Vivekachudamani (Crest Jewel

of Wisdom)
Attributed to Shankara Acharya
Commentary/Translation by Charles Johnston, Theosophical
Quarterly, April, July, October, 1923; January, April, July, October, 1924
[Serialized]

[Translation]
Invocation

To Him I make obeisance, who is the end of all wisdom, the goal
of all attainment, the unseen Lord of the flock, the supreme bliss,
the good Master.

For living beings, human birth is hard to gain, then manhood,

then holiness; harder is perfection in the path of the law of
wisdom; hardest to gain is illumination. Discernment between
the Divine Self and that which is not the Self, fully realized union
with the Eternal Self, liberation—this is not to be attained without
holiness perfected through a hundred myriad lives.

These three things, hard to gain, come only through divine grace:
manhood, desire for liberation, access to Masters.

Gaining at length human life, hard to win, and manhood, and an

understanding of the revealed teachings, he who strives not for
liberation in the Divine Self, deluded in heart, self-destroying,
slays himself through grasping at the unreal.

Who, then, is the very self of folly but he who, deluded, follows
selfish purposes, after he has gained a human body and manhood
hard to win? (5)

Even though they recite the scriptures, and sacrifice to the gods,
and fulfill all works, and worship the divinities—without
awakening to the unity of the Divine Self, liberation is not
attained even in a hundred æons.

For the scripture says that there is no hope of immortality

through riches, therefore it is clear that ritual works are not the
cause of liberation.

Therefore let the wise man strive hard for liberation, renouncing
the lure of happiness in external things. Let him draw near to a
Master, good and great, fixing his whole soul on the purpose of
the Master’s teaching.

Let him through the Divine Self raise up that self of his which is
sunk in the ocean of recurring life and death, firmly practising
uplifting through union, with steadfast vision of the One.

Seeking freedom from bondage to the world through

renunciation in all works, let the wise strive who have learned
the teaching, pressing toward the Divine Self. (10)

Works make for the cleansing of the heart, but not for the
attaining of the Real; the gaining of the Real comes through
discernment—not even by myriads of works is it gained.

Through discernment of the Real it is perceived that the imagined

serpent is only a rope; and thus the painful fear of the great
serpent, conjured up by illusion, is finally destroyed.

The certain knowledge of the goal comes only through

discernment awakened by right teaching, not through ablutions
 or gifts or a myriad retentions of the breath.

The gaining of the fruit is the reward only of him who possesses
the qualifications; circumstances, such as place and time, merely
co-operate in the result.

Therefore, let him who would know the Real practise

discernment, finding a Master who is a river of compassion, an
excellent knower of the Eternal. (15)

He who is full of intelligence, illuminated, skilled in knowledge

and wisdom, is fitted to teach the wisdom of the Divine Self; he
wears the immemorial hall-mark.

And he is fitted to seek the Eternal, who has discernment,

freedom from self-indulgence, quietude and the other virtues,
and who ardently desires liberation.

Here four qualifications are enumerated by those possessing

wisdom. Where they are present, there is a firm foothold in the
Real: where they are absent, there is failure.

The Four Qualifications for Chelaship

First is counted Discernment (viveka) between the Eternal and

the non-eternal. This is followed by freedom from self-indulgence
in the fruits of works. Then come the six virtues beginning with
quietude. Then the ardent desire for liberation.

The Divine Eternal is real, the world is illusion: a complete

certainty of this is declared to be Discernment between the
Eternal and the non-eternal. (20)

Freedom from self-indulgence (virâga) is a surrender of the

allurement of the eyes, the ears, and all the senses; a surrender of
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 the allurement of all non-eternal things from the body up to the
Formative Power, continually made through a realization of the
faultiness of all objective things.

Quietude (shama) is the holding of mind and heart steadily on the

goal. Control (dama) is the mastering of the powers of perception
and action, stopping each in its runaway course.

The excellent Cessation (uparati) is the condition of refusing to

lean on external things. Endurance (titikshâ) is the bearing of all
pains without rebelling against them, unconcerned and
unlamenting.

Faith (shraddhâ) is the firm conviction of the truth of the teaching

and the word of the Master. Through this faith, the righteous say
that the Real is won.

Concentration (samâdhâna) is the continual staying of the soul in

the pure Eternal at all times, and not the caressing of
imaginations.

The ardent Desire for Liberation (mumukshutva) is the will to be

rid of all the fetters forged by unwisdom, beginning with self-
reference and ending with the body, through discernment of the
real nature of the Divine Self.

Where this is present even in a weak or moderate degree,

increasing through ceasing from self-indulgence, through
quietude and the other virtues, and through the grace of the
Master, it will bear fruit.

In him who has conquered self-indulgence, in whom the desire

for liberation is full of fire, quietude and the other virtues are
fruitful and attain the goal. (30)
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 Where self-indulgence is unconquered, and the desire for
liberation is weak, quietude and the other virtues are an illusion,
like the mirage in the desert.

Commentary
The title of honour, Acharya, added to the name of Shankara,
means “He who causes others to go forward.” To Shankara
Acharya are attributed Commentaries on the Great Upanishads:
Isha, Kena, Katha, and the rest, which are being translated in
these pages, on the Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras, and also a
series of shorter treatises in verse or prose, of which The Crest
Jewel of Wisdom is one. In nearly all of these shorter treatises,
the Four Qualifications for Chelaship are enumerated and
defined, with only very slight differences of definition. The
present commentator is inclined to believe that all these works
attributed to Shankara embody his teaching, but were put into
writing by his immediate disciples, each of whom followed and
expressed his own individual character, while handing on the
doctrine of his Master. Since all the treatises set forth or imply the
Four Qualifications for Chelaship, it seems certain that these
Qualifications are an essential part of the method of that great
Master; perhaps the most personal and characteristic part. We
may think of them as Shankara’s Rule.

The Four Qualifications are expounded, in the form of question

and answer, in the treatise called Tattva Bodha, attributed to
Shankara, much of which was translated and discussed in these
pages nine years ago, under the title: Shankaracharya’s
Catechism. The Four Qualifications are there compared with
parallel passages from Western mystics, including the Imitation
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 of Christ by Thomas à Kempis and the Spiritual Guide by Miguel
de Molinos. For the purposes of the present translation it would
seem to be sufficient to quote again some of these parallel
passages, adding a few others, particularly from A Short Rule by
the Abbot Ludovicus Blosius, of the Order of Saint Benedict, and
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law, the
Anglican mystic. We shall thus have a sufficiently representative
view of the Western teachings which cover the same ground as
Shankara’s Rule; by thoughtful comparison, readers will be able
to extract the essence of the teaching in order to apply it in
practice.

First Qualification: Discernment between the Eternal and the

non-eternal.

“A religious or a monk who does not strive perfectly to die to the

world, and to follow after God by true and sincere love, does not
live up to his profession. Alas! how many, both men and women,
now-a-days miserably deceive themselves, for they clothe
themselves in the monastic habit, take the vows of religion, and
yet think little or nothing of the perfect life! On the contrary they
cleave tenaciously to created things, and seek them for their own
pleasure instead of for God; they most earnestly desire outward
comforts, and without fear pour out their souls on external
things.” (Blosius, A Short Rule, vii-viii).

“The spiritual beginner should diligently recall his mind to God

and should reverently attend to His Presence in every place,
remembering that God is everywhere whole and undivided. He
should also converse with God inwardly, sending forth to Him
loving desires and burning aspirations. Putting aside all
distracting multiplicity of created things, he should learn to fix
his thoughts on One and cleave fast to One. This ‘introversion,’ or
dwelling within his own soul, is of the very highest importance
:
 for him.” (Short Rule, p. 26).

“When shall I die to myself and to all created things? When shall
nothing live within me but only Thou?” (ibid., p. 28).

“For Thy sake I renounce all perishable things. I cast aside with
contempt everything that is not Thee.” (ibid., p. 48).

“Whatever is not God care little for, and think it of not much
importance to thee. This will help thee to attend to God and to
live with Him in thine own soul with a freedom of mind
unattached to anything.” (ibid., p. 63).

“You will find that all the world preaches to an attentive mind;
and that if you have but ears to hear, almost everything you meet
teaches you some lesson of wisdom.

“But now, if to these admonitions and instructions, which we

receive from our senses, from an experience of the state of
human life; if to these we add the lights of religion, those great
truths which the Son of God has taught us; it will be then as much
past all doubt, that there is but one happiness for man, as that
there is but one God.

“For since religion teaches us that our souls are immortal, that
piety and devotion will carry them to an eternal enjoyment of
God, and that carnal, worldly tempers will sink them into an
everlasting misery with damned spirits, what gross nonsense and
stupidity is it, to give the name of joy or happiness to anything
but that which carries us to this joy and happiness in God!” (Law,
Serious Call, pp. 150-1).

Second Qualification: Freedom from self-indulgence in the fruits

of works.

“It is a freedom from any wish for the feasts of this world or of
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 paradise.” (Tattva Bodha).

“Cut up by the roots all that is of self within my soul.” (Short Rule,
p. 49).

“For the love of Jesus Christ, who for thee has suffered the
hardest things, renounce the pleasure of the senses. . . . Be ready
to do without even the delights of the spirit, according to the good
pleasure and providence of God.” (ibid., p. 57).

“Know that he who would attain to the mystical science, must

abandon and be detached from five things: 1, from creatures; 2,
from temporal things; 3, from the very gifts of the Holy Spirit; 4,
from himself; 5. he must be lost in God. This last is the completest
of all, because that soul only that knows how to be so detached, is
that which attains to being lost in God, and thus alone knows how
safely to find himself.” (Molinos, Spiritual Guide, iii, 18).

“It is no hard matter to despise human comfort, when we have

that which is divine. It is much and very much, to be able to lack
both human and divine comfort; and, for God’s honour, to be
willing cheerfully to endure desolation of heart; and to seek
oneself in nothing, nor to regard one’s own merit.” (Imitation, II,
ix).

“Learn now that there is no cure for desire, no cure for the love
of reward, no cure for the misery of longing, save in the fixing of
the sight and hearing upon that which is invisible and soundless.
Begin even new to practise it, and so a thousand serpents will be
kept from your path. Live in the eternal.” (Light on the Path;
Karma).

Third Qualification: Quietude, Control, Cessation, Endurance,

Faith, Concentration.

This group of Six Virtues, which make up the third qualification,

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 is developed from a sentence in the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad
(4,4,23): “Therefore he who knows thus, possesses quietude,
control, cessation, endurance, concentration.”

Quietude:

“It is mastery over the mental-emotional nature.” (Tattva Bodha).

“In fact, if only with earnest self-denial, this exercise of

introversion and internal prayer be diligently persevered in, a
man will at last become in mind pure, simple, unattached, free,
raised above all passing things, and, cleaving constantly to God,
will attain to the highest point of perfection” (Short Rule, p. 29).

“Know that although exterior solitude doth much assist for the
obtaining of inner Peace, yet the Lord did not mean this, when He
spake by His prophet, I will bring her into the wilderness, and
speak comfortably unto her. But He meant the inner solitude,
which together with the other conduces to the obtaining of the
precious jewel of the inner Peace. Inner solitude consists in the
forgetting of all creatures, in detachment, in a perfect abnegation
of all purpose, desire, thought and will. This is the true solitude,
wherein the soul reposes with a sweet and inward serenity, in the
arms of the Highest Good.” (Spiritual Guide).

Control:

“It is the mastery over the eyes and the other outward powers.”
(Tattva Bodha).

“The soul must take care to be attached to no created thing, to

nothing perishable, with any kind of badly ordered affection and
love. Farewell must be said to all that delights the senses; the
pleasures of the flesh must be utterly renounced. Be therefore
dead to the world, and as he that is dead is blind and deaf, do not
desire or will to see or hear anything except in as far as it is
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 necessary, or at least useful, to see or hear it.” (Short Rule, p. 3).

“Most diligently keep guard over the eyes, the ears and the
tongue in order to shun things unlawful, vain and useless. Great
watchfulness and caution are needful in speaking, that too many
words may be avoided and no unfitting ones used. Let thy speech
be short, simple and calm. All the bodily members should be
carefully kept under restraint.” (Short Rule, p. 58).

“True quietness of heart therefore is gotten by resisting our

passions, not by obeying them. There is then no peace in the
heart of a carnal man, nor in him that is given to outward things,
but in the spiritual and devout man.” (Imitation, I , vi).

“If religion requires us sometimes to fast, and deny our natural

appetites, it is to lessen that struggle and war that is in our
nature, it is to render our bodies fitter instruments of purity, and
more obedient to the good motions of Divine grace; it is to dry up
the springs of our passions that war against the soul, to cool the
flame of our blood, and render the mind more capable of Divine
meditations. So that although these abstinences give some pain to
the body, yet they so lessen the power of bodily appetites and
passions, and so increase our taste of spiritual joys, that even
these severities of religion, when practised with discretion, add
much to the comfortable enjoyment of our lives.” (Serious Call, p.
127).

Cessation:

“The excellent Cessation is the condition of refusing to lean on

external things.” (Crest Jewel).

Mohinee M. Chatterjee, translating the Atmanatma Viveka, says:

“Uparati (Cessation) is the abstaining on principle from engaging

in any of the acts and ceremonies enjoined by the Shastras.”
:
 Elaborating this in an article entitled “Qualifications for
Chelaship”, published in The Theosophist many years ago, and
reprinted in A Guide to Theosophy (1887), Mohinee said:

“The third qualification, known by the Brahmins as ‘Uparati,’ is

the renunciation of all formal religion and the power of
contemplating objects without being in the least disturbed in the
performance of the great task one has set before oneself. What is
here expected of the aspirant for spiritual knowledge is that he
should not allow his sympathies and usefulness to be narrowed
by the domination of any particular ecclesiastical system, and
that his renunciation of worldly objects should not proceed
merely from an incapacity to appreciate their value.”

In A Memoir of Father Dignam, a Jesuit, a letter is given in which

he says:

“I am so anxious that you should never lose sight of first

principles, that your devotion should be to God’s will pure and
simple; that prayers, and Communions and church-goings, are
but creatures, are but means to an end, just as much as wine or
money, and that some people are more in danger of inordinate
affections to the former than the latter.”

“The condition of refusing to lean on external things” of the Crest

Jewel, naturally includes the condition of non-dependence upon
rites and ceremonies and ritual, “Communions and church-
goings.” It is evident, however, that in some cases, as Mohinee
indicates, complete abstinence is necessary, just as a man who
has been a glutton, or who has persuaded himself that he cannot
sleep without a light burning in his room, can liberate himself
only by means of enforced and total abstinence. The spiritual life
of the disciple, and his relation with his Master, is in no way
dependent upon his church, or upon Brahmanical or other
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 ceremonies. The outer observances of a disciple are an
expression of his obedience to his Master, for his Master’s
purposes and not for his own. He remains completely detached,
while he labours with zeal and enthusiasm.

