46. I know that all, in every way, is the one indivisible “I” which is self-sustained and full, while the five elements, beginning with ether, are empty.
47. The Self is neither eunuch, man, nor woman: it is neither idea nor imagination. How can you think the Self to be full of joy or joyless?
Full of joy – Here “joy” is used in the sense of relative joy as perceived by the senses and the mind.
Joyless – Here the reference is to transcendental Joy.
48. The Self certainly does not become pure through the practice of six-limbed yoga. It certainly is not purified by the destruction of the mind. It certainly is not made pure by the instructions of the teacher. It is Itself the Truth. It is Itself the illumined One.
Six-limbed – consisting of six parts or steps, namely, posture, control of the vital force, self- withdrawal, concentration, meditation, and Samahdi.
49. There is no body made up of five elements; nor is there anyone who is disembodied. All is verily the Self alone. How can there be the three states and the fourth?
Five elements – See verses 3 and 25.
Anyone, etc. – When the pure Self is spoken of as disembodied, the idea of body is associated with It, though negatively.
All such qualifications of the Self (or Soul) are denied in this as well as in other verses.
Three states, etc. – the waking state, the dream state, and the deep sleep state: the ordinary conditions of individuals when they are ignorant of their true nature, which is usually called the fourth or transcendental state.
To name the transcendental state as the fourth is itself an error, as such a designation, which makes it a correlative of the other three states, is inapplicable to the absolute Self.
50. I am not bound, I am not, indeed, liberated – I am not different from Brahman. Neither doer nor enjoyer – I am devoid of the distinctions of the pervaded and the pervader.
Liberated – The Self cannot be “liberated”, since it was never bound.
Pervaded, etc. – The Sanskrit words for pervaded and pervader are vyapya and vyapaka, meaning the particular and the universal. The particular is pervaded by or constituted of the universal. The Self can be neither particular nor universal, as both these designations imply distinction, division, and limitation.
51. As water, when water has been poured into water, has no distinctions, so purusa and prakrti appear nondifferent to me.
Purusa, etc. – Purusa: Soul. Prakrti: Cosmos. Ordinarily considered to be opposite principles, conscious and unconscious, they are here recognized as identical in the highest spiritual experience.
52. If indeed you are never bound or liberated, how then can you think yourself with form or as formless?
With form, etc. – The Self, of course, is without form, but saying so implies recognition of form; therefore even the idea of the formlessness of the Self is repudiated.
53. I know your supreme Form to be directly perceivable, like the sky. I know your lower form to be as water in a mirage. Like the sky – without division or distinction, with-out change.
Lower, etc. – apparent form
54. I have neither teacher nor instruction, limiting adjunct nor activity. Know that I am by nature pure, homogenous, bodiless, like the sky.
Limiting, etc. – any qualification.
55. You are pure, you are without a body, your mind is not higher than the highest. You need not be ashamed to say, ” I am the Self, the supreme Truth.”
Mind, etc. – The mind is not the Self.
56. Why are you weeping, O mind? Do you the Self, be the Self by means of the Self. Drink, my child, the supreme nectar of Nonduality, transcending all divisions.
Means, etc. – One cannot attain to Self – knowledge except through the Self itself. How can the mind, which is not- Self, reveal the Self?
57. There is neither knowledge nor ignorance nor knowledge combined with ignorance. He who has always such knowledge is himself Knowledge. It is never otherwise.
Knowledge – The Absolute is spoken of as Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss.
58. There is no need of knowledge, reasoning, time, space, instruction from a teacher, or attainment of Samahdi. I am naturally the perfect Consciousness, the Real, like the sky, Spontaneous and steady.
Samahdi – See verse 23. Dattatreya maintains that the practice of Samahdi is not necessary because, according to him, the Self has never been bound and hence does not require to practice anything to gain knowledge of Itself.
The Self, which is Consciousness Itself, can never lose consciousness of Its true nature and therefore Samahdi is superfluous.
59. I was not born nor have I death. I have no action, good or evil. I am Brahman, stainless, without qualities. How can there be bondage or liberation for me?
60. If God pervades all, if God is immovable, full, undivided, then I see no division. How can He have exterior or interior?
How, etc. – Exterior or interior cannot be spoken of He is indivisible and infinite.