Verse 2.283

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

तस्य त्वन्नमयस्यैष योऽयं प्राणमयः स्मृतः ।
भवः शरीरे शारीर आत्मा तेनाऽऽत्मवान्यतः ॥ २८३ ॥

tasya tvannamayasyaiṣa yo'yaṃ prāṇamayaḥ smṛtaḥ |
bhavaḥ śarīre śārīra ātmā tenā''tmavānyataḥ || 283 ||

English translation of verse 2.283:

Of the body made of food, what is known as the sheath formed of the vital force is the śārīra ātmā, i.e., the self which exists in the body, because the body becomes ensouled by it

Notes:

This verse explains the meaning of the text tasyaiṣa eva śārīra ātmā yaḥ pūrvasya. The sheath of vital force (prāṇamaya-kośa) which has been described above is the self dwelling in the body made of food (annamaya-kośa). There is first of all the notion that the physical body made of food is the self. This erroneous notion is removed when the spiritual aspirant is able to realize through meditation that the prāṇamaya-kośa which is inward to the physical body is the self which dwells in the body. In the same way, the false identification of the self with the sheath of vital force must be removed by realizing that what is inward to it is the self which dwells therein, and so on, till one realizes the non-dual Self which is beyond the sheaths.

Following Śaṅkara’s bhāṣya on the text tasyaiṣa eva śārīra ātmā, etc., Sureśvara first explains the śruti text in this verse from the standpoint of the Vṛttikāra. But this explanation is acceptable neither to Śaṅkara nor to Sureśvara. The correct interpretation of the text from the standpoint of Advaita is given in the following verse.

It is not the purport of śruti to enjoin meditation (upāsana) here. Rather, it purports to teach the non-difference of Brahman and Ātman as it can be seen from the harmony between the beginning (upakrama) and the end (upasaṃhāra) of the chapter. Nor could it be said that śruti enjoins meditation in the middle of the chapter, for that would lead to the fallacy of sentence-split (vākya-bheda). Śruti cannot have its import in Brahman-knowledge as well as in meditation. It is true that śruti speaks about the fruit that will accrue to one who practises meditation as taught. But it has to be explained as a case of arthavāda. Inasmuch as the knowledge of Brahman-Ātman is what is intended to be taught, the scriptural statement about the fruit such as food and the full span of life which one attains is arthavāda.