Other meanings of Cessation are suggested in the following

extracts:

“It is bringing each power back into its own proper sphere.”
(Tattva Bodha).

“Learn to despise outward things, and to give thyself to things

inward, and thou shalt perceive the kingdom of God to be come
in thee.

“The inward man he often visiteth; and hath with him sweet
discourses, pleasant solace, much peace, familiarity exceeding
wonderful.” (Imitation, II, i).

“To be truly solitary, the soul ought to forget all the creatures, and
even herself; otherwise she will never be able to make any near
approach to God. Many leave and forsake all things, but they do
not leave their own liking, their own will, and themselves; and
hence the truly solitary ones are few. For if the soul does not
detach herself from her own appetite and desire, from her own
will, from spiritual gifts, and from repose even in spiritual things,
she never can attain to this high felicity of inner solitude.”
(Spiritual Guide).

“You can make no stand against the assaults of pride, the meek
affections of humility can have no place in your soul, till you stop
the power of the world over you, and resolve against a blind
obedience to its laws.

“And when you are once advanced thus far, as to be able to stand
still in the torrent of worldly fashions and opinions, and examine
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 the worth and value of things which are most admired and
valued in the world, you have gone a great way in the gaining of
your freedom, and have laid a good foundation for the
amendment of your heart.

“For as great as the power of the world is, it is all built upon a
blind obedience; and we need only open our eyes to get quit of its
power.” (Serious Call, p. 220).

Endurance:

“It is the bearing of all pains without rebelling against them,

unconcerned and unlamenting.” (Crest Jewel).

“It is the power to endure heat and cold, pleasure and pain, and
all that comes from without.” (Tattva Bodha).

“Injuries, ridicule, calumnies, sorrows and losses, that come upon

him by the permission of God, he must learn to bear humbly,
without complaint or murmuring, believing with a full conviction
of mind that they are sent by God. He should acknowledge in his
heart that however much he may have to bear, and however
deeply he may be humbled, he still deserves a greater
humiliation on account of his iniquity and ingratitude to God.”
(Short Rule, p. 10).

“In like manner resignation is more perfect in these souls

because it springs from the internal and infused fortitude, which
grows as the internal exercise of pure faith, with silence and
resignation, is continued.” (Spiritual Guide, i, 16).

“My son, be not dismayed by the painful labours which thou hast
undertaken for me, neither be thou utterly cast down because of
any tribulations which befall thee; but let my promise strengthen
and comfort thee in all events. . . . Wait a little while, and thou
shalt see a speedy end of thine evils.” (Imitation, III, 47).
:
 “Thus was the Cross of Christ, in St. Paul’s days, the glory of
Christians; not as it signified their not being ashamed to own a
Master that was crucified, but as it signified their glorying in a
religion which was nothing else but a doctrine of the Cross, that
called them to the same suffering spirit, the same sacrifice of
themselves, the same renunciation of the world, the same
humility and meekness, the same patient bearing of injuries,
reproaches, and contempts, and the same dying to all the
greatness, honours, and happiness of this world, which Christ
showed upon the Cross.” (Serious Call, p. 224).

Faith:

“Faith is the firm conviction of the truth of the teaching and the
word of the Master.” (Crest Jewel).

“It is a firm confidence in the word of the teaching and the

Teacher.” (Tattva Bodha).

“Consult with him that is wise and of sound judgment, and seek
to be instructed by one better than thy self, rather than to follow
thine own inventions.” (Imitation, I, iv).

“It is a great matter to live in obedience, to be under a superior,

and not to be at our own disposing. Go whither thou wilt, thou
shalt find no rest, but in humble subjection under the
government of a superior.” (ibid, I, ix).

“My son, he that endeavoureth to withdraw himself from

obedience, withdraweth himself from grace: and he who seeketh
for himself private benefits, loseth those which are common.

“He that doth not cheerfully submit himself to his superior,

showeth that his flesh is not as yet perfectly brought into
subjection, but oftentimes struggleth and murmureth against
him. . . . Because thou still lovest thyself inordinately, thou art
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 afraid to resign thyself wholly to the will of others. . . . I became of
all men the most humble and the most abject, that thou mightest
overcome thy pride with my humility.” (ibid., III, 13).

“I would it were so with thee, that thou wert arrived at this, to be

no longer a lover of thyself, but to stand merely at my beck, and
at his whom I have appointed a father over thee; then thou
shouldst exceedingly please me, and all thy life should pass away
in joy and peace.” (ibid., III, xxxii).

“Nothing whatever should he prefer to obedience, remembering

that perfect mortification of our own will is the most pleasing
sacrifice we can offer to God.” (Short Rule, p. 7).

“But, my child, you belong to a greater family than mine; you are
a young member of the family of this Almighty Father of all
nations, who has created infinite orders of Angels, and
numberless generations of men, to be fellow-members of one and
the same society in Heaven.

“You do well to reverence and obey my authority because God

has given me power over you, to bring you up in His fear, and to
do for you as the holy fathers recorded in Scripture did for their
children, who are now in rest and peace with God.” (Serious Call,
p. 240).

Concentration:

“Concentration is the continual staying of the soul in the pure

Eternal at all times, and not the caressing of imaginations.” (Crest
Jewel).

“It is one-pointedness of thought and imagination.” (Tattva

Bodha).

“I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
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 forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before, I press toward the mark.”
(Philippians, iii, 13-14).

“My son, I ought to be thy supreme and ultimate end, if thou

desire to be truly blessed. I would therefore thou shouldst refer
all things principally unto me, for I am He who have given all.”
(Imitation, III, ix).

“O Lord, if only my will may remain right and firm towards thee,
do with me whatsoever it shall please thee.” (ibid., III, xvii).

“Direct thy whole attention unto this, to please me alone, and

neither to desire nor to seek any thing besides me.

“In giving thyself up with all thy heart to the divine will, not
seeking thine own interest either in great matters or in small,
either in time or in eternity.” (ibid., III , xxv).

“He that is wise and well instructed in the Spirit standeth fast
upon these changing things; not heeding what he feeleth in
himself, or which way the wind of instability bloweth; but that
the whole intent of his mind may be to the right and the best end.

“For thus he will be able to continue one and the same and
unshaken, in the midst of so many various events directing
continually the single eye of his intent unto me.” (ibid., Ill, xxxiii).

Fourth Qualification: Desire for Liberation.

“The ardent Desire for Liberation is the will to be rid of all the
fetters forged by unwisdom, beginning with self-reference and
ending with the body, through discernment of the real nature of
the Divine Self.” (Crest Jewel).

“Others there are who, being illuminated in their understandings,

and purged in their affection, do always pant after things eternal,
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 are unwilling to hear of the things of this world, and serve the
necessities of nature with grief; and these perceive what the
Spirit of truth speaketh in them.

“For He teacheth them to despise earthly, and to love heavenly

things; to neglect the world, and to desire heaven all the day and
night.

“Love desires to be free, and estranged from all worldly

affections, that so its inward sight may not be hindered; that it
may not be entangled by any temporal prosperity, or subdued by
any adversity.

“Love watcheth, and, sleeping, slumbereth not. Though weary,

love is not tired; though pressed, it is not straitened; though
alarmed, it is not confounded: but as a lively flame and burning
torch, it forces its way upwards, and securely passes through all.”
(Imitation, III , iv, v.).

[Translation, cont.]
Among all means of liberation, devotion, verily, is the most
potent. The fixing of the heart on the true being of the Divine Self
is declared to be devotion.

Others say that devotion is the fixing of the heart on one’s own
real Self. He who has attained to the qualifications already
described is fitted to discern the real being of the Self.

Let him draw near to a Teacher who has attained to wisdom,

from whom liberation from bondage may be learned, one who
knows the holy teaching, who is perfect in purity, who is not
moved by desire, who is wise in the wisdom of the Eternal;
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 Who has entered into rest in the Eternal, who has won the great
peace, like the flame when the fuel is consumed, who is an ocean
of compassion that seeks no return, the friend of all who appeal
for help. (35)

Drawing near to the Teacher in reverent devotion, with the loving

service of one who seeks the Eternal, and thus winning his good
will, let him ask what he seeks to know concerning the true Self:

“Master, obeisance to thee, friend of the world bowed down,

ocean of compassion, save me, sunk in the sea of life, bending on
me thy steadfast glance, which rains down righteousness and
compassion;

“For I am burned by the flaming fire of passional life, hard to

quench, I am driven to and fro by the storms of contrary fate, I
am full of fear. I come to thee for refuge; save me from death, for
I know no other safety!

“The mighty ones who have attained to peace dwell in

righteousness, bringing life to the world like the coming of spring;
they, who have themselves crossed the dread sea of passional life,
aid others to cross it through compassion that seeks no return.

“It is the essence of the very being of those of mighty soul to seek
to heal the sorrows of others, as the nectar-rayed moon of itself
cools the earth, scorched by the fierce fire of the sun. (40)

“Pour out upon me thy words of immortal life, which bring the
happiness of the sacred teaching, as they issue from the vessel of
thy voice, clear, restoring, purifying, inspired by thine own
experience of the essence of the joy of the Eternal; Master, I am
consumed by the fiery flames, the scorching heat of this passional
life! Happy are they on whom thine eyes rest even for a moment;
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 they are thereby made acceptable and become thine own.

“How may I cross this ocean of passional life? What pathway is

there for me, what way of safety? I know none. In thy compassion
guard me, Master! Save me from the pain and destruction of this
life set about with death!”

The mighty soul, his eyes wet with tears of compassion, looking
on the disciple speaking thus, who has appealed to him for help,
who is burned by the flaming heat of the fires of this life beset by
death, straightway sets him free from fear;

Full of wisdom, in his compassion he begins to instruct in the

truth the disciple who has come to him in reverent service,
seeking liberation, who has rightly mastered the qualifications,
whose heart has gained stillness, who has attained to quietude:

“Fear not, wise one! Thou art not in danger; there is a way to
cross the ocean of this life beset by death, whereby the saints
have gained the other shore. That way I shall reveal to thee. (45)

“There is a way of power, which destroys the terror of this life

beset by death; by it crossing the wide sea of this world, thou
shalt attain to the supreme joy;

“Through right understanding of the essence of the teaching of

wisdom, the most excellent illumination is brought to birth,
through which comes the destruction of the illimitable pain of life
set about with death.

“The voice of the sacred teaching clearly declares that the means
of liberation for him who seeks liberation are faith, devoted love,
meditation, union. He who stands firm in these, to him comes
liberation from the bondage to the body which is forged by
unwisdom.
:
 “This life beset by death comes from bondage to that which is not
thy true Self, because thou knowest not thy oneness with the
Supreme Self. The flame of illumination kindled by right
discernment between the false and the true Self will burn up the
works of unwisdom root and branch.”

“Master, hear in thy compassion! This question I ask; hearing the

answer from my Master’s lips, I shall gain my end: (50)

“What indeed is bondage? How does it come about? What is its

support? How is one set free? What is that which is not the true
Self? What is discernment between the false and the true? Let this
be declared.”

“Happy art thou who hast attained thy goal; through thee thy
family is blessed, because through liberation from unwisdom
thou seekest to become one with the Eternal.

“Sons and kindred may free a father from his debts; but other
than a man’s self, none can free him from bondage.

“The pain caused by a burden weighing on the head may be

relieved by others; but suffering from hunger and thirst can be
removed by none, unless the man himself eat and drink.

“When the sick man rightly uses medicine, he is restored to

health, but not through the right actions of another. (55)

“The true being of the real must be seen by one’s own eyes
illumined by clear wisdom; it is not enough that thy Teacher
should see. The true form of the moon must be known through
one’s own eyes; how can it be understood through the eyes of
others?

“How could another than oneself untie the cords that bind
:
 through unwisdom, through desire and the fruit of works, even in
a thousand million ages?

“Not by Yoga nor by Sankhya, not by works nor by knowledge,

but only through awaking to the oneness of one’s true Self with
the Eternal, does liberation come, and in no other way.

“The form and beauty of the lute and skill in making its strings to
sound may bring delight to the multitude; they cannot establish
the power of a monarch.

“Well uttered speech, a waterfall of words and skill in setting

forth the sacred texts and learning are for the delectation of the
learned, but do not bring liberation. (60)

“When the supreme reality is not known, the reading of the

scriptures is fruitless. Even when the supreme reality is known
by the mind only, the reading of the scriptures is fruitless.

“A network of words is like a mighty forest, causing the mind to

go astray; therefore the reality of the divine Self should be sought
earnestly from one who knows the real.

“Unless he be healed by knowledge of the Eternal, what profit is

there for him who has been bitten by the snake of unwisdom,
whether through the Vedas and the scriptures, or through charms
and herbs?

“Sickness does not depart by speaking of medicine unless the

medicine be drunk; liberation comes not through speaking of the
Eternal without immediate experience of the Eternal.

“Without dissolving in thought the visible world, without

knowing the reality of the divine Self, what liberation can men
gain from outward words, whose fruit is mere sound? (65)
:
 “Merely by declaring, ‘I am king,’ without destroying the enemy,
and without gaining the wealth of the kingdom, none can become
king.

“Through right directions, through digging and removing the

stones and earth above it, the buried treasure is brought forth,
not by uttering the word, ‘Forth!’ So through the teaching of one
who knows the Eternal, through careful thought and meditation
is to be gained the pure truth of the divine Self, concealed by the
working of glamour, and not by subtle reasoning.

“Therefore wise men must earnestly strive themselves to win

liberation from the bondage of the world beset by death, as they
would themselves use remedies for sickness.

“The excellent question which thou hast asked today, in accord

with the sacred teachings, of deep import like a Sutra, should be
asked by those who seek liberation.

“Give good heed, wise one, to what is declared by me; through

hearing it, thou shalt in truth be freed from the bondage of the
world of death. (70)

“The first cause of liberation is declared to be complete

detachment from all things that are out of the Eternal; then
quietude, control, endurance; then the renouncing altogether of
all works done through personal desire.

“Then study of the scriptures, thinking out their meaning, with

prolonged, continuous meditation on the real by the disciple;
then gaining liberation from the bondage of wrong thinking, the
wise man even here attains to the happiness of Nirvana.

“The discerning between the real Self and that which is not Self,
which is now to be understood by thee, I shall straightway
:
 declare; hearing, understand it within thyself.

