Devanagari
अहं ब्रह्म परं धाम ब्रह्माहं परमं पदम् ।
एवं समीक्ष्य चात्मानमात्मन्याधाय निष्कले ॥ ११ ॥
दशन्तं तक्षकं पादे लेलिहानं विषाननै: ।
न द्रक्ष्यसि शरीरं च विश्वं च पृथगात्मन: ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
ahaṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma
brahmāhaṁ paramaṁ padam
evaṁ samīkṣya cātmānam
ātmany ādhāya niṣkale
daśantaṁ takṣakaṁ pāde
lelihānaṁ viṣānanaiḥ
na drakṣyasi śarīraṁ ca
viśvaṁ ca pṛthag ātmanaḥ
Synonyms
aham
—
I
;
brahma
—
the Absolute Truth
;
param
—
supreme
;
dhāma
—
the abode
;
brahma
—
the Absolute Truth
;
aham
—
I
;
paramam
—
the supreme
;
padam
—
destination
;
evam
—
thus
;
samīkṣya
—
considering
;
ca
—
and
;
ātmānam
—
yourself
;
ātmani
—
in the Supreme Self
;
ādhāya
—
placing
;
niṣkale
—
which is free from material designation
;
daśantam
—
biting
;
takṣakam
—
Takṣaka
;
pāde
—
upon your foot
;
lelihānam
—
the snake, licking his lips
;
viṣa
—
ānanaiḥ — with his mouth full of poison
;
na drakṣyasi
—
you will not even notice
;
śarīram
—
your body
;
ca
—
and
;
viśvam
—
the entire material world
;
ca
—
and
;
pṛthak
—
separate
;
ātmanaḥ
—
from the self .
Translation
You should consider, “I am nondifferent from the Absolute Truth, the supreme abode, and that Absolute Truth, the supreme destination, is nondifferent from me.” Thus resigning yourself to the Supreme Soul, who is free from all material misidentifications, you will not even notice the snake-bird Takṣaka when he approaches with his poison-filled fangs and bites your foot. Nor will you see your dying body or the material world around you, because you will have realized yourself to be separate from them.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“I am that Brahman, the supreme state of being. Brahman is I, the supreme position.” [Note: The esoteric meaning is: I am the worshipper of the Lord. I am a conscious particle of the Lord. I belong to the Lord.” Considering this and considering the lotus feet of the Lord, surrender to the Lord. You will not see Takṣaka, your body or the universe separate from the Lord, because of fainting with bliss on seeing Kṛṣṇa. ] Considering this, place yourself in the Brahman devoid of upādhis. You will not see Takṣaka biting your foot with fire and poison and licking it with his tongue. You will not see your body or the universe to be separate from Brahman.
In two verses the method of deliberation and the bite of Takṣka are described. By thinking “I am that Brahman, not a person in saṁsāra” one can eliminate lamentation. By thinking “Brahman is I, I am Brahman” one can eliminate the invisibility of Brahman (one can attain realization of Brahman). You should place yourself in the Brahman (ātmani) free of upādhis (niṣkale).
The esoteric meaning is “I am the spiritual particle (dhāma) of the Supreme Lord who is like the sun.” Amara-koṣa says dhāma means body, house, splendor and beauty. I am the worshipper of Brahman (brahma-param). An example of para with this meaning is nārāyaṇa-paro vipraḥ: the brāhmaṇa is a worshipper of Nārāyaṇa. Brahma aham means “I belong to the Supreme Lord.” This is tat-puruṣa compound with a possessive meaning. Seeing the lotus feet of the Lord or his svarūpa (paramam padam), you should surrender yourself to Paramātmā, Kṛṣṇa, who has a niṣka ornament on his chest (niṣkale).
You will not see Takṣaka, who bites while pressing his two lips and relishing with his tongue, using fire combined with poison. You will not see your body bitten by the snake or the universe to be different from Brahman. The other meaning is “You will not see all this because you will be fainting with bliss from directly seeing the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.”