Upadesa Sahasri

CHAPTER-III
SELF-BRAHMAN


1. The aspirant can not know that he is Brahman if It be different from the Self. (It then contradicts the Sruti). But if he has the conviction that he, the Self, is Brahman (there is no contradiction to the Sruti.) This is (right) Knowledge which destroys Ignorance.

2. What would be the use (of the description by the Sruti) of the qualities 'not large' etc., if they were the qualities of one other than the Self, it being not an object of search? But if Brahman (with these qualities) is the Self, the ideas such as largeness, smallness, etc. are negated from the latter.

3. Know, therefore, that the Sruti, 'not large' etc. is meant to negate the false superimposition (of largeness, smallness, etc. on the Self) as it would be description of a void if it were meant to negate those qualities from one other than the Self.

4. Moreover, the saying, 'devoid of the vital force, devoid of the mind and pure' would be unmeaning if these qualities were meant to be negated from one other than the individual Self, the aspirant.

CHAPTER-IV
THE NATURE OF RIGHT KNOWLEDGE


1. How can those actions of which the root is egoism and which are accumulated in the mind produce results when they are burnt by the fire of the right Knowledge that one is neither the doer of actions nor he experiencer of their results?

2. (The objector): Actions burnt by the fire of Knowledge may produce results like the seen ones of the actions of a man of Knowledge. (Reply): No. They are due to another cause. (The Objector): I ask you how there can be actions when egoism is destroyed. Please answer.

3. (Reply). Such actions produce their results by overpowering the Knowledge of Brahman in you, because they have the power of producing the body etc., Knowledge, however, becomes manifest when the results of these actions come to an end.

4. As Knowledge and the experiencing of pain and pleasure are both results of actions that have given rise to the present body and have begun to produce results it is reasonable that they are not incompatible with each other. But other kinds of actions are different in nature.

5. The Knowledge of one's identity with the pure Self that negated the wrong notion of the identity of the body and the Self sets a man free even against his will when it becomes as firm as the belief of the man that he is a human being.

All this, therefore, is established. And reasons have been already given by us.

CHAPTER-V
ERROR IN UNDERSTANDING


1. People do not receive Self-knowledge on account of the fear that their duties (according to their castes and orders of life) would be destroyed like Udanks who did not accept genuine nectar which, he thought, was urine.
[That people do not like to receive Self-knowledge is due to their ignorance of the real nature of the Self and a wrong and false conception about It].

2. The Self seems to be moving when the intellect moves, and It seems to be at rest when it is at rest, on account of Its identification with the intellect, like trees appearing to move in the eyes of those who are in a moving boat. Similar is the misconception about transmigratory existence.

3. Just as trees are thought to be moving in a direction opposite to that of a moving boat by a man in it, so, transmigratory existence is (wrongly) thought to belong to the Self (by a man who has identified himself with the intellect). For, there is the passage in the Sruti, 'as if at rest'.

4. The modifications of the intellect are pervaded by the reflection of Consciousness when they come to exist. So the Self appears to be identified with sound etc. This is the reason why people are deluded.

5. As it is the object of Pure Consciousness and exists for It (the ego is not the Self). Pure Consciousness is the Universal Self when the object portion is rejected.

CHAPTER-VI
NEGATION OF ATTRIBUTES


1. The Self Itself is not qualified by an arm which has been cut off and thrown away. Similarly, It is not qualified by any of the remaining things by which It is (thought to be) qualified.

2. Therefore all the qualifications are similar to the arm cut of and thrown away as they are all non-Self. So the Self is free from all qualifications.

3. It is reasonable that like ornaments all these are qualifications (of the Self) owing to superimposition through Ignorance. When the Self is known they prove to be unreal.

4. After rejecting the object portion one should accept the Self as the knower free from all qualifications. The ego, the object portion, is also like the part of the body cut off.

5. The Self of which the whole of the object portion is the qualification is different from it. Bereft of all qualifications, It has an independent existence like that of a man possessing a variegated cow.

6. As it is not the Self the object portion in the consciousness 'I' should be renounced by the wise. As It was mixed with egoism previously the remaining (non-object) portion is implied by the word 'I' in the sentence 'I am Brahman'.

CHAPTER-VII
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH THE INTELLECT


1. I am the supreme Brahman all-knowing and all-pervading as pervaded by the intellect, all things in all conditions are always illumined by me.

2. Just as I am the witness of all the objects of my intellect, so am I that of the objects of other intellects. I am not capable of being rejected or accepted. Therefore I am the supreme Brahman.

3. As It is the witness of all intellects and their modifications, the Self, unlike the intellects, is not of limited knowledge and has no change, impurity or material nature in It.

4. Just as in the presence of sunlight colours such as red etc. (of flowers and other things) are manifested in a jewel, so all objects are seen in the intellect in My Presence. All things are, therefore, illumined by Me like sunlight.

5. Objects of knowledge exist in the intellect as long as it is there in waking and dream; but none exist in the opposite case (i.e. when it is merged during deep sleep). The knower is always the knower. Duality has, therefore, no existence.

6. The intellect knew the non-existence of the supreme Brahman before the discrimination between the Self and non-Self. But after the discrimination there is no individual. Self is different from neither Brahman nor the intellect itself.

CHAPTER-VIII
MERGING OF THE MIND


1. The connection of enjoyment etc. with me, oh My mind who am by nature Consciousness Itself is due to the delusion created by you. As I am free from all attributes there is no utility according to me from your efforts.

2. Give up the false attempts and come to rest in Me from constant vain-efforts as I am always the supreme Brahman as if free from bondage, Unborn and devoid of duality.

3. The supreme Brahman, the same in all beings and free from all attributes, I am all-pervading like the ether, imperishable, auspicious, homogeneous, partless and actionless. I, therefore, have no benefit to be derived from your efforts.

4. No one different from Me can belong to me who am one only. Nor can I who am unattached belong to anybody. I have, therefore, no benefit to be derived from anything done by you. As you are not other than Myself you can have no effort nor its results.

5. Considering that people are attached to the ideas of cause and effect, I have composed this dialogue (between the mind and the Self) leading to the understanding of the real nature of the Self in order that they might get freed from this (bondage).

6. A man gets liberated from Ignorance, the cause of great fear, and roams (over the world) free from desires, free from grief, a Knower of the Self, the same in all beings and happy, if he ponders over this dialogue.

CHAPTER-IX
SUBTLENESS AND PERVASIVENESS


1. A succeeding one in the series of earth etc. ending with the innermost Self is found to be subtle and more pervasive when a preceding one is negated.
[When we negate a preceding one we get a subtler and more pervasive one till at last the innermost Self is reached which is of the nature of Existence and Consciousness and is the material Cause of everything, and therefore, absolutely all pervading and the subtlest].

