The Divine Dialogue

Wisdom From India 2

WISDOM FROM INDIA

These reworked translations have been written for western students unfamiliar with Sanskrit terms and Hindu philosophical concepts. Therefore liberties had to be taken with the wording and syntax of the original translations. I do so with some apprehension, knowing that Pundits both Hindu and Occidental would most likely be shocked, offended, or at least, highly critical. It is my conviction that this sort of treatment elucidates, not obscures, the truth of the original, and that people who otherwise would not read the original translation replete with technical terms and footnotes may be able to learn something about Advaita Vedanta in this way. Many philosophical texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads are poetic or intuitive outpourings originally written in antique Sanskrit making them open to many interpretations in the light of various world-views. The Advaitic texts written much later are usually clear and unambiguous, so much so, that they may appear dogmatic. The truths expressed are certainly emphatic. They are the result of sure knowledge based upon experience, not conjecture. They are affirmed as positively as you might declare, ‘This is my hand’. Some might appear confounding, sacrilegious, dogmatic or nihilistic, yet the challenges they provoke to our common-sense notions can be liberating.

The conclusions of Advaita Vedanta can be rather confronting because they often challenge many of our preconceived ideas, though this can be an invaluable aid for those sincerely interested to discover the truth of life, whatever the cost. To see that the world of sense and intellect is a queer sort of dream, can be an instantly freeing realization. So is the idea that all attempts to rationalize the world-appearance through logical thought, by the individual ego, always ends in infinite regressions, contradictions and dead ends, as Advaita Vedanta affirms.

These texts do not expound the philosophy by defending its principles with a rational exposition and complex rhetoric. For this reason these translations may not impress academic philosophers because they are not philosophical treatises in the estimation of academia.

There are many books dealing with the profound principles of Advaita Vedanta and translations of texts such as these, with both an analyses of the meanings of the key words and copious commentaries. This makes reading them very laborious. To avoid this, I have worked the explanations into the text where possible and reworked the rather tortuous English into a simply understood form. The many repetitions have been eliminated along with the technical terms from Advaita, Samkhya and Yoga philosophies, and some stanzas have been melded into one to help make the meaning clear. Though they may appear different from the literal transcript of the original Sanskrit it is my hope that the meaning and import have been amplified rather than lost.

THE DIVINE DIALOGUE

Originally, the Divine Dialogue was an ancient Sanskrit text expounding a Hindu philosophy known as Advaita Vedanta. It was ascribed to the sage Astavakra and titled ‘Astavakra Samhita’, Samhita meaning compilation or collection. It takes the form of a dialogue between Astavakra and his disciple, Janaka. So in keeping with the idea that this is not an academic treatise, let us imagine that we are sitting in Astavakra’s forest retreat, or in Janaka’s palace perhaps (for he was a Maharajah) listening to the Master enlightening Janaka as to his real nature and that of truth and reality.

The way to liberation and Self-knowledge

Janaka said: How can absolute knowledge be acquired? How is it possible to be free from birth and death? How can one remain unattached to pleasure and sensory life and so be free to attain Self-knowledge? Lord, please enlighten me about these things.

Astavakra replied: If you seek liberation, regard worldly things as though they were poisonous. Regard forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, contentment and truth as nectar. You are not this body of earth and other elements. Therefore to obtain liberation from them and their sufferings you must realize the Self which is the witness of everything. Then you will know that the body and mind are a delusion. Once detached from them by realizing the Pure Consciousness as the witness, there will be joy, peace, and freedom from bondage. You then belong to no religion or state for you cannot be seen, because as the witness of all, you are unattached, formless and supremely happy.

The truth is that virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, and all dualities are of the mind, but you are the all-pervading Self. In truth, you are not the ego, doing and enjoying, but are ever free. Bondage is ignorance of this fact. It arises with attendant sufferings when you believe yourself to be the ego. Egocentricity is the poison killing the truth. Pure Consciousness is nectar. Therefore be happy, Janaka. If you burn the forest of ignorance with the fire of Pure Consciousness you will be free and joyful. You are that Consciousness upon which the whole universe is superimposed as a snake can appear to be superimposed upon a piece of rope. Therefore live free and be happy.

There is a well-known saying, – ‘as one thinks, so one becomes’ – and it is true. If you believe you are bound, bound you are. If you believe you are free then you become free. In truth, the transcendental Self is always free for freedom peace and joy are its nature. It is the supernal witness, all pervading, and perfect, unattached, desire less and tranquil. Its appearance in the worldly cycles of birth and death is only apparent due to cosmic delusion. Therefore cease to identify the Self with its physical and mental modifications and the illusion of a separate ego. Meditate on yourself as Pure Consciousness, immutable and non-dual.

Oh Janaka, for many lives you have been bound by the rope of body-consciousness. Sever it with the sword of discrimination in the form of the knowledge ‘I am Pure Consciousness!’ Be happy. For in truth you are eternally unattached, without actions, Self-effulgent and without blemish. What need is there to practice spiritual disciples if this is your firm conviction? Only those who do not believe themselves pure need to meditate. Beware! It too can be a form of bondage.

Janaka, you pervade this universe for it exists in you, not you in it. Be true to yourself and not small-minded. You are unconditioned, immutable, formless, unperturbed, and of infinite intelligence. Listen: that which has form is unreal. That which is formless is permanent. If you know this you will be free from rebirth. Consider: the image in a mirror has no real existence, but the mirror exists both in and other than the image it casts. In the same way the Self is both within and other than the body. Just as space is both inside and outside of a jar, so the eternal, all-pervasive Self exists in all things, within and without.

The joy of Self-realization

Janaka said: I am Pure Consciousness beyond nature, spotless and tranquil. Up until now I have been duped by the delusion of identification with images. Wonderful! This body and the universe exist in the light of the Self. Everything is mine and nothing is mine!

Knowing that everything is like an image in a mirror, I now realize that the Supreme Self is the secret wisdom. The Self is the real substance behind the entire universe as a pot is nothing but clay with name and form superimposed. Waves, foam, spray, and bubbles are nothing else but water. As a huge piece of cloth is really one thread, so the universe is nothing but the Self! Just as sugar-cane juice is pervaded by sweetness, so does the Self pervade the universe.

A piece of rope may appear to be a snake only as long as it is not seen to be a rope. The delusion of it being a snake disappears effortlessly when it is known to be only a rope. In the same way the world of diversity exists only as long as ignorance exists, and disappears when the Self is known.

Oh Astavakra, I am of the nature of light! I manifest the universe! To say that I am in the universe is ignorance; as silver appears to exist in mother-of-pearl, a snake in a piece of rope, or a mirage in a desert. Oh! I see that the truth is that the universe exists in me!

