Atmabodha - Knowledge of Self

This treatise called "Knowledge of Self" is
written for the sake of those whose sins
have been destroyed by austerities and who,
with a tranquil mind and free
from attachment, long for liberation.

Compared with all other means,
knowledge is the only direct means to liberation. As
cooking is impossible without fire, so
is liberation impossible without knowledge.

Ritual cannot dispel ignorance, because
they are not mutually contradictory. But
knowledge surely destroys ignorance, as
light destroys the densest darkness.

he self appears to be conditioned
by virtue of ignorance. But when that (ignorance)
is destroyed, the unconditioned self
shines by its own light, like
the sun when the clouds have disappeared.

Having purified, by repeated instruction,
the soul that is turbid with ignorance,
knowledge should efface itself, as the
paste of the cleaning-nut does with water. *

The phenomenal world, abounding in
desire, hatred, etc., is verily like a dream.
While it lasts, it seems to be real, but,
when one awakes, it becomes unreal.

Like the (illusion of) silver in mother-o’-pearl,
the world appears to be real only until the
Supreme Self, the immutable reality
behind everything, is realized.

Like bubbles in water, the worlds
are born, remain and dissolve in the
Supreme Lord that is the material
cause and foundation of all things.

On the eternal Vishnu, who is pure existence
and consciousness, as the common factor,
all these various appearances are superimposed,
like wristlets and other forms on gold.

Like space, the Lord Vishnu, coming in
contact with various conditions, appears to be
different by reason of their differences, but
is seen to be undifferentiated when
those (conditions) are destroyed.

Only by virtue of varying conditions are
caste, name, periods of religious life, etc.,
imposed on the self, like taste, colour
and other distinctions imposed on water.

The place for experiencing happiness
and misery, which is made up of the
fivefold compounds of the great elements
and is obtained as the result of past actions,
is called the (dense) body.

The instrument of enjoyment, which is
made up of the uncompounded elements
and which consists of the five life-forces,
the mind, the consciousness, and the
ten senses *, is the subtle body.

The beginningless illusion that is
indefinable is called the causal body.
One should understand the self as other
than these three bodies (or conditions).

The pure self, by the relation of the five sheaths, etc.,
appears to assume their respective natures,
like a crystal reflecting a blue cloth, etc.

One should separate the grain
of the pure inner self from the chaff
of the body and- other sheaths
by the threshing of reason.

Although the self is at all times and
in all things, yet it cannot shine in
everything, but will shine only in
the consciousness, just as a
reflection will appear only
in polished surfaces.

One should understand the self
to be always like a king, different
from the body, senses, mind,
consciousness, and eyes,
the witness of their activities.

To the indiscriminating, the self appears
to be active while (in reality) the senses (alone)
are active, in the same way that the moon
is seen as if running, when the clouds move.

The body, senses, mind and consciousness,
carry on their respective activities by
depending on the consciousness of the self,
like men depending on the sun's light.

Owing to indiscrimination, men attribute
the qualities and activities of the body and
the senses to the self that is pure existence
and consciousness *, in the same way
as blue colour is attributed to the sky.

Moreover, the nature of doer, etc.,
that belongs to the conditioning mind,
is attributed to the self, just as the motion, etc.,
of water is attributed to the
refection of the moon therein.

Passions, desires, happiness, misery, etc.,
exercise their function when the consciousness
is present, and do not exist in deep sleep when
the consciousness is absent. They belong, therefore,
to the consciousness and not to the self.

As light is the very nature of the sun, coldness of
water, heat of fire, so are being, consciousness, bliss,
eternity and absoluteness the very nature of the self.

By indiscriminately mixing up the aspect of
being and consciousness of the self with
the function of the individual consciousness,
there springs up the idea "I know."

The self undergoes no modification, nor can
knowledge arise in any manner from individual
consciousness (alone). And yet, one ignorantly
imagines that the individual soul knows,
does and sees everything well.

By mistaking the self to be the individual soul,
as a rope for a serpent, one is subject to fear.
But if he realises, "I am not the individual soul,
but the Supreme Self," then he is free from fear.

The self alone illumines the consciousness;
the senses, etc., as a light reveals the pot
and other objects; (but) one's own self is
not illumined by the illuminable objects. *

The very nature of the self being knowledge,
it does not depend, for a knowledge of itself,
on any other knowledge, in the same way as
a light does not need another light to reveal itself.

Eliminating all limitations with the help of the
 passage "not this, not this," one should realize
the identity of the individual soul and the supreme
self by means of the principal scriptural passages.

The body and other objects of perception
are the products of ignorance and are as
evanescent as bubbles. The self that is
unconditioned is other than these and
should be understood as "I am Brahman."

Birth, old age, decay, death, etc., are not for me,
because I am other than the body. Sound and
other objects of sense have no connection with me,
for I am other than the senses.

I am not the mind, and, therefore, sorrow,
desire, hatred, fear, etc., are not for me. As
declared by the scripture, the self is
neither the senses nor mind, but is unconditioned.

I am attributeless, functionless,
eternal, doubtless, stainless, changeless,
formless, eternally free, and unconditioned.