“By the wise, that is called the gross body, which is made up of
these substances called marrow, bone, fat, flesh, blood, skin,
epidermis; consisting of trunk, chest, arms, feet, back, head, limbs
and the divisions of limbs;

“It is known as the seat of the delusion of ‘I’ and ‘my.’ Ether, air,
fire, water and earth are the subtle elements. (75)

“When compounded with each other, they form the gross

elements, which build up the gross body; they are the materials of
objects perceived by the five senses, as sound and the rest; their
purpose is, to teach the soul through experience.

“They who, fascinated by these things of sense, are bound by the

strong bonds of desire, hard to break, ascend and descend,
carried downward, upward, forward by their own Karma as a
headlong messenger.

“Each one fascinated through one of the five senses, by sound and
the other powers, these five, deer, elephants, moths, fish, bees, go
to their death and are dissolved in the five elements; how can
man escape, who is fascinated by all five senses?

“Things of sense are more penetrating in the hurt they cause than
the venom of the black serpent. The poison slays only him into
whom it enters, but things of sense destroy through mere
beholding.

“He only who is free from the great snare of sensuous desire,
hard to escape from, builds for liberation, and not another, even
though he know the six scriptures. (80)

“Those who falsely fancy themselves detached and seeking

:
 liberation, striving to reach the further shore of the ocean of
passional life, seized by the shark of their desire, sink in the midst
of their journey, caught by the throat and swiftly carried
downward.

“He who slays the shark called sensuous desire with the sharp
sword of true detachment, gains the further shore of the ocean of
passional life, carried forward without hindrance.

“Death is the end of him who sets forth untimely on the rough
way of sensuous life, with intelligence obscured; but he who goes
forward guided by a loving, righteous Teacher, through union
with his true Self gains his end and his reward. Know this to be
the truth.

“If thou hast the ardent desire for liberation, put sensuous desires
away from thee like poison; ceaselessly, reverently love
acceptance, compassion, endurance, rectitude, quietude, control,
as the essence of immortality.

“He who, neglecting the duty of each moment, the freeing of

himself from the bondage caused by beginningless unwisdom,
forgetting that the body exists for the soul, is wholly absorbed in
feeding it, thereby slays his own soul. (85)

“He who wishes to find his true Self, yet is engrossed with the
feeding of his body, seeks to cross the river grasping a crocodile
with the thought that it is a log.

“Fascination by the body and its powers is the great death for him
who is seeking liberation. He alone is worthy to seek the path of
liberation, who is free from fascination.

“Slay fascination by the body, wife and children, that great death;
conquering it, the saints go to that supreme home of the all-
:
 pervading deity.

“Formed of skin, flesh, blood, sinew, fat, marrow, bone, full of

waste and decay is this gross body, deserving condemnation.

“Built up of the elements mingled fivefold, through the Karma of

previous lives, is this gross body, a house for the experience of the
soul; its state is waking consciousness, perceiving gross objects of
sense.” (90)

The personal life, finding delight in outward objects through the

external senses, rejoicing in garlands, sandalwood and women,
through the perceptive power of the Self, finds its activity in
waking consciousness in the body.

This gross body, through which the spirit of man engages in all
outward life, know that it is but the house of the householder.

The inherent tendencies of the gross body are birth, decay and
death; its periods are the six ages beginning with childhood; its
rules are differences of race and order of life, with their
afflictions; it receives worship, dishonour and honour in all their
forms.

Its powers of perception are hearing, touch, sight, smell, taste,

which make sensuous objects perceptible; voice, hands, feet, the
powers that put forth and reproduce, are its powers of action,
through which it engages in works.

Its interior powers are called mind (Manas), intelligence

(Buddhi), the personal sense (Ahankara) and imagination (Chitta),
with their activities. The function of mind is the gathering
together and separating of impulses; the function of intelligence
is to reach a judgment regarding what is perceived; (95)
:
 The function of the personal sense is the thought of “I” through
the attribution of self-hood; the function of imagination is to hold
the consciousness steady on its object.

The vital breath consists of the forward breath, the downward

breath, the distributive breath, the upward breath, the uniting
breath; they are modified by function and form, as gold and
water are modified.

The subtle body is said to be made up of these eight groups: voice

and the other powers of action; hearing and the other powers of
perception; the forward breath and the other vital breaths; ether
and the other subtle elements; intelligence and the other interior
powers; together with unwisdom, desire and Karma.

Hear concerning this body, which is called the subtle, and also the
form body, and which is composed of the five elements not
commingled fivefold; it is the field of the experience of the fruit of
Karma, through the imprints of tendencies; it rests on the
inherent sense of separateness; it is the vehicle of the real Self.

Dream is its distinctive state, in which it grows through substance

of its own building; when in this dream-consciousness it attains
to the power to act, the intelligence, based on the manifold
impressions made during the time of waking, shines forth; for in
this state a higher Self becomes luminous, having a vesture of the
substance of meditation; it is an independent witness, nor is it
stained by the separate acts of the physical body. (101)

Because the subtle body possesses detachment, it is not stained by

the acts of its vesture. This form body carries out all activities as
the instrument of the higher Self, the spiritual man; it is as the
sharp tools in the hand of the carpenter. Therefore the Self is free
from attachment.
:
 The characters of blindness, slowness or keen vision have their
cause in the qualities or defects of the eye; so deafness and
dumbness are characters of the ear or tongue, not of the Seer, the
Self.

Outbreathing, inbreathing, yawning, sneezing, the flow of saliva,

circulation, are said by those who know, to be caused by the vital
airs; hunger and thirst are caused by the life principle.

The internal organ acts through the organs of sight and the other
sense powers. Through the attribution of selfhood, the personal
“I” is established and manifested. (105)

The personal “I” is to be known as the actor and as receiving

experience; it is based on the attribution of selfhood; through
union with the three potencies, goodness, passion, darkness, it
experiences the three states of consciousness.

When the objects of its experience flow with the current, the
personality enjoys pleasure; when they go contrary to its wishes,
it suffers pain. Pleasure and pain are characters of the
personality, not of the true Self, which is being and bliss.

For the object of experience is dearer because it serves the Self; it

is not dear in itself. And the Self is of itself the dearest of all.

Therefore the Self is being and bliss, nor has it any pain. That
bliss of the Self which is experienced in dreamlessness, above
objective life, is known in waking consciousness through
revelation, through direct experience, through the experience of
others, through logical reasoning.

World Glamour, Maya, through which this whole world comes

into being, is named the Unmanifest, the Power of the supreme
Lord, beginningless Unwisdom, formed of the three potencies.
:
 The awakened understanding should grasp it by a study of its
effects. (110)

Maya is neither being nor non-being, nor in essence both; it is

neither divided nor undivided, nor in essence both; it is neither
with members nor without members, nor in essence both; it is
most marvellous in its nature, and indefinable.

The power of Maya is to be destroyed by awakening to the pure,

undivided Eternal, as the illusion of the serpent by discerning the
rope. Passion, darkness, goodness are known as its potencies;
through their effects they are to be understood.

Dispersion, which is the essence of action, is the power of

Passion; from this power springs the age-old tendency to forward
action; desire and hate come forth from it perpetually, which
cause the moods of pain and sorrow in the mind.

Lust, wrath, greed, fraud, cavilling, selfishness, envy, the lust of

possession, are the terrible characters of Passion, from which this
human activity springs; therefore Passion is the cause of
bondage.

Envelopment is the name of the power of Darkness, whereby a

thing appears other than it is. This is the underlying cause of
man’s cycle of birth and rebirth; it is the motive force of the
activity of the power of Dispersion. (115)

Though he be intelligent, learned, clever, keen in self-study,

thoroughly well informed, a man cannot be wise if wrapped in
this power of Darkness; what is raised up by illusion, he sees as
real, he leans on qualities created by illusion. Alas for him; very
overmastering is this power of Darkness, this mighty
Envelopment.
:
 Failure to perceive real things, seeing things as the opposite of
what they are, building up fancies, taking realities for fancies,
these are modes of Dispersion; the power of Dispersion releases
not him who is under the yoke of attachment; it sweeps him away
continually.

The qualities of Darkness are unwisdom, laziness, inertness,

lethargy, folly, bondage to delusion; he who is under their yoke is
wise in nothing; he is like a man asleep, like a log.

Goodness, because of its purity, though mingled with these as

water with water, yet builds for salvation; the ray of the true Self
reflected in Goodness illumines the whole material world, like the
sun.

Where Goodness is mingled with the other potencies, these

characters arise: self-respect, obedience to the commandments
and the rules, faith, devotion, desire for liberation, godlike
virtues, a complete turning from evil. (120)

Of pure Goodness, the qualities are grace, experience of the true

Self, supreme quietude of heart, acceptance, joy, a resting in the
supreme Self, whereby is attained the essence of being and bliss.

Of the Unmanifest, which is defined by the three potencies, is

formed the Causal Body of the Self; its free field of consciousness
is dreamlessness, in which the activity of the powers and the
understanding are merged in one.

Dreamlessness is a form of consciousness in which every kind of

mental perception is stilled, when the intelligence is withdrawn
into the Self which is its source; where the Seer says: “I know
nothing of the rumour of the world.”

The body, powers, vital airs, mind, personality, all forms, all
:
 objects, pleasure and pain, ether and the elements, the whole
world up to and including the Unmanifest, all this is other than
the Self.

Maya and all the works of Maya, beginning with the Great One,
Mahat, and ending with the body; know that all this is other than
the Eternal, other than the Self, like the mirage in the desert. (125)

I shall now declare to thee the true nature of the Supreme Self,
knowing which, freed from bondage, a man gains final liberation.

There is a certain eternal Self, on which the consciousness of

selfhood rests; this is the witness of the three fields of
consciousness; this is other than the five vestures.

This is he who perceives all things in waking, dreaming,

dreamlessness; this is the true “I” which perceives the
intelligence and its activities, whether they be good or evil.

This is he who himself perceives all, whom none perceives; who

illumines the intelligence and the other powers, whom none
illumines.

Who penetrates and upholds this universe, whom none

penetrates nor upholds; from him this universe derives the light
with which it is illumined. (130)

Through whose mere presence the body, powers, mind and

intelligence turn each to their proper objects as though obeying
its command.

By whom, having as his essence eternal wisdom, all the powers

from the personality to the body, all objects, all pleasures and
pains are seen as a jar is seen.
:
 This inner Self, the Spirit, the ancient, is the presence of primal,
undivided joy; ever unchanging, consisting of pure wisdom, by
whose command voice and the life-breaths fulfill their parts.

Here, verily, in the Self of Goodness, in the secret place of the

soul, in the undivided firmament; rising like the dawn, this shines
like the risen sun in the sky, by its radiance making this whole
world shine.

Beholding all activities of the mind and personal self, all motions
of the body, the powers, the life-breaths, this neither strives nor
changes, pervading them like the fire in the heated iron. (135)

This enters not into birth, or death, or growth, nor does he wane
or change for ever; even when this frame falls into dissolution,
the Self is not dissolved, like the ether in the broken jar.

Standing apart from the vicissitudes of the manifest world, in his

own essence pure consciousness, illumining this infinite universe
of things enduring and unenduring, himself unchanging, the
supreme Self, in the fields of waking, dream and dreamlessness,
shines as the true “I,” the immediate witness of the intelligence.

Do thou, with disciplined mind, recognize this Self within thyself,

saying, “This is I,” through the grace of understanding; cross the
shoreless ocean of manifested life whose waves are birth and
death, reaching thy goal, coming home to the being of the Eternal.

The thought of “I” in what is not the Self brings the Spirit into
bondage; this bondage, springing from unwisdom, brings on us
birth and death and weariness. He who identifies himself with his
body, thinking the unenduring to be the real, and therefore feeds
it, anoints it, guards it, is enmeshed in things of sense as the
silkworm in the threads it spins.
:
 He who is deluded by Darkness sees reality in what is unreal;
from lack of discernment arises the illusion of the serpent in the
rope. He who is subject to this illusion suffers a multitude of
sorrows; to take the unreal for the real is bondage. Friend, heed
this. (140)

The enveloping power of Darkness completely hides the Self with

his infinite powers, which shine forth through the power of
partless, eternal, undivided illumination, as the demon of eclipse
conceals the sun’s rays.

When the true Self of stainless radiance is concealed, the man,

deluded, thinks of the body, which is not the Self, as “I.” Then the
far-reaching power of Passion, which is called Dispersion,
painfully binds him with the cords of lust and wrath.

His perception of the true Self swallowed up by the voracious

shark of great Delusion, he entangles himself in manifold errors
of understanding through the cords of this power; in the
shoreless ocean of birth and death, full of the poison of sensuous
things, sinking or rising, he is carried about, confused,
contemptible.

As a cloud wreath, brought into being by the sun’s shining,

spreads and conceals the sun, so the personal self, which comes
into being through the Self, spreads and conceals the true Self.

As on a foul day, when the lord of day is swallowed up by heavy

clouds, fierce, chill blasts of wind afflict the clouds, so, when the
true Self is enveloped in unbroken darkness, this keen power of
Dispersion visits the deluded man with many sorrows. (145)

By these two powers, man’s bondage is brought about; deluded by

them he goes astray, thinking the body is the Self.
:
 Of the tree of birth and death, Darkness is the root, the thought of
the body as Self is the shoot, desire is the leaf, works are the sap,
the life-breaths are the branches, the powers are the ends of the
branches, sensuous things are the flowers, pain is the fruit,
springing from manifold works; the separate self is the bird who
eats the fruit.

This bondage to that which is not Self, which has its root in
unwisdom, arising without a cause, beginningless, endless, brings
upon the separate self a flood of sorrows, like birth and death,
sickness and decay.

Not by weapons, nor scriptures, not by wind nor fire, can this
bondage be loosed, nor by myriads of ritual acts, without the
great sword of discerning knowledge, sharp and keen, through
divine grace.

He who is convinced of the truth of the sacred teaching faithfully

performs all duties; by this comes self-purification; when his
intelligence is purified, the vision of the supreme Self comes;
thereby he destroys birth and death, root and all. (150)

The Self, wrapped up in the five vestures, beginning with the

vesture formed of food, which are brought into being by its own
power, does not shine forth, as the water in the pond, covered by
a veil of green scum.

When the green scum is taken away, immediately the water

shines forth pure, taking away thirst and heat, straightway
becoming a source of great joy to man.

When the five vestures have been stripped off, the Self shines
forth pure, the one essence of eternal bliss, beheld within,
supreme, self-luminous.
:
 Discernment is to be made between the Self and what is not Self
by the wise man seeking freedom from bondage; through this he
enters into joy, knowing the Self which is being, consciousness,
bliss.

