57. Realise that to be Brahman which is Non-dual,
Indivisible, One and Blissful and which is indicated in Vedanta as the
Immutable Substratum, realised after the negation of all tangible objects.
58. Deities like Brahma and others taste only a particle, of
the unlimited Bliss of Brahman and enjoy in proportion their share of that
particle.
59. All objects are pervaded by Brahman. All actions are
possible because of Brahman: therefore Brahman permeates everything as butter
permeates milk.
60. Realise that to be Brahman which is neither subtle nor
gross: neither short nor long: without birth or change: without form,
qualities, colour and name.
61. That by the light of which the luminous, orbs like the
Sun and the Moon are illuminated, but which is not illumined by their light,
realise that to be Brahman.
62. Pervading the entire universe outwardly and inwardly the
Supreme Brahman shines of Itself like the fire that permeates a red-hot
iron-ball and glows by itself.
63. Brahman is other than this, the universe. There exists
nothing that is not Brahman. If any object other than Brahman appears to exist,
it is unreal like the mirage.
64. All that is perceived, or heard, is Brahman and nothing
else. Attaining the knowledge of the Reality, one sees the Universe as the
non-dual Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute.
65. Though Atman is Pure Consciousness and ever present
everywhere, yet It is perceived by the eye-of-wisdom alone: but one whose
vision is obscured by ignorance he does not see It; as the blind do not see the
resplendent Sun.
66. The ‘Jiva’ free from impurities, being heated in the
fire of knowledge kindled by hearing and so on, shines of itself like gold.
67. The Atman, the Sun of Knowledge that rises in the sky of
the heart, destroys the darkness of the ignorance, pervades and sustains all
and shines and makes everything to shine.
68. He who renouncing all activities, who is free of all the
limitations of time, space and direction, worships his own Atman which is
present everywhere, which is the destroyer of heat and cold, which is
Bliss-Eternal and stainless, becomes All-knowing and All-pervading and attains
thereafter Immortality.
- By Adi Sankaracharya, 788-820 CE,
- Translated by Swami Chinmayananda
- Translated by Swami Chinmayananda