Sankhya Yoga 2.12

 From slokas 2.12 to 2.25 the teaching of self knowledge is given. Slokas 2.14 and 2.15 describe the anatma (non self).

Before entering the next sloka, we will see some points of atma and anatma as an introduction.

Anatma ( the non self)

The non self is the known. Drishyam. 

It consists of three main bodies (Sharira)

Sharira - sthula sharira + suskshma sharira + karna sharira

Sthula sharira (the gross body) - this is the physical body. All bodies are made of five elements (pancha boothas) namely air, fire, earth, water and space.

Sukshma sharira (the subtle body) - the subtle body is made up of the following.

Jnanendriyas (5) - the powers of eyes, tongue, nose, ears and skin. ( sense of vision, of taste, of smell, of sound and of touch.)

Karmendriyas (5) - the senses that perform action. ( hands, legs, speech, anus, etc.)

Pranas (5) - prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana.

Sukshma Sharira = jnanendriyas (5) + karmendriyas (5) + pranas (5) + mana:(mind) sankalpa vikalpathmakam mana: mind is of the nature of resolution and wavering + buddhi (intellect) + chitta (faculty of memory) + ahankara (ego).

We can say the sukshma sharira is made of the above nineteen principles. But this division is only for convenience. In other areas, Shastra may divide the constituents into a different number. We must understand that all the above principles too are considered as a sharira, and hence as the non self.

Atma (The Self)

Atma is the one who knows all the three shariras. It is called drk.

Atma is of the nature of pure consciousness. It is also called chit or chaitanyam. It is of the nature of knowledge.

Sri Krishna asks Arjuna the following questions.

1) Are you suffering about the atma of Bhishma and Drona?

2) Are you suffering because of the anatma of Bhisma and Drona?

3) Are you suffering because of the uncertainty that what you are about to do is adharma?

Krishna’s teaching is aimed at answering these questions.

Verse  2.12 Atma is eternal therefore imperishable.(Hence anatma is transient and therefore destructible)

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपा |

न चैव न भविष्याम: सर्वे वयमत: परम् || 12||

na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ

na chaiva na bhaviṣhyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param

na—never; tu—however; eva—certainly; aham—I; jātu—at any time; na—nor; āsam—exist; na—nor; tvam—you; na—nor; ime—these; jana-adhipāḥ—kings; na—never; cha—also; eva—indeed; na bhaviṣhyāmaḥ—shall not exist; sarve vayam—all of us; ataḥ—from now; param—after

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

Krishna gives three important points here. The self is eternal; there is only one self and the physical body is only an appearance (upadi).

The self is eternal (atma is nityam)

Absence of any object in this world is experienced before its birth and after its destruction. Hence nothing in this world is eternal. Any object comes into being at one point of time and ceases to be at another. The physical body is of this kind. But we superimpose the self (the real owner of the feeling of I) on this body and celebrate birthdays for this body. But in reality what is born is only a name and a form. We do not know this. We superimpose the changes like ageing that happen to the body on the self and grieve about the change. Krishna here removes the wrong notion by providing double negatives. He says there was never a time when he, Krishna, did not exist, not only he, for Arjuna may think since he is the lord he is capable of existing at all times, nor did Arjuna himself, nor all these kings. The self is never born. So for the self there was, will  never be a time that it did not exist. Because atma is nityam (the self is eternal).

There is only one self (atma is aekam)

When Krishna says that there will never be a time where himself, Arjuna or kings cease to be, he does not say this based on their physical bodies. The bodies are only an appearance on the self. The bodies of Krishna, Arjuna and other kings are limited by time, form and attributes and are transient. Atma is not limited by any of the above and is eternal. Just as pots come and go while pot space remains, physical bodies come and go while the self remains unaffected. The pot space inside every pot is the same. In fact the same space pervades the inside and outside of a pot. The space is not inside the pot but the pots are in space. Likewise the self is the same in every physical body. In fact the self is not in the body; all bodies are in the self which pervades anything and everything. Which brings to the second conclusion. There is only one self (atma aekam)

The physical body is only an adjunct or an appearance (upadi)

उप समीपे स्थित्वा स्वीयं धर्मं रूपम् अन्यत्र अादधाति इति उपाधि:

(Upa sameepe sthithva sveeyam dharmyam rupam anyathra aadadhathi ithi upadi:)

That which lends its attributes to another which is closer to it is called upadi. I would like to roughly translate this word as adjunct or appearance.

As you can see, appearance is not a proper translation for the word upadi, hence the definition is given. When a glass prism is placed near a red rose, the glass prism borrows the red color from the flower and appears a red prism. The color red is not the inherent quality of the prism, but only an attribute lent by the flower. The flower is the upadi here. The physical body lends its attributes such as being born, growing, deteriorating, dyeing etc to the self. Hence the physical body is called the upadi. If one takes oneself as good as the body, then one thinks one is born, grows, ages and dies. Like even the glass prism only appears red and is not red in color in actuality, the self only appears to have a physical body while in reality it neither has a body nor is it dependent on it. With deeper understanding of the difference between the self and Upadi, we will be able to appreciate the meaning of this verse much better.