A THOUSAND TEACHINGS
                        PART - I  [Prose]
                      CHAPTER - I
                        Adi Sankaracharya's UPADESA SAHASRI (A THOUSAND TEACHINGS). Translated by Swami Jagadananda; published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

PART - I  [Prose] CHAPTER – I A METHOD OF ENLIGHTENING THE DISCIPLE
1. We shall now explain a method of teaching the means to liberation for the benefit of those aspirants after liberation who are desirous (of this teaching) and are possessed of faith (in it).
2. That means to liberation, viz., Knowledge, should be explained again and again until it is firmly grasped, to a pure Brahmana disciple who is indifferent to everything that is transitory and achievable through certain means, who has given up the desire for a son, for wealth and for this world and the next, who has adopted the life of a wandering monk and is endowed with control over the mind and senses, with compassion etc., as well as with the qualities of a disciple well-known in the scriptures and who has approached the teacher in the prescribed manner and has been examined in respect of his caste, profession, conduct, learning and parentage.
3. The Sruti also says, “A Brahmana after examining those worlds which are the result of Vedic actions should be indifferent to them seeing that nothing eternal can be achieved by means of those actions. Then, with fuel in his hands he should approach a teacher versed in the Vedas and established in Brahman in order to know the Eternal. The learned teacher should correctly explain to that disciple who has self-control and a tranquil mind and has approached him in the prescribed manner, the knowledge of Brahman revealing the imperishable and the eternal Being”. For only when knowledge is firmly grasped, it conduces to one’s own good and is capable of transmission. This transmission of knowledge is helpful to people, like a boat to one who wants to cross a river. The scriptures too say, “Although one may give to the teacher this world surrounded by oceans and full of riches, this knowledge is even greater than that”. Otherwise there would be no attainment of knowledge. For the Srutis say, “A man having a teacher can know Brahman”, “Knowledge received from a teacher alone (becomes perfect)”, “The teacher is the pilot”, “Right Knowledge is called in this world a raft”, etc. The Smriti also says, “Knowledge will be imparted to you” etc.
4. When the teacher finds from signs that knowledge has not been grasped (or has been wrongly grasped) by the disciple he should remove the causes of non-comprehension which are: past and present sins, laxity, want of previous firm knowledge of what constitutes the subjects of discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal, courting popular esteem, vanity of caste etc., and so on, through means contrary to those causes, enjoined by the Srutis and Smritis, viz., avoidance of anger etc., and the vows (Yama) consisting of non-injury etc., also the rules of conduct that are not inconsistent with knowledge.
5. He should also thoroughly impress upon the disciple qualities like humility, which are the means to knowledge.
6. The teacher is one who is endowed with the power of furnishing arguments pro and con, of understanding questions and remembering them, who possesses tranquility, self-control, compassion and a desire to help others, who is versed in the scriptures and unattached to enjoyments both seen and unseen, who has renounced the means to all kinds of actions, who is a knower of Brahman and is established in it, who is never a transgressor of the rules of conduct and who is devoid of shortcomings such as ostentation, pride, deceit, cunning, jugglery, jealousy, falsehood, egotism and attachment. He has the sole aim of helping others and a desire to impart the knowledge of Brahman only. He should first of all teach the Sruti texts establishing the oneness of the self with Brahman such as, “My child, in the beginning it (the universe) was Existence only, one alone without a second”, “Where one sees nothing else” “All this is but the Self”, “In the beginning all this was but the one Self” and “All this is verily Brahman”.
7-8. After teaching these he should teach the definition of Brahman through such Sruti texts as “The self, devoid of sins”, “The Brahman that is immediate and direct”, “That which is beyond hunger and thirst”, “Not-this, not-this”, “Neither gross nor subtle”, “This Self is not-this”, “It is the Seer Itself unseen”, “Knowledge-Bliss”, “Existence-Knowledge-Infinite”, “Imperceptible, bodiless”, “That great unborn Self”, “Without the vital force and the mind”, “Unborn, comprising the interior and exterior”, “Consisting of knowledge only”, “Without interior or exterior”, “It is verily beyond what is known as also what is unknown” and “Called Akasa (the self-effulgent One)”; and also through such Smriti texts as the following: “It is neither born nor dies”, “It is not affected by anybody’s sins”, “Just as air is always in the ether”, “The individual Self should be regarded as the universal one”, “It is called neither existent nor non-existent”, “As the Self is beginningless and devoid of qualities”, “The same in all beings” and “The Supreme Being is different” – all these support the definition given by the Srutis and prove that the innermost Self is beyond transmigratory existence and that it is not different from Brahman, the all-comprehensive principle.
9. The disciple who has thus learnt the definition of the inner Self from the Srutis and the Smritis and is eager to cross the ocean of transmigratory existence is asked, “Who are you, my child?”
10-11. If he says, “I am the son of a Brahmana belonging to such and such a lineage; I was a student or a householder and am now a wandering monk anxious to cross the ocean of transmigratory existence infested with the terrible sharks of birth and death”, the teacher should say, “My child, how do you desire to go beyond transmigratory existence as your body will be eaten up by birds or will turn into earth even here when you die? For, burnt to ashes on this side of the river, you cannot cross to the other side”.
12-13. If he says, “I am different from the body. The body is born and it dies; it is eaten up by birds, is destroyed by weapons, fire etc., and suffers from diseases and the like. I have entered it, like a bird its nest, on account of merit and demerit accruing from acts done by myself and like a bird going to another nest when the previous one is destroyed I shall enter into different bodies again and again as a result of merits and demerits when the present body is gone. Thus in this beginningless world on account of my own actions I have been giving up successive bodies assumed among gods, men, animals and the denizens of hell and assuming ever new ones. I have in this way been made to go round and round in the cycle of endless births and deaths, as in a Persian wheel by my past actions and having in the course of time obtained the present body I have got tired of this going round and round in the wheel of transmigration and have come to you, Sir, to put an end to this rotation. I am, therefore, always different from the body. It is bodies that come and go, like clothes on a person”, the teacher would reply, “You have spoken well. You see aright. Why then did you wrongly say, ‘I am the son of a Brahmana belonging to such and such a lineage, I was a student or a householder and am now a wandering monk?”
14-15. If the disciple says, “How did I speak wrongly, Sir ?”, the teacher would reply, “Because by your statement, ‘I am the son of a Brahmana belonging to such and such a lineage etc.,’ you identified with the Self devoid of birth, lineage and purificatory ceremonies, the body possessed of them that are different (from the Self)”.
16-17. If he asks, “How is the body possessed of the diversities of birth, lineage and purificatory ceremonies (different from the Self) and how am I devoid of them ?”, the teacher would say, “Listen, my child, how this body is different from you and is possessed of birth, lineage and sanctifying ceremonies and how you are free from these”. Speaking this he will remind the disciple saying, “You should remember, my child, you have been told about the innermost Self which is the Self of all, with its characteristics as described by the Srutis such as ‘This was existence, my child’ etc., as also the Smritis and you should remember these characteristics also”.
18. The teacher should say to the disciple who has remembered the definition of the Self, “That which is called Akasa (the self-effulgent one) which is distinct from name and form, bodiless and defined as not gross etc., and as free from sins and so on, which is untouched by all transmigratory conditions, ‘The Brahman that is immediate and direct’, ‘The innermost Self’, ‘The unseen seer, the unheard listener, the unthought thinker, the unknown knower’, which is of the nature of eternal knowledge, without interior or exterior, consisting only of knowledge, all-pervading like the ether and of infinite power – that Self of all, devoid of hunger etc., as also of appearance and disappearance, is, by virtue of Its inscrutable power, the cause of the manifestation of unmanifested name and form which abide in the Self through Its very presence, but are different from It, which are the seed of the universe, are describable neither as identical with It nor different from It and are cognized by It alone.
