Upadēśa Sāraḥ verses 16 and 17

In a Zoom meeting with Ramana Kendra, Delhi, on 8th May 2022 Michael James the meaning and implications of verses 16 and 17 of Upadēśa Sāraḥ.

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Upadēśa Sāraḥ verse 16:

दृश्य वारितं चित्त मात्मनः ।

चित्त्व दर्शनं तत्त्व दर्शनम् ॥ १६ ॥

dṛśya vāritaṁ citta mātmanaḥ

citva darśanaṁ tattva darśanam

पदच्छेद: दृश्य वारितम्, चित्तम् आत्मनः चित्त्व दर्शनम् तत्त्व दर्शनम्.

Padacchēda (word-separation): dṛśya vāritam, cittam ātmanaḥ cittva darśanam tattva darśanam.

English translation: Kept back from what is seen, the mind seeing its own knowingness is seeing what is real.

Explanatory paraphrase: Kept back from dṛśya [what is seen, perceived or known as an object], the mind seeing its own cittva [its real nature as pure awareness or knowingness] is tattva-darśana [seeing tattva: ‘thatness’, what actually exists or is real].

Upadēśa Sāraḥ verse 17:

मान संतुकिं मार्ग णेकृते ।

नैव मानसं मार्ग आर्जवात् ॥ १७ ॥

māna saṁtukiṁ mārga ṇēkṛtē

naiva mānasaṁ mārga ārjavāt

पदच्छेद: मानसम् तु किम् मार्गणे कृते न एव मानसम्. मार्गः आर्जवात्.

Padacchēda (word-separation): mānasam tu kim mārgaṇē kṛtē na ēva mānasam. mārgaḥ ārjavāt.

English translation: When investigation is done what the mind actually is, there is no mind at all. The path because of straightness.

Explanatory paraphrase: When one investigates what the mind actually is, [it will be clear that] there is no mind at all. [This is] the path because of [its] straightness [or directness].

While discussing these verses, Michael also discusses the meaning and implications of various passages from Bhagavan’s writings, including Upadēśa Sāraḥ, Upadēśa Undiyār, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu and Nāṉ Ār?.

This episode can also be watched as a video, 2022-05-08 Ramana Kendra, Delhi: Michael James discusses Upadēśa Sāraḥ verses 16 and 17, and a more compressed audio copy in Opus format (which can be listened to in the VLC media player and some other apps) can be downloaded from here.