The Crest Jewel of Wisdom and Atmabodha
by Sankaracharya

I prostrate myself before Govinda, the true Guru and
ultimate Bliss, who is the unattainable resort of all
scriptures and Vedanta. 1

Human nature is the hardest of creaturely states to
obtain, even more so that of manhood. Brahminhood is
rarer still, and beyond that dedication to the path of
Vedic religion. Beyond even that there is discrimination
between Atman and non-Atman, but liberation by persistence
in the state of the unity of Brahma and Atman is not to be
achieved except by the meritorious deeds of hundreds of
thousands of lives. 2

These three things are hard to achieve, and are attained
only by the grace of Brahma - human nature, the desire for
liberation, and finding refuge with a great sage. 3

He is a suicide who has somehow achieved human birth
and even manhood and full knowledge of the scriptures
but does not strive for Atman-liberation, for he destroys
Atman by clinging to the unreal. 4

Who could be more foolish than the man who has
achieved the difficult attainment of a human body and
even manhood but still neglects his true good? 5

People may quote the scriptures, make sacrifices to the
Brahmas, perform actions and pay homage to the deities,
but there is no liberation without recognising the oneness
of one's own true being - not even in the lifetime of a
hundred Brahmas (countless millions of years). 6

Scripture declares that there is no hope of immortality by
means of wealth, so it is evident that liberation cannot be
brought about by actions. 7

So let the man of understanding strive for liberation,
abandoning desire for the enjoyment of external aims
and pleasures, and after becoming the pupil of a good
and great teacher, let him fix his mind on the goal he
indicates. 8

Sunk in the sea of samsara, one should ones Self rouse
ones Self by holding onto right understanding until one
reaches the state of the attainment of union. 9

Abandoning all actions and breaking free from the bonds
of achievements, the wise and intelligent should apply
themselves to Atman-knowledge. 10

Action is for the purification of the mind, not for the
understanding of reality. The recognition of reality is
through discrimination, and not by even tens of millions
of actions. 11

Proper analysis leads to the realisation of the reality of
the rope, and this is the end of the pain of the fear of the
great snake caused by delusion. 12

The realisation of the truth is seen to depend on
meditation on statements about what is good, not on
bathing or donations or by hundreds of yogic breathing
exercises. 13

Achievement of the goal depends primarily on a fit
seeker. Things like locality and time are merely
secondary in this matter. 14

So he who would know his own nature should practise
meditation on the subject after taking refuge with a guru
who is a true knower of Brahma and an ocean of
compassion. 15

It is the wise and learned man, skilled in sorting out the
pros and cons of an argument who is really endowed
with the qualities necessary for Atman-realisation. 16

Discriminating and dispassionate, endowed with peace
and similar qualities, and longing for liberation - such is
the man who is considered fit to practise seeking for
Brahma. 17

The wise talk here of four qualities, possessed of which
one will succeed, but without which one will fail. 18

First is listed discrimination between unchanging and
changing realities, and after that dispassion for the
enjoyment of the fruits of action both here and hereafter,
and then the group of six qualities including peace and of
course the desire for liberation. 19

"Brahma is the Truth and the world is unreal." It is this
realisation that is considered discrimination between the
permanent and the impermanent. 20

Dispassion is the turning away from what can be seen
and heard and so on in everything which is impermanent,
from the body up to the highest heavenly states. 21

The settling of the mind in its goal, by turning away from
the mass of objects through observing their defects again
and again, is known as peace. 22

The establishment of the senses each in its own source
by means of turning away from their objects is known as
control. The supreme restraint is in the mind function not
being involved in anything external. 23

Bearing all afflictions without retaliation and without
mental disturbance is what is known as patience. 24

The holding on to the knowledge of the truth of the
Scriptures and the guru's teaching is called faith. It is by
means of this that reality is grasped. 25

The continual holding onto the awareness of Brahma alone -
continually, is known as concentration - not just mental
Atman- gratification. 26

The wish to be freed by the knowledge of one's true
nature from such bonds as seeing ones Self as the agent,
which are contingent on the body and created by
ignorance - this is desire for liberation. 27

This desire for liberation can bear fruit through
dispassion, peacefulness etc. by the grace of the guru,
even when only weak or mediocre. 28

It is in a man who has strong dispassion and desire for
liberation though that peacefulness and so on are really
fruitful. 29

But where there is a weakness in these qualities of
renunciation and desire for liberation, apparent
peacefulness and such like have as much substance as
water in the desert. 30

Among the contributory factors of liberation, devotion
stands supreme, and it is the search for one's own true
nature that is meant by devotion. 31

Others say that devotion is inquiry into the reality of
one's own nature. He who possesses the above qualities
and would know the truth about his own nature should
take refuge with a wise guru who can free him from his
bonds. 32

The guru should be one who knows the scriptures, is
blameless and a supreme knower of Brahma. He should be
at peace in Brahma, tranquil as a fire that has run out of fuel.
He should be a boundless ocean of compassion and the
friend of those who seek his protection. 33

After prostrating ones Self with devotion before the guru
and satisfying him with prostrations, humble devotion
and service, one should ask him what one needs to
know. 34

Hail, lord, friend of those who bow before you, and
ocean of compassion. I have fallen into this sea of
samsara. Save me with a direct glance from your eye
which bestows grace like nectar. 35

I am stricken by the unquenchable forest fire of samsara
and blown about by unforseeable winds of
circumstances. Save me from death, for I am afraid and
take refuge in you, for I know of no one else to help me.
36

Good and peaceful, great men living for the good of all,
and having themselves crossed the fearful torrent of
becoming, with no ulterior motive help others to cross
too . 37

It is the nature of great souls to act spontaneously for the
relief of the distress of others, just as the moon here of
itself protects the earth parched by the heat of the fierce
rays of the sun. 38

Pour upon me your sweet words, imbued with the taste
of Brahma's bliss. They spring from your lips as if poured
out of a jug, and are pleasing to the ear. For I am
tormented by samsara's afflictions, like the flames of a
forest fire, Lord. Blessed are those who receive even a
passing glance from your eyes. 39

How can I cross this sea of changing circumstances?
What should I do, what means employ? In your mercy,
Lord, show me how to end the pain of samsara, for I
understand nothing. 40

As he said this, tormented by the forest fire of samsara,
the great Sage looked at him with a gaze full of
compassion, urging him to abandon fear, now that he
had taken refuge in him. 41

Out of compassion the Sage undertakes his instruction
since he has come to him for help in his search for
liberation, is willing to do as he is told, is pacified of
mind and calm. 42

Don't be afraid, master. Destruction is not for you.
There is indeed a means of crossing the sea of samsara,
the way taken by which those who have crossed over
before, and I will now instruct you in it. 43

There is a certain great means which puts an end to the
fear of samsara. Crossing the sea of change by means of
it, you will achieve the ultimate joy. 44

Supreme understanding springs from meditating on the
meaning of Vedanta, and that is followed immediately by
the elimination of the pain of samsara. 45

The practice of faith, devotion and meditation are
declared by scripture to be the means to liberation for a
seeker after liberation. He who perseveres in these will
achieve freedom from the bondage to the body, created
by ignorance. 46

Linked with ignorance, your supreme Atman has become
involved in the bonds of non Atman, and from that in
samsara. The fire of the knowledge born from
discriminating between these two will burn out the
consequences of ignorance along with its very root. 47

The disciple

Out of compassion hear this question I put to you, so
that when I have heard the reply from your lips I will be
able to put it into practice. 48

What exactly is bondage? How does it come about and
remain? How is one freed from it? What exactly is non
Atman? What is the Supreme Atman? And how does one
discriminate between them? Explain this to me. 49

The guru replied

You are indeed blessed, for you have achieved the true
purpose of life and sanctified your family, in that you
seek deification by liberation from the bonds of
ignorance. 50

Sons and suchlike are able free their father from debts,
but no-one can free some-one else from bondage. 51

The pain of something like a weight on the head can be
removed by others, but the pain of things like hunger can
be put an end to by no-one but ones Self. 52

A sick man is seen to get better by taking the
appropriate medicine - not through treatment undertaken
by others. 53

Reality can be experienced only with the eye of
understanding, not just by a scholar. What the moon is
like must be seen with one's own eyes. How can others
do it for you? 54

Who but your very Self can free you from the bonds of the
fetters of things like ignorance, lust and the
consequences of your actions - even in hundreds of
thousands of years? 55

Liberation is achieved not by observances or by
analysis, nor by deeds or learning, but only by the
realisation of one's oneness with Brahma, and by no other
means. 56

The beauty of a lute and skill in playing its cords can
bring some pleasure to people but can hardly make you
a king. 57

In the same way, speech alone, even a deluge of words,
with scholarship and skill in commenting on the
scriptures, may achieve some personal satisfaction but
not liberation. 58

When the supreme reality is not understood, the study of
the scriptures is useless, and study of the scriptures is
useless when the supreme reality has been understood.
59

The tangle of words is a great forest which leads the
mind off wandering about, so wise men should strive to
get to know the truth about their own nature. 60

Except for the medicine of the knowledge of Brahma, what
use are Vedas, scriptures, mantras and such medicines
when you have been bitten by the snake of ignorance?
61

An illness is not cured just by pronouncing the name of
the medicine without drinking it, and you will not be
liberated by just pronouncing the word Brahma without
direct experience. 62

How can one reach liberation by just pronouncing the
word Brahma without achieving the elimination of the visible
universe and realising the truth about one's own nature?
It will just be a waste of speech. 63

One cannot become a king just by saying, "I am the
king," without defeating one's enemies and taking
possession of the country. 64

A buried treasure will not come out just by calling it, but
needs a good map, digging, removal of obstructing
stones and so on to get at it. In the same way the pure
reality, hidden by the effects of Maya, cannot be
achieved by just abusing it, but by instruction from a
knower of Brahma, reflection, meditation and so on. 65

So the wise should strive with all their ability for
liberation from the bonds of change, as they would in the
case of sickness and things like that. 66

The question you have asked today is a good one in the
opinion of those learned in the scriptures, to the point
and full of meaning. It needs to be understood by those
seeking liberation. 67

Listen careful to what I say, master. By hearing this you
will be freed from the bonds of change. 68

The primary basis of liberation is held to be total
dispassion for everything impermanent, and after that
peacefulness, restraint, patience, and the complete
renunciation of scriptural observances. 69

After that the practicant finds there comes listening,
reflection on what one has heard, and long meditation on
the truth. Then the wise man will experience the supreme
non-dual state and come here and now to the bliss of
Nirvana. 70

When you have heard me fully explain what you need to
know about the discrimination between Atman and
non-Atman, then bear it in mind. 71

The body, constituted of marrow, bone, fat, flesh,
ligament and skin, and composed of feet, legs, chest,
arms, back and head, is the seat of the "I" and "mine"
delusion, and is known as the physical body by the wise,
while space, air, fire, water and earth are the subtle
elements. 72 - 73

When these various elements are combined, they form
the physical body, while in themselves they constitute the
objects of the senses, the five types of sound and so on,
for the enjoyment of the individual. 74

The ignorant who are bound to the senses by the strong,
hardly breakable bonds of desire, are borne here and
there, up and down, in the control of their own karmic
impulses. 75

Deer, elephant, moth, fish and wasp, these five have all
died from attachment by their own volition to one of the
five senses, sound etc., so what about the man who is
attached to all five! 76

The effect of the senses is more deadly than even that of
a cobra. Their poison kills a man who only just looks at
them with his eyes. 77

Only he who is free from the terrible hankering after the
senses which is so hard to overcome is fit for liberation,
and no-one else, not even if he is an expert in the six
branches of scripture. 78

The shark of longing grasps those whose desire for
liberation is only superficial by the throat as they try to
cross the sea of samsara and drowns them halfway. 79

He who has killed the shark of the senses with the
sword of firm dispassion can cross the sea of samsara
without impediment. 80

Realise that death quickly waylays the senseless man
who follows the uneven way of the senses, but that man
achieves his purpose who follows the guidance of a true,
compassionate guru. Know this as the truth. 81

If you really have a desire for liberation, avoid the senses
from a great distance, as you would poison, and
continually practice the nectar-like qualities of
contentment, compassion, forbearance, honesty, calm
and restraint. 82

He who neglects that which should be undertaken at all
times, the liberation from the bonds created by
beginningless ignorance, and gets stuck in pandering to
the alien good of this body, is committing suicide by
doing so. 83

He who seeks to know Atman while pampering of the
body is crossing a river holding onto a crocodile in
mistake for a log. 84

This infatuation with the body and such things is a great
death for the seeker after liberation. He who has
overcome this infatuation is worthy of liberation. 85

Overcome this great death of infatuation with such things
as the body, wives and children. Sages who have
overcome it go to the supreme realm of Brahma. 86

This body is material and offensive, consisting of skin,
flesh, blood, sinews, veins, fat, marrow and bones, and
full of urine and excrement. 87

This material body, which arises from past action out of
material elements formed by the combination of subtle
elements, is the vehicle of sensation for the individual.
This is the state of a waking person perceiving material
objects. 88

