Verse 2.584

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

कारकाण्युपमृद्नाति विद्या बुद्धिमिवोषरे ।
कारकत्वमविद्योत्थं स्वतश्चाकारकात्मता ॥ ५८४ ॥

kārakāṇyupamṛdnāti vidyā buddhimivoṣare |
kārakatvamavidyotthaṃ svataścākārakātmatā || 584 ||

English translation of verse 2.584:

Knowledge removes (from the Self) the notions of agent, object, etc., in the same way as the knowledge (of desert) removes the thought (of water) in the desert. The sense of agency, etc., is caused by avidyā. The Self by its very nature is devoid of agency, etc.

Notes:

There is yet another reason to show why the standpoint of nonduality is free from the defect of one and the same entity being both the agent and the object of an action. The Self by its very nature is immutable (kūṭastha) and so the notions of agency, etc., which arise with regard to the Self, are due to avidyā. When a person attains the saving knowledge, viz., “I am Brahman,” his ignorance of Brahman-Ātman gets removed. When avidyā disappears, the wrong notions about the Self also disappear. An example is given io drive home this point. So long as a person does not know that the area he is getting into is a desert, he thinks that water will be available in that place. But when he gains the knowledge of the place, he does not think of water in that place. In the same way when a person attains the knowledge of Brahman-Ātman he no longer associates the sense of agency, etc., with that non-dual reality.