Verse 2.234

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

द्वैतास्पृक्प्रत्यगात्मैकः प्रतीचीव परागपि ।
युष्मदस्मद्विभागाभ्यां भिद्यतेऽविद्यया मृषा ॥ २३४ ॥

dvaitāspṛkpratyagātmaikaḥ pratīcīva parāgapi |
yuṣmadasmadvibhāgābhyāṃ bhidyate'vidyayā mṛṣā || 234 ||

English translation of verse 2.234:

The inward Self which is not touched by duality even objectively, in the same way as it is not touched by duality subjectively, is one. Owing to avidyā, the Self is illusorily divided into two categories of “Thou” and “I”.

Notes:

If śruti intends to explain the nature of the five sheaths as a means to the attainment of Brahman-knowledge, this amounts to, the critic argues, the admission of duality, because Brahman is different from the sheaths. This objection does not hold good. There is no other reality besides Brahman-Ātman, whether we view it subjectively by analysing the individual, or objectively from the standpoint of the cosmos or the outside world. Brahman-Ātman, the ultimate reality, is divided into two categories—the subject and the object, the "I” and the “Thou”, due to avidyā. The two words “I” (asmat) and “Thou” (yuṣmat) are used to bring out the absolute opposition between the subject and the object. The pronouns of the first and the third person can be placed in a co-ordinate relation in a sentence as when we say: “It is I,” “I am he whom you speak about...” But language does not allow of any such co-ordination between the pronouns of the first and the second person. The subject is said to have for its sphere the notion of “I”, while the object is said to have for its sphere the notion of “Thou”.

The subject or the “I”, which can be characterized as the microcosm, is ordinarily understood as being constituted by five sheaths, though the Self or the real “I” is beyond these five sheaths. These five sheaths of the subject or the “I” (asmatpañcaka [asmatpañcakam]) are the products of avidyā and therefore are not real. The outside world, the macrocosm, may also be analysed into five sheaths corresponding to the five sheaths of the individual. These five sheaths of the external world (yuṣmatpañcaka [yuṣmatpañcakam]) which are also products of avidyā are not real. Since the subject object distinction and all that it involves arise only as a result of avidyā, they are not real. So Brahman-Ātman, the ultimate reality, which transcends subject-object distinction is one and non-dual. When the Self is not realized in its true nature as one and non-dual, it appears differentiated as the subject and the object, the ego and the non-ego. Since the five sheaths, both at the individual and cosmic levels, are not real, there is no room for duality.