Verse 2.102

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

ज्ञात्रभेदात्तु तद्ब्रह्म ह्यनीप्सिततमं परम् ।
ज्ञातुरन्यस्य चाभावाद्यो वेदेत्युच्यते कथम् ॥ १०२ ॥

jñātrabhedāttu tadbrahma hyanīpsitatamaṃ param |
jñāturanyasya cābhāvādyo vedetyucyate katham || 102 ||

English translation of verse 2.102:

The supreme Brahman is, indeed, not an object which is most desired to be known, because it is non-difīerent from the knower. And since there is no other knower than Brahman, how can it be said “He who knows”?

Notes:

This verse states an objection.

The critic argues that the Advaitin cannot give a satisfactory explanation of the text, “He who knows” Brahman (as existing in the intellect), inasmuch as it lends support to the difference between the knower and Brahman. Since Brahman, according to Advaita, is non-different from the knower, it cannot be what is known, an object of knowledge. Nor is there, according to Advaita, a knower different from Brahman, for the Bṛhadāraṇyaka text (III. vn, 23) says that there is no other witness (draṣṭā), no other thinker (mantā), no other knower (vijñātā), but Brahman. Nor is it possible to say that one and the same entity is both the knower and the known, for what is known must be different from the person who knows. If so, the text yo veda, the critic argues, cannot be interpreted on the basis of Advaita.