Prefatory 0
In plain words
Brahma’s four mind-born sons, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatsujata and Sanatkumara, heard from their father that they had been brought forth for the work of creation. They turned away from it, wanting only peace, and went looking for someone who could make that peace clear. For these intensely ripe seekers the compassionate Lord himself sat beneath the banyan as Dakshinamurti, silent in his own state, showing the gesture of knowledge. The moment they saw him they were drawn like iron to a magnet, and they settled beside him in their own true state. There are excellent seekers who still cannot know that silent state directly. For them the world seems to stand in the way. Yet the power that spreads out and draws back as that world, as the one who sees it and as the light that shows it, is nothing apart from oneself. So Shankara gathered the teaching that all is oneself into this hymn and made it known to them. That Shankara, who shone as the south-facing form so that peace might abide in the great sages, who brought out the silent state of oneself and declared in this hymn that all is oneself, dwells within me.
Word for word
Introduction: The four mind-born sons of Brahmadeva, creator of the world—Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatsujata and Sanatkumara—heard from their father that they had been brought forth for such tasks as the creation of the world. Becoming dispassionate toward that work, they sought peace alone and searched for one who would make it clear. For these intensely mature seekers, the supremely compassionate Lord himself sat beneath the banyan as Dakshinamurti, silently in his own state, with the gesture of knowledge. On seeing him, they were drawn like iron to a magnet and likewise settled near him in their own true state. To excellent seekers who lack the capacity to know the truth of that state of oneself which is silence, the teacher Shankara made known, gathering it into this hymn, the all-Self teaching, “Everything is oneself”: for the power that expands and subsides as the world which appears to them as an obstacle, as the seer and as the light that reveals, is not apart from oneself. Invocation: That Shankara who shone as the south-facing form so that peace might abide in the great sages, who revealed the silent state of oneself and declared in this hymn that all is oneself, abides within me.