स्वानुभूतिः प्रकाशोऽस्य केवलं व्योमरूपिणः । योऽन्तरस्ति स तेनैव न त्वन्येनाऽनुभूयते ॥ १७ ॥
svānubhūtiḥ prakāśō’sya kēvalaṁ vyōmarūpiṇaḥ | yō’ntarasti sa tēnaiva na tvanyēnā’nubhūyatē || 17 ||
Translation
Its light is self-experience alone, of it whose form is space. That which is within is experienced by itself alone, not by another.
Word by word
- sva
- self
- anubhūtiḥ
- experience
- prakāśō
- (prakāśaḥ) light
- asya
- its
- kēvalaṁ
- alone
- vyōma
- space
- rūpiṇaḥ
- whose form is
- yō
- (yaḥ) that which
- antar
- (antaḥ) within
- asti
- is
- sa
- (saḥ) it
- tēna
- by itself
- ēva
- alone
- na
- not
- tu
- but
- anyēna
- by another
- anubhūyatē
- is experienced
Meaning
Now the positive answer. Brahman is light, but not light that is seen: its light is svānubhūti, its own experience of itself. The commentary: this Brahman, the space of awareness, is lit only by its own experience; it needs no other means. The innermost Self alone can experience it, no other. The intellect and the rest are experienced by something else, but what is within them, their inmost, does not wait for another experience; if it did, that experiencer would need another, and so without end. This is the reader's own case. One knows one is aware without any further act of knowing; no lamp is needed to see a lamp, and no witness to witness the witness.