19. “That name and form though originally, unmanifested, took the name and form of ether as they were manifested from that Self. This element called the ether thus arose out of the supreme Self, like the dirt called foam coming out of transparent water. Foam is neither water nor absolutely different from it. For it is never seen apart from water. But water is clear and different from the foam which is of the nature of dirt. Similarly, the Supreme Self, which is pure and transparent, is different from name and form, which stand for foam. These – corresponding to the foam – having originally been unmanifest, took the name and form of the ether as they were manifested.
20. “Name and form, as they became still grosser in the course of manifestation, assumed the form of air. From that again they became fire, from that water and thence
earth. In this order the preceding elements penetrated the succeeding ones and the five gross elements ending with earth came into existence. Earth, therefore, possesses the qualities of all the five gross elements. From earth, compounded of all five great elements, herbs such as paddy and barley are produced. From these, after they are eaten, are formed blood and the seed of women and men respectively. These two ingredients drawn out, as by a churning rod, by lust springing from ignorance and sanctified by Mantras, are placed in the womb at the proper time. Through the infiltration of the sustaining fluids of the mother’s body, it develops into an embryo and is delivered at the ninth or tenth month.
21. “It is born, or is possessed of a form and a name and is purified by means of Mantras relating to natal and other ceremonies. Sanctified again by the ceremony of investiture with the holy thread, it gets the appellation of a student. The same body is designated a house-holder when it undergoes the sacrament of being joined to a wife. That again is called a recluse when it undergoes the ceremonies pertaining to retirement into the forest. And it becomes known as a wandering monk when it performs the ceremonies leading to the renunciation of all activities. Thus the body which has birth, lineage and purificatory ceremonies different (from the Self) is different from you.
22. “That the mind and the senses are also of the nature of name and form is known from the Sruti, ‘The mind, my child, consists of food’.
23. “You said, ‘How am I devoid of birth, lineage and sanctifying ceremonies which are different (from the Self)?’ Listen. The same one who is the cause of the manifestation of name and form and who is devoid of all connection with sanctifying ceremonies, evolved name and form, created this body and entered into it (which is but name and form) – who is Himself the unseen Seer, the unheard Listener, the unthought Thinker, the unknown Knower as stated in the Sruti text, ‘(I know) who creates names and forms and remains speaking.’ There are thousands of Sruti texts conveying the same meaning, for instance, ‘He created and entered into it’, ‘Entering into them He rules all creatures’. ‘He, the Self, has entered into these bodies’, ‘This is your Self’. ‘Opening this very suture of the skull He got in by that door’, ‘This Self is concealed in all beings’, ‘That Divinity thought – let Me enter into these three deities.’
24. “Smriti texts too elucidate the same truth; for example, ‘All gods verily are the Self’, ‘The Self in the city of nine gates’, ‘Know the individual Self to be Myself’, ‘The same in all beings’, ‘The witness and approver’, ‘The Supreme Being is different’, ‘Residing in all bodies but Itself devoid of any’, and so on. Therefore it is established that you are without any connection with birth, lineage and sanctifying ceremonies”.
25. If he says, “I am in bondage, liable to transmigration, ignorant, (sometimes) happy, (sometimes) unhappy and am entirely different from Him; He, the shining One, who is dissimilar in nature to me and is beyond transmigratory existence, is also different from me; I want to worship Him through the actions pertaining to my caste and order of life by making presents and offerings to Him and also by making salutations and the like. I am eager to cross the ocean of the world in this way. So how am I He Himself?”
26. The teacher should say, “You ought not, my child, regard it so; because a doctrine of difference is forbidden.’ In reply to the question, “Why is it forbidden”, the following other Sruti texts may be cited: “He who knows ‘that Brahman is one and I am another’ does not know (Brahman)”, “He who regards the Brahmanical caste as different from himself is rejected by that caste.” “He who perceives diversity in Brahman goes from death to death”, and so on.
27. These Srutis show that transmigratory existence is the sure result of the acceptance of (the reality of) difference.
28. “That, on the other hand, liberation results from the acceptance of (the reality of) non-difference is borne out by thousands of Srutis; for example, after teaching that the individual Self is not different from the Supreme One, in the text, “That is the Self, thou art That”, and after saying, “A man who has a teacher knows Brahman”, the Srutis prove liberation to be the result of the knowledge of (the reality of) non-difference only, by saying, ‘A knower of Brahman has to wait only so long as he is not merged in Brahman’. That transmigratory existence comes to an absolute cessation, (in the case of one who speaks the truth that difference has no real existence), is illustrated by the example of one who was not a thief and did not get burnt (by grasping a heated hatchet); and that one, speaking what is not true (i.e., the reality of difference), continues to be in the mundane condition, is illustrated by the example of a thief who got burnt.
29. “The Sruti text commencing with ‘Whatever these creatures are here, whether a tiger or’ etc., and similar other texts, after asserting that ‘One becomes one’s own master (i.e., Brahman)’ by the knowledge of (the reality of) non-difference, show that one continues to remain in the transmigratory condition in the opposite case as the result of the acceptance of (the reality of) difference, saying, ‘Knowing differently from this they get other beings for their masters and reside in perishable regions’. Such statements are found in every branch of the Veda. It was, therefore, certainly wrong on your part to say that you were the son of a Brahmana, that you belonged to such and such a lineage, that you were subject to transmigration and that you were different from the Supreme Self”.
30. Therefore, on account of the rebuttal of the perception of duality, it should be understood that, on the knowledge of one’s identity with the Supreme Self, the undertaking of religious rites which have the notion of duality for their province and the assumption of Yajnopavita etc., which are the means to their performance, are forbidden. For these rites and Yajnopavita etc., which are their means, are inconsistent with the knowledge of one’s identity with the Supreme Self. It is only on those people that refer classes and orders of life etc., to the Self that Vedic actions and Yajnopavita etc., which are their means, are enjoined and not on those who have acquired the knowledge of their identity with the Supreme Self. That one is other than Brahman is due only on account of the perception of difference.
31. “If Vedic rites were to be performed and not meant to be renounced, the Sruti would neither have declared the identity of oneself with the Supreme Self unrelated to those rites, their means, castes, orders of life, etc., which are the conditions of Vedic actions, in unambiguous sentences like ‘That is the Self, thou art That;’ nor would it have condemned the acceptance of (the reality of) difference in clauses such as ‘It is the eternal glory of the knower of Brahman’, ‘Untouched by virtue, untouched by sin’, and ‘Here a thief is no thief’, etc.”
32. “The Srutis would not have stated that the essential nature of the Self was in no way connected with Vedic rites and conditions required by them such as a particular class and the rest, if they did not intend that those rites and Yajnopavita etc., their means, should be given up. Therefore, Vedic actions which are incompatible with the knowledge of the identity of oneself with the Supreme Self, should be renounced together with their means by one who aspires after liberation; and it should be known that the Self is no other than Brahman as defined in the Srutis”.