Also, the universe that has emanated from me will dissolve back into me, as a wave into the sea. Name and form will then vanish and only the Self will remain. Thus I can know no decay, surviving even the dissolution of the universe! Wonderful! Adoration to the Self! I am that wonderful and adorable One with many bodies though I do not come or go for I pervade the universe. Without my bodies the universe is incapable of being born though I am so amazingly wonderful that it cannot touch me!

Wonderful am I! I adore my Self. I am master of all that exists and all that does not exist. Knower, known and knowledge manifest everything but it is really a form of ignorance. But I am the Pure Consciousness whose awareness makes everything appear to appear. Oh Astavakra! I see that duality is the cause of confusion and misery. Only the realization of the Self is the cure for this malady, for it is single, pure, blissful Awareness beyond name and form.

I am that Pure Consciousness, though the clouding of ignorance once made me believe in limitations. Practicing discrimination between the real and the unreal, the eternal and the temporal, I remain Self- realized. Loosing the support of ignorance, the delusion has ceased, so I have neither bondage nor liberation. I realize that the universe is inexplicable for it is both existent and non-existent. I know the universe and this body are both part of the same mirage while the Self is single and untainted. There is no longer support for imagination.

My nature is Pure Awareness. Body, universe, heaven, hell, God, nature, bondage, freedom, fear, qualities and substance are all imaginary notions. Being Pure Awareness, what have I to do with them? I am not aware of duality. Even amongst a multitude I see only One. How can I become attached to any? My bondage was my intelligence caught in the desire to live. Now I realize I am not the body or the ego for I am Pure Consciousness. It is the wind of the mind that blows the infinite ocean of the Self into the waves of the worlds. When the winds blow no longer, upon the infinite ocean of the Self, this body and ego are no more. Only It is. How wonderful! In the vast ocean of Consciousness the little waves of individual selves, impelled by their nature rise, bounce about, play for a time and then disappear.

Astavakra tests Janaka

Astavakra said: Janaka, how is it that you are such a wealthy person, though you have declared yourself to be a knower of the Self, indestructible, detached and serene? Possessions cannot beguile those who know that the silver in mother-of-pearl is an illusion of light. If you know yourself to be the ocean of Consciousness, why do you seek wealth like a poor person?

Though I have told you that you are Pure Consciousness and surpassingly beautiful, how can you be attached to a harem and become impure by coveting bodies? It is strange that one who has realized the Self indulges in sex, for lust is an enemy of knowledge. It is strange that you say you are unattached to this world and all others and that you discriminate between the permanent and the transient and have emancipation from the sufferings inherent in the body, though you should fear the loss of your Kingdom. The serene person established in Self Knowledge is unmoved by profit or loss and feels neither gratified nor dismayed.

Such a noble soul is a detached witness to the actions of the body as if it were another’s and so cannot be affected by praise or blame. Knowing that life in the world is a product of delusion such a one has no interest in theories and is unconcerned about death and the hereafter though these are often discussed in your court.

The knower of Supreme Knowledge does not hanker for anything – even liberation. Such a steady-minded one knows that the objects of perception are void and so is free from desire and aversion, acceptance or rejection. Such a one, free from attachment and desire, is blissfully free from the pairs of opposites – pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, heat and cold, even life and death!

Janaka replies.

Janaka said: Only the knower of the Self has true understanding and can freely play with everything in life as in a game. There is no similarity to others who are ignorant of the Self and so live lives like beasts of burden. Even the Gods in higher realms hanker after that state of absolute existence, intelligence and bliss, which is the natural state of the Self-realized. They are not subject to virtue or vice, or notions of morality, just as the air is not tainted by odor or the sky by smoke. There can not be any prohibitions imposed upon a person who acts spontaneously in harmony with their own true Self. Being very wise, they are free from desire and aversion. Because their actions spring from freedom, they have no apprehensions regarding the outcome of their actions. Their actions can not be judged.

Astavakra said: You are pure, free, so there is no need to renounce anything. If you deny the reality of the body complex you remain absorbed in absolute existence, intelligence and bliss. The universe is a bubble in the ocean of the Self. Realise that oneness and so remain absorbed in absolute existence, intelligence and bliss. The universe appears as a snake does in a piece of rope. It is made by the nature of the senses, but you are pure. Realize this and so remain absorbed in pure existence, intelligence and bliss.

Your purity and perfection is untainted by misery, happiness, hope, despair, life or death and the whole play of opposites. Realize this and remain absorbed in absolute existence, intelligence and bliss.

Janaka said: The phenomenal world is like a jar, space within as well as without. I am as boundless as that space. This is Knowledge. It is not to be renounced, accepted or rejected. The universe is like a little wave in the ocean that is my Self. This is Knowledge. It is not to be renounced, accepted or rejected. I am the mother-of-pearl and the universe is like the appearance of silver in it. This is Knowledge. It is not to be renounced, accepted or rejected. I am all beings and all beings are in me. This is Knowledge. It is not to be renounced, accepted or rejected.

The universe is like a ship, blown by the winds of nature about a boundless ocean. So be it. I am not impatient. Let the ship go where it will, exist or vanish, I am not affected, for I am the boundless ocean of being, ever tranquil, and formless. Neither renouncing, accepting nor rejecting, have I remained absorbed in the Self. The Self is free from attachment to pleasure or the objects of desire, for it is infinite and stainless. Tranquil, I remain absorbed in the Self. The world appears like magic, but being Consciousness, I am the magician. This is Knowledge. It is not to be renounced, accepted or rejected.

Bondage and liberation

Astavakra said: Desire, grief, rejection, acceptance, happiness, misery and anger are all forms of bondage. To be free of these distractions is liberation. It is bondage when the mind is attached to sense objects. It is liberation when the mind becomes detached from sensory input. When there is identification with the ego there is bondage. Freedom from egocentricity is liberation.

Duties and the pairs of opposites bind worldly life. One must be beyond desire and indifferent to worldly life to be liberated. Some rare ones, seeing clearly the painful nature of worldly life, renounce the desire for enjoyment, learning, name and fame and are free. The wise realize the sufferings inherent in worldly life, knowing it to be transient, unsubstantial, and contemptible.

There will never be an age free of the pairs of opposites, so unalloyed happiness will never be possible in this world. The wise give up chasing the external sources of happiness. They are content with what comes. Tranquil, they obtain perfection. These enlightened ones observe the great diversity of opinions, theories and schools of philosophers, saints and yogis all arguing. Becoming indifferent to learning, they attain serenity. The wise know that only a person who has realized the Self can be a guru, for by equanimity, reasoning and experience, they are free from birth, death and vain intellection.

You will be liberated when you know that only the Self is behind all the modifications of the elements, and that the infinite variety of things is only a pattern of combinations. Worldly life is maintained by desire. To renounce desires is to be free of the bondage of life, so you can then live happily anywhere.