As the reed from the tiger grass, so separating from the congeries
of things visible the hidden Self within, which is detached, not
involved in actions, and dissolving all in the Self, he who stands
thus, has attained liberation. (155)

The food-formed vesture is this body, which comes into being

through food, which lives by food, which perishes without food.

It is formed of cuticle, skin, flesh, blood, bone, water; this is not

worthy to be the Self, eternally pure.

The Self was before birth or death, and now is; how can it be
born for the moment, fleeting, unstable of nature, not unified,
inert, beheld like a jar? For the Self is the witness of all changes of
form.

The body has hands and feet, not the Self; though bodiless, yet
because it is the Life, because its power is indestructible, it is
controller, not controlled.

Since the Self is witness of the body, its character, its acts, its
states, therefore the Self must be of other nature than the body.
(160)

A mass of wretchedness, clad in flesh, full of impurity and evil,

how can this body be the knower? The Self is of other nature.

Of this compound of skin, flesh, fat, bone and water, the man of
deluded mind thinks, “This is I”; but he who is possessed of
judgment knows that his true Self is of other character, in nature
:
 transcendental.

The mind of the dullard thinks of the body; “This is I”; he who is
more learned thinks, “This is I,” of the body and the separate self;
but he who has attained discernment and is wise knows the true
Self, saying, “I am the Eternal.”

Therefore, O thou of mind deluded, put away the thought that this
body is the Self, this compound of skin, flesh, fat, bone and water;
discern the universal Self, the Eternal, changeless, and enjoy
supreme peace.

So long as the man of learning abandons not the thought,

founded on delusion, that “This is I,” regarding the unenduring
body and its powers, so long there is no hope for his liberation,
though he possess the knowledge of the Vedanta and its science.
(165)

As thou hast no thought that “This is the Self,” regarding the

body’s shadow, or the reflected form, or the body seen in dream,
or the shape imagined in the mind, so let not this thought exist
regarding the living body.

The thought that the body is the Self, in the minds of men who
discern not the real, is the seed from which spring birth and
death and sorrow; therefore slay thou this thought with strong
effort, for when thou hast abandoned this thought the longing for
rebirth will cease.

The breath-formed vesture is formed by the life-breath

determined by the five powers of action; through its power the
food-formed vesture, guided by the Self and sustained by food,
moves in all bodily acts.

Nor is this breath-formed vesture the Self, since it is formed of the

:
 vital airs, coming and going like the wind, moving within and
without; since it can in no wise discern between right and wrong,
between oneself and another, but is ever dependent.

The mind-formed vesture is formed of the powers of perception

and the mind; it is the cause of the distinction between the
notions of “mine” and “I”; it is active in making a distinction of
names and numbers; as more potent, it pervades and dominates
the former vesture. (170)

The fire of the mind-formed vesture, fed by the five powers of

perception, as though by five sacrificial priests, with objects of
sense like streams of melted butter, blazing with the fuel of
manifold sense-impressions, sets the personality aflame.

For there is no unwisdom except in the mind, for the mind is

unwisdom, the cause of the bondage to life; when this is
destroyed, all is destroyed; when this dominates, the world
dominates.

In dream, devoid of substance, it emanates a world of

experiencer and things experienced, which is all mind; so in
waking consciousness, there is no difference, it is all the
domination of mind.

During the time of dreamlessness, when mind has become latent,

nothing at all of manifestation remains; therefore man’s circle of
birth and death is built by mind, and has no permanent reality.

By the wind a cloud is collected, by the wind it is driven away

again; by mind bondage is built up, by mind is built also
liberation. (175)

Building up desire for the body and all objects, it binds the man
thereby as an ox by a cord; afterwards leading him to turn from
:
 them like poison, that same mind, verily, sets him free from
bondage.

Therefore mind is the cause of man’s bondage, and in turn of his

liberation; when darkened by the powers of passion it is the
cause of bondage, and the cause of liberation when pure of
passion and darkness.

Where discernment and dispassion are dominant, gaining purity,

the mind makes for liberation; therefore let the wise man who
seeks liberation strengthen these two in himself as the first step.

Mind is the name of the mighty tiger that hunts in the forest
glades of sensuous things; let not the wise go thither, who seek
liberation.

Mind moulds all sensuous things through the earthly body and
the subtle body of him who experiences; mind ceaselessly shapes
the differences of body, of colour, of condition, of race, as fruits
caused by the acts of the potencies.

Mind, beclouding the detached, pure consciousness, binding it

with the cords of the body, the powers, the life-breaths, as “I” and
“my,” ceaselessly strays among the fruits of experience caused by
its own activities. (181)

Man’s circle of birth and death comes through the fault of

attributing reality to the unreal, but this false attribution is built
up by mind; this is the effective cause of birth and death and
sorrow for him who has the faults of passion and darkness and is
without discernment.

Therefore the wise who know the truth have declared that mind
is unwisdom, through which the whole world, verily, is swept
about, as cloud belts by the wind.
:
 Therefore purification of the mind should be undertaken with
strong effort by him who seeks liberation; when the mind has
been purified, liberation comes like fruit into his hand.

Through the sole power of liberation uprooting desire for

sensuous things, and ridding himself of all bondage to works, he
who through faith in the real stands firm in the teaching, shakes
off the very essence of passion from the understanding. (185)

The mind-formed vesture cannot be the higher Self, since it has

beginning and end, waxing and waning; by causing sensuous
things, it is the very essence of pain; that which is itself seen
cannot be the Seer.

The intelligence together with the powers of intelligence makes

the understanding-formed vesture, whose distinguishing
character is actorship; it is the cause of man’s circle of birth and
death.

The power which is a reflected beam of pure Consciousness,

called the understanding, is a mode of abstract Nature; it
possesses wisdom and creative power; it thereby focuses the idea
of “I” in the body and its powers.

This “I,” beginningless in time, is the separate self, it is the

initiator of all undertakings; this, impelled by previous imprints,
works all works both holy and unholy, and forms their fruits.

Passing through varying births it gains experience, now

descending, now ascending; of this understanding-formed
vesture, waking, dream and dreamlessness are the fields where it
experiences pleasure and pain. (190)

By constantly attributing to itself the body, state, condition, duties

and works, thinking, “These are mine,” this understanding-
:
 formed vesture, brightly shining because it stands closest to the
higher Self, becomes the vesture of the Self, and, thinking itself to
be the Self, wanders in the circle of birth and death.

This, formed of understanding, is the light that shines in the vital

breaths, in the heart; the Self who stands for ever wears this
vesture as actor and experiencer.

The Self, assuming the limitation of the understanding, self-

deluded by the error of the understanding, though it is the
universal Self, yet views itself as separate from the Self; as the
potter views the jars as separate from the clay.

Through the force of its union with the vesture, the higher Self
takes on the character of the vesture and assumes its nature, as
fire, which is without form, takes on the varying forms of the
iron, even though the Self is for ever by nature uniform and
supreme.

The Disciple said: Whether by delusion or otherwise, the higher

Self appears as the separate self; but, since the vesture is
beginningless, there is no conceivable end of the beginningless.
(195)

Therefore existence as the separate self must be eternal, nor can

the circle of birth and death have an end; how then can there be
liberation? Master, tell me this.

The Master said: Well hast thou asked, O wise one! Therefore
rightly hear! A false imagination created by error is not
conclusive proof.

Only through delusion can there be an association with objects, of

that which is without attachment, without action, without form; it
is like the association of blueness with the sky.
:
 The appearance as the separate self, of the Self, the Seer, who is
without qualities, without form, essential wisdom and bliss,
arises through the delusion of the understanding; it is not real;
when the delusion passes, it exists no longer, having no
substantial reality.

Its existence, which is brought into being through false

perception, because of delusion, lasts only so long as the error
lasts; as the serpent in the rope endures only as long as the
delusion; when the delusion ceases. there is no serpent. (200)

It is true that unwisdom and also its effects are beginningless;

but, when wisdom arises, unwisdom, even though beginningless,
comes to an end like a dream on waking, utterly vanishing, root
and all; even though beginningless, it is not everlasting, just as
the previous non-existence of what comes into being, though
beginningless, yet comes to an end.

So that we see that previous non-existence, though without a

beginning, yet has an end. It is the same with the appearance of
the separate self, built up in the universal Self through the
association of the understanding, and in nature contrary to it; this
association is a false perception, caused by the understanding.

It can only be ended through true wisdom, not by other means;

and the Scriptures declare that true wisdom is to know the
oneness of the Eternal and the Self. (205)

This is gained by true discernment between Self and what is not

Self; therefore let there be discernment between the true hidden
Self and the manifested self.

Just as even very muddy water shines as pure water when the
mud clears away, so the Self shines forth bright, when darkness
:
 passes away.

When the darkness of unreality ceases, the separate self clearly

perceives the hidden Self; therefore the separate self must cast
out utterly all egotism and delusion.

Therefore this vesture formed of understanding, since it is subject

to change, and material, and circumscribed, is not the higher Self;
since it is visible and transitory, this non-eternal cannot be the
Eternal.

The vesture formed of bliss is a form lit up by a reflection of the

eternal bliss, but not yet completely free from darkness; its
nature is happiness and joy; in it, worthy desires receive their
fruition. This vesture formed of bliss shines forth in the holy man
reaping the reward of his good deeds, coming into being of itself,
without effort, when he rejoices, wearing the garment of
righteousness. (210)

This vesture formed of bliss is fully revealed in dreamlessness; it

is partially revealed in dreaming and waking, when the object of
true desire is seen.

Yet even this vesture formed of bliss is not the higher Self,
because it is subject to limitation, a manifestation of objective
Nature, an effect of righteous deeds, built up of the sum of good
actions.

When these five vestures are put aside, according to the

Scriptures, the Witness, formed of illumination, remains after
they are set aside; this is the Self, self-luminous, other than the
five vestures; Witness in the three fields of consciousness,
unchanging, unstained, to be known by the wise, through right
self-identification, as eternal Being, eternal bliss,
:
 The Disciple said: When these five vestures are set aside because
they are non-eternal, I cannot see, O Master, that aught remains
save universal non-Being, or that anything remains to be known
by him who would know the Self through right self-identification.
(215)

The Master said: O wise one, thou speakest sooth! Thou art skilled
in judgment! Egotism and the rest are mere changing forms;
when they pass, this Self is left.

He through whom all these are perceived, who himself is not

perceived, him know as the Self, the Knower, through most subtle
understanding.

Whatsoever is perceived by anyone, is perceived by virtue of this

Self as Witness; that which is unknown of any can not be called
the Witness.

This Being is his own Witness, since through himself he is

perceived; therefore, he who is manifest through himself is the
hidden Self, and no other.

This is he who is clearly manifest in waking, dreaming and

dreamlessness, through his hidden nature ever shining as the
real “I,” unchanging; it is he who beholds the personal self, the
understanding and all the powers with their manifold forms and
changes; he shines, the Self, eternal bliss and consciousness; him
know as Self, here in thy heart. (220)

He who is deluded thinks that the sun’s image reflected in the

water in a jar is the real sun; through a like delusion, the dullard
believes that the reflection of consciousness contained in the
vesture is “I.”

When the jar and the water and the sun mirrored there are all
:
 put away, the true sun is perceived; in like manner the wise
perceive the eternal Self reflected in the three fields of
consciousness, the self-luminous.

Thus setting aside the body, the understanding, the reflected

personal consciousness, and recognizing as his true Self the Seer
hidden within the understanding, the partless Light which
reveals all things, which is different from the existent and the
non-existent;

The eternal, the Lord, all-pervading, very subtle, which has

neither within nor without, which stands alone; truly knowing
that Self in his own being, a man is sinless, stainless, deathless.

Sorrowless, become altogether bliss, the sage fears nought from

any source. There is no path other than the knowledge of the true
being of the Self, for him who seeks liberation, freedom from the
bondage of manifested life. (225)

The knowledge that he is not separated from the Eternal is the

cause of liberation, whereby the secondless bliss, the Eternal, is
gained by those who are illumined.

The wise man who is one with the Eternal returns not again to
the circle of birth and death; therefore, let it be truly understood
that the Self is not separate from the Eternal.

He wins the Real, the endless Wisdom, the pure Eternal, supreme,
self-sustained, the one essence of everlasting bliss, at one with the
hidden Eternal, undivided.

This is Being, the supreme, the secondless, since there is no

reality apart from this; nor does aught else remain, when
consciousness of the transcendental reality is gained.
:
 For when all delusions of the understanding are cast away
without remainder, then this whole universe, perceived as
innumerable forms through unwisdom, becomes the Eternal only.
(230)

The earthen jar, though it be moulded from earth, is not separate

from the earth, since it is essentially earth. The form of the jar has
no independent existence. What then is the jar? A name only,
built up as an appearance.

The independent existence of the earthen jar cannot be perceived

by anyone apart from the earth it is made of; therefore, the jar is
built up as an appearance; the earth, of which it essentially
consists, is the reality.

The manifested universe exists through the Real, the Eternal, and
is ever That alone, nor is there aught beside That; he who says
that there is, is not free from delusion, he is like one talking in his
sleep.

“The Eternal is this universe”: thus declares the word of the

Scripture, the excellent Atharva Veda. Therefore, this universe is
the Eternal only; nor has what is perceived any separate
existence, apart from its source.

If this transitory world be the Real, then there is no liberation

through the Self, the holy Scriptures are without authority and
the Lord speaks untruth; but those of great soul cannot admit
these three things. (235)

The Lord, who knows the reality of things, has declared: “I am not
contained in these things, nor do beings dwell in Me.”

If this manifest universe were reality, it would be perceived in

dreamlessness; but since nothing is then outwardly perceived, it
:
 is unreal, like the appearance of a dream.

Hence this world has no real existence apart from the higher Self;
its separate existence is perceived through illusion, like the
serpent and the rope. What reality is there in that which is
conjured up? Only through error does the underlying Real thus
appear.

Whatever the deluded perceives in his delusion, is the Eternal

only; the imagined silver is the pearl shell; in the same way forms
are given to the Eternal, but whatever is imagined in the Eternal,
is nothing but a name.

Therefore, the Eternal is secondless Being, consisting of pure

illumination, stainless, full of peace, beginningless, endless,
changeless, formed of everlasting bliss. (240)

When all the divisions caused by Glamour are cast aside, there
shines forth somewhat eternal, steadfast, partless, immeasurable,
unformed, unmanifest, unnamed, everlasting, self-illumined.

Those who are illumined know this as that in which knower,

knowing and known are one, which is endless, above
differentiation, absolute, partless, pure consciousness, the highest
Being.

