Vivekachudamani
This work by Shankaracharya, together with the DrikDrisya Viveka, was translated into Tamil prose by Bhagavan
while he was still living in Virupaksha Cave. It is a very free
translation, even the order of the paragraphs being changed
to some extent.
Introduction by Sri Bhagavan
Every being in the world yearns to be always happy and
free from the taint of sorrow, and desires to get rid of bodily
ailments, etc., which are not of its true nature. Further,
everyone cherishes the greatest love for himself, and this love
is not possible in the absence of happiness. In deep sleep,
though devoid of everything, one has the experience of being
happy. Yet, due to the ignorance of the real nature of one's
own being, which is happiness itself, people flounder in the
vast ocean of material existence, forsaking the right path that
leads to happiness, and act under the mistaken belief that the
way to be happy consists in obtaining the pleasures of this
and the other world.
Unfortunately, however, there is no such happiness which
has not the taint of sorrow. It is precisely for the purpose of
pointing out the straight path to true happiness that Lord Siva,
taking on the guise of Sri Shankaracharya, wrote the
commentaries on the Triple Canon (Prasthana Traya) of the
Vedanta [?], which extols the excellence of this bliss; and that he
demonstrated it by his own example in life. These
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commentaries, however, are of little use to those ardent seekers
who are intent upon realizing the bliss of Liberation but have
not the scholarship necessary for studying them.
It is for such as these that Sri Shankara revealed the essence
of the commentaries in this short treatise, The Crown Gem of
Discrimination, explaining in detail the points that have to be
grasped by those who seek Liberation, and thereby directing
them to the true and direct path.
Sri Shankara begins by observing that it is hard indeed to
attain human birth, and that, having attained it, one should
strive to achieve the bliss of Liberation, which is really only
the nature of one's being. By jnana [?] or spiritual knowledge
alone is this Bliss to be realized, and jnana [?] is achieved only
through vichara [?] or steady enquiry. In order to learn this method
of enquiry, says Sri Shankara, one should seek the grace of a
Guru; and he then proceeds to describe the qualities of the
Guru and his disciple and how the latter should approach and
serve his master. He further emphasizes that in order to realize
the bliss of Liberation one's own individual effort is an
essential factor. Mere book learning never yields this bliss; it
can be realized only through Self-enquiry or vichara [?], which
consists of sravana [?] or devoted attention to the precepts of the
Guru, manana [?] or deep contemplation and nidhidhyasana or
the cultivation of equanimity in the Self.
The three bodies, are non-self and are unreal. The Self,
that is the Aham [?] or `I' is quite different from them. It is due to
ignorance that the sense of Self or the `I' notion is foisted on
that which is not Self, and this indeed is bondage. Since from
ignorance arises bondage, from Knowledge ensues liberation.
To know this from the Guru is sravana [?].
The process of manana [?], which is subtle enquiry or deep
contemplation, consists in rejecting the three bodies consisting
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of the five sheaths (physical, vital, mental, intellectual, and
blissful), as not `I' and discovering through subtle enquiry of
`Who am I??' that which is different from all three and exists
single and universal in the Heart as Aham [?] or `I', just as a
stalk of grass is delicately drawn out from its sheath. This `I'
is denoted by the word tvam (in the scriptural dictum `Tat [?]-
tvam-asi', That thou art).
The world of name and form is but an adjunct of Tat [?] or
Brahman [?] and, having no separate reality, is rejected as reality
and affirmed as nothing else but Brahman [?]. The instruction of
the disciple by the Guru in the Mahavakya [?] `Tat tvam asi', which
declares the identity of the Self and the Supreme, is this Upadesa [?]
(spiritual guidance). The disciple is then enjoined to remain in
the beatific state of Aham-Brahman, (I--the Absolute).
Nevertheless, the old tendencies of the mind sprout up thick
and strong and constitute an obstruction. These tendencies are
threefold and ego is their root. The ego flourishes in the
externalized and differentiating consciousness caused by the
forces of projection due to rajas, and veiling due to tamas [?].
To fix the mind firmly in the Heart until these forces are
destroyed and to awaken with unswerving, ceaseless vigilance
the true and cognate tendency which is characteristic of the
Atman and is expressed by sayings: `Aham Brahmasmi' (I am
Brahman [?]), and `Brahmaivaham' (Brahman [?] alone am I) is
termed nidhidhyasana or Atmanusandhana [?], that is constancy
in the Self. This is otherwise called bhakti [?], yoga and dhyana [?].
Atmanusandhana [?] has been compared to churning curds in
order to make butter, the mind being compared to the churn,
the heart to the curds, and the practice of concentration on the
Self to the process of churning. Just as butter is made by
churning the curds and fire by friction, so the natural and
changeless state of nirvikalpa samadhi is produced by
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unswerving vigilant concentration on the Self, ceaseless like
the unbroken flow of oil. This readily and spontaneously yields
that direct, immediate, unobstructed, and universal perception
of Brahman [?], which is at once knowledge and experience and
which transcends time and space.
This perception is Self-realization. Achieving it cuts the
knot of the Heart. The false delusions of ignorance, the vicious
and age-long tendencies of the mind which constitute this
knot are destroyed. All doubts are dispelled and the bondage
of karma is severed.
Thus in this Crown Gem of Discrimination Sri Shankara
has described samadhi or spiritual trance which is the limitless
bliss of liberation, beyond doubt and duality, and at the same
time has indicated the means for its attainment. To attain this
state of freedom from duality is the real purpose of life, and
only he who has done so is a jivanmukta, liberated while yet
alive, not one who has a mere theoretical understanding of
what constitutes Purushartha [?] or the desired end and aim of
human endeavour.
Thus defining a jivanmukta, Sri Shankara declares him to
be free from the bonds of threefold karma (sanchita, agami
and prarabdha). The disciple attains this state and then relates
his personal experience. He who is liberated is indeed free to
act as he pleases, and when he leaves the body, he abides in
Liberation and never returns to this birth, which is death.
Sri Shankara thus describes Realization, that is Liberation,
as twofold, Jivanmukti and Videhamukti [?], as explained above.
Moreover, in this short treatise, written in the form of a
dialogue between a Guru and his disciple, he has considered
many other relevant topics.
(By courtesy of the Sunday Times, Madras)
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Invocation
Rejoice eternally! The Heart rejoices at the feet of the Lord,
who is the Self, shining within as `I-I' eternally, so that there
is no alternation of night and day. This will result in removal
of ignorance of the Self.
Praise to the Guru
Sri Shankara Jagadguru shines as the form of Lord Siva.
In this work, Vivekachudamani, he has expounded in detail
the heart of Vedanta [?]and its meaning in order that the most
ardent of those qualified for liberation may acquaint
themselves with it and attain immortality.
Homage to the ever blissful Sri Govinda Sadguru [?] who is
to be known only by the ultimate truth of Vedanta [?]and not by
any other standard.
The Text
It is indeed very difficult to obtain a human body. Even
though one does, it is very difficult to become a brahmin.
Even if one becomes one, it is still more difficult to walk in
the path of vaidika dharma in which the Vedas are chanted.
Still more difficult is it to become a perfect scholar, and more
difficult again to undertake enquiry into the Self and the
non-Self. Yet more difficult than all this is to obtain wisdom
born of experience of the Self. Liberation in the form of
abidance as the Self, born of that wisdom, is not to be attained
except as a result of righteous actions performed throughout
countless crores of births. However, even though all the above
qualifications may not be obtained, liberation is assured
through the grace of the Lord if only three conditions are
obtained: that is a human birth, intense desire for liberation,
and association with sages.
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If, by some great penance, that rarity, a human body is
obtained, with its ability to understand the meaning of the
scriptures, and yet, owing to attachment to insentient things,
effort is not made to attain the immutable state of liberation,
which is one's own true state, then indeed one is a fool
committing suicide. What greater fool is there than one who
does not seek his own good?
Liberation is not to be achieved through endless cycles of
time by reading the scriptures or worshipping the gods or by
anything else than knowledge of the unity of Brahman [?]and
atman. Wealth or actions made possible by wealth cannot
produce the yearning for liberation. Therefore the scriptures
have rightly declared that action can never produce liberation.
In order to obtain liberation one must heroically renounce
even the very desire for the pleasures of this world. Then one
must seek the perfect guru who is the embodiment of peace
and must concentrate one's mind and meditate ceaselessly on
that into which one is initiated. Such meditation leads to
abidance in the wisdom of the experience obtained. Embarking
in that ship of wisdom, one must ferry over to the shore of
liberation that self which is immersed in the ocean of samsara.
Therefore the courageous aspirant should give up attachment
to wife, sons and property and give up all activity. By so doing
he should free himself from bondage to the cycle of birth and
death and seek liberation. Actions are prescribed only for
purification of the mind, not for realization of the Self.
Knowledge of the truth of the Self is obtained only by
Self-enquiry and not by any number of actions. One who
mistakes a rope for a serpent is cast into fear thereby and his
fear and distress can be removed only by the knowledge that
it is a rope. A friend who knows this tells him so and he
investigates and finds that it is so. There is no other way.
Similarly, knowledge of Brahman [?]is obtained through
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initiation by the Guru and enquiry into Truth. That Truth
cannot be realized through purificatory baths, offerings,
breath-control, or any other practice. He who seeks liberation
through knowledge of the Self must enquire into the Self with
the help of the perfect Guru who, being free from desires, is
a knower of Brahman [?]and an ocean of grace. It is mainly
through enquiry that he who is competent achieves knowledge
of the Self; circumstance, time, and the grace of the Lord are
but aids to the quest.
In order to be qualified for enquiry into the Self, a man
must have a powerful intellect and ability to seize the
essential and reject the inessential besides the various
qualities enumerated in the scriptures. What are these? He
must be able to discriminate between the real and the unreal.
He must have an unattached mind. He must ardently desire
liberation. And he must be tireless in practice. Only such a
one is qualified to enquire into Brahman. The qualifications
are enumerated as follows:
1. Discrimination between the real and the unreal.
2. Disinclination to enjoy the fruits of one's actions either
in this or in any further life.
3. The six virtues of tranquillity, self-control, withdrawal,
forbearance, faith, and concentration of the Self.
4. Intense yearning for liberation.
The aspirant must indeed have these qualities in order to
attain abidance in the Self; without them there can be no
realization of the Truth. Let us see what these are:
1. Discrimination between the real and the unreal is the
firm conviction that Brahman [?]alone is the Truth and that the
world is unreal.
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2. We both observe and learn from the scriptures that all
pleasures experienced by animate beings, from Brahma
downwards, are transient and impermanent and involve
sorrows and imperfections; giving up the desire for them is
vairagya [?]or non-attachment.
3. (a) Tranquillity implies fixing the mind upon its target
by meditating frequently on the imperfections of things and
becoming dissatisfied with them.
(b) Self-control means controlling the outer and inner sense
organs and fixing them in their respective centres.
(c) Withdrawal means giving up all outer activity by fixing
the mind on its target so firmly that it is not led by its previous
tendencies to dwell on objects.
(d) Forbearance means the endurance of any sorrows that
may befall without trying to avoid them.
(e) Faith, which is the cause of Self-realization, is the
outcome of firm conviction of the truth of Vedantic scriptures
and of the words of the Guru.
(f) Concentration is making every effort to fix the mind on
the pure Brahman [?]despite its wandering nature.
These are said to be the six qualifications needed for the
practice of samadhi.
4. Intense yearning for liberation arises from the desire to
free oneself by realizing one's true nature, attaining freedom
from the bondage of the body and ego which is caused by
ignorance. This yearning may be of different grades. It may be
only dull or medium, but it may be highly developed by means
of the six qualifications mentioned above, and in this case it
can bear fruit. But if renunciation and yearning are weak, the
result may be mere appearance like a mirage in the desert.
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Of all the means leading to liberation, bhakti [?]or devotion
is the best; and this bhakti [?]means seeking the truth of one's
own Self -- so say the sages.
The aspirant who possesses the necessary qualifications
and wishes to undertake Self-enquiry must seek a Sadguru
and bow down to him with humility, awe, and reverence and
serve him in various ways. The Sadguru is one capable of
destroying the bondage of those who adhere to him. He is an
ocean of immutable wisdom. His knowledge is all-
comprehensive. He is pure as crystal. He has attained victory
over desires. He is supreme among the knowers of Brahman.
