Verse 12.13

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

जीवसञ्ज्ञोऽन्तरात्माऽन्यः सहजः सर्वदेहिनाम् ।
येन वेदयते सर्वं सुखं दुःखं च जन्मसु ॥ १३ ॥

jīvasañjño'ntarātmā'nyaḥ sahajaḥ sarvadehinām |
yena vedayate sarvaṃ sukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ ca janmasu || 13 ||

An inner ‘self,’ called ‘Jīva,’ ‘Soul,’ is different,—generated along with all embodied beings, through which one experiences pleasure and fain during the several births.—(13)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

“What is this that is called ‘Jīva’ or ‘Soul?’ People regard the ‘Conscious Being’ (Kṣetrajña) as the ‘Jīva.’ Only two beings are generally recognised—the Body and the Inner Soul known as the ‘I’ the ‘Jīva’ spoken of here is apparently different from these two.”

Some people explain that what is called ‘Jīva,’ ‘Soul,’ here, is the Subtle Body made up of the ‘Great Principle’ (Mahat of the Sāṅkhyas) and the rudimentary elements, which has been described as the Subtle Body, ‘migrating, without experiencing, and invested with impressions’ (Sāṅkhya-kārikā). The term ‘yena,’ ‘through which,’ speaks of this as if it were the ‘instrument’ of the act of experiencing; and this can apply only to the said Subtle Body; as it serves as the substratum of the grosser material substances, being as it is, the substratum of the material body itself. It is only when the Body is there that the Self can feel pleasure and pain; and this is what is expressed by the instrumental ending in ‘yena,’ ‘through which.’

Others however think that it is the ‘Internal Organ,’ consisting of Intelligence, (Buddhi), Mind (Manas) and I-notion (Ahaṅkāra), that is spoken of here as ‘Jīva.’ And since this is an ‘Internal organ,’ it is only right that it should be spoken of by means of the Instrumental ending.

That this should be called the ‘inner self’ is also quite right, since it subserves the purposes of the Self.

‘Generated along with.’—This means that it remains attached to the Self till Final Liberation, and is never separated from him till Final Dissolution.—(13)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Jīvasaṃjñaḥ’.—Nandana is again misrepresented by Buhler; his words are ‘Jīvāt saṃjñā jñānam yasya,’ which means ‘that which derives consciousness from the Jīva,’ and not ‘who fully knows the Jīvas,’ as Buhler puts it.