This supreme Self, the perfect Eternal, cannot be left nor taken;
neither by mind nor speech can it be apprehended; it is
immeasurable, beginningless, endless.

In the text of Scripture, “That thou art,” the Eternal and the Self
are indicated by the words, “That” and “Thou”; when they are
thus understood, the oneness of the Self and the Eternal is clearly
seen. (244)
:
 The oneness of these two, thus defined and declared, is concealed
by attributing to them contrary attributes, as in the case of the
firefly and the sun, the King and the slave, the well and the ocean,
the atom and Mount Meru.

The seeming difference between the two is caused by the vestures

which contain them, but these vestures are themselves unreal.
Hear the truth: cosmic differences, beginning with the world of
abstract forms, come into being through the Lord’s power of
Glamour, Maya; the five vestures come into being through the
separate self;

When these vestures, which enwrap the Lord and the separate
self are cast aside, there remains neither Lord nor separate self.
The king has his kingdom, the vassal his village; when these are
taken away, there is neither vassal nor king.

The Scripture: “There is the teaching, ‘Not thus! not thus!’” of

itself contradicts the duality imagined in the Eternal; through
illumination in accordance with the teaching of Scripture, the
distinction between the two is to be rejected.

“It is not this, not this; since it is built up by imagination, it is

unreal, like the rope seen as a serpent, like a dream”; thus
repeatedly rejecting completely this visible world, the oneness of
the Self and the Eternal will be realized.

The two are to be defined according to their essential nature, in

order that their undivided oneness of essence may be shown. Not
by the derived meaning alone, nor by the literal meaning alone,
but through the essence common to both, understanding will be
gained. (250)

By saying, “This man is Devadatta,” the identity is established by

:
 rejecting contrary attributes; in just the same way, in the
Scriptural teaching, “That thou art,” contrary attributes are to be
set aside.

By recognizing that pure consciousness is the essential character

both of the Eternal and of the Self, their unity of being is
perceived by those who are illumined. Thus in a hundred holy
texts is set forth the oneness of the Eternal and the Self, their
undivided being.

According to the Scripture, “This Imperishable is neither gross

nor fine, neither short nor long,” in itself indefinable as the ether,
set aside false conclusions, and abandon thy preconceptions,
since all that is outwardly perceived is mirage only; affirming
“the Eternal am I,” with purified intelligence, know thine own
Self as partless Light.

Just as every jar and vessel made of earth is held to be earth only,
so all this, born of Being, having Being as its essence, is Being
only, since there is nothing beyond Being; of a truth, “This is the
Real, this the Self,” therefore, “That thou art,” the Eternal, full of
peace, pure, undivided, supreme.

As in dream, the imagined space and time and objects and

perceiver are all unreal, so also here in waking, the world is
conjured up by our unwisdom; since this body, its powers and
life-breath, and the thought of it as “I” are all unreal, therefore,
“That thou art,” the Eternal, full of peace, pure, undivided,
supreme. (255)

That Eternal, which transcends birth and rule and race and clan,
having nor name nor form nor quality nor fault, dwelling beyond
space and time and all things objective, ‘”That thou art”; bring it
to consciousness in thy Self.
:
 That Eternal, which cannot be attained by any speech, yet is
attained by the pure vision of illumination, a realm of pure
consciousness, beginningless substance, “That thou art”; bring it
to consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, which rises above the six waves of human weakness
(pain, delusion, age, death, hunger, thirst), which dwells in the
heart of him who has attained to union, which cannot be
discerned by thy powers or known by thy understanding,
flawless, “That thou art”; bring it to consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, which, self-supported, is the support of the world

built up through illusion, which is other than the existent or the
non-existent, partless, which can be reached by no similitude,
“That thou art”; bring it to consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, which is free from birth and growth and change,
waning and sickness and death, everlasting, the cause that puts
forth, upholds, destroys the world, “That thou art”; bring it to
consciousness in thy Self. (260)

That Eternal, wherein all difference ceases, whose character

never changes, still as a waveless ocean, for ever free, in nature
impartite, “That thou art”; bring it to consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, which, being One, is the cause of many, the Cause
that sets aside all other causes, itself apart from cause and what is
caused, “That thou art”; bring it to consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, which is unchanging, mighty, imperishable, other

than that which perishes and that which perishes not, supreme,
everlasting, eternal joy, stainless, “That thou art”; bring it to
consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, the one which appears manifold, through illusion,

:
 through change of name and form and character, itself changeless
like the gold in many ornaments, “That thou art”; bring it to
consciousness in thy Self.

That Eternal, which shines alone, beyond the highest, hidden, of

single essence, of the character of the supreme Self, eternal
substance, wisdom, joy, endless, everlasting, “That thou art”;
bring it to consciousness in thy Self. (265)

Let the disciple bring this meaning, thus declared, to

consciousness in his Self, through the recognized forms of
reasoning, through intuition, putting doubt and confusion away;
the meaning of this text will become as evident as water held in
the hand.

Knowing this pure Being, which is perfect Light, dwelling in the

Self, relying on the Self as a king on his army in battle, cause this
manifest world to melt away in the Eternal.

In the intelligence, in the heart, other than the existent or the

non-existent, is the Eternal, the Real, supreme, secondless; he
who, through the power of the Self, dwells in this heart, for him
there is no more subjection to bodily life.

Even though the truth be known, nevertheless this impress: “I am

the actor, the experiencer,” is deep-seated and powerful, as it is
beginningless, the cause of circling birth and death. This impress
is to be conquered by strong effort, through the vision of the Light
in the Self. The sages have said that the attenuation of this
impress is liberation.

This false attribution of “I” and “my” to the body and its powers,
which are not Self, must be conquered by the wise man through
devotion to the true Self. (270)
:
 Recognizing the hidden Self as the true Self, Witness of the
understanding and its activities, making real the thought, “That
am I” by right conduct, slay the thought of self in that which is
other than the Self.

Ceasing to follow the way of the world, ceasing to follow the way
of the body, ceasing to follow the way of tradition, set thyself
assiduously to follow the Self.

When a man follows the way of the world, the way of tradition,
the way of the body, true wisdom is not born within him.

Those who know declare that the harsh domination of these three
ways is the iron chain fettering the feet of him who seeks to
escape from the prison house of recurring birth and death; he
who frees himself from this, attains liberation.

Just as sandalwood, mingled with water and rubbed, drives all ill
odours away, so the divine impress of the Master shines forth
through strong effort, completely expelling the savour of outer
things. (275)

The impress of the higher Self is hidden under the dust of

countless evil desires that lurk within; cleared by the strong effort
toward wisdom, it becomes manifest like the scent of
sandalwood.

The impress of the Self is entangled in the meshes of desire for

what is not Self; through devotion to the eternal Self these meshes
are completely destroyed.

In measure as the mind obeys the hidden Self, it frees itself from
the impress of outer things; when it has rid itself completely of
outer desires, the realization of the Self arises, free from all
impediments.
:
 By constant obedience to the Self, the mind of him who seeks
union is conquered and the impress of outer desires fades away;
therefore, make an end of resting in the false self.

Darkness is overcome by Passion and Goodness; Passion is

overcome by Goodness; imperfect Goodness is overcome by
perfect Goodness; therefore, make an end of resting in the false
self. (280)

Perceiving that the impulses of past acts flourish the personality,

be steadfast, rely on valour, and with strong effort make an end of
resting in the false self.

Thinking, “I am not the separate self but the Eternal,” rejecting

everything that is not the Eternal, make an end of resting in the
false self, which is built up by the impetus of the impressions of
desires.

Knowing through the Scriptures, through right reasoning,

through meditative experience, that thy true Self is the Self of all,
make an end of resting in the false self, which is built up by the
play of deceptive appearances.

The saint is not at all concerned with getting and spending;

therefore, ever grounded in the One, make an end of resting in
the false self.

To confirm the realization that thy Self is one with the Eternal,
according to the knowledge of the oneness of the Eternal and the
Self instilled by the Scripture, “That thou art,” make an end of
resting in the false self. (285)

Intent on dissolving completely the thought of “I” in this body,

intending thyself steadily on this task, make an end of resting in
the false self.
:
 So long as the persuasion that the separate self and its world are
real continues, like a dream, so long, O wise one, continue to
make an end of resting in the false self.

Without a moment’s loss through dreams, or the sound of worldly

opinions, or forgetfulness, seek the real Self within thyself.

Casting away bondage to this corruptible body of flesh, formed

from the bodies of father and mother, as though it were outcast,
accomplish thy end, uniting thyself with the Eternal.

Merging thyself in the higher Self, as the ether in the jar is one
with the universal ether, losing the sense of separation, enter ever
into silence, O seeker after wisdom! (290)

Becoming one with the self-luminous foundation of all, through

the aspiration of the manifested Self, the great manifested world
and the handful of clay alike are to be abandoned like a pot of
dirt.

Causing the thought of “I” built up in the body to merge in the

Self, which is pure consciousness, being and bliss, putting off the
limitation of form, become ever one with the absolute Eternal.

Knowing that “I am the Eternal,” in which the mirage of the

world is seen like a city in a mirror, thou shalt be one who has
attained his goal.

Going to that which is the Real, essential Being, primal,

secondless consciousness, bliss, without form or act, let this body
of delusion be rejected, which the Self has assumed as an actor
assumes a costume.

By the universal Self the visible world is seen to be a mirage, nor

is the separate self real, since it is seen to be transitory; how can
:
 the thought that “I know all” stand with regard to this transitory
self and its powers? (295)

The fundamental Self is the Witness of the separate self and its
powers, since its presence is always recognized, even in
dreamless sleep. The Scripture declares that this hidden Self,
which is other than the existent or the non-existent, is “unborn,
everlasting.”

The Self who is unchanging is alone worthy to be the knower of

all changes of things that change. The unreality of things that
change, and of their changes, is clearly seen again and again, in
thoughts and dreams and in deep sleep.

Abandon, therefore, self-attribution to this form of flesh, since the

false self thus attributing itself is built up by thought only;
recognizing as thine own Self that partless Wisdom which is
unaltered by past, present or future, enter into peace.

Cast away self-identification with race, clan, name, form, and

stage of life, which rest on this vesture of decay; abandoning also
the character of actor and experiencer associated with the
personality, and become that whose own being is partless bliss.

There are other bonds of man, seen as causes of recurring birth

and death, but the root of them all is the personal self, which first
arises in consciousness. (300)

So long as the true Self is held in bondage by the evil spirit of the
lower self, there can be no vestige of liberation, which is the very
opposite of the lower self.

Freed from the eclipsing demon of the lower self, he attains the
true Self, which is being and bliss, self-luminous, as the full moon
comes forth from the darkness of eclipse.
:
 But he who identifies himself with the body, thinking, “This am I,”
is enchained by the darkness and delusion of the mind; but when
this is destroyed without a remnant, the true Self is realized as
the Eternal, free from all bondage.

The treasure of the bliss of the Eternal is guarded by the very

powerful and terrible serpent, the lower self, whose three heads
are the formidable potencies of substance, passion and darkness,
who lies coiled over the true Self; but when the three heads are
cut off with the mighty sword called understanding, inspired by
the holy Scriptures, uprooting the great serpent utterly, the wise
man may enter into the fruition of the treasure which brings true
happiness.

So long as there remains even a vestige of virulent poison in the

body, how can there be perfect health? So the lower self holds the
seeker of union back from liberation. (305)

By destroying the lower self completely, by putting an end to the

many delusive forms it creates, and by discerning the true hidden
Self, realizing, “That am I,” the seeker finds the Real.

Utterly reject the thought that “This am I,” regarding the active
lower self, unstable in essence, the cause of the love of reward,
which robs thee of rest in thy true Self; through the lower self set
up by delusion comes the recurring cycle of birth and death,
endlessly inflicting birth, death, decay and sorrow on thee, who
art in reality the true hidden Self, whose form is joy.

Thou art the true Self, ever one, pure consciousness, all-
pervading, formed of bliss, of irreproachable glory, unchanging;
there is no cause of thy bondage to birth and death except the
domination of the “I.”
:
 The lower self is the enemy of the true Self, like a sharp thorn in
the throat of him who eats; therefore, slaying it with the mighty
sword of understanding, enter into the sovereignty of the true
Self, the joy of thy heart’s desire.

Therefore, ending the acts of the “I” and the other evil powers,
casting away desire, gaining the transcendent good, dwell in
silence, seeking to enter into the bliss of the true Self, putting
away all sense of separateness in the universal Self, the Eternal.
(310)

Even when the potent “I” has been uprooted, if it be evoked again
by dwelling on it even for a moment in the imagination, it will
come to life and cause a hundred distractions, like a storm-driven
cloud in the season of the rains.

Holding down the enemy, the “I,” let no opportunity at all be

given to the imagination to dwell on sensuous things; for this
gives new life to the “I” as water to a parched lemon tree.

The personality who is subject to desire is formed by identifying

the self with the body; that which causes desire is distinct from
this. Going beyond oneself to seek union with sensuous things,
through attachment to something apart from the Self, is the cause
of bondage to the world.

From the maturing of the act comes the maturing of the seed of
future bondage; from the destruction of the act comes the
destruction of the seed; therefore, let the act be stopped.

From the maturing of the dynamic mind-image comes the act,

and from the maturing of the act comes the dynamic mind-image;
thus man’s cycle of birth and death continues and ceases not.
(315)
:
 In order to cut the bonds of recurring birth and death, let him
who seeks for control burn up these two; the maturing of the
dynamic mind-image comes from these two, imagination and
outer act.

Waxing great through these two, it brings to birth the cycle of

birth and death for the Self; and there is a way to destroy these
three in all conditions, always.

In all places, in all ways, in all things fixing the vision only on the
Eternal, through the strengthening of the dynamic impress of
true Being, these three melt into nothingness.

Through the destruction of the act comes the destruction of the

imagining, and from this the withering of the dynamic mind-
image. When the dynamic mind-image has withered away, this is
liberation, this is called deliverance even in life.

When the dynamic impress of the Real breaks through and

reveals itself, the mind-image of the “I” and the other powers
melts away, as before the brightness of the radiant sun the
darkness melts away utterly. (320)

Darkness and the works of darkness which ensnare unto evil

disappear when the lord of day ascends; therefore when the
essence of that partless bliss is known, there is no longer any
bondage, no longer the savour of pain.

Rejecting all allurements of things seen, entering into the One, the
Real, the sphere of blessedness, intent and alert without and
within, let him endure until the bonds of former works pass
away.

Standing firm in the Eternal, let no negligent loss of recollection

be permitted at any time, for negligence is death: thus spoke the
:
 Master Sanat Kumara.

