English translation of T. V. Kapali Sastry's commentary on Vasishtha Ganapati Muni's Sat-darshana - sanskrit version of Sri Ramana's 'Ulladu Narpadu' in Tamil.
T. V. Kapali Sastry's Sat-Darshana Bhashya (commentary) on Vasishtha Ganapati Muni's सद्दर्शनम् - a Sanskrit version of Sri Ramana's 'Ulladu Narpadu' in Tamil
देहो न जानाति सतो न जन्म देहप्रमाणोऽन्य उदेति मध्ये। अहङकृतिग्रन्थिविबन्धसूक्ष्म- शरीरचेतोभवजीवनामा॥ The body is blind, unborn is the Real Self. The twain between, within the body’s limit, There a something else appears. That is the knot of matter and spirit, the Mind, the living soul, the body subtle, the egoself. That is Samsara the revolving wheel (of life and death). What is this ’I’ to which the whole world of phenomena presents itself? It cannot be the body which is insentient; nor can it be the unborn self which is perfect consciousness. Here we have the authoritative assertion of Bhagawan Maharshi that between the twain, something appears within the body’s limit. Between the unborn self which is the basis of the I-notion in all beings and the insentient jada the visible body, there crops up something which is called the ego-self distinct on the one hand from the unborn self and on the other from the body, and to this extent it is at once pervasive and limited. Thus, this ego-self partakes of the character of both the self and the body as it is formed betwixt the two and serves as a liaison between them. Then various names are mentioned to denote its various functions. It is the ahamkara the ego, which is a fleeting formation, a reflection, of the self with a certain fixity behind it. The conscious self is free, but this is limited and bound to the body. The statement that the ego is a formation between the self and the body and links them together, as it were, is quite peculiar to Shri Maharshi’s philosophic outlook and expressive of his personal experience. This fact is made clearer when he calls the ahamkara by the name of cit-jada-granthi, a psycho-physical knot connecting spirit with matter. It is true that the granthi-idea is at least as ancient as the Upanishads, but here it receives a special treatment with a significant stress. And because it is a knot, a tie between spirit and matter, it is called bandha, bondage. It lies between the causal and the gross, between the karana self and the sthula deha and so is subtle suksma. It is limited to the body and has bodily functions and hence is called the subtle body, suksma sarira. Of the two main elements of the subtle body, prana and manas (life force and mind-stuff), mind is nearer the conscious light. Hence with the stress falling upon this element the subtle body is called the mind. But it is the life-force in the living being that manifests the mind in which the ego poses itself as the Self. With the stress shifted to prana it is called the jiva, the living being. It is this jiva, the ego-self, the soul in the making, so to say, that turns round the wheel of birth and death; hence it is samsara. The other points bearing upon this subject of ego have been discussed in the Introduction. The play of the ego is described in the next verse.
देहो न जानाति सतो न जन्म देहप्रमाणोऽन्य उदेति मध्ये। अहङकृतिग्रन्थिविबन्धसूक्ष्म- शरीरचेतोभवजीवनामा॥
The body is blind, unborn is the Real Self. The twain between, within the body’s limit, There a something else appears. That is the knot of matter and spirit, the Mind, the living soul, the body subtle, the egoself. That is Samsara the revolving wheel (of life and death).
What is this ’I’ to which the whole world of phenomena presents itself? It cannot be the body which is insentient; nor can it be the unborn self which is perfect consciousness. Here we have the authoritative assertion of Bhagawan Maharshi that between the twain, something appears within the body’s limit. Between the unborn self which is the basis of the I-notion in all beings and the insentient jada the visible body, there crops up something which is called the ego-self distinct on the one hand from the unborn self and on the other from the body, and to this extent it is at once pervasive and limited. Thus, this ego-self partakes of the character of both the self and the body as it is formed betwixt the two and serves as a liaison between them.
Then various names are mentioned to denote its various functions. It is the ahamkara the ego, which is a fleeting formation, a reflection, of the self with a certain fixity behind it. The conscious self is free, but this is limited and bound to the body. The statement that the ego is a formation between the self and the body and links them together, as it were, is quite peculiar to Shri Maharshi’s philosophic outlook and expressive of his personal experience. This fact is made clearer when he calls the ahamkara by the name of cit-jada-granthi, a psycho-physical knot connecting spirit with matter. It is true that the granthi-idea is at least as ancient as the Upanishads, but here it receives a special treatment with a significant stress.
And because it is a knot, a tie between spirit and matter, it is called bandha, bondage. It lies between the causal and the gross, between the karana self and the sthula deha and so is subtle suksma. It is limited to the body and has bodily functions and hence is called the subtle body, suksma sarira.
Of the two main elements of the subtle body, prana and manas (life force and mind-stuff), mind is nearer the conscious light. Hence with the stress falling upon this element the subtle body is called the mind. But it is the life-force in the living being that manifests the mind in which the ego poses itself as the Self. With the stress shifted to prana it is called the jiva, the living being. It is this jiva, the ego-self, the soul in the making, so to say, that turns round the wheel of birth and death; hence it is samsara.
The other points bearing upon this subject of ego have been discussed in the Introduction.
The play of the ego is described in the next verse.
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