Verse 21
देहेन्द्रियगुणान्कर्माण्यमले सच्चिदात्मनि ।
अध्यस्यन्त्यविवेकेन गगने नीलतादिवत् ॥ २१॥
DEHA INDRIYA GUNAAN KARMAANI
AMALE SAT CHIT AATMANI;
ADHYASYANTI AVIVEKENA
GAGANE NEELAT-AADI-VAT.
(Qualities and functions of the body and senses, are, upon the pure
Self, whose nature is Existence and Consciousness, superimposed due to lack of
discrimination (by fools) just as colors like blue, etc, are superimposed on
the sky.)
This verse is
indirectly a tribute to the intellect in man which has the capacity to
distinguish and resolve the situation of superimposition described here.
The actions and
functions of the body and senses are ascribed to the Self. That is the error
which is the subject of this verse. Anyone with a sharp intellect can see
without much difficulty that the Self cannot be blamed for the actions
performed by the body and senses, as It is beyond them and is
unaffected by them.
Hence, to
ascribe this activity to the Self can only be the work of fools, who do not
have their reasoning power awakened. That is the view of Sri Shankaracharya in
this verse.
“Gagane Neelatadivat” Nyaya:
The sky is not
actually blue. It may appear in varied colours, depending on the time of the
day. At sunrise and sunset it is of quite a different hue altogether. Blueness
is a quality that is superimposed upon it.
Not only its
blueness, but also various other qualities such as misty haze, fogginess, air
pollution, dustiness, have their origins in things which are not the sky.
Yet, it is the sky that is described as misty, foggy, etc. although it has
nothing to do with those conditions.
Thus it is only
due to the lack of discrimination that the qualities of ever changing mind and
the intellect and their limitations are superimposed on the Atman. Acharya here
says that the foolish one’s i.e. those who do not know the true nature of
Atman, attribute the qualities of the gross and subtle bodies to the Atman.
Just like how
the sky remains the same even when different colors are attributed to it due to
our vision, the Atman remains pure and unaffected.
Another
beautiful example given by our Acharyas to explain this is, just as how the
sands of the desert can never become moist from the water of a mirage,
likewise, the Self is not affected by the traits of the body and the senses.
This is the superimposition of the conditions which
occurs in relation to the Self. Only when we use our discriminative reason to
look into the truth of things can we correct this erroneous superimposition of
such qualities upon on the ever Pure Consciousness.
Love.
