Text 24
nātmā vapuḥ pārthivam indriyāṇi
devā hy asur vāyur jalam hutāśaḥ
mano ’nna-mātraṁ dhiṣaṇā ca sattvam
ahaṅkṛtiḥ khaṁ kṣitir artha-sāmyam
na — is not; ātmā — the self; vapuḥ — the body; pārthivam — made of earth; indriyāṇi — the senses; devāḥ — the presiding demigods; hi — indeed; asuḥ — the living air; vāyuḥ — the external air; jalam — water; huta-āśaḥ — fire; manaḥ — the mind; anna-mātram — being only matter; dhiṣaṇā — intelligence; ca — and; sattvam — material consciousness; ahaṅkṛtiḥ — false ego; kham — the ether; kṣitiḥ — earth; artha — the objects of sense perception; sāmyam — and the original, undifferentiated state of nature.
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.