2. External earth is the same as that pertaining to bodies, Water etc. the other categories also are, without exception, known to be the same according to evidences.
[When all the elements either or pertaining to bodies are ascertained to be pervaded by the Self, no distinction is known to exist between the external elements and those pertaining to bodies as the Self only then exists].

3. Always Pure Consciousness, I am one without a second, all and all-pervading like the ether before the creation of air and other elements.

4. It has been ascertained that all the beings from Brahma down to the immovable creation are my bodies. From what other source will blemishes like lust, anger etc come into me?

5. People look upon Me, the Lord residing in all beings and always untouched by their defects, as tainted (with those defects) like a boy who (erroneously) looks upon the sky as blue.

6. As the intellects of all beings are illumined by My Consciousness all beings are bodies belonging to Me, who am all-knowing and free from all sins and virtues.

7. Objects that come into being and are capable of being made the objects of Knowledge are as unreal as those known as dreams. As duality has no (real) existence Knowledge is external and objectless.

8. As there is nothing other than the Self in dreamless sleep, it is said by the Sruti that the Consciousness of the Knower is eternal. (As Knowledge is really objectless) the knowledge of objects in the waking state must be due to ignorance. Accept then that its objects are unreal.

9. It is clearly understood that Brahman cannot be the object of knowledge just as it can not be the object of seeing etc. as it has no colour, form and the like.

CHAPTER-X
RIGHT CONCEPTION OF THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS


1. I am the supreme Brahman which is pure consciousness, always clearly manifest, unborn, one only, imperishable, unattached and all-pervading like the ether and non-dual. I am, therefore, ever free.

2. Pure and changeless consciousness I am by nature, devoid of objects (to illumine). Unborn and established in the Self, I am all-pervading Brahman in the front, oblique, upward, downward and all other directions.

3. I am unborn, deathless, devoid of old age, immortal, self effulgent, all pervading and non-dual. Perfectly pure, having neither causes nor effect and contented with the one Bliss, I am free. Yes.

4. No perception whatever in waking, dream or deep sleep belongs to Me but it is due to delusion. For these states have no independent existence or an existence depending on the Self. I am, therefore, the Fourth which is the Seer of all the three states and without a second.

5. As I am changeless the series producing pain viz. the body, the intellect and the senses are not myself nor mine. Moreover they are unreal like dream-objects, there being a reason for interference that hey are so.

6. But it is true that I have no change nor any cause of a change as I am without a second. As I do not possess a body I have neither sin nor virtue, neither bondage nor liberation, neither a caste nor an order of life.

7. Beginningless and devoid of attributes, I have neither actions nor their results. Therefore I am the supreme One without a second. Though in a body, I do not get attached on account of My subtleness like the ether which, though all-pervading, does not get tainted.

8. Though I am the Lord always the same in all beings, beyond the perishable and the imperishable, and therefore the Supreme, the Self of all, and without a second. I am considered to be of a contrary nature on account of Ignorance.

9. Not distanced by anything from Itself and untouched by Ignorance, false conceptions (of possessing a body etc.) and by actions, the Self is very pure. Without a second and established in My real nature like the immovable ether, I am (thought to be) connected with the powers of seeing and other perceptions.

10. There is the saying of the Sruti that one who has the sure conviction about oneself that one is Brahman is never born again. There being no delusion there is no birth. For, when the cause is not there, there cannot be any effect.

11. False conceptions of people such as mine, this, thus, this is so, I am so, another is not so, etc. are all due to delusion. They are never in Brahman which is auspicious, the same in all and without a second.

12. All grief and delusion are removed from those great souls when there arises the very pure knowledge of the non-dual Self. It is the conclusion of those who know the meaning of the Vedas that there cannot be any action or birth in the absence of the grief and delusion.

13. It is the conclusion here (in the Vedanta) that one who, though perceiving the world of duality in the waking state, does not, like a man in deep sleep, perceive it owing to duality being negated, and who is (really) actionless even when (apparently) acting as a man of Self-knowledge; but no one else is so.

14. This Right knowledge described by me is the highest because it is ascertained in the Vedantas. One becomes liberated and unattached (to actions) like the ether if one is perfectly convinced of this Truth.

CHAPTER-XI
NATURE OF THE WITNESS


1. All beings are by nature Pure Consciousness Itself. It is due to Ignorance that they appear to be different from It. Their difference from It is removed by the teaching "Thou art existence".

2. The scriptures negate Vedic actions with their accessories by saying, Knowledge alone is the cause of immorality, and that there is nothing else to cooperate with it (in producing liberation).

3-4. How can there be any special property in Me Who am changeless by nature and witness the modifications of the minds of all without any exception? (How can again there be any change in Me) Who witness the mind and its functions in the waking state as in dream? But as there is the absence of both the mind and its functions in deep sleep, I am Pure Consciousness, all pervading and changeless.

5. Just as dreams appear to be true as long as one does not wake up, so, the identification of oneself with the body etc. and the authenticity of sense-perception and the like in the waking state continue as long as there is no Self-knowledge.

6. I am Brahman, of the nature of Pure Consciousness, without qualities, free from Ignorance, free from the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. Living in all beings like the ether, I am the witness free from all their defects.

7. Ever free and different from names, forms and actions, I am the supreme Brahman, the Self, consisting of Pure Consciousness and always without a second.

8. Those who think themselves to be one with Brahman and at the same time to be doers and experiencers should be regarded as fallen from both Knowledge and duties. They are, no doubt, unbelievers in the Vedas.

9. It must be accepted on the strength of the scriptures that the Self is Brahman, and that liberation accrues from Right Knowledge only, like the connections with the Self of the results of sin and virtue, which, though unseen, is admitted on the same authority.

10. What are called in the Sruti clothes coloured with turmeric etc. are nothing but mental impressions received by people in dreams. (The Self, their illuminator, must, therefore, be different from them and from the subtle body in which they lie). So the Self, Pure Consciousness, (the perceiver of doership etc.) must be different from them (in the waking state also).

11. Just as a sword taken out of its sheath is seen as it is, so, the Knower, the Self, is seen in dream in Its real and self-effulgent nature free from cause and effect.

12. The real nature of the individual (Self) who was pushed and awakened has been described by the saying Not this, not this which negates all superimposition.

13. Just as objects of enjoyment like a great Kingship etc. are superimposed on Me in dream (and are unreal), so, the two forms, (the visible and the invisible) with the mental impressions, are also superimposed on Me (and are similarly unreal).

14. All actions are performed by the Self which has identified Itself with the gross and the subtle bodies and which has the nature of accumulating impressions. As I am of the nature indicated by the Sruti 'Not this, not this' actions are nowhere to be done by Me.