33. If he says, “The pain on account of burns or cuts in the body and the misery caused by hunger and the like, Sir, are distinctly perceived to be in me. The Supreme Self is known in all the Srutis and the Smritis to be ‘free from sin, old age, death, grief, hunger, thirst, etc., and devoid of smell and taste’. How can I who am different from Him and possess so many phenomenal attributes, possibly accept the Supreme Self as myself, and myself, a transmigratory being, as the Supreme Self?  I may then very well admit that fire is cool!  Why should I, a man of the world entitled to accomplish all prosperity in this world and in the next and realize the supreme end of life, i.e., liberation, give up the actions producing those results and Yajnopavita etc., their accessories?”
34. The teacher should say to him, ‘It was not right for you to say, ‘I directly perceive the pain in me when my body gets cuts or burns’. Why?  Because the pain due to cuts or burns, perceived in the body, the object of the perception of the perceiver like a tree burnt or cut, must have the same location as the burns etc. People point out pain caused by burns and the like to be in that place where they occur but not in the perceiver. How? For, on being asked where one’s pain lies, one says, ‘I have pain in the head, in the chest or in the stomach.’ Thus one points out pain in that place where burns or cuts occur, but never in the perceiver. If pain or its causes viz., burns or cuts, were in the perceiver, then one would have pointed out the perceiver to be the seat of the pain, like the parts of the body, the seats of the burns or cuts.
35. “Moreover, (if it were in the Self) the pain could not be perceived by the Self like the color of the eye by the same eye. Therefore, as it is perceived to have the same seat as burns, cuts and the like, pain must be an object of perception like them. Since it is an effect, it must have a receptacle like that in which rice is cooked. The impressions of pain must have the same seat as pain itself. As they are perceived during the time when memory is possible (i.e., in waking and dream, and not in deep sleep), these impressions must have the same location as pain. The aversion to cuts, burns and the like, the causes of pain, must also have the same seat as the impressions (of pain). It is therefore said, ‘Desire, aversion and fear have a seat common with that of the impressions of colors. As they have for their seat the intellect, the knower, the Self, is always pure and devoid of fear’.
36. “’What is then the locus of the impressions of colors and the rest?’  ‘The same as that of lust etc.,’ ‘Where again are lust etc.,?’  ‘They are in the intellect (and no where else) according to the Sruti – lust, deliberation, doubt’. ‘The impressions of colors and so forth are also there (and nowhere else) according to the Sruti – what is the seat of colors?  The intellect’. That desire, aversion and the like are the attributes of the embodiment, the object and not the Self, is known from the Srutis ‘Desires that are in the intellect’, ‘For he is then beyond all the woes of his heart (intellect)’. ‘Because It is unattached’, ‘Its form untouched by desires’ and from Smritis such as ‘It is said to be changeless’, ‘Because It is beginningless and without attributes’ and so on. Therefore (it is concluded that) impurity pertains to the object and not to the Self.
37-38. “Therefore you are not different from the supreme Self in as much as you are devoid of impurities such as the connection with the impressions of colors and the like. As there is no contradiction to perceptional evidence etc., the supreme Self should be accepted as oneself according to the Srutis. ‘It knew the pure Self to be Brahman’, ‘It should be regarded as homogeneous’, ‘It is I that am below’, It is the Self that is below’, ‘He knows everything to be the Self’, ‘When everything becomes the Self’, ‘All this verily is the Self’, ‘He is without parts’, ‘Without the interior and exterior’, ‘Unborn, comprising the interior and exterior’, ‘All this verily is Brahman’, ‘It entered through this door’, ‘The names of pure knowledge’, ‘Existence, Knowledge, Infinite Brahman’, ‘From It’, ‘It created and entered it’, ‘The shining One without a second concealed in all beings and all-pervading’, ‘In all bodies Itself bodiless’, ‘It is not born and does not die’, ‘(Knowing) dream and waking, He is my Self, thus one should know’, ‘Who (knows) all beings,’ ‘It moves and moves not’, knowing It, one becomes worthy of being worshipped, ‘It and nothing but It is fire’, ‘I became Manu and the sun’, ‘Entering into them He rules all creatures’, ‘Existence only, my child,’ ‘That is real, That is the Self, thou art That’. “It is established that you, the Self, are the supreme Brahman, the One only and devoid of every phenomenal attribute, from the Smritis also such as ‘All beings are the body of One
who resides in the hearts of all,’ ‘Gods are verily the Self’, ‘In the city of nine gates’, ‘The same in all beings’, ‘In a Brahmana wise and courteous’, ‘Undivided in things divided and ‘All this verily is Vasudeva (the Self).’”
39. If he says, “If, Sir, the Self is ‘Without interior or exterior’, ‘Comprising interior and exterior, unborn’, ‘Whole’, ‘Pure consciousness only’ like a lump of salt, devoid of all the various forms, and of a homogeneous nature like the ether, what is it that is observed in ordinary usage and revealed in Srutis and Smritis as what is to be accomplished, its (appropriate) means and its accomplishers and is made the subject-matter of contention among hundreds of rival disputants holding different views?”
40. The teacher should say, “Whatever is observed (in this world) or learnt from the Srutis (regarding the next world) are products of Ignorance. But in reality there is only One, the Self, who appears to be many to deluded vision, like the moon appearing more than one to eyes affected by amaurosis. That duality is the product of Ignorance follows from the reasonableness of the condemnation by the Srutis of the acceptance of (the reality of) difference such as ‘When there is something else as it were’, ‘When there is duality as it were, one sees another’, ‘He goes from death to death’, ‘And where one sees something else, hears something else, cognizes something else, that is finite and that which is finite is mortal’, ‘Modifications (i.e., effects e.g., an earthen jar) being only names, have for their support words only, it is earth alone (i.e., the cause) that is real’ and ‘He is one, I am another’. The same thing follows from the Srutis teaching unity, for example, ‘One only without a second’, ‘When the knower of Brahman’ and ‘What delusion or grief is there?’”
41. “If it be so, Sir, why do the Srutis speak of diverse ends to be attained, their means and so forth, as also the evolution and the dissolution of the universe?”
42. “The answer to your question is this: Having acquired (having identified himself with) the various things such as the body and the rest, considering the Self to be connected with what is desirable and what is undesirable and so on, though eager to attain the desirable and avoid the undesirable by appropriate means – for without certain means nothing can be accomplished – an ignorant man cannot discriminate between the means to the realisation of what is (really) desirable for him and the means to the avoidance of what is undesirable. It is the gradual removal of this ignorance that is the aim of the scriptures; but not the enunciation of (the reality of) the difference of the end, means and so on. For it is this very difference that constitutes this undesirable transmigratory existence. The scriptures, therefore, root out the ignorance constituting this (false) conception of difference which is the cause of phenomenal existence by giving reasons for the oneness of the evolution, dissolution, etc., of the universe.
43. “When ignorance is uprooted with the aid of the Sruti, Smriti and reasoning, the one-pointed intellect of the seer of the supreme Truth becomes established in the one Self which is of the nature of pure Consciousness like a (homogeneous) lump of salt, all-pervading like the ether, which is without the interior and exterior, unborn and is within and without. Even the slightest taint of impurity due to the diversity of ends, means, evolution, dissolution and the rest is, therefore, not reasonable.
44. “One who is eager to realise this right knowledge spoken of in the Sruti should rise above the desire for a son, wealth and this world and the next which are described in a five-fold manner and are the outcome of a false reference to the Self, of castes, orders of life and so on. As this reference is contradictory to right knowledge, it is intelligible why reasons are given regarding the prohibition of the acceptance of (the reality of) difference. For when the knowledge that the one non-dual Self is beyond phenomenal existence is generated by the scriptures and reasoning, there cannot exist side by side with it a knowledge contrary to it. None can think of chillness in fire or immortality and freedom from old age in regard to the (perishable) body. One, therefore, who is eager to be established in the knowledge of the Reality should give up all actions with Yajnopavita and the rest, their accessories, which are the effects of ignorance”.
