Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

King Janaka explained,

Just as a mirror takes on the hues of images, so also the abstract intelligence assumes the different shapes of objects, by virtue of its holding them within itself. Abstract Intelligence can thus be made manifest by eliminating from it all that can be known. It cannot be known as such and such, for it is the supporter of one and all. This, being the Self of the seeker, is not cognizable. Investigate your true Self in the aforesaid manner.

You are not the body, nor the senses, nor the mind, because they all are transient. The body is composed of food, so how can you be the body? For the sense  of "I" (ego) surpasses the body, the senses and the mind, at the time of the cognition of objects. The contention may be made that the eternal flash of the Self as "I" is not apparent at the time of the perception of objects. If "I" did not shine forth at the time, the objects would not be perceived, just as they are invisible in the absence of light. Why is not the flash apparent? Perceptibility is always associated with insentient matter. Who else could see the self-luminosity of the Self? It cannot shine in absolute singleness and purity. However it is there as 'I'.