15. As actions have Ignorance for their cause, there is no hope from them of immorality. As liberation is caused by right Knowledge (alone), it does not depend on anything else.

16. But Immorality is free from fear and destruction. The individual Self (signified by the words) dear to one is Brahman (devoid of all attributes) according to the Sruti, Not this, not this. Whatever is thought to be different from It should, therefore, be renounced together with all actions.

CHAPTER-XII
LIGHT


1. Just as a man (erroneously) looks upon his body placed in the sun as having the property of light in it, so, he looks upon the intellect pervaded by the reflection of Pure Consciousness as the Self.

2. The Self gets identified with whatever is seen in the world. It is for this reason that and ignorant man does not know himself (to be Brahman).
[The reason why people mistake the combination of the subtle and the gross bodies for the Self is this identification caused by the reflection. On account of there being the reflection of Pure Consciousness in the body, the senses, the mind, the intellect and the vital force, they appear to be conscious and cannot therefore, be determined from the Self.]

3. An ignorant man gets identified with objects of knowledge and does not know the Self which is different from them like the tenth boy who got identified as it were with the other nine.

4. Say how there can reasonably be the two contrary ideas 'Yes do this' and 'You are Brahman' at the same time and in respect of the same person.

5. Pain belongs to one identifying oneself with it, as in deep sleep, is, therefore, by nature free from pain. The teaching "Thou Art That' is imparted in order that this identification might be removed from the Self.

6. An ignorant person mistakes the intellect with the reflection of Pure Consciousness in it for the Self, when there is the reflection of the Self in the intellect like that of a face in the mirror.

7. He who looks upon the ego, the indiscrimination that produces delusion and other mental modifications (or the reflection of the Self in them) as having no connection with the Self, is, without doubt, the dearest to the knower of Brahman. No one else is so.

8. It is the knower of knowledge that is referred to by word 'Thou' in the Sruti. The understanding of the term 'Thou' in this sense is correct. The other sense different from it is due to superimposition.

9. How can there be knowledge or ignorance in Me who am eternal and always of the nature of Pure Consciousness? No knowledge, therefore, other than the Self can be accepted.

10. Just as the heat fo the sun (in a part of the body )together with that part of the body is the object of the knower, so pain and pleasure together with the intellect in which they lie are in the object of the Self.

11. I am Brahman without attributes, ever pure, ever free, non-dual and homogeneous like the ether and of the nature of Consciousness from which the object portion has been negated.

12. I am always the free supreme Knower in all beings in as much as there cannot be a more comprehensive knower different from Me.

13. He who Knows that the Consciousness of the Self ceases to exist, and that It is never an agent and also gives up the egoism that he is a Knower of Brahman is a (real) knower of the Self. Others are not so.

14. Capable by no means of being known, I am the knower and am always free and pure as the discriminating knowledge which is in the intellect and is liable to be destroyed on account of its being an object of knowledge.

15. The Consciousness of the Self, on the other hand, never goes out of existence and is not capable of being produced by the action of agents etc. in as much as possibility is superimposed on It by another consciousness which is It and is different from It.

16. The doership of the Self is false as it depends on the misconception of the body being the Self. That I do not do anything is the true knowledge which arises from the right evidence (the Vedas).

17. Agency depends on doership instruments etc. but non-agency is natural. It has, therefore, been very well ascertained that the knowledge that one is a doer and experiencer is certainly false.

18. How can the idea that I am a person to be enjoined (by the Vedas to perform actions) be true, when the real nature of the Self is thus known from the scriptures and inference?

19. Just as the ether is in the interior of all, so am I in the interior of even the ether. Therefore I am without any change, without any motion, Pure, devoid of old age, ever free and without a second.

CHAPTER-XIII
EYELESSNESS


1. There is no vision in Me as I am without the organ of seeing. How can there be hearing in Me who have no auditive organ? Devoid of the organ of speech, I have no act of speaking in Me. How can there be thinking in Me who have no mind?

2-3. Devoid of the vital force, I have no action (in Me) and devoid of the intellect, I am not a knower. Ever free, ever Pure, changeless, immovable, immortal, imperishable and bodiless, I have no knowledge or ignorance in Me who am of the nature of the Light of Pure Consciousness only.

4. All-pervading like the ether, I have no hunger, thirst, grief, delusion, old age and death as I am without a body (mind and vital force).

5. Devoid of the organ of touch, I have no act of touching; and devoid of the tongue, I have no sensation of taste. I never have knowledge or ignorance as I am of the nature of eternal Consciousness.

6. It is well known that the mental modification which is produced through the instrumentality of the eye and is of the form of the object of vision is always witnessed by the eternal Consciousness of the Self.

7-8. Similarly, other mental modifications in the forms of objects of knowledge produced through the instrumentality of other organs and also those in the forms of memory, attachment etc., which are only within the mind, and those again in dream are witnessed by one different from all of them (i.e. by the Self). The Knowledge, therefore, of the Knower is eternal, pure, infinite and without a second.

9. It is through the indiscrimination between the Self and the modifications of the mind, false adjuncts to the Self, that the Knowledge of the Knower is wrongly conceived by the people to be impure and transitory, and the Self happy or miserable.

10. All men misconceive themselves to be ignorant or pure, accordingly, as they identify themselves with the mental modifications 'I am ignorant' or 'I am pure'. It is for this reason that they continue to be in transmigratory existence.

11. One should always remember the Self to be ever-free, unborn and comprising the interior and exterior as described in the Sruti in which the Self is spoken of as eyeless and so on, if one is an aspirant after liberation.

12. That organs never belong to me is known from the Sruti, 'eyeless' etc. There is again the saying of the Sruti belonging to the Atharva Veda that the Self is 'devoid' of the vital force, devoid of the mind and pure.

13. As I am always devoid of the vial force and the mind and heard of in the Kathopanishad as having no connection with sound etc. I am always changeless.

14. I, therefore, have neither un-restlessness nor a profound concentration which is subject to change.

15. How can I who am pure and mindless have those two? I am without any change and without a mind as I am all-pervading and devoid of a body.

16. So, I who am ever free, ever pure and ever awakened had duties to perform so long as there was Ignorance.

17. How can I have concentration, non-concentration or other actions in Me as all men feel that the acme of their lives is fulfilled when they meditate on me and know Me?

18. I am, therefore, Brahman, the all-comprehensive Principle, ever Pure, ever Awakened and ever Unborn devoid of old age, imperishable and immortal.

19. There is no knower among the beings of the world other than Myself. I am the distributor of the results of their actions and the witness. It is I to whom all beings owe their consciousness. Without qualities and without a second, I am eternal.

