ATMA BODHAM “KNOWLEDGE of the SELF” : Mantram 44. - Swami Sri Adi Sankaracharya.
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Friday, November 04, 2022. 08:00.
(68 Slokam-s in 9 Chapters)
B. EMERGING OUT OF IGNORANCE: Mantras : (40-46)
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Slokam - 44: As the Missing Necklace
1 Aatmaa tu satatam praaptah 2 api apraapta-vat avidyayaa;
3 tat naashe praapta-vat bhaati 4 swa-kantha-abharanam yathaa.
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Translation :
1 Aatmaa tu satatam praaptah = Although the Self is the ever-existing Reality,
2 api apraapta-vat avidyayaa; = yet, because of ignorance, it is not realized.
3 tat naashe praapta-vat bhaati = When ignorance is dispelled, the Self is “gained” as though it were an object,
4 swa-kantha-abharanam yathaa.= just as the missing ornament around one’s neck.
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Commentary :
In discussing this verse, particularly the aptness of its simile, Acharyaji could not
resist asking: How many doctorates must we give to Shankaracharyaji for these beautiful
metaphors! In appropriateness this may well claim the first prize.
1 It has been said repeatedly that the Atman is the ever-existing Reality. It has
always been there. This led Acharyaji to make one of his own equally amazing observations:
When, after so much of sacrifice and serious Sadhana, the Jnani finally realizes the Atman,
what a fool he must appear to himself! He searchd and searched for goodness knows how
many decades, and when he found it, it was in himself already!
2 Indeed the loss (of Atman) was illusory; and its gain, too, is equally illusory. It
appears that It is ‘attained’ whereas in fact It is really forgotten; so It is not discovered but
rather It is only remembered!
And that idea is caught with great precision in the following metaphor…
“Swa-Kantha Abharanam”: The Missing Neck-Ornament Simile
4 The simile was slightly adjusted by Acharyaji to suit the Course students:
Imagine a student sitting for Japa with his Japa mala. Halfway through it he goes into
Samadhi! (Here the students can really sense the fun that is coming.) It is a very deep
Samadhi, and to enjoy it all the more he puts his mala around his neck and brings his head
to his pillow. That is not comfortable enough, so he puts his blanket over him. (There is
laughter at every step of this narration.) He only gets out of this Samadhi the next morning.
When he gets up he is in a desperate hurry – there are only 7 minutes left and he still has to
bath, but where is his mala?
There is a knock on his door. The neighbouring Brahmachari is there to remind him
that he is getting late for the morning chanting class. He opens the door and says he cannot
find his mala. Instead of his friend offering to help him to find it, as one would expect
Brahmacharis to do, he just smiles back, as if teasing him! The Brahmachari who is running
late cannot take this, especially when there are now only three minutes to go. The friend,
still irritatingly smiling, walks closer to him, clutches something around his neck and turns it
around. The Brahmachari realizes instantly what had happened: “Oh, what a fool I have
been, its still around my neck!” He is happy that he has found his mala.
That was Acharyaji’s version of this simile. After the class settled down from the bout
of laughter, no one was sure about one matter: Did the Brahmachari have his bath before
rushing off to the class?
3 Such an appropriate simile is hard to come by. It fits the realization of the Self to
the tee. That is why Acharyaji said the Jnani looks like a fool when he realizes his Atman – it
was around his ‘neck’ all the time!
*****
MANTRAM- 45: As the Post Appears as Ghost
TO BE CONTINUED
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