अविच्छिन्नचिदात्मैकः पुमानस्तीह नेतरत् । स्वसंकल्पवशाद् बद्धो निःसंकल्पश्च मुच्यते ॥ ३६ ॥
avicchinnacidātmaikaḥ pumānastīha nētarat | svasaṁkalpavaśād baddhō niḥsaṁkalpaśca mucyatē || 36 ||
Translation
There is one Person here, the Self, unbroken consciousness, and nothing else. By his own imagining he is bound; free of imagining, he is freed.
Word by word
- avicchinna
- unbroken
- cid
- (cit) consciousness
- ātmā
- the Self
- ēkaḥ
- one
- pumān
- Person
- asti
- there is
- iha
- here
- na
- not
- itarat
- anything else
- sva
- by his own
- saṁkalpa
- imagining
- vaśād
- (vaśāt) by force of
- baddhō
- (baddhaḥ) he is bound
- niḥsaṁkalpaś
- (niḥsaṅkalpaḥ) free of imagining
- ca
- and
- mucyatē
- he is freed
Meaning
To make the conviction firm, the commentary says, Janaka states the truth once more in its shortest form. There is one Person (pumān), the Self, consciousness without break (avicchinna-cit), and nothing else (na itarat). Bondage and freedom are not two places this Self goes to. It is "bound" by its own imagining (sva-saṅkalpa) and "freed" when free of imagining (niḥsaṅkalpa). The whole of the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha is in this verse. Its six books will return again and again to saṅkalpa, the mind's forming of intentions and images, as the one root of bondage. The reader may hear it practically: we are bound by what we keep imagining; we are free to the extent that we stop.