657.  Nilakantha explains the grammar of the first line differently.  His view is yatha chakshurupah praneta nayako, etc.  A better construction would be yatha chaksha pranetah (bhavati) etc.

658.  This verse may be said to furnish the key of the doctrine of karma or acts and why acts are to be avoided by persons desirous of Moksha or Emancipation.  Acts have three attributes:  for some are Sattwika (good), as sacrifices undertaken for heaven, etc., some are Rajasika (of the quality of Passion), as penances and rites accomplished from desire of superiority and victory; and some are Tamasika (of the quality of Darkness), as those undertaken for injuring others, notably the Atharvan rites of Marana, Uchatana, etc.:  this being the case, the Mantras, without acts, cannot be accomplished, are necessarily subject to the same three attributes.  The same is the case with rituals prescribed.  It follows, therefore, that the mind is the chief cause of the kind of fruits won, i.e., it is the motive that determines the fruits, viz., of what kind it is to be.  The enjoyer of the fruit, of course, is the embodied creature.

659.  There can be no doubt that Nilakantha explains this verse correctly.  It is really a cruce.  The words Naro na samsthanagatah prabhuh syat must be taken as unconnected and independent.  Na samsthana gatah is before death.  Prabhuh is adhikari (jnanphale being understood).  K.P.  Singha gives the sense correctly, but the Burdwan translator makes nonsense of the words.

660.  The subject of this verse as explained by the commentator, is to inculcate the truth that the result of all acts accomplished by the body is heaven where one in a physical state (however subtile) enjoys those fruits.  If Emancipation is to be sought, it must be attained through the mind.

661.  The sense depends upon the word acts.  If acts are accomplished by the mind, their fruits must be enjoyed by the person in a state in which he will have a mind.  Emancipation cannot be achieved by either recitation (japa) or Dhyana (meditation), for both these are acts.  Perfect liberation from acts is necessary for that great end.

662. viz., Taste. etc.

663.  Existent, line atom; non-existent, line space; existent-nonexistent, line Maya or illusion.

664.  Aswabhavam is explained by the commentator as Pramatri-twadi vihinam.

665. i.e., one sees one’s own soul.

666. i.e., which, though one, divides itself into a thousand form like the image of the moon in a quantity of agitated water.

667.  The analogy consists in this:  good and evil fruits, though incompatible, dwell together; similarly, knowledge, though not material, resides in the material body.  Of course, knowledge is used here in the sense of the mind or the understanding.

668.  It is difficult to understand why the idea of lamps set on trees is introduced here.