He rests calmly in Brahman [?]like a fire that has consumed its
fuel. He is an endless reservoir of mercy. There is no
explanation why he is merciful; it is his very nature. He
befriends all sadhus who adhere to him. To such a Guru the
disciple appeals: "I bow down to you, my Master, true friend
of the helpless! I pray you to help me cross the terrible ocean
of bondage into which I have fallen and by which I am
overwhelmed. A mere gracious look from you is a raft that
will save me. Oh flowing stream of grace! I am shaken
violently by the winds of a perverse fate. I do not know which
way to turn. I am tormented by the unquenchable fire of
samsara that burns around me. I continually pray to you to
calm me by the nectar of your grace. Sadhus such as you who
abide ever in peace, are great and magnanimous and constantly
benefit the world, like the season of spring. Not only have
they themselves crossed the ocean of samsara, but they can
calm the fears of others. Just as the world after being heated
by the burning rays of the sun is calmed by the cool and
gracious rays of the moon, so also it is in your nature to give
protection for no reason whatever to people like me who have
taken refuge with you from the ocean of samsara. Indeed,
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being helpless and having no other refuge, I have cast on you
the burden of protecting me from this samsara of birth and
death. Oh Lord! The flames of the conflagration of individual
being have scorched me; cool me through the outpouring of
your gracious words. Your words bring peace, being born of
your experience of divine bliss. Blessed are they that have
even received your gracious glance. Blessed are they who
have become acceptable to you. How shall I cross the ocean
and what means is there? I do not indeed know what is my
fate. You alone must protect me, setting me free from this
sorrow of samsara."
The disciple thus takes refuge with the Guru, as enjoined
by the scriptures. He waits upon the Guru, unable to bear the
burning winds of samsara. His mind grows calm through
following the Guru's bidding. The teacher, that is, the knower
of Brahman, casts upon him his gracious glance and touches
his soul inwardly, giving him assurance of protection: "My
learned disciple, have no fear. No harm shall come to you
hereafter. I will give you a single mighty means by which
you can cross this terrible, fathomless ocean of samsara and
thus obtain supreme Bliss. By this means, world renouncing
sadhus have crossed it and your bondage also shall be
destroyed here and now. The scriptures declare: `The means
of liberation for seekers are faith, devotion, meditation, and
yoga.' You too shall obtain these means, and if you practise
them constantly shall be set free from the bondage to the body
caused by ignorance. You are eternally of the nature of
Paramatma and this bondage of samsara, of non-Self, has
come upon you only through ignorance. It will be utterly
destroyed by knowledge born of enquiry into the Self."
Gazing on the Guru who says this, the disciple asks: "Oh
Master, what is bondage? How did it come, how does it survive,
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and how is it to be destroyed? What is the non-Self? And what,
indeed, is the Self? And what is discrimination between Self
and non-Self? Graciously bless me with answers to these
questions, so that by hearing your replies I may be blessed."
To this request of the disciple the Master answers: "Dear
soul! If you have felt the desire to be the Self, free from the
bondage caused by ignorance, you are indeed blessed. You
have achieved life's purpose. You have sanctified thereby your
whole line. Just as sons and other relations pay off the debts
of a father, so there are others who will free one from bearing
a burden on one's head. But the distress caused by hunger can
be cured only by eating for oneself, not by others eating for
one. And if you are sick you must take medicine and keep a
proper diet yourself; no one else can do it for you. Similarly,
bondage comes to you through your own ignorance and can
only be removed by yourself. However learned a man may
be, he cannot rid himself of the ignorance born of desire and
fate, except by realizing Brahman [?]with his own infinite
knowledge. How does it help you if others see the moon? You
must open your eyes and see it for yourself. Liberation cannot
be obtained through sankhya, yoga, ritual, or learning but only
through knowledge of the oneness of Brahman [?]and atman.
Just as the beautiful form of the veena [?]and the music of its
strings only give pleasure to people, but confer no kingdom
on them, so also plausible words, clever arguments, ability to
expound the scriptures, and the erudition of the learned only
give pleasure for the moment. Even study of the scriptures is
useless since it does not give the desired result. Once one
knows the truth of the Supreme, study of the scriptures
becomes unnecessary because there is nothing more to be
gained. Therefore one must pass over the great forest of the
sastras, which only yields confusion of mind, and must instead
actually experience the Self through the Guru, who is a knower
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of Reality. To one who is bitten by the serpent of ignorance,
salvation can come only from the elixir of Self-knowledge
and not from the Vedas, scriptures, incantations, or any other
remedies. Just as a person's sickness is not removed without
taking medicine, so too his state of bondage is not removed
by scriptural texts such as `I am Brahman [?]' without his own
direct experience of the Self. One does not become a king by
merely saying, `I am a king', without destroying one's enemies
and obtaining the reality of power. Similarly, one does not
obtain liberation as Brahman [?]itself by merely repeating the
scriptural text `I am Brahman [?]', without destroying the duality
caused by ignorance and directly experiencing the Self. A
treasure trove hidden under the ground is not obtained by
merely hearing about it, but only by being told by a friend
who knows it, and then digging and removing the slab that
hides it and taking it out from below the ground. Similarly,
one must hear about one's true state from a Guru who knows
Brahman, and then meditate upon it and experience it directly
through constant meditation. Without this, the true form of
one's own Self, that is hidden by maya, cannot be realized
through mere argumentation. Therefore, those who are wise
themselves make every effort to remove the bondage of
individual existence and obtain liberation, just as they would
to get rid of some disease.
"Beloved disciple, the question that you have put is of the
utmost importance and acceptable to realized souls well versed
in the scriptures. It is like an aphorism bearing a subtle
meaning and understandable to him who craves liberation.
Listen to this reply with a calm and undisturbed mind and
your bonds will be cut asunder at once. The primary means
of obtaining liberation is vairagya [?](dispassion). Other qualities
such as tranquillity, self-control, forbearance, and renunciation
of activity can come later, later again the hearing of Vedantic
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truth, and still later, meditation on that truth. Finally comes
perpetual and prolonged meditation on Brahman. This gives
rise to nirvikalpa samadhi, through which is attained the
strength for direct realization of the supreme Self. This power
of direct realization enables the discriminating soul to
experience the bliss of liberation here and now. Such is the
sadhana [?]leading to liberation.
"Now I shall tell you about discrimination between Self
and non-Self. Listen and keep it firmly in mind. Of these two
I shall speak first about the non-Self.
"The brain, bones, fat, flesh, blood, skin, and semen are
the seven factors that constitute the gross body. So say those
who know. The feet, thighs, chest, shoulders, back, head, etc.,
are its members. People regard it as `I' owing to the mind's
attachment to it. It is the primary attraction to all, and the
most obvious. It is made up of ether, air, fire, water, and earth
which, as the subtle essences, form sense objects, and the
groups of five such as sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell.
The ego (jiva [?]) being intent on pleasure, regards these as means
of enjoyment. Foolish and ignorant persons are bound to sense
objects by the rope of desire, attracted according to the power
of their karma which leads them up and down and causes
them to wander in distress. The serpent and deer die through
attachment to sound, the elephant through attachment to touch,
the fish through attachment to taste, and the bee through
attachment to smell. If these die through attachment to a single
sense, what must be the fate of man, who is attached to all
five? The evil effects of sense objects are more harmful than
the poison of the cobra,1 because poison only kills him who
takes it, whereas sense objects bring destruction to him who
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sees them or even thinks of them. He alone obtains liberation
who, with the sharp sword of detachment, cuts the strong rope
of love for sense objects and so frees himself from them.
Otherwise, even though a man be well versed in all the six
sastras [?], he will not obtain liberation. Desire, like a crocodile,
instantly seizes the aspirant after liberation who tries to cross
the ocean of samsara and reach the shore of liberation without
firm detachment, and straightaway drags him down into the
ocean. Only that aspirant who kills the crocodile with the
keen sword of detachment can cross the ocean and safely reach
the shore of liberation. He who, lacking good sense, enters
upon one path after another of attachment to sense objects,
experiences ever greater distress until he is finally destroyed.
But he who exerts control over himself, walks on the path of
discrimination laid down by the Guru and attains his goal.
This indeed is the truth. Therefore, if you really want liberation
cast away the pleasure of sense objects as though they were
poison. Hold firmly to the virtues of contentment, compassion,
forgiveness, sincerity, tranquillity, and self-control. Give up
all actions performed out of attachment to the body, and strive
ceaselessly for liberation from the bondage caused by
ignorance. This body is finally consumed, whether by earth,
fire, beasts, or birds. He who, forgetting his real nature,
mistakes this body for the Self, gets attached to it and cherishes
it and by so doing becomes the murderer of the Self. He who
still cares for the body while seeking the Self, is like one who
catches hold of a crocodile to cross a river. Infatuation with
the body is indeed fatal to the aspirant after liberation. Only
he who overcomes this infatuation attains liberation.
Therefore, you too must overcome infatuation for the body
and for wife and children. Then you will attain liberation,
i.e., the supreme state of Vishnu which the great sages have
attained. This gross body is very much to be deprecated,
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consisting as it does of skin, flesh, blood, arteries and veins,
fat, marrow and bones, and is full of urine and excreta. It is
produced by one's own past actions out of the gross elements.
The subtle elements unite together to produce these gross
elements. Thus it becomes a habitation for the enjoyment of
pleasures by the ego, like his home for a householder. It is in
the waking state that the ego experiences the gross body. It is
in this state alone that it can be experienced, when the Self,
though really separate from it, is deluded into identifying itself
with it and, through the external organs, enjoys the various
wonderful gross objects of pleasure such as garlands, sandal
paste, woman, etc. Know that the whole of outward samsara
comes upon the spirit (Purusha) through the medium of the
gross body. Birth, growth, old age, decay, and death are its
characteristics. Childhood, boyhood, youth, and old age are
its stages. Castes and orders of life are ordained for it. It is
also subject to different modes of treatment, to honour and
dishonour, and is the abode of various diseases.
"The ears, skin, eyes, nose, and tongue are organs of
knowledge because they enable us to cognize objects. The
vocal organs, hands, feet, etc., are organs of action because
they perform their respective modes of action. The internal
organ (mind) is single in itself but is variously named mind,
intellect, ego, or desire (Chitta). Mind is the faculty of desire
or repulsion. Intellect is the faculty of determining the truth
of things. The ego is the faculty which identifies itself with
the body as self. Desire (Chitta) is the faculty that seeks for
pleasure. Just as gold and silver are shaped into various forms,
so the single life breath becomes prana, apana, vyana, udana,
samana. The group of five elements (ether, fire, water, air,
earth), the group of five organs of knowledge (ears, eyes, skin,
nose, tongue), the group of five organs of action (vocal organs,
hands, feet, anus, genitals), the group of five vital airs (prana,
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apana, vyana, udana, samana), the group of four internal
organs (chitta, manas, buddhi, ahankara), all these together
compose the subtle body called the city of eight constituents.
Being possessed of desires, it is produced out of the elements
prior to their subdivision and mutual combination. The soul
has brought this beginningless superimposition upon itself
by its actions. This state of experience is the dream state. In
this state the mind functions of its own accord, experiencing
itself as the actor, due to its various tendencies and to the
effect of experiences of the waking state. In this state the Self,
shining with its own light, is superimposed upon the mind
without being attached to its actions and remains a mere
witness. Just as the axe and other tools of the carpenter are
only the means for his activities, so this subtle body is only
the means for the activities of the Self which is ever aware.
The internal organs perform all their actions owing to the
mere proximity of the Self, whereas the Self remains
unaffected and untouched by these actions. Good or bad
eyesight is due to the state of the eyes, deafness to the ears,
and so on; they do not affect the Self, the knower. Those who
know say that inhalation, exhalation, yawning, sneezing, etc.,
are functions of the life-breath, as also are hunger and thirst.
The inner organ (mind), with the light of reflected
consciousness, has its seat in the outer organs, such as the
eye, and identifies itself with them. This inner organ is the
ego. The ego is the actor and enjoyer, identifying itself with
the body as `I'. Under the influence of the three gunas [?]it
assumes the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep.
When sense objects are to its liking it becomes happy, when
not, unhappy. Thus, pleasure and pain pertain to the ego and
are not characteristics of the ever-blissful Self. Objects appear
to be pleasant because of the Self and not because of any
inherent bliss that is in them. The Self has no grief in it. Its
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bliss, which is independent of objects, is experienced by
everyone in the state of deep sleep and therefore it is dear to
everyone. This is borne out by the authority of the Upanishads [?]
and by direct perception, tradition, and inference.
