संसारदुःखमोक्षार्थं मादृशैः सह बन्धुभिः । स्वरूपमात्मनो ज्ञात्वा गुरुशास्त्रप्रमाणतः ॥ २१ ॥
saṁsāraduḥkhamōkṣārthaṁ mādṛśaiḥ saha bandhubhiḥ | svarūpamātmanō jñātvā guruśāstrapramāṇataḥ || 21 ||
Translation
For release from the sorrow of saṁsāra, together with kinsmen such as I am, know your own nature, by the authority of the teacher and of scripture;
Word by word
- saṁsāra
- of saṁsāra
- duḥkha
- from the sorrow
- mōkṣa
- release
- arthaṁ
- for
- mādṛśaiḥ
- such as I am
- saha
- together with
- bandhubhiḥ
- kinsmen
- svarūpam
- your own nature
- ātmanō
- (ātmanaḥ) of the Self
- jñātvā
- know
- guru
- of the teacher
- śāstra
- and of scripture
- pramāṇataḥ
- by the authority
Meaning
This verse and the next are one sentence. Mādṛśaiḥ saha bandhubhiḥ, with kinsmen like me: the commentary glosses this as one's own people. It is striking that a teacher so far above Rāma should call himself a kinsman. Guru-śāstra-pramāṇataḥ, on the authority of teacher and scripture, is the standard Vedānta position that the knowledge of the Self comes through these means, and verse 11 has added the third witness.