Shloka 48
Brahmā’s Instruction on Brahmacarya, Vānaprastha, and the Aliṅga Path
Ethics of Non-attachment
अगन्धमरसस्पर्शमरूपाशब्दमेव च । अनुगम्यमनासक्तममांसमपि चैव यत्
agandham arasa-sparśam arūpāśabdam eva ca | anugamyam anāsaktam amāṁsam api caiva yat ||
风神伐由说道：“彼自我无香、无味、无触；无形，亦无声。唯由内求而可证得；不著不缚，乃至无肉身之相。凡知人之自我为无手足背首腹等肢分，离诸质与诸业；清净、坚住；超越色味香触声；可知而不执；不系于骨肉之身；无忧、不坏、神圣，并于一切众生中平等安住、恒常一味者——如是知者，不与死亡相遇。”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the true Self is not the sensory, bodily person: it is formless, beyond the five sense-objects, unattached, pure, and all-pervading. Knowing oneself as this imperishable Ātman is presented as the basis for freedom from death (i.e., liberation from mortal identification).
Vāyudeva is instructing about the nature of the Ātman, using negations (absence of smell, taste, touch, form, sound) to detach the listener from bodily and sensory identification, and affirming that realization of this Self leads beyond death.