Prose-section 52
In plain words
‘All that I saw before as separate, as “this”, as enjoyer, enjoying and enjoyed, I have now become. I am the ocean of undivided bliss; what is it to me if the wind of māyā raises waves of worlds of every kind in me and they sink again? Fools stained by many faults imagine in me, who am without parts or distinctions, the body and the other states their own error shows them, just as ages, years, half-years and seasons are imagined in time, which has no divisions of its own. So, as a flood of mirage water does not wet the desert, nothing harms me: I am the ground, clinging to nothing like space, other than the things I light as the sun is, unmoving like a mountain, boundless like the sea. ‘As space has no tie with the clouds, I have no tie with the body; how then could its waking, dream and deep sleep belong to me? It is the body and the other conditions that come and go, act and reap the fruits, are born, stay, wear out and perish. I am like a great mountain, always still; undivided, without senses, mind, form or change; filling everything, close and complete, like space. How could I act? What going out or turning back is there for me? What merit or sin, the fruit of action? Cold and heat, good and evil that fall on a shadow never touch the person it belongs to; in the same way no merit and no sin are mine, and scripture says so too. A house’s qualities do not reach the lamp inside it; no quality of the seen reaches me, its witness, other than it, unchanging and unconcerned. I am the witness of the seen world as the sun is the witness of all action; I pervade and light it up as fire enters and heats iron; I am the ground on which it falsely appears, as the rope is under the snake. Shining by myself, I do not do or make others do, enjoy or make others enjoy, see or make others see. When the limiting condition moves, the reflection of awareness in it moves; the ignorant lay that movement on the Self, which is awareness, and say “I act, I enjoy, I am ruined”. Like the sun, which does nothing, I am the original Self, and none of the traits of that reflection are mine. ‘Let this body roll in water or lie on dry land; its traits do not touch me, as a pot’s traits do not touch space. Being a doer, an enjoyer, being wicked, dull, drunk, bound or free: these are the mind’s traits, and they are not mine, who am Brahman alone without a second. As banks of cloud do not touch space, the traits of nature, arising by the million, do not touch me, the one space of awareness. This universe, from nature down to gross matter, appears like a shadow. That in which it shines, the ground of all, lighting all, the Self of all, every form, filling all, other than all, empty of all, the inner Self, free of every trace of māyā, hard to grasp with a gross mind, like space, without beginning or end, exceedingly subtle, still, without parts, actions or distinctions: that pure, sole, undivided, eternal, true, limitless Brahman of knowledge and bliss without a second is what I am.’
Word for word
‘I now am all that was formerly seen separately as “this”, as enjoyer, enjoyment and enjoyed. In me, the ocean of indivisible bliss, what is it to me if diverse world-waves rise and fall through the force of the wind of māyā? Ignorant people, tainted by many defects, imagine in me bodily and other conditions seen through their error, as cosmic ages, years, half-years, seasons and the rest are imagined in time without formal divisions. I am partless and undifferentiated. As a torrent of mirage water does not wet the desert, no harm reaches me: the substratum, unattached like space, distinct from illuminated things like the sun, motionless like a mountain and shoreless like the ocean. ‘Like space unconnected with clouds, I have no connection with the body. How then can its states of waking, dream and deep sleep belong to me? Body and other adjuncts alone come, go, act and experience their results; they are born, endure, decay and perish. I am always motionless like a great mountain, undivided, without senses, mind, form or change, complete and densely all-pervading like space. How can I act? What activity, withdrawal, or karmic results of merit and sin are mine? Cold, heat, good and harm touching a shadow do not reach the person distinct from it. Similarly, merit and sin do not belong to me; revelation says the same. ‘As a house’s attributes do not reach the lamp within, no attribute of the seen reaches me, its distinct, changeless, unaffected witness. I witness the perceived world as the sun witnesses activity; I pervade and illuminate it as fire heats iron; I am the substratum of its false appearance, like the rope beneath an imagined snake. Self-luminous in nature, I neither act nor cause action, enjoy nor cause enjoyment, see nor cause seeing. The ignorant superimpose upon the consciousness-Self the movement of reflected consciousness caused by an adjunct’s movement, and say “I act, I enjoy, I am ruined”. Like the actionless sun, I am the original Self and possess none of reflected consciousness’s attributes. ‘Let this body roll about in water or on land. Its attributes do not touch me, as a pot’s do not touch space. The intellect’s attributes of doership, enjoyership, wickedness, inertness, intoxication, bondage, liberation and the rest do not belong to me, Brahman alone without a second. As masses of clouds do not touch space, prakṛti’s attributes, arising by the million (ten hundred-thousands), do not touch me, the one space of consciousness. ‘I am that pure, sole, indivisible, eternal, real, limitless knowledge-bliss Brahman without a second: that in which this universe, from prakṛti to gross matter, appears merely like a shadow; the support, illuminator and Self of all, every form, all-pervading, distinct from all and devoid of all; inward, without any distinctions of māyā, difficult to know through a gross movement of intellect, like space, without beginning or end, exceedingly subtle, motionless, partless, actionless and undifferentiated.’