Sat-darshana Bhashya (translation)

Verse 25.

न वक्ति देहोऽहमिति प्रसुप्तौ
न कोऽपि नाभूवमिति प्रवक्ति ।
यत्रोदिते सर्वमुदेति तस्य
धियाऽहमः शोधय जन्मदेशम् ॥

No one says ’the body is self,’ Nor asserts ’I was not in the deeper sleep’. The ’I’ rising, rises all. With thy keen eye discern that ’I’.

It is common experience, whatever one’s philosophy be, that the sense of ’l’ representing personal identity is distinct from the body and hence no one says ’I am the body’. Nor does any one deny that he existed in deep sleep when the world of his waking state was practically lost to him and he could not relate his waking state to whatever he was in sleep. Hence perhaps he believes after returning to the waking state that he was practically non-existent; but he cannot and does not assert that really he was not in sleep, for the simple reason that there is an unbroken continuity of self-consciousness in him, and that personal identity is maintained. Thus there is a persistent ’l’ in waking as well as in sleep, irrespective of the changing states. When this ‘I’ rises, the whole world presents itself to the mind. What is the source of this ‘I’?

Explore the source of this I-notion by a keen and unrelaxing watchfulness.

“Whoever incessantly watches the rise of ’I’, merges himself in the Supreme mahat.” (Uma Sahasra).

Thus we have it that all phenomenal existence presents itself to the ego-consciousness. The next verse speaks of the ego-formation and mentions it by various names.