प्रकृत्याऽऽकाशवज्ज्ञेयाः सर्वे धर्मा अनादयः ।
विद्यते न हि नानात्वं तेषां क्वचन किंचनः ॥ ९१ ॥prakṛtyā”kāśavajjñeyāḥ sarve dharmā anādayaḥ |
vidyate na hi nānātvaṃ teṣāṃ kvacana kiṃcanaḥ || 91 ||91. All Dharmās (entities) are, by their very nature, beginningless and unattached like the Ākāśa. There is not the slightest variety in them, in any way, at any time.
Shankara Bhashya (commentary)
Those who seek liberation should regard, from the standpoint of the1 Ultimate Reality, all Jīvas, as by their very nature without beginning, i.e., eternal, and, like Ākāśa, subtle, free from all blemish and all-pervading. The plural number used with regard to the ‘Jīvas’ may suggest multiplicity. The second line of the Kārikā is meant to remove1 any such apprehension. There is no multiplicity in the Jīvas even2 in the slightest degree and under any condition.
Anandagiri Tika (glossary)
I To remove, etc.—The plural number is used in consideration of the multiplicity of Jīvas seen from the empirical standpoint. Even though an ignorant person sees. multiplicity of embodied beings yet, in reality, there exists nothing but non-dual Ātman.
2 Evert, etc.—It is because the apparent multiplicity is due to the obsession of the imaginary time and space as well as causal relation. As Ātman is ever free from time, space and causal relation, therefore no idea of multiplicity can ever be applied to Ātman.