HERE ENDS A METHOD OF ENLIGHTENING THE DISCIPLE.

CHAPTER – II THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHANGELESS AND NON-DUAL SELF
45. A certain Brahmacharin, tired of the transmigratory existence consisting of birth and death and aspiring after liberation, approached in the prescribed manner a Knower of Brahman established in It and sitting at ease and said, “How can I, Sir, be liberated from this transmigratory existence?  Conscious of the body, the senses and their objects, I feel pain in the state of waking and also in the state of dream again and again after intervals of rest in deep sleep experienced by me. Is this my own nature or is it causal, I being of a different nature?  If it be my own nature, I can have no hope of liberation as one’s own nature cannot be got rid of. But if it be causal, liberation from it may be possible by removing the cause.”
46. The teacher said to him, “Listen, my child, it is not your nature but causal”.
47. Told thus the disciple said, ‘What is the cause, what will bring it to an end and what is my nature?  That cause being brought to an end, there will be the absence of the effect and I shall come by my own nature, just like a patient who gets back the normal condition (of his health) when the cause of his disease is removed”.
48. The teacher said, “The cause is Ignorance, Knowledge brings it to an end. When Ignorance, the cause, will be removed, you will be liberated from the transmigratory existence consisting of birth and death. You will never again feel pain in the states of waking and dream”.
49.The disciple said “What is that Ignorance ?  What is its seat?  (What is its object?) and what is Knowledge by means of which I may come by my own nature?”
50. The teacher said, “You are the non-transmigratory Supreme Self, but you wrongly think that you are one liable to transmigration. (Similarly), not being an agent or an experiencer you wrongly consider yourself to be so. Again, you are eternal but mistake yourself to be non-eternal. That is Ignorance.”
51. The disciple said, “Though eternal, I am not the Supreme Self. My Nature is one of transmigratory existence consisting of agency and experiencing of its results, as it is known by evidences such as sense-perception etc. It is not due to Ignorance. For it cannot have the innermost Self for its object. Ignorance consists of the superimposition of the qualities of one thing on another e.g., well-known silver on well-known mother-of-pearl or a well-known human being on a (well-known) trunk of a tree and vice versa. An unknown thing cannot be superimposed on a known one and vice versa. The non-Self cannot be superimposed on the Self, for It is not known. Similarly, the Self cannot be superimposed on the non-Self for the very same reason”.
52. The teacher said to him, “It is not so. There are exceptions. For, my child, there cannot be a rule that it is only well-known things that are superimposed on other well-known things, for we meet with the superimposition of certain things on the Self. Fairness and blackness, the properties of the body, are superimposed on the Self which is the object of the consciousness ‘I’, and the same Self is superimposed on the body”.
53. The disciple said, “In that case the Self must be well-known owing to Its being the object of the consciousness ‘I’. The body also must be well-known, for it is spoken of as ‘this’ (body). When this is so, it is a case of mutual superimposition of the well-known body and the well-known Self, like that of a human being and the trunk of a tree or that of silver and mother-of-pearl. (There is, therefore, no exception here). So what is the peculiarity with reference to which you said that there could not be a rule that mutual superimposition was possible of two well-known things only?”
54. The teacher said, “Listen. It is true that the Self and the body are well-known, but they are not well-known to all people to be objects of different knowledges, like a human being and a trunk of tree. (Question). How are they known then?  (Reply). (They are always known) to be the objects of an undifferentiated knowledge. For, no one knows them to be the objects of different knowledges saying, ‘This is the body’ and ‘This is the Self’. It is for this reason that people are deluded about the nature of the Self and of the non-Self and say, ‘The Self is of this nature’ and ‘It is not of this nature’. It was this peculiarity with reference to which I said that there was no such rule (viz., only well-known things could be superimposed on each other).”
55. Disciple: “Whatever is superimposed through Ignorance on anything else is found to be non-existent in that thing, e.g., silver in mother-of-pearl, a human being in the trunk of a tree, a snake in a rope and the form of a frying pan and blueness in the sky. Similarly, both the body and the Self, always the objects of an undifferentiated knowledge, would be non-existent in each other if they were mutually superimposed. Just as silver etc., superimposed on mother-of-pearl and other things and vice versa are always absolutely non-existent. Likewise, the Self and the non-Self would both be non-existent if they were similarly superimposed on each other through Ignorance. But that is not desirable as it is the position of the Nihilists. If, instead of a mutual superimposition the body (alone) is superimposed through Ignorance on the Self, the body will be non-existent in the existing Self. That is also not desirable. For it contradicts sense-perception etc. Therefore the body and the Self are not mutually superimposed due to Ignorance. (If they are not superimposed) what then?  They are always in the relation of conjunction with each other like pillars and bamboos”.
56. Teacher: “It is not so. For in that case there arises the possibility of the Self existing for the benefit of another and being non-eternal. The Self, if in contact with the body, would be existing for the benefit of another and be non-eternal like the combination of pillars and bamboos. Moreover, the Self, supposed by other philosophers to be conjoined with the body, must have an existence for the sake of another. It is, therefore, concluded that devoid of contact with the body the Self is eternal and characteristically different from it”.
57. Disciple: “The objections that the Self as the body only is non-existent, non-eternal and so on, hold good if the Self which is not conjoined with the body were superimposed on it. The body would then be without a Self and so the Nihilist position comes in”.
58. Teacher: “No. (You are not right). For we admit that, like the ether, the Self is by nature free from contact with anything. Just as things are not bereft of the ether though it is not in contact with them, so, the body etc., are not devoid of the Self though It is not in contact with them. Therefore the objection of the Nihilist position coming in does not arise.
59. “It is not a fact that the absolute non-existence of the body contradicts sense-perception etc., inasmuch as the existence of the body in the Self is not known by
these evidences. The body is not known to exist in the Self by perception etc., like a plum in a hole, ghee in milk, oil in sesame or a picture painted on a wall. There is, therefore, no contradiction to sense-perception etc.”
60. Disciple: “How can then there be the superimposition of the body etc., on the Self which is not known by sense-perception etc., and that of the Self on the body?”
61. Teacher: It is not a (valid) objection. For the Self is naturally well-known. As we see the form of a frying pan and blueness superimposed on the sky, there cannot be a rule that it is things known occasionally only on which superimposition is possible and not on things always known”.
62. Disciple: “Sir, is the mutual superimposition of the body and the Self made by the combination of the body etc., or by the Self?”
63. The teacher said, “Does it matter if it be made by the one or the other?”
64. Questioned thus the disciple said, “If I were only a combination of the body etc., I would be non-conscious and would exist for the sake of another only. Therefore the mutual superimposition of the body and the Self could not be made by me. If on the other hand, I were the Self I would be characteristically different from the combination of the body etc., would be conscious and, therefore, would exist entirely for myself. So it is I, a conscious being, who make that superimposition, the root of all evils, on the Self”.
65. Thus told, the teacher said, “Do not make any superimposition, if you know it to be the root of all evils”.
66. Disciple: “Sir, I cannot but make it, I am not independent. I am made to act by someone else.”
67. Teacher: “Then you do not exist for yourself as you are non-conscious. That by which you are made to act like one dependent on another is conscious and exists for itself. You are only a combination (of the body and other things).”