Good deeds done with the desire for recognition are as binding as greed for pleasure and prosperity. The wise are indifferent to them. They know that friends, lands, wealth, houses, spouses, and the tokens of good fortune are transitory and cannot bestow felicity. The wise are free from attachment to them. Knowing that desire is the root of bondage, they are unattached in the constant joy of the Self. This pure Self shines throughout the universe as Intelligence. Without it the universe is unintelligent and unreal, and so is the clouding of ignorance. What is in them worth knowing or achieving?

Janaka, remember that in life after life you have had kingdoms, houses, sons, wives, husbands, bodies and pleasure but no matter how attached to them you were, you lost them all to death. Birth after birth you have worked hard in body and mind and suffered much, but found no lasting peace, felicity or joy. Those who realize that existence is by its nature full of change decay and destruction become unperturbed. They know that the Self has projected this universe from out of Itself and in truth, there is nothing else. Therefore, with desires at rest, they are unattached and peaceful. They understand that it is the forgotten acts of past lives that cause the bondage of adversity, prosperity, and circumstance, so they bear them bravely. With senses and mind well controlled, they are free from care.

In the consciousness of Absoluteness there is no body or mind, or their works. This is liberation. Knowing that they exist in everything, the wise are without conflict, pure and peaceful and free from the past and future. This is liberation.

They who know that this wonderful universe is actually unreal become free from the bondage of desire. Established in inner peace, they live unperturbed by anything. This is liberation.

Abiding in the Self

Janaka said: I became detached from physical action, then from mental action, then from much talking, then I became centred in the Self. Being unattached to sense objects my mind is tranquil and one-pointed. I am centred in the Self, which is not an object of perception and is beyond knowledge.

When the mind is distracted by thoughts and the perception of sense-objects concentration is difficult. Knowing this, I remain centred in the Self, not accepting, not rejecting, beyond joy and sorrow. The duties of life, meditation, control of the senses and mind – all result in distraction. Knowing this, I remain centred in the Self. Abstaining from action is as much the outcome of ignorance as action itself. Knowing this, I remain centred in the Self. Meditating on the Unthinkable One is an object of perception. Knowing this, I remain centred in the Self.

Blessed is the person who has realized the Self, though it is rare even for a monk, but neither avoiding nor embracing life, I live happily in the Self. Being embodied, there must always be troubles. Unaffected, I live happily in the Self. Realizing that the Self is beyond all action, my actions are spontaneous and natural. Unaffected by them, I live happily in the Self.

Sages who are attached to the body talk much of action, inaction and renunciation. Having no association with either, I remain centred in the Self. The result of actions, good or bad does not affect me. It makes no difference to me what I do or where I am or what happens to me, so I remain centred in the Self. Not loosing or gaining anything by action or by inaction, I do not strive for anything. Indifferent to loss or gain, free from praise or blame, I remain centred in the Self.

The person whose mind is free from images, who does not dwell on the past or future, is always awake in the Self, even when sleeping. The consciousness of sense objects is like a dream appearing like reflections in a window. The delusion that sense objects are real robs us of the knowledge of the Self. When all desire for them has melted away, where are riches, friends, court and kingship, even scriptures and knowledge?

I have realized that the Self is Supreme Lord and witness beyond bondage and liberation, so I have no need for effort or emancipation. Free from distractions, devoid of doubts and uncertainties, ever tranquil and blissful, acting as they like, who can understand a knower of the Self except a knower of the Self?

Self-knowledge

Astavakra said: Those of pure intelligence can realize the Self even by hearing about it only once. But those of dull intelligence do not, even after a lifetime of inquiry. Non-attachment to sense objects creates a pure intellect, but love for them clouds the mind. This is true knowledge. Realizing this, you may do as you please. Those who desire to enjoy the world shun this knowledge, for it makes worldly things

seem hollow. You have no such desire for you are not the body, doer or enjoyer, but the eternal witness. Therefore be joyous.

Desire and aversion are aspects of the mind, but you are Intelligence itself, free from them, pure and changeless. Therefore live in joy. You exist in all things, as all things exist in you. Having no sense of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, act in joy.

You are that ocean in which the universe floats like waves. Therefore keep your intelligence free from the storms of the mind. Have the faith to grasp the Ultimate, Oh Janaka. Never allow yourself to become confused for you are Knowledge itself. The body is composed of the five elements of nature and is subject to birth and death. You are the Self, beyond nature. Let the body do as it will. The Self is ever present and all pervading.

Like the body, the universe comes and goes through many births and deaths but creation and dissolution are only superimpositions, for only the Self exists. The universe is created, exists and is dissolved in the pure Intelligence that is your own being. It cannot be affirmed nor denied, accepted or rejected. It Is.

There is one pure, calm, undecaying, subtle, space, which is pure Consciousness, in which there is no birth, death or even egoism. Janaka, you are that pure, calm, immutable and stainless space. Whatever you perceive, in physical, mental or pure space is nothing other than you. Gold bracelets, chains and ornaments are different, but are not different from gold. Giving up distinctions such as ‘I am’ or ‘I am not” consider everything as yourself and be happy, for there is no individual self or Supreme Self other than you! The distinction of absolute and relative is the product of ignorance. Those who know this become pure Intelligence and are tranquil, contented and happy, for they are at peace. Therefore do not let your mind be disturbed by affirmations or negations, contemplation or meditation, but remain centred in the bliss of the Self.

Janaka, you may master the scriptures and expound them with brilliance but they must be transcended before the Self can be known. Oh wise one, no matter what you might enjoy or find pleasant to do, or what spiritual disciplines you engage in, your mind will always yearn for your own true nature. Few realize that striving to fulfil desires creates dissatisfaction and unhappiness. The wise that realizes this are blessed. To cease striving and do nothing achieves all, for when the mind is free of activity in the pairs of opposites it becomes indifferent to religious merit, worldly prosperity, sensual enjoyment and liberation.

Attachment and aversion, Oh Janaka is the root of ignorance and duality, but the wise are free from the pairs of opposites and live innocently like a child. Some renounce the world thinking it to be the cause of sorrow, but the wise do not feel sorrow even while living in the world, for they are free from attachment to it.

The egocentric who seek liberation and practice yoga, saying, ‘I shall be free’ or ‘I am free’ miss the goal and become miserable, but those who have gained the fruit of true knowledge through the practice of yoga are ever contented, pure, and though single, are never alone. Such a knower of the truth becomes the whole universe and is never lonely, miserable or tempted by the senses.

