Читать книгу Self Discovery - Sri Sankara Acarya - Страница 11

KNOWING ‘I AM’

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I bow to the feet of the divine teacher, which pulverise the unbearable world of duality¹, subduing the demon of false² perception.

śrī divine, guru teacher, caraṇa foot, dvandva pair, √vand to venerate, bow to, aham (asmad) I, mathita pulverised, duḥsaha unbearable, dvandva duality;

bhrānti false perception, graha demon, upaśānti cessation, pāṃsumaya consisting of dust, yasya (yad) of which, bhasita ashes, ā√tan to spread.

¹ The Sanskrit word for ‘duality’ here is ‘dvandva’ oſten referring to pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain. ‘Dvandva’ is also used in this line in the sense of ‘the two feet’ of the teacher which are venerated. This image indicates the humility needed on the spiritual path.

² The Sanskrit word here is ‘bhrānti’, literally ‘wandering’, and coming to mean ‘perplexity, confusion, doubt, error, false opinion’, referring to false perception, here the perception of duality, particularly the duality of subject and object.