एवं न जायते चित्तमेवं धर्मा अजाः स्मृताः ।
एवमेव विजानन्तो न पतन्ति विपर्यये ॥ ४६ ॥evaṃ na jāyate cittamevaṃ dharmā ajāḥ smṛtāḥ |
evameva vijānanto na patanti viparyaye || 46 ||46. Thus the mind is never subject to birth or change. All beings are, thus, free from birth. Those who know (the Truth) are never subject to false knowledge.
Shankara Bhashya (commentary)
Thus, that is to say, for the reasons stated above,, the mind is free from birth. Similarly the Dharmas> that is, the Jīvas9 are also unborn. This is the statement of the Knowers of Brahman. The1 word “Dharmāḥ” (i.e., “Selves”) is metaphorically used in the plural sense,, in consequence of our perception of variety which is, in rëálity, the appearance of the non-dual Ātman as different, corporeal beings. Those who know the consciousness,2 stated above, which is the essence of the Self, non-dual and free from birth, etc., and, accordingly, renounce the hankering after all external objects,—they do not fall any more into this ocean of the darkness of Avidyā. The Śruti also says, “Where is grief or delusion for the one that realises non-duality?”
Anandagiri Tika (glossary)
1 The word, etc.—The Ultimate Reality cannot be said to be one or many. For, these predicates, being correlatives, apply to the relative world. The word “Dharmāḥ” has been used in the plural number to indicate that all that exists is Ātman, If one sees multiplicity, it is also the non-dual Ātman. The reflections of the sun, caught in the millions of waves and bubbles, are nothing but the reflection of the self-same sun. Similarly the same Ātman alone is perceived whether as objects of our waking state, or the ideas of dream or the undifferentiated, consciousness of dreamless sleep.
2 Consciousness—That is, Brahman or Ātman.