Ulladu-Narpadu Verse 11: Knowledge 2
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 16/04/2017

This series is classified Ajata-vāda | Jñāna-yoga | Turīya | Sahasrāra-cakra

11. "Knowing other things without knowing oneself—the mind or ego—who knows the objects known, is only ignorance; can it ever be true knowledge? When, through the enquiry ‘Who am I’ (the individual who knows the objects known) one knows the non-existence of the knowing ego, the base for knowledge and ignorance about objects will cease to exist."

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The word arivadu may mean either ‘(the act of) knowing’ or ‘that which knows’. If the latter meaning is taken, the first sentence of this verse would translate thus: “That which knows other things without knowing itself, which knows the objects known, is (only) ignorance; can it instead be (true) knowledge?” In other words, the mind, which knows other things without knowing the truth of itself, is not knowledge but only ignorance.

However, when the mind gives up knowing other things and tries instead to know itself by scrutinizing ‘Who am I?’, it will be found to be truly non-existent, and hence all its knowledge and ignorance about other things will automatically cease to exist. The resulting state, in which all knowledge and ignorance about objects has ceased to exist due to the destruction of their base, the knowing mind, alone is the state of true knowledge.

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