Shloka 16
Kapila on Liberation: Detachment, Devotional Discipline, and the Soul’s Aloofness from the Guṇas
एवं प्रत्यवमृश्यासावात्मानं प्रतिपद्यते । साहङ्कारस्य द्रव्यस्य योऽवस्थानमनुग्रह: ॥ १६ ॥
evaṁ pratyavamṛśyāsāv ātmānaṁ pratipadyate sāhaṅkārasya dravyasya yo ’vasthānam anugrahaḥ
এভাবে পরিপক্ব বিবেচনায় সে নিজের আত্মস্বরূপ উপলব্ধি করে; তখন অহংকার-যুক্ত বস্তুভাবের যে অবস্থা সে গ্রহণ করেছিল, তা তার কাছে প্রকাশিত হয়।
The Māyāvādī philosophers’ position is that at the ultimate issue the individual is lost, everything becomes one, and there is no distinction between the knower, the knowable and knowledge. But by minute analysis we can see that this is not correct. Individuality is never lost, even when one thinks that the three different principles, namely the knower, the knowable and knowledge, are amalgamated or merged into one. The very concept that the three merge into one is another form of knowledge, and since the perceiver of the knowledge still exists, how can one say that the knower, knowledge and knowable have become one? The individual soul who is perceiving this knowledge still remains an individual. Both in material existence and in spiritual existence the individuality continues; the only difference is in the quality of the identity. In the material identity, the false ego acts, and because of false identification, one takes things to be different from what they actually are. That is the basic principle of conditional life. Similarly, when the false ego is purified, one takes everything in the right perspective. That is the state of liberation.
FAQs
This verse teaches that matter along with false ego persists only by the Lord’s sustaining grace, and that careful reflection leads one to recognize the self as distinct from ahaṅkāra.
Because discrimination and deep contemplation help the seeker realize the true self and see the dependence of material existence (including false ego) upon the Supreme Lord.
Regularly examine identity beyond roles and achievements, and cultivate humility by recognizing that one’s body-mind and material circumstances continue only by a higher sustaining power.