Kaṭha Upaniṣad 114

114

kathaṃ punar ātmānaṃ jānātīty ucyate -- aṇoḥ sūkṣmād aṇīyāñ śyāmākāder aṇutaraḥ / mahato mahatparimāṇān mahīyān mahattaraḥ pṛthivyādeḥ / aṇu mahad vā yad asti loke vastu tat tenaivātmanā nityenātmavat sambhavati / tad ātmanā vinirmuktam asat sampadyate / tasmād asāv evātmāṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān sarvanāmarūpavastūpādhikatvāt / sa cātmāsya jantor brahmādistambaparyantasya prāṇijātasya guhāyāṃ hṛdaye nihita ātmabhṛtaḥ sthita ity arthaḥ / tam ātmānaṃ darśanaśravaṇamananavijñānaliṅgam akratur akāmo, dṛṣṭādṛṣṭabāhyaviṣayoparatabuddhir ity arthaḥ / yadā caivaṃ tadā mana ādīni karaṇāni dhātavaḥ śarīrasya dhāraṇāt prasīdantīty eṣāṃ dhātūnāṃ prasādād ātmano mahimānaṃ karmanimittavṛddhikṣayarahitaṃ paśyaty ayam aham asmīti, sākṣād vijānāti / tato vītaśoko bhavati ///1,2.20 //

Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—How then does one know the atman is explained? Subtler than the subtle, i.e., subtler than grain, etc.; greater than the great, i.e., greater than things of great dimensions, such as the earth (whatever thing is in the world, that is known to exist only by virtue of the eternal atman; divorced from the atman it becomes a non-entity; therefore, this atman alone is subtler than the subtle and greater than the great, because all names, forms and actions are only conditions imposed upon it). This atman is seated, as the atman, in the heart of every living creature, irons Brahma down to the worm. That atman to whose realisation, hearing, thought and meditation are indicated as aids; one free from desire, i.e., one whose intelligence has been diverted from all external objects, either of this world or of the world to come (when he is so,—the mind and the senses which are called Dhatus.—because they suppprt the body, become composed); sees, i.e., directly realises, in the form ‘I am he’, the glory of the atman, devoid of increase or diminution due to Karma; and, therefore, he becomes absolved from grief.