तत्त्वज्ञानान्मुक्तिःLiberation by knowledge of the truth
Verse 122
उत्तमो ब्रह्मसद्भावो ध्यानभावस्तु मध्यमः । स्तुतिर्जपोऽधमो भावो बहिः पूजाऽधमाधमा ॥ १२२ ॥
uttamō brahmasadbhāvō dhyānabhāvastu madhyamaḥ | stutirjapō’dhamō bhāvō bahiḥ pūjā’dhamādhamā || 122 ||
Translation
The highest is the state of being in Brahman; the state of meditation is middling; praise and japa are the lower state; and outward worship is the lowest of the low.
Word by word
- uttamō
- (uttamaḥ) the highest
- brahma
- in Brahman
- sadbhāvō
- (sadbhāvaḥ) the state of being
- dhyāna
- of meditation
- bhāvas
- (bhāvaḥ) the state
- tu
- but
- madhyamaḥ
- middling
- stutir
- (stutiḥ) praise
- japō
- (japaḥ) japa
- adhamō
- (adhamaḥ) lower
- bhāvō
- (bhāvaḥ) the state
- bahiḥ
- outward
- pūjā
- worship
- adhama
- (adhama) low
- adhamā
- (adhamā) the lowest
Meaning
One of the best known verses of the text. The commentary explains the highest as the state in which "Brahman alone is real, all that is other than it is unreal", and reads "bhāva" as worship (bhajana). The ladder is not a dismissal of its lower rungs, which are its way up.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
"Uttamaḥ" and the rest. Brahman alone is real; all that is other than it is unreal: this is the highest state. The construction is: this is the highest worship. Dhyānabhāvaḥ: worship in the form of meditation.