Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 77
Bharata’s Attachment and the Palanquin Teaching on ‘I’ and ‘Mine’
ब्राह्मण उवाच । शब्दोऽहमिति दोषाय नात्मन्येवं तथैव तत् । अनात्मन्यात्मविज्ञानं शब्दो वा श्रुतिलक्षणः ॥ ७७ ॥
brāhmaṇa uvāca | śabdo'hamiti doṣāya nātmanyevaṃ tathaiva tat | anātmanyātmavijñānaṃ śabdo vā śrutilakṣaṇaḥ || 77 ||
Der Brāhmaṇa sprach: „Zu sagen: ‚Ich bin das Wort‘ führt in den Irrtum; und beim Ātman ist es ebenso nicht so. Erkenntnis des Selbst auf das Nicht-Selbst zu übertragen ist ein Fehler; ‚Wort‘ ist nur eine Benennung, wie sie in der Śruti erkannt wird.“
Brāhmaṇa
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: none
FAQs
It warns that confusing verbal labels (śabda) with the true Self creates delusion; liberation requires discerning the Self (ātman) from the non-Self (anātman) rather than clinging to mere scriptural terminology.
By showing that words and concepts are only pointers, it supports mature Bhakti where the devotee moves beyond verbal identity and ritual pride to direct inner surrender and realization of the indwelling reality that devotion aims at.
It implicitly highlights Vyākaraṇa/Śabda-śāstra awareness: śabda is a Śruti-defined linguistic designation, useful for instruction, but it must not be mistaken for the Self it indicates.