Rigveda 10.82.7

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Hari Om,

A phenomenal mantra appears in Rigveda 10.82.7. Posting here, the mantra, SAyANa bhAshya, its English translation and my understanding.

Mantra

न तं वि॑दाथ॒ य इ॒मा ज॒जाना॒न्यद्युष्माक॒मन्त॑रं बभूव । नी॒हारेण॒ प्रावृ॑ता॒ जल्प्या॑ चासुतृप॑ उक्थ॒शास॑श्चरन्ति । ॥७॥

न। तम्। वि॒दा॒थ॒। यः। इ॒मा। ज॒जान॑। अ॒न्यत्। यु॒ष्माक॑म्। अन्त॑रम्। ब॒भूव॒। नीहारेण॑। प्रावृ॑ताः। जल्प्या॑। च॒ । अ॒सु॒ऽतृ॒प॑ । उ॒क्थ॒ऽशस॑: । चरन्ति॒ ।।७।।

SAyaNa BhAshya

हे नराः तं विश्वकर्माणं न विदाथ न जानीथ य इमा इमानि भूतानि जजान उत्पादितवान्। देवदत्तोऽहं यज्ञदत्तोऽहमिति वयमात्मानं विश्वकर्माणं जानीम इति यदुच्येत तदसत् न ह्यहंप्रत्ययगम्यं जीवरूपं विश्वकर्मणः परमेश्वरस्य तत्त्वं किंतु युष्माकम् अहंप्रत्ययगम्यानां जीवानाम् अन्तरम् अन्यत् अहंप्रत्ययगम्यादतिरिक्तं सर्ववेदान्तवेद्यमीश्वरतत्त्वं बभूव भवति विद्यते। जीवरूपवत्तदपि कुतो न विद्म इति चेत् श्रूयताम्। नीहारेण प्रावृताः यूयं नीहारसदृशेनाज्ञानेनाच्छन्नाः। अतो न जानीथ। यथा नीहारो नात्यन्तमसन् दृष्टेरावरकत्वात् नाप्यत्यन्तं सन् काष्ठंपाषाणादिरूपान्तेरण संबन्द्धुमयोग्यत्वात् एवमज्ञानमपि नात्यन्तमसदीश्वरतत्त्वावरकत्वात् नापि सत् बोधमात्रनिवर्त्यत्वात्। ईदृशेनाज्ञानेन भवन्तः सर्वेः जीवाः प्रावृताः। न केवलं प्रावृतत्वं किंतु जल्प्या च देवोऽहं मनुष्योऽहमित्याद्यनृतजल्पनेन प्रावृताः। किंच असुतृपः केनाप्युपायेन असून्प्राणांस्तृप्यन्तः। उदरंभरा इत्यर्थः। न तु पारमेश्वरं तत्त्वं विचारितवन्तः । न केवलमिहलोकभोगमात्रतृप्ताः उक्थशासः नानाविधेषु यज्ञेषु उक्थं प्रउगनिष्केवल्यादिकं शंसन्तः चरन्ति पृथिव्यां वर्तन्ते। केवलमैहिकामुष्मिकभोगपरा वर्तध्वेऽतो विश्वकर्माणं देवं न जानीथेत्यर्थः।।

English Translation as per me of the SAyaNa BhAshya

O humans! You don’t know that VishwakarmA who produced these entities.

Objection: But we do know that VishwakarmA, who is our very Self, in the form of “I am Devadatta”, “I am Yajnadatta”.

Answer: That is incorrect. The tattva of VishwakarmA, who is the Supreme Lord, is not of the form of jIva. JIva is aham-pratyaya-gamya i.e. referred to by the I-thought. Rather, the parameshwara-tattva is within you jIvAs, who are aham-pratyaya-gamya. That Ishwara-tattva, which is known from the VedAnta, is different from the aham-pratyaya-gamya-jIva.

Objection: But just as we know ourselves as having jIva-rUpa, why don’t we know that VishwakarmA?

Answer: Listen. You don’t know that Supreme Lord on account of being firmly covered by ajnAna which is like fog.

Just as fog is neither atyanta-asat nor atyanta-sat, similarly ajnAna is neither atyanta-asat nor atyanta-sat. ajnAna is not atyanta-asat on account of its covering-hood of Ishwara-tattva. It is not atyanta-sat because it is sublated by knowledge. Just as fog is not atyanta-asat on account of covering of vision and not atyanta-sat on account of being non-eligible for connection with different forms such as wood and rocks etc.

You all jIvAs are covered because of such fog-like ajnAna.

Further, you are covered not only by this fog-like ajnAna, but also by mithyA-pralApa, such as “I am a man”, “I am devatA” etc.

Moreover, you filled your bellies, in any manner. You did not contemplate on the parameshwara-tattva.

You were not satisfied by the enjoyment of only this-world. But you lived in this world performing several yajnAs (for world hereafter).

The idea is that you exist with the sole objective of enjoyment of this world and the world hereafter. And you do not know the Supreme devatA, the VishwakarmA.

My understanding

The basic idea of this mantra is to explain why the jIva does not know the Supreme Brahman. It also defines jIva as aham-pratyaya-gamya i.e. referred to by I-thought.

Aham-pratyaya-gamya has its vAchya-artha as jIva or kshetrajna whereas its lakshya-artha is pratyagAtmA i.e. shuddha chaitanya.

Since Supreme Brahman is covered by ajnAna, which is sat-asat-vilakshaNa, jIva is ignorant of its Brahma-swarUpa. ajnAna is different from sat as it is sublated by jnAna, and ajnAna is different from asat because it is the cover-or of Brahman.

Aham-pratyaya-gamya jIva is nothing but sAbhAsa-ahamkAra as its vAchya-artha. The lakshya-artha, as stated, is shuddha chaitanya.

Regards.

Sudhanshu Shekhar.