Some desire worldly enjoyment, some liberation, but rare is the one who desires nothing, for they have no attraction or aversion to anything in life. The wise live happily, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and eating as if they were not absorbed in the Self. Neither awake nor asleep, active or inactive, the liberated ones enjoy supreme felicity under all conditions. They are truly liberated who are free from praise or blame, dismay, anger or slander and are not perturbed by the approach of a lover or of death. It is because they see no differences that they look equally upon happiness and misery, man or woman, prosperity or adversity.

When the limitations of human nature are transcended there is no further need for worldly life. Such a one has transcended mercy and avarice, humility and insolence, vice and virtue because such judgments do not disturb their minds. Full of the Absolute, their minds are innocent. The liberated ones neither abhor the senses nor rejoice in them. Ever detached, they experience them as they come. It is impossible to describe the state of those who have realized the Self.

Salutations to That which is bliss, calmness and effulgence! When it is revealed, worldly delusion disappears like a dream. There is no real happiness in worldly life because everything is attended with fear and insecurity. Those who know the Self know no fear or sorrow. They taste the ambrosia of peace and tranquillity for they know that the universe is but a state of mind, and that the Self, absolute, serene, immutable, untainted, infinite and eternal is not far or near, but ever present and ever attained. Knowing that everything has its being in absolute existence there is nothing to strive for.

The knower of the Self, is peaceful, knows no distraction, concentration, knowledge, ignorance, pleasure or pain. Being unconditioned and in perfect poise, heaven or hell, riches or poverty, gain or loss, society or solitude, despised or lauded makes no difference. Though the liberated one is free of duty and new karma, life continues until the energy of past karma runs out. But those who have not transcended thought meditate ‘I am the Absolute’ or seek to control the mind, or argue that the universe is not. Having transcended thought the liberated ones are not active or inactive, though they act. It is the effect of past actions that makes the liberated appear to be active, but like writing upon water, their actions leave no mark for they are without motive or ego. All action is conditioned by the limitations of body, mind and nature, but the liberated are unconditioned. Beyond impulsion, logic, reasoning, opinion, argument, doubt and confusion, they are gloriously free in the knowledge of the Self.

Delighting in the bliss of the Self, the liberated ones cannot be tempted by the senses or the desires of the mind. Being of keen intelligence, and established in the Supreme, they act without motives, like children. It is through such freedom that they know true happiness. Through freedom they attain utter peace, through freedom they become blissful and through freedom they attain Supreme Knowledge.

Infinitely wise, the free are without restrictions. They may be kings living in splendor, mendicants or beggars, learned or ignorant. Always skilled in action and well balanced, the wise ones live happily. Those who are ignorant of the Self are always active though sitting still. The knower of the Self is really inactive though busy.

Thinking and not thinking delude those who are ignorant of the Self, but the wise remain as the unthinkable though thinking. Blessed are the knowers of the Self for having transcended the web of thought, they are free, changeless and stable in all the activities of body, senses and mind. Glorious are the knowers of the Self who are free from desire because they are immersed in their real nature.

Time, place and circumstance, bondage and liberation make no difference to those who know the truth. Nothing in all the gross or subtle worlds, manifested by name and form, can touch them. Though the illusion of the worlds may remain, the reality of them vanishes for those who know the Self. The deluded do not know that action will never reveal the Self, not realizing that relative action cannot produce an absolute result. The deluded may suppress desire, dull the mind, control the senses, and engage in spiritual exercises, all to no avail, for the ego and its demands lurk within. With the dawn of knowledge this is revealed.

The ignorant are full of praise and blame, but the knower of the Self does not blame the wicked nor praise the good. Contented, and calm in all events, they are the same in happiness and misery, being beyond good and evil. With no expectations and no attachment to the body they let it go its own way, free of concern. Blessed are the wise ones who have no attachment even for the body, for they own nothing and roam free of doubts and confusion. The knower of the Self is beyond comparison, whether mendicants, householders, royalty, learned or ignorant. When the truth is known, the object of all life is fulfilled. The knowers of the Self are innocent and of guileless simplicity. How can another understand them?

For them, the three states of waking, dream and dreamless sleep come and go like reflections in a mirror that remains always the same. Incapable of definition, indescribable, they are beyond this and that.

Repose in the Self

Janaka said: Using the truth like a needle, I have extracted the splinter of ignorance with the needle of Knowledge. All is negated by the glory, which is in me. There is no such thing as the past, present, future or eternity for me, who abide in my own glory. What is this talk of good and evil, self and not self, doing or not-doing, for me, who abide in my own glory?

Where is waking, deep sleep or dreaming for me, who abide in my own glory? Where is space or dimension, exterior or interior, mind or matter, subtle or gross, for me, who abide in my own glory? Where are life and death, the three worlds, relationship, concentration and lapse for me, who abide in my own nature? All

theories, speculations and teachings are irrelevant to me, who abide in the knowledge of the Self.

All the categories of knowledge, the elements of creation, the laws of nature and the complexities of life are as nothing to me who abide in the supernal bliss of the Self. What more can be said?

SANATSUJATIYA

Sanatsujatiya is part of the great Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and so gains its narrative relevance from the events that precede it. War between the blind king Dhritarashtra and the opposing enemy seemed inevitable. While waiting for diplomatic messages to be delivered to the enemy by couriers, Dhritarashtra became fearful of the impending death and destruction and asked the sage Vidura to give him council. Vidura spoke about the ethics that govern the common human goals of duty, wealth, and fulfilment of desire. After hearing this discourse Dhritarashtra saw the situation in a new light, but felt there had been something of importance left unsaid, so he asked Vidura for further knowledge. The question implied that Dhritarashtra was seeking knowledge higher than moral laws and worldly wisdom. Vidura explained that he was not competent to explain the higher knowledge. He then invoked the celestial being Sanatsujatiya to tell the king about Brahma Vidya – the knowledge of the Immortal Self.

After greeting Sanatsujatiya, the king asked him about death, the after life and immortality. Sanatsujatiya began the discourse, saying:

‘O king! Some, believing in the reality of life and death, say immortality can be attained by the performance of rituals. Others claiming higher knowledge say immortality cannot be the result of action, and that death is a delusion. These things have been argued about since the beginning of creation. The learned say that ignorance of the Immortal Self is death. My view is that false knowledge causing unawareness of the Self is the real death. Awareness of the Self is immortality. Ignorance comes from the ego and manifests itself as death, desire and delusion. This false knowledge is believed in, so the knowledge of the Supreme Soul is lost.

Such souls, thus deluded, depart from this world at the death of the body but must return, for the performance of action causes attachment to its results. Thus the embodied soul gets attached to the senses, loses the means of uniting itself with the Supreme Soul and undergoes repeated cycles of birth and death. Such action cannot produce immortality.

This attachment to sense - life causes delusion. Delusion causes attachment to the impermanent and the ephemeral. This is death. It is this that causes us to forget our real nature.

