nitya ātmāvyayaḥ śuddhaḥ

nitya ātmāvyayaḥ śuddhaḥ

sarvagaḥ sarva-vit paraḥ

dhatte 'sāv ātmano liṅgaṁ

māyayā visṛjan guṇān

The ātmā is eternal, without decay, pure, capable of going to all planets, experiences life everywhere, and is different from the body. By its ignorance, the ātmā accepts for itself a subtle body, in order to accept and reject various gross bodies.

 

I have said all this from the common man’s viewpoint to make you understand. You should also understand by philosophy that Hiraṇyākṣa is an ātmā, not a body. Hear about his real form as an ātmā. He is eternal, without death, without decay, without contamination, and all-pervading. All-pervasion is a quality of the Lord, but because of his demon mentality, he applies this term to the jīva. But the jīva goes to all planets and therefore can be called sarvagaḥ. He knows everything about happiness and distress. He is different from the subtle body (paraḥ). This ātmā accepts his body by ignorance (māyayā). Why? He accepts the subtle body in order to accept gross bodies high or low (guṇān). And then he rejects these gross bodies. Viṣrjan has both meanings.

|| 7.2.23 ||

yathāmbhasā pracalatā

taravo 'pi calā iva

cakṣuṣā bhrāmyamāṇena

dṛśyate calatīva bhūḥ

Because of the movements of the water, the trees on the bank of a river, when reflected on the water, seem to move. Similarly, when the eyes move because of some mental derangement, the land appears to move.

Since it accepts the subtle body, the ātmā is different from the subtle body. An example is given. The trees, reflected in water, seem to move because of moving water. The trees do no move, since they are different from the water. Similarly the qualities of the subtle body, lamentation and illusion, are falsely projected on the ātmā.  Since the ātmā is different from the subtle body, lamentation and illusion do not belong to the ātmā. The attributes of the covering on the soul (subtle body) are projected on the ātmā. Having given that example, an example of the qualities of a sense being applied to the object perceived by the sense is given. Because of the rolling eye, the earth appears to move. The earth is caught by the defective eye, just as a man haunted by a ghost.  

|| 7.2.24 ||