परमात्मेति चाप्युक्तो देहेऽस्मिन्पुरुषः परः ॥ २२ ॥
upadraṣṭā’numantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ .
paramātmeti cāpyukto dehe’sminpuruṣaḥ paraḥ .. 22 ..
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Spectator (Upadraṣṭṛ) : a bystander and a witness, Himself not acting. When priests and the sacrificer are engaged in a sacrificial act, there is another, an expert in sacrificial matters, sitting by their side, not taking part in the act, and discerning what is good and what is bad in the acts of the sacrificer and of the priests; just so, not taking part in the activities of the body and the senses, the Self is distinct from them, a near witness of the body and the senses and all their acts.—Or, it may be also explained thus : The body, the sense of sight, Manas, Buddhi, and the Self are the seers. Of these, the body is the most external seer; and viewed from the body inwards, the Self is the innermost and nearest seer, and beyond Him there is no seer in the interior. Thus, being the nearest seer, He is spoken of as ‘Upadraṣṭṛ.’ Or, the Self is Upadraṣṭṛ because, like the Upadraṣṭṛ in the sacrificial rite, He watches all. He is also the Permitter (Anumantri,) expressing approbation or satisfaction concerning the acts of those who are engaged in action.—Or, though Himself not engaged in action while the body and senses are active, He seems to be active in co-operation with them.—Or, being their mere witness, He never stands in the way of those that are engaged in their respective activities. Supporter (Bhartri) : The Self is called the Supporter, because the body, the senses, Manas and Buddhi—which aggregate together to serve the purposes of some one else, viz., the Intelligent Self, and which are, or which convey, mere reflections of the Intelligence—are what they are, only as made by that Intelligent Self. Enjoyer (Bhoktri) : The Self is the enjoyer because by the Self who is ‘nitya-chaitanya-svarupa’, i.e., whose inherent nature is eternal intelligence, just as heat is the inherent nature of fire, are clearly perceived, in their mutual relations, allstates of mind (buddheh-pratyayah), constituted of pleasure, pain and delusion, which, as they come into being, are permeated as it were by the intelligent Self. The Great Lord : As one with the whole universe and independent of all, He is the Great One as well as the Lord.
The Supreme Self (Paramātman) : the Self who has been defined as the Spectator, etc., is Supreme, because He is superior to all those things—from the physical body up to the Avyakta—which are through ignorance mistaken for the Inner Self. Whence He is spoken of as ‘Paramātman’ in the sruti also,—Where is He?—Puruṣa, who transcends the Avyakta, as will be described hereafter in xv. 17, is here in this body.
The Self treated of in xiii. 2 has been described at length, and the subject has been concluded. As to him who knows the Self thus described :