सत्येवेयमसत्यैव चित्तचेत्यादिता परे । तद्भावात् प्रतिबिम्बस्य प्रतिबिम्बार्हता कुतः ॥ ३१ ॥
satyēvēyamasatyaiva cittacētyāditā parē | tadbhāvāt pratibimbasya pratibimbārhatā kutaḥ || 31 ||
Translation
In the Supreme, mind, the knowable and the rest seem real, yet are wholly unreal. Since they have become That, how could a reflection be fit to be a reflection?
Word by word
- satyā
- real
- iva
- seem
- iyam
- this
- asatyā
- unreal
- ēva
- wholly
- citta
- mind
- cētya
- the knowable
- āditā
- and the rest
- parē
- in the Supreme
- tadbhāvāt
- since (they) have become That
- pratibimbasya
- of a reflection
- pratibimba
- a reflection
- arhatā
- the fitness to be
- kutaḥ
- how
Meaning
The answer to Rāma's question "how can it not be the jīva?" (v. 3). Vedānta often describes the jīva as awareness reflected in a mind, as the sun is reflected in a pot of water. The commentary: because the seen expanse is one in flavour with Brahman, mind, the knowable and the rest are wholly unreal in Brahman, though they appear as real. With no adjunct there, where is the reflected jīva's fitness to be a reflection? Only when there is an adjunct, and a reflection falls in it, can there be the being of a reflected jīva; when the adjunct itself is not, how could jīvahood be fit to arise in Brahman? So it is right that That is not the jīva. No water, no reflected sun.