"The Supreme (Brahman [?]) has a wonderful shakti (power or
energy) known as `the undifferentiated', `ignorance', `maya',
etc. She is of the form of the three gunas. Her existence is
inferred by those of understanding from the effects produced
by her. She is far superior to all objectivity and creates the
entire universe. She is neither being nor non-being, neither does
she partake of the nature of both. She is neither composed of
parts nor indivisible nor both. She is neither form nor formless
nor both. She is none of these. Such as she is, she is
indescribable. She is also beginningless. Yet just as the deluded
fear of a snake in a piece of rope is removed by recognizing the
rope as such, so too maya [?]may be destroyed by integral
knowledge of Brahman. She has her three gunas [?]which are to
be known from their effects. Rajas [?], whose colour is red, is of
the nature of activity and is the power of projection. It is the
original cause of all activity. From it arise the mental
modifications that lead to desires and sorrows. Lust, anger,
grasping, pride, hatred, egotism are all tendencies characteristic
of rajas. This projecting power is the cause of bondage because
it creates outward or worldly tendencies. Tamas, whose colour
is black, is the veiling power. It makes things appear other than
what they are. Through its alliance with the power of projection,
it is the original cause of man's constant rebirth. He who is
enveloped by this veiling power, wise or learned though he
may be, clever, expert in the meaning of the scriptures, capable
of wonderful achievements, will not be able to grasp the truth
of the Self, even though the Guru and others clearly explain it
in various ways. Being under the sway of that veiling power,
he esteems things which bear the imprint of delusion and
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ignorance and achieves them. Even though he is taught, he who
is enveloped by this veiling power still lacks the clear knowledge
and understanding without which it cannot be removed; he
always remains in doubt and comes to decisions contrary to the
truth. At the same time, the power of projection makes him
restless. Ignorance, indolence, inertia, sleepiness, omission of
the discharge of duties, and stupidity are the characteristics of
tamas. One who has these qualities does not comprehend
anything but is like a sleeping man or a stone. Now, coming to
sattva, whose colour is white: although this is quite clear like
pure water, yet it gets murky if mixed with rajas [?]and tamas.
The Self shines through sattva [?]just as the sun illumines the
entire world of matter. Even from mixed sattva [?]virtuous qualities
result, such as modesty, yama [?]and niyama, faith, devotion and
the desire for devotion, divine qualities and turning away from
the unreal. From the clarity of pure sattva [?]results
Self-realization, supreme peace, never failing contentment,
perfect happiness, abiding in the Self which is the fount of
eternal bliss. The undifferentiated power which is spoken of as
a compound of the three gunas [?]is the causal body of the soul.
Its state is that of deep sleep in which all the sense organs and
functions of the mind are at rest. In this state all perceptions
cease and the mind in its subtle seed-like form experiences
supreme bliss. This is borne out by the universal experience, `I
slept soundly and knew nothing.'
"The above is a description of the non-Self. These things
do not pertain to the Self: the body, the sense organs, the
mind, the ego and its modes, happiness due to sense objects,
the elements from ether downwards, and the whole world up
to the undifferentiated maya. All this is non-Self. From mahat [?]
(cosmic intelligence) down to the gross body, everything is
the effect of maya [?]. Know these to be the non-Self. These are
all unreal like a mirage in the desert.
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"Now I am going to tell you about the real nature of the
supreme Self, by realizing which, man attains liberation and
is freed from bondage. That realization of `I' is indeed the
Self which is experienced as `I-I' shining of its own accord,
the absolute Being, the witness of the three states of waking,
dream, and deep sleep, distinct from the five sheaths, aware
of the mental modes in the waking and dream states, and of
their absence in the state of deep sleep. That Self sees all of
its own accord but is never seen by any of these. It gives light
to the intellect and ego but is not enlightened by them. It
pervades the universe and by its light all this insentient universe
is illumined, but the universe does not pervade it even to the
slightest extent. In its presence the body, senses, mind and
intellect enter upon their functions as if commanded by it. By
that unbroken knowledge, all things from the ego to the body,
objects and our experience of them, occur and are perceived.
By it life and the various organs are set in motion. That inner
Self, as the primeval spirit, eternal, ever effulgent, full and
infinite Bliss, single, indivisible, whole and living, shines in
everyone as the witnessing awareness. That Self in its
splendour, shining in the cavity of the Heart as the subtle,
pervasive yet unmanifest ether, illumines this universe like
the sun. It is aware of the modifications of the mind and ego,
of the actions of the body, sense organs and life-breath. It
takes their form as fire does that of a heated ball of iron; yet it
undergoes no change in doing so. This Self is neither born
nor dies, it neither grows nor decays, nor does it suffer any
change. When a pot is broken the space inside it is not, and
similarly, when the body dies, the Self in it remains eternal. It
is distinct from the causal maya [?]and its effects. It is pure
knowledge. It illumines Being and non-being alike and is
without attributes. It is the witness of the intellect in the
waking, dream, and deep sleep states. It shines as `I-I', as
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ever-present, direct experience. Know that supreme Self by
means of a one-pointed mind and know `This `I' is Brahman'.
Thus through the intellect you may know the Self in yourself,
by yourself, and by this means cross the ocean of birth and
death and become one who has achieved his life purpose and
ever remain as the Self.
"Mistaking the body or not-I for the Self or I, is the cause
of all misery, that is, of all bondage. This bondage comes
through ignorance of the cause of birth and death, for it is
through ignorance that men regard these insentient bodies as
real, mistaking them for the Self and sustaining them with
sense objects and finally getting destroyed by them, just as
the silkworm protects itself by the threads that it emits, but is
finally destroyed by them. For those who mistake the rope
for a serpent, the integral pure effulgence of the pristine state
is veiled by tamas [?], just as the dragon's head covers the sun in
an eclipse, and as a result, the spirit (Purusha [?]) forgets his
reality. He is devoured by the dragon of delusion and,
mistaking the non-Self for the Self, is overpowered by mental
states and submerged in the fathomless ocean of samsara full
of the poison of sense enjoyments, and, now sinking, now
rising, he finds no way of escape. Such are the torments caused
by the projecting power of rajas [?] together with the veiling of
tamas [?]. Just as the layers of clouds caused by the rays of the
sun increase until they hide the sun itself, so the bondage of
ego caused by ignorance in the Self expands until it hides that
very Self. Just as frost and cold winds torment one on a wintry
day when the sun is hidden by clouds, so too when tamas [?]
covers the Self, the projecting power of rajas [?] deludes the
ignorant into mistaking the non-Self for the Self and torments
them with many sorrows. So it is by these two powers alone
that the Self has been brought into bondage. Of this tree of
samsara, tamas [?] is the seed, the `I am the body' idea is the
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shoot, desire is the young leaf, activity the water that makes it
grow, the body the trunk, a man's successive lives the branches,
the sense organs the twigs, sense objects the flowers, and
diverse sorrows caused by activity the fruit. The ego is the
bird sitting in the tree and enjoying its fruit.
"This bondage of the non-Self, born of ignorance, causing
endless sorrow through birth, death, and old age, is without
beginning, yet its complete destruction can be brought about
in the way that I will tell you. Have faith in the Vedas and
perform all the actions prescribed by them without seeking
for any gain from doing so. This will give you purity of mind.
With this pure mind, meditate incessantly and by doing so
you will directly know the Self. This Self-knowledge is the
keen sword that cuts asunder the bonds. No other weapon or
contrivance is capable of destroying them, nor wind nor fire
nor countless actions.
"The Self is covered over by the five sheaths caused by the
power of ignorance. It is hidden from sight like the water of a
pond covered with weeds. When the weeds are removed the
water is revealed and can be used by man to quench his thirst
and cool him from the heat. In the same way, by process of
elimination, you should with keen intellect discard the
objective five sheaths from the Self as `not this, not this'.
Know the Self distinct from the body and from all forms, like
a stalk of grass in its sheaths of leaf. Know it as eternal, pure,
single in its essence, unattached, with no duties to perform,
ever blissful and self-effulgent. He who is liberated realizes
that all objective reality, which is superimposed on the Self as
the idea of a serpent is on the rope, is really no other than the
Self, and he himself is the Self. Therefore the wise aspirant
should undertake discrimination between the Self and the
non-Self. Of the five sheaths (food, life-breath, mind, intellect,
and bliss), the gross body is created out of food, increasing
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by eating it and perishing when there is none. It is the sheath
of food. Compounded of skin, blood, flesh, fat, marrow,
excreta, and urine, it is most filthy. It has no existence before
birth or after death but appears between them. It undergoes
change every moment. There is no set law governing that
change. It is an object, like a pot, is insentient and has a variety
of forms. It is acted upon by other forces. The Self, on the
other hand, is distinct from this body and is single, eternal,
and pure. It is indestructible, though the body with its limbs
is destroyed. The Self is the witness who knows the
characteristics of the body, its modes of activity and its three
states. It is self-aware and directs the body. Such being the
contrast between the body and the Self, how can the body be
the Self? The fool thinks of it as the Self. The man of wise
action with some measure of discrimination, takes body and
soul together for `I', but the really wise man who conducts
the enquiry with firm discrimination knows himself always
as the Supreme Brahman, the Being which is of its own nature.
The `I am the body' idea is the seed of all sorrow. Therefore,
just as you do not identify yourself with your shadow body,
image body, dream body, or the body that you have in your
imagination, cease also to associate the Self in any way with
the body of skin, flesh, and bones. Make every effort to root
out this error and holding fast to the knowledge of reality as
the absolute Brahman, destroy the mind and obtain supreme
peace. Then you will have no more births. Even a learned
scholar who perfectly understands the meaning of Vedanta [?]
has no hope of liberation if, owing to delusion, he cannot
give up the idea of the nonexistent body as the Self.
"Now we come to the vital body of prana, which is the
life-breath with the five organs of action. The aforementioned
sheath of food enters upon its course of activity when filled
by this vital force. It is nothing but a modification of air, and
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like air it enters into the body and comes out of it. It does not
know its own desires and antipathies or those of others. It is
eternally dependent on the Self. Therefore the vital body
cannot be the Self.
"The mental sheath is the mind with its organs of
knowledge. This is the cause of the wrong concept of the Self
as `I' and `mine'. It is very powerful, being endowed with
diversity of thought-forms, beginning with the `I-thought'. It
fills and pervades the vital sheath. The ever-blazing fire of
the mental sheath is consuming this whole world, lit by the
five sense organs as sacrificial priests, fed by sense objects as
the fuel, and kept ablaze by the latent tendencies. There is no
ignorance apart from the mind. It is the cause of the bondage
of birth and death. With the emergence of the mind everything
arises, and with its subsidence everything ceases. In the dream
state, in which there are no objects, the mind creates its dream
world of enjoyers and others, by its own powers. Similarly,
all that it perceives in the waking state is its own display. It is
the experience of all that nothing appears when the mind
subsides in deep sleep. Therefore the bondage of samsara is
only superimposed on the Self by the mind. Actually it has no
reality. Just as the wind gathers the clouds in the sky and then
disperses them, so the mind causes the bondage but also causes
liberation. The mind first creates in man an attachment to the
body and to all sense objects, with the result that he is bound
by his attachment like a beast tethered by a rope. Under the
influence of rajas [?] and tamas [?] it is enfeebled and entangles
man in desire for the body and objects, but under the influence
of sattva [?] it breaks away from rajas [?] and tamas [?] and attains to
non-attachment and discrimination and rejects sense objects
as though they were poison. Therefore the wise seeker after
liberation must first establish himself in discrimination and
desirelessness. The mind is a great tiger roaming wild in the
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huge jungle of sense objects. Therefore aspirants should keep
away from it. It is only the mind that conjures up before the
Self subtle and gross objects and all the variations of body,
caste, and station in life, qualities and action, causes and
effects. So doing, it tempts and deludes the Self, which is
really unattached pure intelligence, binding it by the qualities
of body, senses, and life and deluding it with the idea of `I'
and `mine' in the fruits of action that it creates. By means of
this false representation, the mind creates the myth of samsara
(bondage) for the spirit. This is the primal cause of the sorrow
of birth and death which binds those who are subject to the
faults of rajas [?] and tamas [?] and lack discrimination. Just as cloud
masses revolve through the air, so does the whole world
revolve through the delusion of the mind. Therefore, those
who know reality declare that the mind is ignorance. He who
seeks liberation must examine his mind by his own efforts
and once the mind is purified by such introspection liberation
is obtained and appears obvious and natural. Out of desire for
liberation you should root out all other desires, renounce
activity and take to perpetual preoccupation with Truth
(sravana, manana) which will lead on to perpetual meditation
(nididhyasana). Then alone can the waves of the mind be
stilled. Therefore even this mind sheath cannot be the real
Self, since it has a beginning and an end, and is subject to
modifications and characterized by pain and grief, and is an
object of perception.