68. Disciple: “How am I conscious of pain and pleasure and also of what you say, if I be non-conscious?”
69. Teacher: “Are you different from the consciousness of pain and pleasure and from what I say or not?”
70. The disciple said, “It is not a fact that I am not different from them. For I know them to be objects of my knowledge like jars and other things. If I were not different, I could not know them. But I know them; so I am different. If I were not different, the modifications of the mind called pain and pleasure and the words spoken by you would exist for themselves. But that is not reasonable. For pleasure and pain produced by sandal paste and a thorn respectively and also the use of a jar are not for their own sake. Therefore the purposes served by sandal paste etc., are for the sake of me who am their knower. I am different from them as I know all things pervaded by the intellect”.
71. The teacher said to him, “As you are possessed of consciousness, you exist for yourself and are not made to act by anyone else. For an independent conscious being is not made to act by another as it is not reasonable that one possessed of consciousness exists for the sake of another possessing consciousness, both being of the same nature like the lights of two lamps. Nor does one possessed of consciousness exist for the sake of another having no consciousness; for it is not possible that a thing exists for itself for the very fact that it is non-conscious. Nor again is it seen that two non-conscious things exist for each other, as wood and a wall do not serve each other’s purpose”.
72. Disciple: “But it may be said that the servant and the master are seen to serve each other’s purpose though they are equally possessed of consciousness.
73. Teacher: “It is not so. For I speak of consciousness belonging to you like heat and light to fire. It is for this reason that I cited the example of the lights of two lamps. Therefore, as changeless and eternal consciousness, like the heat and light of fire, you know everything presented to your intellect. Thus when you always know the Self to be without any attribute, why did you say, ‘I experience pain and pleasure again and again during the states of waking and dream after intervals of rest in deep sleep?’ And why did you say, ‘Is it my own nature or causal?’ Has this delusion vanished or not?”
74. To this, the disciple replied, “The delusion, Sir, is gone by your grace; but I have doubts about the changeless nature which, you say, pertains to me”. Teacher: “What doubts?” Disciple: “Sound etc., do not exist independently as they are non-conscious. But they come into existence when there arise in the mind modifications resembling sound and so on. It is impossible that these modifications should have an independent existence as they are exclusive of one another as regards their special characteristics (of resembling sound etc.,) and appear to be blue, yellow, etc. (So sound etc., are not the same as mental modifications). It is therefore inferred that these modifications are caused by external objects. So it is proved that modifications resemble sound etc., objects existing externally. Similarly, these different modifications of the mind also are combinations and therefore non-conscious. So, not existing for their own sake they, like sound etc., exist only when known by one different from them. Though the Self is not a combination, It consists of Consciousness and exists for Its own sake; It is the knower of the mental modifications appearing to be blue, yellow and so on. It must, therefore, be of a changeful nature. Hence is the doubt about the changeless nature of the Self”.
75. The teacher said to him, “Your doubt is not justifiable. For you, the Self, are proved to be free from change and therefore perpetually the same on the ground that all the modifications of the mind without a single exception are (simultaneously) known by you. You regard this knowledge of all the modifications which is the reason for the above inference as that for your doubt. If you were changeful like the mind or the senses (which pervade their objects one after another), you would not simultaneously know all the mental modifications, the objects of your knowledge. Nor are you aware of a portion only of the objects of your knowledge (at a time). You are, therefore, absolutely changeless”.
76. The disciple said, “Knowledge is the meaning of a root and therefore surely consists of a change; and the Knower (as you say) is of a changeless nature. This is a contradiction.”
77. Teacher: “It is not so. For the word knowledge is used only in a secondary sense to mean a change called an action, the meaning of a root. A modification of the intellect called an action ends in a result in itself which is the reflection of Knowledge, the Self. It is for this reason that this modification is called knowledge in a secondary sense, just as the action of cutting a thing in two is secondarily called its separation in two which is the ultimate result of the action of cutting the thing.
78. Being told thus, the disciple said, “Sir, the example cited by you cannot prove that I am changeless”. Teacher: “How?” Disciple: “For, just as the ultimate separation (into two) is used secondarily for the action of cutting which is the meaning of a root, so the word knowledge is used secondarily for the mental modification which is the meaning of a root and which ends in the result that is a change in Knowledge. The example cited by you, therefore, cannot establish the changeless nature of the Self”.
79. The teacher said, “What you say would be true if there were a distinction existing between the Knower and Knowledge. For, the Knower is eternal Knowledge only. The Knower and Knowledge are not different as they are in the argumentative philosophy.”
80. Disciple: “How is it then that an action ends in a result which is Knowledge.
81. The teacher said, “Listen. It was said that the mental modification, called an action, ended in a result which was the reflection of Knowledge. Did you not hear it?  I did not say that a change was produced in the Self as a result (of the modification of the mind”).
82. The disciple said, “How then am I who am changeless, the knower, as you say, of all the mental modifications, the objects of my knowledge?”
83. The teacher said to him, “I told you the right thing. The very fact (that you know simultaneously all the mental modifications) was adduced by me as the reason why you are eternally immutable”.
84. Disciple: “If this is so, Sir, what is my fault when the mental changes resembling sound etc., and resulting in the reflection of Knowledge, My own nature, are produced in Me who am of the nature of changeless and eternal Consciousness?”
85. Teacher: “It is true that you are not to be blamed. Ignorance, as I told you before, is the only fault”.
86. Disciple: “Sir, why are there the states of dream and waking (in me) if I am absolutely changeless like one in deep sleep?”
87. The teacher said to him, “But you always experience them (whenever they arise).”
88. Disciple: “Yes, I experience them, at intervals but not continuously”.
89. The teacher said, “They are then adventitious only and are not your own nature. They will surely be continuous if they were self existent like Pure Consciousness which is your own nature. Moreover, they are not your own nature inasmuch as they are non-persistent like clothes and other things. For what is one’s own nature is never seen to cease to persist while one is persisting. But waking and dream cease to persist while Pure Consciousness continues to do so. Pure Consciousness, the Self, persisting in deep sleep, whatever is non-persistent (at that time) is either destroyed or negated inasmuch as adventitious things, never the properties of one’s own nature, are found to possess these characteristics; for example, the destruction of money, clothes, etc., and the negation of things acquired in dream or delusion are seen”.
90. Disciple: “But, Sir, when this is so, Pure Consciousness Itself has to be admitted to be adventitious like waking and dream. For it is not known in deep sleep. Or, (it may be that I have adventitious consciousness or) am non-conscious by nature”.
91. Teacher: “No. (What you say is not right). Think over it. It is not reasonable (to say so). You may look upon Pure Consciousness as adventious (if you are wise enough); but we cannot prove It to be so by reasoning even in a hundred years, nor (can It be proved to be so) even by a dull man. As the consciousness (that has for its adjuncts mental modifications) is a combination, no one can prevent its existence for the sake of another, its manyness and destructibility by any reasoning whatever; for we have already said that whatsoever does not exist for itself is not self-existent. As Pure Consciousness, the Self, is self-existent. No one can prevent Its independence of other things inasmuch as It never ceases to exist”.
