[Advaita-l] asti bhAti priyaM in Drg-drsya viveka

[Br. Pranipata Chaitanya]

Hari Om Shri Sreenivasamoorthyji, Pranaams!

>Sri Shankara, in his commentary to the above mantra writes ; Atmani svE kAryakaraNasaMGAtE AtmAnam pratykcEtayitArAm paSyati ||

Thanks for quoting AcAryaji's commentary which clarifies the meaning of Atma in Atmani as kArya-karaNa-sa~NgAta (BMI) and In AtmAnam as pratyag-cetayitRRi (caitanyam).

> Do you need a cadle light to cognize the sun?

That you are mixing two different contexts here will be clear from AcAryaji's words --

yat punaH sva-saMvedyatA pratibodhaviditaM iti asya vAkyasya arthaH varNyate, tatra bhavati sopAdhikatve AtmanaH buddhi-upAdhi-svarUpatvena bhedaM parikalpya, AtmanA AtmAnaM vetti iti saMvyavahAraH -- AtmanA AtmAnaM pashyati (bRRi), svayaM eva AtmanA AtmAnaM vettha (bg) iti. na tu nirupAdhikasya AtmanaH ekatve svasaMvedyatA parasaMvedyatA vA sambhavati. saMvedana-svarUpatvAt saMvedana-antara apekShA ca na sambhavati, yathA prakAshasya prakAsha-antata-apekSAyAH na sambhavaH tatvat.

As for the explanation, the expression pratibodhaviditam means that the Self is known to oneself, it is possible where difference is imagined in a context in which the Self appears as a conditioned thing through identification with the limiting adjunct, the intellect, so as to have such apparent activities as knowing the Self by the Self (referred to in the texts) sees the Self in his own self, you yourself know your Self through the self. 

But in a context where the unconditioned Self is one, there can neither be knowing by oneself or another. Besides It being Consciousness Itself, there can be no dependence on another consciousness, just as a light does not depend on another light.

In Shri Guru Smriti 
Br. Pranipata Chaitanya