"The intellect with the five organs of knowledge is the
vijnana maya sheath and is also the cause of bondage for the
spirit. It is a modification of the unmanifest, beginningless
Self which has assumed the form of the ego and conducts all
activities through the reflected light of consciousness. It is
the conscious agent of activity and its attributes are intelligence
and actions. It regards the body and senses as `I' and their
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mode of life, duties, actions, and qualities as `mine'. It
performs good or evil actions as dictated by its previous
tendencies, and as a result of these actions attains to higher or
lower regions and wanders there until it is attracted to rebirth
in some enticing womb. It experiences the states of waking,
dream, and deep sleep and the pleasant and painful fruits of
its actions. Within this sheath of knowledge, the Self throbs
as the self-effulgent light, the supreme soul, homogeneous,
the Truth, all pervasive, complete, immutable, the supreme
Lord. Yet the Self assumes limitations through the false
superimposition of the intellect on it in this sheath, because
this is close to it, and in fact the closest of its adjuncts. As a
result it is deluded into thinking that it is this sheath. Just as a
pot might seem to be different from its clay, so it imagines
itself to be different from itself, to be the agent and the enjoyer,
and seems to be limited in such ways, although it is like the
fire in a ball of hot iron, unaffected by the shape of the ball."
In answer to the Guru, the disciple says: "Master, I accept
your statement that, whether through delusion or not, the
Supreme Self has come to regard itself as the ego. But since
this superimposition of the ego-concept is beginningless, it
cannot be supposed to have an end either. How, then, can
there be liberation? But if there is no liberation the ego-concept
becomes eternal and bondage also becomes eternal. Pray
enlighten me on this point."
To this the Master replies: "That is a good question, my
learned disciple. Now listen with one-pointed mind to my
explanation. Whatever has been conjured up by delusion must
be examined in the pure light of reason. Things appear real as
long as the delusion lasts and perish as unreal and nonexistent
as soon as it passes, just like illusion of a serpent seen in a
piece of rope and appearing real as long as the illusion lasts.
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Really the Self is unattached, actionless, characterless,
immutable, formless, Being-Consciousness-Bliss, the inner
witness. It has no sort of relationship with anything. To think
that it has is a mere delusion like the appearance of blue in
the sky. The false attitude of the ego to the Self is due to the
relationship with the beginningless false vehicle, but even this
sense of relationship is the result of delusion. Although this
attitude of the ego to the Self is without a beginning, that
does not make it real. Just as water becomes clear as soon as
the dirt is removed from it, so is it with the Self when the
effects of the ego and its false adjuncts are dropped from it
and ignorance disappears through discrimination between Self
and non-Self. Then appears the true self-effulgent knowledge
of the oneness of God and Self.
"The discarding of the beginningless ignorance with its
cause and effects and bodies and states, is like the ending of
the beginningless nonexistence, or the ending of a dream when
the waking state supervenes. Liberation from the bondage of
the false ego concept can never come about except through
knowledge acquired by discrimination between the Self and
the non-Self. Therefore you also must discriminate in order
to remove the nonexistent ego. Even this intellectual sheath is
subject to change, insentient, a part of a whole, and an object
of perception and therefore it cannot be the Atman. Can the
non-eternal ever become eternal?
"Coming now to the sheath of Bliss: this is only a
modification of ignorance on which the Supreme Self is
reflected. It reveals itself at will in all three states, waking,
dreaming, and deep sleep, and yields the different modes of
bliss from perceiving, obtaining, and experiencing things. It
is experienced effortlessly by all to some extent in deep sleep,
but sadhus who have practised discrimination, experience the
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bliss of it perpetually without effort and its fullness in the
deep sleep state. However, even this sheath of bliss cannot be
the supreme Self, since it is subject to change and possesses
attributes. It is the effect of past good deeds and a modification
of prakriti [?] and it abides in the other sheaths which are
themselves also modifications. If, by the rejection of false
ideas, all five sheaths are eliminated, the Self alone is
experienced as `I-I'. It alone remains, whole and Self-aware,
distinct from the five sheaths, the witness of the three states,
self-effulgent, immutable, untainted, everlasting Bliss. It is
like Devadatta2 who neither is the pot nor partakes of its nature
but is only the witness. The Self is not the five sheaths, which
are objects, nor does it partake of their nature, but is a mere
witness of them."
To this the disciple replies: "Oh Master, after rejecting the
five sheaths as unreal, I find nothing remaining except the void,
so what is there to be known as `I-I', as the truth of the Self?"
The Guru replies: "Oh learned one, you are skilful in
discrimination and have spoken the truth. The rule of enquiry
or perception is: `That which is perceived by something else
has the latter for its witness. When there is no agent of
perception there can be no question of the thing having been
perceived at all.' Accordingly, the Self, as awareness, cognizes
not only itself but also the existence of the ego with its various
modifications of the transient names and forms and their
nescience. Therefore it is the Self which is their witness.
Beyond it there is nothing to know. It is aware of itself through
its own effulgence and so is its own witness. It is single and
immutable in the waking, dream, and deep sleep states. It
makes itself known as Being-Consciousness-Bliss and is
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self-effulgent in the Heart as `I-I'. Through your keen intellect,
know this eternal blissful awareness to be the Self or `I'. The
fool takes the reflection of the sun in the water of a pot to be
the sun; the wise man eliminates pot, water, and reflection
and knows the sun in the sky as it really is, single and
unaffected, but illuminating all three. In the same way the
fool, through error and misperception, identifies himself with
the ego and its reflected light experienced through the medium
of the intellect. The wise and discriminating man eliminates
body, intellect, and reflected light of consciousness, and probes
deeply into his real Self which illuminates all three, while
remaining uniform in the ether of the Heart. Thereby he
realizes the eternal witness which is absolute knowledge,
illuminating all. It is subtle and all-pervasive, neither being
nor non-being, with neither inside nor outside, and is
self-effulgent. Realizing this, he is set free from the impurities
of the ego. He has no more birth or death. He is free from
sorrow and becomes the immutable essence of established
Bliss. The jnani [?]who, through experience, has realized his
Self to be the Brahman [?]as it really is, as Truth, Knowledge,
endless Bliss, the single essence, eternal, boundless, pure,
unattached, and indivisible, not only does not return to bondage
but is that Brahman [?]itself, the advaita. That is to say that
knowledge of the identity of Brahman [?]and Self is the prime
cause of release from bondage. For him who aspires after
liberation there is no other way of release from bondage but
knowledge of the identity of Brahman [?]and Self. Therefore
you too, by your own experience, know your Self as always
`I am Brahman [?]', `Brahman [?]am I', `Brahman [?]alone am I'.
"Since there is nothing other than Brahman, it is the
supreme advaita. The pot which is made of clay, has no other
form than that of the clay. No one can show the pot except by
means of the clay. The pot is only a delusion of the imagination
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and exists only in name, since it has no other reality than that
of the clay. Similarly the whole universe is a superimposition
(of form) on the Brahman [?] although it seems to be separate
from it. The substratum of Brahman [?]appears through the
delusion of the superimposition. The latter is really
nonexistent, like the serpent seen in the rope. The manifest is
only an illusion. The silver seen in the substratum of the
mother-of-pearl has no existence apart from it but is the
mother-of-pearl itself. Similarly, manifestation has no
existence apart from its substratum of Brahman. Whatever,
oh sadhu [?], appears to the deluded as the manifested world of
names and forms, on account of their ignorance and wrong
knowledge, whatever objectivity appears as real, all this, when
truly realized as it is, is the effect of Brahman, and is
superimposed on the substratum of Brahman. Only owing to
delusion it appears to be real and it is Brahman, its substratum,
which appears to be superimposed on it. Really all these names
and forms are nothing at all. They are a myth pure and simple
and have no existence apart from their substratum of Brahman.
They are nothing but the Being-Consciousness-Bliss which
neither rises nor sets. If it were contended that the manifested
world has any existence apart from Brahman, that would
impair the infinity of Brahman. It would also contradict the
authority of the Atharva Veda which declares in unequivocal
terms `All this world is indeed Brahman'. It would also make
out the omniscient Lord as having uttered a falsehood when
He said: `All these elements are not in Me. I, the Indivisible
Whole, am not in them'. The mahatmas, who are true sadhus,
would not countenance these contradictions. Furthermore, the
outer world does not exist in the state of deep sleep, and, if
investigated, it is seen to be unreal, like the dream world.
Therefore any such statement made by fools as that the
manifested world has its own existence apart from its
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substratum of Brahman, is as false as the idle words of a man
talking in his sleep. It is Brahman [?]itself which shines
everywhere, uniform and complete. This truth the enlightened
(jnanis) know as the One without a second, formless, inactive,
unmanifest, never to be destroyed, having no beginning or
end. It is Truth, absolute purity, the essence of pure Bliss. It
contains none of the internal differences which are the creation
of maya. It is eternal, continuous, immaculately pure, spotless,
nameless, undifferentiated, self-effulgent, beyond the triads
of knower-knowledge-known, absolute, pure, unbroken
Consciousness, ever-shining.
"My beloved disciple, this Self can neither be held nor
given up. It is beyond perception and utterance. It is
immeasurable without beginning or end. This infinity of
Brahman [?] is my Self and yours and that of other individuals.
Great texts such as `That thou art' reveal the identity between
the Brahman [?] known as `That' and the individual known as
`thou'. The identity is not shown by the literal meaning of
`that' and `thou'. The literal meaning of `that' is Ishvara's
maya which is the cause of the universe, and the literal meaning
of `thou' is the five sheaths of the ego. These are nonexistent
superimpositions, the cause and effect of nonexistent
phantoms. Their qualities are opposite to each other, like the
sun and the glowworm, the king and the slave, the ocean and
the well, Mount Meru and the atom. There can be no identity
between Brahman [?] and the individual in the literal sense of
`that' and `thou', and it is not in this way that the scriptures
postulate the identity.
[The science of the secondary meaning of words is called
lakshana and is of three kinds. The first is called
jahat-ajahat-lakshana. In the first, the primary sense of a term
is rejected and the secondary retained; in the second, the
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primary sense is retained and the secondary rejected; in the
third, the primary sense is only partly rejected and partly
retained.]3 Of these three, we can omit the first two as being
of no use for our purpose and take the third. According to
this, in a text such as `He is that Devadatta' we eliminate the
contradictory aspects of Devadatta manifested at different
places and times, and concentrate on the identity of Devadatta
himself irrespective of place and time. Similarly, in the text
in question, we eliminate the nonexistent, objective,
contradictory attributes of `that' and `thou' as `not this, not
this' (am I). You can do this on the authority of the Vedas
which reject the duality superimposed on Brahman, and also
by your own intelligence. If attributes such as a shield for a
royal person and a badge of ownership for a slave are removed,
both alike belong to the genus man. Similarly the text (about
`that' and `thou') declares the natural identity between Ishvara [?]
and the individual in their residuary aspect of Consciousness
apart from the forms of Ishvara [?]and individual. There is no
contradiction in this, since Consciousness is the unbroken,
single essence of both. Through the touch of the mahatmas,
know this blessed identity of Brahman [?] and Self by rejecting
as `not I' the nonexistent body. Know by your own clear
intellect that Brahman [?] is your Self, self-existent, subtle as
the ether, ever radiant, true, awareness, bliss, indivisible
and whole.
"Truly `thou art That', the Self that is non-dual Brahman,
pure and exquisitely serene, the Truth apart from which
nothing is. This is so because, even in this waking state, the
world and the body with its sense and the ego which, owing
to ignorance, seems to be separate from the Self, and the life
breath are pure myth. `Thou art That' because in the dream
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state, time, space and objects and the knower of them are all
created by sleep and are purely illusory. `Thou art That'
because this whole world emanates from Brahman, which
alone IS, and is Brahman [?] itself, just as pots come from clay
and are clay itself and indeed are made of clay. That Brahman [?]
is untouched by the sixfold changes of birth, youth, growth,
old age, decay, and death. It has no caste or custom, tribe or
family, name or form. It is without attributes. It has neither
merit nor demerit, neither mental nor physical afflictions. It
is free from the six evils of hunger, thirst, sorrow, delusion,
old age and death. It has no time, space or objectivity. It cannot
be described by words. The gross mind cannot reach it. It can
be comprehended only by the eye of wisdom and experienced
in the Heart of the yogi, in his very being, not by the use of
any organ. It is the substratum of the illusory world that seems
to be superimposed on it. It is the cause of the emanation,
preservation, and reabsorption of the world. It is the supreme
cause, which itself has no cause; all the worlds of name and
form are its effects, and yet it is distinct from cause and effect.
