Panchadasi-Chapter 1-Verses 47 and 48

Hari Aum

Prostrations to my Guru. Prostrations to All.

SLOKA 47:

so .ayam ity aadi vaakyeshhu virodhaat tad idantayoH .
tyaagena bhaagayor eka aashrayo lakshyate yathaa .. 47..

In the sentence “This is that Devadatta”, ‘this’ and ‘that’ refer to different time, place and circumstance. When the particular connotations of ‘this’ and ‘that’ are rejected, Devadatta remains as their common basis.

SLOKA 48:

maayaavidye vihaayaivam upaadhii para jiivayoH .
akhaNDa.n sachchidaanandaM paraM brahmaiva lakshyate .. 48..

Similarly, when the adjuncts, Maya and Avidya (the conflicting connotations in the proposition ‘That Thou Art’) of Brahman and Jiva, are negated, there remains the indivisible Supreme Brahman, whose nature is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss

The meaning of the sentence can be understood either through the direct meaning of the sentence or through the indirect meaning.

For eg: “He is Devadutta”. Here it is very clear that the person pointed is Devadutta

In case of “The Black runs” we cannot take the direct meaning as the black cannot run. We have to supply “Horse” and we have to read it as “The Black Horse runs”.

In the example “there is a village on the Ganges” the direct meaning is not taken as village cannot be on Ganges but it should be understood as a village on the bank of Ganges.

In the example “This is That Devadutta”, the person Devadutta who is seen now referred by ‘This’ was seen in a different place or sometime back referred by ‘That’. So when the limitation of space and time are removed denoted by ‘This’ and ‘That’, the common connotation Devadutta is taken into consideration.

In the similar way, in the Mahavakya ‘That Thou Art’, Isvara and Jiva the direct meaning cannot be taken as Isvara and Jiva possess contradictory characters. Isvara is omnipotent and omniscient whereas Jiva is seemingly limited. Maya is the Upadhi for Isvara and Avidya is the Upadhi for Jiva. When the Upadhis of Maya and Avidya are removed from Isvara and Jiva respectively, it is only Brahman, who is of the nature Existence, Consciousness and Bliss Absolute is pointed out through the Mahavakya ‘That Thou Art’.

Prostrations to all

Hari Aum

Thanks,
Rajesh