Among the many groups which are triads [triputis or the three factors of objective knowledge], no factor [puti] can exist leaving Self. However, not even one among those factors is Self. Only that which remains as the base of all those [factors] is the real state of Self.
Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru’s Sayings) by Sri Muruganar, Ch. The Nature of Self - Verse 1041Â
Sadhu Om: The group of three factors, the seer, the act of seeing and the object seen, is a triad [triputi]. ‘I am the seer’, ‘I am seeing’ and ‘these objects are seen by me’ – none of these three knowledges can exist without an ‘I’. But this ‘I’, the seer, is not Self; it is only the ego. Therefore, it is said in this verse that none of the three factors which constitute a triad is Self. Actions or pravrittis such as seeing are not the nature of Self. ‘I am seeing’ is the nature of the ego’s knowledge. The knowledge of one’s own existence, ‘I am’, alone is the nature of Self. If there did not exist the basic knowledge, ‘I am’, the qualified knowledge ‘I am seeing’ could not arise for the ego. Therefore it is said in this verse that none of the factors of a triad can exist leaving Self, and also that, since objective knowledge does not exist for Self, none of those factors are Self.