It is distinct from being and non-being. Although, owing to
delusion, it appears like gold in its varying aspects of name
and form and its modifications, yet it has no name or form,
no attributes or modifications. It contains no disequilibrium.
It is still, like a waveless ocean. It is eternal, formless, spotless,
incomparable, ever free, indestructible, pure, without
beginning. It is that beyond which there is nothing. It is
complete, not compounded of elements or of parts. It is
Being-Consciousness-Bliss, uniform, indivisible Bliss. It is
single in essence. That Brahman [?] which is all this, `That thou
art'. Meditate on the truth of this in your Heart continuously,
without break, calmly, with reason and keen intellect. Thus
you will obtain essential knowledge free from doubt, as clear
as water in the palm of the hand. Knowledge in the body with
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its faculties is like a king in the midst of his vast army, and
that knowledge is the Self and is Brahman. Know this by
discrimination. Regard all other separate things as This Itself
and remain ever as this Self. Thus remaining, you will attain
Bliss and peace of Being.
"In the cavity of the intellect is the single truth of Brahman,
distinct from being and non-being. He who remains eternally
as that Truth itself is never drawn back again to birth in
the body.
"Although a man knows this to be true, the feeling of `I am
the doer', `I am the enjoyer' arises strongly in him owing to
the bondage (samsara) caused by the mighty, beginningless
vasanas [?](innate tendencies) which often obstruct him. Curb
these tendencies the moment they arise, by your own efforts,
by abiding firmly in the Self, by a vision of the Self. Sages
such as Vasishta have declared that the withering of the vasanas [?]
is indeed liberation. Realization of the Self as it is does not
come through tendencies to worldly or sense activity or
through prolonged study of the scriptures. To those who seek
deliverance from the prison or ocean of samsara, the above
threefold tendencies are iron fetters, say those who are
realized. Therefore attachment to the world, the scriptures,
and the body must be given up and it must be fully realized
that the body is sustained by the force of prarabdha (past
karma [?]). You should, therefore, courageously renounce these
attachments and strive energetically to overcome tamas [?]by
the power of sattva [?]and rajas, then rajas [?]through mixed sattva,
then mixed sattva [?]through pure sattva. You should do this
with a firm and calm mind, helped by the great texts such as
`That thou art' which proclaim the identity between the
individual self and Brahman. Seek by reasoning and
experience to get rid of the vasanas, so that you may have
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firm faith in Brahman [?] and completely root out from the body
and senses, the feeling of `I' and `mine' which constantly
appears as a result of the superimposition. This is to be done
by firm abidance in the one indivisible Self in the Heart and
by meditating on the unceasing experience of knowledge of
the unity of Brahman [?]and Self thus: `I am not the ego. I am
the unceasing perfection of Brahman [?]experienced as I, the
witness of thought forms.' This meditation must be persisted
in until the ego sense is completely rooted out from the body
without a vestige, and the world of individuals appears like a
dream. He who meditates has no work to do except beg and
perform his natural functions. He must never forget the Self
by giving room for worldly speech and sense objects.
Sandalwood is fragrant by nature, but its fragrance is masked
by a bad smell when it comes into contact with water and is
revealed when it is rubbed. Constant practice of meditation is
this rubbing. The latent tendencies of the mind are removed,
only to the extent to which it abides in the Self. It is by such
constant abidance in the Self that the mind of the yogi is
destroyed. And by the destruction of the mind the outer
non-self tendencies of the Heart are utterly eradicated. Then
the experience of the supreme Self, which was formerly veiled
by the magic of the vasanas, shines forth of its own accord
like the fragrance of uncontaminated sandal-paste.
"In whatever way it may be examined, the ego with all its
faculties turns out to be unreal, a momentary limitation, inert,
insentient and incapable of realizing the One. The Supreme
Self is different from both gross and subtle bodies. It is the
witness of the ego with its faculties and exists always, even in
deep sleep. The texts say: `It is birthless and deathless.' It is
immutable and distinct alike from being and non-being. The
ego can never be the real Self, the true meaning of `I'. Keep
aloof from this impure body as you would from an outcast.
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Give up the sense of `I' in the gross body and all attachment
due to the mind, attachments to name and form, tribe and
family, caste and social order. Give up also the attachment to
the subtle body and its nature and sense of being the doer.
Find the feeling of `I' in the Self, which is Truth, knowledge,
and eternity. Just as the air in a pot is part of the air outside, so
conceive of the Self as that self-effulgent Brahman [?] which is
the substratum of all, in which the world is seen reflected like
a city in a mirror or like shadows cast. Think of yourself as
`That I am', without parts, without form, without activity,
without duality, unending, Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Know
the Self as it really is. Give up this false physical self just as
an actor gives up his role and remains himself. By knowledge
acquired through Self-enquiry discard both microcosm and
macrocosm as unreal and, abiding in the unbroken stillness,
remain ever at rest in the perfect Bliss as unqualified Brahman.
Thus obtain supreme peace, which is the purpose of life.
"Though various obstacles contribute to the bondage of
the soul, the primary cause of them all is the rising of the
false ego-sense. It is through the superimposition of the ego
on the Self that this bondage of birth, death and sorrow has
come upon you who are by nature Being-Consciousness-Bliss,
of boundless glory, eternal, single in essence, unchanging.
By nature you have no such bondage. Just as there can be no
sound health so long as the effect of a little poison in the body
continues, so there can be no liberation so long as identification
with the ego continues. Knowledge of the identity of the self
with Brahman [?] is clearly revealed as soon as the ego is
completely destroyed without residue, together with the
illusion of multiplicity caused by the veiling of tamas.
Therefore, by investigation into the nature of the unattached
Self, discover the Truth of your own Self, complete, perfect,
self-effulgent and ever-blissful. He who is freed from the ego
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shines eternally as the Self, like the full moon, radiant when
delivered from the dragon's head (of eclipse). In the field of
the Heart the terrible cobra of the ego is coiled round the
Bliss of the Self to which it denies access with the threefold
hood of the gunas. These three fearful heads of the serpent of
ego are to be severed, in accordance with the scriptures, only
by great courage with the mighty sword of actual experience
of the Self. He who has thus destroyed the three-hooded
serpent can obtain and enjoy the vast treasure of the Bliss of
Brahman. Therefore you, too, give up the `I-sense' in the ego,
which appears like being and assumes that it is the doer,
whereas it is only the reflected light of the Self. Turn inwards
all the thought-forms that adhere to the ego. He is an enemy
of yours, so kill him with the sword of knowledge. He has
been harming you like a thorn in your throat while eating.
Give up all desires in order to realize your state as the Supreme
Self. Enjoy the kingdom of the Self, be perfect, be still in the
stillness of the immutable state of Brahman.
"The ego may in this way be killed, but if thought is given
to it even for a moment it revives and engages in activity,
driving a man before it as the wind drives winter clouds.
Remember that he who associates the `I-sense' with the body
and its faculties is bound while he who does not is liberated.
"Thoughts of sense objects create a sense of differentiation
and thereby cause the bondage of birth and death. Therefore
no quarter should be given to the ego, who is the enemy who
has such thoughts. Just as a withered lime tree puts out new
leaves if watered, so the ego revives through thoughts of sense
objects. The increase of effects makes their seed or cause
flourish, while the decay of effects destroys their cause also;
therefore you should first destroy the effects. If thoughts,
which are the effect, flourish, the ego with its tendencies,
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which is the cause, also flourishes. From thoughts, outer
activities arise, and from these two together the tendencies
develop and create the bondage to which souls are subject. In
order to escape from this, thoughts, activity, and tendencies
must all three be abolished. The best way of doing this is to
hold firmly to the view that `All this that appears as separate
names and forms is Brahman [?] itself.' This view must be held
to at all times and places and in all states. Firm holding to this
attitude reduces activity, and this results in a decline of
thoughts, which in turn destroys the latent tendencies.
Destruction of the latent tendencies is indeed deliverance.
Therefore develop this helpful tendency to regard everything
as Brahman. The result will be that the frail tendencies of the
ego will disappear like darkness before the sun. Just as
darkness with all its dismal effects disappears before the rising
sun, so bondage with all its sorrows will pass away without a
trace when the sun of advaitic experience rises. Therefore
regard all objective manifestation as Brahman [?] and hold firm
in a state of peace (samadhi) and inner and outer beatitude
(nischala bhava [?]) as long as the bondage due to your past
destiny (karma) lasts. While doing so, always remember: `That
immovable Bliss of Brahman [?] itself am I.'
"This abidance as Brahman [?] must never be relaxed, for if it
is, a false notion of Truth will result which is indeed death, as
says Bhagavan Sri Sanatsujata, the son of Brahma. Such a
false notion of truth due to swerving from the state of abidance
in Truth introduces delusion; from delusion arises the
attribution of `I' to the ego and its objects, from this bondage,
and from bondage sorrow. Therefore there is no greater
misfortune for the enlightened than wrong understanding and
swerving from reality. Just as water plants, though removed
from a pool of water, do not stay at the side but cover it over
again, so if a man is exteriorized, even though he may be
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enlightened, if maya [?](illusion) once begins to shroud him he
will be swayed in numerous ways by the false intellect. This
is due to his lapse from watchfulness, his forgetting of his
true state, his going out towards sense objects. He is like a
man swayed and dominated by a lewd woman, of whom he is
enamoured. If, through wrong understanding and swerving
from reality, a man's consciousness slips even the least bit
from the target of his own Self, it will enter into outer things
and leap from one to another as a ball slips from your hand
and rolls down a flight of stairs. It will begin to consider outer
experiences good for it and thence will arise the desire to
enjoy them. That will lead to participation in them, which in
turn will destroy his abidance in the Self, with the result that
he will sink into depths from which he can never more arise
and will be destroyed. Therefore there is no greater danger in
Brahman-consciousness than wrong understanding, which
means swerving from one's true state. Only he who has the
eternal state of consciousness (nishta) obtains realization
(siddhi) and so renounces the manifestation (sankalpa) born
of pramada [?](wrong understanding) and of relaxation from
practice. Such wrong understanding is the cause of all spiritual
decline (anartha). Therefore be the swarupa nishta who abides
ever in the Self.
"He who has attained liberation in the state of Brahman [?]
while still alive will shine so in his bodiless state also. It says
in the Yajur Veda: `He who has even the slightest sense of
differentiation is always afraid!' He who sees any attributes
of differentiation, however small, in the absolute Brahman,
will for that reason remain in a state of terror. He who locates
the `I-sense' in the insentient body and its objects, so despised
by the various scriptures and their commentaries, will
experience sorrow after sorrow like the sinner who commits
unlawful acts. We can see from the discrimination between
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thieves and honest men that he who is devoted to truth escapes
misfortune and achieves success, while he who is devoted to
falsehood perishes.4 We also see that shutting out external
objects gives the mind a clear perception of the Self, which in
turn results in the destruction of the bondage of samsara.
Therefore the abandonment of all objective reality is the way
to deliverance. If a man discriminates between Truth and
non-truth in quest of liberation and discovers the Truth of the
supreme Lord through the authority of the scriptures, will he
then, like a child, run after nonexistent chimera, knowing them
to be the cause of his destruction? None would do so. Therefore
he who discriminates must also renounce and cease to seek
after externals which feed those lower tendencies that cause
bondage. He should erase all sorrows due to ignorance by the
experience `I am that Supreme Brahman [?] alone, which is
Being-Consciousness-Bliss' and should abide ever in his true
state, which is Bliss. One who is in the waking state is not
dreaming and one who is in the dream state is not awake; the
two are mutually exclusive. Similarly, one who is not attached
to the body has deliverance and one who is has not.
"A liberated being is one who sees himself as single and
the witness both within and without the world of things moving
and unmoving, as the substratum of all. By his universal
consciousness experienced through the subtle mind, he has
removed all the vehicles and he remains as the absolute whole.
Only such a one is liberated, and he has no attachment to the
body. There is no other means of liberation than this blessed
realization that `All is one Self'. And this `All is one' attitude
is to be obtained by perpetual abidance in the Self and rejection
of objects without attachment to them. How can a man reject
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objective reality if he has the `I am the body' idea and is
attached to outer things and always performing actions dictated
by them? It is impossible. Therefore renounce all actions based
on karma [?]and dharma [?]and, with knowledge of the tattva, abide
permanently in the Self. Prepare your mind for immersion in
perpetual Bliss. This effort will enable you to reject objective
reality. It is in order to obtain this sarvatma bhava(attitude
that all is the Self) that the scriptural text `Shanto dantha'
(calm and self-controlled) prescribes nirvikalpa samadhi [?]
