10.12 param brahma param dhAma – part 1

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Chapter 10

<< Chapter 10 verse 11

SlOkam – Original

arjuna uvAcha
param brahma param dhAma pavithram paramam bhavAn |

word-by-word meaning

param brahma – as param brahma (the supreme brahman)
param dhAma – as param jyOthi (the supreme light)
paramam pavithram – known as parama pAvana (the supremely pure) (in Sruthi/vEdham)
bhavAn – your highness

Simple Translation

Your highness is known as param brahma (the supreme brahman), param jyOthi (the supreme light) and as parama pAvana (the supremely pure) (in Sruthi/vEdham).

Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam

‘Thou art the Supreme-Great, the Supernal Light, the Superbly Holy (Paramam-Pavitram).’

Thou art He Whom the Śrutis proclaim as Param-brahma, Param-dhāma, and Paramam-Pavitram.

Parambrahma or Supreme-Great is He as stated in:—

‘Search for Him from Whom alone are all these beings born; by Whom the born live on; into Whom they enter and merge; He is Brahm’.[1. Tait: Up°: iii-1-1. ‘Yato vā imāni bhūtani jāyante, yena jātāni jīvanti etc.]

‘The Brahma-knower attains the supreme (state)’[2. Tait: Up°: ii-1-1. ‘Brahma-vid āpnoti param’.]

‘Is not he, the knower of Param-brahma, who verily becomes Brahm Himself?’[3. Muṇḍ: Up°: iii-2-9. ‘Sa yo ha vai tat Param-Brahma veda Brahmaiva bhavati.’]

Similarly, Param-dhāma[4. Muṇḍ°: Up°: iii-2-1. ‘Sa vedaitat Paramam-dhāma’.]= Param-jyotiḥ=Supernal Light, as declared in:

‘Now, (where) above all this, the Supernal Divine Light shines forth’.[5. Chh: Up°: iii-13-7. ‘Atha yad ataḥ Divo Jyotir dīpyate.’]

‘Reaching the Supreme Light, one resurrects in his own essential nature.’[6. Chh: Up: viii-3-4. ‘Param-Jyotir upasampadya svena rūpeṇa `bhinishpadyate.’]

‘Him, the Light of lights, the devas etc.’[7. i:Up°: vi-4-6. ‘Taṃ devā—Jyotishām Jyotish’.]

Similarly, Paramam-Pavitram, the Superbly Holy or Sanctifier, or He Who purifies the devotee of all his sins, —the sins of the past (Pūrv-āgha) and the sins of the future (Uttarāgha). The Śrutis say:—

‘As water wets not the lotus-leaf, so do evil deeds cling not to him who understands thus.’[8. Chh: Up: iv-14-3. ‘Yathā pushkara-palāśa āpo naślishyanta evam evam vidi pāpam-karma na ślishyate.’]

‘As the point of a reed (Ishikā) cast into the fire, is at once burnt, so do indeed the sins of him become consumed.’[9. Chh: Up°: v-24-3. ‘Tad yatḥeshīkā-tūlam agnau protam pradū-yet-aivaṃ ha`sya sarve pāpmānaḥ pradūyante’.]

‘Nārāyaṇa is Param-brahma, Nārāyaṇa is the Highest Truth, Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Light, Nārāyaṇa is the Paramount Ātma.’[10. Tait: Up: Nārā. 11. ‘Nārāyaṇa Param-brahma, tatvam Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ, Nārāyaṇa paro-jyotir ātmā Nārāyaṇah parah’.]

>> Chapter 10 verse 12 part 2

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