For him who seeks to know the true Self, there is no evil like
negligence; from it comes delusion, from this comes the false “I,”
from this comes bondage, from this destruction.

Loss of recollection overthrows even him who has attained to

knowledge, if he turn toward sensuous allurements, even as an
evil woman brings her paramour to destruction. (325)

As the green scum on a pond, when pushed aside, does not so

remain even for a moment, so Glamour wraps itself about even
the wise man who looks back.

If the imagination, falling back from its goal, be enmeshed even a

little in external things, it continues to descend through negligent
loss of recollection, like a play-ball fallen on a flight of stairs.

When the imagination enters into sensuous things, it builds up

images of their qualities; from this building up comes desire;
because of desire the man moves toward them.

He thus loses hold of his true nature; and he who loses hold, falls
downward. For him who has fallen, there is no rising again
without great loss. Let him, therefore, put an end to this building
up of images, which is a cause of every evil.

Therefore, for him who has discerned, who knows the Eternal in
soul vision, there is no death other than negligent loss of
recollection. But he who is intently concentrated attains complete
success; therefore, be thou intently centred in the true Self, with
heedfulness. (330)

He who has reached liberation in life is liberated when he puts

off the body; but he who makes a division between himself and
:
 the true Self, falls under fear: thus saith the Scripture of the Yajur
Veda.

Whenever the seeker after wisdom makes a division, even no

greater than an atom, in the infinite Eternal, what he beholds
through negligent loss of recollection as separate from the
Eternal, becomes for him a source of danger.

He who identifies himself with sensuous things, forbidden by a

hundred texts of Scripture and sacred tradition and by reason,
falls into a host of sorrows upon sorrows; he who thus does what
is forbidden, is a robber.

He who sets his heart on the search for the Real, liberated, enters
into the mighty power of the true Self, everlasting; but he who
sets his heart on the unreal, falls; this is seen even in the honest
man and the thief.

The saint, rejecting pursuit of the unreal, the cause of bondage,

should stand firm in the vision of the true Self, saying: “That Self
am I”; this steadfast resting in the Eternal brings joy through
realization of the true Self, and drives away the great pain caused
by unwisdom. (335)

The fixing of the heart on sensuous things causes the increase of

evil mind-images progressively as its fruit; knowing this through
discernment, and rejecting sensuous things, let him ever fix the
heart on the true Self.

From putting an end to sensuous allurements comes quietude of

heart; in quietude of heart there is the vision of the Supreme Self;
when the Supreme Self is seen clearly, there follows destruction
of bondage to the world; therefore the ending of sensuous
allurements is the path of deliverance.
:
 Who, being learned, able to discern between the Real and the
unreal, holding the proofs of Scripture, seeing the supreme goal,
possessing knowledge, would, like a child, set up his rest on the
unreal, the cause of his falling from the true Self?

For him who is attached to the body and its pleasures there is no
liberation; he who is liberated has put away the service of the
body and its allurements. He who is asleep is not awake, and he
who is awake is not asleep, since these two are of opposite
natures.

He who, through the Self discerning the Self within and without,
in things moving and unmoving, firmly resting in the vision of
the true Self, putting aside vesture after vesture, stands in
undivided Being through the universal Self, he indeed has
reached deliverance. (340)

Through the universal Self comes the cause of deliverance from

bondage; nothing is greater than oneness with the universal Self.
When grasping after sensuous things ceases, this oneness with
the universal Self is attained by standing ever in the true Self.

But how can grasping after sensuous things cease in him who
identifies himself with the body, whose heart is set on the
enjoyment of sensuous things, who is working the works of the
body? It is to be accomplished by those who renounce the
rewards that are sought through worldly duties and religious
rites, who have taken their stand in the everlasting Self, who
know the Real, who see the bliss of Being in the Self, toiling with
strong effort.

The Scripture: “He who is full of peace, lord of himself,” enjoins

concentration in soul vision on the disciple who, fulfilling the
teaching and all works, seeks union with the universal Self.
:
 The destruction of the “I” established in its strength cannot be
accomplished immediately even by the wise; except for those
who stand unmoved in the soul vision which is beyond
separateness, the dynamic mind-images reproduce themselves
endlessly.

The power of distraction, made operative through the power

which wraps in glamour, and working through the delusive
thought of “I,” draws the man into distraction through the
potencies of these. (345)

The victory over the power of distraction is difficult to gain until

the power which wraps in glamour has been completely
overcome. Let him destroy the power which wraps in glamour by
discerning between the Seer and things seen, as clearly as water
is distinguished from milk, and by the realization of the true Self.

He is without doubt free from bondage when there is no

distraction by the mirage of sensuous things; perfect
discernment, born of clear vision, truly discriminating between
the Seer and things seen, cuts the bonds of delusion forged by
Glamour, and thereafter the recurring cycle of birth and death
ceases for him who has gained deliverance.

The fire of discernment of the oneness of that which is above and

that which is below burns up the thicket of unwisdom completely.
For him who has attained to the realization of Unity, how can
there be a seed of recurring birth and death?

Through the vision of the one Real comes the end of the power
which wraps in glamour; there follow the destruction of false
perception and the end of sorrows caused by the distractions
which spring from it.
:
 These three perceptions arise together, as when the true
character of the rope is seen; therefore, let the wise man know
the reality of Being, for deliverance from his bonds. (350)

The understanding enkindled by consciousness, as iron is

enkindled by fire, takes the forms of the powers of perception
and action; the result is the manifestation of the three, the power
that enwraps, the power that distracts, the sorrow that ensues: a
mirage like what is seen in delusion, in dream, in phantasy.

Thence come all the modes of manifested Nature, beginning with

the “I” and ending with the body, and all objects of desire; all are
unenduring, since they change from moment to moment, but the
true Self never changes.

The higher Self is eternal, undivided, partless consciousness, one,

witness of the understanding and all the powers, other than the
manifest and the unmanifest, whose being is the ideal “I,” the
realm of hidden being and bliss.

Thus the wise man, discerning between the Real and the unreal,
perceiving the truth through his own awakened vision, knowing
himself as the true Self, partless illumination, set free from these
things, enters into peace in the Self.

Then are the heart’s knots of unwisdom for ever loosed, when the
vision of the one true Self is gained through soul vision free from
separateness. (355)

The building up of “thou” and “I” and “this” in the higher Self, one
and undivided, comes through the fault of the understanding; but
when soul vision becomes radiant, this sense of separateness
melts away through the firm grasp of real substance.

The saint, who has entered into peace, controlled, ceasing from
:
 evil, all-enduring, gains for himself the eternal being of the
universal Self; thereby burning up all sense of separateness born
of the darkness of unwisdom, through likeness to the Eternal he
dwells in joy, free from bondage to works and from the sense of
separateness.

They indeed possess soul vision who have dissolved outer things,
the allurements of sense, imagination and the “I,” in pure
consciousness; they, verily, are free from the bonds and snares of
the world, not they who merely repeat tales about the mystery.

Through the difference of vestures, the one Self appears to be

divided; when the vestures are stripped off, the Self is one;
therefore, let the wise man dwell in soul vision free from
separateness, that the vestures may pass away.

Attached to the Real, the man goes to the being of the Real,
through steadfastness in the one; so the larva, meditating on the
bee, is transformed into the nature of the bee. (360)

For the larva, putting away all other activity, meditating on the
bee, enters into the being of the bee; so the seeker for union,
meditating on the reality of the supreme Self, enters therein
through steadfastness in the one.

Exceeding subtle is the reality of the supreme Self, nor can it be

perceived by gross vision; it is to be known through soul vision,
exceeding subtle in its power, by those of noble heart and purified
understanding.

As gold refined in the furnace, putting away dross, comes to its

own nature, so the heart, ridding itself through meditation of the
dross of substance, passion and darkness, reaches the Real.

When the heart, thus purified by diligent, unbroken meditation,

:
 is dissolved in the Eternal, then comes soul vision without
separateness, experience of the essence of the undivided bliss of
the Self. (364)

From this soul vision comes the destruction of all the knots of
dynamic mind-images, the destruction of all bondage through
works; within and without, in all ways, for ever, the true Self is
fully revealed even without striving.

Let him know that thinking is a hundred times better than

hearing, that meditation is a hundred thousand times better than
thinking, that soul vision without separateness is infinitely better
than meditation.

For it is certain that through soul vision without separateness the

true being of the Eternal is attained, and not otherwise; through
the unstable emotional nature, it is blurred and commingled with
thoughts of other things.

Therefore, enter in soul vision into the hidden Self, with powers
controlled, with heart in unbroken peace; dispel the darkness
born of beginningless unwisdom through clear vision of the
oneness of the Real.

The first door of union is restraint of voice, freedom from

covetousness, expectation and desire, continuous devotion to the
one goal.

Steadfast devotion to the goal ends the allurement of the senses;

control stills the imagination; through peace, the impress of the
“I” is dissolved. Through this, the seeker for union gains
unbroken realization of the bliss of the Eternal; therefore, let the
saint through strong effort gain mastery over the imagination.
(370)
:
 Restrain voice in thyself, restrain thyself in the understanding,
restrain the understanding in the witness of the understanding,
restrain that in the universal Self, going beyond separateness,
and thus enter into perfect peace.

Absorbed in the activity of one or another vesture, be it body, life-

breath, emotion or understanding, the seeker for union takes on
the nature of that power.

When these are mastered, the saint finds the joy which comes
with right cessation, perfect realization of the essence of being
and bliss.

Inward renunciation, outward renunciation belong to him who

has ceased from self indulgence; he who has ceased from self
indulgence renounces inwardly and outwardly through desire for
liberation.

He who has ceased from self indulgence is able to renounce outer

attachment to the things of sense and inner attachment to the “I”
and the imagination, steadfast in the Eternal. (375)

Know thou, O wise one, that ceasing from self indulgence and
illumination are for a man as the two wings of a bird. Without
them he cannot ascend the climbing vine at whose summit is the
nectar, nor by any other means can he gain it.

To him who is utterly free from self indulgence, soul vision

comes; to him who has gained soul vision, illumination is
confirmed; to him who has gained illumination of the Real, comes
liberation from bondage; for him whose soul is freed, there is
experience of eternal joy.

For him who holds himself in sway, I see no engenderer of joy

more potent than ceasing from self indulgence; if this be
:
 accompanied by the purified awakening to the divine Self, it will
bestow on him kingly dominion over self. This is the door of the
ever-young spirit of lasting liberation; therefore do thou, seeking
what is beyond this world, ever follow after wisdom, in all things
unallured, ever in the true Self, seeking the better way.

Cut off hope from sensuous things which are as poison, for this is
the cause of death; giving up concern for birth, family and stage
of life, free thyself utterly from ritual, seeking after reward. Cast
away the delusion of selfhood in the things of the body; seek thou
after wisdom in the true Self; for thou art the Seer, thou art other
than the emotional mind, thou art in truth the partless Eternal.

Bending heart and mind steadily toward the Eternal as the goal,
keeping the outer powers in their true place, steadfastly
disregarding the concerns of the body, realizing the oneness of
thy true Self with the Eternal, through likeness to the Eternal,
through unified consciousness, drink the essence of the joy of the
Eternal, for which there is no night, in thy true Self, for what
profit is there in all else that is devoid of that nectar? (380)

Casting aside all imaginings of that which is not the true Self, foul
and causing sorrow, set thy imagination on that Self whose
essence is bliss, the cause of liberation.

This self-shining, witness of all, is ever revealed in the vesture of

wisdom; make this thy goal, which stands apart from the unreal,
entering into it through realization of thy true Self, free from all
separateness.

Invoking the true Self through unbroken effort, pure of all other
purposes, let the disciple discern that Self clearly through its
essential being.
:
 Firmly holding to the true Self, casting away the “I” and its
concerns, let him stand indifferent above them, as though they
were broken jars of clay.

Lodging the purified inner powers in the being of the Self, the
witness, who is pure illumination, gaining steadfastness step by
step, let him fix his vision on the fulness of the Eternal. (385)

Let him fix his vision on the true Self, the undivided Real, in
fulness like the ether, free from all vestures of body and powers,
emotional mind and the thought of “I,” built up through
ignorance of the real Self.

The space which is filled with a hundred vessels, such as jars and
pots of grain and rice, yet remains free and one, undivided by
them; so the pure Supreme remains free from the “I” and its
concerns, and is ever one.

From the Creator to the log, all vestures are mirage only;
therefore, let him behold his true Self in its fulness, standing in
the one Self.

Whatever is built up through illusion, is seen as the Real, no

different from That, when discernment is gained; when the
delusion is dissipated, it is seen, that the imagined serpent was no
other than the rope; so the whole world is seen to be no other
than the true Self.

Brahma is Self, Vishnu is Self, Indra is Self, Shiva is Self, all this
world is Self; nothing is but Self. (390)

Self is within, Self without, Self before, and Self behind, Self on
the right hand, Self on the left, Self above, Self below.

As wave, foam, eddy, bubble are all in reality water, so from the
:
 body to the “I,” all is consciousness, consciousness is the one pure
essence.

This whole world of which we speak and think is Being only, for
naught is but Being, resting beyond nature’s confines. What are
all jars and pots and earthen vessels but clay? So he, drunk with
the wine of Glamour, speaks of “thou” and “I.”

“When all acts of desire cease, naught remains but That,” says the
Scripture, declaring that the Eternal is undivided, in order to
destroy all false attribution.

Like the ether, stainless, undivided, unbounded, unperturbed,

unchanging, free within and without, alone, one, is the Self, the
supreme Eternal; what else is there to know? (395)

What more, then, remains to be said? The individual soul is the

Eternal; from the world to the atom, all is the Eternal, the Eternal
alone and secondless, according to the Scripture. “I am the
Eternal,” thus illumined in thought, casting away outer desires,
they dwell in oneness with the Eternal, through the true Self
which is ever consciousness and bliss. This, indeed, is certain.

Slay in this vesture of decay the hopes aroused by the thought of

“I,” then slay them in the form-body shaped of air. That form of
joy eternal, glorified in the Vedic hymns, that Self apprehending,
stand in oneness with the Eternal.

So long as he loves this body of death, the man remains impure;

from his enemies come all the pains bound up with birth and
death and sickness. But when he discerns the pure Self, of form
benign, unwavering, then he is delivered from his enemies,
according to the Scripture.

When all that is falsely attributed to the Self is cast aside, there
:
 remains the Self, the supreme Eternal, perfect, secondless, at rest.

When all thought and imagination are centred in Being, in the

higher Self, in the Eternal without separateness, then there
remains of separateness no more than an empty word. (400)

Built up of unreality is the false conception that this is the real

world. What division can there be in the one Substance, without
mutation, shape or difference?