20. I am not the three visible elements or the two invisible ones, neither I am both (i.e. their combination, the body). I am devoid of all attributes and the three Gunas. In Me there is neither night nor day nor their picture as I am always of the nature of the light.

21. Just as the ether is subtle, without a second and devoid of all forms so am I the non-dual Brahman devoid even of the ehter.

22. The distinction between the Self in Itself and my Self is one due to superimposition (of different adjuncts on one and the same Self), just as difference (is wrongly conceived to) exist in one and the same ether owing to apertures (in various objects).

23. How can difference, absence of difference, oneness, many-ness, and the qualities of being known and being a knower, the results of actions and also agency and experiencing be attributed to Me who am one only?

24. I have nothing to reject or accept on as much as I am changeless. Always free, pure, awakened and without qualities, I am without a second.

25. One should, with great concentration of mind, always know the Self to be All. One certainly becomes all-knowing and free when one knows Me to be residing in one's own body.

26. He who thus knows the reality of the Self becomes successful in attaining the goal of his life and becomes perfect. He becomes a Knower of Brahman and one with It. One knowing the Self otherwise may be said to commit suicide.

27. This ascertained meaning of the Vedas described briefly by me should be imparted to those who have given up worldly action and have controlled their minds by one whose intellect has been trained (according to the scriptures under a teacher who has known Brahman).

CHAPTER-XIV
DREAM AND MEMORY


1. As the resemblance of objects of knowledge like jars etc. is perceived in dream and memory, it is inferred that the intellect in those forms was surely seen before in the waking state.

2. Just as the body going from place to place for alms seen (e.g. by a wandering mendicant) in dream is not oneself, so witnessing the body in waking state the Seer must be different from it which is seen.

3. Pervading objects like forms, colours etc. the mind appears to be exactly like them, just as (molten) copper assumes the form of a mould when poured into it.

4. Or, just as light, the revealer assumes the forms of the objects revealed by it, so the intellect looks like all things in as much as it reveals them.

5. It was the intellect in the forms of objects of knowledge that was seen before by the seer; how can he see them in dream or remembers their forms, if that were not the case?

6. That intellect is seen in the forms of objects of knowledge is what is meant by saying that it reveals them. The Self is said to witness the modifications of the intellect as It pervades them whenever they arise.

7. I am the Self of all as the intellects of all beings are illumined by Me who am of the nature of the Light of Consciousness.

8. It is the intellect that becomes the instrument, the object, the agent, actions and their results in dream. It is known to be so in the waking state also. The Seer is, therefore, different from the intellect (and its objects).

9. As they are susceptible of appearance and disappearance, the intellect etc. are not the Self. The Self is the cause of their appearance and disappearance and can not be made to appear or disappear.

10. How can an interior, an exterior or any other thing be attributed to the Self which comprises the interior and exterior, is pure and of the nature of homogeneous Consciousness.

11. Why should a knower of Brahman make any more effort if the Self which is left over by negating the non-Self according to the Sruti, Not this, not this, is considered to be the Self?

12. One should rightly think thus: I am all-pervading Brahman beyond hunger etc. How can I have actions?

13. A knower of the Self will wish to perform actions if one who has reached the other bank of a river wishes to reach that bank while there.

14. A (so called) knower of the Self having the ideas of acceptance and rejection should be regarded as not for liberation, but must be considered to be certainly rejected by Brahman.

15. Even for a knower of Prana the world with the sun is Prana and therefore, there is no day or night for him; how then can they be for a knower of Brahman in which there is no duality?

16. The Self whose Consciousness never ceases to exist neither remembers nor forgets Itself. That the mind remembers the Self is also a Knowledge caused by Ignorance.

17. If the supreme Self be an object of the knowledge of the knower, it must be a superimposition due to ignorance. It is only the Self without a second when that superimposition is negated by the right knowledge, like a snake in a rope.

18. Who (and for what reason) will attribute the ideas of me and mine to the Self as It is inborn and comprises the interior and exterior on account of the fact that the agent, action and their results do not exist?

19. For the ideas me and mine are superimposed on the Self due to ignorance. They do not exist when the Self is known to be one only. How can there be an effect without a cause?

20. It is the individual Self known to be the seer, the hearer, the thinker and the knower that is Brahman, the imperishable One. As the individual Self is not different from It, I am the imperishable Principle.

21. As all beings, moving and non-moving, are endowed with actions such as, seeing etc., they are Brahman, the imperishable One. Therefore I am the Self of all, the indestructible One.

22. He has the truest knowledge who looks upon the Self as a non-agent having no connection with actions and their results and free from the ideas of me and mine.

23. Be in peace. What is the use of efforts if the Self has been known to be naturally free from the ideas me and mine and from efforts and desire?

24. One who looks upon the Self as an agent of actions and a knower of objects is not a knower of the Self. One who knows otherwise is a real knower of It.

25. Just as the Self is identified with the body etc., though different from them, so, It is looked upon as the agent of actions and the experiencer of their results owing to the fact that It is not known to be a non-agent.

26. Seeing, hearing, thinking and knowing are always known by people in dream. Moreover, as they are essentially the Self It is directly known.
[The meaning is this: The mind merges in the Self as Primeval Ignorance during deep sleep, but the Self then, as always, exists in its nature of Pure Consciousness. Therefore it is clear that the Self is different from the mind and exists as the witness of this phenomenon; that is what is meant by saying in the verse that the Self is directly known.]

27. Even powerful beings including Brahma and Indra are objects of pity to that knower of the Self who has no fear about the next world nor is afraid of death.

28. What is the use of his becoming a powerful one or becoming Brahma or Indra if all inauspicious desires the cause of misery, are entirely uprooted?

29. He is a Knower of the Self to whom the ideas me and mine have become quite meaningless.

30. How can there be any action in one who finds no difference in the Self both when the intellect etc., Its adjuncts exist and when they do not?

31. Say what action might be desired to be done by one who has known himself to be without a second, who is of the nature of homogeneous consciousness and who is devoid of impurities, both natural and adventitious like the ether.

32. He who sees the Self in all beings and at the same time feels that he has enemies, desires surely to make fire cold.

33. The Self which has for Its adjuncts the intellect and the vital force is reflected in the modifications of the intellect and in the senses, like the sun reflected in water (for example). The Self is free and pure by nature (even in that condition) as it is said in the Sruti, It is at rest as it were.
[The real sun in the sky never moves with the movement of the water in which it is reflected, though the reflection does so. So, the Self does not change with the changes in the intellect in which it is reflected. The meaning of the Sruti quoted is that the Self, in no condition, has either rest or motion; It is always pure. Rest and motion are in the intellect.]

34. How can I have actions who am Pure Consciousness devoid of the vital force and the mind, unattached and all-pervading like the ether?

