Ulladu Naarpadu - Verse No.13

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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.12

See Post#48444 Of Harsha

Satsangh

For the

first post in this series see #47923)

 

Lakshmana

Sharma's Introduction to Verse No.13

 

Now Bhagavan

takes up the question of `What is Real?' and `What is unreal?'. He answers the question about how the unreal

appears to shine like real and establishes the advaita conclusions clearly. The

Atman is the only Reality; taking that as its support (adhishhTAnam),

the superposed universe appears as if it is real. – This is the advaita siddhAnta (Final

Conclusive Verdict).

 

Verse No.13

 

jnAnam Am tAne mey; nAnA Am jnAnam ajnAnamAM;

poyyAm ajnanamume jnAnamAm tannai anRi inRu

aNikaL tAm palavum poy

meyyAm ponnai anRi uNDO ? puhal.

 

Translation

(Lakshmana Sharma)

 

This Self,

(here) declared to be Consciousness, is alone real, without a second; all

knowledge which is manifold is only ignorance; this ignorance – which (being a

negation) is non-existent – has no existence apart from the Self who is

Consciousness. Say, do the unreal jewels exist apart from the gold which (alone)

exists?

 

Translation

(Prof. K. Swaminathan)

 

The Self that is Awareness, that alone is true. The knowledge

which is various is ignorance. And even ignorance, which is false, cannot exist

apart from the Self. False are the many jewels, for apart from gold, which

alone is true, they cannot exist.

 

Translation

(Osborne)

 

The

Self, which is Knowledge, is the only Reality. Knowledge of multiplicity is

false knowledge. This false knowledge, which is really ignorance, cannot exist

apart from the Self, which is Knowledge-Reality. The variety of gold ornaments

is unreal, since none of them can exist without the gold of which they are all

made.

 

Word by Word

 

tAne : The Atman (the Self)

jnAnam Am :

whose nature is

Knowledge

mey:

is the true Reality.

jnAnaM : the (worldly) knowledge

nAnA Am: which is multifold

ajnAnamAm: is only Ignorance.

ajnAnamume: And that Ignorance also,

poyyAm : which is non-existent

inRu : cannot be

tannai anRi :distinct from the Self

jnAnamAm: whose Nature is Consciousness.

aNikaDAm

palavum : All the

multi-formed ornaments

poy:

are false

ponnai anRi: Apart from the gold

uNDO ? Is there anything?

puhal:

Tell (me).

 

Commentary in Tamil by Lakshmana

Sharma.

 

In

the previous verse it was said "tAn aRivu Ahum" (The Self is

Consciousness). This Self which is of the Nature of Consciousness is the only

Reality – that was mentioned right in the beginning , namely, the Existent

Reality ("uLLa poruL" – cf. Mangalam-1, 2nd line) , because

it is One and remains unchanging. This is the meaning of "jnAnam Am tane mey".

In other words, the Self is Existence-Consciousness – sat-chit. therefore

it is Brahman.

 

There

is the question whether the multiple appearance of the world –the Individual,

Ishvara and the universe – is true or not. The reply is given by the statement

"nAnAvAM jnAnam ajnAnamAm". The

knowledge of multiplicity that is referred to here indicates only the

manifoldness of the world's appearance.

For, other than knowledge – meaning, other than the thoughts created by

the mind – there is no universe.

 

What

is being said here is a definition of the discrimination between what is real

and what is unreal. Being One is the

characteristic of Reality. Appearing manifold is the characteristic of

Unreality.

 

The

purport of the statement that the world is Ignorance is to say that the world

arose from Ignorance. And Ignorance is nothing but Ego. That is not something that is material; this

is the truth that Bhagavan teaches as the fundamental truth in this work.

Ignorance means the absence of Knowledge; and that again tells us that

Ignorance is like Darkness. It is not a material substance. Darkness cannot be

present in the presence of Light. So

also Ignorance cannot persist in the face of the Light of the Self. How can

such a destroyable Ignorance be the Existent Reality? This is what is meant by the words "poyyAm

ajnAnamume".

 

Ignorance

is not a material substance – this is the conclusion of Vedanta. If it were so, then the universe and the

bondage that arise from it would have an element of truth in them. An immature

disciple is told as if there were an Ignorance that caused the bondage. In

reality there is no such thing – this is the bottom line teaching. Therefore

the question: "Wherefrom did I get this Ignorance?" is an absurd question. The

question presumes there is a relationship between the Existence-Knowledge

Brahman and the transmigratory cycle of samsAra. There is no such relationship. The Vedanta

teaching is: "asango-hyayam purushah", that is, the Atman that is Brahman

is associationless and relationless. This is technically known as "ajAta-siddhAntaM".

