य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् |
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते || 19||
This is a very important sloka, which is paraphrased from Katho Upanishad 1-2-19. In this verse the nature of the Self is further revealed.
In the context of the upcoming Mahabharat war, there would be some who would be killers and some who would be killed . In this verse, ‘killer’ represents the agent of action, or doer. In Sanskrit the doer is called ‘karta’. And ‘killed’ represents becoming the object of action…. Called in Sanskrit as ‘bhokta’.
Lord Krishna says here in this verse that the Self is neither a doer of an action, nor the experiencer of an action. The Self does not take part in any action… it is not a participant.
Some example will help to understand this profound truth.
All actions take place in space which accommodates all. Yet space does not participate in any action. I am writing just now on the computer. Space is not me, nor is it the computer on which I am writing. Nor is it an instrument of action. It simply does not participate in any action. Yet without space no action can take place.
Another example is that of light. In sunlight, so many actions take place. Imagine a school field in recess. Some children are eating their lunch, some are playing football and one child gets hit by the ball. All this is going on in the presence of sunlight. Yet sunlight does not participate in any of this. Neither it does the action of eating or playing, nor it gets hit by the ball. The sunlight does not participate in what is going on. Yet you cannot remove the light because none of these actions can take place. Like the space, the presence of light is required for transactions to take place. The sunlight is akarta not a doer abhokta not an object of action.
One more example is of a cinema screen. The entire movie takes place superimposed on the screen. There is a hero and a heroine and they go around the trees singing songs of undying love! Then a villain appears and big fight ensues. The girl is kidnapped etc. The screen however is not a participant in any of the actions that is taking place. Yet you cannot remove the screen. If the screen is removed there will be no movie possible. The screen is akarta, abhokta.
So to it is in the ever-presence of the Self that all actions take place, yet the Self is uninvolved in any action. Nor is subjected to any action. Self is akarta, abhokta. Self does not do anything, nor is anything done to the Self. Self is akarta, meaning Self does not kill anyone. For that matter it does not do any action at all. Self is abhokta means the Self is not killed by anyone. For that matter Self is never subjected to any action on it. Self is never an object.
Let us see Adi Shankaracharya’s commentary - य एनं प्रकृतं देहिनं वेत्ति विजानाति हन्तारं हननक्रियायाः कर्तारं यश्च एनम् अन्यो मन्यते हतं देहहननेन ‘हतः अहम्’ इति हननक्रियायाः कर्मभूतम् , तौ उभौ न विजानीतः न ज्ञातवन्तौ अविवेकेन आत्मानम् ।The one who concludes the self to be the agent of the action of killing, in other words a ‘doer' and the one who believes that 'I am killed’, when the body has been killed, in other words, considers the self to be the object of an action, both these do not know (the meaning of the word ”I”). Why do they not know? Because of lack of discrimination between Self and non-self.
In the world, the meaning of “I” is understood as the body. However, here Lord Krishna is talking about changeless truth of I, the true I, the real I, referred to as SAT in Verse 16. Because of lack of knowledge about the real I, there is confusion and the body is taken to be I and so when the body is killed the person says “I am killed”. Both the people, the one who takes the real I to be a karta an agent of action, as well as the one who takes the real I to be the bhokta, the object of action, both do not know.
‘हन्ता अहम्’‘हतः अस्मि अहम्’ इति देहहननेन आत्मानमहं प्रत्ययविषयं यौ विजानीतः तौ आत्मस्वरूपानभिज्ञौ इत्यर्थः । ”I am killing”, “I am killed”. Those who conclude in this manner when the body, do not know real nature of the Self, which we call as I.
In Tattva-bodha we saw that “I” Consciousness is not the body, nor is it a part, property or product of the body. The body is an object of Consciousness, just like the rest of the world is. It is not Consciousness.
So what is the real nature of I?
यस्मात् न अयम् आत्मा हन्ति न हननक्रियायाः कर्ता भवति, न च हन्यते न च कर्म भवतीत्यर्थः, अविक्रियत्वात् | Because the real I is not the doer of the action of killing, nor it the object of action.
In action, there are different factors like an agent, an object of the action, instruments performing the action etc. The Self, atma is not any one of those factors of action. Atma, is totally free of sanchita karma (accumulated karma in one’s account), prarabdha karma (the portion of sanchita karma that is responsible for this birth) and agami karma (the karma accumulated in this birth).
How come? अविक्रियत्वात् Because atma is immutable, unchanging, free of all modifications. The Self does not kill, nor is it killed – because it is immutable, changeless, free of all modifications.
Om Tat Sat
