स्वप्नसङ्कल्पपुरवदसत् सदनुभूयते । ब्रह्माकाशपराकाशे जीवाकाशत्वमात्मनि ॥ १६ ॥
svapnasaṅkalpapuravadasat sadanubhūyatē | brahmākāśaparākāśē jīvākāśatvamātmani || 16 ||
Translation
Like a city of dream or of fancy, the unreal is experienced as real: in the space of Brahman, the supreme space, the state of jīva-space, in the Self.
Word by word
- svapna
- of dream
- saṅkalpa
- of fancy
- pura
- a city
- vad
- (vat) like
- asat
- the unreal
- sad
- (sat) as real
- anubhūyatē
- is experienced
- brahma
- of Brahman
- ākāśa
- in the space
- para
- the supreme
- ākāśē
- space
- jīva
- of jīva
- ākāśatvam
- the state of space
- ātmani
- in the Self
Meaning
The commentary: as a city built by fancy and daydream is unreal and yet seems real, so in the Self, the supreme light, the space of Brahman, the state of jīva-space, though unreal, seems real. Vasiṣṭha now begins to speak of the jīva as a kind of space: an individual awareness, bounded only by imagining, like space in a pot.