31. The body, etc., up to the “Causal Body” – Ignorance –
which are objects perceived, are as perishable as bubbles. Realise through
discrimination that I am the ‘Pure Brahman’ ever completely separate from all
these.
32. I am other than the body and so I am free from changes
such as birth, wrinkling, senility, death, etc. I have nothing to do with the
sense objects such as sound and taste, for I am without the sense-organs.
33. I am other than the mind and hence, I am free from
sorrow, attachment, malice and fear, for “HE is without breath and without
mind, Pure, etc.”, is the Commandment of the great scripture, the Upanishads.
34. I am without attributes and actions; Eternal (Nitya)
without any desire and thought (Nirvikalpa), without any dirt (Niranjana),
without any change (Nirvikara), without form (Nirakara), ever-liberated (Nitya
Mukta) ever-pure (Nirmala).
35. Like the space I fill all things within and without.
Changeless and the same in all, at all times I am pure, unattached, stainless
and motionless.
36. I am verily that Supreme Brahman alone which is Eternal,
Pure and Free, One, indivisible and non-dual and of the nature of
Changeless-Knowledge-Infinite.
37. The impression “I am Brahman” thus created by constant
practice destroys ignorance and the agitation caused by it, just as medicine or
Rasayana destroys disease.
38. Sitting in a solitary place, freeing the mind from
desires and controlling the senses, meditate with unswerving attention on the
Atman which is One without-a-second.
39. The wise one should intelligently merge the entire world-of-objects
in the Atman alone and constantly think of the Self ever as contaminated by
anything as the sky.
40. He who has realised the Supreme, discards all his
identification with the objects of names and forms. (Thereafter) he dwells as
an embodiment of the Infinite Consciousness and Bliss. He becomes the Self.
41. There are no distinctions such as “Knower”, the
“Knowledge” and the “Object of Knowledge” in the Supreme Self. On account of
Its being of the nature of endless Bliss, It does not admit of such
distinctions within Itself. It alone shines by Itself.
42. When this the lower and the higher aspects of the Self
are well churned together, the fire of knowledge is born from it, which in its
mighty conflagration shall burn down all the fuel of ignorance in us.
43. The Lord of the early dawn (Aruna) himself has already
looted away the thick darkness, when soon the sun rises. The Divine
Consciousness of the Self rises when the right knowledge has already killed the
darkness in the bosom.
44. Atman is an ever-present Reality. Yet, because of
ignorance it is not realised. On the destruction of ignorance Atman is
realised. It is like the missing ornament of one’s neck.
45. Brahman appears to be a ‘Jiva’ because of ignorance,
just as a post appears to be a ghost. The ego-centric-individuality is
destroyed when the real nature of the ‘Jiva’ is realised as the Self.
- By Adi Sankaracharya, 788-820 CE,
- Translated by Swami Chinmayananda
- Translated by Swami Chinmayananda