The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c8.s1.t3.3

c8.s1.t3.3

“The opponent must further be asked how he imagines consciousness if he assumes its origin from the elements; for beyond the four elements the materialists of course admit nothing existing. If he says: consciousness is the perception of the elements and the products, consciousness has the latter as its objects and consequently cannot be a quality of them, for an activity directed towards one's own Self is a contradiction; for though fire is hot, it does not burn itself, and however skilled a dancer is, he cannot climb on his own shoulders; if consciousness is a quality of the elements and their products, the elements and their products cannot be objects of consciousness; for e.g. shapes cannot have their own shape or another as object, while on the other hand consciousness has as objects the elements and their products whether without or within the Self. As the existence of the elements and their products is concluded from the fact that they are perceived, so the conclusion must also be drawn that this perception is different from them [perception makes the material world known, not vice versa]; and the proper nature of perception is just what we call soul. Thus the independence of the soul from the body and its eternity follow from the unity of perception; and recollecting etc. is possible through the recognition in a different condition of a thing once perceived because the percipient is identical [with himself].”