The Tenth Man

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> Verse 69. Just as the tenth man ‹ in the story of the

> tenth man ‹counted

> (the others) leaving out himself, the first, so, man leaves

> out his own

> Self and thinks of sense-objects.(36)

>

> (36) The above is an important parable of Advaita Vedanta,

> illustrating the

> ultimate teaching; namely that the Real Self was never lost

> and does not

> need to be recovered--that what is needed is the giving up

> of false

> knowledge. The story is as follows: ten men crossed a river

> and then

> counted themselves to make sure that none was missing; but

> each man forgot

> to count himself, so they came to the conclusion that the

> tenth man had

> been lost. A stranger who came there learned the cause of

> their trouble and

> convinced them that none was lost, by asking some one to

> count again. When

> the counter had counted nine, leaving himself out as

> before, the stranger

> made them see that the counter himself was the tenth man.

> Here, the tenth

> man was never lost. So, too, the Self is never lost, but

> only ignored.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> These quotations are from the book,

> Guru--Ramana--Vachana--Mala by " Who, "

> published by Sri Ramanasramam.