Appearance is different from reality

Why limitless nature of ātmā be seen only by the people who have purity of mind? Because of the following reason.

āsīno dūram vrajati śayāno yāti sarvataḥ |

kastam madāmadam devam madanyo jñātumarhati ||1.2.21||

Sitting, it goes far. Lying, it goes everywhere. Who, other than me, can know that

effulgent one which is joyful and joyless?

One limitless brahman manifests as the smallest and the biggest (everything), is none other than me, who is the very consciousness itself. One consciousness that reflects through an individual mind is called reflected consciousness.  Because of the many-ness and varieties of upādhi, we experience many and diversity of consciousness through different kinds of bodies. Just like sunlight when it is reflected through many reflecting media. Because of those media, many reflected sunbeams shine differently, taking the attributes of the medium itself. Similarly, reflected consciousness takes the attributes of the upādhi, appears differently from the original consciousness.

Thus, during waking time, I go about doing my activities; it appears I move around, but in reality, I-ātmā doesn’t go anywhere, since action is not possible for ātmā.

āsīno dūram vrajati - remain sitting, the self goes far away. Consciousness itself is motionless (because ātmā is free from modification), but whenever the upādhi goes, I-ātmā appears to be going. śayāno yāti sarvataḥ - remaining asleep, the self travels everywhere. When the upādhi is resolved during sleep, I-ātmā appears resting, but consciousness which pervades everything, is everywhere. Because of the manifold attributes of ātmā from the standpoint of upādhi are opposite to its svarūpa - true nature, ātmā becomes difficult to be understood.

Therefore, kastam madāmadam devam madanyo jñātumarhati - who, other than me, is capable of knowing that effulgent one which is joyful and at the same time free from joy? From the standpoint of reflected consciousness, ātmā experiences joy, etc. through upādhi, however from the standpoint of svarūpa, consciousness ātmā is free from any experience (ātmā is not the doer and experiencer). Because of the opposite attributes between upādhi and svarūpa, ātmā is difficult to be understood.

If only yamaraja can understand that effulgent ātmā, why should we put so much effort into gaining this knowledge? The above statement is to point out the importance of qualification, which is the purity of the mind for understanding ātmā. Only people who are endowed with the subtle mind (like yamaraja and naciketa) can understand despite this contradiction. Therefore, one should work on this qualification to own up one’s true nature.