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
न वेम्यहं मामुत वेम्यहं मा- मिति प्रवादो मनुजस्य हास्यः। दृग्दृश्यभेदात्किमयं द्विधात्मा स्वात्मकतायां हि धियां न भेदाः॥ The statements ’I know not’ ‘no I do’, Discussions such ridicule invite. Is there a two-fold self, seeing and seen? The Self is one. That is the experience of all. What is called the state of Self-realisation implies that there are states in which the Self is not realised; it is in a state of ignorance that one says "I do not know myself or ’I know myself’. This statement provokes a smile because the Self is always the knower and is never the known; and one should do away with the idea that he can at any time see the Self just as with his mind he sees objects as separate from and other than himself. Seeing the Self is no mental apprehension, but is a true awakening, a deepened awareness of one’s own Self which is the real source of the ego that is ignorance, cut off from its root. Irrespective of differences in condition, place and time, the self in each individual continues to be the same, i.e., is always the seer and never the seen, and expresses itself to the ego-consciousness in the form of personal identity. Therefore the suggestion in this verse is that the surface self must help itself and the dim light in it is enough to start with and that it makes way for the larger and deeper consciousness of the Real Self. This is the spirit of the scriptural statements: "By the Self, one must uplift the Self.” "By the Self, one must attain the Self.” "Knowledge (imperfect) is the means of knowledge (Perfect).’ If it is a fact that my Real Self is already there, why then is it not attained independent of effort?
न वेम्यहं मामुत वेम्यहं मा- मिति प्रवादो मनुजस्य हास्यः। दृग्दृश्यभेदात्किमयं द्विधात्मा स्वात्मकतायां हि धियां न भेदाः॥
The statements ’I know not’ ‘no I do’, Discussions such ridicule invite. Is there a two-fold self, seeing and seen? The Self is one. That is the experience of all.
What is called the state of Self-realisation implies that there are states in which the Self is not realised; it is in a state of ignorance that one says "I do not know myself or ’I know myself’. This statement provokes a smile because the Self is always the knower and is never the known; and one should do away with the idea that he can at any time see the Self just as with his mind he sees objects as separate from and other than himself. Seeing the Self is no mental apprehension, but is a true awakening, a deepened awareness of one’s own Self which is the real source of the ego that is ignorance, cut off from its root.
Irrespective of differences in condition, place and time, the self in each individual continues to be the same, i.e., is always the seer and never the seen, and expresses itself to the ego-consciousness in the form of personal identity.
Therefore the suggestion in this verse is that the surface self must help itself and the dim light in it is enough to start with and that it makes way for the larger and deeper consciousness of the Real Self. This is the spirit of the scriptural statements:
"By the Self, one must uplift the Self.”
"By the Self, one must attain the Self.”
"Knowledge (imperfect) is the means of knowledge (Perfect).’
If it is a fact that my Real Self is already there, why then is it not attained independent of effort?
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