(ecstatic trance) for those seekers who have taken a vow of
Chandrayana(regulation of the increase and decrease of food
intake through two successive fortnights) and have also
performed sravana [?](hearing of the text `That thou art'). A
scholar who has not had a firm experience of nirvikalpa
samadhi, however learned he may be, will not be capable of
destroying the ego and its objective reality together with all
the accumulated tendencies of his previous births.
"It is the projecting power of maya [?]together with its veiling
power which unites the soul with the ego, the cause of delusion,
and, through its qualities, keeps a man vainly dangling like a
ghost. If the veiling power is destroyed the Self will shine of
itself, and there will be no room either for doubt or obstruction.
Then the projecting power also will vanish, or even if
it persists, its persistence will only be apparent. But the
projecting power cannot disappear unless the veiling power
does. Only when the subject is perfectly distinguished from
objects, like milk from water, will the veiling power
be destroyed.
"Pure discrimination born of perfect knowledge
distinguishes the subject from the object and destroys the
delusion due to ignorance. The man of discrimination
distinguishes the real from the unreal, reasoning as follows:
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`Like iron combining with fire, the intellect combines with
ignorance to obtain a fictitious unity with the Self which is
Being, and projects itself as the world of seer, sight, and seen.
Therefore all these appearances are false, like a delusion,
dream or imagination. All sense objects from the ego down to
the body are also unreal, being modifications of prakriti,
subject to change from moment to moment. Only the Self
never changes. The Self, distinct from the body, distinct from
being and non-being, the witness of the intellect and the
meaning implied by the `I-sense', single, eternal, indivisible,
is indeed the Supreme Self of eternal Bliss incarnate.'
"In this way he discriminates between Truth and untruth
and, in doing so, discovers the true Self. With the eye of
illumination, he obtains actual realization of the Self and
experiences this `I' as the indivisible knowledge of absolute
Brahman. Thereby he destroys the veiling power and the false
knowledge and other sorrows that have been created by the
projecting power, just as the fear of a snake falls away as
soon as one perceives the reality of the rope (that one took to
be a snake). Being freed from these ills, he obtains abidance
in a state of perfect peace. Thus, only when one obtains
realization of the supreme identity through nirvikalpa samadhi [?]
will ignorance be destroyed without vestige and the knot of
the Heart loosed. How can there be any seed of samsara still
remaining in the liberated soul who has realized the supreme
identity with the utter destruction of the forest of ignorance
by the fire of knowledge of oneness of Self and Brahman [?]?
He has no more samsara, no more rebirth and death. Therefore
the discriminating soul must know the atma tattva in order to
be freed from the bondage of samsara.
"All forms of creation and imagination appearing as you,
I, this, etc., are a result of the impurity of the intellect. They
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seem to exist in the absolute, attributeless supreme Self, but
in the state of absorption (samadhi) and experience of
Brahman [?]they cease to exist. Also the Self seems to be divisible
owing to differences in the vehicles, but if these are removed
it shines single and complete. Perpetual concentration is
necessary in order to dissolve these differentiations in the
Absolute. The wasp's grub that renounces all activity and
meditates constantly upon the wasp becomes a wasp, and in
the same way the soul that longs for Brahman [?] with one-pointed
meditation becomes the Supreme Self through the power of
its meditation and perpetual abidance in Brahman, in the
absolute stillness. So persevere constantly in meditation on
Brahman, and as a result the mind will be cleansed of the
stain of the three gunas [?]until it becomes perfectly pure and
resumes its state, when it is ripe for dissolution in Brahman [?]
like salt in water. It is like gold being cleansed of its alloy and
returning to the purity of its true state through being put in a
furnace. Only in such purity of mind can nirvikalpa samadhi [?]
be obtained, and therewith the essential bliss of identity.
Through this samadhi all the knots of the vasanas [?]are loosened
and all past karmas destroyed so that the Light of the Self is
experienced without effort, inwardly and outwardly, and at
all places and times. Thus the subtle Brahman [?] is experienced
in the single and subtle mental mode of samadhi by those of
subtle intellect, and in no other way, by no gross outlook, can
it be experienced. Similarly the sage who has inner and outer
senses controlled, in Solitude and equanimity, obtains
experience of the all-pervading Self through perpetual
concentration and thus, getting rid of all mental creations
caused by the darkness of ignorance, becomes actionless and
without attributes and remains eternally in the Bliss of
Brahman [?] himself. Only he is liberated from the bondage
of samsara who, having obtained nirvikalpa samadhi,
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perceives the mind, senses, and objects, the ears and sound,
etc., to inhere in the Self, and not he who speaks only from
theoretical wisdom. Brahman [?] can be clearly experienced
without any barrier only through nirvikalpa samadhi, for apart
from that the mental mode always fluctuates, leading from
one thought to another. Therefore control the senses and mind
and abide firmly in the Self. Utterly destroy the darkness of
ignorance and its cause through experience of the one Self
and abide ever as the Self. Reflection on truth heard is a
hundred times more potent than hearing it, and abiding in it is
a hundred thousand times more potent than reflection on it.
What limit, then, can there be to the potency obtained through
nirvikalpa samadhi?
"Restraint of speech, not accepting anything from others,
conquest of desire, renunciation of action, continence, and
Solitude are all aids in the early stages of this samadhi yoga.
Solitude helps to quieten the senses, and thereby the mind
also. Stillness of mind destroys the tendencies and thereby
gives perpetual experience of the essential Bliss of Brahman.
Therefore the yogi must always exert himself to restrain the
mind. The breathing must subside into the mind, the mind
into the intellect, the intellect into the witness, and by knowing
the witness as the fullness of the unqualified Supreme Self
perfect peace is obtained.
"He who meditates becomes that aspect of his being to which
the consciousness is drawn; if to the body, he becomes body, if
to the senses he becomes senses, if to the life-breath, he becomes
that, if to the mind or intellect, he becomes mind or intellect.
Therefore, rejecting all these, the consciousness should subside
and obtain peace in Brahman, which is eternal Bliss.
"He who, through desire for liberation, has attained perfect
freedom from desires is able to abide in the Self and get rid of
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all attachments, inner as well as outer, and he alone achieves
inner and outer renunciation. Moreover, it is only he who is
without desires, who has perfect non-attachment and so obtains
samadhi and through samadhi the certainty that he has won
to tattva jnana, which brings liberation. He who has attained
liberation has attained eternal Bliss. Therefore complete non-
attachment is the only path for him who aspires to the bliss of
union with the bride of liberation. Non-attachment combined
with Self-knowledge wins the kingdom of deliverance.
Non-attachment and knowledge are like the wings of a bird
needed for ascending the mount of deliverance, and if either
of them is lacking it cannot be attained. Therefore renounce
the desire for things, which is like poison; give up attachment
to caste, group, social position, and destiny, cease to locate
the `I-sense' in the body; be ever centred upon the Self; for in
truth you are the witness, the stainless Brahman.
"The Self in the form of Brahman, witness of all finite
beings, self-effulgent, shines eternally as `I-I' in the sheath of
vijnana, distinct from the five sheaths. Being experienced as
`I', it shines as the true form of the Self, the direct experience
of the great texts. Fix your Heart constantly on this Brahman,
which is the goal. Let the senses remain in their centres, keep
the body steady by remaining indifferent to it; and practise
the meditation `I am Brahman, Brahman am I,' allowing no
other thoughts to come in. Gradually still the mind by practice
of the unbroken flow of beatitude. Realize the identity of Self
and Brahman [?] and drink the nectar of Brahman [?] Bliss in eternal
joy. What use are base thoughts of body and world, which are
non-Self? Give up these non-Self thoughts, which are the cause
of all sorrow. Hold firm to the Self, the seat of Bliss, as `I'
and no longer ascribe the `I-sense' to the ego and its attributes.
Be absolutely indifferent to them and meditate perpetually
on the Self, which is the cause of liberation.
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"A pot, a huge earthen jar for storing grain, and a needle
are all separate things, but when they are cast away there
remains only the single expanse of ether. Something which is
falsely imagined to exist on the substratum of something else
has no reality apart from the real thing, just as a snake imagined
in a piece of rope has not. Wave, foam, bubble, and whirlpool
if examined are all found to be simply water. Pots of various
sizes and shapes are nothing other than clay, and in fact are
clay. Similarly, you should reject the limitations of body,
senses, life-breath, mind, and ego, which are merely illusory.
Only fools perceive and speak of `I', `you', `it' and so forth
out of delusion and folly, being drunk with the wine of illusion
(maya). Even their perception of multiplicity is contained in
Being-Consciousness-Bliss, in the perfect purity of Self which,
as Brahman, shines as one indivisible whole, like the vast
ether. All superimpositions such as body and ego-sense, from
Brahman [?] down to a boulder, which are perceived as the world,
are really nothing other than the one Self. They are merely
the display of prakriti [?]and the Self as pure Being. The one
supreme Self, unbroken and homogeneous, exists as east, west,
south and north, inner and outer, up and down, everywhere.
He himself is Brahma; he himself is Vishnu, Siva, Indra, gods
and men, and everything. What more is there to say?
Everything from (the threefold appearance of) personal God,
individual being, and world down to the minutest atom is
merely a form of Brahman. In order to remove the
superimposition of mithya [?](the false), the scriptures declare
`there is no duality at all' (Brahman [?] is one without a second);
therefore you yourself are the non-dual Brahman, spotless
like the ether, without inner or outer, without attributes,
changeless, timeless, without dimensions or parts. What else
is there to know? The scriptures declare: `So long as the
individual regards the corpse of his body as `I' he is impure
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and subject to various ills such as birth, death and sickness.
Remove all objective reality superimposed on the Self by
illusion and know yourself as pure, immutable Siva; then you
will become liberated, the Brahman [?] which is without action
and is indivisible perfection.' The enlightened who have
attained supreme knowledge shine as Being-
Consciousness-Bliss, homogeneous Brahman, having utterly
renounced objective reality. Therefore you too, reject your
gross, impure body and the subtle body that wavers like the
wind and the `I-sense' in them and regard yourself as
Being-Consciousness-Bliss, as declared by Vedanta [?], and thus
remain forever as the very Brahman.
"The scriptures declare that: `Duality is of the nature of
illusion (maya) and only non-duality is the Supreme Truth.'
It is our experience that the diversity created by the
consciousness ceases to exist in deep sleep in which the
consciousness is absorbed in bliss. Those who are wise and
discriminating know that the proverbial serpent has no
existence apart from the substratum of the rope, nor the water
of a mirage apart from the barren ground. It is our experience
that when the mentality assumes the nature of the Self and
becomes one with the attributeless supreme Self, mental
manifestation ceases. All these magical creations which the
illusion of the mind sets forth as the universe are found to
have no real existence and become untrue when the Truth
behind them is realized as Brahman [?] itself. In the non-dual
Brahman [?] the threefold reality of seer, sight, and seen does
not exist. It is the substratum into which ignorance, the root
cause of the illusion of multiplicity, is absorbed, like darkness
into light. Like oceans that endure to the end of the cycle of
time, the Truth of Brahman [?] remains single, complete, absolute
purity, inactive, unqualified, changeless, formless. Where,
then, can be talk of duality or diversity in the homogeneity of
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Brahman [?]? When in a state of samadhi, the enlightened jnani [?]
experiences in the Heart as `I-I' the homogeneous
completeness of that Brahman [?] which is eternal, the bliss of
knowledge incomparable, unattached, formless, inactive,
unqualified, immutable, characterless, nameless, and free from
bondage. It is still, like the ether -- and yet nothing can be
compared to it. It has no cause and is not an effect. It is beyond
imagining. It is to be achieved only through realization on the
authority of the Vedanta. The truth of it abides in the Heart
and is experienced constantly as I. It is free from birth, old
age, and death. In itself it is eternal. It is eternal, tranquil, and
undifferentiated; it is vast and still like a calm ocean without
a shore. In order not to fall back into samsara, practise
nirvikalpa samadhi [?]by concentration on Brahman [?], which is
experienced in the Heart as our own radiant Self, free from
all limitations and as Being-Consciousness-Bliss. This will
destroy the individual consciousness which is the cause of all
error, and thus you can unravel the knot of the Heart which
causes the ills of birth and death. Thus will you obtain the
glory of unbroken bliss, being Self-realized, and by doing so
achieve the purpose of human life, a boon so rare to obtain.
