This Sutra propounds Avacchedavada i.e., the doctrine of limitation i.e., the doctrine that the soul is the Supreme Self in so far as limited by its adjuncts. The following Sutras intimate that the Supreme Lord is not affected by pleasure and pain like the individual soul, just as light is unaffected by the shaking of its reflections. According to Sankara, Amsa must be understood to mean Amsa iva , a part as it were. The one universal indivisible Brahman has no real parts but appears to be divided owing to its limiting adjuncts. Sutra 47 teaches that the individual souls are required to follow the different injunctions and prohibitions laid down in the scriptures, when they are connected with bodies, high and low.
Fire is one only but the fire of a funeral pyre is rejected and that of the sacrifice is accepted.
Similar is the case with the Atman. When the soul is attached to the body, ethical rules, ideas of purity and impurity have full application. Sutra 49 shows that there is no confusion of actions or faults of actions. The individual soul has no connection with all the bodies at the same time. He is connected with one body only and he is affected by the peculiar properties of that one alone.