द्रष्टा दृशिमात्रः शुद्धोऽपि प्रत्ययानुपश्यः ॥२.२०॥
पदविभाग: द्रष्टा, दृशि-मात्रः, शुद्धः, अपि, प्रत्यय-अनुपश्यः।
अन्वय: द्रष्टा दृशिमात्रः (अस्ति), शुद्धः अपि (सन्) प्रत्ययानुपश्यः (भवति)।
प्रतिपदार्थ: द्रष्टा = the Seer / pure consciousness (Purusha), दृशि-मात्रः = pure awareness alone / seeing itself (दृशि = seeing/awareness, मात्रः = only/merely), शुद्धः = pure / unstained (by the Gunas or karma), अपि = even though / although, प्रत्यय = cognitive fluctuations / the mind’s concepts and intellect, अनुपश्यः = witnessing according to / looking through the lens of (अनु = alongside/after, पश्यः = seeing/watcher).
तात्पर्यम्: The Seer is pure awareness itself. Even though it is completely pure, it witnesses reality through the colored lens of the mind’s cognitive fluctuations.
Further context on the 71st Sutra from Patanjali’s Yogasutras
The soul itself is absolutely pure. It carries no coloring whatsoever. This true entity stands completely independent of the causal world. On the other hand, the Buddhi, or the intellect, is a binding force of the mind that emerges directly from the physical body. Because it is a compound made of material nature, intelligence has no inherent light of its own. It grows, wanes, and constantly changes just as the physical body does.
Even though the soul, our real self or the dekhnewala (the ultimate seer), is perfectly pure, it looks into the reflection of the mind. In that reflection, it sees the objects of the entire universe staring back. The mind mistakenly assumes itself to be a separate, conscious entity standing apart from nature. However, it is fundamentally one with material nature. What is actually being reflected in the deep annals of our mind is simply the mind itself. The specific coloring it takes on is entirely the result of its own past impressions and evolutionary history.
True liberation happens when a practitioner is able to rise to a level of consciousness where they can finally untangle this confusion. When you can completely separate your true self from the mechanics of the mind and observe the seen exactly as it is, without any accumulated distortion, that is what it means to truly be in a state of Yoga.
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