35-36. As I am Brahman, always changeless and pure, I never see the absence of concentration in Me; and free from sin and virtue. I find nothing in Me to be purified. As I am without parts, without qualities, without emotion and all-pervading, I do not find, on my part the action of going or a place to go to; nor do I find an upward, a downward or an oblique direction.

37. How can any action be left for Me who am ever free; for the Self is always of the nature of the Light of Pure Consciousness and hence devoid of ignorance.

38. How can there be any thought in one who has no mind and actions in one who has no senses? The Sruti truly says, the Self is pure devoid of the vital force and the mind.

39. Always meditating on the Self, one has nothing to do with time etc., as the Self is in no way connected with time, space, directions and causation.

40. The mind is the place of pilgrimage where devas, Vedas and all other purifying agencies become one. A bath in that place of pilgrimage makes one immortal.

41. (Non-conscious objects of Knowledge like) sound etc. cannot illumine themselves or one another. Therefore tastes etc. are illumined by one other than themselves. So are tastes etc. pertaining to the body as they are also objects of knowledge.

42. The objects of knowledge, the ego and other changes described as mine, such as, desires, efforts, pleasure etc., cannot similarly illumine themselves. They cannot illumine one another for the same reason. You, the Self, are, therefore, different from them.

43. All the changes such as, egoism etc., have an agent and are connected with the results of actions. They are illumined completely by Pure Consciousness like the sun. The Self, therefore, is free from bondage.

44. As the minds of all embodied beings are pervaded by the Self as Consciousness which is Its nature like the ether, there is neither a lower nor a higher knower than Itself. So, there is one non-dual universal Self only.

45. The doctrine that there is no Self has been well refuted by me as the gross and the subtle bodies are illumined by one different from them. It must be unalloyed with actions that cause impurity and beyond them. It is very pure, all-pervading, free from bondage and without a second.

46. If, according to you, the mind which assumes various forms like those of jars and other things through its modifications be not illumined (by the Self), the defects in It, in the forms of impurity, non-consciousness and change cannot be prevented like those in the mind.
[If one does not accept that the Self is the witness of the mind and therefore, unattached to it, it is inevitable that the defects of the mind will tarnish the Self. Liberation becomes impossible in that case.]

47. Just as the pure and limitless ether does not get attached nor tainted, so, the Self is always the same in all beings and free from old age, death and fear.

48.The elements with and without forms and the seat of desires, superimposed through delusion by ignorant people on the Self, are thrown out of It which consists of Consciousness only, on the authority of the Vedic evidence 'Not this, not this'. The Self alone is then left over.
[In this verse the whole of the gross and the subtle universes are negated from the Self].

49. The impressions of the objects known in the waking sate, owing to the contact of the mind with them, are perceived like real objects in memory and dream. So the body, the mind and their impressions are different from the Self as they are objects of perception.

50. Just as impurities like clouds etc. do not produce any alteration in the naturally pure ether by their appearance or disappearance; so, there is never any alteration in the ether-like Consciousness free from duality negated by the Sruti.

CHAPTER-XV
IMPOSSIBILITY OF ONE BEING ANOTHER


1. As one cannot become another one should not consider Brahman to be different from oneself. For if one becomes another one is sure to be destroyed.
[The idea is this: The individual Self, if considered to be really different from Brahman, cannot become Brahman as long as it exists; and if it were destroyed who would then become Brahman? Therefore one should know that one is not different from It and It is not different from one.]

2. Things seen (in the waking state) are seen like a picture painted on a canvas when one remembers them. Those by and in which they are so seen are respectively known to be the individual Self and the intellect.

3. What is perceived to be connected with karakas and entailing results is found to be in the (category of) objects when it is remembered. The seat, therefore, in which it was perceived before was an object of Consciousness).

4. The seen (e.g. the intellect) is always different from the seer as it is an object of knowledge like a jar. The seer is of a mature different from that of the seen. Otherwise the seer would be devoid of the nature of being the witness like the intellect.

5. When they are considered to be one's own caste etc. becomes the cause of injunctions like a dead body. They do not, therefore, belong to the Self. The Self would otherwise become the non-Self.

6. As it is said in the Sruti, pleasure and pain (do not touch one who is bodiless). Bodilessness is not the result of actions. The cause of our connection with a body is action. Therefore an aspirant after knowledge should renounce actions.

7. If the Self is considered to be independent with regard to the performance of actions. It must be so with regard to their renunciation also. Why should, therefore, one perform actions when the result is known to be Bodilessness which cannot be produced by actions?

8. After giving up caste etc., which are the causes of duties, a wise man should (constantly) remember, from the scriptures, his own real nature which is incompatible with causes of duties.

9. The one and the same Self is in all beings and they are in It just as all beings are in ether. As by the ether, every thing is pervaded by the Self which is considered to be pure and consisting of the Light of Pure Consciousness.

10. By negating wounds and sinews the Sruti negates the gross body (from the Self). Being pure and free from sin and virtue, the Self is free from all the impressions of pain and pleasure. The Sruti again discards the subtle body by calling the Self bodiless.

11. He who knows the Self to be the same everywhere like Vasudeva, who speaks of the same Self residing in a pipal tree and in his own body, is the best of the knower of Brahman.

12. Just as the ideas of me and mine are not thought to exist in either body, so, also they do not exist in one's own. For the Self is the common witness of all intellects.

13. Desire, aversion and fear have a seat common with that of the impressions of colours. As they have for their seat the intellect, the knower, the Self is always pure and devoid of fear.

14. The meditator assumes the form of the object meditated upon; for the latter is different from the former; there can be no such actions in the Self in order that It may be established in Itself, as It is independent of actions (owing to the fact that It is the Self). For It would not be the Self if it is depended on actions.

15. Pure Consciousness is of one homogeneous nature like the ether, undivided, without old age and impurity. it is conceived to be of a contrary nature on account of adjuncts such as, the eye etc.

16. What is called the ego is not the property of the Self as it is an object of perception like jars and other things. So are to be known the other functions and the impurities of the mind. The Self, therefore, is without any impurity.

17. The Self is changeless and all-pervading, on account of Its being the witness of all the functions of the mind. It would be of limited knowledge like the intellect etc., if it were subject to change.

18. Unlike the knowledge gained through the eyes etc. the knowledge of the Knower does not cease to exist. it is said in the Sruti, knowledge of the Knower does not go out of existence. The knower, therefore, is always of the homogeneous nature of knowledge.

19. One should discriminate thus: Who am I? Am I a combination of the elements or the senses, or am I any one of them separately?

20. I am not any one off the elements separately nor their aggregate; similarly, I am not any one of the senses nor their aggregate; for they are objects (like jars etc.) and instruments (like axes etc.) of knowledge respectively. The knower is different from all these.

