Wednesday, June 23, 2021

SELF REALISATION - BY ADI SHANKARACHARYA (selected verses)


--- Knowledge is not brought about by any other means than enquiry, just as an object is nowhere perceived (seen) without the help of light.
--- Who am I? How is this (world) created? Who is its creator? Of what material is this (world) made? This is the way of that enquiry.
--- I am neither the body, a combination of the (five) elements (of matter), nor am I an aggregate of the senses; I am something different from these. This is the way of that enquiry..
-- Everything is produced by ignorance, and dissolves in the wake of Knowledge. The various thoughts must be the creator. Such is this enquiry.
---The material (cause) of these two (i.e., ignorance and thought) is the One (without a second), subtle (not apprehended by the senses) and unchanging Sat (Existence), just as the earth is the material (cause) of the pot and the like. This is the way of that enquiry.
--- As I am also the One, the Subtle, the Knower, the Witness, the Ever-Existent, and the Unchanging, so there is no doubt that I am "That" (i.e., Brahman). Such is this enquiry.
---Self is verily one and without parts, whereas the body consists of many parts; and yet the people see (confound) these two as one ! What else can be called ignorance but this?
--- Self is the ruler of the body and is internal, the body is the ruled and is external.,
---- Self is all consciousness and holy, the body is all flesh and impure.
---- Self is the (supreme) Illuminator and purity itself; the body is said to be of the nature of darkness.
---- Self is eternal, since it is Existence itself; the body is transient, as it is non-existence in essence.
---The luminosity of Self consists in the manifestation of all objects. Its luminosity is not like that of fire or any such thing, for (in spite of the presence of such lights) darkness prevails at night (at some place or other).
----How strange is it that a person ignorantly rests contented with the idea that he is the body, while he knows it as something belonging to him (and therefore apart from him) even as a person who sees a pot (knows it as apart from him) !
--- I am verily Brahman, being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. I am not the body which is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
--- I am without any change, without any form, free from all blemish and decay.
----I am not subjected to any disease, I am beyond all comprehension, free from all alternatives and all-pervading.
--- I am without any attribute or activity, I am eternal, ever free, and imperishable.
--- I am free from all impurity, I am immovable, unlimited, holy, un-decaying, and immortal.
--- O you ignorant one! Why do you assert the blissful, ever-existent self, which resides in your own body and is (evidently) different from it, which is known as Purusha and is established (by the Shruti as identical with Brahman), to be absolutely non-existent?
Translated by Swami Vimuktananda, Advaita Ashram ,kolkata

                                        

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