श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । यदेतच्चेतनं जीवो विशीर्णो जन्मजङ्गले । एतमात्मानमिच्छन्ति ये तेऽज्ञाः पण्डिता अपि ॥ १५ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | yadētaccētanaṁ jīvō viśīrṇō janmajaṅgalē | ētamātmānamicchanti yē tē’jñāḥ paṇḍitā api || 15 ||
Translation
Vasiṣṭha said: This conscious thing, the jīva, scattered in the jungle of births: those who want it as the Self are ignorant, learned though they are.
Word by word
- yad
- (yat) which
- ētac
- (etat) this
- cētanaṁ
- conscious thing
- jīvō
- (jīvaḥ) the jīva
- viśīrṇō
- (viśīrṇaḥ) scattered
- janma
- of births
- jaṅgalē
- in the jungle
- ētam
- it
- ātmānam
- as the Self
- icchanti
- want
- yē
- those who
- tē
- they
- ajñāḥ
- are ignorant
- paṇḍitā
- learned
- api
- though
Meaning
Vasiṣṭha answers the objection. It would hold, the commentary says, if the jīva itself were what wanders and what is freed, or if the jīva were the true Self. It is not. The Upaniṣad says "Brahman alone was this in the beginning; it knew itself, 'I am Brahman', and so it became all" (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.10): Brahman, by not knowing itself, has saṁsāra, and by knowing itself, freedom; and "there is no other seer than this" (Bṛhadāraṇyaka 3.7.23). Taking as itself the imagined jīva, Brahman says "I am a jīva" and seems to wander; so the wandering belongs to the jīva, and when the jīva is sublated nothing real is lost. Hence: those who take the scattered, conscious jīva for the Self are ignorant, however learned.