What division can there be in the one Substance, in which there

is no distinction of seer, seeing, seen, without mutation, shape or
difference?

What division can there be in the one Substance, like the world-
ocean infinitely full, without mutation, shape or difference?

What division can there be in the secondless, supreme Real, free

from difference, wherein the cause of delusion melts away, as
darkness melts away in light?

What trace can there be of division in the supreme Real, the very
Self of unity? Even in dreamlessness, which is joy only, who has
ever found division? (405)

After the awakening to the supreme Real, in the Self which is

Being, the Eternal, undivided, this world no longer is, whether
past, present or to come; as there is no serpent in the rope, nor a
drop of water in the river, when the mirage has been recognized.

This duality is Glamour only; transcendentally it is non-dual: thus

says the Scripture, and this is immediately experienced in
dreamlessness.

That the attribute has no being apart from the substance, has
:
 been perceived by the wise. The distinction is born of illusion, as
in the serpent imagined in the rope.

This distinction has its root in the imagination; when the

imagination ceases, it has no longer being. Therefore, concentrate
the imagination in the higher Self, whose form is hidden.

In soul-vision he who has gained wisdom recognizes within his

heart that mysterious being which is perpetual illumination,
formed of perfect joy, incomparable, immeasurable, ever free, in
which is no desire, boundless as the ether, without parts, without
sense of separateness, as the perfect, the Eternal. (410)

In soul-vision he who has gained wisdom recognizes within his

heart that reality, void of the changes of the manifested world, of
unimaginable being, in essence equal, peerless, eternal mind, far
above bondage, revealed by the sacred teachings, everlasting,
revealed by us, as the perfect, the Eternal.

In soul-vision he who has gained wisdom recognizes within his

heart that being, unfading, undying, which by its very nature can
know no setting, still as the ocean depths, beyond name, wherein
potencies and changes have come to rest, immemorial, full of
peace, the one, as the perfect, the Eternal.

Intending the inner mind upon it, behold the Self in its own
being, its partless sovereignty. Cut thy bonds stained with the
stains of the world, by strong effort make thy manhood fruitful.

Come to consciousness of the Self dwelling within thyself, free

from all disguises, which is being, consciousness, bliss, undivided;
so thou buildest no more for going out.

Freed from the burden of the body, cast aside as a corpse, seen as
but the shadow of the man, a mere reflection, a fruit of works, he
:
 of mighty soul puts it on no more. (415)

Drawing near to that being whose form is ever stainless

illumination, joy, put far from thee this disguise, inert, impure; let
it not even be remembered again, for to remember as an object of
desire, that thing that has been vomited, brings contempt.

Burning this up root and all, in the fire, the Self of being, the
Eternal beyond separateness, thereafter he, excellent in wisdom,
stands as the Self, through the Self, which is pure illumination,
bliss.

The body is knotted of the threads of former works, unclean as

the blood of kine; whether it depart or remain, the knower of the
Real regards it not, as his life dissolves in the Self of bliss, the
Eternal.

Knowing the Self, the partless bliss, in its true being, desiring
what, or with what motive will the knower of the Real pamper
the body?

But of him who has attained, free even in life, who has gained
union, this is the fruit: to taste without and within the essence of
being and bliss in the Self. (420)

Of ceasing from self-indulgence, illumination is the fruit; of

illumination, the silencing of desire is the fruit; from realizing the
bliss of the Self, peace is the fruit; this, verily, is the fruit of
silencing desire.

So long as the latter of these is unattained, the former has not

borne its fruit. Supreme content, the peerless joy of the Self, is
liberation.

Not to be perturbed by the griefs of the manifested world is the

:
 renowned fruit of wisdom. Nor, after he has gained discernment,
will a man work again the many blameworthy works done in the
time of his delusion.

To be freed from the unreal is the fruit of wisdom; to be

entangled in it is seen to be the fruit of unwisdom. If there be not
this distinction between wise and unwise, as in the recognition of
the mirage, what then is the reward of the wise?

When the heart’s knot of unwisdom is destroyed without

remainder, how can the presence of objects be a cause of
entanglement for him who is without desire? (425)

Where no dynamic mind-image arises in the presence of objects

of desire, this is the perfection of freedom from self-indulgence;
when the feeling of “I” no longer arises, this is the perfection of
illumination; when the being dissolved in the Eternal returns no
more, this is the perfection of silence.

Rich is he, to be honoured among beings, who, because he stands

ever in the nature of the Eternal, is free in soul from the tyranny
of outer objects, regarding as little as does a sleeping child the
enjoyments deemed alluring by others, who views this world as a
world of dream, who dwells in a certain realm possessing his
soul, reaping the fruit of infinite holiness.

That saint stands firm in wisdom who enjoys the bliss of being,
for his Self is dissolved in the Eternal, he is changeless, risen
above action.

That condition is said to be spiritual wisdom, which is all

consciousness without sense of separateness, plunged deep in the
unity of the Eternal and the Self stripped of every veil.

In whom this wisdom is well established, he is said to stand firm

:
 in wisdom. He whose wisdom thus stands firm, whose bliss is
unbroken, by whom this world is well nigh forgotten, he is said to
be free even in life. (430)

He who, with soul dissolved, is yet awake, free from the bondage
of waking life, whose illumination is without dynamic mind-
images, he is said to be free even in life.

In whom the circle of birth and death has come to rest, who is
individual though without separateness, whose imagination is
free from imaginings, he is said to be free even in life.

Even though the body remains, he regards it as a shadow; he is

without the thought of “I” and “my”: this is the hall mark of him
who is free even in life.

He seeks not to delve into the past or to unveil the future; he is

the disinterested spectator: this is the hall mark of him who is
free even in life.

He regards as equal all things in this world full of contrasts, with

quality set against fault: this is the hall mark of him who is free
even in life. (435)

Whether good or evil fortune come, he regards it as equal in the

Self, remaining unchanged by either: this is the hall mark of him
who is free even in life.

Because the saint’s heart abides savouring the bliss of the Eternal,
he distinguishes not between what is within and what is without:
this is the hall mark of him who is free even in life.

Without the thought of “my” and “I” in what is to be done by the

body and the powers, he stands as the disinterested spectator: he
bears the hall mark of him who is free even in life.
:
 Who knows the Self is one with the Eternal, according to the
power of the Scriptures, who is free from the bondage of the
world: he bears the hall mark of him who is free even in life.

In whom no thought of “I” arises regarding the body and its

powers, nor does he separate himself in thought from what is
other than these: he is said to be free even in life. (440)

Who through wisdom discerns that there is no division between

the hidden Self and the Eternal, nor between the Eternal and the
manifested world: he bears the hall mark of him who is free even
in life.

Who bears it with equal mind, whether he be honoured by the

holy or afflicted by evil men: he bears the hall mark of him who is
free even in life.

Into whom flow all manifested things sent forth by the Supreme,
as rivers of water enter the ocean’s treasure house, causing no
change, because he and they are one Being, that saint has
attained liberation.

For him who has discerned the true being of the Eternal, the
ancient circle of birth and death has ceased. If it remain, he has
not discerned the being of the Eternal; it still lies beyond him.

But if they say that birth and death still beset him because of the
impetus of dynamic mind-images, this is not so; the dynamic
mind-image loses its power through discernment of oneness with
Being. (445)

As the most lustful man’s desire ceases before his mother, so is it

for the wise when the Eternal is known in fulness of bliss.

The Scripture says that even in him who has attained to

:
 meditation the conviction of the reality of outer things remains,
because his former works are working themselves out.

As long as pleasure and pain are felt, so long are former works
working themselves out. The arising of the fruit is because of
former works; where there are no longer works, there is no fruit.

From the discernment that “I am the Eternal”, works heaped up

through hundreds of millions of ages are dissolved, as dream-
works on waking.

Whatever be done in time of dream, whether good or manifest

evil, after he is awake how can it visit him with heaven or hell?
(450)

When he has come to know the true Self, which rises detached
like the sky, he is no more entangled in future works for ever.

As the ether enclosed in the jar is not tainted by the smell of the
wine, so the true Self within the vesture is not tainted by the
properties of the vesture.

The momentum of works begun before the sunrise of wisdom

does not cease without bearing fruit after wisdom is gained; it is
like an arrow aimed and shot at a mark.

The arrow shot with the thought that there is a tiger does not halt
when it is seen to be a cow, but quickly pierces the mark because
of its impetus.

Works already entered on retain their energy even in the case of

those who have attained wisdom; only through being
experienced are they consumed. Former works, works
accumulated, and future works melt away in the fire of perfect
wisdom. They who perceive the oneness of the Eternal and the
:
 Self, and stand ever in the realization of that oneness, for them
the three kinds of works exist no longer; they become the Eternal,
free from limitations.

For the saint who stands in the Self, through the oneness of the
Self with the perfect Eternal which is free from the qualities of
the vestures, the myth of the reality of former works exists no
longer, as for him who is awake the myth of bondage to things
seen in dream no longer exists.

For he who has awaked no longer keeps the thought of “I and my

and that” with regard to the dream body and the world belonging
to it; he comes to himself simply by waking.

He no longer wishes to gain the things of his dream, nor does he

seek to grasp the dream world. But if he still pursues the things of
the mirage, it is certain he has not yet awaked from sleep.

He who dwells in the supreme Eternal stands ever in the Self,

beholding nothing else; as is the memory of something seen in
dream, so for the wise man are eating and other bodily acts.

Though the body which is built up by former works continues to

work out the works that are entered on, these works are not
bound up with the beginningless Self, for the Self is not built up
by works. (460)

“Unborn, eternal, everlasting,” says the Scripture, which cannot

speak in vain; therefore, what building of works can there be for
him who stands in the Self?

Works entered on retain their force so long as the body is held to

be the Self; but to think of the body as the Self is false; therefore,
let works entered on be renounced.
:
 Even the building of the body by former works is also an illusion;
whence can come the reality of what is only imagined? How can
there be the birth of what is unreal?

How can there be the destruction of what has not been born?
How can there be former works of what does not exist, if through
wisdom the effects of unwisdom are dissolved, root and all?

How does this body subsist? The Scripture declares the

development of works exists, to bring growth to those who are
full of doubt and inert in mind, through the perception of
external things, but not to establish in the wise the belief in the
reality of the body and outer things. (465)

The Eternal is complete, beginningless, endless, changeless, one,

secondless; in the Eternal there is no diversity.

The Eternal is the sum of being, the sum of consciousness,

everlasting, the sum of bliss, without action, one, verily, and
secondless; in the Eternal there is no diversity.

The Eternal is the one hidden essence, full, unending, in all

directions conscious, one, verily, and secondless; in the Eternal
there is no diversity.

The Eternal cannot be diminished or excelled, the Eternal cannot

be apprehended, nor does it need any support; it is one, verily,
and secondless; in the Eternal there is no diversity.

The Eternal is without qualities, without parts, subtle, without

separateness, without stain, one, verily, and secondless; in the
Eternal there is no diversity. (470)

The Eternal is in its nature indefinable, not to be reached by word

or thought, one, verily, and secondless; in the Eternal there is no
:
 diversity.

The Eternal is the riches of being, in itself perfect, pure,

awakened, unlike aught else, one, verily, and secondless; in the
Eternal there is no diversity.

The mighty sages who have cast away passion, who have cast
away sensual feasts, who have gained quietude and control,
knowing the Real in the supreme consummation, have reached
the highest joy through union with the Self.

Therefore, discerning this supreme reality of the Self, in its own

nature the sum of bliss, shake off the delusion built up by thine
own thought, free thyself, attain, awake!

Through soul-vision which rests unwavering in the Self, behold

the reality of the Self with the eye of clear illumination; when the
truth revealed by the Scripture has been perfectly discerned
beyond all question, doubt will not return again. (475)

In gaining the Self, which is truth, wisdom and the essence of joy,
by freeing thyself from the bondage of the fetters of unwisdom,
the Scripture, right reasoning and the word of the teacher are
means of enlightenment, and the realization of the Self, inwardly
attained, is a means of enlightenment.

Freedom from bondage, joy, wholeness of thought and happiness

must be known by oneself; the knowledge of others is only
inference.

As the Masters who stand on the further shore and the Scriptures
reveal, let the wise man cross over through that wisdom which
comes through the divine grace of the Lord, the Logos.

Through his own experience knowing his Self undivided,

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 reaching the supreme attainment, let him stand in the Self,
through the Self which is without separateness.

This is the meaning, this is the final word of the teaching of

wisdom: the individual life is the Eternal, the whole world is the
Eternal; to be established without sense of separateness in the
secondless Eternal is liberation; this too the Scriptures declare.
(480)

Attaining the supreme reality through the Master’s words and the
evidence of the Scriptures, and gaining union with the Self, with
heart at rest, concentrated in the Self, his whole being
unwavering, the disciple rested in the Self; then, intending his
mind for a certain time on the supreme Eternal, rising, in perfect
joy, he spoke these words:

Thought has ceased, activity of desire has fallen away, through

the oneness of the Eternal and the Self, through illumination; I
know not this; I know naught other than this; what is it? how
great? It is shoreless joy!

Not by word can it be spoken, nor by mind can it be thought; the

vast expanse of the ocean of the supreme Eternal is filled full
with the nectar of the bliss of the Self. Rejoicing like the rocky bed
of a torrent suddenly flooded by the rains, drinking in each least
drop, my heart rejoices now in the joy of the Self.

Whither has the world gone? By whom taken away? Into what
has it dissolved? No longer do I behold it: a mighty marvel! (485)

What is to be put away? What is to be taken? What other is there,

what distinction, in the mighty ocean of the Eternal, filled with
the nectar of partless bliss?

Of the world, I no longer see or hear or know anything; I have

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 become the Self, whose nature is being and bliss.

Honour, honour to thee, Master, mighty-souled, liberated from

bondage, most excellent being, in thy nature the essence of
eternal, secondless joy, mighty, a shoreless ocean of compassion.

As he who, wearied by the heat of day, is refreshed by the

abundant beams of the rising moon, so in an instant have I
gained the dwelling of the Self, the partless majesty and joy, the
imperishable.

Rich am I, I have attained my end, I have gained liberation from

the dragon of the world. (490)

I am without attachment, without members, without

distinguishing mark, without partition; I have attained to peace, I
am infinite, I am stainless, immemorial.

I am neither he who acts, nor he who experiences, I am beyond

change, beyond ceremonial rites; I am in essence purified
intelligence, I am unconditioned, ever blest.

I am other than he who sees, hears, speaks, acts, experiences; I

am eternal, the innermost, beyond ritual acts, boundless,
detached, the plenary awakened Self.

