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101. Blindness, weakness and sharpness are
conditions of the eye, due merely to its fitness or defectiveness; so
are deafness, dumbness, etc., of the ear and so forth – but never of the
Atman, the Knower. 102.
Inhalation and exhalation, yawning, sneezing, secretion, leaving this
body, etc., are called by experts functions of Prana and the rest, while
hunger and thirst are characteristics of Prana proper.
103. The inner organ (mind) has its
seat in the organs such as the eye, as well as in the body, identifying
with them and endued with a reflection of the Atman.
104. Know that it is egoism which,
identifying itself with the body, becomes the doer or experiencer, and
in conjunction with the Gunas such as the Sattva, assumes the three
different states.
105. When sense-objects are favourable
it becomes happy, and it becomes miserable when the case is contrary. So
happiness and misery are characteristics of egoism, and not of the
ever-blissful Atman.
106. Sense-objects are pleasurable only
as dependent on the Atman manifesting through them, and not
independently, because the Atman is by Its very nature the most beloved
of all. Therefore the Atman is ever blissful, and never suffers misery.
107. That in profound sleep we
experience the bliss of the Atman independent of sense-objects, is
clearly attested by the Shruti, direct perception, tradition and
inference.
108. Avidya (Nescience) or Maya, called
also the Undifferentiated, is the power of the Lord. She is without
beginning, is made up of the three Gunas and is superior to the effects
(as their cause). She is to be inferred by one of clear intellect only
from the effects She produces. It is She who brings forth this whole
universe.
109. She is neither existent nor
non-existent nor partaking of both characters; neither same nor
different nor both; neither composed of parts nor an indivisible whole
nor both. She is most wonderful and cannot be described in words.
110. Maya can be destroyed by the
realisation of the pure Brahman, the one without a second, just as the
mistaken idea of a snake is removed by the discrimination of the rope.
She has her Gunas as Rajas, Tamas and Sattva, named after their
respective functions.
111. Rajas has its Vikshepa-Shakti or
projecting power, which is of the nature of an activity, and from which
this primeval flow of activity has emanated. From this also, mental
modifications such as attachment and grief are continually produced.
112. Lust, anger, avarice, arrogance,
spite, egoism, envy, jealousy, etc., -- these are the dire attributes of
Rajas, from which the worldly tendency of man is produced. Therefore
Rajas is a cause of bondage.
113. Avriti or the veiling power is the
power of Tamas, which makes things appear other than what they are. It
is this that causes man’s repeated transmigrations, and starts the
action of the projecting power (Vikshepa).
114. Even wise and learned men and men
who are clever and adept in the vision of the exceedingly subtle Atman,
are overpowered by Tamas and do not understand the Atman, even though
clearly explained in various ways. What is simply superimposed by
delusion, they consider as true, and attach themselves to its effects.
Alas ! How powerful is the great Avriti Shakti of dreadful Tamas !
115. Absence of the right judgment, or
contrary judgment, want of definite belief and doubt – these certainly
never desert one who has any connection with this veiling power, and
then the projecting power gives ceaseless trouble.
116. Ignorance, lassitude, dullness,
sleep, inadvertence, stupidity, etc., are attributes of Tamas. One tied
to these does not comprehend anything, but remains like one asleep or
like a stock or stone.
117. Pure Sattva is (clear) like water,
yet in conjunction with Rajas and Tamas it makes for transmigration. The
reality of the Atman becomes reflected in Sattva and like the sun
reveals the entire world of matter.
118. The traits of mixed Sattva are an
utter absence of pride etc., and Niyama, Yama, etc., as well as faith,
devotion, yearning for Liberation, the divine tendencies and turning
away from the unreal.
119. The traits of pure Sattva are
cheerfulness, the realisation of one’s own Self, supreme peace,
contentment, bliss, and steady devotion to the Atman, by which the
aspirant enjoys bliss everlasting.
120. This Undifferentiated, spoken of
as the compound of the three Gunas, is the causal body of the soul.
Profound sleep is its special state, in which the functions of the mind
and all its organs are suspended.
