COVERING OF INTELLECT

The discriminating faculty, together with the organs of perception, is known as the “covering of intellect,” Shankara teaches in his Crest-Jewel of Discrimination.   To be the doer is the covering’s distinguishing characteristic, even as its doing is the cause of a person’s birth, death and rebirth. 
 
The covering is a "reflection" of the pure consciousness of the Atman, Sharkara goes on to say.  The covering is an effect of Maya, the world illusion.  It possesses the faculty of knowing and acting, and always identifies itself with the body, sense organs, etc.

It has, moreover, a beginning and an end, and is subject to change.  It is an object of experience and is characterized by its sense of ego.  It is the initiator of all actions and undertakings.  Impelled by the tendencies and impressions formed in previous births, it performs virtuous or sinful actions, and experiences their results.

The covering cannot be the Atman, for the Atman, the seer, cannot be the thing that is seen.