The Ātman pervades everything. It is radiant, incorporeal, devoid of muscles, pure, immaculate, self—created and all—embracing. It is the omniscient seer and it is self— sufficient. It has established the laws and duties since time immemorial.

This exquisite mantra allows an intuitive glimpse of the Self by trying to describe It, although it clearly fails...

All religious and spiritual literature, all discussions of God, all descriptions of God, of the Self, of the Truth, have been and will be a failure...

All masters, saints, and enlightened beings have experienced the inability to explain the Truth with words because it is before words, before thoughts, before us...

Nevertheless, in his attempt, the ṛṣi manages to give us some flavor, some scent of the transcendental experience...

Paryagāt... "The Ātman pervades everything..." in order to indicate to us that It is limitless... Remember that while speaking about the Ātman, we are speaking about life, about existence, about the reality situated in you... as you... Every so often, I make sure to remember this, because words like Brahman, Ātman, etc. tend to make us feel separate from such truths; they allow us to doubt their existence...

However, life, reality, and existence are unavoidable terms. For example, paryagāt, or the fact that life pervades everything... you and I are not only parts of the life, or pieces of life. Existence cannot be cut in pieces. You are life, and enlightenment is to realize yourself as such. The difficulty of such realization is not lack of life but the fact that life pervades everything...

For the fish surrounded by water it is practically impossible to understand what the ocean is and where it is...

"It is radiant..." in the sense that the Self is in fact the light of intelligence itself, the shining light of self—observation. The fact that when closing your eyes you see darkness is proof that you are light. Darkness cannot see darkness... and beyond all the afore—mentioned, I can honestly assure you, from heart to heart, that what you really are is shining light...

Asnāviram... "devoid of muscles..." means that Ātman is not enclosed within a body of flesh and bones subject to changes of matter; that is to say, It is not a gross body. Ātman is not located in each body subject to divisions imposed by space and time factors. There is one single consciousness, one single Self that lies in everything and everyone, indivisible. It is the single Pure Consciousness that has became many...

Akāyam... "incorporeal..." informs us that the Self is not limited to a specific form. It also refers to the fact that It lacks liṅga śarīra or subtle body...

Śuddham... "pure..." means that the Self is not touched by impurities nor limited by the causal body, or karaṇa śarīra, and therefore transcends ignorance...

Apāpa—viddham... "immaculate"

Kaviḥ... "the seer, the observer"

Manīṣī... the Self is omniscient.

Svayambhūḥ... the Self is self—sufficient, which implies and suggests the fact that It does not depend on anything besides Itself for Its existence. It does not depend on another cause or causes for Its existence...

Here it is affirmed that nothing nor anyone has created God. God is sarva kāraṇa kāraṇaṁ... the original and supreme cause of all causes...

The existence of everything besides Ātman depends on others; even your body has depended on an interaction among your parents, your mind, and your character. You, as an ego or personality, have been created by your relatives, professors, bosses, friends, the media, society, etc.

Whatever you believe to be that is not Ātman is a creation of others...

The Self is self—sufficient because life and existence are so...