Note that the following is an extract from the examples at the end of the book. The rest of the book is much simpler! The idea is that, by the time you have finished reading it, you will be able to appreciate examples such as this one and tackle similar ones for yourself.
4. 'You are not the body' from the aShTAvakra gItA
n Tv< dehae n te dehae Éae´a ktaR n va Évan!,
icÔfpae=is sda sa]I inrpe]> suo< cr. This is chapter 15, verse 3 of the Astavakra Gita, an uncompromising treatise on Advaita. Most of the words end on a syllable so that there is much less saMdhi apparent than in the earlier examples.
n Tv< dehae - na tvaM deho
- na: not, nor, neither etc., used especially in repetition, as in this sentence, 'neither this, nor this etc.'. tvaM: tvam is the nominative singular of the personal pronoun 'you', already met several times. The letter m at the end of a word is always changed into an anusvAra, when it is followed by a consonant. deha is 'the person or individual', the 'outward appearance or form'. In the nominative singular, it is dehaH but, as was noted above, when this is preceded by a and followed by a soft consonant, it changes to u and then the a and u combine to form o . This then, simply means 'you (are) not the body'. The verb asi is, of course omitted as usual.
n te dehae - na te deho
- te is the sixth (genitive) case of tvam and means 'of or belonging to you - i.e. yours'. na and deho translate as before. This, then, means 'nor (is) the body yours', asi again being understood.
Éae´a ktaR n va Évan - bhoktA kartA na vA bhavAn
- na vA is translated as 'neither… nor' though, unlike in English, vA doesn't usually come before the word to which it refers. bhoktA is the nominative masculine singular of the word bhoktRRi, which mean 'one who enjoys or experiences'. Similarly kartA is from kartRRi, 'one who makes or does'. bhavAn is another word meaning 'you', again nominative singular, from bhavat. It is a much more formal version, though, often being translated as 'your honour' or 'your worship'. Perhaps there is an intentional irony here. You, who think yourself an important 'doer' or 'enjoyer' are, in fact, not even a body. I'll translate it with artistic licence as 'Sir, you are neither an enjoyer nor a doer'.
icÔfpae=is - chidrUpo.asi
- chit means 'pure thought, spirit, soul' but in the context of Advaita is usually translated as Consciousness, in the sense of Brahman. rUpa means 'form, outward appearance etc.' The t at he end of chit becomes a d in accordance with jhalAM jasho.ante. chidrUpaH means 'the Universal Spirit as identified with pure thought' and the nominative singular is chidrUpaH. asi means 'you are'. When the two words combine, the visarga, being followed by an a, changes to u and, since this is preceded by a, the a and u combine to form o . The a of asi is now elided when speaking but to show that it is still effectively present, an avagraha is inserted when it is written. The phrase is translated as 'you are Consciousness itself'.
sda sa]I inrpe]> - sadA sAkShI nirapekShaH
- this a continuing description of what you are. sAkShI is the masculine nominative singular of sAkShin, meaning a 'witness' and this is qualified by sadA, meaning 'always, perpetually' and nirapekShaH, meaning 'desireless, indifferent'. asi is understood again. Overall translation: 'you are the eternal, disinterested witness'.
suo< cr - sukhaM chara
- sukha means 'comfortable, happy, prosperous'; the nominative singular ending -m is converted to -M as before. The verb char can mean 'to move or travel through, to follow, behave, act, live etc.' and chara is the imperative. Exercising a little artistic licence again, I would translate this simply as 'be happy!'.
The complete translation, then, is: "You are not the body, nor is the body yours. Sir, you are neither an enjoyer nor a doer; you are Consciousness itself - the eternal, disinterested witness. Be happy!" |
