अचेत्यचित्स्वरूपं यत्तच्चाऽसंभवनं विना । क्व स्वरूपोन्मुखत्वं हि केवलं चेत्यरोधतः ॥ १२ ॥
acētyacitsvarūpaṁ yattaccā’saṁbhavanaṁ vinā | kva svarūpōnmukhatvaṁ hi kēvalaṁ cētyarōdhataḥ || 12 ||
Translation
And that which is consciousness, whose nature is not to be known as an object: without the knowable being found not to be, where is the turning to one's own nature, merely by holding the knowable back?
Word by word
- acētya
- not to be known as an object
- cit
- consciousness
- svarūpaṁ
- whose nature
- yat
- which
- tac
- (tat) that
- ca
- and
- asaṁbhavanaṁ
- being found not to be
- vinā
- without
- kva
- where
- svarūpa
- one's own nature
- unmukhatvaṁ
- the turning to
- hi
- indeed
- kēvalaṁ
- merely
- cētya
- the knowable
- rōdhataḥ
- by holding back
Meaning
So too liberation. That which is consciousness and never an object, the commentary says, cannot be reached without the knowable being sublated, removed at its root by knowledge. If even in samādhi the turning towards Brahman comes only when the seen is sublated, what need to speak of liberation? The other commentary: by a forced samādhi that only holds objects back, without the seen being known as unreal, the turning to one's own nature does not happen at all.