121. Profound sleep is the cessation of
all kinds of perception, in which the mind remains in a subtle seed-like
form. The test of this is the universal verdict, "I did not know
anything then".
122. The body, organs, Pranas, Manas,
egoism, etc., all modifications, the sense-objects, pleasure and the
rest, the gross elements such as the ether, in fact, the whole universe,
up to the Undifferentiated – all this is the non-Self.
123. From Mahat down to the gross body
everything is the effect of Maya: These and Maya itself know thou to be
the non-Self, and therefore unreal like the mirage in a desert.
124. Now I am going to tell thee of the
real nature of the supreme Self, realising which man is freed from
bondage and attains Liberation.
125. There is some Absolute Entity, the
eternal substratum of the consciousness of egoism, the witness of the
three states, and distinct from the five sheaths or coverings:
126. Which knows everything that
happens in the waking state, in dream and in profound sleep; which is
aware of the presence or absence of the mind and its functions; and
which is the background of the notion of egoism. – This is That.
127. Which Itself sees all, but which
no one beholds, which illumines the intellect etc., but which they
cannot illumine. – This is That.
128. By which this universe is
pervaded, but which nothing pervades, which shining, all this (universe)
shines as Its reflection. – This is That.
129. By whose very presence the body,
the organs, mind and intellect keep to their respective spheres of
action, like servants !
130. By which everything from egoism
down to the body, the sense-objects and pleasure etc., is known as
palpably as a jar – for It is the essence of Eternal Knowledge !
131. This is the innermost Self, the
primeval Purusha (Being), whose essence is the constant realisation of
infinite Bliss, which is ever the same, yet reflecting through the
different mental modifications, and commanded by which the organs and
Pranas perform their functions.
132. In this very body, in the mind
full of Sattva, in the secret chamber of the intellect, in the Akasha
known as the Unmanifested, the Atman, of charming splendour, shines like
the sun aloft, manifesting this universe through Its own effulgence.
133. The Knower of the modifications of
mind and egoism, and of the activities of the body, the organs and
Pranas, apparently taking their forms, like the fire in a ball of iron;
It neither acts nor is subject to change in the least.
134. It is neither born nor dies, It
neither grows nor decays, nor does It undergo any change, being eternal.
It does not cease to exist even when this body is destroyed, like the
sky in a jar (after it is broken), for It is independent.
135. The Supreme Self, different from
the Prakriti and its modifications, of the essence of Pure Knowledge,
and Absolute, directly manifests this entire gross and subtle universe,
in the waking and other states, as the substratum of the persistent
sense of egoism, and manifests Itself as the Witness of the Buddhi, the
determinative faculty.
136.By means of a regulated mind and
the purified intellect (Buddhi), realise directly thy own Self in the
body so as to identify thyself with It, cross the boundless ocean of
Samsara whose waves are birth and death, and firmly established in
Brahman as thy own essence, be blessed.
137. Identifying the Self with this
non-Self – this is the bondage of man, which is due to his ignorance,
and brings in its train the miseries of birth and death. It is through
this that one considers this evanescent body as real, and identifying
oneself with it, nourishes, bathes, and preserves it by means of
(agreeable) sense-objects, by which he becomes bound as the caterpillar
by the threads of its cocoon.
138. One who is overpowered by
ignorance mistakes a thing for what it is not; It is the absence of
discrimination that causes one to mistake a snake for a rope, and great
dangers overtake him when he seizes it through that wrong notion. Hence,
listen, my friend, it is the mistaking of transitory things as real that
constitutes bondage.
139. This veiling power (Avriti), which
preponderates in ignorance, covers the Self, whose glories are infinite
and which manifests Itself through the power of knowledge, indivisible,
eternal and one without a second – as Rahu does the orb of the sun.