Like ether, I pervade everything, inside and outside.
I am imperishable, ever the established (truth), alike
to all, unattached, unconditioned, imperturbable.

I am that very supreme Brahman that is
reality, knowledge and infinity, that is ever
unconditioned and ever free, the one
undivided bliss that is without a second.

Such incessant impression on the mind that
"I am only Brahman" removes the turbulences of
ignorance, as the elixir of life cures all diseases.

Sitting in a lonely place, free of all passions,
with the senses subjugated, one should contemplate
that one infinite self, without thinking of anything else.

A wise man should, by his intelligence, submerge,
in the self all that is objective and should ever
contemplate the one self that is like unlimited space.

One who has realised the supreme truth gives
up everything, such as form, caste, etc., and
abides, by nature, in (the self that is)
infinite consciousness and bliss.

The distinction of knower, knowledge and the known
does not exist in respect of the supreme self. Being
sole consciousness and bliss, it shines by itself alone.

The flame of knowledge that arises by this constant
churning of meditation on the wood * of the self,
will completely burn away the fuel of ignorance.

When knowledge has destroyed ignorance,
the self will manifest itself, in the same way
as the sun rises as soon as the dawn †
of day has dispelled darkness.

The self, that is ever with us, appears,
by ignorance, as if it were unattained and,
when that (ignorance) is destroyed,
attained, like one's own necklace. *

The condition of individual soul has been
imposed on Brahman by illusion, as the form
of a man on a post, but disappears when the
true nature of the individual soul is realized.

The knowledge that arises from the realization of
one's own true nature, directly destroys the
illusion of "I" and "mine" which resembles
the confusion of the directions. †

The devotee (yogin) that has gained right
realization sees all things, by the eye of
knowledge, as existing in his own self,
and the one self as all things.

He sees all things as his own self in the same
way as one sees pots, etc., as (mere) clay;
(for), all this universe is only the self,
and there is naught other than the self.

Liberation-while-living means that the
wise person, having abandoned his former
limitations and qualities, and acquiring the
properties of being, consciousness (and bliss),
attains Brahman, in the same way as
the worm becomes the wasp.

Having crossed the ocean of ignorance
and having slain the demons of likes and
dislikes, etc., the seer, united to tranquillity,
is supremely happy in the enjoyment
of the bliss of his own self *.

Leaving aside all attachments to
external and transient pleasures,
and happy in the bliss of the self,
such a one, for ever, shines within,
like a light inside a globe.

The seer, though remaining amidst limitations,
should yet be unaffected by their qualities,
like space. Knowing all, he should be like
one that knows not, and should wander
about, unattached, like the wind.

When the limitations disappear,
 the seer merges unreservedly in the
Supreme (vishnu), like water in water,
space in space, or light in light.

Than gaining which there is no greater gain,
than whose bliss there is no higher bliss,
than knowing which there is no higher knowledge,
that should be understood as Brahman.

Seeing which naught else remains to be seen,
becoming which there is no becoming * again,
knowing which naught else remains to be known,
that should he understood as Brahman.

That which is all-pervading, around, above, below,
which is being, consciousness and bliss,which is
without a second, without end, eternal, sole,
that should be understood as Brahman.

The immutable, the one uninterrupted bliss,
which is indicated by the Vedanta by
excluding what is not it,—that should
be understood as Brahman.

(The four-faced) Brahma and others,
that are but parts of that self which is
uninterrupted bliss, become happy,
each in his own degree, by possessing
a particle of that bliss.

Every object (is such because. it) possesses that.
All activity has consciousness running through it *.
The Supreme Self, therefore, pervades the whole
universe, as butter is in every part of milk.

That which is neither subtle nor dense,
neither short nor long, which is unborn,
immutable, devoid of form, quality, caste
or name,—that should be understood as Brahman.

By whose light the sun, etc., shine, but which is
not illumined by these that are illuminable, and by
virtue of which all this (universe) shines *,
—that should be understood as Brahman.

Pervading the whole universe, internally and
externally, and illumining it, the Brahman shines
by itself, like a red-hot iron ball.

The Brahman is different from the universe.
There is naught other than Brahman. If anything
other than Brahman is perceived, it is
as unreal as the mirage in the desert.

Whatever is seen or heard, other than
Brahman, cannot be (real). Even that is Brahman,
the secondless being, consciousness and bliss,
when the reality is known.

He who has the eye of knowledge
sees Brahman that is being, consciousness and bliss,
in all things; but he who has not the eye of
knowledge cannot see it thus, as a
blind man cannot see the shining sun.

The individual soul, melted
in the fire of knowledge kindled by
instruction, etc., is freed from all taints,
like gold, and shines by itself.

The self is the sun of knowledge that,
rising in the firmament of the heart,
destroys the darkness of ignorance,
and, pervading all and supporting all,
shines—and makes everything shine.

He who, unmindful of (the limitations of)
direction, space, time, etc., and perfectly
tranquil, attains the sanctum of the self, that
is the all-pervading, stainless, eternal bliss
which dispels (all qualities like heat and)
cold, etc.,—he becomes all-knowing,
all-pervading, and immortal.