Attention fixed upon sense - life causes desire and desire fulfilled requires endless repeating, or if thwarted, causes unhappiness and anger. The wise do not get lost in sense - life and so are not subject to desire, anger and death.

Those who realize the impermanence, impurity and suffering inherent in sense life give it up and overcome death. Those wise ones are free of impelling desire. Others, engrossed in the senses alone and identified with the body destroy the knowledge of the Self. One who is desire – free destroys karma good and bad. They become free of birth and death.

Those immersed in sense life and identified with the body live in darkness so deep that they do not realise it. Their life is hollow and without significance. Those who make a God of worldly life and do not study the scriptures are already dead.

By realizing the Supreme Soul death is conquered as death conquers those identified with bodily life only.’

Dhritarashtra said:

‘Does the karma of our good actions destroy the karma of the bad?’

Sanatsujatiya replied:

‘The wise who know the Supreme Self are free of both merit and sin, but others experience the fruit of both. When they die the fruits of their actions go with them and they enjoy the results in heaven. The wise offer all their acts to God without cherishing desire for the fruits and so store merit that counteracts sin. They may then go to subtler celestial spheres and attain Self knowledge, but others return to this world when the fruits of their actions are exhausted. Those who perform good actions without attachment to the fruits, offering them to the Lord attain the highest knowledge.

In life, they are quiet and humble. Few can recognize them. They like to retire to a quiet place and live simply, independent of all. They know that the Supreme Soul is beyond duality and relativity and cannot be an agent of action. The deluded however, identifying the Supreme Soul with the gross or subtle bodies make a grave error. Those wise ones who do not superimpose relative properties upon the Supreme Soul are free from sorrow, and are serene and humble. They are indifferent to praise and blame. They do not seek worldly riches but treasure the virtues extolled by the scriptures. They are unassailable and unshakable for they are the embodiment of the grace of God. There are none greater in this world.

Honour and humiliation may come to the wise but they are indifferent to both. Those who seek honour and are attached to sense enjoyment only become entangled and bound.

The wise know of six doors leading to the eternal bliss of the Supreme Soul, difficult to pass through. – They are truth, rectitude, humility, sense control, purity and knowledge. They free the wise from pride and delusion.’

Dhritarashtra said:

‘O Sanatsujatiya how can one practice this in this world?’

Sanatsujatiya replied;

‘All that you ask me O king, has austerity as its basis. It is through austerity that the knowers of the scriptures attain the Supreme, the Immortal.

There are nineteen defects, which, when overcome by austerity and discipline give rise to the twelve excellences which lead to Supreme knowledge. The defects are anger, lust, greed, delusion, indulgences in sense pleasures, lack of kindness, malice, pride, grief, attachment, envy and disgust. There are also seven kinds of wickedness such as being engrossed in worldliness, harassing others, being covetous, earning money dishonestly, defending incorrect knowledge, indulging in the senses, and cruelty to one’s spouse. These are as dangerous as wild beasts and should be avoided.

The twelve excellences are knowledge of the truth, serving others, mind control, knowledge of the scriptures, absence of jealousy, abstaining from immoral acts, forbearance in happiness and misery, compassion, performance of sacrifices, giving gifts, avoiding temptations, and control of the senses. Those endowed with these qualities are blessed indeed. Even having some of these excellences one will attain knowledge of the Supreme for they lead to the eight merits of truth, meditation, concentration, inquiry, renunciation, celibacy, and abstention.

O king! One should practice austerities free from defects and reap the fruit of abundant truth. Be one with truth! The worlds are established in truth. In truth is immortality.

If one frees themselves from the bondage of the senses, their objects and the thoughts of past and future, then one is supremely happy. I have answered your questions O king!’

Dhritarashtra asked:

‘But what of those who are wise in knowledge and understand all the scriptures?’

Sanatsujatiya replied:

‘Scriptures make the knowledge of the Supreme and the ways to it known, but the Supreme truth as one’s real nature is not realized by them. The cultivation of excellences may be motivated by covetousness and become ends in themselves. Also, all these things are in the realm of the known but the realization of the truth is beyond the known.

Therefore one should realize that desires leading to action obscure the Immortal Being, but when they are dropped and the attention is centred it is attained. The seer then becomes omniscient and immortal.’

Dhritarashtra said:

‘O Sanatsujatiya, you have spoken of the ways to the Supreme. Now please tell me of That which is little heard of in this world.’

Sanatsujatiya replied:

'This knowledge is not easily acquired O king. It should be contemplated by the intuitive faculty of the mind in one pointed concentration achieved by self-discipline. It comes to those who are devoted to their Guru, for practicing the disciplines the Guru teaches leads to immortality. The Guru shows how to separate the body and mind from the Supreme Soul and remain centred there. It is said, ‘the parents give birth to the body but the Guru gives life everlasting’ – therefore the disciple should revere, honour and serve the Guru. Only then does this knowledge I am about to reveal become fruitful.

The Immortal Being is not in earth or in heaven and has no colour or form. It does not abide in the scriptures or hymns but is realized as the Self by those who posses the twelve excellences. It is beyond affirmation and negation, is subtler than the subtlest, greater than the great. Everything exists in It. The knower of the Supreme Soul realizes the truth by the Yoga of knowledge and becomes immortal. It is pure effulgence of great splendour. It is worshiped by the Gods. Because of It the sun shines. The pure cause multiplies Itself and becomes the effect. No light can light It for It is That which lights all other lights. The wise say that the Supreme Soul, which is fullness, becomes the individual soul which is fullness. Fullness is not diminished.

As everything has its existence in space, as have waves in water, so this entire universe exists in Immortal Being and at the end of the cycle of creation is dissolved back into the Eternal. That effulgent being is eternal, free from birth, suffering, old age and death. The gross, subtle and causal worlds are His chariot; the wise ones are Its wheels. The controlled senses of the wise, turned inward, take them to the Light. This Immortal Being is beyond the senses, world and analogy. Though the pure in heart, mind and intellect, can realize the truth and become immortal.

Others are like the honeybee which flies from flower to flower engrossed in seeking nectar. Similarly embodied beings go from life to life. Transmigrating in the subtle body is the attribute of the Primeval Being. It enters into every being, though only the wise see the eternal shining in the temporal.

Others, engrossed in the life of the senses suffer repeated births and deaths. In their infatuation for the senses they deny their real nature. They cannot see that the Supreme Self is their real nature. The Supreme Self is the same in the ignorant as in the wise, the same in liberation or bondage, but only those who practice spiritual disciplines attain the Source of Bliss.

There is no death for those who are one with truth. For them there is no mortality or immortality, no reality or non-reality, no being or non-being, for they transcend all the opposites.

