विदेहमुक्तो नोदेति नाऽस्तमेति न शाम्यति । न सन्नाऽसन्न दूरस्थो न चाऽहं न च नेतरः ॥ १५ ॥
vidēhamuktō nōdēti nā’stamēti na śāmyati | na sannā’sanna dūrasthō na cā’haṁ na ca nētaraḥ || 15 ||
Translation
The one freed without a body does not rise, does not set, does not grow calm; he is not being, not non-being, not far off; he is not "I", and not other.
Word by word
- vidēha
- without a body
- muktō
- the one freed
- na
- not
- udēti
- does rise
- astam
- set
- ēti
- does
- śāmyati
- does grow calm
- san
- being
- asan
- non-being
- dūrasthō
- far off
- ca
- and
- ahaṁ
- "I"
- itaraḥ
- other
Meaning
Every word that could describe him is denied. The commentary: he neither grows nor wanes; he is not "calmed" (for that implies he was once disturbed); he is neither manifest nor unmanifest; neither far nor near, because he pervades all. "Not I and not other": one cannot even say he is not the Self, for he is the Self; and one cannot say that body and senses, which seem other than the Self, are not he, because as the Self of all he is everything. The bodiless one is not a person who survives somewhere; he is what was always there, now without the appearance of a limit.