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 ||
婆罗门说道：“说‘我就是言语’会招致过失；而对真我（Ātman）并非如此。把对真我的觉知投射到非我之物上，是一种过错；所谓‘言语’，只是《圣闻》（Śruti）所认可的名相而已。”
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.