Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.54.46
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ātmanaḥ
—
for the self
Genitive of ātman. The verse-subject. The Bhāgavatam keeps the word ātmā doing double-duty: the individual self (jīvātmā) and the Supreme Self (Paramātmā). Both share the sun-quality of being non-contacted yet illuminating.
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saṁyogaḥ
—
contact
Sam (with) + yoga (joining). What the soul does NOT have with material objects. Yet the same word, in another context, names yoga itself. Balarāma's grammar: there is no saṁyoga at the material level; there can be saṁyoga at the bhakti level (yukta-vairāgya).
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asataḥ
—
with that which is insubstantial
From a- + sat. The 'unreal' — the temporary. Cf. BG 2.16: 'nāsato vidyate bhāvo.' The categorical contrast between sat (the eternal) and asat (the temporary). The soul belongs to sat; the body, to asat.
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raveḥ
—
of the sun
Genitive of ravi. The chapter has been steeped in solar imagery (v. 44 jyotis, here ravi). Solar imagery in Bhāgavatam is rarely impersonal — Sūrya is one of the dvādaśādityas, a personal devatā. The 'sun' here is metaphor, but tinged with personality.
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sati
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O discriminating one
Feminine vocative of sat. Balarāma calls Rukmiṇī by her ontological category — she who really IS. The same root she possesses (satī, v. 32) is reaffirmed. Her existence is grounded in sat; her grief, in mistaking sat for asat.
As explained in the previous text, the conditioned soul ignorantly assumes himself to be the material body and thus rotates in the cycle of birth and death. In fact, matter and spirit are co-energies of the original source of everything, the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Truth. As Lord Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.5) , jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat. The material world is sustained by the living beings’ desire to exploit it. The material world is like a prison. Criminals are determined to commit crimes, and thus the government finds it necessary to maintain a prison system. Similarly, the Supreme Lord maintains the material universes because the conditioned souls are determined to rebel against Him and try to enjoy without His loving cooperation. Thus here the phrase tad-dhetutvāt is used to describe the soul, meaning that the soul is the cause of matter assembling itself into a material body. The term tat-prasiddheḥ indicates that the soul is the cause of the body’s being perceived, and the same term also indicates that this fact is well known to the enlightened. Besides its given meaning, the word ātmanaḥ in this verse may indicate the Supreme Soul, in which case the term tad-dhetutvāt indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa expands His personal potency and thus manifests the material universe. Since the Lord exists eternally in His pure, spiritual body, He never becomes material, as indicated here.
Because the atma is covered by the body, the body is perceived as the atma. Actually however, the atma is not affected by the body. Nor is the paramatma affected by the jiva. First this verse can be explained as referring to the jivatma and matter. There is no permanent contact of the soul with the material body which is impermanent, having a beginning and end. Because there is no contact then there is no separation. How does this take place? The jivatama acts as the source of manifestation of the body. Because the jiva is the manifester of the material body, it is not contaminated by it. How can the manifester be contaminated by that which it manifests? Referring to paramatma and jiva, the verse can be explained as follows. The paramatma (atmanah) has no contact with the jiva (anena) or his impermanent body (asata), because the paramatma is the source of manifestation of the jiva and his body by his very nature as God. Paramatma is never contaminated by either the jiva or the body manifested from him. The manifester is never contaminated by the manifested. In both cases, the example of the sun applies.The sun has no contamination from the eye or form manifested from it. The sun is the paramatma, the eye is the jiva and the form is the body.
The jīva has no connection with matter. Consequently it has no disconnection with matter. It has no connection with matter because in the three phases of time, jīva does not touch (asataḥ) matter. The reason is given. The jīva is the cause of matter’s energy (prasiddheḥ) since it is has a consciousness. If that is so, how can the jīva touch matter? An example is given. The sun, a devatā by birth, unfailing during day and night, does not have connection or disconnection with the eye (sense organ) and form (sense object), the two śaktis which reveal or hide the sun, since it never contacts them. O intelligent Rukmiṇī (sati)! There is another meaning. Let that be! Since you are the eternal Lakṣmī of Kṛṣṇa, you have no relationship with Rukmī. Then he speaks this verse. You (ātmanaḥ) have no connection or disconnection with Rukmī. “Why is this not well known?” You are the supreme Lakṣmī, the cause. Lakṣmī has fame because of your form. She becomes famous from the power of your glance when you appear on earth. “If I am related to him, why do I have no connection or disconnection with him?” Then the example of the sun, eye and form is given.
First a logical example is given. There is no separation from the body or senses (anyena). Since the separation depends on a previous connection, connection is also non-existent. The previous verse stated that the body was imposed on the ātmā. Thus the body is also false. O pure woman! You have no relationship with purity or impurity. An example is given. The sun has no relation with or separation from the eye or form. Why? The sun is the cause of form and the eye just as the ātmā is the cause of the senses. Being the effects they are negated. Thus they do not exist: they have a beginning and end.
- How does the sun-image change your read of your own relationship to objects?
- Where do you treat soul-as-object-among-objects rather than origin?
The soul resembles the sun — which neither comes in contact with nor separates from sight and the seen, yet illuminates both. Balarāma's analogy is the most refined statement in the chapter: the ātmā is the precondition of all relation, never reducible to a term within relation. Like the sun's relation to a painting — it makes the painting visible without being one of the colors.
My note
Source: vedabase.io