न राघव तवाऽस्त्यन्यज्ज्ञेयं ज्ञानवतां वर । स्वयैव सूक्ष्मया बुद्ध्या सर्वं विज्ञातवानसि ॥ २ ॥
na rāghava tavā’styanyajjñēyaṁ jñānavatāṁ vara | svayaiva sūkṣmayā buddhyā sarvaṁ vijñātavānasi || 2 ||
Translation
Rāghava, best of those who know: there is nothing else left for you to know. By your own subtle intellect you have understood everything.
Word by word
- na
- not
- rāghava
- Rāghava
- tava
- for you
- asty
- (asti) there is
- anyaj
- (anyat) else
- jñēyaṁ
- to know
- jñānavatāṁ
- of those who know
- vara
- best
- svayā
- by your own
- ēva
- indeed
- sūkṣmayā
- subtle
- buddhyā
- by intellect
- sarvaṁ
- everything
- vijñātavān
- have understood
- asi
- you
Meaning
Viśvāmitra begins with a startling judgement. Rāma has not yet heard a word of teaching, and the sage tells him that he already knows. The commentary explains: with an intellect skilled at telling the essential from the inessential, Rāma has seen into the whole matter of what is to be given up and what is to be taken; and in that seeing he has known the one undivided Self, pure consciousness, which is the essence of all. The point is not flattery. The thirty-three sargas of Rāma's dispassion were themselves an inquiry, and an honest inquiry into the worth of things already touches what is real. The reader may take this to heart: clear seeing of what does not last is not a step before knowledge, it is knowledge beginning.