140. When his own Self, endowed with
the purest splendour, is hidden from view, a man through ignorance
falsely identifies himself with this body, which is the non-Self. And
then the great power of rajas called the projecting power sorely
afflicts him through the binding fetters of lust, anger, etc.,
141. The man of perverted intellect,
having his Self-knowledge swallowed up by the shark of utter ignorance,
himself imitates the various states of the intellect (Buddhi), as that
is Its superimposed attribute, and drifts up and down in this boundless
ocean of Samsara which is full of the poison of sense-enjoyment, now
sinking, now rising – a miserable fate indeed!
142. As layers of clouds generated by
the sun’s rays cover the sun and alone appear (in the sky), so egoism
generated by the Self, covers the reality of the Self and appears by
itself.
143. Just as, on a cloudy day, when the
sun is swallowed up by dense clouds, violent cold blasts trouble them,
so when the Atman is hidden by intense ignorance, the dreadful Vikshepa
Shakti (projecting power) afflicts the foolish man with numerous griefs.
144. It is from these two powers that
man’s bondage has proceeded – beguiled by which he mistakes the body for
the Self and wanders (from body to body).
145. Of the tree of Samsara ignorance
is the seed, the identification with the body is its sprout, attachment
its tender leaves, work its water, the body its trunk, the vital forces
its branches, the organs its twigs, the sense-objects its flowers,
various miseries due to diverse works are its fruits, and the individual
soul is the bird on it.
146. This bondage of the non-Self
springs from ignorance, is self-caused, and is described as without
beginning and end. It subjects one to the long train of miseries such as
birth, death, disease and decrepitude.
147. This bondage can be destroyed
neither by weapons nor by wind, nor by fire, nor by millions of acts –
by nothing except the wonderful sword of knowledge that comes of
discrimination, sharpened by the grace of the Lord.
148. One who is passionately devoted to
the authority of the Shrutis acquires steadiness in his Svadharma, which
alone conduces to the purity of his mind. The man of pure mind realises
the Supreme Self, and by this alone Samsara with its root is destroyed.
149. Covered by the five sheaths – the
material one and the rest – which are the products of Its own power, the
Self ceases to appear, like the water of a tank by its accumulation of
sedge.
150. On the removal of that sedge the
perfectly pure water that allays the pangs of thirst and gives immediate
joy, appears unobstructed before the man.
151. When all the five sheaths have
been eliminated, the Self of man appears – pure, of the essence of
everlasting and unalloyed bliss, indwelling, supreme and self-effulgent.
152. To remove his bondage the wise man
should discriminate between the Self and the non-Self. By that alone he
comes to know his own Self as Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute and
becomes happy.
153. He indeed is free who
discriminates between all sense-objects and the indwelling, unattached
and inactive Self – as one separates a stalk of grass from its
enveloping sheath – and merging everything in It, remains in a state of
identity with That.
154. This body of ours is the product
of food and comprises the material sheath; it lives on food and dies
without it; it is a mass of skin, flesh, blood, bones and filth, and can
never be the eternally pure, self-existent Atman.
155. It does not exist prior to
inception or posterior to dissolution, but lasts only for a short
(intervening) period; its virtues are transient, and it is changeful by
nature; it is manifold, inert, and is a sense-object, like a jar; how
can it be one’s own Self, the Witness of changes in all things ?
156. The body, consisting of arms,
legs, etc., cannot be the Atman, for one continues to live even when
particular limbs are gone, and the different functions of the organism
also remain intact. The body which is subject to another’s rule cannot
be the Self which is the Ruler of all.
157. That the Atman as the abiding
Reality is different from the body, its characteristics, its activities,
its states, etc., of which It is the witness, is self-evident.
158. How can the body, being a pack of
bones, covered with flesh, full of filth and highly impure, be the
self-existent Atman, the Knower, which is ever distinct from it ?
159. It is the foolish man who
identifies himself with a mass of skin, flesh, fat, bones and filth,
while the man of discrimination knows his own Self, the only Reality
that there is, as distinct from the body.
160. The stupid man thinks he is the
body, the book-learned man identifies himself with the mixture of body
and soul, while the sage possessed of realisation due to discrimination
looks upon the eternal Atman as his Self, and thinks, "I am Brahman".