21. Placed like fuel in the fire of the Self, burning brightly by Ignorance, desire and action, the intellect always shines forth through the door-like apertures like ears etc.

22. The fore of the Self is the experiencer of gross objects (in the waking state) when the intellect, ignited by the objects which are in the place of oblations, functions among the senses of which the right eye is the chief.

23. One does not get attached to the impurities of the waking state if, at the time of perceiving colours etc., one remembers that oblations are being offered to the fire of the Self, and remains free from desire and aversion.

24. Manifested in the abode of the modifications of the mind (in dream), and witnessing the impressions produced by actions due to Ignorance, the Self is called Taijasa. It is then the self-effulgent witness.

25. (In deep sleep) when neither objects nor their impressions are produced in the intellect by actions, the Self, cognizant neither of objects nor of their impressions, is known to be Prajna.

26. The condition of the mind, the intellect and the senses, produced by actions are illumined by Pure Consciousness like jars and other things by the sun.

27. As it is so, illumining by the Light the functions of the mind which exist for It i.e. Pure Consciousness, the Self is regarded by the ignorant only as an agent of those functions.

28. Therefore also, illumining everything by Its own Light, the Self is considered to be all-knowing. Similarly, It is regarded as the Accomplisher of everything as It is the Cause of all actions.

29-30. The Self with adjuncts is thus described. (But) It is without adjuncts, indescribable, without parts, without qualities and pure, which the mind and speech do not reach. (For philosophers differ in their conceptions about the Self. Different conceptions are; the Self is (1) conscious, (2) non-conscious, (3) an agent, (4) a non-agent,(5)all pervading, (6) not all-pervading, (7) bound, (8) free, (9) one, (10) many, (11) pure, (12) not pure, and so on.

31. Words with the mind turn back without reaching It as It is without qualities, without actions and without attributes.

32. One should know the Self comparable to the other which is all-pervading and free from all objects having forms, to be the pure and supreme Goal in the Vedanta.

33. One should give up the waking state, its impressions (i.e. dream) and deep sleep which causes everything to merge in itself. The Self, the witness of them all, is then in the nature of Pure Consciousness like the sun which has dispelled the darkness of the night.

34. Illumining the modifications which have for their objects waking, dream and deep sleep, the all pervading Self is the same in all beings, and is the witness of them all.

35. Caused by Ignorance the diverse functions of the intellect (called knowledge) come to exist when the body, the intellect, the mind, the eye, objects and light happen to co-exist (with the Self).

36-37. One should discriminate from these the Self which is the witness, free from all fear, from all adjuncts, free from impurity, firm like the ether, without parts and without actions and know It to be the pure, supreme Brahman, the same in all beings, the all pervading whole, the all comprehensive Principle which is eternally free fro all duality.

38. One should ascertain whether Pure Consciousness which is the witness of all the mental modifications, is knowable or not, and all knowable, whether It is an object of knowledge or not.

39. The supreme Brahman is never capable of being known by me or others, according to the teaching s of the Sruti, 'unseen seer', unknown, (knower) and 'finite' (if thought to be known), and so on.

40. Independent of every other knowledge, of the nature of the light of Pure Consciousness and not distanced by anything, Brahman, my own nature, is always known by me.

41. The sun does not require any other light in order to illumine itself; so, Knowledge does not require any other knowledge except which is its own nature in order to be known.

42. Just as one light does not depend on another in order to be revealed, so, what is one's own nature does not depend on anything else (i.e. being of the nature of Knowledge). The Self does not require another knowledge in order to be known.

43. A thing naturally lacking luminosity gets revealed (i.e. has only its surrounding darkness removed) when in contact with something which by nature is luminous. The saying, therefore, that luminosity is an effect produced on other things by the sun is false.

44. Some thing non-existent coming into existence fro something else is called its effect. But light which is the sun's own nature does not come into existence from previous non-existence.

45. Just as when jars and other things get revealed the sun and other luminous bodies are called the agents of revealing those things on account of their proximate existence only (but are not really the agents); so the Self which is Pure Consciousness only is called a knower (on account of Its existence proximate to things known, but is not really an agent).

46. Just as the sun though devoid of effort on its part, is called the revealer of a snake coming out of its hole, so, the Self, though of the nature of Pure Consciousness only is called a knower (without agency on Its part ).

47. Just as fire which is naturally hot is called a burner on account of its existence (proximate to things burnt), so is the Self a knower (on account of Its existence proximate to objects of knowledge). For the Self is called a Knower when adjuncts are known like the sun which is called a revealer when the snake is seen coming out of its hole.

48. Just as the Self, though devoid of effort, is called a knower, so, It is called an agent (though devoid of effort) like the loadstone. In its own nature, therefore, It is neither capable of being known or unknown.

49. As it is taught in the Sruti that the Self is different from both the known and the unknown, (It is other than the manifested and the un-manifested). The ideas such as, bondage, liberation, etc. are likewise superimposed on the Self.

50. Just as there is no day or night in the sun as it is of nature of light only, so, is there no knowledge or ignorance in the Self which is of the nature of Pure Consciousness only.

51. Knowing Brahman described 'mine' in all respects and gets the perfect conviction in the ether like goal devoid of (the gross and the subtle) bodies, describes as having no connection with acceptance or rejection, according to the method delineated, one is certainly never born again.

52. One who has fallen into the stream of births and deaths cannot save oneself by anything else except Knowledge.

53. The sruti says that the knots of the heart are torn asunder, all doubts disappear and one's actions come to an end when the Self is seen.

54. A man gets liberated if he discards the ideas 'me' and 'mine' in all respects and gets the perfect conviction in the ether like goal devoid of ( the gross and the subtle) bodies, described here according to right inference and the scriptures well-studied.

CHAPTER-XVI
CONSISTING OF EARTH


1. The hard material in the body is known to be a transformation of earth; the liquid part consists of water; and heat, vibration and apertures in the body are due to fire, air and ether respectively.

2. Smell etc., (i.e., the senses) and their objects are produced from earth etc. respectively as the senses have for their objects things of their own kind e.g. colour and light (the latter being of the same nature as the former, its object).

3. These are called the organs of knowledge; the larynx and the hand etc. are called the organs of action; and the mind, the eleventh which is within the body, is for the purpose of knowing different objects one after another (as they tend to present themselves at the same time).

4. The intellect is for determining objects. Always illumining the all-pervasive intellect by Its light, which is Its own nature, the Self is called the Knower.
[The purport of the above four verses is that the Self is different from the body, the senses, the mind and the intellect.]

5. Just as light assumes the forms of objects revealed by it, but is really different from, though apparently mixed up with them, so, the Self is different from the mental modifications (whose forms It assumes while revealing them).

