श्रीराम उवाच । मुधैवाऽभ्युत्थितो मोहान्मुधैव परिवर्धते । मिथ्यामयेन भीतोऽस्मि दुरहङ्कारशत्रुणा ॥ १ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | mudhaivā’bhyutthitō mōhānmudhaiva parivardhatē | mithyāmayēna bhītō’smi durahaṅkāraśatruṇā || 1 ||
Translation
Śrī Rāma said: Risen in vain out of delusion, growing in vain, this wicked enemy, the ego, is made of falsehood, and I am afraid of it.
Word by word
- śrī
- Śrī
- rāma
- Rāma
- uvāca
- said
- mudhā
- in vain
- ēva
- just
- abhyutthitō
- (abhyutthitaḥ) risen
- mōhān
- (mohāt) out of delusion
- parivardhatē
- growing
- mithyā
- of falsehood
- mayēna
- made
- bhītō
- (bhītaḥ) afraid
- asmi
- I am
- dur
- wicked
- ahaṅkāra
- the ego
- śatruṇā
- of this enemy
Meaning
Rāma has looked at the objects of the senses, at fortune and at life. Now he reaches the root beneath them all: ahaṅkāra, literally "the I-maker", the sense "I am this body, this mind, this person, and these things are mine". The commentary explains the verse with care. The ego "rises from delusion" (mohāt): ignorance is its occasion. It is "made of falsehood" (mithyāmaya): its very substance is unreal; or, read another way, it is a false disease (mithyā āmaya). And it rises and grows "in vain" (mudhā): it serves no real purpose of a human life. Rāma calls it an enemy and confesses fear of it. The reader may find this strange, for the ego feels like oneself. That is exactly the point: the enemy is hard to see because it wears one's own face.