पशुरज्ञो ह्यमूर्तोऽपि दुःखस्यैवैष भाजनम् । चेतनत्वाच्चेतनीयं मनोऽनर्थः स्वयं स्थितः ॥ ८ ॥
paśurajñō hyamūrtō’pi duḥkhasyaivaiṣa bhājanam | cētanatvāccētanīyaṁ manō’narthaḥ svayaṁ sthitaḥ || 8 ||
Translation
The beast is ignorant; though it has no form, it is the very vessel of sorrow. Because it is conscious, there is something to be conscious of: the mind, the source of harm, set up by itself.
Word by word
- paśur
- (paśuḥ) the beast
- ajñō
- (ajñaḥ) ignorant
- hi
- indeed
- amūrtō
- (amūrtaḥ) has no form
- api
- though
- duḥkhasya
- of sorrow
- ēva
- very
- ēṣa
- it
- bhājanam
- the vessel
- cētanatvāc
- (cetanatvāt) because it is conscious
- cētanīyaṁ
- something to be conscious of
- manō
- (manaḥ) the mind
- anarthaḥ
- the source of harm
- svayaṁ
- by itself
- sthitaḥ
- set up
Meaning
One might think, the commentary says, that since the jīva is other than the gross body, knowing that would end old age and death. The verse answers: though formless, it still suffers. The other commentary cites the Upaniṣad, "pleasant and unpleasant do not touch one who is without a body" (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.12.1): it is the one free of the false sense of self in the three bodies who is untouched; and by the opposite knowledge, consciousness itself stands as the mind, the calamity. Being conscious, it makes itself an object; the mind is that object.