161. O foolish person, cease to
identify thyself with this bundle of skin, flesh, fat, bones and filth,
and identify thyself instead with the Absolute Brahman, the Self of all,
and thus attain to supreme Peace.
162. As long as the book-learned man
does not give up his mistaken identification with the body, organs,
etc., which are unreal, there is no talk of emancipation for him, even
if he be ever so erudite in the Vedanta philosophy.
163. Just as thou dost not identify
thyself with the shadow-body, the image-body, the dream-body, or the
body thou hast in the imaginations of thy heart, cease thou to do
likewise with the living body also.
164. Identifications with the body
alone is the root that produces the misery of birth etc., of people who
are attached to the unreal; therefore destroy thou this with the utmost
care. When this identification caused by the mind is given up, there is
no more chance for rebirth.
165. The Prana, with which we are all
familiar, coupled with the five organs of action, forms the vital
sheath, permeated by which the material sheath engages itself in all
activities as if it were living.
166. Neither is the vital sheath the
Self – because it is a modification of Vayu, and like the air it enters
into and comes out of the body, and because it never knows in the least
either its own weal and woe or those of others, being eternally
dependent on the Self.
167. The organs of knowledge together
with the mind form the mental sheath – the cause of the diversity of
things such as "I" and "mine". It is powerful and endued with the
faculty of creating differences of name etc., It manifests itself as
permeating the preceding, i.e. the vital sheath.
168. The mental sheath is the
(sacrificial) fire which, fed with the fuel of numerous desires by the
five sense-organs which serve as priests, and set ablaze by the
sense-objects which act as the stream of oblations, brings about this
phenomenal universe.
169. There is no Ignorance (Avidya)
outside the mind. The mind alone is Avidya, the cause of the bondage of
transmigration. When that is destroyed, all else is destroyed, and when
it is manifested, everything else is manifested.
170. In dreams, when there is no actual
contact with the external world, the mind alone creates the whole
universe consisting of the experiencer etc. Similarly in the waking
state also; there is no difference. Therefore all this (phenomenal
universe) is the projection of the mind.
171. In dreamless sleep, when the mind
is reduced to its causal state, there exists nothing (for the person
asleep), as is evident from universal experience. Hence man’s relative
existence is simply the creation of his mind, and has no objective
reality.
172. Clouds are brought in by the wind
and again driven away by the same agency. Similarly, man’s bondage is
caused by the mind, and Liberation too is caused by that alone.
173. It (first) creates an attachment
in man for the body and all other sense-objects, and binds him through
that attachment like a beast by means of ropes. Afterwards, the selfsame
mind creates in the individual an utter distaste for these sense-objects
as if they were poison, and frees him from the bondage.
174. Therefore the mind is the only
cause that brings about man’s bondage or Liberation: when tainted by the
effects of Rajas it leads to bondage, and when pure and divested of the
Rajas and Tamas elements it conduces to Liberation.
175. Attaining purity through a
preponderance of discrimination and renunciation, the mind makes for
Liberation. Hence the wise seeker after Liberation must first strengthen
these two.
176. In the forest-tract of
sense-pleasures there prowls a huge tiger called the mind. Let good
people who have a longing for Liberation never go there.
177. The mind continually produces for
the experiencer all sense-objects without exception, whether perceived
as gross or fine, the differences of body, caste, order of life, and
tribe, as well as the varieties of qualification, action, means and
results.
178. Deluding the Jiva, which is
unattached Pure Intelligence, and binding it by the ties of body, organs
and Pranas, the mind causes it to wander, with ideas of "I" and "mine",
amidst the varied enjoyment of results achieved by itself.
179. Man’s transmigration is due to the
evil of superimposition, and the bondage of superimposition is created
by the mind alone. It is this that causes the misery of birth etc., for
the man of non-discrimination who is tainted by Rajas and Tamas.
180. Hence sages who have fathomed its
secret have designated the mind as Avidya or ignorance, by which alone
the universe is moved to and fro, like masses of clouds by the wind.
181. Therefore the seeker after
Liberation must carefully purify the mind. When this is purified,
Liberation is as easy of access as a fruit on the palm of one’s hand.
