Prose-section 11
In plain words
“Your wish to end ignorance and abide as Brahman is itself a blessing,” the teacher continues. “Through you your family has been made pure. Others can pay a debt or lift a burden from your head, but they cannot eat for your hunger or take medicine for your illness. In the same way, no one else can remove your ignorance in your place, however long you wait. You must know with your own clear understanding. Another person’s sight of the moon does not become your sight of it. “Liberation requires knowledge of the identity of the Self and Brahman. Philosophy, yogic discipline, action and scholarship cannot replace that knowledge. A beautiful vina and its music give pleasure without making the musician an emperor; eloquence and learned exposition likewise give enjoyment but do not give liberation. Study reaches its purpose in knowing reality. Before that knowledge it has yet to bear its fruit; afterwards it has no further freedom to confer. Let a teacher who knows the truth guide you through the forest of words to direct understanding. “A person bitten by ignorance needs Self-knowledge as the remedy. Naming a medicine does not cure; repeating ‘I am Brahman’ without knowing its truth does not free. Calling oneself king does not establish sovereignty. Likewise, the apparent independent reality of the non-Self must be dissolved in understanding, and the Self directly known. The declaration alone is insufficient. “To obtain buried treasure, hear where it lies, dig, remove the covering and bring it forth. To recognise your own nature, hear the teacher’s instruction, reflect upon it and remain steadily with its meaning until it is known immediately. Faulty argument cannot uncover it. Give this undertaking the personal attention you would give to curing your own illness.”
Word for word
“Disciple, because you desire to become free of bondage caused by ignorance and abide as Brahman, you indeed are blessed and fulfilled; your family has been purified through you. Children and other relatives can discharge a father’s debt, and others can relieve the strain of a load on someone’s head. But one must oneself remove suffering from hunger by eating; others cannot do that for one. One must oneself take medicine and observe the prescribed regimen to remove an illness; another’s actions do not cure it. Similarly, one must remove bondage caused by one’s ignorance through one’s own effort. Even through many tens of millions of aeons, who else could remove the fetter consisting of ignorance, desire, action and the like? “Brahman can be known by one’s own clear, unobstructed eye of knowledge, not through another scholar. Can one see the moon because another sees it, without using one’s own clear eye? Liberation is not obtained through Sankhya, Yoga, action, learning or anything else apart from knowledge of the identity of Brahman and the Self. The beauty of a vina and sweet music played on its strings delight people but do not confer imperial sovereignty. Similarly, scholars’ excellent learning—sweet speech, skilful expression and ability in scriptural exposition—gives enjoyment but does not give liberation. Before supreme reality is known, scriptural study is fruitless because it has not yielded its fruit; after supreme reality is known, further study is fruitless because there is no further fruit to gain. Therefore, crossing the great forest of scriptural complexity that confuses the mind, one must directly know the truth of the Self through a teacher who knows reality. “For those bitten by the snake of ignorance, what use are Vedas, scriptures, mantras and other remedies apart from the life-restoring remedy of Self-knowledge? Just as saying ‘medicine’ without taking it does not remove an illness, saying ‘I am Brahman’ without immediate, directly experienced knowledge does not remove bondage. Saying ‘I am king’ without defeating enemies and acquiring sovereignty over the whole earth does not make one a king. Similarly, without dissolving the seen non-Self and directly knowing the truth of the Self, the mere statement ‘I am Brahman alone’ does not bring liberation, abiding as Brahman alone. “Buried treasure is obtained by hearing from a trustworthy knower, digging the ground, removing the covering stone and taking it out, not by words alone. Likewise, one’s own nature concealed by maya is attained through the immediate knowledge arising from hearing its indication from a teacher who knows Brahman, reflecting upon it and meditating continually. It cannot be attained through fallacious argument. Therefore the discerning must make every effort themselves to be free of the bondage of becoming and attain liberation, as they would when removing illness.”