The Supreme Soul abides in the realm of the heart, though it manifests the universe. From It are born the five elements, the enjoyer and the enjoyed, energy, mind and body. Hence It supports all beings. It is immortal and glorious. All beings are born in It and at death merge into It once more. So great is It that It supports the earth, heaven, the universe, soul, and God.

Those with a pure mind, free from attachment and aversion become illumined by It, though It is beyond sight. They see the same Self in all beings and know no sorrow, delusion or misery. Awareness of the Supreme Self is all fulfilling, ever-knew joy, for it is oneness with all existence.

VEDANTASARA OF SADANANDA

Vedantasara is one of the major treatises on the Hindu Vedanta philosophy as taught by Shankara (C650 AD) known as the Advaita (non-dualistic) school. Sadananda was a guru of that school of Hindu philosophy.

The text deals with the basic terms of Vedanta, such as Avidya (ignorance) Maya (Delusion) Shakti (power) Brahman or Self (the absolute) as well as metaphysics,

refutations of opposing schools of thought, and an analysis of two great Vedic

dictums, ‘Thou art That” and ‘I am Brahman’.

This treatment of the translation is an attempt to capture the meaning of the text in an exegesis that requires no previous familiarity with the philosophy, Sanskrit terms or the Hindu culture. Consequently, great liberties have had to be taken. The aphoristic style has been changed to prose and the translation clarified. In the original texts, separate names are given to individual consciousness when associated with various gross or subtle universals, which may befuddle the understanding. I therefore thought it best to leave these terms out, along with the technical terms of Vedanta philosophy, which are so daunting for a beginner.

Readers familiar with Indian philosophy might be surprised that I have used the word ‘Surrender’ for the Sanskrit word ‘Samadhi’. There is no similar English word, so there are many interpretations, such as absorption, identification, enstacy, ecstasy, or union. None are satisfactory. The choice of ‘surrender’ was taken as it infers a cessation of ego-consciousness, and all the concepts associated with a notion of a separate ‘I’.

The text invokes many interesting aspects of theology, psychology, cosmogony, epistemology, metaphysics and ontology, which perhaps should be commented upon in lengthy footnotes. They were omitted because such a method would make this exegesis too academic, and interrupt the reader’s flow of attention. Perhaps readers may benefit by not having too much explained, as their wondering might bring them knowledge directly from within, or start them off on their own voyages of discovery to resolve the concepts they find controversial. These texts can be easily understood by anyone interested in the philosophical heritage of India as expressed in the original Sanskrit works. An attempt at clarity and simplicity has been the keynote.

Those who would otherwise never venture to study the original can now understand something of the Vedantasara. It is my hope that this justifies the liberties I have taken.

INVOCATION.

For the achievement of my desire to correctly expound this scripture I invoke the aid of the indivisible, the Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, called Brahman, or the Self, beyond words and thought, yet the substratum of all. According to the intelligence within me, I devote myself to the task of expounding the essence of Vedanta, first bowing to the divine Guru Adyayananda, who is free from the delusion of duality.

Vedanta means the ancient texts called the Upanishads. The study of the Vedantasara will make the truth clear to those students who properly dedicate themselves to attaining the highest spiritual knowledge. To succeed they should be concentrated in mind and heart, free from worldly attachments and ambitions, and intent on the realisation of Brahman.

The means to this are discrimination between that which is permanent and that which is transitory, for this leads to the realisation that only the infinite and eternal is real and permanent, and everything else is transient.

The means are disregard for the transient fruits of action and desire, in this world or any other.

The means are concentration upon the subject matter.

The means are the restraint of the outgoing attention and control of the perceiving organs of sense.

The means are forbearance of the obstacles inherent in relativity and endurance of pleasure, pain, heat, cold, and all the pairs of opposites.

The means are implicit confidence in the scriptures and the advice of the Guru.

Of all these, the main means is a powerful yearning to resolve all difficulties and the suffering of bodily life, and to be free.

This book is a special treatise revealing the identity of the ‘I-am’ feeling with Brahman, the Self of pure intelligence, for such is the meaning of all Vedantic texts.

The mystery of this union cannot be proved or positively explained. It can only be hinted at. However, ignorance which clouds the understanding can be dispelled and the freedom and bliss resulting from the realisation of one’s Self, be attained. This is affirmed by such verses from the Upanishads as ‘The knower of the Self overcomes grief’ and ‘He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman’. This is taught in the Vedantasara by the method of refuting erroneous imputations, due to ignorance.

Erroneous imputations give rise to the delusion of regarding the unreal and transient as being real and permanent. Delusion produces an unreal nescience, such as the idea of the snake that does not exist, imposed upon a piece of rope, which does. In the same way the universe appears superimposed upon Brahman which is the underlying reality, as Existence, Consciousness and Bliss.

Though this ignorance is intangible, it is a positive something and not simply a negative not-knowing. The fact that we are ignorant of our own Self is a great mystery, which is ever inexplicable for it is not amenable to logic, reason and proof. Therefore it is not describable. It is neither real nor unreal, universal nor particular, is not antagonistic to knowledge or part of it. This ignorance cannot be real, for it disappears at the awakening of Supreme Knowledge. Nor is it unreal, like the son of a barren women. The Upanishads declare ‘The characteristic of ignorance is that it is unintelligible. It cannot be proved, because it is not a real thing.’ This book, all scripture and spiritual discipline is aimed at dispelling this ignorance. When ignorance is dispelled, Absolute Knowledge is immediate for it is the substratum of everything, including ignorance.

Ignorance is ambiguous, having both a personal and collective aspect. It exists variously and diversely in individuals, but is one collectively. Because the aggregate of ignorance is universal, it is associated with pure intelligence and the quality of purity, which is also universal. When consciousness becomes associated with it, it appears as God, Cosmic Consciousness, the undifferentiated, the inner guide, the cause of the world.

Universal ignorance associated with God becomes the causal body of creation because it is the cause of all, as also the sheath of bliss covering it. It is also called the cosmic sleep because everything is dissolved into it at creations’ end.

Individual ignorance, associated with a limited being, is different because it lacks purity and is mixed with the qualities of passion and sloth. It is also the individual causal body as it is the cause of egoism and the blissful sheath. It is also called dreamless sleep because in that state every thing is dissolved and there is no gross or subtle experience. Thus, the aggregate and individual ignorance are aspects of each other, like a forest and the trees, water and a lake.

The ether, which is the subtle base of a forest or reservoir, is unseen and unlimited. In the same way there is an unlimited consciousness which is the substratum of both the aggregate and individual aspects of ignorance, cosmic consciousness and the deep sleep state. Because this pure consciousness is independent of the other three states of consciousness (waking, dream and dreamless sleep) it is called ‘the fourth’. It is also known as the Self, Brahman, or simply That.