92. Disciple: “But I have shown an exception, namely, I have no consciousness in deep sleep.”
93. Teacher: “No, you contradict yourself”. Disciple: “How is it a contradiction?” Teacher: “You contradict yourself by saying that you are not conscious when, as a matter of fact, you are so”. Disciple: “But, Sir, I was never conscious of consciousness or anything else in deep sleep.” Teacher: “You are then conscious in deep sleep. For you deny the existence of the objects of Knowledge (in that state), but not that of Knowledge. I have told you that what is your consciousness is nothing but absolute Knowledge. The Consciousness owing to whose presence you deny (the existence of things in deep sleep) by saying, ‘I was conscious of nothing’ is the Knowledge, the Consciousness which is your Self. As It never ceases to exist, Its eternal immutability is self-evident and does not depend on any evidence; for an object of Knowledge different from the self-evident Knower depends on an evidence in order to be known. Other than the object the eternal Knowledge, that is indispensable in proving non-conscious things other then Itself, is immutable; for It is always of a self-evident nature. Just as iron, water, etc., which are not of the nature of light and heat, depend for them in the sun, fire and other things other than themselves, but the sun and fire themselves, always of the nature of light and heat, do not depend for them on anything else; so, being of the nature of pure Knowledge It does not depend on an evidence to prove that It exists or that It is the Knower.”
94. Disciple: “But it is transitory knowledge only that is the result of a proof and not eternal Knowledge”.
95. Teacher: “No. There cannot reasonably be a distinction of perpetuity or otherwise in Knowledge. For it is not known that transitory Knowledge is the result of a proof and not eternal Knowledge, as Knowledge Itself is such a result”.
96. Disciple: “But eternal Knowledge does not depend on a Knower while transitory Knowledge does so as it is produced by an intervening effort. This is the difference”.
97. Teacher: “The Knower which is the Self is then self-evident as It does not depend on any evidence (in order to be proved).”
98. Disciple: “(If the Knowledge of the Self be independent of an evidence on the ground that It is eternal), why should the absence of the result of an evidence with regard to the Self be not so on the same ground?” Teacher: “No, it has been refused on the ground that it is pure Knowledge that is in the Self”.
99. “Whom will the desire (to know a thing) belong to, if the Knower depend on an evidence in order to be known?  It is admitted that one who is desirous of knowing a thing is the knower. His desire of knowing a thing has for its object the thing to be known and not the knower. For, in the latter case, there arises a regressus ad infinitum with regard to the knower and also with regard to the desire to know the knower, inasmuch as the knower of the knower and so on (are to be known). Moreover, there being nothing intervening, the knower, the Self, cannot fall into the category of the known. For a thing to be known, becomes known, when it is distanced from the knower by the birth of an intervening desire, memory, effort or an evidence on the part of the knower. There cannot be the knowledge of an object in any other way. Again it cannot be imagined that the knower himself is distanced by anyone of his own desire etc. For memory has for its object the thing to be remembered and not one who remembers it; so has desire for its object the thing to be desired and not one who desires it. There arises, as before, an inevitable regressus ad infinitum if memory and desire have their own agents for their objects.
100. Disciple: “But the knower remains unknown if there is no knowledge which has for its object the knower”.
101. Teacher: “No. The knowledge of the knower has for its object the thing to be known. If it has for its object the knower, there arises a regressus ad infinitum as before. It has already been shown that, like the heat and light of the sun, fire and other things, the Knowledge which is changeless, eternal and self-effulgent has an existence in the Self entirely independent of everything else. I have already said that if the self-effulgent Knowledge which is there in the Self were transitory, it would become unreasonable that the Self existed for Itself and that being a combination It would get impurities and have an existence for the sake of another like the combination of the body and the senses. How? (Reply:) If the self-effulgent knowledge in the Self were transitory, It would have a distance by the intervention of memory etc. It would then be non-existent in the Self before being produced and after being destroyed and the Self, then a combination, would have an existence for the sake of another like that of the eye etc., produced by the combination of certain things. The Self would have no independent existence if this knowledge were
produced before it was in It. For it is only on account of the absence or presence of the state of being combined that the Self is known to exist for Itself and the non-Self for another. It is, therefore, established that the Self is of the nature of eternal and self-effulgent knowledge”.
102. Disciple: “How can the knower be a knower if he is not the seat of the knowledge produced by evidences?”
103. The teacher said, “The knowledge produced by an evidence does not differ in its essential nature whether one calls it eternal or transitory. Knowledge (though) produced by an evidence is nothing but knowledge. The knowledge preceded by memory, desire, etc., and supposed to be transitory and that which is eternal and immutable do not differ in their essential nature. Just as the result of the transitory actions of standing etc., the meanings of roots, preceded by motion etc., and that of the permanent ones not so preceded do not differ in their essential nature and there are, therefore, the identical statements, ‘People stand’, ‘Mountains stand’, etc.; so, the knower, though of the nature of eternal knowledge, is called a knower without contradiction inasmuch, as eternal knowledge is the same as one produced by an evidence (as regards their essential nature)”.
104. Here the disciple starts an objection: “It is not reasonable that the Self which is changeless and of the nature of eternal Knowledge and not in contact with the body and the senses should be the agent of an action like a carpenter in contact with an adze and other instruments. A regressus ad infinitum arises if the Self unconnected with the body, the senses, etc., were to use them as Its instruments. As carpenters and others are always connected with bodies and senses there is no regressus ad infinitum when they use adzes and other instruments”.
105. Teacher: (Reply): “Agency is not possible without the use of instruments. Instruments, therefore, have to be assumed. The assumption of instruments is of course
an action. In order to be the agent of this action, other instruments have to be assumed. In assuming these instruments still others have to be assumed. A regressus ad infinitum is, therefore, inevitable if the Self which is not joined with anything were to be the agent. “Nor can it be said that it is an action that makes the Self act. For an action, not performed, has no existence. It is also not possible that something (previously existing) makes the Self act as nothing (except the Self) can have an independent existence and be a non-object. For things other than the Self must be non-conscious and, therefore, are not seen to be Self-existent. Everything including sound etc., come to exist when they are proved by mental functions resulting in the reflection of the Self in them. “One (apparently) different from the Self and possessed of consciousness, must be no other than the Self that is free from combination with other things and existing for Itself only. “Nor can we admit that the body, the senses and their objects exist for themselves inasmuch as they are seen to depend for their existence on mental modifications resulting in the reflection of the Self (in them).”
106. Disciple: “But no one depends on any other evidence such as sense-perception etc., in knowing the body.”
107. Teacher: “Yes, it is so in the waking state. But at death and in deep sleep the body also depends on evidences such as sense-perception etc., in order to be known. Similar is the case with the senses. It is the external sound and other objects that are transformed into the body and the senses; the latter, therefore, also depend on evidences like sense-perception etc., in order to be known. I have said that knowledge, the result produced by evidences, is the same as the self-evident, self-effulgent and changeless Self”.
108. The objector (the disciple) says, “It is contradictory to state that knowledge is the result of evidences and (at the same time) it is the self-effulgent Self which is changeless and eternal”. The reply given to him is this: “It is not a contradiction.” “How then is knowledge a result?” “It is a result in a secondary sense: though changeless and eternal, It is noticed in the presence of mental modifications called sense-perception etc., as they are instrumental in making It manifest. It appears to be transitory, as mental modifications called sense-perception etc., are so. It is for this reason that It is called the result of proofs in a secondary sense.”
