पूरेवा अन्तरमस्ति कांचनघटी मृत्कुम्भयोर्वांबरे?
प्रत्यग्वस्तुनि निस्तरन्ग सहजानन्दावबोधाम्बुधौ
विप्रोयम् श्वपचोयमित्यपि महान् को यम् विभेद भ्रमः
Pūrevā antaramasti kāṃcanaghaṭī mṛtkumbhayorvāṃbare?
Pratyagvastuni nistaranga sahajānandāvabodhāmbudhau
Viproyam śvapacoyamityapi mahān ko yam vibheda bhramaḥ
Notes from Swami Paramarthananda’s talks
Then Lord Shiva (in the form of the chandala) gives the explanation: You may want to separate one body from the other. The answer to this has not been given here and needs to be supplied. There is no difference at the body level. This is indicated by the word annamaya, meaning anybody, Brahmana or Kshatriya is the same, made up of annamaya, product of Annam. Thus there is no superiority of your body at the annamaya body level.
Shankara tell us in Bhaja-Govindam that even the nearest relative does not want to preserve the body after death. Therefore your request is not a genuine one. Thus Shankara is now forced to give the second option.
If Shankara would say he wants to separate his consciousness from that of the Chandala’s, Lord Shiva says there is only one all-pervading consciousness. There is no plurality with regards to Chaitanyam. It is there in your body and mine also. Lord Shiva says the consciousness is the same everywhere whether it is in chandala shariram or in Adi Shankara. It is the same without any karyatamyam or gradation. To convey this idea Lord Shiva gives two examples:
Example 1 – Surya Kirana.
Sun is here called ambara Mani, the gem in the sky. The sun may be reflected in good water or bad water, sun does not have more sacredness because of sambandham with good water or it does not have less sacredness due to sambandham with dirty water. Sun light is the same – it is unpolluted or unpollutable. Consciousness like the sun in eka and illuminates darkness and both are in-divisible. There is no gradation of sun light and so no gradation in the atma in different people.
Example 2 – Ambaram
Ambaram is akasha or space. The space may be enclosed in different containers but it does not make the space any different irrespective of the container being sacred and pure or impure. There is no gradation of space and so there is no gradation of atma in different people. Space is one indivisible entity which accommodates everything, so also the atma. That being so, Oh Shankara, how can you talk about one superior consciousness and one inferior one? And then talk about separating one from the other. There is no Brahmana atma and chandala atma at all.
Manisha Panchakam – Question 2 – MP – Intro 2-Kim gaṃgāmbudhi – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Translation and Meaning – Adi Sankaracharya – manisha-panchakam-Q2