The life force creates for itself, out of itself, material
object of enjoyment by means of the external senses -
such colourful things as flowers, perfumes, women, etc.
That is why this has its fullest enjoyment in the waking
state. 89

See this material body, all that the external existence of a
man depends on, as just like the house of a
house-dweller. 90

Birth, old age and death are inherent in the physical
body, as are such conditions as a heavy build and
childhood, while there are different circumstances like
caste and occupation, all sorts of diseases, and various
different types of treatment, like respect and contempt to
bear with. 91

Ears, skin, eyes, nose and tongue are organs of sense,
since they enable the experience of objects, while voice,
hands, feet and bowels are organs of action through their
inclination to activity. 92

The inner sense is known variously as mind,
understanding, the sense of agency, or volition,
depending on its particular function - mind as imagining
and analysing, understanding as establishing the truth of a
matter, the sense of responsibility from relating
everything to ones Self, and volition as seeking its own
good. 93, 94

The one vital breath (prana) takes the form of all the
various breathings, exhalations and psychic currents and
fields according to the various functions and
characteristics, as do gold and water and such things. 95

The eight citadels of groups of five categories, starting
respectively with speech, hearing, vital breath, ether,
intelligence, ignorance desire and action, constitute what
is known as the subtle body. 96

Hear that this higher body, also known as the subtle
body, with its desires and its tendency to follow the
course of causal conditioning, is derived from the
undifferentiated elements, and is a beginningless
superimposition, due to its ignorance, on the true Atman. 97

Sleep is a distinct state of the Atman in which it shines by
itself alone, whereas in dreaming the mind itself assumes
the sense of agency due to the various desires of the
waking state, while the supreme Atman shines on, on its
own, as pure consciousness, the witness of everything
from anger and such things on, without being itself
affected by any of the actions performed by the mind.
Since it is unattached to action, it is not affected by
anything done by its superimpositions. 98, 99

The subtle body is the vehicle of all operations for the
Atman, like an axe and so on for the carpenter. The Atman
itself is pure consciousness, and, as such, remains
unattached. 100

Blindness, short-sightedness and sharp eyesight are
simply due to the healthiness or defectiveness of the eye,
just as such states as deafness and dumbness are
conditions of the ear etc., not of the Atman, the knower.
101

Breathing in and out, yawning, sneezing and bodily
secretions are described by experts as functions
depending on the Inner Energy, while hunger and thirst
for truth are functions of the Inner Energy direct. 102

The mind, as a reflection of Light, resides in the body
with its senses, the eyes etc., through identifying itself
with them. 103

The sense of responsibility is what feels itself as the doer
and bearer of the consequences, and in together with the
three Attributes, purity etc., undergoes the three states
(of sleeping, dreaming and waking). 104

When the senses are favourable it is happy, and when
they are not it is unhappy. So happiness and suffering
are its attributes, and not those of the ever blissful Atman.
105

The senses are enjoyable only for the sake of ones Self,
not for themselves. The Atman is the most dear of
everything, and consequently the Atman is ever blissful, and
never experiences suffering. 106

That we experience the bliss of the Atman free from the
senses in deep sleep is verified by the scriptures, by
direct experience, by tradition and by deduction. 107

The so-called Inexpressible, the Lord's power, is the
ultimate, beginningless ignorance made up of the three
qualities (gunas), the pure Maya knowable through its
effects, out of which this whole world is produced. 108

It cannot be said to either exist or not exist, to be
divisible or indivisible, composite or unitary or both. It is
amazing and indescribable. 109

It can be overcome by the realisation of the pure
non-dual Brahma, like the false idea of a snake through the
recognition of the rope. It is composed of the three
qualities (gunas) of passion, dullness and purity,
recognised by their effects. 110

The distracting power of passion is by nature active, and
from it the primeval emanation of activity has taken
place. The mental states like desire and pain continually
arise from it as well. 111

Lust, anger, greed, pride, envy, Atman-importance and
jealousy - these are the awful effects produced by
passion. Consequently this passion quality is the cause of
bondage. 112

The veiling effect of the dullness quality is the power that
distorts the appearance of things. It is the cause of
samsara in man, and what leads to the activation of the
distracting power (of passion). 113

Even a wise and learned man and an adept in the
knowledge of the extremely subtle Atman can be overcome
by dullness, and fail to realise it, even when
demonstrated it in many different ways. What is
presented by delusion he looks on as good, and grasps
at its qualities. Such, alas, is the strength of the great
veiling power of this awful dullness quality! 114

Lack of sense or distorted understanding, lack of
judgement, and bewilderment - these never leave him
who is caught in this delusion, and the distracting power
torments him continually. 115

Ignorance, laziness, drowsiness, sleep, carelessness,
stupidity and so on are the effects of the dullness quality.
One stuck in these does not understand anything, but
remains as if asleep, like a wooden post. 116

Clear purity is like water, but combined with these other
qualities it leads to samsara, though in this purity the
nature of the Atman is reflected, like the disk of the sun
illuminating the whole world. 117

In purity mixed with the other qualities virtues such as
humility, restraint, truthfulness, faith, devotion, desire for
liberation, spiritual tendencies and freedom from
entanglement occur. 118

In real purity however the qualities which occur are
contentment, Atman-understanding, supreme peace,
fulfilment, joy and abiding in one's supreme Atman, through
which one experiences real bliss. 119

This Inexpressible, described as made up of the three
qualities (gunas), is the active body of the Atman. Deep
sleep is a special condition of it, in which the activity of
all functions of awareness cease. 120

Deep sleep is the cessation of all forms of awareness,
and the reversion of consciousness to a latent form of
the Atman. "I knew nothing" is the universal experience.
121

The body, its functions, vital energies, the thinking mind,
etc., and all forms, objects, enjoyment, etc. the physical
elements such as the ether, in fact everything up to this
Inexpressible are not one's true nature. 122

Everything is the creation of Maya from space itself
down to the individual body. Look on it all as a desert
mirage, unreal and not your very Self. 123

Now I will instruct you in the true nature of your
supreme Atman, by understanding which a man is freed
from his bonds and achieves final fulfilment. 124

There IS something your own, unchanging, the "I", the
substratum, the basis, which is the triple observer,
distinct from the five sheaths. 125

The awareness that knows everything whether waking,
dreaming or in deed sleep, and whether or not there is
movement in the mind, that is the "I". 126

It is that which experiences everything, but which nothing
else can experience, which thinks through the intelligence
etc., but which nothing else can think. - 127

It is that by which all this is filled, but which nothing else
can fill, and which, in shining, makes all this shines as
well. 128

It is that whose mere presence makes the body, bodily
senses, and mind etc. keep to their appropriate functions
like servants. 129

It is that by which everything from the ego function down
to the body is known like an earthen vessel, for its very
nature is everlasting consciousness. 130

This is one's inmost nature, the eternal Person, whose
very essence is unbroken awareness of happiness, who
is ever unchanging and pure consciousness, and in
obedience to whom the various bodily function continue.
131

In one of pure nature, the morning light of the
Unmanifest shines even here in the cave of the mind,
illuminating all this with its glory, like the sun up there in
space. 132

That which knows the thinking mind and ego functions
takes its form from the body with its senses and other
functions, like fire does in a ball of iron, but it neither
acts nor changes in any way. 133

It is never born, never dies, grows, decays, or changes.
Even when the body is destroyed it does not cease to
be, like the space in an earthen vessel. 134

The true Atman, of the nature of pure consciousness, and
separate from the productions of nature, illuminates all
this, real and unreal, without itself changing. It plays in
the states of waking and so on, as the foundation sense
of 'I exist', as the awareness, witness of all experience.
135

By means of a trained mind, and thanks to your faculty
of understanding, experience in practice the true Atman of
this 'I exist' in your very Self, cross the ocean of Samsara's
waves of birth and death, and established in the nature
of Brahma, and achieve the goal (of life). 136

Seeing 'This is me' in what is not really ones Self, this is
man's bondage, the result of ignorance and the cause of
the descent into the pain of birth and death. It is because
of this that one sees this unreal body as real, and
identifying ones Self with it, feeds it and cares for it with
the senses, like a grub in its cocoon. 137

One who is confused by lack of clarity sees something
which is not there, like a man mistaking a rope for a
snake through lack of understanding, and experiencing
great pain etc. from mistakenly taking hold of it. So, my
friend, hear this - Bondage is thinking that something
non-existent exists. 138

This obscuring power conceals the infinite glory of one's
true Atman which radiates with its indivisible, eternal and
unified power of understanding, like an eclipse obscures
the sun's disk, and creates darkness. 139

When he has lost sight of his true Atman, immaculate and
resplendent, a man identifies Atman with his body out of
ignorance. Then the great so-called dispersive power
torments him with its fetters of continuous desire, hatred
etc. 140

When a man has fallen to the state of being swallowed
up by the great shark of ignorance, he assumes to
Atman the various states superimposed upon him, and in
a pitiful state wanders rising and sinking in the great
ocean of Samsara. 141

Just as cloud formations, arising from the suns rays,
obscure the sun and fill the sky, so the sense of
Atman-identity, arising from one's true nature, obscures the
existence of the true Atman and itself fills experience. 142

Just as the thick clouds covering the sun on a bad day
are buffeted by cold, howling blasts of wind, so, when
one's true nature is obscured by deep ignorance, the
strong dispersive power torments the confused
understanding with many afflictions. 143

It is from these powers that man's bondage has arisen.
Confused by them, he mistakes the body for Atman and
wanders in error. 144

The seed of the Samsara tree is ignorance, identification
with the body is its shoot, desire is its first leaves, activity
its water, the bodily frame its trunk, the vital forces its
branches, the faculties its twigs, the senses its flowers,
the manifold pains arising from various actions its fruit,
and the bird on it is the individual experiencing them.
145

Ignorance is the root of this bondage to what is not one's
true nature, a bondage which is called beginningless and
endless. It gives rise to the long course of suffering -
birth, death, sickness, old age, etc. 146

It cannot be destroyed by weapons, wind or fire, nor
even by countless actions - by nothing, in fact, except by
the wonderful sword of wisdom, sharpened by Brahma's
grace. 147

He who is devoted to the authority of the scriptures
achieves steadiness in his religious life, and that brings
inner purity. The man of pure understanding comes to
the experience of his true nature, and by this Samsara is
destroyed, root and all. 148

One's true nature does not shine out when covered by
the five sheaths, material and otherwise, although they
are the product of its own power, like the water in a
pool, covered with algae. 149

On removing the algae, the clean, thirst-quenching and
joy-inducing water is revealed to a man. 150

When the five sheaths have been removed, the supreme
light shines forth, pure, eternally blissful, single in
essence, and within. 151

To be free from bondage the wise man must practise
discrimination between Atman and non-Atman. By that alone
he will become full of joy, recognising Atman as Being,
Consciousness and Bliss. 152

Just as one separates a blade of grass from its sheaths,
so by discriminating one's true nature as internal,
unattached and free from action, and abandoning all
else, one is free and identified only with one's true Atman.
153

This body is the product of food, and constitutes the
material sheath. It depends on food and dies without it.
It is a mass of skin, flesh, blood, bones and uncleanness.
It is not fit to see as ones Self, who is ever pure. 154

The body did not exist before birth, nor will it exist after
death. It is born for a moment, its qualities are
momentary, and it is inherently changing. It is not a single
thing, but inert, and should be viewed like an earthen
pot. How could it be one's true Atman, which is the
observer of changing phenomena? 155

Made up of arms and legs and so on, the body cannot
be one's true Atman as it can live on without various limbs,
and other faculties persist without them. What is
controlled cannot be the controller. 156

While the body of the observer is of a specific nature,
behaviour and situation, it is clear that the nature of one's
true Atman is devoid of characteristics. 157

How could the body, which is a heap of bones, covered
with flesh, full of filth and highly impure, be ones Self, the
featureless observer? 158

The deluded man makes the assumption that he is the
mass of skin, flesh, fat bones and filth, while the man
who is strong in discrimination knows Atman as devoid
of characteristics, the innate supreme Reality. 159

'I am the body' is the opinion of the fool. 'I am body and
soul' is the view of the scholar, while for the
great-souled, discriminating man, his inner knowledge is
'I am Brahma'. 160

Get rid of the opinion of your very Self as this mass of skin,
flesh, fat, bones and filth, foolish one, and make your very Self
instead the Atman of everything, the Brahma beyond all
thought, and enjoy supreme peace. 161

While the scholar does not overcome his sense of 'I am
this' in the body and its faculties, there is no liberation for
him, however much he may be learned in religion and
philosophy. 162

Just as you have no Atman identification with your
shadow-body, reflection-body, dream-body or
imagination-body, so you should not have with the living
body either. 163

Identification of ones Self with the body is the seed of the
pain of birth etc. in people attached to the unreal, so get
rid of it with care. When this thought is eliminated, there
is no more desire for rebirth. 164

The vital energy joined to the five activities forms the
vitality sheath, by which the material sheath is filled, and
engages in all these activities. 165

The Breath, being a product of the vital energy, is not
one's true nature either. Like the air, it enters and leaves
the body, and knows neither its own or other people's
good or bad, dependent as it is on something else. 166

