श्रीराम उवाच । ब्रह्मैष कथितो देवस्त्वया मे प्रपितामहः । स्वयंभूरज एकात्मा विज्ञानात्मेति मे मतिः ॥ ४५ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | brahmaiṣa kathitō dēvastvayā mē prapitāmahaḥ | svayaṁbhūraja ēkātmā vijñānātmēti mē matiḥ || 45 ||
Translation
Rāma said: "This god you have told me of is Brahmā, my great-grandfather: the self-born, the unborn, the one Self, whose self is knowing. That is how I understand it."
Word by word
- brahmā
- Brahmā
- ēṣa
- this
- kathitō
- (kathitaḥ) you have told me of
- dēvas
- (devaḥ) god
- tvayā
- you
- mē
- my; I
- prapitāmahaḥ
- great-grandfather
- svayaṁbhūr
- (svayambhūḥ) the self-born
- aja
- the unborn
- ēka
- the one
- ātmā
- Self; whose self is
- vijñāna
- knowing
- iti
- that is how
- matiḥ
- understand it
Meaning
Rāma has understood. The commentary: pleasing his teacher by showing that he has grasped two things, that the sky-born brahmin is Brahmā under another name, and that the world is not real, Rāma speaks. Brahmā is his great-grandfather because Rāma's line, the solar dynasty, descends from him. He names him with the old titles: self-born (svayambhū), unborn (aja), the one Self of all beings taken together, and knowing itself.