श्रीराम उवाच । सम्परिज्ञातमात्रेण किलाऽनेनाऽऽत्मनाऽऽत्मना । पुनर्दोषा न बाधन्ते मरणाद्याः कदाचन ॥ ७ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | samparijñātamātrēṇa kilā’nēnā’’tmanā’’tmanā | punardōṣā na bādhantē maraṇādyāḥ kadācana || 7 ||
Translation
Rāma said: So by merely knowing fully this Self, through the self, faults such as death never trouble one again?
Word by word
- samparijñāta
- fully knowing
- mātrēṇa
- merely
- kila
- so
- anēna
- this
- ātmanā
- Self; through the self
- punar
- (punaḥ) again
- dōṣā
- faults
- na
- not
- bādhantē
- trouble
- maraṇa
- death
- ādyāḥ
- such as
- kadācana
- ever
Meaning
Rāma takes Vasiṣṭha at his word. The commentary sets the scene: a Vedic text says that brāhmaṇas seek to know the Self by recitation of the Veda, by sacrifice, by giving and by austerity (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.22), so the Veda itself proclaims these as means to knowledge; Vasiṣṭha's "austerity helps not at all" must mean ordinary austerity. With this in mind Rāma asks: is it really enough just to know? Then the troubles of birth and death never return?