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VIVEKACŪDAMANI
217
The Guru said: Learned one! You have asked a good question. Listen to my answer with attention. The imagination (of samsāritva to what is asamsārī) cannot be valid as it is due to delusion.
Oh intelligent One! You have asked a good question. Listen to the answer to it attentively, i.e., without your mind straying to other subjects. śrņu: śrutva avadhāraya, i.e., listen and determine.
mohaḥ: the absence of the knowledge which must be acquired.
bhrāntyā mohitakalpamā: The false imagination that has arisen due to delusion, tāmasa quality.
Really, the atman is of the nature of pure (untainted) intelligence. Due to the strong delusion born of ajñāna of the individual, there is the imagination (attribution) of being a samsārin to what is not a samsārin. This cannot be valid. For it arises out of the ajñāna which generates the delusion and relates to a condition of the impossibility of right knowledge to one under the spell of moha (delusion):
197 भ्रान्ति विना त्वसङ्गस्य निष्क्रियस्य निराकृतेः। न घटेतार्थसंबन्धो नभसो नीलतादिवत् ॥ १९७॥ bhrāntim vină tvasangasya nişkriyasya nirākrteḥ 1 na ghațetärthasambandho nabhaso nilatādivat 11
The ātman is unattached, actionless and formless. Without delusion there can be no connection of it with the objects of the world even as blueness has no connection with the sky.
'tu' is for emphasis. asangasya of what is really devoid of any sanga (association). The śruti says: asango hyayam puruṣaḥ (Bșh.): "the ātmā is unattached”. That it is so unattached is verified in the state of dreamless sleep. Again, the śruti says: nişkalam niskriyam (Şvet.) indicating that the ātmā is actionless and unchanging. The smrti avyakto'yam acintyo'yam avikāryo'yamucyate (B. G.): "This is said to be unmanifested, this is said to be beyond thought, this is said to be unchangeable", is to the same purport. It has no form as indicated by the śruti na tasya kāryam karaṇam ca vidyate; asthulam ananu (Brh.): "It has no effect or cause. It is not big nor small." Without delusion, i.e., without the wrong identification of the ātman in the sthūla, sūksma and kārana sariras, the ātmā
