संविन्मात्रस्वभावत्वाद्देहोऽहमिति चेतति । काकतालीयवद् भ्रान्तमाकारं तेन पश्यति ॥ ३८ ॥
saṁvinmātrasvabhāvatvāddēhō’hamiti cētati | kākatālīyavad bhrāntamākāraṁ tēna paśyati || 38 ||
Translation
since its nature is awareness alone, it is aware of itself as "I am a body"; and so, as by the chance of the crow and the palm fruit, it sees a form that is an error.
Word by word
- saṁvin
- (saṁvit) awareness
- mātra
- alone
- svabhāva
- nature
- tvād
- (tvāt) since its is
- dēhō
- (dehaḥ) a body
- aham
- I am
- iti
- "
- cētati
- it is aware
- kākatālīyavad
- as by the chance of the crow and the palm fruit
- bhrāntam
- that is an error
- ākāraṁ
- a form
- tēna
- so
- paśyati
- it sees
Meaning
Because awareness is its whole nature, whatever appears before it is known, and the form that appears is known as "I". The crow and the palm fruit is the proverb of chance: a crow lands on a palm and at that moment a fruit falls, and the two seem cause and effect. So the form appears and the sense of "I" falls on it, with no deeper link between them than coincidence. The commentary: it is through that ignorance that we, by chance, see this false form, as in a dream. The error is ours as much as his; we see the creator as a body.