“The Self is never the object of knowledge, for it is the knower itself.”
— Adi ShankaraDoctrine from Shankara's Brahma Sutra commentary (Brahmasutrabhashya), introduction; standard formulation
Commentary
This statement expresses the Advaitin view that the Self is the witness of all experience and cannot itself become an object of cognition, since every object is known by the Self. The argument follows the logic of the Brahma Sutra introduction, where Shankara discusses the relation between the knower and the known. Eliot Deutsch identifies the non-objectivity of the Self as one of the key arguments for its self-luminous character, which the school regards as the basis of its non-dual metaphysics. Paul Hacker's study of Shankara's epistemology emphasises the distinction between the empirical subject and the transcendental witness, a distinction that this statement makes explicit. Richard King notes that the claim was shaped by the debates with Buddhist and Nyaya thinkers over the nature of self-awareness. Sengaku Mayeda shows that the doctrine recurs throughout Shankara's writings, where it serves to justify the identity of the Self with Brahman. The statement belongs to the technical core of Shankara's commentarial method, and it is attributed to him with secure confidence.
Commentary
This statement expresses the Advaitin view that the Self is the witness of all experience and cannot itself become an object of cognition, since every object is known by the Self. The argument follows the logic of the Brahma Sutra introduction, where Shankara discusses the relation between the knower and the known. Eliot Deutsch identifies the non-objectivity of the Self as one of the key arguments for its self-luminous character, which the school regards as the basis of its non-dual metaphysics. Paul Hacker's study of Shankara's epistemology emphasises the distinction between the empirical subject and the transcendental witness, a distinction that this statement makes explicit. Richard King notes that the claim was shaped by the debates with Buddhist and Nyaya thinkers over the nature of self-awareness. Sengaku Mayeda shows that the doctrine recurs throughout Shankara's writings, where it serves to justify the identity of the Self with Brahman. The statement belongs to the technical core of Shankara's commentarial method, and it is attributed to him with secure confidence.