Shloka 34
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
ततो<स्मि बहुरूपासु स्थितो मूर्तिष्वमूर्तिमान् । अमूर्तश्चापि मूर्तात्मा ममत्वेन प्रधर्षित:
tato 'smi bahurūpāsu sthito mūrtiṣv amūrtimān | amūrtaś cāpi mūrtātmā mamatvena pradharṣitaḥ ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “Thereafter, though I am in truth formless, I came to abide within the many-formed embodiments of Prakṛti. And though formless, I assumed an embodied sense of self—overpowered by ‘mine-ness’ (attachment).”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even what is essentially formless and unattached can appear ‘embodied’ when consciousness identifies with forms through mamatā (the sense of possession and ‘mine’). The ethical thrust is to weaken possessiveness and identification, which are presented as the forces that bind the self to embodied limitation.
Vasiṣṭha is describing an inner, philosophical account of how the self—though intrinsically formless—comes to be situated among manifold forms and experiences itself as embodied due to the overpowering influence of attachment (mamatva).