182. He who by means of one-pointed
devotion to Liberation roots out the attachment to sense-objects,
renounces all actions, and with faith in the Real Brahman regularly
practices hearing, etc., succeeds in purging the Rajasika nature of the
intellect.
183. Neither can the mental sheath be
the Supreme Self, because it has a beginning and an end, is subject to
modifications, is characterised by pain and suffering and is an object;
whereas the subject can never be identified with the objects of
knowledge.
184. The Buddhi with its modifications
and the organs of knowledge, forms the Vijnanamaya Kosha or knowledge
sheath, of the agent, having the characteristics which is the cause of
man’s transmigration.
185. This knowledge sheath, which seems
to be followed by a reflection of the power of the Chit, is a
modification of the Prakriti, is endowed with the function of knowledge,
and always wholly identifies itself with the body, organs, etc.
186-187. It is without beginning,
characterised by egoism, is called the Jiva, and carries on all the
activities on the relative plane. Through previous desires it performs
good and evil actions and experiences their results. Being born in
various bodies, it comes and goes, up and down. It is this knowledge
sheath that has the waking, dream and other states, and experiences joy
and grief.
188. It always mistakes the duties,
functions and attributes of the orders of life which belong to the body,
as its own. The knowledge sheath is exceedingly effulgent, owing to its
close proximity to the Supreme Self, which identifying Itself with it
suffers transmigration through delusion. It is therefore a
superimposition on the Self.
189. The self-effulgent Atman, which is
Pure Knowledge, shines in the midst of the Pranas, within the heart.
Though immutable, It becomes the agent and experiencer owing to Its
superimposition, the knowledge sheath.
190. Though the Self of everything that
exists, this Atman, Itself assuming the limitations of the Buddhi and
wrongly identifying Itself with this totally unreal entity, looks upon
Itself as something different – like earthen jars from the clay of which
they are made.
191. Owing to Its connection with the
super-impositions, the Supreme Self, even thou naturally perfect
(transcending Nature) and eternally unchanging, assumes the qualities of
the superimpositions and appears to act just as they do – like the
changeless fire assuming the modifications of the iron which it turns
red-hot.
192. The disciple questioned: Be it
through delusion or otherwise that the Supreme Self has come to consider
Itself as the Jiva, this superimposition is without beginning, and that
which has no beginning cannot be supposed to have an end either.
193. Therefore the Jivahood of the soul
also must have no end, and its transmigration must continue for ever.
How then can there be Liberation for the soul ? Kindly enlighten me on
this point, O revered Master.
194. The Teacher said: Thou hast
rightly questioned, O learned man ! Listen therefore attentively: The
imagination which has been conjured up by delusion can never be accepted
as a fact.
195. But for delusion there can be no
connection of the Self – which is unattached, beyond activity and
formless – with the objective world, as in the case of blueness etc.,
with reference to the sky.
196. The Jivahood of the Atman, the
Witness, which is beyond qualities and beyond activity, and which is
realised within as Knowledge and Bliss Absolute – has been superimposed
by the delusion of the Buddhi, and is not real. And because it is by
nature an unreality, it ceases to exist when the delusion is gone.
197. It exists only so long as the
delusion lasts, being caused by indiscrimination due to an illusion. The
rope is supposed to be the snake only so long as the mistake lasts, and
there is no more snake when the illusion has vanished. Similar is the
case here.
198-199. Avidya or Nescience and its
effects are likewise considered as beginningless. But with the rise of
Vidya or realisation, the entire effects of Avidya, even though
beginningless, are destroyed together with their root – like dreams on
waking up from sleep. It is clear that the phenomenal universe, even
though without beginning, is not eternal – like previous non-existence.
200-201. Previous non-existence, even
though beginningless, is observed to have an end. So the Jivahood which
is imagined to be in the Atman through its relation with superimposed
attributes such as the Buddhi, is not real; whereas the other (the
Atman) is essentially different from it. The relation between the Atman
and the Buddhi is due to a false knowledge.
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