Ulladu Naarpadu - Verse No.14

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ULLADU NAARPADU(Reality in FortyVerses) The famous Vedantic poem in Tamil byBhagavan Ramana Maharishi(consisting of two preliminary versescalled Mangalam, 40 verses which form the main text , and another 40 verses called theAppendix)Detailed Commentary in Tamil byLakshmana Sharma,adapted into English by Profvk (Continued from ULLADU NAARPADU – VerseNo.13See Post#48532 Of This seriesstarted with Post #47923) LakshmanaSharma's Introduction to Verse No.14 The world,or the universe, consists of both the animate and the inanimate. Are all these unreal or probably only theanimates are real – is the next question that arises. The reply is given bythis verse. Verse No. 14 tanmai uNDEl munnilai paDarkkaikaL tAm uLavAm;tanmaiyin uNmaiyait tAn Ayndu tanmai aRin ,munnilai paDarkkai muDivuRRu, onRAy oLirum tanmaiyE tannilai tAn. Translation(Lakshmana Sharma) The two,namely `you' and `he' appear when the sense of `I' has risen in respect of abody; if by the quest of the Self by oneself, by the question `What is the Truth behind this I', the ego beextinguished, therewith are also lost the other two notions; that which thenshines alone, understand, is the Real Self. Translation(Prof. K. Swaminathan) `You' and `he' -- these appear only when `I' does. But when thenature of the `I' is sought and the ego is destroyed, `you' and `he' are at anend. What shines then as the One alone is the true Self. Translation(Osborne) Ifthe first person, I, exists, then the second and third persons, you and he,will also exist. By enquiring into the nature of the I, the I perishes. With it'you' and 'he' also perish. The resultant state, which shines as AbsoluteBeing, is one's own natural state, the Self. Word by Word tanmai uNDElIf there is thefirst person `I'munnilai the second person `you'paDarkkaikaL(and) the thirdperson `he'tAM uLavAm theyalso exist.tAN (If) oneselfAyndu researches into, enquires intouNmaiyai the truthtanmaiyin of oneselftanmai (and) the first person `I'aRin is extinguishedmunnilai the second person `you'paDarkkai (and) the third person `he'muDivuRRu having come to an end tanmaiyE that state (which)oLirum shinesonRAy as One (by itself)tannilaimai tAn is one's own natural Self Commentary by Lakshmana Sharma Thefeeling as the first person `I' is what rises as the Ego. That is when onerecognises the second person `you' and the third person `he'. This third personincludes `it' also, that is, all the inanimates. Of these three it is the firstperson `I' that arises first. Only when that rises, the others arise. When that`I' is not there, there is no question of the others. So this shows that theEgo is the root source for the appearance of `I', `You' and `He'. Thesecond line of the verse indicates the Enquiry into the Self and its end, theextinction of the Ego. Self-enquiry means enquiring into the truth of the firstperson `I'. That enquiry ends with the destruction of the Ego and that isSelf-realisation. Wealready saw that self-realisation is nothing but simply remaining as the Self. Inthat state, the Jiva-differences of `I', `You' and `He' don't exist. There issomething then which shines as `I' alone. That is the Atman, says the last lineof the verse. Oneimportant objection arises here. [Note by VK: All students of advaita should note carefully the point that isbeing raised and explained now. This is a standard objection that arises in the all-too-intellectual mind of the seekerand is seriously discussed (without end!) amongadvaita-pursuersand is also pointed out as a flaw by critics of advaita.] If the Atman is one and second-less, then when oneattains mukti by his Self-realisation, every one should also haveattained that mukti. But it doesn't seem to be so. The reply to this canonly be: Even now there is no bondage for anybody; there is no one in bondage.The Self is eternally free and liberated. This is the conclusion of allVedanta. Therefore, from theviewpoint of a jnAni there is no ajnAni! Thereis also another explanation usually given for this. But this is not the Absolute truth. It isjust offered for the purpose of clarification for those who are at a lowerlevel of spiritual understanding. The vijnAna-maya kosha is one of thefive koshas. The Pure and Eternal One Self gets reflected in this vijnAna-maya and that is what iscalled the JIva, also the chid-AbhAsa. Note by VK:(Chid-AbhAsa simply means the reflection inthe chit, the intellect. AbhAsameans reflection) Itis this JIva that is bound and that needs Release. There are several such Jivas (or Chid-AbhAsas).Among these one vijnAna-maya gets extinguished by Self-Realisation. Sothat reflection is gone. But nothing has happened to the `reflections in theother vijnAna-mayas', that is, to the other chid-AbhAsas. The ajnAnigoes about with the conviction that they are as ever before. As long as each vijnana-mayaexists, so long does that reflection in that vijnana-maya persist. Theanalogy for this is the several reflections of the moon in different pots ofwater. These pots are the analogies for the several bodies. The water in them is the analogy for thevarious intellects in the vijnAna-mayas. And the single moon in the skyis the analogy for the unique Self. The one moon has several reflections; soalso the one Self has reflections in the form of several Chid-AbhAsas.When the water in one pot gets dried up or poured out, the reflection in thatpot is gone, but the other reflections are still there. Thus even if the Atmanis one, for the purpose of our phenomenal understanding one can say there areseveral Jivas. Allthis was said only for the inferior intellect. In actuality the question raisedhas no basis. The correct reply for the question is: "Find out who it is thatis asking the question". It is because of Ignorance that we think there areother sentient beings besides ourselves. In the dream we see different Jivasas if they are distinct from us; but they are not. In the same way the Jivasthat appear as different from us in the waking state also are neither distinctfrom us, nor true. (To be continued in Verse #15) PraNAms to allseekers of Truth.PraNAms toBhagavan Ramana Maharishi.Profvk.