स्वप्नवत्पश्यति जगच्चिन्नभोदेहवित्स्वयम् । स्वप्नसंसारदृष्टान्त एवाऽहंत्वंसमन्वितम् ॥ ४ ॥
svapnavatpaśyati jagaccinnabhōdēhavitsvayam | svapnasaṁsāradṛṣṭānta ēvā’haṁtvaṁsamanvitam || 4 ||
Translation
Awareness, the space whose body is knowing, itself sees the world as in a dream; the illustration of saṁsāra as a dream holds, joined with "I" and "you".
Word by word
- svapnavat
- as in a dream
- paśyati
- sees
- jagac
- (jagat) the world
- cin
- (cit) awareness
- nabhō
- (nabhaḥ) the space
- dēha
- whose body
- vit
- is knowing
- svayam
- itself
- svapna
- as a dream
- saṁsāra
- of saṁsāra
- dṛṣṭānta
- the illustration
- ēva
- indeed
- ahaṁ
- "I"
- tvaṁ
- and "you"
- samanvitam
- joined with
Meaning
The commentary explains what verse 1 meant by "as a dream". Having become a jīva, awareness sees the world as one sees a dream: even when the dream's objects are known to be false, the seeing goes on until waking, and so does the seeing of the world. And it is not only outward forms that are dreamlike; the whole of experience, with "I" taken as the inner Self and "you" as what is not the Self, falls within the illustration, since all of it is lit by the witness alone. The point, it says, is the falseness of what is superimposed: in error only the superimposed appears.