The faculty of knowledge and the mind itself constitute
the mind-made sheath, the cause of such distinctions as
'me' and 'mine'. It is strong and has the faculty of
creating distinctions of perception etc., and works itself
through the vitality sheath. 167

The mind-made fire burns the multiplicity of experience
in the fuel of numerous desires of the senses presented
as oblations in the form of sense objects by the five
senses like five priests. 168

There is no such thing as ignorance beyond the thinking
mind. Thought is itself ignorance, the cause of the
bondage of becoming. When thought is eliminated,
everything else is eliminated. When thought increases
everything else increases. 169

In sleep which is devoid of actual experience, it is the
mind alone which produces everything, the experiencer
and everything else, by its own power, and in the waking
state there is no difference. All this is the product of the
mind. 170

In deep sleep when the thinking mind has gone into
abeyance there is nothing, by every one's experience, so
man's Samsara is a mind creation, and has no real
existence. 171

Cloud is gathered by the wind, and is driven away by it
too. Bondage is imagined by the mind, and liberation is
imagined by it too. 172

By dwelling with desire on the body and other senses
the mind binds a man like an animal with a rope, and the
same mind liberates him from the bond by creating
simple distaste for the senses as if they were poison. 173

Thus the mind is the cause of a man's finding both
bondage and liberation. When soiled with the attribute of
desire it is the cause of bondage, and when clear of
desire and ignorance it is the cause of liberation. 174

By achieving the purity of an habitual discrimination and
dispassion, the mind is inclined to liberation, so the wise
seeker after liberation should first develop these. 175

A great tiger known as the mind lives in the forest of the
senses, so pious seekers after liberation should not go
there. 176

The mind continually presents endless coarse or subtle
sense experiences for a person -- all the differences of
physique, caste, state and birth, and the fruits resulting
from attributes and actions. 177

The mind continually confuses that which is by nature
unattached, binding it with the fetters of body, senses
and faculties so that it thinks in terms of 'me' and 'mine'
in the experiences he is achieving. 178

Man's Samsara is due to the error of additions (to his
true nature), and it is from the mind's imagination that the
bondage of these additions comes. This is the cause of
the pain of birth and so on for the man without
discrimination who is filled with desire and ignorance.
179

That is why the wise who have experienced reality call
the mind ignorance, for it is by that that everything is
driven, like a mass of clouds by the wind. 180

So the mind must be earnestly purified by the seeker
after liberation. Once it is purified, the fruit of liberation
comes easily to hand. 181

Completely rooting out desire for the senses and
abandoning all activity by one-pointed devotion to
liberation, he who is established with true faith in study
etc., purges away the passion from his understanding.
182

What is mind-made cannot be one's true nature,
because it is changeable, having a beginning and an end,
because it is subject to pain, and because it is itself an
object. The knower cannot be seen as an object of
consciousness. 183

The intellect along with its faculties, its activities and its
characteristic of seeing itself as the agent, constitutes the
knowledge sheath which is the cause of man's samsara.
184

Intellectual knowledge which as a function is a distant
reflection of pure consciousness, is a natural faculty. It
continually creates the awareness 'I exist', and strongly
identifies itself with the body, its faculties and so on. 185

This sense of Atman is from beginningless time. As the
person it is the agent of all relative occupations. Through
its proclivities from the past it performs good and bad
actions, and bears their fruit. 186

After experiencing them it is born in all sorts of different
wombs, and progresses up and down in life, the
experiencer of the knowledge-created states of waking,
sleeping etc., and of pleasure and pain. 187

It always sees as its own such things as the body, and its
circumstances, states, duties, actions and functions. The
knowledge sheath is very impressive owing to its
inherent affinity to the supreme Atman, which, identifying
itself with the superimposition, experiences samsara
because of this illusion. 188

This knowledge-created light shines among the faculties
of the heart, and the true Atman, although itself motionless,
becomes the actor and the experiencer while identified
with this superimposition. 189

Allied to the intellect, just a part of itself, although the
true Atman of everything, and beyond the limitations of such
an existence, it identifies itself with this illusory Atman - as if
clay were to identify itself with earthen jars. 190

In conjunction with such additional qualities, the supreme
Atman seems to manifest the same characteristics, just as
the undifferentiated fire seems to take on the qualities of
the iron it heats. 191

The disciple

Whether it is by mistake or for some other reason that
the supreme Atman has become a living being, the
identification is beginningless, and there can be no end to
what has no beginning. 192

So the state of a living being is going to be a continual
samsara, and there can be no liberation for it. Can you
explain this to me? 193

The teacher

You have asked the right question, wise one, so now
listen. The mistaken imagination of illusion is not a reality.
194

Outside of illusion no attachment can come about for
what is by nature unattached, actionless and formless, as
in the case of blueness and space (the sky). 195

Existence as a living being, due to the mistaken intellect
identifying itself with its own light, the inner joy of
understanding, beyond qualities and beyond activity
does not really exist, so when the illusion ceases, it does
too, having no real existence of its own. 196

So long as the illusion exists, it too has existence,
created by the confusion of misunderstanding, in the
same way that a rope seems to be a snake so long as
the illusion persists. When the illusion comes to an end,
so does the snake. 197

Ignorance and its effects are seen as beginningless until
with the arising of insight, ignorance and its effects are
destroyed along with its root, even if beginningless, like
dreams on awaking from sleep. Even if beginningless this
world of appearances is not eternal - like something
originally non-existent. 198, 199

Even if beginningless, something originally non-existent is
seen to come to an end. In the same way the living
organism which is thought to belong to ones Self through
its identification with the intellect, does not really exist.
On the other hand, the true Atman is quite distinct from it,
and the identification of ones Self with the intellect is due to
misunderstanding. 200, 201
 
 

Even if beginningless, something originally non-existent is
seen to come to an end. In the same way the living
organism which is thought to belong to ones Self through
its identification with the intellect, does not really exist.
On the other hand, the true Atman is quite distinct from it,
and the identification of ones Self with the intellect is due to
misunderstanding. 200, 201

The cessation of that wrong identification is achieved by
right understanding, and by no other means. Right
understanding is held by scripture to be the recognition
of the oneness of Brahma and ones Self. 202

This recognition is achieved by right discrimination
between what is truly ones Self and what is not, so one
must develop this discrimination between the
conventional Atman and one's true Atman. 203

Like very muddy water, which is clearly water again
when the mud is removed, one's true Atman shines forth
again when the contamination is removed. 204

When the non-existent is removed the individual is
disclosed as the supreme Atman, so one must see to the
removal of thoughts about "me" and suchlike from
ones Self. 205

The level of sense awareness cannot be one's true Atman
since it is changeable, physical, restricted, a
sense-object and intermittent. What is transient should
not be mistaken what is eternal. 206

The level of pleasure is the aspect of ignorance which is
a sort of reflection the blissfulness of the true Atman. Its
attributes are the qualities of enjoyment and so on, which
are experienced when an enjoyable object is present. It
presents itself spontaneously to those fortunate enough
to experience the fruits of good deeds, something from
which everyone experiences great pleasure without
trying to. 207

The pleasure level is manifest at its fullest extent in deep
sleep, whereas in dreams and the waking state it is only
partially manifest, stimulated by such things as the sight
of enjoyable objects. 208

The pleasure level cannot be the true Atman either, since it
is changeable, a conditioned phenomenon, the result of
good deeds, and involved in the other levels of
consciousness as well. 209

When all these five levels have been disposed of by
meditating on scripture, when everything as been
eliminated there remains the witness, pure consciousness
itself. 210

This Atman, the light itself, beyond the five levels, the
witness of the three states, changeless, unsullied, eternal
joy - this should be recognised by the wise as one's real
Atman. 211

The disciple

After transcending these five levels as unreal, master, I
find nothing but a nothingness, the absence of everything.
What object remains for a wise person to identify with?
212

The teacher

You have spoken the truth, learned one. You are skilled
in discrimination. That by which all other phenomena,
starting with the thought of "me", are experienced, but
which is itself experienced by none, know that, by the
subtlest of understanding, as your true Atman. 213, 214

Whatever is experienced by something else has that as
its witness. When there is nothing else to experience
something, one cannot talk of it being witnessed. 215

This has the nature of Atman-awareness, since it is
conscious of itself. Thus the individual Atman is by its
Atman-awareness none other than the Supreme itself. 216

That which is fully manifest in the waking state, dream
and deep sleep, which is perceived within in the form of
the various experiences and impressions like
Atman-consciousness, and which is experienced as the
eternal Bliss, and Consciousness of one's true Atman, see
this within your own heart. 217

The ignorant see the reflection of the sun in the water of
a jar and think it is the sun itself. In the same way the
fool sees the reflection of consciousness in its associated
qualities and mistakenly identifies Atman with it. 218

The wise man ignores jar, water and the sun's reflection
in it, and sees the Atman-illuminating sun itself which gives
light to all three but is independent of them. 219

When a man abandons the body and the intellect which
is just a derivative of consciousness, and recognising
one's true Atman, the experiencer, pure awareness, the
source of everything existent and non-existent, itself
devoid of attributes, eternal, all-pervading, omnipresent,
subtle, empty of inside and outside, and itself none other
than one's true Atman (for this is truly inborn), he becomes
free from evil, sinless and immortal, free from pain, and
the incarnation of joy. Master of Atman he is afraid of
no-one. There is no other way to the breaking of the
bonds of temporal existence for the seeker after
liberation than the realisation of his own true nature. 220,
221, 222

The recognition of one's inseparable oneness with Brahma
is the means of liberation from temporal existence, by
which the wise person achieves the non-dual, blissful
nature of Brahma. 223

Having attained the nature of Brahma, the knower returns
no more to the temporal state, so it is essential to
recognise one's own true inseparable oneness with Brahma.
224

Brahma is the truth, knowledge and eternal. He is pure,
transcendent and Atman-sufficient - the everlasting,
undiluted bliss which is enthroned undivided and
inseparable within. 225

This supreme Reality is non-dual in the absence of any
other reality beside itself. In the state of knowledge of
ultimate truth there is nothing else. 226

This great variety of things which we experience through
our failure to understand is all really Brahma Atman, once
the distortion of thought is removed. 227

A pot made of clay is nothing other than clay, and its
true reality is always simply clay. The pot is no more
than the shape of a pot, and is just a mistake of
imagination based on the name. 228

No one can show that the reality of the pot is different
from the clay, so the pot is just an imagination based on
misunderstanding, and the clay is the only final reality.
229

Similarly everything which is made of Brahma is just Brahma
and has no separate existence. Whoever says it exists is
not yet free from delusion and is like someone talking in
his sleep. 230

The supreme scripture of the Arthava Veda declares
that "All this is Brahma", so all this is simply Brahma, and
anything in addition to that has no reality. 231

If it has any reality, that is the end of any eternal reality
for ones Self, the scriptures are false, and the Lord Atman
a liar, three things which are quite unacceptable to great
souls. 232

The Lord, who knows the reality of things, has stated "I
do not depend on them" (Bhagavad Gita 9.4) and
"Things do not exist in me" (Bhagavad Gita 9.5). 233

If everything really existed, it ought to exist in deep sleep
too. Since nothing does, then it follows that it is unreal
and an illusion like a dream. 234

So the world is not distinct from the Supreme Atman, and
its perception is an illusion like all attributes. What we
add to That has no reality, but merely appears to exist in
addition to That through misunderstanding. 235

Whatever a deluded person experiences in his delusion
is still always Brahma. The silver is only mother-of-pearl. It
is always Brahma that is mistaken for something else, and
whatever is added to Brahma is just a name. 236

So there exists only the supreme Brahma, the One Reality
without a second, consisting of pure consciousness,
without any blemish, peace itself and without beginning
or end, actionless and having the nature of pure bliss.
237

Beyond all delusion-created distinctions, this Whatever
shines by its own light, eternal, fulfilled, indivisible,
infinite, formless, inexpressible, nameless and
indestructible. 238

Seers know this supreme Reality, free from the
distinctions of knower, known and knowledge, infinite,
complete in itself and consisting of pure Awareness. 239

What cannot be got rid of or taken hold of, beyond the
sphere of mind and speech, measureless and
beginning-and-endless is Brahma, one's true Atman and
supreme glory. 240

The words "Brahma" and "your very Self", referred to by the
terms "That" and "Thou" are conscientiously purified by
repetition of the scriptural phrase "Thou art That", and
are clearly seen to be identical. 241

Their identity can be indicated but not described, since
they have mutually exclusive meanings like a firefly and
the sun, a king and a slave, a well and the ocean, or an
atom and mount Meru. 242

The distinction between them is due to the imagined
additional associations, but in reality there are no such
additions. The primary mental activity is due to the
Lord's Maya, and in the case of the individual it is the
result of the five sheaths. 243

These are additions to the Lord and the individual, and
when they are removed, there is neither Supreme nor
individual. A ruler is known by his kingdom, and a
warrior by his arms. Take these away, and there is
neither warrior nor king. 244

Scripture itself, with the words "Here is the teaching"
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.6), denies the imagined
duality in Brahma. One must get rid of these additions by
means of understanding backed up by the authority of
the scriptures. 245