It

means that from the Absolute point of view there is no universe arising from

Ignorance, no JIva, no bondage, no

seeker, no mokshha. What is Real

is an ever-pure, ever-knowing, ever-free Atman only (*nityashuddha,

nityabuddha, nitya-mukta AtmA*). This is the experientially-confirmed Truth

of the JnAnis who live in that experience. Bhagavan says that Sri Krishna in

the Bhagavad Gita, right in the beginning of the second chapter, declared this

truth to Arjuna but the latter was struggling to absorb it and that is why Krishna gave him several other teachings.

 

Though the relationship does not exist in reality,

for the purpose of teaching, an imagined relationship has to be talked

about. But this does not in any way

affect the Reality that exists.

 

This universe – that is, the individual, the

Ishvara and the universe - which is an expansion of Ignorance, appears as if it

is real. The reason for this is that their adhishhTAnam (substratum,

base) is that Existent Reality namely, the Atman. They have been superposed on

the sat-chit Nature (svarUpa) of the Atman. From this it is clear

that the universe has no existential reality of its own. Such an existential

reality is there for the Atman; for, it shines in purity without the appearance

of the universe, in the turIya that is Knowledge-experience (jnAna-anubhava). Therefore it is said that the Atman is real

and the universe is mithyA.

 

`The universe is mithyA' means the

differences of names and forms superposed on the substratum of the Atman are mithyA.

After throwing off the differences what remains as the adhishhTAnam

(support) is the real truth of the universe – this prompts us also to say that

the universe is real. Thus the two statements `the universe is mithyA'

and `the universe is real' are not contradictory. If one understands it this

way without the contradiction, both the statements are true.

 

The analogy for this comes from the case of gold

and golden ornaments. The golden ornaments are at all (three) times only gold; before they are made into ornaments, after they are made and

are handled as ornaments, and when they are destroyed back into gold. In all

three states of time the truth of the gold is unchanged. Further, gold is one

whereas the ornaments are many. Therefore, as per the definitions indicated

earlier, gold is more real than the ornaments; ornaments are unreal. In the two

statements in the verse: namely, "aNigal tAm palavum poy" and "meyyAm

ponnai anRi uNDO", notice that the two words `poy' (false) and `mey'

(true) are used in juxtaposition. When you look at it as gold, the ornaments

don't appear; therefore they are false. When you look at it as ornaments, their

false names and forms hide the truth of the gold. The gold that is hidden is the truth. Worldly

people say that both are the truth. If that were so, the analogy would not

match the situation; so Bhagavan deliberately uses the two words here. The purport of this is: "The ornaments are

many and (therefore) false, have as their adhishhTAnam the one, and

(therefore) real, gold; so also, the knowledge, which is only Ignorance, that

imparts an inherent nature of multiplicity, and (therefore) falsity, to the

world, has as its adhishhTAnam the Atman, which is the One

Reality-Consciousness and consequently appears as if it is real".

 

If Bhagavan had not added the words `poy'

(false) and `mey' (true) here, a wrong interpretation may be attributed

to Bhagavan that in addition to the ornaments being dense with gold, their

differences of forms and names are absolutely true; and this may be followed up

by the analogous inference that in the

same manner in addition to the world being

dense with Brahman their differences of names and forms are also true in the

absolute sense. In order to prevent such a wrong interpretation these two words

appear here as said.

 

The same thought appears in Tirumoolar's

Tirumandiram in the verse:

 

Marattai maRaittadu mAmada yAnai,

Marattil maRaindadu mAmada yAnai;

Parattai maRaittadu pArmudal bhUtam,

Parattil maRaindadu pArmudal bhUtame.

 

Meaning,

 

The gigantic elephant hides the wood,

The gigantic elephant is (also) subsumed in the

wood.

The earth and the elements hide the Absolute,

The earth and the elements are (also) subsumed in

the Absolute.

 

In more explanatory words, in the wake of

Ignorance, the Absolute is hidden by the five elements and appears as those

elements and their ramifications. In the

wake of Enlightenment, the elements do not appear, only the Absolute shines in

all Glory.

 

Thus, what has been said is nothing but what the

analogy of the rope and the superposed snake would have implied.

 

Thus the appearance of the world is false. This

implies that even during the time of its appearance, it is not there. This

meaning would become explicit in Verse No.37.

 

(To be continued in Verse

No.14)

 

PraNAms to all seekers of Truth.

PraNAms to Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi.

Profvk.