Drg-Drshya-Viveka - 17

"The jivahood of the jiva appears in the witness also due to superimposition. But when the veiling is destroyed the difference becomes clear and that (notion of finitude) goes away." - Verse 17

Excerpt From Commentary:

We should first ask the question - who is bound? 

The Self need not and cannot be liberated (since it is ever liberated and Infinite). Also, who would liberate the Self (since other than the Self, everything is non-existent). The gross body and the thoughts of the subtle body by themselves are inert. The inert does not know bondage and liberation. The Self and the non-Self neither need nor seek liberation.

deho na jAnAti sato na janma

dehapramANo'nya udeti madhye

ahamkruti-granthi-vibandha-sookshma

sharIra-cheto-bhava-jIva-nAmA 

(The body does not know. For the Self there is no birth. Between the body and the Self, there arises another entity of the size of the body which is called ego, knot, bondage, subtle body, mind, the one who is born and dies, the jiva. - From Saddarshanam)

The jiva due to its identity with the body is finite and bound. This finitude is superimposed on the Infinite Self. Hence the suffering of man. 

The jiva is finite and bound. On enquiry 'for whom is the bondage?', the jivahood ends. This is liberation or destruction of the veiling. 

The jiva does not remain to say he is liberated since he never did exist. The bondage was imaginary and so also the notion of liberation. The Self is ever free. For example, man thought he had swallowed a needle. He started feeling pin-pricks in his stomach. Medical investigation showed no needle, and yet he would not believe. A smart doctor sympathized with him and agreed to operate. The man underwent a make-believe surgery under anesthesia. A needle was later shown to him and he believed himself to be cured. Similarly when we experience sorrow and bondage, we are told it is due to maya and its effects. When maya is destroyed, we shall be liberated. On realization we come to know that maya never existed. This knowledge dawns only on inquiry - maya cannot stand enquiry. So all efforts should be put forth to conduct this enquiry.