhis, the real ātman too, as if of the nature of the upādhis, acquires its qualities even as the fire which has no form appears in the form of iron
When a piece of iron is heated red hot in a smithy, it is beaten into different shapes as long, round etc. The fiery heat and the iron become so intimate that people attribute to the fire the different forms of the iron and say, the fire is long or round. This is due to delusion which confuses the fire with the iron. So too, the Paramātmā getting conjoined with the upādhis, attributes to itself the qualities of the upādhi, like acting, and enjoying. Vide śrutis: dhyāyatīva, lelāyatīva (Brh.). When the buddhi thinks or changes, the ātman thinks that it changes. It appears as if it has qualities of the upādhi in the forms 'I do', 'I am happy,' 'I am unhappy etc. In real fact, it is by its own nature, by virtue of its saccidānandasvarūpa, nityasuddhabuddhamuktasvabhāva, eternal, pure omniscient, and free. In the example of fire and in what is exemplified the Parātman, being of the same nature, devoid of change is the common factor.
At the beginning of the śloka, the words ekarūpo'pi vikāraśūnyo'pi: 'though always of the same nature and devoid of change' should be prefixed.
