नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सत: |
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभि: || 16||
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayorapi dṛiṣhṭo ’nta stvanayos tattva-darśhibhiḥ
na—no; asataḥ—of the temporary; vidyate—there is; bhāvaḥ—is; na—no; abhāvaḥ—cessation; vidyate—is; sataḥ—of the eternal; ubhayoḥ—of the two; api—also; dṛiṣhṭaḥ—observed; antaḥ—conclusion; tu—verily; anayoḥ—of these; tattva—of the truth; darśhibhiḥ—by the seers
Translation:
The unreal has no being, the real has no non-being. The final truth of these two has been seen indeed by those who have experienced the essence of things.
Commentary:
Knowers of the truth:- This refers to persons who have directly seen the final Truth. For them, lt is no longer speculation or argument or more imagination, but direct perception. Such realised men understand clearly what is real and what is not real. The body and the world are subject to destruction, and so they are not the truth; They are non-existent. That which becomes non-existent cannot have a state of reality at any time. Even if it appears to be real, it is the reality of the mirage only. The Atma alone is real. At no time was it not. At no time will it cease to be. The man of knowledge knows the truth. Others who are ignorant confuse the two by ascribing reality to the unreal (body and the world) and denying the real, (the Atman). This Confusion is the root cause of all sorrow and suffering for mankind.
To deny the existence of the real Atma, who alone is real, is the first error. To assert the existence of the unreal, body and world, is the second error. The first error is known as `asambhavana’ and the second error `viparitabhavana’. By the first error, what is real vanishes and so the eternal Atma becomes something that is far away from us. By the second error what is palpably unreal is taken for the real and thus the ignorant man brings upon himself endless suffering and sorrow. To end the sorrow, it is just enough for the man to see the real as real, and the unreal as unreal. This is the way to peace and the removal of sorrow. The spiritual masters know the secret and hence they are filled with bliss. The ignorant man fails to see the Truth, and so he is caught in the whirlpool of ‘samsara‘ and suffers endlessly.
In this verse, Lord propounds the fundamental pre position of Vedanta. ‘Brahma Satyam, Jagat midhya’.
Question: Who are the seers of truth?
Answer: Those who see the Atma alone as real and that the body and world are unreal, are the seers of Truth.
Admin Notes:
- That which is non-existent at the beginning and in the end, is necessarily so (non-existent) in the middle. The objects are like the illusions we see, still they are regarded as if real. (Mandukya Karika 2.6)