mahAvAkyaratnAvaliH- Translation No. 41.

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*Translation of mahAvAkyas- No.41- Miscellaneous statements.*

 

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160. shrotrasya shrotram manaso mano yadvAco ha vAcam sa u prANasya prANaH,

cakshhushhaH chakshuH, atimucya dhIrAH pretyAsmAllokAd amrita

bhavanti—kenopanishad, 1.2.

 

He (the Self) is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of

speech, the vital air of vital air, the eye of the eye. The wise, giving up

(identification with the senses), and renouncing all desires and all

dealings involving the ideas of " I' and " mine " , become immortal.

 

It is the Self that gives the organs the power to perform their respective

functions. Realising this, one should give up identification with the subtle

and gross bodies and realize his real nature as the pure Self.

 

161. yo vai bhUmA tat sukhamn na alpe sukham asti—chandogya up. 7.23.1. That

which is infinite is bliss. There is no happiness in the finite.

 

The word bhUmA has the same meaning as 'brahman'. Shri Shankara says in his

bhAshya:-- There is no happiness in the finite because finitude is a cause

for the thirst for more. And thirst is the seed of sorrow. The bhUmA

(Infinite) is that in which one does not see anything else, does not hear

anything else, and does not know anything else. Phenomenal dealing does not

exist in the Infinite. There is finitude as long as there is ignorance.

 

162. neti neti na hyetasmAditi netyanyatparamasti atha nAmadheyam satyasya

satyamiti prANA vai satyam teshAmesha satyam—br. up. 2.3.6.

 

Not this, not this. Because there is no other and more appropriate

description than this 'Not this'. Now its name: The Truth of Truth. The

vital force is Truth and It (brahman) is the Truth of that.

 

Sri Sankara says in his bhAshya: Through these two terms 'Not this, not

this', it is sought to describe the Truth of Truth by the elimination of all

differences due to limiting adjuncts. The words 'Not this, not this' refer

to some thing that has no distinguishing mark such as name, or form, or

action, or heterogeneity, or species, or qualities. brahman has none of

these distinguishing marks. Therefore the only way to describe it is as 'Not

this, not this', by eliminating all possible specifications of it.

 

In the above statement 'vital force' stands for the subtle body. The subtle

body has empirical (vyAvahArika) reality and so it is described as Truth.

The Self or brahman is the Truth of this.

 

163. sa paryagAt Sukram akAyam avraNam asnAviram Suddham apApaviddham—Isa

up. 8.

 

He (brahman) is all-pervasive, pure, bodiless, without any wound, without

sinews, taintless, untouched by sin. Sri Sankara explains that akAyam,

bodiless, means, 'without a subtle body'. By the two words avraNam and

asnAviram which mean 'without any wound and without sinews' the gross body

is negated. By the word Suddham, taintless, meaning devoid of ignorance, the

causal body is negated. apApaviddham, untouched by sin, means beyond merit

and demerit (puNya and papa).

 

S.N.Sastri