Verse 2.651

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

हानोपादानहीनोऽयं तत्साक्षित्वात्स्वतो ध्रुवः ।
द्रष्ट्रादिसाक्षिताऽप्यस्य तत्कारणसमाश्रयात् ॥ ६५१ ॥

hānopādānahīno'yaṃ tatsākṣitvātsvato dhruvaḥ |
draṣṭrādisākṣitā'pyasya tatkāraṇasamāśrayāt || 651 ||

English translation of verse 2.651:

The Self has nothing in it to cast off and has nothing to acquire. Since it is the witness of these, it is by its very nature immutable. And also, it is the witness of the knower, etc., because of its association with avidyā which is the cause of the knower, etc.

Notes:

In the two perceding verses it has been shown that the Self is real, and that it is self-luminous consciousness. This verse seeks to show that the Self is immutable (kūṭastha). The Self has nothing in it which is to be abandoned. Nor does it require anything which is to be acquired. The notion of giving up or acquiring anything presupposes duality, which is due to avidyā. The Self is said to be the witness as it were to everything only from the standpoint of avidyā (ajñānād-ātmanaḥ sākṣitvam). It can be the witness to something—the knower, a mental state, etc.—only if something else, a second entity exists. A witness implies something which it witnessed. But in reality there is nothing else than the Self. If we say that the Self is the witness, it is by presupposing avidyā which is responsible for the perception of duality.