Bhagavad Gita Bhashya (Sri Madhvacharya) 2.18
Bhagavad Gita Bhashya (Sri Madhvacharya) 2.18 · 2 · Verse 18
Sanskrit Original
।।2.18।।भवतु देहस्यापि कस्यचिन्नित्यत्वमिति नेत्याह अन्तवन्त इति। अस्तु तर्हि दर्पणनाशात् प्रतिबिम्बनाशवदात्मनाश इत्यत आह नित्यस्य शरीरिण इति। ईश्वरव्यावृत्तये। न च नैमित्तिकनाश इत्याह अनाशिन इति। कुतः अप्रमेयेश्वरसरूपत्वात्। नह्युपाधिबिम्बसन्निध्यनासे प्रतिबिम्बनाशः सति च प्रदर्शके। स्वयमेवात्र प्रदर्शकः चित्त्वात् नित्यश्चोपाधिः कश्चिदस्ति।प्रतिपत्तौ विमोक्षस्य नित्योपाध्या स्वरूपया। चिद्रूपया युतो जीवः केशवप्रतिबिम्बकः इति भगवद्वचनात्।
‘Let the body be destroyed, be it so’ — he does not say that the body is eternal. Rather: since the mirror’s destruction would mean the destruction of its reflection, he says that the self is the indweller of the body, for the sake of the Lord’s activity. He does not say the self is perishless as merely incidental; for the Lord, being beyond measurement, is not of the nature of an object. When the substratum (upādhi) for the reflection is absent, the reflection disappears notwithstanding the presence of the revealer. Here the revealer is self‑evident and constant; but there is indeed an upādhi for the attainment of liberation. The living being, endowed with consciousness, is like Kesava’s reflection — thus says Bhagavān.