I am not this, I am not that, but the radiance in both, supreme,

made pure; empty within and without, yet filled, the secondless
Eternal, in truth am I.

The beginningless reality, like which there is naught else, far from
the fictions of “thou” and “I” and “this” and “that,” the fine
essence of eternal bliss, the truth, the secondless Eternal, verily,
am I. (495)
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 I am the divine Logos, who makes an end of hell, I am the Spirit,
who takes the fortress, I am the Lord; I am partless intelligence,
the supreme witness, for me there is no distinction of “Lord” and
“I” and “mine.”

I am established within all beings through the Self of wisdom,

secure within and without; I am both he who experiences and
what is experienced, whatever was seen as separate before, with
the thought of “that.”

Within me, partless ocean of joy, manifold world-waves arise and

sink again, driven to and fro by the winds of Glamour.

As a mirage this bodily form and the finer vestures are built up,
and the worlds are brought into momentary being, just as in
Time, which is partless, continuous, the ages, the years and
seasons are imagined.

The superstructure injures not the firm foundation, whatever

deluded, sinful men may build; nor does the mighty river of
water in the mirage moisten even a span of the dry desert. (500)

Like the shining ether, I endure through ages, like the sun I am
marked by radiance, like the mountain I stand ever firm, I am
shoreless like the ocean.

As the clear sky is not bound by clouds, I am not bound by the

body; how then can I be limited by its modes of waking,
dreaming, dreamlessness?

The vesture comes, the vesture goes, it works works and meets
experience; the vesture withers and dies, but I remain, set firm
like a mighty mountain.

Not mine are manifesting and withdrawal, since I am ever of one

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 form undivided; how could he, who is of the essence of the one
Self, without crevice or division, full like the ether, be subject to
pain?

How can I be involved in righteous or unrighteous deeds, I, who

am other than the powers that act, other than thought, without
change, without form, partless, conscious of bliss? Thus the
Scripture says: the Spirit is followed neither by good nor evil.
(505)

Whatever thing, hot or cold, fair or foul, may touch his shadow,
does not in the least affect the man himself, who is other than it.

The properties of what he witnesses do not affect the witness,

who is apart from them, disinterested; just as the properties of
the house do not affect the lamp.

As the sun which witnesses the act, as the fire which leads the
conflagration, as the rope which holds what is raised, so is this
Self of mine, dwelling on the summit.

I am not he who acts nor he who causes acts, I am not he who

experiences or causes experience, I am not he who sees nor he
who causes seeing, the Self am I, self-shining, secondless.

The Self stands steadfast like the sun; seeing its reflection
perturbed when the vesture is perturbed, men of deluded mind
attribute the perturbation to the Self, saying: I act, I experience, I
am slain. (510)

Whether this inert body traverse the water or the land, I am not
touched by the properties of these, as the ether is not touched by
the properties of the jar. All conditions, of actor or enjoyer, of evil
or deluded, of inert or bond or free, are built up through the
mind, and are not lasting realities in the Self, the supreme
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 Eternal, alone, without a second.

Let there be ten, a hundred, a thousand transformations of

nature; what are these changes to me? The sky is not stained by
the lowering cloud.

All that is perceived, from the unmanifest to the material world,

is reflection only; like space, beginningless, endless, subtle is the
secondless Eternal; that, verily, am I.

Upholding all, illumining all things, cause of every form,

penetrating all, yet untouched by all, eternal, pure, steadfast,
without separateness is the secondless Eternal; that, verily, am I.
(515)

Wherein all differing appearances are merged without

remainder, of concealed nature, not to be approached by thought,
in essence truth, wisdom, bliss, formed of bliss is the secondless
Eternal; that, verily, am I.

Without act am I, without change, without division, without form

, without separateness, eternal, underived, secondless.

I am in essence the All, I am the All, I have transcended the All, I

am secondless, perfect, partless illumination, I am bliss, I am the
inmost.

This self-conquest, sovereignty, dominion, through my Master’s

compassion, grace, might and favour, has been gained by me;
obeisance to my gracious Master of mighty soul, obeisance to
thee, and again obeisance.

I was wandering in the great dream forest of birth, decay and

death created by delusion, day by day afflicted by many pains,
stalked by the tiger, egotism; through infinite compassion
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 awakening me from my dream, thou, Master, hast become my
saviour. (520)

Reverence to the One, whatever it be! Reverence to that Light

which shines universal, and to thee, king of teachers!

Beholding that excellent disciple bowed in obeisance, who had

attained to the joy of the vision of the Soul, who bad gained
illumination, the lord of instructors, mighty-souled, heartily
rejoicing, again addressed to him this final word:

The world is the expression of the thought of the Eternal,

therefore all Being, everywhere, is the Eternal; thus behold it in
all modes of being with serene understanding, illumined by the
Higher Self. That Being which is everywhere beheld apart from
form by those possessing vision, what else can be the Soul’s
garden of delight for the righteous knower of the Eternal?

What wise man would rejoice in empty things, rejecting the

experience of that essence of supreme bliss? When the great, joy-
bringing moon is shining, who wishes to behold a pictured moon?

For there is no satisfaction in experiencing an unreal object, nor

any escape from pain; do thou stand satisfied, rejoicing, resting
ever in the supreme Self, through the experience of that essence
of secondless delight. (525)

Ever beholding that supreme Self everywhere, resting thy

thought in the secondless Self, let the time pass for thee, mighty-
minded, in the experience of the bliss of the Self.

Conceiving separateness in that partless Self of illumination,

which is without separateness, is like building dwellings in the
air; therefore, gaining supreme serenity through the Self which is
ever secondless joy, rejoice in silence.
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 The Soul’s supreme tranquility, brooding in silence, dissolves the
insubstantial buildings of the mind; from this, through the
supreme Self, which is the Eternal, straightway comes joy in
undivided bliss.

There is no more excellent source of joy than silence free from all
mind-images, for him who has discerned the true being of the
Self, drinking in the essence of the joy of the Self.

Whether walking, standing, sitting, lying down, or in whatever

state, let the saint, possessing wisdom, freely dwell, rejoicing in
the supreme Self. (530)

Neither place nor time nor posture nor position, or any other
rule, is the cause of release from bondage; for the sage of mighty
soul, who has attained to the Real, the illumination of the
supreme Self is the rule of life.

What rule will avail, to know even an earthen pot, unless it be

perceived? When it is perceived, there is clear understanding.

The supreme Self shines forth ever perfect, when it is perceived;

neither place nor time nor ritual purification is needed further.

The realization that I am Devadatta needs no certifying; so is it

with the knowledge that I am the Eternal, for him who knows the
Eternal.

What illumination does he need, for whom the world other than
the Self, light as chaff, is revealed by the radiance of the Eternal,
as the whole world is revealed by the sun? (535)

What can illumine that Light whence Vedas, scriptures, ancient

histories, and even all beings derive their value?
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 This supreme Self, immeasurable, is self-luminous, of infinite
power, the source of all experience. Knowing that supreme Self,
and freed from bondage, the most excellent knower of the
Eternal gains the victory.

Things of sense neither wound him nor delight him, he is no

longer either allured or revolted by them; in the supreme Self he
joys and rejoices ever, delighting in the essence of that unrivalled
bliss.

As a child, free from hunger and bodily pain, rejoices in his play,
so the sage delights, happy, free from “my” and “I.”

His food comes to him freely, without anxiety or sorrow, he

drinks from the clear stream, he moves unfettered everywhere,
he rests light-hearted in the forest or the burying ground, his
vesture needs neither washing nor drying, wide space is his
dwelling, the earth is his couch, all roads and pathways are open
for his feet, so the sage rejoices in the supreme Eternal. (540)

Dwelling in a body like the air-ships of the gods, he tastes

boundless joys freely presented to him, the knower of the
supreme Self is as a child obedient to a higher will; he is of form
unmanifest, untouched by allurement.

Clothed in space, or wearing a vesture, clothed in skin or in pure

thought, as a madman or a child or a ghost, he walks the earth.

Withdrawing desire from things of desire, the silent sage walks in

solitude, ever contented in the supreme Self, through the
supreme Self he stands firm.

Now as a madman, now a sage, now a glorious, great king, now a

humble wanderer, now solitary as a serpent, now honoured, now
lightly esteemed, now unknown, thus goes the sage, ever rejoicing
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 in the highest bliss.

Though without riches, yet ever content; though without a helper,

yet of mighty power; though bereft, yet ever rejoicing; though
afflicted, full of joy. Acting, though not himself the actor; reaping
the reward, though not seeking enjoyment; possessing a body,
though beyond the body; though hemmed in, yet going
everywhere. (545)

Neither good nor evil, neither fair nor foul touch him, dwelling
ever beyond the body, full of the vision of the Eternal.

Pleasure and pain, things fair and foul are for him who is in
bondage to the natural or psychic body, falsely attributing
selfhood to these; but for the silent seer, one with the supreme
Self, whose bonds have fallen away, what fruit is any longer fair
or foul?

Because the sun appears to be swallowed by the darkness of

eclipse, folk say it is swallowed, misled, not knowing the truth.

So, though the knower of the Eternal be freed from the body and
all bonds, those who are deluded see him as possessing a body,
because they see the semblance of a body. (550)

As a snake puts off its slough, he stands freed from the body,

moving hither and thither before the breath of life.

As the tree is borne by the river to low land or high, the body is
borne by destiny to those whose time for bodily experience has
come.

Because of the impulses engendered by former works which are

being exhausted, he who has gained freedom from the body
dwells as though possessing a body, among those who are reaping
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 experience; having attained, he dwells as a witness, silent, like
the centre of a wheel moving neither up nor down.

Neither does he engage his powers in objects of perception, nor

does he turn away from them, but stands as an onlooker; nor
does he desire at all the reward of any act, since his heart is filled
with the nectar of the essence of pure bliss.

He who stands firm in the supreme Self, seeking neither the seen
nor the unseen, like Divinity, self-revealed, he is the most
excellent knower of the Eternal. (555)

Though living, yet ever free, his goal attained, that most excellent
knower of the Eternal, when the vesture falls away, being the
Eternal, enters the secondless Eternal.

Like a man wearing an actor’s costumes of honour or dishonour,

so, verily, that excellent knower of the Eternal is ever the Eternal
and no other.

Even before the coming of death, the body of the sage who has
become one with the Eternal is consumed by the fire of the
knowledge of the Eternal, as a withered leaf is consumed.

For the silent sage who stands in the real Self which is the
Eternal, through the Self which is formed of perfect, undivided
bliss, there is no consideration of fit place or time or
circumstance for sloughing off this vesture of skin and flesh and
corruption.

To be rid of the body and the ascetic’s water pot and staff is not
the true deliverance; to be rid of the heart’s knot of unwisdom,
that is deliverance.

What joy or sorrow is it to the tree, whether its leaf fall in a

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 rivulet or a river, in a favoured field or a sacrificial enclosure?

The destruction of the body, the sense-powers, the life-breath, the

mind, is as the destruction of a leaf, a flower, a fruit; but the Self
stands firm like the tree, the Self of true Being, formed of bliss.

The sages say that the destruction of the vesture of unwisdom is

the revelation of the Real, the true Self, according to the
Scripture, “the Self is a realm of pure illumination.”

“Imperishable, verily, is the Self,” the Scripture declares,

concerning the Self, revealing the Self as indestructible among
things that perish.

As stone and wood and grass and grain and straw are all burned
and reduced to dust, so, verily, the body, the sense-powers, the
life-breath, the mind, all that is manifest, burned up by the fire of
wisdom, return to the nature of the higher Self. (565)

As darkness, being of opposite nature, is dissolved in the radiance

of the sun, so, verily, all that is manifest melts away in the
Eternal.

As the space of ether remains clear space when the earthen jar is
destroyed, so, verily, when the vesture is dissolved, the Eternal is
the Eternal.

As milk poured into milk, oil into oil, water into water, blends in
complete oneness, so, verily, the silent sage who knows the Self
becomes one with the Self.

Thus gaining bodiless liberation, pure Being, undivided, the Being

of the Eternal, the liberated sage returns no more.

Since the body of unwisdom is burned up by the illumination of

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 oneness with the real Self, and he has become one with the
Eternal, how should he again come forth from the Eternal? (570)

Both bondage and liberation from bondage are built up by

Glamour, and have no true being in the Self; just as the
appearance and disappearance of the fancied serpent have no
real existence in the rope, which has remained unchanged.

There is no veiling or enwrapping of the Eternal; since there is

naught other than the Eternal, it cannot be veiled. If there were
aught else, the single being of the Eternal would be forfeited, but
the Scripture admits no duality.

Vainly do the deluded attribute to the Real the bondage and

liberation which belong only to the mind; just as the sun is
hidden, when the observer is wrapped in cloud. But the Eternal
remains secondless, detached Consciousness, one, everlasting.

The belief that the Real comes into being, or ceases to be, belong
to the mind, not to the eternal Reality. (574)

Therefore, these two, bondage and liberation, are built up by

Glamour, they are not in the real Self, which is partless, actless,
serene, faultless, stainless; what division can there be in the
secondless, supreme Being, one like space?

There is neither surcease nor origin, neither bondage nor

perfecting, neither seeker for liberation nor liberated; this is the
transcendental truth.

Among the crest jewels of all the Scriptures, this is the ultimate
mystery. This supreme mystery has been revealed to thee by me
to-day; the sin of the Age of Darkness washed away, thy mind set
free from desire, I have led thee, seeking liberation, as my own
child, to thy goal.
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 Hearing thus the word of the Master, humbly, and with obedient
heart, he went forth, with the Master’s blessing, set free from
bondage.

The Master also went forth straightway, his mind immersed in

the ocean of being and bliss, bringing purity to the whole world.

Thus, through this dialogue of Master and disciple, the revelation

of the supreme Self has been made, to awake to joy the souls of
those who seek liberation. (580)

From those who reverently accept this benignant teaching, all the
sins of the heart are cast out, one by one; they have discarded
worldly pleasure, their hearts have entered peace, self-ruled and
seeking liberation, they rejoice in the nectar of the Scripture.

To those who are wandering in the desert of the world, athirst, on

the path of circling birth and death, weary, oppressed and worn
by sorrow as by the sun’s fierce rays, may this teaching reveal the
secondless Eternal, bringing joy, like an ocean of nectar near at
hand; for this teaching of Shankara brings victory and leads to
Nirvana.

About the Author: Charles Johnston

Theosophist, Author, Linguist. Translator of the

Upanishads, Gita, Yoga Sutras, etc. Bio: Charles
Johnston
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