Prose-section 57
In plain words
‘None of the likes and dislikes, pleasures and pains, good and bad fortune of those who take the body as themselves touch this knower of Brahman, freed from the bond of the body. The sun is never really seized by Rāhu, yet it looks seized, and those who do not know the truth say “the sun has been seized”. In the same way the knower of Brahman is free of the bond of body and the rest, but he looks as if he had a body, and so people in their confusion say “he is embodied”. In truth nothing belongs to him because of that. ‘The body of one freed from the body’s bond moves here and there by the breath, like a snake’s cast-off skin. A log carried by a river’s current comes to high ground and low; in the same way the free one’s body sometimes meets with enjoyments through prārabdha, the karma already bearing fruit. Through the tendencies of that karma it meets them just as a worldly person’s body does, yet he himself is like the witness, like the still hub of a wheel: without resolve or doubt, unconcerned, silent. He does not send the senses into objects, and he does not pull them back. Drunk with the undivided bliss he has drunk, he gathers not the least of those fruits of action. Having left aside both what is aimed at and what is not, he remains as the Self alone. That knower of Brahman is the supreme Lord himself; there is no doubt of it.’
Word for word
‘None of the liking, dislike, pleasure, pain, auspicious or inauspicious conditions of those identified with the body touches this knower of Brahman, released from bodily bondage. Though the sun is not seized by Rāhu, it appears seized, and those ignorant of the truth mistakenly say “the sun has been seized”. Similarly, the knower, free of bondage to body and the rest, appears embodied, and people say in delusion “he is an embodied person”. No such condition truly belongs to him thereby. ‘The body of one released from bodily bondage moves here and there through vital breath, like a snake’s cast skin. Like a log carried to high and low places by a river current, the liberated one’s body encounters experiences at different times through prārabdha. Though through prārabdha’s dispositions it encounters experiences like a bound person’s body, he remains like the witness or a wheel’s hub: without intention and differentiation, unaffected and silent. He neither joins the senses to objects nor separates them from them. Intoxicated by the draught of indivisible bliss, he acquires not even the least of those karmic results. Relinquishing objects of attention and non-attention, and remaining as the Self alone, that knower of Brahman is directly the supreme Lord. There is no doubt.’