6. The Self illumines, without effort, the intellect in the forms of sound etc. present before It; like a stationary lamp devoid of any effort which illumined everything within its reach.

7. Pleasure etc. qualify the intellect identifying Itself with the combination of the body and the senses and illumined by the eternal Light of the Self.

8. For one considers oneself to be distressed by pain in the head etc., the Seer is different from the seen i.e. that which feels pain. The Self is free from pain as It is the Seer (of the pain).

9. One becomes unhappy when one identifies oneself with the intellect which has assumed the form of unhappiness but not by merely seeing it. The Witness is the pain in the body, which is combination of the limbs and the senses, does not feel pain.

10. May it not be that the Self is both object and subject like the eye? No; the eye consists of several parts and is a combination. But the Self does not become an object as It is the Seer.

11. One may argue that the Self also has many qualities such as knowledge, effort and so on (and, therefore, like the eye It may be both subject and object). No, it is not so; It can never be an object because like light It has only one quality viz. Knowledge.

12. Just as light ,though an illuminator, does not illumine itself, so, even assuming that there is a dividing line (dividing It into two categories viz. subject and object) in the Self. It can not illumine Itself. For it is of a homogeneous conscious nature.

13. Nothing can be an object of its own quality. For fire does not burn or illumine itself.

14. The doctrine of the Buddhists that the intellect is perceived by itself is refuted by this. Similarly, the assumption of parts in the Self is also unreasonable. For It is of a homogeneous nature without having a dividing line in It.

15. The doctrine of the void (Nihilism) is also not reasonable as it must be accepted that the intellect is witnessed like a jar by another i.e. the Self. For the Self exists even before. the intellect comes into existence..

16. Whatever is pervaded by anything is an effect of that thing, the cause. The cause has an existence invariably anterior to that of the effects. Itself uncaused the cause producing effects (such as, the intellect etc.) must, therefore, exist before them.

17. Discarding Ignorance - the root of all superimposition and the controller of transmigratory existence - one should know the Self to be the Supreme Brahman which is always free and devoid of fear.

18. Transmigratory existence consists of waking and dream. Their root is deep sleep consisting of Ignorance. No one of these three states has a real existence because each goes out of existence when another remains in it. One should, therefore, give up all these three states.

19-20. Just as the closing and opening of the eyelids, connected with the vital force, are mistaken for the properties of the eye which is of the nature of light, and just as motion is wrongly attributed to the mind and the intellect which are also of the same nature; so, the Self, though really not an agent, is mistaken for one because actions arise when the body, the intellect, the mind, the eye, light, objects, etc. coexist with it.

21. The peculiar characteristic of the mind is reflection and that of the intellect is determination, and not vice versa. Everything is, therefore, superimposed on the Self.

22. Organs are (thought to be not all-pervading but) limited by their particular appendages (which are in the body). The intellect gets identified with the organs (and hence in the body). Illumining the intellect, therefore, the Self appears to be of the same size as the body.

23. (Objection) Both knowledge and its objects are extremely momentary i.e. perishable by nature every moment. They are appearances only without any reality whatever and are continually being produced. Just as a lamp of the preceding moment appears to be the same in the succeeding moment on account of similarity, so, both the objects and the subjects of the preceding and succeeding moments wrongly appears to be identical on account of similarity. The goal of human life is the removal of this idea of the continuity in knowledge and its objects (and the removal of the indiscrimination to which it is due).

24. (Reply) According to one school of these philosophers external things are objects of knowledge which is different from them. According to another school external objects other than knowledge do not exist. The unreasonableness of the former school is now going to be described.

25-26. (According to this school) knowledge has to be admitted to be identical with external things; and everything being momentary and the intellect, the receptacle, in which the impressions of memory are to be retained, being non-existent (at the time of receiving the impressions), there will always be the absence of memory. Being momentary, (according to them) the intellect never retains the impressions of memory. (Again recognition is said to be due to a misconception of similarity but) there is no cause of similarity (between the preceding and the succeeding moments). (If, on the other hand, a witness perceiving both the moments be admitted,) the doctrine of momentariness is abandoned. But that is not desirable.

27. The teaching of a means to the attainment of the end (viz., the bringing to an end of the idea of continuity in knowledge and its objects) becomes useless. For, it requires no effort to be accomplished as all phenomena exist only for a moment. The coming to an end of the said continuity does not, therefore, depend on anything else.

28. If according to you, the effect depends on the cause though unconnected with it, you have to accept dependence on a series which is quite foreign. If you say, Though all things i.e. causes and effects, are momentary, some effects depend on some fixed causes still nothing can depend on anything else (according to your doctrine of momentariness).

29. The particular one of two things existing at the same time and connected with each other is fit to depend on the other owing to whose connection it is benefited.

30. Our doctrine is that there is false superimposition on the Self and its negation in the same Self. Please tell me who will attain liberation, the result of Knowledge, according to you who hold that all, i.e. both the superimposed and the substratum, are annihilated.

31. That oneself exists is undoubted. You may call it Knowledge, Self or whatever you like. But Its non-existence cannot be admitted as It is the witness of all things existing and non-existing.

32. That by which the non-existence of things is witnessed must be real. All would be ignorant of the existence and non-existence of things if that were not the case. Therefore yours is a position which cannot be accepted.

33. That which must be admitted to exist before the deliberation about existence, non-existence or both is One without a second as there cannot be a cause of diversity before there is any superimposition on It. It must be eternal and different from what is superimposed.

34. Accept duality as unreal. For it comes to exist by way of superimposition like dream objects and does not exist before the deliberation about its existence, non-existence etc.

35. All the modifications of the Primeval Cause are known to be unreal according to the scriptures which say that they have 'words' only fit their support and that 'he' dies again and again and so on. The Smriti also says, 'My' Maya (is difficult to be got rid of').

36. The Self is, therefore, pure and is of a nature contrary to that of what is superimposed. Hence It can neither be accepted nor rejected. It is not superimposed on anything else.

37. Just as there is no darkness in the sun as it is of the nature of light only, so, there is no Ignorance in the Self as It is of the nature of eternal Knowledge.

38. Similarly, the Self has no change of states as It is of changeless nature. It would, no doubt, be destructible if It underwent any change.

39-41. Liberation becomes artificial and therefore transitory according to the philosopher who holds that it is a change of one state into another on the part of the Self. Again it is not reasonable that it is a union (with Brahman) or a separation (from nature). As both union and separation are transitory, Liberation cannot consist of the individual Self going to Brahman or of Brahman coming to it. But the Self, one's own real nature, is never destroyed. For, it is uncaused and cannot be accepted or rejected by oneself (or by others), while other things (e.g. states etc.) are caused.

42. As it is the Self of every thing, not different from anything and not an object like a thing separate from Itself. It cannot be accepted or rejected. It is, therefore, eternal.

