कुर्वन्नपीह जगतां महतामनन्त- वृन्दं न किञ्चन करोति न काञ्चनाऽपि । स्वात्मन्यनस्तमयसंविदि निर्विकारे त्यक्तोदयस्थितिमति स्थित एक एव ॥ २४ ॥
kurvannapīha jagatāṁ mahatāmananta- vṛndaṁ na kiñcana karōti na kāñcanā’pi | svātmanyanastamayasaṁvidi nirvikārē tyaktōdayasthitimati sthita ēka ēva || 24 ||
Translation
Though he makes here endless multitudes of great worlds, he does nothing at all, not the least thing; he abides one and alone in his own Self, awareness that never sets, changeless, that has left rising and staying behind.
Word by word
- kurvan
- though he makes
- api
- though
- iha
- here
- jagatāṁ
- of worlds
- mahatām
- great
- ananta
- endless
- vṛndaṁ
- multitudes
- na
- not
- kiñcana
- anything
- karōti
- does
- kāñcana
- the least (thing)
- sva
- own
- ātmani
- in his Self
- anastamaya
- that never sets
- saṁvidi
- awareness
- nirvikārē
- changeless
- tyakta
- left behind
- udaya
- rising
- sthiti
- staying
- mati
- which has
- sthita
- abides
- ēka
- one
- ēva
- alone
Meaning
The sarga ends in vasantatilakā, a longer metre, for its closing thought, and with it the last thing Rāma wanted to know (v. 1): why what is laid upon him is unreal. The commentary: because he is changeless, without origin or duration, made of knowledge, abiding in his own nature and without a second, he makes the great worlds and their endless play and yet does nothing. Whatever has a changeless material cause is unreal; so it is the changelessness of the cause that shows the effect to be unreal. The rope does not become a snake; the snake was never made. This is the root Rāma asked for, the ground beneath the mind, and it is what remains when the mind is seen through.