आत्मा नित्योऽव्यय: शुद्ध एक: क्षेत्रज्ञ आश्रय: । अविक्रिय: स्वदृग् हेतुर्व्यापकोऽसङ्ग्यनावृत: ॥ १९ ॥ एतैर्द्वादशभिर्विद्वानात्मनो लक्षणै: परै: । अहं ममेत्यसद्भावं देहादौ मोहजं त्यजेत् ॥ २० ॥
atma nityo ’vyayah suddha ekah ksetra-jna asrayah avikriyah sva-drg hetur vyapako ’sangy anavrtah etair dvadasabhir vidvan atmano laksanaih paraih aham mamety asad-bhavam dehadau mohajam tyajet
- atma
- the spirit soul, the part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- nityah
- without birth or death
- avyayah
- with no possibility of dwindling
- suddhah
- without the material contamination of attachment and detachment
- ekah
- individual
- ksetra-jnah
- who knows and is therefore different from the material body
- asrayah
- the original foundation
- avikriyah
- not undergoing changes like the body
- sva-drk
- self-illuminated
- hetuh
- the cause of all causes
- vyapakah
- spreading throughout the body in the form of consciousness
- asangi
- not depending on the body (free to transmigrate from one body to another)
- anavrtah
- not covered by material contamination
- etaih
- by all these
- dvadasabhih
- twelve
- vidvan
- a person who is not foolish but fully aware of things as they are
- atmanah
- of the spirit soul
- laksanaih
- symptoms
- paraih
- transcendental
- aham
- I (“I am this body”)
- mama
- mine (“everything in relationship with this body is mine”)
- iti
- thus
- asat-bhavam
- a false conception of life
- deha-adau
- identifying oneself with the material body and then with one’s wife, children, family, community, nation and so on
- moha-jam
- produced from illusory knowledge
- tyajet
- must give up
“Atma” refers to the Supreme Lord or the living entities. Both of them are spiritual, free from birth and death, free from deterioration and free from material contamination. They are individual, they are the knowers of the external body, and they are the foundation or shelter of everything. They are free from material change, they are self-illuminated, they are the cause of all causes, and they are all-pervading. They have nothing to do with the material body, and therefore they are always uncovered. With these transcendental qualities, one who is actually learned must give up the illusory conception of life, in which one thinks, “I am this material body, and everything in relationship with this body is mine.”