Verse 2.684

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अदृष्टं तदकर्मत्वात्कौटस्थ्यान्नापि दृष्टिकृत् ।
जन्यादिविक्रियाषट्कनिषेधोऽप्येवमर्थवान् ॥ ६८४ ॥

adṛṣṭaṃ tadakarmatvātkauṭasthyānnāpi dṛṣṭikṛt |
janyādivikriyāṣaṭkaniṣedho'pyevamarthavān || 684 ||

English translation of verse 2.684:

The Self is not seen, because it is not an object. Nor is it a knower, since it is immutable. The denial of the six states such as birth, etc., (with regard to the Self) is thus meaningful.

Notes:

One may suggest that, if the Self cannot be both the knower and the known at the same time, it can at least be one of the two. It amounts to saying that the Self is either the knower or the known. This possibility, too, has to be ruled out. Since the Self is not an object like stocks and stones, it is not what is known. Since it is immutable, it cannot be the agent involved in the act of knowing; that is to say, it cannot be the knower. There is yet another reason to show why the Self is neither the knower nor the known. The things of the world are subject to the sixfold change (ṣaḍbhāvavikāra), viz., birth, existence, growth, change, decline, and death. Since the Self is free from all these changes, it is neither the knower nor the known. The following śruti passages are relevant in this context. The Śvetāśvatara (VI, 19) says that the Self is “without parts, without activity” (niṣkalaṃ niṣkriyam).

The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (I, ii, 18) declares: “The intelligent Self is neither born nor does it die. It did not originate from anything, nor did anything originate from it. It is birthless, eternal, undecaying, and ancient.”