"The Self-realized yogi, knowing his true nature, the great
mahatma, shows his wisdom by rejecting his body, regarding
it as a corpse, as the mere shadow of his being, existing only
owing to past destiny. Such a great mahatma [?]knows himself
to be the unbroken bliss of the Self. He has utterly consumed
the body and its attributes in the fire of Brahman, which is
eternal, immutable Truth. Having thus consumed his body
and remaining with his consciousness ever immersed in the
ocean of bliss which is Brahman, he himself is eternal
Knowledge and Bliss. How then should he care to nourish or
sustain his body or be attached to it, feeding as he does on the
eternal nectar of Brahman, inwardly and outwardly? Just as
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the cow does not care about the garland round its neck, so too
he does not care whether the body, bound by the strings of
past karma, lives or dies. So you too reject this inert, impure
body and realize the pure and eternal Self of wisdom. Give
no more thought to the body. Who would care to take back
what he has once vomited?
"Knowledge of a mirage keeps one away from it, and
ignorance that it is a mirage leads one to seek it. Similarly,
knowledge leads to the path of release and ignorance leads to
worldly pursuits. The achievement of Self-knowledge or Self-
realization frees a man from the ills arising from error and
brings him eternal contentedness and unequalled bliss eternally
experienced; ignorance, on the other hand, pushes him into
objective experience of error and misery. How then should
the wise man, who has severed the knot of the Heart with the
sword of wisdom, continue to perform the various vain actions
which occupied him during the time of his delusion? What
cause could induce him to activity?
"Knowledge leads to non-attachment; Solitude and
abandonment of home lead to knowledge; the bliss of Self-
experience and tranquillity results from cessation of activity.
If these results are not obtained step by step, the previous
steps become invalid. The perfection of non-attachment is
when previous tendencies to seek enjoyment no longer arise.
The perfection of knowledge is when the `I-sense' no longer
pertains to the body. The perfection of Solitude is when
thoughts subside through perpetual striving and, dissolving
in Brahman, no longer turn outwards.
"Do not differentiate between Self and Brahman [?] or between
world and Brahman. On the authority of the Vedas realize `I
am Brahman'. Attain the pure beatitude of oneness and
establish the pure consciousness immovably in Brahman [?] so
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that you become dissolved in Brahman. Being ever Brahman,
renounce objective reality and let your enjoyments be
witnessed or known by others, like the state of sleeping
children. Renounce activity and, with the purity of primal
Being, abide in eternal enjoyment of pure Bliss. Although
your mind is dissolved and you are like one forgetful of the
world, remain ever awake, and yet like one who is not awake.
Remain indifferent to the body and senses and outer things
that follow you like a shadow. Be one who discriminates, free
from the stain of samsara and from tendencies and sense
objects. Retain consciousness without thought. Retain form,
though formless. Have no likes and dislikes in what is
experienced at the moment and no thought of what may happen
in the future. Give up all thought of inner and outer and
concentrate permanently on the blissful experience of
Brahman. Through the power of knowledge maintain perfect
equanimity in the face of all opposites such as vice and virtue,
likes and dislikes, or praise and blame whether by sadhus or
by the wicked. The dedicated sage is like a river emptied into
the ocean, untouched by the attack of sense objects, absorbed
in the Self, and it is only such a one who attains realization
while still in the body. He alone is worshipful and reaps the
reward of worthy actions. All his innate tendencies have been
destroyed by his knowledge of identity with Brahman [?] and no
renewal of samsara can be ascribed to him. Just as even the
most lustful person never thinks of enjoying his own mother,
so the sage who experiences the perfection of Brahman [?] never
turns back to samsara. If he does, then he is not a sage who
has known Brahman [?] but only an outward-turning fool.
"Identity with Brahman [?] is the fire of knowledge which burns
up sanchita karma [?](destiny stored up for future lives) and agami
karma (destiny being created in this life). Sanchita karma [?]is
destroyed because it can no longer cause birth in higher or lower
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worlds once the sage has awakened from the illusion of activity
in which he harvested merit and demerit through countless ages.
And agami karma [?]can no longer affect him because he knows
himself to be established as the Supreme Brahman, indifferent
as the ether to the effects of karma. There is ether in a pot
containing alcohol, but is it affected by the smell of the alcohol?
Not at all. Having spoken of the sanchita and agami karmas of
the sage, it now remains to explain how his prarabdha karma [?]
(that part of past karma [?]which is to be experienced in this life) is
also a myth. Although ever absorbed in his true state, he is
sometimes seen to experience the fruits of his past actions or to
take part in outer activity; so people say that he is not free from
karma [?]since he must reap the good and bad effects of past action.
Does not the rule that there is fruit of past action where there is
destiny and no fruit where there is no destiny apply to the sage
also? They argue: if one shoots an arrow at an animal, thinking it
to be a tiger, but it later turns out to be a cow, can the arrow be
recalled? Once shot, it will certainly have to kill the cow. So too,
they say, destiny that started on its course prior to the dawn of
enlightenment must produce its effects, so that the sage is still
subject to prarabdha karma [?]only and must experience its effects.
However, the scriptures declare such prarabdha to be unreal,
because a man who has awakened from a dream experience does
not go back into the same dream, or desire to cling to the dream
experiences or the body and environment of the dream as `I' and
`mine'. He is perfectly free from the dream world and happy in
his awakened state, whereas a man who retains any attachment
to the dream cannot be said to have left the state of sleep. In the
same way, one who has realized the identity of Brahman [?] and
Self sees nothing else. He eats and excretes but as though in a
dream. He is beyond all limitations and associations. He is the
absolute Brahman [?]itself. The three kinds of karma [?]do not affect
him in the least, so how can one say that only prarabdha karma [?]
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affects him? Is one who has awakened still dreaming? Even if it
were said that prarabdha karma [?]affects the sage's body, which
has been constructed from the result of past karma, that would
only affect him so long as he had the `I am the body' idea, but
once that is gone, prarabdha cannot be attributed to him, since
he is the Self, not born of karma, beginningless, pure, and
described by the scriptures as `unborn, eternal, and deathless'.
But to attribute prarabdha to the body, which is unreal and a
figment of illusion, is itself an illusion. How can an illusion be
born, live, and die as reality? It may be asked why, then, should
the scriptures refer to a nonexistence prarabdha? It may also be
asked how the body can continue to exist through knowledge
after the death of ignorance and its effects. To those who are so
misguided and under the influence of false ideas, the explanation
is given that the scriptures admit that the sage has illusory
prarabdha only as a concession for the sake of argument and not
to postulate that the sage has a body and faculties. In him is
visible the eternally established state of non-dual Brahman,
beyond mental or verbal description and definition, without
beginning or end, integral Being-Consciousness-Bliss, stabilized,
homogeneous, never to be rejected or obtained, subtle, inwardly
and outwardly complete, with no substratum, beyond the gunas,
without colour, form, or change, as pure Being. Nothing at all is
to be seen there of what obtains here. It is only by knowledge of
this oneness in the Heart through atma yoga, by renouncing
enjoyment and the very desire for enjoyment, that dedicated sages
who have peace and self-control obtain supreme deliverance.
"Therefore, my son, if you too, by the eye of wisdom
obtained through unwavering samadhi, discover beyond all
doubt the supreme Self of perfect bliss which is your original
nature, you will no longer have any doubts about what you
have heard. Cast out, therefore, the delusion created by the
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mind and become a sage, a realized man who has attained the
purpose of life. The teacher, like the scriptures, gives
instructions common to all, but each person must experience
bondage and deliverance, hunger and satisfaction, sickness
and health for himself; others can only infer it from him.
Similarly, he who discriminates must cross the ocean of birth
and death by his own efforts through the grace of the Supreme
Lord. Thus obtaining release from bondage, which is due
only to ignorance, remain as Being-Consciousness-Bliss. The
scriptures, reason, the words of the guru, and inner experience
are the means you have to use for this.
"The essence of the Vedantic scriptures may be condensed
into the following points:
"First: In me, the unmoving Brahman, all that seems
different is utterly without reality. I alone am. This is called
the standpoint of elimination (bedha drishti).
"Second: The dream and all else that appears in me as the
result of magic is an illusion. I alone am the Truth. This is
called the standpoint of illusion (mithya drishti).
"Third: All that appears as form apart from the sea, that is
the bubble and the wave, is the sea. All that is seen in a dream
is seen in him who sees the dream. Similarly, in me as in the
ocean or the man who dreams, all that seems separate from
me is myself. This is called the standpoint of resolving (the
effect into its cause) (pravilapa drishti).
"Reject the outer world by any of these three means and
recognize him who sees it to be infinite, pure, homogeneous
Brahman, who is the Self. He who has thus realized Brahman [?]
is liberated. Although all three of these viewpoints are aids to
realization, the third, in which one conceives everything as
one's own Self, is the most powerful. Therefore, knowing the
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indivisible Self to be one's own Self, by one's own experience,
one must abide in one's own true nature, beyond any mental
form. What more is there to say? The whole world and all
individuals are really Brahman, and abidance as that indivisible
Brahman [?] is itself deliverance. This is the essence and
conclusion of all the Vedas. The scriptures are the authority
for this."
The disciple realized the truth of the Self through these
words of the Guru, through the authority of the scriptures and
by his own understanding. He controlled his sense organs and,
becoming one-pointed, remained for a short time absorbed in
unswerving samadhi in that supreme Self. Then he rose up
and spoke thus to his Guru:
"Oh Master of the supreme experience, incarnation of the
supreme peace, of Brahman, of the eternal essence of
non-duality, endless ocean of grace, I bow down to you."
Then, prostrating, he begins to tell of his own experience:
"Through the grace of the blessed sight of you the affliction
due to the evil of birth is over and in an instant I have attained
the blissful state of identity. By realization of the identity of
Brahman [?] and Self my feeling of duality has been destroyed
and I am free from outer activity. I cannot discriminate
between what is and what is not.5 Like the iceberg in the
ocean, I have become absorbed bit by bit into the ocean of the
Bliss of Brahman [?] until I have become that ocean itself, whose
nature and extent my intellect fails to plumb. How can one
conceive of the vastness of this ocean of Brahmic Bliss full of
the divine essence, how to describe it in words? The world
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that was perceived a moment ago has entirely vanished. Where
has it gone? By whom has it been removed? Into what has it
been dissolved? What a wonder is this! In this vast ocean of
Brahmic Bliss full of divine experience, what is there to reject
or accept, to see, hear or know, apart from its own Self? I
alone am the Self of Bliss. I am unattached; I have neither a
gross nor a subtle body. I am indestructible; I am perfect
stillness; I am neither the doer nor the enjoyer; I undergo no
change. Action is not mine. I am not the seer or the hearer,
the speaker, the doer, or the enjoyer. I am neither things
experienced nor things not experienced but he who illumines
both. I am the void, within and without. I am beyond compare.
I am the spirit of old. I am without beginning. There is no
creation in me of `I' or `you', or `this' or `that'. I am both
within and without all the elements as the conscious ether in
them and also as the substratum on which they are. I am
Brahma, I am Vishnu, I am Rudra, I am Isa, I am Sadasiva. I
am beyond Ishvara.6 I am the all-comprehensive witness, the
indivisible, homogeneous Brahman, infinite, eternal, being
itself, unbroken whole perfection, existence, eternal, pure,
enlightened, liberated, and of supreme Bliss. What were
formerly experienced as separate things and as experiencer-
experience-experienced I now find to be all in myself. Even
though the waves of the world arise owing to maya [?], as a wind
rises and subsides, they arise and subside in me who is the
unbounded ocean of Bliss.
"Fools who are condemned for their errors wrongly ascribe
body and other ideas to me who is formless and immutable. It
is like dividing illimitable, formless time into parts such as
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year, half-year and season. Just as the earth is not made wet
by the waves of mirage, so destruction cannot touch me in
any way, for I am unattached like the ether, separate from all
that I illumine, like the sun, motionless as a mountain,
boundless as the ocean. Just as the ether is unaffected by the
clouds, so am I by the body; how then can it be my nature to
wake up, dream, and sleep, as the body does? It is only the
bodily limitations (upon Being) that come and go, act and
reap the fruits of action, that are born, exist and dissolve.
