अन्यस्त्वां चेतयति चेत्तं चेतयति कोऽपरः । क इमं चेतयेत्तस्मादनवस्था न वास्तवी ॥ २९ ॥
anyastvāṁ cētayati cēttaṁ cētayati kō’paraḥ | ka imaṁ cētayēttasmādanavasthā na vāstavī || 29 ||
Translation
If another makes you aware, who else makes him aware? And who makes that one aware? So there is an endless regress, and it is not real.
Word by word
- anyas
- (anyaḥ) another
- tvāṁ
- you
- cētayati
- makes aware
- cēt
- if
- taṁ
- him
- kō
- (kaḥ) who
- aparaḥ
- else
- ka
- (kaḥ) who
- imaṁ
- that one
- cētayēt
- makes aware
- tasmād
- (tasmāt) so
- anavasthā
- an endless regress
- na
- not
- vāstavī
- real
Meaning
The argument is the classic one. Suppose some other consciousness illumines you. What illumines it? Another. And that? The regress (anavasthā) has no end, and the commentary says such a regress can establish nothing. So awareness must somewhere be self-luminous, and there is no reason to place that anywhere but here. The result is practical, as the commentary says: your freedom in rousing good tendencies is intact. No hidden master stands behind the one who is now choosing.