"Not this, not this" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.6)
means that nothing one can think of is real, like a rope
mistaken for a snake, or like a dream. Carefully getting
rid of the apparent in this way, one should then come to
understand the oneness of the Lord and the individual.
246

So the meaning of these two expressions, Lord and
individual, must be carefully considered until their
essential oneness is understood. It is not enough just to
reject or accept either of them. One must come to the
recognition of the identity of the meaning of them both.
247

In the phrase "this person is Devadatta" the identity is
indicated by removing the distinction, and in the same
way, in the expression "Thou art That" the wise must get
rid of the apparent contradiction and recognise the
complete identity of Brahma and Atman by carefully identifying
the shared attribute of pure consciousness. Hundreds of
scriptural sayings declare the identity of ones Self and Brahma
in this way. 248, 249

In accordance with "It is nothing material"
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.8.8) eliminate the unreal
and find that which like the sky is pure and solitary, and
is beyond thought. Eliminate too this purely illusory body
which you have hitherto identified with your very Self. Then
recognising, "I am Brahma" with purified understanding, see
your true Atman as undifferentiated consciousness. 250

Everything made of clay, such as pot, is always to be
seen as purely clay. In the same way, everything deriving
from this supreme Atman must be simply recognised as
pure Reality. Since there is no reality beyond that, it is
truly one's very Atman, and you are that still, unblemished,
non-dual, supreme Reality of Brahma. 251

Just as the things like places, time, objects and observer
imagined in a dream are unreal, so the world
experienced in the waking state too is created by one's
own ignorance. Since the body-creating forces,
Atman-identification, and so on, are also unreal, you are
that still, unblemished, non-dual, supreme Reality of
Brahma. 252

That which is mistakenly imagined to exist is recognised
by wisdom to be That alone, and is thus undifferentiated.
The colourful world of a dream disappears. What
remains other than ones Self on waking? 253

Beyond birth, creed, family and tribe, free from the
distortion of attributes of name and appearance,
transcending locality, time and objects, you are That,
Brahma Atman. Meditate on the fact within your very Self. 254

That supreme Reality beyond the realm of anything that
can be said, but the resort of the pure eye of
understanding, the pure reality of
Consciousness-Awareness-Mind, etc. - you are That,
Brahma Atman. Meditate on the fact within your very Self. 255

That which is unaffected by the six afflictions (of aging,
death, hunger, thirst, desire and ignorance), which is
meditated on in the heart of the devotee, unrecognised
by the senses, unknown by the intellect - you are That,
Brahma Atman. Meditate on the fact within your very Self. 256

That basis on which the mistakenly imagined world
exists, itself dependent on nothing else, devoid of true
and false, without parts, and without mental image - you
are That, Brahma Atman. Meditate on the fact within
your very Self. 257

That which is indestructible, free from birth, growth,
development, decay, illness and death; which is the
cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of
everything - you are That, Brahma Atman. Meditate on the
fact within your very Self. 258

Free of parts, of an unchanging quality, undisturbed like
a waveless sea, declared to be of an eternally indivisible
nature - you are That, Brahma iAtman. Meditate on the fact
within your very Self. 259

Itself One but the cause of the many, the supreme Cause
which does away with all other causes, itself devoid of
distinctions of "cause" and "effect" - you are That, Brahma
Atman. Meditate on the fact within your very Self. 260

Without modification, great and unending, the supreme
Reality beyond destruction and indestructibility, the
eternal unfading, unblemished, fulfilment - you are That,
Brahma Atman. Meditate on the fact within your very Self. 261

That Reality which manifests itself as the many through
the illusions of names, shapes, attributes and changes,
but which, like gold is always itself unchanged (in
different objects) - you are That, Brahma Atman. Meditate
on the fact within your very Self. 262

That, beyond which there is nothing, but which shines
beyond everything else, the inner, uniform Atman-nature of
being-consciousness-joy, infinite and eternal - you are
That, Brahma Atman. Meditate on the fact within your very Self.
263

One should meditate within ones Self with the mind well
controlled on the truth declared here. Then the truth will
be disclosed free from doubt, like water in the palm of
one's hand. 264

Realising one's true nature as pure consciousness, one
should remain always established in ones Self, like a king
surrounded by his army, and should redirect all that is
back into Brahma. 265

In the cave of the mind, free from attributes of being and
not-being, there exists Brahma, the Truth, supreme and
without a second. He who by Atman dwells in that cave
returns no more to a mother's womb. 266

Even when one knows the truth, there still remains the
strong, beginningless tendency to think "I am the doer
and the reaper of the consequences" which is the cause
of samsara. It must be carefully removed by living in the
state of observing the truth within ones Self. The wise call
that removal of this tendency liberation. 267

The tendency to see "me" and "mine" in the body and the
senses, which are not ones Self must be done way with by
the wise by remaining identified with one's true Atman. 268

Recognising one's true inner Atman, the witness of the mind
and its operations, and reflecting on the truth of "I am
That", get rid of this wrong opinion about ones Self. 269

Abandoning the concerns of the world, abandoning
concern about the body, and abandoning even concern
about scriptures, see to the removal wrong assumptions
about your very Self. 270

It is owing to people's worldly desires, their desires for
scriptures, and their desires concerning their bodies that
they do not achieve realisation. 271

Those who know about these things call these three
desires the iron fetter that binds the feet of those who
are seeking escape from the prison-house of samsara.
He who is free from them reaches liberation. 272

The beautiful smell of aloe wood which is masked by a
bad smell through contamination by water and such
things becomes evident again when it is rubbed clean.
273

Desire for one's true Atman which is veiled by endless
internal other desires becomes pure and evident again
like the smell of sandalwood through application with
wisdom. 274

When the mass of desires for things other than ones Self
obscuring the contrary desire for one's real Atman are
eliminated by constant Atman-remembrance, then it
discloses itself of its own accord. 275

As the mind becomes more and more inward-turned, it
becomes gradually freed from external desires, and
when all such desires are fully eliminated Atman-realisation
is completely freed from obstruction. 276

When he is always poised in Atman-awareness the yogi's
thinking mind stops, and the cessation of desires takes
place as a result, so see to the removal of all ideas of
additions to your true Atman. 277

Dullness (tamas) is removed by passion (rajas) and
purity (sattva), desire is removed by purity, and purity
when itself purified, so establishing your very Self in purity, see
to the removal of all ideas of additions to your true Atman.
278

Recognising that the effects of past conditioning will
sustain the body, remain undisturbed and work away
hard at seeing to the removal of all ideas of additions to
your true Atman. 279

"I am not the individual life. I am Brahma." Getting rid of all
previous misidentifications like this, see to the removal of
all ideas of additions to your true Atman created by the
power of desires. 280

Recognising your very Self as the Atman of everything by the
authority of scripture, by reasoning and by personal
experience, see to the removal of all ideas of additions
to your true Atman whenever they manifest themselves. 281

The wise man has no business concerning Atman with
the acquisition or disposal of things, so by adherence to
the one reality, see to the removal of all ideas of
additions to your true Atman. 282

Realising the identity of your very Self and Brahma by the help of
sayings like "You are That", see to the removal of all
ideas of additions to your true Atman so as to strengthen
the adherence of your very Self in Brahma. 283

Eliminate completely your Atman-identification with this
body, and with determination see that your mind is
devoted to the removal of all ideas of additions to your
true Atman. 284

So long as even a dream-like awareness of your very Self as
an individual in the world remains, as a wise person
persistently see to the removal of all ideas of additions to
your true Atman. 285

Without giving way to the least descent into forgetfulness
through sleep, worldly affairs or the various senses,
meditate on your very Self within. 286

Shunning the body which is derived from the impurities
of your mother and father and itself made up of
impurities and flesh as you would an outcaste from a
good distance, become Brahmalike and achieve the goal of
life. 287

Restoring the Atman in you to the supreme Atman like the
space in a jar back to Space itself by meditation on their
indivisibility, always remain silent, wise one. 288

Taking up through your true Atman the condition of your
real glory, reject thoughts of a divine universe as much
as of your very Self as a reality, as you would a dish of filth.
289

Transferring your present Atman-identification with the
body to your very Self as consciousness, being and bliss,
abandon the body and be complete forever. 290

When you know "I am that very Brahma" in which the
reflection of the world appears, like a city in a mirror,
then you will be one who has achieved the goal of life.
291

Attaining that Reality which is Atman-existent and primal,
non-dual consciousness, and bliss, formless and
actionless, one should abandon the unreal body taken on
by ones Self, like an actor doffing his costume. 292

All this experienced by ones Self is false, and so is the
sense of I-hood in view of its ephemeral nature. How
can "I know everything" be true of something which is
itself ephemeral. 293

That which warrants the term "I" on the other hand is
that which is the observer of the thought "I" etc. in view
of its permanent existence even in the state of deep
sleep. Scripture itself declares that it is "unborn and
eternal" (Katha Upanishad 1.2.18). That true inner Atman is
distinct from both being and not-being. 294

The knower of all the changes in changing things must
itself be permanent and unchanging. The unreality in the
extremes of being and not-being is repeatedly seen in the
experience of thought, dreaming and deep sleep. 295

So give up identification with this mass of flesh as well as
with what thinks it a mass. Both are intellectual
imaginations. Recognise your true Atman as undifferentiated
awareness, unaffected by time, past, present or future,
and enter Peace. 296

Give up identification with family, tribe, name, shape and
status which depend on the putrid body. Give up
physical properties too such as the sense of being the
doer and be the very nature of undifferentiated joy. 297

There are other obstacles seen to be the cause of
samsara for men. Of these the root and first
manifestation is the sense of doership. 298

So long as one has any association with this awful sense
of being the doer there cannot be the least achievement
of liberation which is something very different. 299

Free from the grasp of feeling ones Self the doer, one
achieves ones true nature which is, like the moon, pure,
consummate, Atman-illuminating being and bliss. 300

Even he who, with a mind under the influence of strong
dullness, has thought of Atman as the body, will attain to
full identification with Brahma when that delusion is
completely removed. 301

The treasure of the bliss of Brahma is coiled round by the
very powerful, terrible snake of doership which guards it
with its three fierce heads consisting of the three qualities
(dullness, passion and purity) but the wise man can
enjoy this bliss-imparting treasure by cutting off the
snake's three heads with the great sword of
understanding of the scriptures. 302

How can one be free from pain so long as there is there
is any trace of poison in the body? The same applies to
the pain of Atman-consciousness in an aspirant's liberation.
303

In the total cessation of Atman-identification and the ending
of the multifarious mental misrepresentations it causes,
the truth of "This is what I am" is achieved through inner
discernment. 304

Get rid forthwith of doership, your Atman-identification,
that is, with the agent, a distorted vision of your very Self
which stops you from resting in your true nature, and by
identification with which you, who are really pure
consciousness and a manifestation of joy itself,
experience samsara with all its birth, decay, death and
suffering. 305

You are really unchanging, the eternally unvarying Lord,
consciousness, bliss and indestructible glory. If it were
not for the wrong identification with a false Atman you
would not be subject to samsara. 306

So cut down your enemy, this sense of being the doer,
with the great sword of knowledge, caught like a splinter
in the throat of some-one having a meal, and enjoy to
your heart's content the joy of the possession of your
true nature. 307

Stop the activity of the false Atman-identification and so on,
get rid of desire by the attainment of the supreme
Reality, and practice silence in the experience of the joy
of your true Atman, free from fantasies, with your true
nature fulfilled in Brahma. 308

Even when thoroughly eradicated, a great sense of
doership can revive again and create a hundred different
distractions, if it is once dwelt on again for a moment in
the mind, like monsoon rain-clouds driven on by the
wind. 309

Overcoming the enemy of the false Atman, one should give
it no opportunity by dwelling on the senses again,
because that is the way it comes back to life, like water
for a withered citrous tree. 310

He who is attached to the idea of Atman as the body is
desirous of physical pleasure, but how could some-one
devoid of such an idea seek physical pleasure? Hence
separation from one's true good is the cause of bondage
to samsara since one is stuck in seeing things as separate
from ones Self. 311

A seed is seen to grow with the development of the
necessary conditions, while the failure of the conditions
leads to the failure of the seed. So one must remove
these conditions. 312

The increase of desires leads to activity, and from the
increase of activity there is more desire. Thus a man
prospers in every way, and samsara never comes to an
end. 313

To break the bonds of samsara, the ascetic should burn
away both of these (desire and activity), since thinking
about these and external activity lead to the increase of
desires. 314

The increase of these two is the cause of one's samsara,
and the means to the destruction of these three is to see
everything as simply Brahma everywhere, always and in all
circumstances. By the increase of desire for becoming
the Truth, these three come to an end. 315, 316

Through the stopping of activity there comes the
stopping of thinking, and then the cessation of desires.
The cessation of desires is liberation, and is what is
known as here-and-now liberation. 317

When the force of the desire for the Truth blossoms,
Atmanish desires wither away, just like darkness vanishes
before the radiance of the light of dawn. 318

Darkness and the mass of evils produced by darkness
no longer exist when the sun has risen. Similarly, when
one has tasted undifferentiated bliss, no bondage or
trace of suffering remains. 319