43. Everything transitory is for the experience of the Self which is eternal and free from all adjuncts. (Liberation is, therefore, nothing but being established in one's own Self.) As it is so, one aspiring after liberation should renounce all (Vedic) actions with their accessories.

44. To know the real Self to be one's own is the greatest attainment according to the scriptures and reasoning. To know wrongly the non-Self such as the ego etc., to be the Self is no attainment at all. One, therefore, should renounce this misconception (By knowing that one is Brahman).

45.The deviation of the Gunas from the state of equilibrium (which they have during the dissolution of the universe with their consequent evolution) is not reasonable. For no causes of this transformation are admitted in as much as (according to these philosophers) ignorance is then merged. (Individual souls, Purushas as they are called, are always spectators only and Ishwara is not admitted.)

46. If the Gunas be the cause of their mutual change there will always be change or none at all. (If one argues that there cannot be a continuous transformation in the Gunas as creation, maintenance and dissolution are known to come one after another, still) there will be no regulating cause of the modifications of the Gunas acting either on the Purushas or on the Gunas; (and no other categories are admitted in the Sankhya philosophy).

47. If, as admitted, the Prakriti or Pradhana work for (the bondage and the liberation of) the Purushas there will be no distinction between the bound and the liberated. Moreover, there is no relation between what is desired (i.e. liberation) and one who desires it as the Purusha has no desire at all, neither the other, i.e. the Prakriti.

48. As the Purusha is changeless it is not reasonable to the Sankhya philosophy also that the Prakriti can work for it. Even admitting change in the Purusha, it is unreasonable (that the Prakriti is of any service or disservice to it.

49. As there can reasonably be no mutual relation between the Prakriti and the Purusha and as the Prakriti is non-conscious it is unreasonable that the Prakriti can render any service to the Purusha.

50. If any action is admitted in the Purusha, it must be perishable. If (it is argued that) the action in the Purusha is in the nature of Knowledge only, we meet with the difficulty spoken of before. If un-cause action in the Prakriti be admitted, it becomes unreasonable that there can be liberation.

51. Pleasure etc. cannot be the objects of knowledge; for they are the properties of the same substance, just as heat, (a property of fire) cannot be revealed by light.

52. Pleasure and knowledge cannot come together as each of them is (separately) cause by the contact of the mind with the self. Therefore pleasure cannot be the object (of knowledge).

53. As other qualities also are different from one another (like knowledge and pleasure) they cannot be produced at the same time. If it be considered that the knowledge of the qualities is nothing but their coming in contact with one and the same self, we say No; for, they are qualified by knowledge.

54. Pleasure etc. are surely objects of knowledge, because they are qualified by it and also on account of the memory, 'pleasure was known by me'. (Moreover, they cannot be known by being connected only with the self and not with knowledge). For, the self is non-conscious as it is different from knowledge according to you.

55. Pleasure etc. cannot be the qualities of the soul as it is changeless according to you. Moreover why should pleasure etc. of one soul not be there in other souls and also in the mind as difference is common?

56. If knowledge be the object of a second knowledge a regresses ad infinitum is inevitable. If, however, a simultaneous production (of the two knowledge from one single contact of the mind with the self) be admitted, you must accept (the simultaneous production of colour, taste, smell, etc. from the same contact).

57. There is no bondage in the Self as there is no change of condition in It. There is no impurity in the Self in as much as It is 'unattached', as the Sruti says.

58. (The Self is eternally pure) as it is beyond the mind and speech, one only and without any attributes, as the Sruti says: It does not get attached.

59. (Objection) If this be so, in the absence of bondage there cannot be any liberation and the scriptures are, therefore, useless.
(Reply) No. Bondage is nothing but a delusion of the intellect; the removal of this delusion is liberation. Bondage is nothing but what has been described..

60. Illumined by the light of the Self which is Pure Consciousness, the intellect (falsely) believes that it is itself conscious and that there is none else which is on. This is delusion. It is in the intellect.

61. Consciousness which is of the nature of the eternal Self is superimposed on the intellect. This indiscrimination is also beginningless (like the ignorance to which it is due). This indiscrimination, and nothing else, is what is called transmigratory existence.

62. The removal of this indiscrimination and nothing else is what is called liberation, as all other conceptions of it are unreasonable. It is the destruction of the Self according to those who consider liberation to be the change of the individual Self in to a different Being.

63. Similarly it is also not reasonable that liberation is a change of condition (on the path of the Self) as it is changeless, If, however, any change be assumed to exist in It, it must be admitted to consist of parts and so to be destructible like jars and other things.

64-67. Therefore the conception of bondage and liberation different from this is wrong. The conception of the Sankhyas, the Kanadas and the Buddhists about them are not tenable according to reason. They should not be accepted. For, they are not supported by reason and the scriptures. Hundreds and thousand of errors on their part may be mentioned. As the scriptures other than the Vedas have been condemned in the ancient sacred tradition, scriptures other than these (they should not be accepted). A wise man should give up the teachings of such scriptures and all crookedness, and with faith and devotion should have a firm understanding of the true import of the Vedanta accepted by Vyasa.

68. False doctrines of dualism and those according to which the Self is not admitted have thus been refuted by reasoning, so that those who aspire after liberation may be steady in the path of Knowledge (described in the Vedanta) and be free from doubts arising from other's doctrines.

69. Having attained the extremely pure, non-dual Knowledge which is Its own, Witness and contrary to what is superimposed, a man perfectly convinced (of the Truth of the Self) becomes free from ignorance and gets eternal peace.

70. Those who are free from defects and vanity should always fix their mind on Brahman which is always the same, after having a firm grasp of the Knowledge which arises only through the teacher and the Vedas and is the Supreme Goal. For, no man who knows Brahman to be different from himself is a knower of truth.

71. When he acquires this Knowledge, the supreme purifier, a man becomes free from all merit and demerit produced by ignorance and accumulated in many other past lives. He, like the ether, does not get attached to actions in this world.

72. This Knowledge should be imparted only to him whose mind has been pacified, who has controlled his senses and is freed from all defects, who has practiced the duties enjoined by the scriptures and is possessed of good qualities, who is always obedient to the teacher and aspires only after liberation and nothing else.

73. Just as one is free from the ideas of 'me' and 'mine' in respect of others' bodies, so, one becomes free from those ideas in respect of one's own body when one knows the Supreme Truth. One becomes immediately liberated in all respects on attaining this very pure Knowledge.

74. There is no attainment higher than of Self-knowledge in the worlds of men and gods. It arises from nothing but the Vedanta. This Knowledge, superior even to the kingdom of Indra, should, therefore, not be imparted to any person without examining him carefully.

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