Verse 14

Niralamba

Sanskrit (Devanagari)

अज्ञानमिति च रज्जौ सर्पभ्रान्तिरिवाद्वितीये सर्वानुस्यूते सर्वमये ब्रह्मणि देवतिर्यङ्नरस्थावरस्त्रीपुरुषवर्णाश्रमबन्धमोक्षोपाधिनानात्मभेदकल्पितं ज्ञानमज्ञानम् ॥१४॥

Padapatha (Word Split)

अज्ञानम् इति च । रज्जौ । सर्प-भ्रान्तिः इव । अद्वितीये । सर्व-अनुस्यूते । सर्व-मये । ब्रह्मणि । देव-तिर्यक्-नर-स्थावर-स्त्री-पुरुष-वर्ण-आश्रम । बन्ध-मोक्ष-उपाधिना । अनात्म-भेद-कल्पितम् । ज्ञानम् । अज्ञानम् ॥

IAST Transliteration

ajñānam iti ca rajjau sarpabhrāntir ivādvitīye sarvānusyūte sarvamaye brahmaṇi devatiryaṅnara-sthāvara-strīpuruṣa-varṇāśrama bandhamokṣopādhinānātmabheda-kalpitaṃ jñānam ajñānam ||14||

Translation

«الجهل»—هكذا يُقال—هو ذلك الإدراك الذي، كتوَهُّم الحيّة في الحبل، يتخيّل في برهمن غير الثنائي—المتخلّل في الجميع والمنسوج في الكل، القائم بكل شيء—فروقًا للّاذات بواسطة القيود العارضة (الأوبادهي)، مثل: الإله، والحيوان، والإنسان، والثابت (نباتًا أو جمادًا)، والمرأة، والرجل، والطبقة ومرحلة الحياة، والعبودية والتحرّر.

Academic Translation

‘Ignorance’—so (it is said)—is the cognition that, like the delusion of a snake in a rope, in the non-dual Brahman—interwoven through all and consisting of all—imagines differences of the non-Self by means of limiting adjuncts, (such as) god, animal, human, immovable (plant/inanimate), woman, man, caste and life-stage, bondage and liberation.

Verse Context

• Avidyā/Māyā; adhyāsa (superimposition); upādhi-kalpita bheda in nondual Brahman
• Mahavakya: Clarifies the obstruction to ‘tat tvam asi’ and ‘ahaṃ brahmāsmi’: ignorance projects non-self differences upon the nondual Brahman, preventing recognition of identity.
• Atharva
• Chandas: Prose