109. Disciple: “Sir, if this is so, independent of evidences regarding Itself, eternal and changeless knowledge, which is the Consciousness of the Self, is surely self-evident and all things different from It and therefore non-conscious, have an existence only for the sake of the Self as they combine to act for one another (in order that the events of the universe may continue uninterruptedly). It is only as the knowledge of the mental modifications giving rise to pleasure, pain and delusion that the non-Self serves the purpose of another. And it is as the same knowledge and as nothing else that it has an existence. Just as a rope-snake, the water in a mirage and such other things are found to be non-existent except only the knowledge by which they are known; so, the duality experienced during waking and dream has reasonably no existence except the knowledge by which it is known. So having a continuous existence, Pure Consciousness, the Self, is eternal and immutable and never ceasing to exist in any mental modification. It is one without a second. The modifications themselves cease to exist, the Self continuing to do so. Just as in dream the mental modifications appearing to be blue, yellow, etc., are said to be really non-existent as they cease to exist while the knowledge by which they are known
has an uninterrupted continuous existence; so, in the waking state also they are reasonably really non-existent, as they cease to exist while the very same knowledge
continues to do so. As that knowledge has no other knower, it cannot be accepted or rejected by Itself. As there is nothing else (except Myself, the aim of my life is fulfilled by your grace).”
110. Teacher: “It is exactly so. It is Ignorance due to which the transmigratory existence consisting of waking and dream is experienced. It is Knowledge that brings this Ignorance to an end. You have thus attained Fearlessness. You will never again feel pain in waking or in dream. You are liberated from the misery of this transmigratory existence”.
111. Disciple: “Yes, Sir”.

CHAPTER – III REPETITION
112. This method of repetition is described for those who aspire after supreme tranquility of the mind by destroying accumulated sins and virtues and refraining from accumulating new ones. Ignorance causes defects. Defects produce efforts of the body, mind and speech. And through these efforts are accumulated actions having desirable, undesirable and mixed results. This method is described here so that there may be a cessation of all of these.
113. As they are perceived by the ear and the other senses the objects called sounds, touch, sight, taste and smell have no knowledge of themselves or of other things. Transformed into the body and other things they, like brickbats, are known to lack in the said knowledge. Moreover, they are known through the ear etc. Being the knower, that by which they are known is quite of a different nature. For, connected with one another those sound and other objects are possessed of various properties such as birth, growth, change of condition, decline, death, contact, separation, appearance, disappearance, cause, effect and sex. All of them produce various effects like pleasure, pain and so on. The knower of sound and the like is of a nature different from theirs as It is the knower.
114, 115. Distressed by sound and other things experienced, the know of Brahman will thus practice repetition: “I who am of the nature of Consciousness, not attached to anything, changeless, immovable, imperishable, free from fear, extremely subtle and not an object, cannot for the very fact of my being not attached, be made and object and touched by sound in general of its special forms such as, the notes of gamut, and false, terrible, insulting and abusive words, which are undesirable. So there is no loss or gain due to sound. Therefore what can sound, pleasant or unpleasant, consisting of praise or blame do to me? Pleasant or unpleasant sound regarded as belonging to the Self glorifies or injures an ignorant man on account of indiscrimination. But it cannot do even the slightest good or evil to me who am a man of knowledge. (These ideas should thus be repeated). Similarly no change consisting of gain or loss can be produced in me by touch in general or its special forms such as fever, colic pain and such other diseases and coldness, hotness, softness or roughness which are unpleasant. Again, pleasant touches connected with the body or brought into existence by external and adventitious causes can likewise produce no change in me inasmuch as I am beyond touch, like the ether which, when struck with one’s fist, does not meet with any change whatever. Likewise as I am entirely unconnected with sight, no good or harm is done to me by it, either in general form or in its special forms or both pleasant, and unpleasant, such as, ugly sights. Similarly, independent of taste I am not harmed or benefited by it, either in its general form or in its special forms such as, sweetness, sourness, saltiness, pungency, bitterness and stringency, though accepted as pleasant or unpleasant by the ignorant. Thus, I who do not consist of smell cannot be harmed or benefited by it, either in its general form or in its special forms such as, flowers, fragrant pastes, etc. considered to be pleasant or unpleasant. For the Sruti says that I am one who am ‘eternally devoid of sound, tough, sight, taste, and smell’”.
116. “Moreover, sounds and the other external objects that are transformed into the forms of the body, the ear and the other senses through which they are perceived, are transformed into the forms of the two internal organs, (the intellect and the mind) and also into those of their objects. For they are connected and combined with one another in all actions. When this is so, I who am a man of knowledge have no one belonging to me as a friend or a foe, nor have I anyone indifferent to me. Anybody, therefore, who wishes to connect me with pleasure or pain, the results of his action, through a false egoism, makes a vain effort. For I am not within the reach of pain or pleasure as the Sruti says, ‘It is unmanifested and inscrutable’, Similarly, I am not changeable by the action of any of the five elements as I am not of an objective nature. Therefore the Sruti says, ‘It cannot be cut or burnt,’ The merit or demerit arising out of good or evil done to the combination of the body and the senses on the part of those who are devotional are adverse to me will be theirs, but will not touch me who am devoid of old age, death and fear as the Sruti and Smritis say, “It is not pained by omission and commission’, ‘It is not harmed or benefited by any action’, ‘Unborn, comprising the interior and exterior’, and ‘It is beyond the pain felt by the people and unattached.’ The supreme reason which I am unattached is that nothing really exists except the Self”. As duality does not exist the portions of the Upanishads regarding the oneness of the Self should be studied to a great extent. Here ends the prose portion of A Thousand Teachings written by the all-knowing Sankara.

PART - II  [Metrical]
CHAPTER – I INTRODUCTION
1. I bow down to that all-knowing One which is Pure Consciousness, all-pervading, all, residing in the hearts of all beings and beyond all objects of knowledge.
2. Now then, the Vedas begin to describe the knowledge of Brahman after dealing with all actions preceded by marriage and the installation of sacred fire.
3, 4. Actions, (both enjoined and prohibited), bring about one’s connection with the body: when the connection with the body has taken place, pleasure and pain most surely follow; thence comes attraction and repulsion, from them actions follow again, as results of which merit and demerit appertain to an ignorant man, which again are similarly followed by the connection with the body. This transmigratory existence is thus going on continually for ever like a wheel.
5. The cessation of ignorance is desirable, as it is the root of this transmigratory existence. Hence, a delineation of the knowledge of Brahman through which comes liberation (from ignorance) is commenced.
6, 7. Not being incompatible with ignorance, actions do not destroy it; it is knowledge alone that does it. Ignorance not being destroyed, the destruction of desire and aversion is not possible. Actions caused by impurities are sure to follow in case desire and aversion are not removed. Knowledge alone, therefore, is taught here, so that liberation (from ignorance) may be accomplished.
8. Obligatory duties should be performed (along with the practice of knowledge) as long as life lasts, because these duties co-operate with Knowledge in producing liberation.
9. As they are equally enjoined, obligatory duties are knowledge (should be practiced together). They should be undertaken by those who aspire after liberation because the Srutis speak of sins also (arising out of the omission of those actions).
10,11. You may say, “Followed by a sure result, Knowledge does not depend on anything else,” But it is not so. Just as Agnishtoma, though followed by an unfailing result, depends on things other than itself; so, knowledge, though bringing about a sure result, must depend on obligatory duties. (Reply). Some people hold this view. We say: No. As it is incompatible with actions, Knowledge does not depend on them (in producing its result).
12. Accompanied by egoism, actions are incompatible with Knowledge. For it is well-known here (in the Vedantas) that Knowledge is the consciousness that the Self is changeless.
13. Actions have their origin in the consciousness that one is a doer and has the desire of having the results of what one does. Knowledge depends on a thing (its own object and also on evidence), while actions depend entirely on the performer.
