The ātmā is inexhaustible, beyond all material qualities, pure, self-luminous and never covered by anything material. It is like fire. But the nonliving material body, like firewood, is dull and unaware. So in this world, who is it that actually undergoes the experience of material life? He further explains. Jīva is without destruction, creation or change (avyayaḥ). Jīva is without qualities like attachment. It is pure, without sin or piety. It is without ignorance (svayam-jyotiḥ). It is not covered by anything, it is not bound. The body is unconscious. The meaning is this. Though one can understand that there is no difference between fire and wood, wood is revealed and fire is the revealer. Similarly the body is revealed (known) and the jīva is the revealer (knower), but the jīva is only a knower because Paramātmā gives knowledge to the jīva. Thus material existence does not belong to either jīva or his body.