nÄtmÄ vapuḥ pÄrthivam indriyÄṇi
devÄ hy asur vÄyur jalam hutÄÅ›aḥ
mano 'nna-mÄtraá¹ dhiá¹£aá¹‡Ä ca sattvam
ahaá¹…ká¹›tiḥ khaá¹ ká¹£itir artha-sÄmyam

 na - is not; ÄtmÄ - the self; vapuḥ - the body; pÄrthivam - made of earth; indriyÄṇi - the senses; devÄḥ - the presiding demigods; hi - indeed; asuḥ - the living air; vÄyuḥ - the external air; jalam - water; huta-ÄÅ›aḥ - fire; manaḥ - the mind; anna-mÄtram - being only matter; dhiá¹£aá¹‡Ä - intelligence; ca - and; sattvam - material consciousness; ahaá¹…ká¹›tiḥ - false ego; kham - the ether; ká¹£itiḥ - earth; artha - the objects of sense perception; sÄmyam - and the original, undifferentiated state of nature.


Text

The material body made of earth is not the true self; nor are the senses, their presiding demigods or the air of life; nor is the external air, water or fire or one’s mind. All these are simply matter. Similarly, neither one’s intelligence, material consciousness nor ego, nor the elements of ether or earth, nor the objects of sense perception, nor even the primeval state of material equilibrium can be considered the actual identity of the soul.

Purport