नाऽहं रामो न मे वाञ्छा भावेषु न च मे मनः । शान्त आसितुमिच्छामि स्वात्मनीव जिनो यथा ॥ ८ ॥
nā’haṁ rāmō na mē vāñchā bhāvēṣu na ca mē manaḥ | śānta āsitumicchāmi svātmanīva jinō yathā || 8 ||
Translation
I am not Rāma; I have no longing for things, and no mind. I wish to rest at peace in my own Self, as the Jina does.
Word by word
- na
- not
- ahaṁ
- I
- rāmō
- (rāmaḥ) Rāma
- mē
- I have
- vāñchā
- longing
- bhāvēṣu
- for things
- ca
- and
- manaḥ
- mind
- śānta
- (śāntaḥ) at peace
- āsitum
- to rest
- icchāmi
- I wish
- sva
- my own
- ātmani
- in the Self
- iva
- just
- jinō
- (jinaḥ) the Jina
- yathā
- as
Meaning
The most radical verse of the sarga. "I am not Rāma": the name, the prince, the son of Daśaratha, is let go. Another commentary: by giving up the pride in the body, I am not Rāma the son of Daśaratha. No longing for things (bhāva), and "no mind" (na me manaḥ). What remains is the wish to "rest at peace in my own Self" (svātmani). The Jina, "the conqueror", is taken by tradition as the Buddha; the commentary explains that a good quality is to be taken even from a teacher outside one's own tradition, and the Buddha harmed no one and rested in himself; or one may read jita, "one who has conquered". The reader is invited to sit for a moment with the sentence "I am not my name", and notice what in them protests.