Verses 35–41 · The Self and Its Reflection
Verse 35 — I Am the Immortal Self
The birthless, deathless 'I' — the end of insecurity.
This Self is never born, never grows, never decays, and never dies. It is not new — indeed it is the most ancient — and it is devoid of all the attributes of the equipments. It is blissful, self-effulgent, all-pervading, and one without a second. [Verse 35]
Volume 2 opens with a practical question: what does all this knowledge actually do for me? The answer is freedom from our most basic wound — the sense of insecurity.
Why we feel insecure
Look honestly at the default human condition:
- "I am mortal" — born, ageing, and heading toward death. This built-in sense of mortality produces a constant, low-grade insecurity (bhaya).
- We try to soothe it by clinging — to parents, partners, children, possessions.
- This clinging is samsara. And moksha is simply freedom from this insecurity.
Key idea. The stronger the body-identification (deha-abhimana), the more instinctive the fear. A person who has truly assimilated this teaching can declare, without arrogance: "I am the immortal Self."
Free from the six modifications
Everything that has a body undergoes six changes (shad-vikara). The Self undergoes none of them:
| # | Modification | Sanskrit | Belongs to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Potential existence (in the womb) | Asti | the body |
| 2 | Birth | Jayate | the body |
| 3 | Growth | Vardhate | the body |
| 4 | Transformation | Viparinamate | the body |
| 5 | Decay | Apakshiyate | the body |
| 6 | Death | Vinashyati | the body |
The Self is nirvikara — changeless. "I am never born and never die; I neither grow nor decay."
Free from all gradations
The Self is also nirasta-sarva-atishaya — beyond every comparison. There is no taller or shorter, richer or poorer, superior or inferior Self.
flowchart TD
A[Comparison] --> B[Jealousy, inferiority,<br/>superiority]
B --> C[Restlessness — samsara]
D[Knowing I am the<br/>gradation-free Self] --> E[Relief: comfortable<br/>as I am, no comparison]So much human suffering is simply the ache of comparison. The Self is free of it. "I am relieved — no inferiority, no superiority, comfortable exactly as I am."
The verse closes by naming the Self's true nature: blissful (sukha-atmaka), self-evident (svayam-prabha), all-pervading (sarva-gata), and non-dual (advaya). Verse 36 asks the obvious follow-up: if this is what I am, how does a painful world ever seem to touch me?