How can I perform karma, choose activity or withdrawal,
reap the fruits of merit or demerit, I who am like the fixed
mountain mentioned in the Puranas, who is ever motionless,
indivisible, complete and perfect, like the ether, who is one
perfect whole without senses, consciousness, form, or change?
If a man's shadow is cold or hot or has good or evil qualities,
that does not affect the man at all; and in the same way I am
beyond virtues and vices. The scriptures also declare this.
Just as the nature of a house does not affect the light within it,
so too, objective characteristics cannot affect me who is their
witness, distinct from them, changeless, and untouched. Just
as the sun witnesses all activity, so am I the witness of this
whole objective world. Just as fire pervades iron, so do I
permeate and enlighten the world; and at the same time I am
the substratum on which the world exists like the imaginary
serpent in a piece of rope. Being the self-effulgent `I', I am
not the doer of anything nor he who causes it to be done. I am
not the eater nor he who causes anything to be eaten; I am not
the seer nor he who causes anything to be seen.
"It is the superimposed adjunct that moves. This movement
of the reflected consciousness is ascribed by the ignorant to
the consciousness itself. So too, they say that I am the doer,
the enjoyer, that I, alas, am them. Being inactive like the sun
(in causing growth upon the earth), being the Self of the forms
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and elements, I remain untouched by the reflected light of
consciousness. It makes no difference to me if this body drops
down on earth or in water. The qualities of the reflected light
of consciousness no more affect me than the shape of a pot
affects the ether inside it. States and functions of the intellect
such as doing, enjoying, understanding, being dull-witted or
drunk, bound or liberated, do not affect me since I am the
pure non-dual Self. The duties (dharmas) arising from prakriti [?]
in their thousands and hundreds of thousands no more affect
me than the shadow cast by clouds affect the ether. I am that
in which the whole universe from prakriti [?]down to gross matter
appears as a mere shadow, that which is the substratum, which
illumines all, which is the Self of all, is of all forms, is all
pervasive and yet distinct from all, that which is all void, which
is distinct without any of the attributes of maya, that which is
scarcely to be known by the gross intellect, which is ether
itself, which has neither beginning nor end, which is subtle,
motionless, formless, inactive, immutable, that pure Brahman [?]
in its natural state, unbroken, eternal, true, aware, endless,
self-subsistent Bliss, non-dual Brahman.
"Master, I was perplexed in the nightmare forest of samsara,
of birth, old age, and death, caused by maya [?], distressed by the
tormenting episodes in it and terrified by the tiger of the ego.
You awakened me from that nightmare by your grace and saved
me, bringing me supreme Bliss. Great Master! By the glory of
your grace even I have obtained the empire of real Being. I
have become blessed and have accomplished the purpose of
this life. Redeemed from the bondage of birth and death, I realize
the reality of my being, which is the entire ocean of Bliss.
Oh, it is all the glory of your grace, Oh supreme Master!
Obeisance again and again to your blessed feet which, being in
the form of the pure bliss of consciousness, are seen as the
whole of creation. Obeisance for ever and ever!"
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The supreme Master is thus addressed with a jubilant heart
by the disciple who bows at his feet after realizing the truth
of the one Being, the supreme Bliss. He replies: "Just as he
who has eyes has nothing to do but delight in forms, so he
who knows Brahman [?] has no other satisfying use for his
intellect than experience of the Brahman [?] reality. Who would
care to look at a painted moon when the full moon shines in
all its splendour for our delight? No one who has true
knowledge can give up the essence to find delight in what is
unreal. There is neither satisfaction nor banishment of sorrow
in the experience of unreality, therefore a man must make
every effort to see with the eye of realization and with the
mind in a state of perfect peace to see his own Self as Brahman,
as the truth of non-duality shining as the Self of the whole
universe. He must meditate on this and concentrate ceaselessly
on the Self. Then he will enjoy unbroken experience of
essential Bliss and this alone will satisfy him. It is the intellect
which causes restlessness, appearing as a city in the clouds in
the attributeless whole of the conscious Self, and so the
intellect must achieve absolute stillness and this will give
eternal bliss and serenity in Brahman. When stillness and
silence have been attained there will be contentment and peace.
Perfect silence free from latent tendencies is the only means
of experiencing eternal bliss for the mahatma, for he who
knows Brahman, who has realized the Self and experiences
unbroken bliss.
"The sage who has thus realized the supreme Brahman [?] will
ever delight in the Self with unobstructed thought-current. He
comes and goes, stands, sits, and lies down, performs whatever
actions he will, with no need to observe place, time, posture,
direction, rules of yama [?]or other stages of yoga or positions for
concentration. What need is there for rules such as yama [?]for
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realizing one's Self? No external discipline is needed to know
one's Self as `I am Brahman [?]', just as `Devadatta'7 needs no
outer technique to know himself as such. This ever existent
Self shines of its own accord when the mind is pure, just as a
pot is naturally seen when the eyesight is not defective. There
is no need to consider the purity of place or time for abiding
in the Self. Just as the world is illumined by the sun, so all the
universes and the Vedas, Sastras, Puranas and various elements
are illumined by Brahman, who is also consciously
self-effulgent. How can this Brahman [?] be illumined by any
low nonexistent non-self? This supreme Self is self-effulgent
with manifold powers (shakti), incapable of being known by
anyone, and yet is experienced by everyone as the `I-I' in the
Heart. It is in realizing this Atman that the knower of Brahman [?]
is released from bondage, and when released he knows the
contentment of experiencing the essence of eternal Bliss. This
perfection of his beauty is beyond imagining. He feels no
happiness or sorrow on account of outer conditions, whether
agreeable or disagreeable, and has no likes or dislikes. He
accepts like a child all conditions that surround him owing to
the desires of others. Just as an innocent boy is absorbed in
his game without worrying about hunger, thirst, or physical
distress, so is the sage absorbed in the play of his own Self
without ego-consciousness and delights permanently in the
Self. Ascending in the chariot of his body, he who enjoys the
wide expanse of pure consciousness begs his food without
any thought or feeling of humiliation, drinks the water from
rivers, wraps himself in clothes that have not been washed or
dried, or in the bark of trees, or goes naked. No code or rule
of conduct binds him, for he is permanently free. Although
sleeping on the ground like a child or madman, he remains
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ever fixed in Vedanta. Mother Earth is the flowery couch on
which he lies. He sleeps without fear in the forest or cemetery,
for his sport and pleasure are in Brahman. He who is the
universal Self assumes at will countless forms and has
countless experiences. In one place he behaves like an idiot,
in another like a learned man, and in third like one deluded.
Again, in one place he moves about as a man of peace, in
another as a king, in another as a beggar eating out of his
hand for want of a bowl. At one place he is seen to be adored,
at another decried. Thus he lives everywhere and the Truth
behind him cannot be perceived by others. Although he has
no riches he is eternally in bliss. Although others may not
help him he is mighty in strength. Although he may not eat,
he is eternally satisfied. He looks on all things with an equal
eye. Though acting, it is not he who acts; though eating, it is
not he who eats; though he has a body, he is bodiless. Though
individualized, he is the One Indivisible whole. Knowing
Brahman [?] and liberated while yet in the body, he is not affected
by likes and dislikes, joys and sorrows, auspicious and
inauspicious things, natural to the common man who is
attached to the body. Although the sun is never really caught
by the dragon's head (in an eclipse), it seems to be, and fools
who do not know the truth say: `Look! The sun is caught!'
Similarly they say that he who knows Brahman [?], has a body,
but that is their delusion, because although he seems to have
a body he is in no way affected by it. The body of the liberated
man, although free from bondage, exists in one place or
another, like the sloughed skin of a snake. The body of a
liberated man, like a log of wood tossed up and down by the
current of a river, may sometimes be immersed in pleasure
owing to his prarabdha but even though this is so, due to the
effects of latent tendencies in prarabdha, as with the body of
a worldly person, he still remains the witness in his state of
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inner silence, the hub of the wheel, free from desire and
aversion and utterly indifferent. He neither attaches the senses
to the objects that give pleasure nor detaches them. The fruits
of his actions do not affect him in the slightest, since he is
completely drunk with the unbroken experience of the nectar
of bliss. He who knows Brahman [?] is the absolute Self, the
supreme Lord, with no need for special forms of meditation.
Of this there is no doubt.
"He who knows Brahman [?] has achieved the purpose of life
and is eternally liberated as Brahman, even though living in
the body and using its faculties. Indeed, he realizes the state of
Brahman [?] even with the destruction of the body and its adjuncts.
It is like an actor on the stage who is the same individual whether
he wears a mask or not. It makes no difference to a tree whether
the place where its dead leaf falls is auspicious or not, whether
it is a river, a canal, a street, or a temple of Siva. Similarly, it
does not affect the sage where his body, already burnt in the
fire of knowledge, is cast away. The Being-Consciousness-Bliss
of the Self does not perish with the body, breath, intellect, and
sense organs any more than a tree does with its leaves, flowers,
and fruit. The scriptures also declare: `Only that which is finite
and mutable can perish,' and also: `The Self, which is established
consciousness, is Truth and is imperishable.' The sage is
Brahman [?] in the perfect Bliss of non-duality; he is established
in Truth, which is Brahman. How then can it matter where and
when he sheds his body, which is a vehicle of skin, flesh and
impurities? Getting rid of the body, the staff and the water-pot
(of the mendicant) is not really liberation; liberation as
understood by the sages really means loosing the knot of
ignorance in the Heart.
"Just as a stone, a tree, a straw, grain, a mat, pictures, a pot
and so on, when burned, are reduced to earth (from which
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they came), so the body and its sense organs, on being burnt
in the fire of knowledge, become knowledge and are absorbed
in Brahman, like darkness in the light of sun. When a pot is
broken the space that was in it becomes one with space; so
too when the limitation caused by the body and its adjuncts is
removed, the sage realized during life, shines as Brahman,
becoming absorbed in the Brahman [?] he already was, like milk
in milk, water in water, or oil in oil, and is radiant as the one
supreme Self. Thus, when the sage who abides as Brahman,
which is pure Being, obtains his disembodied absolute state
he is never again reborn. How can there be rebirth for a sage
who abides as Brahman, his body and its limitations burnt by
the fire of knowledge, the identity of individual and Supreme?
The existence of all that is either affirmed or denied in the
one substratum of the indestructible, unattached, non-dual,
absolute Self depends only on the mind, just as the appearance
or disappearance of the imaginary snake in a piece of rope
has no basis in reality. Bondage and liberation are creations
of maya, superimpositions upon the Brahman [?] imagined by
the mind without any existence in reality. It is a fool who
blames the sun for his own blindness. It is impossible to argue
that bondage (samsara) is caused by the veiling power (tamas)
of maya [?]and liberation by its destruction, since there is no
differentiation in the Self. Such an argument would lead to a
denial of the truth of non-duality and an affirmation of duality.
This would be contrary to the authority of the scriptures. How
can there be any display of maya [?]in non-dual Brahman, which
is perfect stillness, one whole like the ether, spotless,
actionless, unstained, and formless? The scriptures even
proclaim aloud: `There is in truth no creation and no
destruction; no one is bound, no one is seeking liberation, no
one is on the way to deliverance. There are none liberated.
This is the absolute truth.' My dear disciple, this, the sum and
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substance of all the Upanishads [?], the secret of secrets, is my
instruction to you. You also may impart it to one who aspires
after liberation, only be careful to examine him several times
to make sure that he has real detachment and is free from all
the sins and impurities of this dark age."
On hearing these words from the Guru, the disciple bows
down to him several times and then takes leave and goes home
in a state of Bliss. The Master also, immersed in the ocean of
Bliss, wanders about the land in order to purify it.
Thus has been revealed the true nature of the Self in the
form of a dialogue between the Guru and his disciple, as any
who seek liberation can easily understand. May these useful
instructions be followed by those who have faith in the
authority of the scriptures and who aspire after liberation, by
those advanced seekers who perform their prescribed duties
without caring for the fruits of their actions and have thus
cleansed themselves of mental impurities, who are not attached
to the comforts of samsara and who have attained a state of
equanimity. Souls wandering about in the wild and terrible
forest of samsara are oppressed by the torment of thirst caused
by the terrific heat of the threefold evil,8 and are then deluded
by the mirage of water. The great Master Shankara
Bhagavatpadacharya wishes to inform them of the existence
close at hand of an ocean of sweet water, the bliss of
non-duality, so that they may obtain relief, and has blessed
them with his Vivekachudamani, `The Crown Gem of
Discrimination,' which will confer on them the eternal bliss
of liberation. This is beyond doubt.
Om
Peace, Peace, Peace.
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