Verse 2.176

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

न जानामीत्यविद्यैकाऽनित्या तत्कारणं मता ।
स्वप्रसिद्ध्यैव सा सिध्येन्निशौलूकीव वासरे ॥ १७६ ॥

na jānāmītyavidyaikā'nityā tatkāraṇaṃ matā |
svaprasiddhyaiva sā sidhyenniśaulūkīva vāsare || 176 ||

English translation of verse 2.176:

Avidyā in the form “I do not know”, which is impermanent, is considered to be the only cause of the limitations (mentioned above). It is established by the self-luminous consciousness itself, just as (the darkness of) the night is established in the daytime by the consciousness of the owl.

Notes:

It is avidyā that makes the all-pervasive Self appear as the limited kṣetrajña in the body, just as the same avidyā makes the cosmic being appear in the individual forms limited by gross and subtle bodies.

Avidyā is known to us in our experience (prasiddha), for everyone says: “I am ignorant” (aham ajñaḥ). It is “beginningless” (anādi). But it can be terminated by the knowledge obtained through a pramāṇa. Since it is removable by the knowledge obtained through a pramāṇa, it is not pramāṇa-siddha (pramāṇa-nivartyatvāt avidyāyāḥ na pramāṇataḥ siddhiḥ). It is revealed by the self-luminous Witness-consciousness (sākṣibhāsya). Our consciousness is the sole evidence for the existence of avidyā in the same way as the consciousness of the owl is the evidence for the existence of darkness which it experiences during the daytime.