14. The Knowledge (of one’s own real nature) destroys the ideas of doership etc. (on the part of oneself like the right Knowledge of the nature of the desert which destroys) the conviction of there being water in it. When this is so, how can (a man of knowledge) accept them as true and perform actions?
15. It is, therefore, not possible on the part of a man of knowledge to have Knowledge and perform an action at the same time as they are incompatible with each other. So, one who aspires after liberation should renounce actions.
16. The natural conviction on the part of the people that the Self is not different from the body etc. arises through ignorance. The Vedic injunctions (and prohibitions) are authoritative as long as it prevails.
17. The Self is left over by negating the body etc. by the Sruti, ‘Not this, not this’, so that one may have the Knowledge of the Self which is devoid of all attributes. Ignorance is brought to an end by this knowledge.
18. How can ignorance, once negated (by Vedic evidence), arise again?  For it is neither in the innermost Self which is only one without a second and without attributes nor in the non-Self.
19. How can there again be the idea that one is a doer of actions and experiencer of their results if ignorance does not arise after there has grown the knowledge ‘I am Brahman’? Knowledge, therefore, is independent of actions (in producing liberation).
20. Therefore, it is said by the Sruti that the renunciation of action including mental ones (catalogued in the Narayanopanishat), is superior to their performance. Again immortality is heard of in the Brihadaranyakopanishat which says, “This alone.” Hence, they should be renounced by those who aspire after liberation.
21. We give the following reply to the objector who quoted the example of Agnishtoma.
22. Knowledge is quite opposite in nature to that of actions like Agnishtoma etc. for they are accomplished with the help of many materials and differ in the quality of the result of each individual performance. The example, therefore, is not parallel.
23. As it is produces a result (variable in quality) the Agnishtoma sacrifice, like agriculture etc. requires subsidiary actions other than itself. But what else will Knowledge depend on?
24. It is only one having egoism that may incur sin (by the omission of duties). A man who has got Self-knowledge has neither egoism nor a desire for the results of actions.
25. The Upanishads are, therefore, commenced in order to teach the Knowledge of Brahman so that ignorance might be removed and transmigratory existence might for ever come to an end.
26. The word “Upanishat’ is derived from the root ‘sad’ prefixed by two particles, ‘Upa’, and ‘ni’ and followed by the suffix “Kwip’. So, that which loosens the bondage of birth, old age, etc., enables a man to approach Brahman and destroy birth, death, etc., is called Upanishat.

CHAPTER – II NEGATION
1. Impossible to be negated the Self is left over on the authority of the Sruti ‘Not this, not this?’ So, the Self becomes clearly known on the
reflection, ‘I am not this, I am not this’?
2. The consciousness of egoism (i.e., the mistaken identity of the Self with the body etc.) has its origin in the intellect and has for its object what is based on words only.  As its very nature and origin are both negated by the Sruti, ‘Not this, not this,’ egoism can never again be regarded as founded on any evidence.
3. A following knowledge does not arise without negating the previous one (e.g., the knowledge of the rope does not come without destroying that of the snake in the rope-snake). Pure-Consciousness, the Self, only has an independent existence and is never negated as It is the result of evidences.
4. One attains one’s own innermost Self by crossing the forest of this body infested with ferocious beasts of grief, delusion, etc., like the man of the country of Gandhara who crossed the forest and reached his own country.

CHAPTER – III SELF-BRAHMAN
1. The aspirant cannot 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 a 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 right Knowledge that one is neither the doer of actions nor the experiencer of their results?
2. (The objector). Actions burnt by the fire of Knowledge may produce results like the keen 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 the 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 his is a human being. All this, therefore, is established. And the 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 order of life) would be destroyed like Udanka who did not accept genuine nectar which, he thought, was urine. [That people don 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 b 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 off 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 the 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 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 is 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 object 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 colors 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 sun-light.
5. Objects of knowledge exist in the intellect as long as it is there in waking and dream; but none exists 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 the non-Self. But after the discrimination there is no individual Self different from 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 accruing to me from your efforts.
2. Give up 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 the 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 subtler 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 external 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, 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 in dream. As duality has no (real) existence Knowledge is eternal and objectless.
8. As there is nothing other than the Self in dreamless sleep, it is said by the Sruti that 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 also unreal.
9. It is clearly understood that Brahman cannot be the object of knowledge just as It cannot be the object of seeing etc. as It ha no color, 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 cause 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 nor 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. Am 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 inference that they 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 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 grief and delusion.
13. It is the conclusion here (in the Vedantas) 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, is a man of Self-knowledge; but not 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 by nature are 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 immortality’, 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 function 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 lie 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 either, I am the witness free from al 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 connection 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 colored with turmeric etc. are nothing but mental impressions perceived by people in dream. (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 in seen as it is, so, the Knower, the Self, is seen in dream in Its real and self-effulgent nature free from a 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 (in 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 immortality. As liberation is caused by right Knowledge (alone), it does not depend on anything else.
16. But Immortality is free from fear and destruction. The individual Self (signified by the words) dear to one in 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 an 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 Its reflection. One 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 discriminated 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 ‘You 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 the body. One not 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 a 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 knowers of Brahman. No one else is so.
8. It is the knower of knowledge that is referred to by the 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 of 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 the objects of the Self.
11. I am Brahman without attributes, ever pure, ever free, non-dual, 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 inasmuch as there cannot be a more comprehensive knower different from me.
13. He who knows that the Consciousness of the Self never 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. Other are not so.
14. Capable by no means of being known, I am the knower and am always free and pure and 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. inasmuch as producibility is superimposed on It by another consciousness which is Its object and its 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 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, according as they identify themselves with the mental modification ‘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 vital 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 unrestfulness nor a profound concentration. Both of them belong to the mind 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 being owe their consciousness. Without qualities and without a second, I am eternal.
20. I am not the three visible elements (earth, water, fire) nor the two invisible ones (air and ether), neither am I both (ie. Their combination, the body). I am devoid of all attributes and the three Gunas. In Me there is neither night nor day nor their juncture as I am always of the nature of 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 ether.
22. The distinction between the Self in Itself and my Self is due to the superimposition (of all 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, manyness 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 of accept inasmuch 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 (Brahman). One certainly becomes all-knowing and free when one knows Me to be residing in ones 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. The 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 the 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 the waking state the Seer must be different from it which is seen.
3. Pervading objects like forms, colors, 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 inasmuch 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 remember 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 only.
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 cannot be made to appear or disappear.
10. How can an interior, an exterior of 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 anymore effort if the Self which is left over by negating the non-Self according to the Sruti, “Not this, not that” is considered to be his 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 ban of a river wish 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 fit 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 remember 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 b 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 unborn and comprises the interior and exterior on account of the fact that the agent, actions and their results do not exist?
19. For the ideas of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ are superimposed one 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, the seer, 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 desires.
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.
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 him becoming a powerful one of 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 the 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.”
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 motion 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, an downward or an oblique direction.
37. How can any action be left to 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, direction and causation.
40. The mind is the place of pilgrimage where the devas, the 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 illuminate themselves nor one another. Therefore taste etc. are illumined by one other than themselves. So are taste 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.
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 that’. The Self alone is then left over.
49. The impressions of the objects of known in the waking state, 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 of disappearance; so, there is never any alteration in the ether-like Consciousness free from duality negated by the Sruti.

CHAPTER – XV IMPOSSIBILITY OF ONE BEIG 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.
2. Things seen (in the waking state) are seen like a picture painted on a canvas when one remember 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 toe 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 nature 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., become 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.