Ulladu Naarpadu - Verse #6

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ULLADU NAARPADU

(Reality in Forty Verses)

 

The famous Vedantic poem in Tamil by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi

(consisting of two preliminary verses called Mangalam, 40 verses which form the main text , and another 40 verses called the Appendix)

 

Detailed Commentary in Tamil by Lakshmana Sharma,

adapted into English by Profvk

 

(Continued from ULLADU NAARPADU – Verse No.5

See Post #48090)

 

Introduction to Verse No.6

 

The verses #s 6 and 7 elaborate the first meaning (Can there be a sense of Existence without something that is?) of the very first line of Mangalam -1: `ULLadaladu uLLa-vuNarvu uLadO'. (See #47923. Also see ulladu-naarpadu). In this verse #6 Bhagavan explains that what we see as the universe is a mental construct.

 

Verse # 6

 

ulagu aimpulankaL uru, vERu andRu;

av aimpulan aimpoRikkup pulan Am.

ulagai manam ondRu aimpoRivAyAl OrndiDudalAl

Manattai andRi ulagu uNDO?

 

Translation (Lakshmana Sharma)

 

The world has no form apart from the objects of sense, namely sounds and the rest; thus the whole universe is just sensations of the five sense-organs; through these five sense-organs the one mind knows the world. That being so, say, is the world other than the mind?

 

Translation (Prof. K. Swaminathan)

 

The world is made up of the five kinds of sense perceptions and nothing else. And those perceptions are felt as objects by the five senses. Since through the senses the mind alone perceives the world, is the world other than the mind?

 

 

Translation (Osborne)

 

The world is nothing more than an embodiment of the objects perceived by the five sense-organs. Since, through these five sense-organs, a single mind perceives the world, the world is nothing but the mind. Apart from the mind can there be a world?

 

Word by Word

 

ulagu: The universe

Aim pulankaL : by the five sense-objects

uru : embodiment, form

vERu anDRu : nothing else

av aimpulan : those five sense-objects (aindu = five)

aimpoRikku : for the five sense-organs (poRi = sense-organ)

pulan AM : are perceptions

manam onDru: one mind

OrndiDudalAl : because (it) perceives

ulagai: the universe

aimpoRiyAl : by the five sense-organs

manattai anDRi : other than the mind

ulagu :the world

uNDO : does (it) exist?

 

Commentary (by Lakshmana Sharma)

 

He who says `I see the world' thinks he is seeing the world which is outside his body; but he is actually seeing it, through and as, his mind, that is sitting in the body, sees it.

 

[Note by VK: One cannot but quote the 4th verse of

dakshinAmUrti ashhTakam by Adi Sankaracharya here.

The explanations below should be read in parallel with

the commentary on that verse. For an elementary exposition, see

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/63page8.html

For an exhaustive & substantial presentation of this verse,

see V. Subrahmanian's posts #s30396 and 30466 of the `advaitin' list.]

 

 

Bhagavan explains what the actuality is here. The JIva that is the seer has identified itself with the mind. The five sense-perceptions of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell actually arise in the mind. They are the sensations of the sense-objects. The mind `sees' them. Other than these five types of sensations there is nothing else in the world.

 

Man thinks: These five sensations are having the objects outside as their source and their existence is realised by the mind through the five sense-organs such as the ear and the eye. This is only a mental inference, not the actuality. All enquirers agree that it is wrong to think that the objects of the world are visible and perceptible. Therefore those who conceive the world as a reality have the obligation to prove that these source-objects are `real'. Again, since they are `outside' they have to prove that there is an `outside'.

 

Don't say that you are seeing the worldly things by your own eyes and so what other confirmation does anybody want? The eye that sees is part of the body. That body itself is seen by the same eye. Since the body is part of the universe, the eye is also not distinct from that universe. So the eye cannot be a confirmatory witness to the truth of the universe. `uDalanDRi uNDO ulagam' (Apart from the body does the world exist?) says Verse #5. So the universe and the body are one and the same. So what is confirming what?

 

Also Bhagavan has already said that something which is real cannot appear and disappear. In the next verse (#7) also he reiterates this. By these two verses the conclusion is obtained that the universe is unreal.

 

Further it is those who contend that the universe is real who have the responsibility to prove it. Those who disagree with that contention don't have that responsibility. Now therefore let us look at the arguments of those who say that the world is real.

 

This verse only says that the world is just mind-construct, that is, an imagination by the mind. It appears when the mind is active and disappears when the mind has vanished; so what else can be the world if not a mental construct, says Bhagavan. If it were not a mental construct it must appear even in sleep (where there is no mind) and in turIya also. But this is not so.

 

You may reply that the world does not appear in sleep because the sense organs are not live there, and that actually the world does not cease to exist. This is not right. In sleep the Atman does not cease to exist. It is the Atman that is Knowledge itself which is `the eye of the eyes and eye of the mind's eye'. In other words the Atman is that Knowledge by which the eye becomes capable of its function. The Knowledge of the Atman is its very Nature, therefore it is eternal. That is why the Upanishads say that the Atman doesn't require any eyes to see. If you ask `Then, why does the world not appear in sleep, or in the state of Knowledge of the turIya?', the answer could only be that it (the world) is an imagination of the mind which is itself unreal. That the Atman is self-luminous will be taken up in Verse #7.

 

Some people do argue that the world does illuminate itself (= show its existence) all the time and so it must be taken to be real. A person asked the Bhagavan the following question: "How can I assert that the world does not exist when I sleep. Those people who were awake at the time have undoubtedly seen the world then. And they tell me about it. So should I not conclude that the world continues to exist even when I sleep?". And Bhagavan answered: "You did not see them, right when you were sleeping"