Vivekachudamani
by Shankara | 1921 | 49,785 words | ISBN-13: 9788175051065
The Vivekachudamani is a collection of poetical couplets authored by Shankara around the eighth century. The philosophical school this compilation attempts to expose is called ‘Advaita Vedanta’, or non-dualism, one of the classical orthodox philosophies of Hinduism. The book teaches Viveka: discrimination between the real and the unreal. Shankara d...
Verse 166
नैवात्मापि प्राणमयो वायुविकारो
गन्तागन्ता वायुवदन्तर्बहिरेषः ।
यस्मात्किंचित्क्वापि न वेत्तीष्टमनिष्टं
स्वं वान्यं वा किंचन नित्यं परतन्त्रः ॥ १६६ ॥naivātmāpi prāṇamayo vāyuvikāro
gantāgantā vāyuvadantarbahireṣaḥ |
yasmātkiṃcitkvāpi na vettīṣṭamaniṣṭaṃ
svaṃ vānyaṃ vā kiṃcana nityaṃ paratantraḥ || 166 ||166. Neither is the vital sheath the Self – because it is a modification of Vayu, and like the air it enters into and comes out of the body, and because it never knows in the least either its own weal and woe or those of others, being eternally dependent on the Self.
Notes:
[Vayu: The Prána-Váyu or life-force is meant here. The word commonly means air, which brings in the comparison with the air in the next line.
Enters into &c.—i. e. as breath, which is its gross manifestation. ]