Transcending everything to do with the senses,
cultivating the blissful and only Truth, and at peace within
and without - this is how one should pass one's time so
long as any bonds of karma remain. 320

One should never permit carelessness in one's
adherence to Brahma. "Carelessness is death"
(Mahabharata 5.42.43) says the Master (Sanatkumara)
who was of Brahma's son. 321

There is no greater evil than carelessness about his own
true nature for a wise man. From this comes delusion,
from this comes misconceptions about ones Self, from this
comes bondage, from this comes suffering. 322

Forgetfulness afflicts even a wise man with harmful
mental states when it finds him well-disposed to the
senses, like a woman does her infatuated lover. 323

Just as the algae cleared off water does not stay off even
for a moment, so illusion obscures the sight of even a
wise man whose mind is outward-directed. 324

When the mind loses its direction towards its goal and
becomes outward-turned it runs from one thing to
another, like a play-ball carelessly dropped on the steps
of some stairs. 325

A mind directed towards the senses dwells with
imagination on their qualities. From imagining finally
comes desire, and from desire comes the way a man
directs his activity. 326

As a result, there is no death like carelessness in
meditation to the wise knower of Brahma. The meditator
achieves perfect fulfilment, so carefully practice peace of
mind. 327

From carelessness one turns aside from one's true
nature, and he who turns aside from it slips downwards.
He who has thus fallen invariably comes to disaster, but
is not seen to rise again. 328

So one should abandon the imagination which is the
cause of all ills. He has reached fulfilment who is
completely dead while still alive. The Yajur Veda
(Taittiriya Upanishad 2.7) declares there is still
something to fear for anyone who still sees distinctions in
things. 329

Whenever a wise man sees the least distinction in the
infinite Brahma, whatever he has carelessly perceived as a
distinction then becomes a source of fear for him. 330

When, in spite of hundreds of testimonies to the contrary
in the Vedas and other scriptures, one identifies ones Self
with anything to do with the senses, one experiences
countless sorrows, doing something prohibited like a
thief. 331

He who is devoted to meditating on the Truth attains the
eternal glory of his true nature, while he who delights in
dwelling on the unreal perishes. This can be seen even in
the case of whether someone is a thief or not. 332

An ascetic should abandon dwelling on the unreal which
is the cause of bondage, and should fix his attention on
Atman in his knowledge that "This is what I am".
Establishment in Brahma through Atman-awareness leads to
joy and finally removes the suffering caused by
ignorance. 333

Dwelling on externals increases the fruit of superfluous
evil desires for all sorts of things, so wisely recognising
this fact, one should abandon externals and cultivate
attention to one's true nature within. 334

When externals are abandoned there comes peace of
mind. When the mind is at peace there comes awareness
of one's supreme Atman. When that is fully experienced
there comes the destruction of the bonds of samsara, so
abandonment of externals is the road to liberation. 335

What man, being learned, and aware of the distinction
between real and unreal, relying on the scriptures and
seeking the supreme goal of life, would knowingly, like a
child, hanker after resting in the unreal, the cause of his
own downfall. 336

There is no liberation for him who is deliberately
attached to the body and such things, while there is no
Atman-identification with such things as the body for a
liberated man. There is no being awake for some-one
asleep, nor sleep for some-one awake, for these two
states are by their very nature distinct. 337

He who knows Atman within and without, and
recognises Atman as the underlying support in all things
moving and unmoving, remaining indivisible, fulfilled in
Atman by abandoning all that is not Atman - he is
liberated. 338

The means of liberation from bondage is through the one
Atman in everything, and there is nothing higher than this
one Atman in everything. When one does not cling to
anything to do with the senses, one achieves these
things, and being the one Atman in everything depends on
resting in one's true Atman. 339

How is not clinging to the senses possible when one's
basis is Atman-identification with the body, and one's mind
is attached to enjoying external pleasures, and on doing
whatever is necessary to do so? But it can be achieved
within themselves by those who have abandoned all
objects of rules and observances, who are always
resting in Atman-awareness, who know the Truth and
energetically seek the bliss of Reality. 340

Scripture prescribes meditation for realisation of the Atman
in everything to the ascetic who has fulfilled the
requirement of listening to scripture, saying "At peace
and Atman-controlled" and so on (Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad 4.4.23). 341

Even wise men cannot get rid of the sense of doership all
of a sudden when it has grown strong, but those who are
unwavering in so-called imageless samadhi can, whose
desire for this has been developed over countless lives.
342

The outward-turning power of the mind binds a man to
the sense of doership by its veiling effect, and confuses
him by the attributes of that power. 343

To overcome the outward-turning power of the mind is
hard to accomplish without completely eliminating the
veiling effect, but the covering over one's inner Atman can
be removed by discriminating between seer and objects,
like between milk and water. Absence of an barrier is
finally unquestionable when there is no longer any
distraction caused by illusory objects. 344

Perfect discrimination, born of direct experience
establishing the truth of the distinction between seer and
objects, severs the bonds of delusion produced by
Maya (the creative power, which makes things appear
to exist), and as a result the liberated person is no longer
subject to samsara. 345

The fire of the knowledge of the oneness of above and
below burns up completely the tangled forest of
ignorance. What seed of samsara could there still be for
such a person who has achieved non-duality? 346

The veiling effect only disappears with full experience of
Reality, and the elimination of false knowledge leads to
the end of the suffering caused by that distraction. 347

These three (the removal of veiling effect, false knowlege
and suffering) are clearly apparent in the case of
recognising the true nature of the rope, so a wise man
should get to know the truth about the underlying reality
if he wants to be liberated from his bonds. 348

Like fire in conjunction with iron, the mind manifests
itself as knower and objects by dependence on
something real, but as the duality that causes is seen to
be unreal in the case of delusions, dreams and fantasies,
so the products of natural causation, from the idea of
doership down to the body itself and all its senses, are
also unreal in view of the way they are changing every
moment, while one's true nature itself never changes.
349, 350
 

The supreme Atman is the internal reality of Truth and Bliss,
eternally indivisible and pure consciousness, the witness
of the intellect and the other faculties, distinct from being
or not-being, the reality implied by the word "I". 351

Distinguishing the real from the unreal in this way by
means of his inborn capacity of understanding, and
liberated from these bonds, a wise man attains peace by
recognising his own true nature as undifferentiated
awareness. 352

The knot of ignorance in the heart is finally removed
when one comes to see one's own true non-dual nature
by means of imageless samadhi. 353

Assumptions of "you", "me", "it" occur in the non-dual,
undifferentiated supreme Atman because of a failure in the
understanding, but all a man's false assumptions
disappear in samadhi and are completely destroyed by
the realisation of the truth of the underlying reality. 354

An ascetic who is peaceful, disciplined, fully withdrawn,
long-suffering and meditative always cultivates the
presence of the Atman of everything in Atman. Eradicating
in this way the false assumptions created by the
distorting vision of ignorance, he lives happily in Brahma
free from action and free from imaginations. 355

Only those who have achieved samadhi and who have
withdrawn the external senses, the mind and their sense
of doership into their true nature as consciousness are
free from being trapped in the snare of samsara, not
those who just repeat the statements of others. 356

Because of the diversity of the things he identifies Atman
with, a man tends to see Atman as complex, but with the
removal of the identification, he is Atman again and
perfect as he is. For this reason a wise man should get
rid of Atman-identifications and always cultivate imageless
samadhi. 357

Adhering to the Real a man comes to share in the nature
of that Reality by his one-pointed concentration on it, in
the same way that a grub is able to become a wasp by
concentration on a wasp. 358

A grub achieves wasphood by abandoning attachment
to other activities and concentrating on the nature of
being a wasp. In the same way an ascetic meditates on
the reality of the supreme Atman and achieves it through his
one-pointed concentration on it. 359

The reality of the supreme Atman is extremely subtle and is
not capable of being experienced by those of coarse
vision, but it can be known by those worthy of it by
reason of their very pure understanding by means of a
mind made extremely subtle by meditation. 360

As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and
achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the
impurities of the attributes of delusion, passion and purity
through meditation and attains Reality. 361

When by the effect of constant meditation the purified
mind becomes one with Brahma, then samadhi, now freed
from images, experiences in itself the state of non-dual
bliss. 362

The destruction of the bonds of all desires through this
samadhi is the destruction of all karma, and there follows
the manifestation of one's true nature without effort,
inside, outside, everywhere and always. 363

Thought should be considered a hundred times better
than hearing, and meditation is thousands of times better
than thought, while imageless samadhi is infinite in its
effect. 364

The experience of the reality of Brahma becomes
permanent though imageless samadhi, but not otherwise
as it is mixed with other things by the restlessness of the
mind. 365

So, established in meditation, with the senses controlled,
the mind calmed and continually turned inwards, destroy
the darkness of beginningless ignorance by recognising
the oneness of Reality. 366

The primary door to union with Brahma is cutting off
talking, not accepting possessions, freedom from
expectation, dispassion and a secluded manner of life.
367

Living in seclusion is the cause of control of the senses,
restraint of the mind leads to inner stillness and
tranquillity leads to mastery of Atman-centred desire. From
that comes the ascetic's continual experience of the
unbroken bliss of Brahma. So the wise man should always
strive for the cessation of thought. 368

Restrain speech within. Restrain the mind in the
understanding and restrain the understanding in the
consciousness that observes the understanding. Restrain
that in the perfect and imageless Atman, and enjoy supreme
peace. 369

Body, functions, senses, mind, understanding and so on
- whichever of these adjuncts the mind's activity is
connected with, that becomes the ascetic's identity for
the time. 370

When this process is stopped, the wise man knows the
perfect joy of the letting go of everything, and
experiences the attainment of the overwhelming bliss of
Reality. 371

Internal renunciation and external renunciation - it is the
dispassionate man who is capable of these. The
dispassionate man abandons fetters internal and external
because of his yearning for liberation. 372

The dispassionate man, established in Brahma, is indeed
capable of abandoning the external bond of the senses
and the internal one of Atmanishness and so on. 373

As a discriminating person realise that dispassion and
understanding are like a bird's wings for a man. Without
them both he cannot reach the nectar of liberation
growing on top of a creeper. 374

The extremely dispassionate man achieves samadhi. A
person in samadhi experiences steady enlightenment. He
who is enlightened to the Truth achieves liberation from
bondage, and he who is truly liberated experiences
eternal joy. 375

I know of no higher source of happiness for a
Atman-controlled man than dispassion, and when allied to
thoroughly pure Atman-knowledge it leads to the sovereign
state of Atman-mastery. Since this is the gate to the
unfading maiden of liberation, always and with all
eagerness develop this supreme wisdom within your very Self
in happiness. 376

Cut off desire for the poison-like senses, for these are
death-dealing. Get rid of pride in birth, family and state
of life, and throw achievements far away. Drop such
unreal things as the body into the sacrificial bowl of your
true Atman, and develop wisdom within. You are the
Witness. You are beyond the thinking mind. You are
truly Brahma, non-dual and supreme. 377

Direct the mind resolutely towards Brahma, restraining the
senses in their various seats, and looking on the state of
the body as a matter of indifference. Realise your
oneness with Brahma, remaining continually intent on
identifying with its nature, and joyfully drink the bliss of
Brahma within, for what use is there in other, empty things?
378

Stop thinking about anything which is not your true Atman,
for that is degrading and productive of pain, and instead
think about your true nature, which is bliss itself and
productive of liberation. 379

This treasure of consciousness shines unfading with its
own light as the witness of everything. Meditate
continually on it, making this your aim, distinct as it is
from the unreal. 380

This one should be aware of with unbroken application,
continually turning to it with a mind empty of everything
else, knowing it to be one's own true nature. 381

This one should identify with firmly, abandoning the
sense of doership and so on, remaining indifferent to
them, as one is to things like a cracked jar. 382

Turning one's purified awareness within on the witness
as pure consciousness, one should gradually bring it to
stillness and then become aware of the perfection of
one's true nature. 383

One should become aware of ones Self, indivisible and
perfect like Space itself, when free from identification
with such things as one's body, senses, functions, mind
and sense of doership, which are all the products of
one's own ignorance. 384

Space when freed from the hundreds of additional
objects like pots and pans, receptacles and needles is
one, and in the same way the supreme Reality becomes
no longer multiple but one and pure when freed from the
sense of doership and so on. 385

All additional objects from Brahma to the last clump of
grass are simply unreal, so one should be aware of one's
own perfect true nature abiding alone and by itself. 386

When rightly seen, what had been mistaken in error for
something else is only what it always was and not
something different. When the mistaken perception is
removed the reality of the rope is seen for what it is, and
the same is true for the way everything is really ones Self.
387

One is ones Self Brahma, one is Vishnu, one is Indra, one
is Shiva, and one is ones Self all this. Nothing else exists
except ones Self. 388

Ones Self is what is within, ones Self is without, ones Self is in
front and ones Self is behind. Ones Self is to the south,
ones Self is to the north, and ones Self is also above and
below. 389

Just as waves, foam, whirlpool and bubbles are all in
reality just water, so consciousness is all this from the
body to the sense of doership. Everything is just the one
pure consciousness. 390

This whole world known to speech and mind is really
the supreme Reality. Nothing else exists but the Reality
situated beyond the limits of the natural world. Are pots,
jars, tubs and so on different from clay? It is the man
confused by the wine of Maya that talks of "you" and
"me". 391

The scripture talks of the absence of duality in the
expression "where there is nothing else" (Chandogya
Upanishad 7.24.1) with several verbs to remove any
idea of false attribution. 392

What else is there to know but one's true supreme
nature, Brahma Atman, like space pure, imageless,
unmoving, unchanging, free of within or without, without
a second and non-dual.

