नात्मा जजान न मरिष्यति नैधतेऽसौ न क्षीयते सवनविद् व्यभिचारिणां हि । सर्वत्र शश्वदनपाय्युपलब्धिमात्रं प्राणो यथेन्द्रियबलेन विकल्पितं सत् ॥ ३८ ॥
nātmā jajāna na mariṣyati naidhate ’sau na kṣīyate savana-vid vyabhicāriṇāṁ hi sarvatra śaśvad anapāyy upalabdhi-mātraṁ prāṇo yathendriya-balena vikalpitaṁ sat
- na
- never
- ātmā
- the soul
- jajāna
- was born
- na
- never
- mariṣyati
- will die
- na
- does not
- edhate
- grow
- asau
- this
- na
- does not
- kṣīyate
- become diminished
- savana-vit
- the knower of these phases of time
- vyabhicāriṇām
- as they occur in other, changing beings
- hi
- indeed
- sarvatra
- everywhere
- śaśvat
- constantly
- anapāyi
- never disappearing
- upalabdhi-mātram
- pure consciousness
- prāṇaḥ yathā
- just like the life air within the body
- indriya-balena
- by the force of the senses
- vikalpitam
- imagined as divided
- sat
- becoming
Brahman, the eternal soul, was never born and will never die, nor does it grow or decay. That spiritual soul is actually the knower of the youth, middle age and death of the material body. Thus the soul can be understood to be pure consciousness, existing everywhere at all times and never being destroyed. Just as the life air within the body, although one, becomes manifest as many in contact with the various material senses, the one soul appears to assume various material designations in contact with the material body.