- Adi Shankaracharya (Vakya Vritti ; slokas 11-23).

“Why do you not recognise your own Self, which is an embodiment of Eternal Bliss-Essence, the Witnessing Light that illumines the inner equipments and their functions ?”

“Give up the intellectual misconception that the Self is the body, etc., and always meditate upon and think yourself to be the eternal Knowledge-Bliss the Witness of the intellect – a sheer mass of Pure Knowledge”.

“The body is not the Self, as like the pot, etc., the body also has form, etc., and again, the body is a modification of the great elements such as Akash, just like the pot”.

The disciple said: “If, by the strength of these arguments, the gross-body is considered as “not-Self”, then please exhaustively explain and directly indicate the Self – as clearly as a fruit in hand”.

The teacher said: “Just as the perceiver of a pot is ever distinctly different from the pot and can never be the pot – so too, you, the perceiver of your body, are distinct from your body distinct from your body and can never be the body, this you firmly ascertain in yourself.”

“Similarly be sure in yourself that you, the seer of the senses, are not the senses themselves, and ascertain that you are neither the mind, not the intellect, not the vital air (Prana).”

“Similarly be sure that you are not the complex of the gross and the subtle-bodies, and intelligently determine, by inference, that you, the ‘seer’, are entirely distinct from the ‘seen’.”

“’I am He’, the One because of whose presence alone the inert entities like the body and the senses, are able to function through acceptance and rejection”.

“’I am He’, the One changeless, Innermost Self that moves the intellect, etc., as a magnet does the iron f ilings.”

“’I am He’, the One Entity in whose vital presence the body, senses, mind, and Pranas, though inert in themselves, appear to be conscious and dynamic, as though they are the Self.”

“‘He am I’, the One Consciousness, which is the Self that illumines the modifications in my mind such as ‘my mind went elsewhere, however, it has been brought to rest now’, – ‘He am I’ (So’ham).”

“’He am I’, the One Consciousness which is the Changeless Self that is directly cognised, that illumines the three states of waking, dream, and deep-sleep, and that which illumines appearance and disappearance of the intellect and its functions – ‘He am I’ (So’ham).”

“Know yourself to be the One Self, a homogenous mass of Consciousness, which is the illuminator of the body and therefore quite distinct from it – just as a lamp that illumines a pot is always different from the pot illumined. ‘I am a mass of Consciousness’ (Aham bodhavigraha).”