Ignorance of Pure Consciousness is due to the energy of projection and concealment.

Just as a small patch of cloud can obscure the sun, so the power of concealment hides the Self from the embodied intellect, which then appears to be an ego in bondage to relative existence, subject to joy and suffering, old age and death. In the same way it is ignorance of the reality

of the rope, which makes the delusion of a snake possible. The appearance of a snake in the rope appears by the power of projection. The same power of projection from cosmic consciousness causes the appearance of a universe.

It follows that the Pure Consciousness associated with the two powers of projection and concealment is the efficient cause of the universe. Considered from the relative standpoint it is the material cause, just as a spider can be seen to be both the efficient and the material cause of its web.

From Brahman and the projecting power ether has come, from the ether air has come, from the air fire has come, from fire water has come, and from water earth has come, all in their uncompounded purity. From them come the subtle bodies and then the gross elements. The subtle bodies have 17 parts – the inner organs, intellect, and mind, and the outer organs of perception: ears, skin, eyes, tongue, and nose, and the five organs of action: hands, feet, genitals, mouth, and anus. There are five vital forces controlling breathing, digestion, reproduction, elimination, and circulation.

The inner organ comprises mind-stuff, intellect, mind and ego. The intellect is the modification that determines a perception. The mind is that modification that considers pros and cons. Memory is the modification that recalls. Egoism is that modification characterized by self-consciousness.

The inner organs are the products of the quality of light and clearness. They are called the sheath of intelligence because they cover the Self. Because this sheath is a conscious agent which experiences the relativity of the phenomenal world it is known as the individual self or ego. It is the apparent entity that is subject to birth, death and reincarnation.

The mind and the organs of perception constitute the mental sheath.

The five organs of action are produced from the active principle, as are the five vital forces that manifest the body. These ten constitute the vital sheath.

The intelligent sheath, endowed with the power of willing, is the instrument and the vital sheath is the product. Together, these finer sheaths are known as the subtle body, which transmigrates.

When the aggregate of subtle bodies is considered as a sum total, as a forest is, it is one. When considered as a separate tree, it is diverse and individual. As with ignorance and other things, the individual and aggregate are different modes of consciousness relating to the same principle.

Consciousness associated with totalities is immanent everywhere because it is like a thread throughout the five pure and uncompounded elements through the projecting power of Brahman. Therefore they contain the potentials of knowledge, will and activity.

The aggregate of the intelligent sheaths is called subtle because it is finer than the gross universe. This subtle aggregate corresponds to the individual’s dream state where experience is limited to mere ideas from impressions of the gross universe experienced in the waking state. Here the gross and subtle merge – dreaming for the ego and the ‘first-born’ for the projecting power of Brahman. Though different, they are the same, as is a drop of water and a lake.

Consciousness when associated with separate subtle bodies is therefore full of the light of awareness from the innate effulgence of the inner organs. The gross elements are not pure essences because they are a mixture of the qualities of clearness, activity, and darkness.

This occurs because each of the five elements divides into equal portions, becoming ten. Half of this ten are subdivided into four equal parts. One of these quarters from each element is then absorbed by the remaining half of each one, becoming half of itself plus one-eighth of each of the other four. Though thus combined with all the others, the gross elements are named according to the most prevalent part; ether, air, etc.

When compounded in this way, ether manifests sound, air manifests sound and touch, fire manifests sound, touch, and form, water manifests sound, touch, form, and taste, and earth manifests sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Thus the grossest element manifests them all.

The compounded elements have evolved into the planes of the universe, the world with its four kinds of life forms and the food and drink for each of them. The four kinds of life forms are those born of the womb, the egg, moisture and the soil. These are humans and animals, birds and reptiles, fish and insects and plant life respectively. They are to be considered collectively or individually, as consciousness is either identified with all or one.

The aggregate of gross and individual bodies is called the food sheath because it is sustained by food and is the medium for the enjoyment of gross objects; therefore it is synonymous with the waking state

In that state the gross objects of sound, touch, sight, taste and smell are perceived via the appropriate sense organs while the organs of action are active. The inner organs, viz., the mind, intellect, egoism and memory give rise to the various modifications such as doubt, determination, personality, remembrance and willing. Here also, the collective and individual gross bodies are identical in their nature as are a drop of water in a lake or a cup.

Thus has the phenomenal world evolved from the five compounded elements, making aggregates of the three worlds, gross, causal and subtle, which in turn, form a vast super aggregate. Consciousness associated with this phenomenal vastness is God, but when unassociated, is Brahman. Thus it has been shown how the process of projection superimposes a relative consciousness upon the absolute consciousness of Brahman.

When expressed in the individual this superimposition becomes such ideas as ‘I am this or that’ identifying the Self with the aspects of relative existence. This delusion can become so strong that the Self, though transcendental, can appear to be identified with another person, such as one’s child. Materialists believe that the gross body is the Self as our being in this world depends upon food, and because of the verbal testimony in expressions such as ‘I am thin’ ‘I am fat’ I am fair’ etc.

Others contend that the senses are the Self, because of the verbal testimony ‘I am blind’ ‘I see’ ‘I hear’ etc. Because the five vital airs leave the body at death others think that they must be the Self.

Not satisfied with this analysis, some believe that the mind must be the Self because it consists of consciousness, as the vital forces and the senses cease to be objects of consciousness when the mind is absent in deep sleep.

The Buddhists teach that the intellect is the Self because it consists of consciousness and is the agent, separate from the mind, which is only the instrument for experiencing pleasure and pain and their modifications. Other Buddhists teach that the Self is identical with void because a person feels that they are non-existent in the deep sleep state.

Other philosophers say that the Self is synonymous with ignorance because the intellect becomes merged in ignorance during deep sleep and on the verbal testimony of such statements as ‘I am ignorant’ ‘I do not know the Self’ and so on.

Some teach that the Self is both consciousness and unconsciousness, for unless a person retains some awareness in the state of ignorance that characterizes deep sleep, they could not be aware, upon waking that they had slept deeply. There is also the verbal testimony of such sayings as ‘I do not know that’ or ‘I know that’.

All these various notions, from the extremely deluded to more subtle augments are fallacious for they are all products of projection. They are erroneous imputations, because they identify the transcendental Self with an aspect of relative existence. Further, all the scriptures declare the Self to be Absolute Existence, Intelligence and Bliss, without a gross body, senses, vital forces or mind. Also, the sages experience this innermost witness as pure consciousness, absolutely real, but illuminating all relative experience, which then appears to them, to be unreal.