What more is to be said here? The individual is Atman
Brahma. Scripture declares that this whole extended world
is the indivisible Brahma. Those who have been illuminated
by the thought "I am Brahma", themselves live steadfastly as
Brahma, abandoning external objects, as the eternal
consciousness and bliss. 394

Destroy the desires arising from opinions about your very Self
in this impure body, and even more so those of the
subtle mental level, and remain as your very Self, the Brahma
within, the eternal body of bliss, celebrated by the
scriptures. 395

So long as a man is concerned about the corpse-like
body, he is impure and suffers from his enemies in the
shape of birth, death and sickness. When however he
thinks of Atman as pure Brahmalike and immovable, then he
is freed from those enemies, as the scriptures proclaim.
396

Getting rid of all apparent realities within ones Self, one is
ones Self the supreme Brahma, perfect, non-dual and
actionless. 397

When the mind waves are put to rest in one's true
nature, the imageless Brahma, then this false assumption
exists no longer, but is recognised as just empty talk.
398

What we call "All this" is a false idea and mistaken
assumption of in the one Reality. How can there be
distinctions in something which is changeless, formless
and without characteristics? 399

Seer, seeing and seen and so on have no existence in the
one Reality. How can there be distinctions in something
which is changeless, formless and without
characteristics? 400
 

In the one Reality which is completely perfect like the
primal ocean, how can there be distinctions in something
which is changeless, formless and without
characteristics? 401

When the cause of error has been annihilated like
darkness in light, how can there be distinctions in
something which is changeless, formless and without
characteristics? 402

How can there be distinctions in a supreme reality which
is by nature one? Who has noticed any distinctions in the
pure joy of deep sleep? 403

After realisation of the supreme Truth, all this no longer
exists in one's true nature of the imageless Brahma. The
snake is not to be found in time past, present or future,
and not a drop of water is to be found in a mirage. 404

Scripture declares that this dualism is Maya-created and
actually non-dual in the final analysis. It is experienced
for ones Self in deep sleep. 405

The identity of a projection with its underlying reality is
recognised by the wise in the case of the rope and the
snake, etc. The false assumption arises from a mistake.
406

This falsely imagined reality depends on thought, and in
the absence of thought it no longer exists, so put thought
to rest in samadhi in the inner reality of one's higher
nature. 407

The wise man experiences the perfection of Brahma in his
heart in samadhi as something which is eternal
consciousness, complete bliss, incomparable,
transcendent, ever free, free from effort, and like infinite
space indivisible and unimaginable. 408

The wise man experiences the perfection of Brahma in his
heart in samadhi as something which is free from natural
causation, a reality beyond thought, uniform, unequalled,
far from the associations of pride, vouched for by the
pronouncements of scripture, eternal, and familiar to us
as ourselves. 409

The wise man experiences the perfection of Brahma in his
heart in samadhi as something which is unaging, undying,
the abiding reality among changing objects, formless, like
a calm sea free from questions and answers, where the
effects of natural attributes are at rest, eternal, peaceful
and one. 410

With the mind pacified by samadhi within, recognise the
infinite glory of your very Self, sever the sweet-smelling bonds
of samsara, and energetically become one who has
achieved the goal of human existence. 411

Free from all false Atman-identification, meditate on
your very Self as the non-dual being-consciousness-bliss
within your very Self, and you will no longer be subject to
samsara. 412

Seeing it as no more than a man's shadow, a mere
reflection brought about by causality, the sage looks on
his body as from a distance like a corpse, with no
intention of taking it up again. 413

Come to the eternally pure reality of consciousness and
bliss and reject afar identification with this dull and
unclean body. Don't remember it any more, like
something once vomited is fit only for contempt. 414

Burning this down along with its roots in the fire of his
true nature, the imageless Brahma, the wise man remains
alone in his nature as eternally pure consciousness and
bliss. 415

Let the body, spun on the thread of previous causation,
fall or stay put, like a cows garland. The knower of the
Truth takes no more notice of it, as his mental functions
are merged in his true nature of Brahma. 416

To satisfy what desire, or for what purpose should the
knower of the Truth care for his body, when he knows
Atman in his own true nature of indivisible bliss. 417

The fruit gained by the successful man, liberated here
and now, is the enjoyment in Atman of the experience of
being and bliss within and without. 418

The fruit of dispassion is understanding, the fruit of
understanding is imperturbability, and the fruit of the
experience of bliss within is peace. This is the fruit of
imperturbability. 419

If the successive stages do not occur it means that the
previous ones were ineffective. Tranquillity is the
supreme satisfaction, leading to incomparable bliss. 420

The fruit of insight referred to is feeling no disquiet at the
experience of suffering. How could a man who has done
various disgusting actions in a time of aberration do the
same again when he is in his right mind? 421

The fruit of knowledge should be the turning away from
the unreal, while turning towards the unreal is seen to be
the fruit of ignorance. This can be seen in the case of
some-one who recognises or does not recognise things
like a mirage. Otherwise what fruit would there be for
seers? 422

When the knot of the heart, ignorance, has been
thoroughly removed, how could the senses be the cause
of the mind being directed outwards for some-one who
does not want them? 423

When there is no upsurge of desire for goods, that is the
summit of dispassion. When there is no longer any
occurrence of the Atman-identification with the doer, that is
the summit of understanding, and when there is no more
arising of latent mental activity, that is the summit of
equanimity. 424

He is the enjoyer of the fruit of infinite past good deeds,
blessed and to be revered on earth, who free from
external things by always been established in his
awareness of Brahma, regards objects which others look
on as desirable like some-one half asleep, or like a child,
and who looks at the world like a world seen in a
dream, or like some mere chance encounter. 425

That ascetic is of established wisdom who enjoys the
experience of being and bliss with his mind merged in
Brahma, beyond change and beyond action. 426

That function of the mind which is imageless pure
awareness, and which is immersed in the essential
oneness of ones Self and Brahma is known as wisdom, and
he in whom this state is well established is called one of
established wisdom. 427

He whose wisdom is well established, whose bliss is
uninterrupted, and whose awareness of multiplicity is
virtually forgotten, he is regarded as liberated here and
now. 428

When a man's mind is at rest in Brahma even when he is
awake he does not share the usual condition of being
awake. He whose awareness is free of desires is
regarded as liberated here and now. 429

He whose worries in samsara have been put to rest,
who though made up of parts does not identify Atman
with them, and whose mind is free from thoughts, he is
regarded as liberated here and now. 430

The sign of a man liberated here and now is the absence
of thoughts of "me" and "mine" in the body while it still
exists, going along with him like his shadow. 431

The sign of a man liberated here and now is not running
back to the past, not dwelling on the future, and being
unconcerned about the present. 432

The sign of a man liberated here and now is to look with
an equal eye on everything in this manifold existence with
all its natural faults, knowing that in itself it is without
characteristics. 433

The sign of a man liberated here and now is to remain
unmoved in either direction, looking on things with an
equal eye within, whether encountering the pleasant or
the painful. 434

The sign of a man liberated here and now is to be
unaware of internal or external, since the ascetic's mind
is occupied with enjoying the experience of the bliss of
Brahma. 435

The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he
remains unconcerned and free from the sense of "me"
and "mine" in the things needing to be done by the body
and the senses and so on. 436

The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he is
free from the bonds of samsara, knowing his own
identity with Brahma with the help of the scriptures. 437

He is regarded as liberated here and now who has no
sense of "this is me" in the body and senses, nor of "it
exists" in anything else. 438

The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he
knows by wisdom that there is never any distinction
between Brahma and what proceeds from Brahma. 439

The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he
remains the same whether he is revered by the good or
tortured by the bad. 440

That ascetic is liberated into whom, because of his being
pure reality, the sense object can flow and merge
without leaving any alteration, like the water of a river's
flow. 441

There is no more samsara for him who knows the Truth
of Brahma as there was before. If there is, then it is not the
knowledge of Brahma, since it is still outward turned. 442

If it is suggested that he still experiences samsara
because of the strength of his previous desires, the
answer is, No, desires become powerless through the
knowledge of one's oneness with Reality. 443

The impulses of even an extremely passionate man are
arrested in face of his mother, and in the same way those
of the wise cease in face of the perfect bliss of the
knowledge of Brahma. 444

Some-one practising meditation is seen to have external
functions still. Scripture declares that this is the effect of
the fruits of previous conditioning. 445

So long as pleasure and the like occur, one
acknowledges the effect of previous conditioning. A
result occurs because of a previous cause. Nothing
happens without a cause. 446

With the realisation that "I am Brahma", all the actions
accumulated over ages are wiped out, like actions in a
dream on waking up. 447

How could the good or even dreadfully bad deeds done
in the dreaming state lead a man to heaven or hell when
he arises from sleep? 448

Recognising Atman as unattached and impartial space,
he never hold on to anything with the thought of actions
yet to be done. 449

Space is not affected with the smell of wine by contact
with the jar, and in the same way one's true nature is not
affected by their qualities through contact with the things
one identified ones Self with. 450

The karma created before the arising of knowledge does
not come to an end with knowledge without producing
its effect, like an arrow shot at a target after being
loosed. 451

An arrow released in the understanding that it was at a
tiger does not stop when it is seen to be a cow, but
pierces the target with the full force of its speed. 452

The effects of previous conditioning are too strong for
even a wise man, and it is eliminated only by enduring it,
but the effects of present and future conditioning are all
destroyed by the fire of true understanding. Those who
are always established in the knowledge of their oneness
with Brahma, as a result of that are not affected by these
three aspects of conditioning since they share the
unconditioned nature of Brahma. 453

The question of the existence of past conditioning does
not apply for the ascetic who, by getting rid of
Atman-identification with anything else, is established within
in the knowledge of the perfection of Brahma as his true
nature, just as questions concerned with things in a
dream have no meaning when one has woken up. 454

He who has woken up makes no distinctions about his
dream body and the multiplicity of things connected with
it as being "me", "mine" or anything else, but simply
remains Atman by staying awake. 455

He has no desire to assert the reality of those illusions,
and he has no need to hold on to the things he has
woken up from. If he still chases these false realities he is
certainly considered not awake yet. 456

In the same way he who lives in Brahma remains in his own
nature and seeks nothing else. Like the memory of things
seen in a dream is the way the seer experiences eating,
going to the toilet and so on. 457

The body has been formed by causation so past
causality appropriately applies to it, but it does not apply
to the beginningless Atman, since one's true nature has not
been causally formed. 458

Scriptures which do not err affirm that one's true nature
is "Unborn, eternal and abiding" (Katha Upanishad
1.2.18), so how could causality apply to someone
established in such a Atman? 459

Causality applies only so long as one identifies ones Self
with the body, so he who does not consider Atman the
body has abolished causality for Atman. 460

Even the opinion that causality applies to the body is a
mistake. How can a false assumption be true, and how
can something which does not exist have a beginning?
How can something with no beginning have an end, and
how can causality apply to something that does not
exist? 461

The ignorant have the problem that if ignorance has been
completely eliminated by knowledge, how does the
body persist? To settle this doubt scripture talks about
causality in accordance with conventional views, but not
to teach the reality of the body and such things to the
wise. 462, 463

Complete in Atman, without beginning or end, infinite
and unchanging, Brahma is one and without a second.
There is nothing other than He. 464

The essence of Truth, the essence of Consciousness, the
eternal essence of Bliss and unchanging, Brahma is one and
without a second. There is nothing other than He. 465

The one reality within everything, complete, infinite, and
limitless, Brahma is one and without a second. There is
nothing other than He. 466

He cannot be removed or grasped; he cannot be
received from someone else, or held onto. Brahma is one
and without a second. There is nothing other than He.
467

Without attributes, indivisible, subtle, inconceivable, and
without blemish, Brahma is one and without a second.
There is nothing other than He. 468

His appearance is formless, beyond the realm of mind
and speech. Brahma is one and without a second. There is
nothing other than He. 469

Exuberant Reality, Atman-reliant, complete, pure,
conscious and unique, Brahma is one and without a second.
There is nothing other than He. 470

Great ascetics who have abandoned desires and given
up possessions, calm and disciplined, come to know this
supreme Truth, and in the end attain the supreme peace
by their Atman-realisation. 471

You too should recognise this supreme Truth about
your very Self, your true nature and the essence of bliss, and
shaking off the illusion created by your own imagination,
become liberated, fulfilled and enlightened. 472

See the Truth of your very Self with the clear eye of
understanding, after the mind has been made thoroughly
unwavering by meditation. If the words of scripture you
have heard are really received without doubting, you will
experience no more mistaken perception. 473

