Prose-section 44
In plain words
Scripture says outright: ‘Duality is only māyā; non-duality is the final truth.’ The divisions the mind imagines are found absent in deep sleep, where the mind has sunk away and there is only ease. The discerning see that imagined things such as the snake or the mirage-water are never, past, present or future, anything but their ground, the rope or the desert. When the mind takes the form of the Self and rests in samādhi in the supreme Self without distinctions, no division at all is seen. So when the truth is known, this web of divisions that the mind’s error showed as the world has no reality of its own; there is only Brahman. In Brahman there is no knower, knowing or known. There the darkness of ignorance, the root of all mistaken division, disappears like darkness in bright light. It fills everything as one complete whole, like the ocean at the end of an age: stainless, actionless, without features, unchanging, formless, non-dual. Where there is not even room to talk of difference, where could difference be? That Brahman is eternal knowledge and bliss, beyond comparison, touched by nothing, without parts or action or distinctions, without qualities, change, form or name, never bound, always free, like space and yet without any equal, neither cause nor effect, beyond imagining, established by the testimony of Vedānta, shining forth in the Heart, always the living experience ‘I’, without birth, age or death, lasting, peaceful, even, limitless and shoreless, full like an ocean without waves. The one who knows experiences it directly in the Heart, in samādhi, as ‘I’. So, that you may not go back to the road of saṃsāra, hold in the Heart the non-dual Brahman, being, awareness and bliss, which shines there as yourself, free of every condition. Reach samādhi without distinctions, destroy the mind that causes error, split the knot of the Heart where the sorrows of becoming live, and come to the experience of the Self in the glory of undivided bliss. Do not waste this human birth, so very hard to get. Through the force of prārabdha, the karma already bearing fruit, the body shows itself only as an appearance, like a person’s shadow. Put it far away with knowledge, as you would a corpse; know the Self of undivided bliss as yourself; and burn the body and every other separate condition, root and all, in the fire of Brahman, which is being without distinctions. The great one whose mind has sunk into that bliss, who knows reality and is free while living, is eternal knowledge and bliss, Brahman alone. He tastes that undivided bliss within and without; what else could he want, and for what could he again claim this body and look after it? Whether this body, tied by the rope of prārabdha, stays or goes, he pays it no more attention than a cow pays to the garland on its neck. So you too, having come to the Self that is eternal, pure knowledge and bliss, throw this inert, dirty condition far away and never think of it again. Is it not disgusting to want back what you have vomited?
Word for word
Revelation directly declares: ‘Duality is māyā alone; non-duality is the supreme truth.’ The absence of distinctions imagined by mind is experienced even in blissful deep sleep, where mind has subsided. The discriminating see that imagined objects such as a snake or water are never, in any of the three times, other than their substrata, rope, desert and the rest. When mental movement takes the Self’s form and is absorbed in the undifferentiated supreme Self, no differentiation is seen. When truth is realised, these networks of differentiation, seen as the universe through mental error, have no independent reality and are Brahman alone. Brahman is without knower, knowing and known. In it the darkness of ignorance, the root of mistaken differentiation, disappears like darkness in light. It fills all as one complete reality, like the ocean at the end of a cosmic age: stainless, actionless, distinctionless, changeless, formless and non-dual. Where there is no scope even to speak of difference, where could difference exist? The knower directly experiences in the Heart in samādhi, as ‘I’ alone, that one complete Brahman: eternal knowledge-bliss, incomparable, unattached, partless, actionless, undifferentiated, without qualities, change, form or name; unbound, ever free, like space, without an equal; without primordial cause or its modifications as effects; beyond conception, established through Vedānta’s authority; manifest in the Heart, always the immediate experience ‘I’; without birth, ageing or death, everlasting, peaceful, of one essence, limitless and shoreless, full like a waveless ocean. Therefore, so as not to return to the path of saṃsāra, contemplate non-dual Brahman, existence-consciousness-bliss, free of every adjunct and shining as yourself in the Heart. Attain undifferentiated samādhi, destroy mind as the cause of error, split the Heart’s bond, the seat of worldly suffering, and realise the Self in the splendour of indivisible bliss. Make fruitful this exceedingly rare human birth. The body appears merely like a person’s shadow through prārabdha’s force. Set it far away through knowledge, like a corpse, know yourself as the Self of indivisible bliss, and burn body and other distinct adjuncts with their roots in that undifferentiated fire of Brahman, existence itself. With mind absorbed in blissful Brahman, the great-souled yogin, knower of reality and free while living, is eternal knowledge-bliss, Brahman alone. Apart from experiencing indivisible bliss inwardly and outwardly, seeking what and for what purpose would he again identify with and nourish this body? Whether the body, bound by prārabdha’s tether, remains or passes, he pays it no heed, like a cow to the garland on its neck. You too should attain the eternal, pure knowledge-bliss Self and put this inert, impure adjunct far away. Do not think of it again. Is it not repulsive to desire what has been vomited?