Ulladu Naarpadu - Verse No.12

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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.10 & 11

See Post#48287

For the

first post in this series see #47923)

 

Lakshmana

Sharma's Introduction to Verse No.12

 

If both

Ignorance and Knowledge are gone, then what remains must be a void. Is it so? – is the question that arises. What so remains

is not a void. The Consciousness that is the Nature of the Atman is what

remains. This is the content of this verse. The Self-Realisation where there is

neither knowledge nor ignorance is what is known as the (ultimate) Knowledge

Supreme. It is the nature of the

Atman; it is not a quality or attribute

of Atman – so says this verse.

 

Verse No.12

 

aRivu aRiyAmaiyum aRRathu aRivAme;

aRiyum athu uNmai aRivu AhAthu.

aRithaRku aRivittaRku anniyam inRAy avirvathAl,

tAn aRivu Ahum; paazh anRu, aRi.

 

Translation

(Lakshmana Sharma)

 

Know that

that alone is true knowledge, in which there is neither knowledge nor ignorance; the (so-called)

knowledge of objects, understand, is not at all true knowledge. The Real Self

shines always alone, with neither things for Him to know, nor persons to know

Him; therefore He is only Consciousness; do not think He is non-being.

 

 

Translation

(Prof. K. Swaminathan)

 

True Knowledge is being devoid of knowledge as well as ignorance

of objects. Knowledge of objects is not true knowledge. Since the Self shines

self-luminous, with nothing else for It to know, with nothing else to know It,

the Self is Knowledge. Nescience It is not.

 

Translation

(Osborne)

 

That

alone is true Knowledge which is neither knowledge nor ignorance. What is known

is not true Knowledge. Since the Self shines with nothing else to know or to

make known, It alone is Knowledge. It is not a void.

 

Word by Word

 

aRivAme: (True) Knowledge

aRRathu :

(is) devoid of

aRivu: Knowledge

aRiyAmaiyum : and Ignorance.

aRiyum

athu : What knows

AhAthu: will not be

uNmai

aRivu: True Knowledge.

avirvathAL : Because it shines

inRAy: without (the necessity of the

presence of)

anniyam: a distinct object

aRithaRku: for (either) to know

aRivittaRku: (or) to be known,

tAN : the Real Self

Ahum: is

aRivu: Consciousness (True Knowledge)

pAzh

anRu: (It) is not a

non-being or void.

aRi: Know (this).

 

Commentary (in Tamil) by Lakshmana

Sharma.

 

`Self

Realisation is the only True Knowledge; all else is just Ignorance' –this

thought has already been said in Verse No. 10. The same thing is being

reconfirmed here for emphasis. Knowledge and Ignorance subsist only when the

Ego has its sway on samsAra. In the turIya there is only Pure Knowledge

that is unmixed with Ignorance and which has no relationship with Ignorance.

Therein there is no duality of knowledge and ignorance, nor there is the triad

of knower, knowledge and the known.So there is no concept of `difference'

there. But the common knowledge-triad is full of concepts of difference and so

is in relationship with Ignorance.

Therefore it is nothing but Ignorance, says the second line of this verse.

 

One

might ask: Why do Knowledge and Ignorance both get destroyed in turIya? Why not

Ignorance alone meet with destruction and Knowledge survive? The knowledge that is being spoken of in this

question is itself nothing but Ignorance – we have mentioned this already. The

reason that both Knowledge and Ignorance do get destroyed in turIya is

that the latter is the state of mokshha; there is no second thing there.

This is what has been said in the third and fourth line of this verse. There is

nothing distinct from the Supreme and so there is no question of the Supreme

`knowing' anything. So the knowledge that is spoken of in the knowledge-triad

is not there in the Atman. Again in order that It, the Atman, may be shown to

exist as the `known' (an object of knowledge), there has to be a distinct

intelligence other than the Atman. There is no such. Actually this truth was what was already

meant through the second meaning of the very first line of Mangalam – 1: `What

sense distinct from It makes explicit what exists as Real Consciousness? The Atman does not shine by an `outside'

something, but shines by its own self-effulgence, which is its natural state of

Pure Knowledge. So it is not inert and by that very fact thre is no Ignorance

there. It is the Complete totality which has neither ignorance nor the opposite

of it.

 

By

this very fact of Self-effulgence, it follows that the Atman's very nature is

the shine of True Knowledge. This is the conclusion of all Vedanta and this is

stated here by the words "tAn aRivu Ahum" (The Real Self is

Consciousness).

 

There

are those who do not understand that what exists as Absolute reality is the

Knowledge-Supreme and that whatever appears in the world is the mithyA

that has as its support (adhishhTAnam) this Knowledge-Supreme. These are

the ones who complain that the Atman is equivalent to a void. To guard against

this pitfall of delusion, Bhagavan says "Understand that this is not a void".

What makes all this world exist, by what shine all this shines, that cannot be

a void.

 

Those

who believe that the Atman is a void, would consider the experience of the

material bliss of the heavenly world as most desirable. They do not know the

true nature of happiness. The heavenly bliss of happiness in the other world

has many faults, and further, it has an end.

So it cannot be permanent Bliss. On the other hand the Bliss that comes

from Self Realisation has none of these faults and it is infinite.

 

Now

we can understand what it means to say `Self-Knowledge'. It may mean two things: `Knowledge of Self'

and `Knowledge that is Self'. The first

meaning implies the knowledge that knows the Self. But this will make the Self an object that is

known or is to be known. In other words the Self becomes an object of knowledge

and the knowledge that knows it as distinct from it. But the Self is non-dual and we already

mentioned that it does not afford the triad of knower-knowledge-known. Thus the

first meaning is to be discarded. The

second meaning which says the Self itself is Knowledge indicates that the Self

is of the nature of Knowledge. This is what Bhagavan says by the words `tAn

aRivu Ahum'. Thus it follows that it is wrong to say either that we do not

now know the Self or that we will one day know the Self. `Knowing the Self' can only mean `Being the

Self'. In fact this meaning will be made

explicit in Verse No. 33.

 

(To be continued in Verse No. 13)

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

PraNAms to

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi.

profvk