When one has freed ones Self from association with the
bonds of ignorance by the realisation of the reality of
Truth, Wisdom and Bliss, then scripture, traditional
practices and the sayings of the wise remain proofs, but
the inner experience of truth is proof too. 474

Bondage, freedom, contentment, worry, health, hunger
and so on are matters of personal experience, and other
people's knowledge of them can only be by inference.
475

Impartial gurus teach, as do the scriptures, that the wise
man crosses over by means of wisdom alone through the
grace of Brahma. 476

Knowing his true indivisible nature by his own realisation
the perfected man should remain in full possession of
Atman free from imaginations within. 477

The conclusion of all the scriptures and of experience is
that Brahma is the individual and the whole world too, and
that liberation is to remain in the one indivisible Reality.
The scriptures are also the authority for the non-duality
of Brahma. 478

Having thus attained the supreme reality by Atman discipline
through the words of his guru and the testimony of the
scriptures, his faculties at peace and his mind at peace,
he becomes something Atman-poised and immovable. 479

Having established his mind for some time in the
supreme Brahma, he arose from supreme bliss and uttered
these words. 480

My intellect has vanished and my mental activities have
been swallowed up in the realisation of the oneness of
myself and Brahma. I no longer know this from that, nor
what or how great this unsurpassed joy is. 481

Words cannot express nor the mind conceive the
greatness of the ocean of the supreme Brahma, full of the
nectar of bliss. Like the state of a hail-stone fallen into
the ocean, my mind has now melted away in the tiniest
fraction of it, fulfilled by its essential nature of Bliss. 482

Where has the world gone? Who has removed it, or
where has it disappeared to? I saw it only just now, and
now it is not there. This a great wonder. 483

In the great ocean filled with the nectar of the indivisible
bliss of Brahma, what is to be got rid of, what is to be held
onto, what is there apart from ones Self and what has any
characteristics of its own? 484

I can neither see, hear or experience anything else there,
as it is I who exist there by myself with the
characteristics of Being and Bliss. 485

Salutation upon salutation to you, great guru, free from
attachment, the embodiment of absolute Truth, with the
nature of ever non-dual bliss, the sea of eternal
compassion on earth. 486

Your very glance has soothed like gentle moonlight the
weariness produced by the great heat of samsara, and I
have immediately attained my own true everlasting
home, the abode of imperishable glory and bliss. 487

Through your grace I am blessed, I have achieved the
goal, I am freed from the bonds of samsara, I am eternal
bliss by nature, and fulfilled. 488

I am free, I am bodiless, I am without sex and
indestructible. I am at peace, I am infinite, without
blemish and eternal. 489

I am not the doer and I am not the reaper of the
consequences. I am unchanging and without activity. I
am pure awareness by nature, I am perfect and forever
blessed. 490

I am distinct from the seer, hearer, speaker, doer and
experiencer. I am eternal, undivided, actionless, limitless,
unattached - perfect awareness by nature. 491

I am neither this nor that, but the pure supreme reality
which illuminates them both. I am Brahma, the indivisible,
devoid of inside and outside, complete. 492

I am uncomparable, beginningless Reality. I am far from
such thoughts as "you", "me", and "this". I am eternal
bliss, the Truth, the non-dual Brahma Atman. 493

I am Narayana, I am the slayer of Naraka and of Pura. I
am the supreme Person and the Lord. I am indivisible
awareness, the witness of everything. I have no master
and I am without any sense of "me" and "mine". 494

I abide in all creatures, being the very knowledge which
is their inner and outer support. I myself am the ejoyer
and all enjoyment, in fact whatever I experienced before
now. 495

In me who am the ocean of infinite joy the manifold
waves of the universe arise and come to an end,
impelled by the winds of Maya. 496

Ideas like "material" are mistakenly imagined about me
by people under the influence of their presuppositions,
as are divisions of time like kalpas, years, half-years and
seasons, dividing the indivisible and inconceivable.. 497

The presuppositions of the severely deluded can never
affect the underlying reality, just as the great torrent of a
mirage flood cannot wet a desert land. 498

Like space, I am beyond contamination. Like the sun, I
am distinct from the things illuminated. Like a mountain, I
am always immovable. Like the ocean, I am boundless.
499

I am no more bound to the body than the sky is to a
cloud, so how can I be affected by its states of waking,
dreaming and deep sleep? 500
 

Imagined attributes added to one's true nature come and
go. They create karma and experience its effects. They
grow old and die, but I always remain immovable like
mount Kudrali. 501

There is no outward turning nor turning back for me,
who am always the same and indivisible. How can that
perform actions which is single, of one nature, without
parts and complete, like space? 502

How can there be good and bad deeds for me who am
organless, mindless, changeless and formless, and
experience only indivisible joy? The scriptures
themselves declare "he is not affected" (Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad 4.3.22). 503

Heat or cold, the pleasant or the unpleasant coming into
contact with a man's shadow in no way affect the man
Atman who is quite distinct from his shadow. 504

The qualities of things seen do not touch the seer, who is
quite distinct from them, changeless and unaffected, just
as household objects do not touch the lamp there. 505

Like the sun's mere witnessing of actions, like fire's
non-involvement with the things it is burning, and like the
relationship of a rope to the idea superimposed on it, so
is the unchanging consciousness within me. 506

I neither do nor make things happen. I neither
experience nor cause to experience. I neither see nor
make others see. I am that supreme light without
attributes. 507

When intervening factors (the water) move, the ignorant
ascribe the movement of the reflection to the object
itself, like the sun which is actually immovable. They
think "I am the doer", "I am the reaper of the
consequences", and "Alas, I am being killed." 508

Whether my physical body falls into water or onto dry
land, I am not dirtied by their qualities, just as space is
not affected by the qualities of a jar it is in. 509

Such states as thinking ones Self the doer or the reaper of
the consequences, being wicked, drunk, stupid, bound
or free are false assumptions of the understanding, and
do not apply in reality to one's true Atman, the supreme,
perfect and non-dual Brahma. 510

Let there be tens of changes on the natural level,
hundreds of changes, thousands of changes. What is that
to me, who am unattached consciousness? The clouds
never touch the sky. 511

I am that non-dual Brahma, who like space is subtle and
without beginning or end, and in whom all this from the
unmanifest down to the material is displayed as no more
than an appearance. 512

I am that non-dual Brahma who is eternal, pure, unmoving
and imageless, the support of everything, the illuminator
of all objects, manifest in all forms and all-pervading,
and yet empty of everything. 513

I am that non-dual Brahma who is infinite Truth, Knowledge
and Bliss, who transcends the endless modifications of
Maya, who is one's own reality and to be experienced
within. 514

I am actionless, changeless, partless, formless,
imageless, endless and supportless - one without a
second. 515

I am the reality in everything. I am everything and I am
the non-dual beyond everything. I am perfect indivisible
awareness and I am infinite bliss. 516

I have received this glory of the sovereignty over myself
and over the world by the compassion of your grace,
noble and great-souled guru. Salutation upon salutation
to you, and again salutation. 517

You, my teacher, have my supreme saviour, waking me
up from sleep through your infinite compassion, lost in a
vast dream as I was and afflicted every day by countless
troubles in the Maya-created forest of birth, old age and
death, and tormented by the tiger of this feeling myself
the doer. 518

Salutation to you, King of gurus, who remain always the
same in your greatness. Salutation to you who are
manifest as all this that we see. 519

Seeing his noble disciple, who had achieved the joy of
his true nature in samadhi, who had awaken to the Truth,
and experienced deep inner contentment, kneeling thus
before him, the best of teachers and supreme great soul
spoke again and said these words. 520

The world is a sequence of experiences of Brahma, so it is
Brahma that is everything, and one should see this in all
circumstances with inner insight and a peaceful mind.
What has ever been seen by sighted people but forms,
and in the same way what other resort is there for a man
of understanding but to know Brahma? 521

What man of wisdom would abandon the experience of
supreme bliss to take pleasure in things with no
substance? When the beautiful moon iAtman is shining, who
would want to look at just a painted moon? 522

There is no satisfaction or elimination of suffering through
the experience of unreal things, so experience that
non-dual bliss and remain happily content established in
to your own true nature. 523

Pass your time, noble one, in being aware of your true
nature everywhere, thinking of your very Self as non-dual, and
enjoying the bliss inherent in your very Self. 524

Imagining things about the unimaginable and indivisible
nature of awareness is building castles in the sky, so
transcending this, experience the surpreme peace of
silence through your true nature composed of that
non-dual bliss. 525

The ultimate tranquillity is the return to silence of the
intellect, since the intellect is the cause of false
assumptions, and in this peace the great souled man who
knows Brahma and who has become Brahma experiences the
infinite joy of non-dual bliss. 526

For the man who has recognised his own nature and
who is enjoying the experience of inner bliss, there is
nothing that gives him greater satisfaction than the peace
that comes from having no desires. 527

A wise and silent ascetic lives as he pleases finding his
joy in Atman at all times whether walking, standing,
sitting, lying down or whatever. 528

The great soul who has come to know the Truth and
whose mental functions are not constrained has no
concerns about such things as his aims in matters of
locality, time, posture, direction and discipline etc. There
can be no dependence on things like discipline when one
knows ones Self. 529

What discipline is required to recognise that "This is a
jar"? All that is necessary is for the means of perception
to be in good condition, and if they are, one recognises
the object. 530

In the same way this true nature of ours is obvious if the
means of perception are present. It does not require a
special place or time or purification. 531

There are no qualifications necessary to know one's own
name, and the same is true for the knower of Brahma's
knowledge that "I am Brahma. 532

How can something else, without substance, unreal and
trivial, illuminate that by whose great radiance the whole
world is illuminated? 533

What can illuminate that Knower by whom the Vedas,
and other scriptures as well as all creatures themselves
are given meaning? 534

This light is within us, infinite in power, our true nature,
immeasurable and the comon experience of all. When a
man free from bonds comes to know it, this knower of
Brahma stands out supreme among the supreme. 535

He is neither upset nor pleased by the senses, nor is he
attached to or averse to them, but his sport is always
within and his enjoyment is in Atman, satisfied with the
enjoyment of infinite bliss. 536

A child plays with a toy ignoring hunger and physical
discomfort, and in the same way a man of realisation is
happy and contented free from "me" and "mine". 537

Men of realisation live free from preoccupation, eating
food begged without humiliation, drinking the water of
streams, living freely and without constraint, sleeping in
cemetery or forest, their clothing space itself, which
needs no care such as washing and drying, the earth as
their bed, following the paths of the scriptures, and their
sport in the supreme nature of Brahma. 538

He who knows Atman, wears no distinguishing mark
and is unattached to the senses, and treats his body as a
vehicle, experiencing the various objects as they present
themselves like a child dependent on the wishes of
others. 539

He who is clothed in knowledge roams the earth freely,
whether dressed in space itself, properly dressed, or
perhaps dressed in skins, and whether in appearance a
madman, a child or a ghost. 540

The wise man lives as the embodiment of dispassion
even amid passions, he travels alone even in company,
he is always satisfied with his own true nature and
established in Atman as the Atman of all. 541

The wise man who is always enjoying supreme bliss lives
like this - sometimes appearing a fool, sometimes a
clever man, sometimes regal, sometimes mad,
sometimes gentle, sometimes venomous, sometimes
respected, sometimes despised, and sometimes simply
unnoticed. 542

Even when poor always contented, even without
assistance always strong, always satisfied even without
eating, without equal, but looking on everything with an
equal eye. 543

This man is not acting even when acting, experiences the
fruits of past actions but is not the reaper of the
consequences, with a body and yet without a body,
prescribed and yet present everywhere. 544

Thoughts of pleasant and unpleasant as well as thoughts
of good and bad do not touch this knower of Brahma who
has no body and who is always at peace. 545

Pleasure and pain and good and bad exist for him who
identifies Atman with ideas of a physical body and so
on. How can there be good or bad consequences for
the wise man who has brokened his bonds and is one
with Reality? 546

The sun appears to be swallowed up by the darkness in
an eclipse and is mistakenly called swallowed up by
people through misunderstanding of the nature of things.
547

In the same way the ignorant, see even the greatest
knower of Brahma, though free from the bonds of the body
and so on, as having a body since they can see what is
obviously still a body. 548

Such a man remains free of the body, and moves here
and there as impelled by the winds of energy, like a
snake that has cast its skin. 549

Just as a piece of wood is carried high and low by a
stream, so the body is carried along by causality as the
appropriate fruits of past actions present themselves.
550
 

The man free from identification with the body lives
experiencing the causal effects of previously entertained
desires, just like the man subject to samsara, but, being
realised, he remains silently within Atman as the witness
there, empty of further mental imaginations - like the axle
of a wheel. 551

He whose mind is intoxicated with the drink of the pure
bliss of Atman-knowledge does not turn the senses towards
their objects, nor does he turn them away from them,
but remains as a simple spectator, and regards the
results of actions without the least concern. 552

He who has given up choosing one goal from another,
and who remains perfect in Atman as the spectator of
his own good fortune - he is the supreme knower of
Brahma. 553

