Prose-section 17
In plain words
Sattva has a clarity like water, yet becomes a cause of bondage when mixed with rajas and tamas. The Self is reflected in it and thereby illumines experience, as the sun illumines the world. Personal discipline reduces the predominance of the other two qualities. Humility, ethical restraint and observance, trust, devotion, longing for freedom, divine qualities and turning from the unreal belong to this increasingly clear but still mixed sattva. Pure sattva brings great clarity, direct Self-experience, peace, enduring contentment, joy and steadiness in Brahman. The unmanifest power composed of the three qualities is called the causal body. It is evident in deep sleep, when sensory and mental activity subsides. The familiar report “I slept happily and knew nothing” indicates that the mind remained in causal form while experiencing Brahman’s bliss. Body, senses, mind, ego and all their changes, objects and their pleasures, the elements from space onward, the whole world up to the unmanifest: this is the non-Self. Know that maya and all its effects, from the great principle down to the body, are unreal like the water of a mirage.
Word for word
Next, though sattva is very pure like water, association with rajas and tamas makes it impure and a cause of bondage. The Self, reflected in it, illuminates the whole world like the sun. Humility and the like, restraints and observances, trust, devotion, longing for liberation, divine endowments and withdrawal from the unreal are attributes of mixed sattva in which, through personal effort, rajas and tamas no longer predominate as before. Through the great clarity of pure sattva arise direct experience of the Self, supreme peace, lasting contentment, great joy and establishment in Brahman, conducive to abiding bliss. This unmanifest power with the three qualities is the causal body attributed to the Self. Its state is deep sleep, in which all sensory and mental functions subside. As shown by the common experience “We slept happily without knowing anything,” all forms of particular knowing subside, and the mind, remaining in causal form, experiences Brahman’s bliss. Body, senses, mind, ego and all modifications, objects and pleasures, the elements beginning with space, and the entire world up to the unmanifest constitute the non-Self. Know maya and its effects, from the great principle down to the body, to be unreal like mirage water.