For Self-realized souls the entire universe is a superimposition upon, in and through absolute consciousness. They declare that there are two forms of modification – actual, as milk into curd, and apparent, as when a peace of rope appears to be a snake, which is caused by ignorance of the real substance. The sages of non-dualism realise that the world is only an apparent modification of the Self, based upon ignorance of its presence.

When the entire physical universe, gross and subtle is resolved into the five uncompounded elements in the reverse order of projection, and then into the three qualities of knowledge activity and inertia, all is reduced into their common cause – cosmic consciousness clouded by ignorance. This cosmic consciousness (God) is finally resolved into the transcendental Brahman, which is the substratum of all, because it is free of ignorance. This is the deep meaning behind the great saying ‘Thou art That’, for the superimposition is refuted and the apparent duality of Thou and That eliminated. That this great saying is an affirmation of identity and has no other meaning is proved by the following explanation.

Words may have three levels of meaning – primary, implied or suggested. Collective ignorance and cosmic consciousness, as well as pure consciousness not associated with attributes, when regarded as one (like the redness of a red-hot piece of iron with the iron itself) is the primary meaning of the word ‘That’. The implied meaning is Brahman, which is the substratum of the primary meaning as the iron is the substratum of redness.

Consciousness associated with individual ignorance and its modifications gross and subtle and the pure consciousness not associated with such attributes, when regarded as inseparable (like the redness of a piece of red-hot iron with the iron itself) is the primary meaning of the word ‘Thou’. The implied meaning is the transcendental consciousness of Brahman – the substratum of all limiting attributes.

Further, there are three ways the relationship of the terms may be explained – they are the relation between two words which share the same meaning, the relation between two words that qualify each other, though signifying the same object, and the relation between two words and the thing implied by them.

The first relation exists between the words ‘that and ‘this’ in the sentence ‘This is that Smith’ because ‘That’ refers to the person called Smith, associated with a past perception and the word ‘This’ which refers to a present perception. However, they both have the word ‘Smith’ as their common object. In the same way ‘That’ in the dictum ‘Thou art That’ signifies consciousness characterized by remoteness and the word ‘Thou’ meaning consciousness characterized by immediacy; one subliminal and the other actual, refer to the same consciousness which is Brahman.

The second relation also exists in the sentence ‘This is that Smith’ because past and present meanings of ‘That and ‘This’ are contrary, though each qualifies the other because they both relate to a common object.

The third relation is the implication of identity between ‘That’ and ‘This’ as the contrary associations of past and present observations are eliminated having the object ‘Smith’ in common. In this way the implied meaning of ‘That and ‘Thou’ in the Great Saying eliminates the contrary meanings of remoteness and immediacy. Pure consciousness is therefore common to both.

(From aphorism 155 to 169 of the original text objections to construing the Great Saying in this manner are given and refuted. The arguments involve abstruse concepts of logic of the hair-splitting variety and have been omitted.)

When the teacher expounds the meaning of ‘Thou art That’ to a qualified student they may grasp the concept of Absolute unity and experience a mental state of oneness, in which the student may feel that they are Brahman, eternal, infinite, pure, Self-illumined, free, real, blissful and one without a second. This feeling is the product of a reflection of pure consciousness in the mind, which makes the Supreme Brahman its object though remaining unknown as identical with the individual self. This state is unable to actually realise Brahman as an excess of light swamps it. Though destroying ignorance pertaining to Brahman it too must be transcended if Brahman is to be realized. As Brahman is Self-luminous, no other light can reveal it. When that state is transcended, only Brahman remains as the Self.

Therefore, according to the scriptures, individual consciousness cannot reveal Brahman, though Brahman, in association with ignorance, and in contact with the mental state, can dispel ignorance regarding it.

To realise the consciousness, which is one’s own Self, it must first be heard about, reflected upon, meditated and surrendered to. Hearing involves intent listening to the teachings of Vedanta and the study of the scriptures. Reflection is thinking about the purport of the teachings and of Brahman, the one without a second. Meditation is excluding all other thoughts except that of Brahman. Surrender is of two kinds as it may be attended with perception or not. In the first the distinction of knower, the process of knowing and the known remains. One is therefore aware of the presence of the Absolute and name and form. The second state is total absorption in Brahman without awareness of name and form. This is not similar to deep sleep though no awareness of name and form is common to both states, for in deep sleep the mental state is merged in ignorance.

In the total surrender it takes the form of Brahman. Therefore it can be said, ‘I am Brahman’.

There are eight steps to final surrender – general discipline, special discipline, posture, control of vitality, withdrawal, concentration, meditation, and surrender.

The first consists of non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-acceptance of gifts. The second consists of cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study, and meditation.

Posture is sitting with the hands and feet in special positions such as the cross-legged positions with hands placed upon the knees with fingers joined, or palms up over the lap. Control of vitality means the manipulation and quieting of the vital forces by regulating the ratios of inhalation, exhalation and retention of the breath.

Withdrawal refers to disengaging the senses from external objects. Concentration means fixing the mind on Brahman, the one without a second. Meditation is when the mental state rests upon Brahman.

The final state is surrender, which may be attended with relative consciousness or be devoid of it. The obstacles to the highest state are torpor, distraction, attachment and enjoyment.

Torpor is the lapse into sleep due to laziness, fatigue or the loss of vigilance.

Distraction is the attention engaged in anything other than the Self.

Attachment is due to latent impressions, which benumb the intention to concentrate the mental state. This can occur even when torpidity and distraction are absent.

Enjoyment is the attachment to the bliss of relative surrender or the inability to experience the Absolute because of it.

When the four obstacles are absent the mind rests unmoved, like a flame in a windless place. This is Absolute Consciousness.

Thus it has been written ‘When the mind is torpid, rouse it, when distracted, make it calm, when attached, be aware, when controlled, leave it alone. Do not linger in Bliss, but be unattached through discrimination’

Those who know the Absolute Brahman as their own Self are free from past actions and impressions, doubts, and the errors of false identification. Established in Brahman, they are free from all bondage, immortal, and are not affected by the residual karma that must run its course.

When not in the state of Absolute Consciousness such a person does not recognize anything contrary to it, though the fruits of past actions appear in the body, senses and mind. These are not considered as real, like a person watching a magician’s tricks sees it all, but knows it to be unreal. Such a person is a witness to all events without identifying the Self with phenomena. These persons though behaving in the same way as they did prior to realizing the Self, have no evil desires, though they may be indifferent to good or evil, being beyond the opposites. All the virtues, which are steps to the attainment of supreme knowledge, come spontaneously to those who experience it. They live on as the pure witnessing consciousness. After their karma is exhausted their vital forces are absorbed into Brahman. The little ignorance involved in the manifestation of their body is destroyed along with the mental impressions and all duality.

Being devoid of duality and absorbed in the supreme bliss of the Absolute Brahman they cannot be reborn ever again.