Liberated forever here and now, having achieved his
purpose, the perfect knower of Brahma, being Brahma Atman
by the destruction of all false indentifications, goes to the
non-dual Brahma. 554

Just as an actor, whatever his costume may or may not
be, is still a man, so the best of men, the knower of Brahma,
is always Brahma and nothing else. 555

Wherever the body may wither and fall like a tree leaf,
that of the ascetic who has become Brahma has already
been cremated by the fire of the knowledge of Reality.
556

There are no considerations of place and time laid down
with regard to relinquishing this mass of skin, flesh and
filth for the wise man who is already forever established
in Brahma within Atman as the perfect non-dual bliss of his
own nature. 557

Liberation is not just getting rid of the body, nor of one's
staff or bowl. Liberation is getting rid of all the knots of
ignorance in the heart. 558

Whether a leaf falls into a gutter or a river, into a shrine
or onto a crossroad, in what way is that good or bad for
the tree? 559

The destruction of body, organs, vitality and intellect is
like the destruction of a leaf, a flower or a fruit. It is not
the destruction of ones Self, but of something which is not
the cause of happiness for one's true Atman. That remains
like the tree. 560

The scriptures that teach the truth declare that the
property of one's true nature is "a mass of intelligence"
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.13), and they talk of the
destruction of secondary additional attributes only. 561

The scripture declares of the true Atman that "This Atman is
truly imperishable" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.14),
the indestructible reality in the midst of changing things
subject to destruction. 562

In the same way that burnt stones, trees, grass, rice,
straw, cloth and so on turn to earth, so what we see
here in the form of body, organs, vitality, mind and so on
when burned by the fire of knowledge take on the nature
of Brahma. 563

Just as darkness, though distinct from it, disappears in
the light of the sun, so all that we can see disappears in
Brahma. 564

Just as when a jar is broken the space in it becomes
manifest as space again, so the knower of Brahma becomes
the Brahma in Atman with the elimination of false
identifications. 565

Like milk poured into milk, oil into oil and water into
water, so the ascetic who knows Atman becomes united
with the One in Atman. 566

The ascetic who has thus achieved the nature of Brahma,
perfectly free of the body and with the indivisible nature
of Reality, does not come back again. 567

How could the brahmin come back again after becoming
Brahma when his external features of ignorance and so on
have been burned by the recognition of his oneness with
the Truth? 568

The Maya-produced alternatives of bondage and
liberation do not really exist in one's true nature, just as
the alternatives of there being a snake or not do not exist
in the rope which is not affected by them. 569

Bondage and liberation can be referred to only in
connection with the existence or absence of something
covering what is really there, but there can be no
covering of Brahma as there is nothing else and no covering,
since this would destroy the non-duality of Brahma, and the
scriptures do not admit duality. 570

Bondage and liberation are unreal. They are an effect of
the intellect which the stupid identify with reality just like
the covering of the sight caused by a cloud is applied to
the sun. For this imperishable Reality is non-dual,
unattached and consciousness. 571

The opinion that this covering exists or does not exist in
the underlying reality is an attribute of the intellect and
not of the eternal reality underneath. 572

So these alternatives of bondage and liberation are
produced by Maya and not in one's true nature. How
can there be the idea of them in the non-dual supreme
Truth which is without parts, actionless, peaceful,
indestructible, and without blemish, like space? 573

There is neither end nor beginning, no one in bondage
and no aspirant, no one seeking liberation and no one
free. (Amritabindu Upanishad 10). This is the supreme
truth. 574

I have shown you today repeatedly, as my own son, this
ultimate secret, the supreme crest of the scriptures and
of the complete Vedanta, considering you one seeking
liberation, free from the stains of this dark time, and with
a mind free from sensuality. 575

On hearing these words of his guru the disciple
prostrated him Atman before him and with his permission
went away free from bondage. 576

The guru too with his mind immersed in the ocean of
Truth and Bliss, and with his mind free of discriminations
went on his way purifying the whole world. 577

In this way, in the form of a dialogue between teacher
and pupil, the nature of one's true Atman has been taught
for easy attainment of the joy of Realisation by those
seeking liberation. 578

May those ascetics who have removed all defilements of
mind by the designated methods, whose minds are at
peace and free from the pleasures of the world, and who
delight in the scriptures, reverence this teaching. 579

For those who are suffering in samsara from the heat of
the threefold forms of pain, and wandering in delusion in
a desert thirsting for water, may these words of
Shankara which secure nirvana and excel all others,
procure for them the ocean of nectar close by in the
form of the non-dual Brahma. 580
 

This awakening to the Atman is recorded for those whose inner darkness has been worn away by strong effort, who has reached restfulness, from
whom passion has departed, who seek perfect Freedom.

Among all causes, wisdom is the only cause of perfect Freedom; as cookery without fire, so perfect Freedom cannot be accomplished without
wisdom.

Works cannot destroy agnosis, as these two are not contraries; but wisdom destroys agnosis, as light the host of darkness.

At first wrapped in agnosis, when agnosis is destroyed the pure Atman shines forth of itself, like the radiant sun when the clouds have passed.

When life that was darkened by agnosis is made clear by the coming of wisdom, agnosis sinks away of itself, as when water is cleared by
astringent juice.

This world is like a dream, crowded with loves and hates; in its own time it shines like a reality; but on awakening it becomes unreal.

This passing world shines as real, like the silver imagined in a pearl-shell, as long as the Eternal is not known, the secondless substance of all.

In the real conscious Atman, the all-penetrating everlasting pervader, all manifested things exist, as all bracelets exist in gold.

Just like the ether, the Lord of the senses, the Radiant, clothed in many vestures, seems divided because these are divided, but is beheld as one
when the vestures are destroyed.

Through this difference of vesture, race, name, and home are attributed to the Atman, as difference of taste and color to pure water.

Built up of fivefold-mingled elements through accumulated works is the physical vesture, the place where pleasure and pain are tasted.

Holding the five life-breaths, mind, reason, and the ten perceiving and acting powers, formed of unmingled elements, is the subtle vesture, the
instrument of enjoyment.

Formed through the beginningless, ineffable error of separateness, is the causal vesture. One should hold the Atman to be different from these three vestures.

In the presence of the five veils, the pure Atman seems to share their nature; like a crystal in the presence of blue tissues.

The pure Atman within should be wisely discerned from the veils that surround it, as rice by winnowing, from husk and chaff.

Though ever all-present, the Atman is not everywhere clearly beheld; let it shine forth in pure reason like a reflection in a pure mirror.

The thought of difference arises through the vestures, the powers, mind, reason, and nature; but one must find the Atman, the witness of all this being, the perpetual king.

Through the busy activity of the powers, the Atman seems busy; as the moon seems to course through the coursing clouds.

The vestures, powers, mind, and reason move in their paths under the pure consciousness of the Atman, as people move in the sunshine.

The qualities of vestures, powers, and works are attributed to the spotless Atman through undiscernment, as blue to the pure sky.

Through agnosis, the mental vesture's actorship is attributed to the Atman, as the ripple of the waves to the moon reflected in a lake.

Passion, desire, pleasure, pain move the mind; but when the mind rests in deep sleep they cease; they belong to the mind, not to the Atman.

Shining is the sun's nature; coldness, the water's; heat, the fire's; so the Atman's nature is Being, Consciousness, Bliss, perpetual spotlessness.

The Atman lends Being and Consciousness, and mind lends activity. When these two factors are joined together by undiscernment, there arises the
feeling that 'I perceive.'

The Atman never changes; and mind of itself cannot perceive; but the Atman through error believes itself to be the habitual doer and perceiver.

The Atman is believed to be the habitual life, as a rope is believed to be a snake; and thus fear arises. But when it is known that 'I am not the habitual
life but the Atman' then there can be no more fear.

The Atman alone lights up the mind and powers, as a flame lights up a jar. The Atman can never be lit by these dull powers.

In the knowledge of the Atman, there is no need that it should be known by anything else. A light does not need another light; it shines of itself.

Putting all veils aside, saying 'it is not this! it is not this!' one must find the real unity of the habitual Atman and the Supreme Atman, according to the words
of wisdom.

All outward things, the vestures and the rest, spring from agnosis; they are fugitive as bubbles. One must find the changeless, spotless 'I am the
Eternal.' As I am other than these vestures, not mine are their birth, weariness, suffering, dissolution. I am not bound by sensuous objects, for Atman is
separate from the powers of sense.

As I am other than mind, not mine are pain, rage, hate, and fear. The Atman is above the outward life and mind, according to the words of wisdom.

From this Atman come forth the outward life and mind, and all the powers; from the Atman come ether, air, fire, the waters, and earth upholder of all.

Without quality or activity, everlasting, free from doubt, stainless, changeless, formless, ever free am I the spotless Atman.

Like ether, outside and inside all, I am unmoved; always all-equal, pure, unstained, spotless, unchanged.

The ever-pure lonely one, the partless bliss, the secondless, truth, wisdom, endless, the Supreme Eternal; this am I.

Thus the steadily-held remembrance that 'I am the Eternal' takes away all agnosis, as the healing essence stills all pain.

In solitude, passionless, with powers well-ruled, let him be intent on the one, the Atman, with no thought but that endless one.

The wise through meditation immersing all outward things in the Atman, should be intent on that only Atman, spotless as shining ether.

Setting aside name, color, form, the insubstantial causes of separateness, the knower of the supreme rests in perfect Consciousness and Bliss.

The difference between knower, knowing, and known exists not in the Atman; for through its own Consciousness and Bliss it shines Atman-luminous.

Thus setting the fire-stick of thought in the socket of the Atman, let the kindled flame of knowledge burn away the fuel of agnosis.

By knowledge, as by dawn, the former darkness is driven away; then is manifest the Atman, Atman-shining like the radiant sun.

Yet the Atman, though eternally possessed, is as though not possessed, through agnosis. When agnosis disappears, the Atman shines forth like a
jewel on one's own throat.

Separate life is conceived in the Eternal by error, as a man is imagined in a post. But the pain of separation ceases when the truth about it is
perceived.

By entering into real nature, wisdom swiftly arises. Then the agnosis of 'I' and 'mine' disappears, as when a mistake about the position of north
and south is set right.

The seeker after union, possessed of all knowledge, sees with the eye of wisdom that all things rest in the Atman; and this Atman is the One, the All.

Atman is all this moving world; other than Atman is naught. As all jars are earth, so he beholds all as the Atman.

Perfect Freedom even in life is this, that a man should shake Atman free from all the limits of his disguises, through the essence of Reality,
Consciousness, Bliss, just as the grub becomes the bee.

Crossing the ocean of glamor, and slaying the monsters, passion and hate, the seeker for union, perfect in peace, grows luminous in the garden of the
Atman.

Free from bondage to outward, unlasting pleasures, and returning to the joy of the Atman, he shines pure within like the flame in a lamp.

Even when hidden under disguises, let the Sage stand free from them, like pure ether. Though knowing all, let him be as though he knew nothing;
moving untrammelled like the air.

Let the Sage, shaking off his disguises, merge Atman utterly in the all-pervading One; as water in water, ether in ether, flame in flame.

The gain above all gains, the joy above all joys, the wisdom above all wisdoms; let him affirm that it is the Eternal.

When this is seen, there is no more to see; when this is attained, there is no more to attain; when this is known, there is no more to know; -- let him
affirm that this is the Eternal.

Upward, downward, on all sides perfect; Being, Consciousness, Bliss; the secondless, endless, everlasting One; -- let him affirm that this is the
Eternal.

Through the knowledge that nothing is but the Eternal, the unchanging One is beheld by the wise; the aboriginal, partless joy; let him affirm that this is
the Eternal.

As partakers in the bliss of that partless, blissful One, the Evolver and all the powers enjoy their bliss as dependents.

Every being is bound to the Eternal; every movement follows the Eternal; the all-embracing Eternal is in all, as curd is in all milk.

Nor small nor great nor short nor long, nor born nor departing, without form, attribute, color, name; -- let him affirm that this is the Eternal.

Through whose shining shine the sun and all lights; but who shines not by any's light; through whom all this shines; -- let him affirm that this is the
Eternal.

All present within and without, making luminous all this moving, the Eternal shines forth glowing of red-hot iron.

The Eternal is different from the moving world -- yet other than the Eternal is naught! What is other than the Eternal shines insubstantial, like the
mirage in the desert.

Things seen and heard are not other than the Eternal. Knowledge of reality teaches that all this is the Eternal, the Being, Consciousness, Bliss, the
secondless.

The eye of wisdom beholds the ever-present Consciousness, Bliss, the Atman, the eye of agnosis beholds not, as the blind beholds not the shining
sun.

The personal life, refined through and through by the fire of wisdom, which right learning and knowledge kindle, shines pure as gold, freed from
every stain.

The Atman, rising in the firmament of the heart -- sun of wisdom, darkness-dispersing, all-present, all-supporting -- shines forth and illumines all.

He who, drawing away from space and time, faithfully worships in the holy place of the divine Atman -- the ever-present, the destroyer of heat and
cold and every limit, the stainless, eternally happy -- he all-knowing, entering the All, becomes immortal.