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VIVEKACUDAMANI
yasmānnāsti sataḥ param kimapi tat satyam sa
ātmā svayam tasmat tattvamasi praśāntamamalam brahmādvayam yatparam 11
Whatever is made of clay like the pot, etc., is all through clay only always. Similarly, all that is the effect of Sat (Brahman) is of the nature of Sat and is entirely Sat only. Because there is nothing apart from Sat, that is the True, that is itself the ātman. Therefore, That thou art, the Supreme, the peaceful, the defectless, the non-dual Brahman.
267
mṛtkāryam: that which is effectuated out of clay; that which has clay as its material cause; ghaṭādi: pot, spoon, pail etc., everything made of clay.
satatam: In all the three periods of time, before it is made, after it is made and after it is destroyed.
abhitaḥ entirely, in front, on top, behind, below and on the
sides.
mṛṇmātrameva: there is nothing in it apart from clay. This has been explained earlier in slokas 230 and 231. Similarly, śruti texts beginning with sadeva somya idamagra āsīt, ekamevādvitīyam, tadaikṣata tattejo'sṛjata tadapo'sṛjata tadannam asrjata (Chand.): "That sat, existence alone, dear one, was in the beginning, one only without a second; it saw (thought); it created fire, it created water, it created food;" and ending with sanmulaḥ somyemāḥ sarvāḥ prajāḥ sadāyatanāḥ satpratiṣṭhāḥ (Chand.): "Dear one! All these are rooted in Sat, are based on and established in Sat; teach that whatever is said to be 'sat' (exists) as in the words 'ghatassan' (ghaṭaḥ san) 'paṭassan' (paṭaḥ san), (the pot exists, the cloth exists), in all of the nature of sat is only Sat. This follows by the rule of sāmānādhikaranya (of common reference to two words.) 39
Because, apart from Sat namely the Supreme Brahman, there is nothing else as the material cause of anything in the world, the true, i.e., unsublatable in any of the three periods of time, that is the ätman, your essential nature. As it is self-luminous, it is not dependent on anything. Therefore, it is non-dual i.e., devoid of any existential factor apart from its own existence. It is peaceful (praśānta), abiding in itself, i.e., unchanging. It is amala, untouched by taint of ajñāna etc. Thou art that Supreme Brahman.
39 See Note on Sämänädhikaranyam at the end.
