Mantra 35

In plain words

Here, then, the Self -- made of pure cognition, needing no other light to shine by -- was shown to us in dream. That it is distinct from both cause and effect, moving as it does between dream and waking, and that it stands apart from desire and action alike, unattached to either, was shown through the image of the great fish. And more: the effect of nescience was shown, right there in dream, through that one phrase, 'as if striking.' From that, we can work out nescience's real nature: it consists purely in laying something not the Self's own over the Self, and it is never itself a property of the Self. In the same way, the effect of knowledge was shown -- becoming the self of everything -- directly, in the very same dream: 'he thinks, "I am all this"; this is his highest world.' And that becoming-everything is simply his own nature. So his true form -- utterly beyond nescience, desire, action, and every condition of ordinary existence -- is grasped directly, in deep sleep. That is what this whole passage has told us. This self-luminous Self is the supreme bliss. This is what knowledge is really about. This same Self is the deepest peace there is, happiness carried to its very limit. All of that is what this passage, ending exactly where it does, has explained. And everything in it has only ever been an illustration -- an illustration of what liberation means, and of what bondage means. Both of these, bondage and liberation, along with their causes, laid out in full through the workings of knowledge and nescience, are nothing more than illustrations. And that is exactly why Janaka presses again: 'It's the real things themselves -- liberation and bondage, with their causes -- that my question about desire was really asking after, and those are what you still owe me. So, beyond this, speak only of liberation.' Here is how it works: like that great fish, one and the same self-luminous Self moves, unattached, between dream and waking -- that much has already been said. And just as it drops one body and picks up another, both of them really just shapes of death, moving between dream and waking the way the fish moves between the two banks, so too, being born and dying, it is joined to those death-shaped bodies and then parted from them -- exactly as the verse says: 'it moves back and forth through both worlds.' That movement is the real thing the earlier image of dream-and-waking was pointing to all along. So now, at length, this movement and its cause need to be laid out -- that is the whole purpose of what comes next. The Self is led, here, out of the waking state into the state of dream; and that is why deep, tranquil repose stands as the very picture of liberation. Then, falling back from there into waking, the ordinary business of everyday life must be shown -- and that is how this passage connects to what came before. This same Self, having grown perfectly still by passing through the dream state on its way out of waking, and having rested there in that deep repose, slips slightly out of it once more -- takes its pleasure in the dream, wanders through it, just as before -- and rushes straight back, once again, to waking.

Close to the Sanskrit

Here the Self, made of cognition, self-luminous, was shown in dream; its distinctness from cause and effect, through its transit between dream and waking, and its discrimination from desire and action, by way of non-attachment, were shown by the illustration of the great fish. And, further, the effect of nescience was shown in dream alone, by the phrase beginning 'as if striking'; by implication, the real nature of nescience was thereby determined -- that it consists in superimposing what does not belong to the Self, and that it is not a property of the Self. Likewise the effect of knowledge was shown: the state of becoming the Self of all -- directly, in dream itself: 'he thinks "I am all"; this is his supreme world.' And there, this becoming-the-Self-of-all is his own inherent nature; thus his true form, transcending all connection with the conditions of nescience, desire, action, and the rest of transmigratory existence, is grasped directly in deep sleep -- this has been conveyed. This self-luminous Self is the supreme bliss; this is the object of knowledge; this same [Self] is the supreme, deep tranquil repose, the highest limit of happiness -- this whole matter has been explained by a passage ending just so. And all of this has served as an illustration of what the word 'liberation' means, and of bondage; these two, liberation and bondage, together with their causes and in full detail, having been pointed out in the effects of knowledge and nescience, all of that is merely an illustration -- given this, Janaka presses again: 'since it is the real counterparts, liberation and bondage together with their causes, which are in fact the very subject of the question about desire, that you must now address, speak only, beyond this, of liberation.' On this point: it has been said that, like the great fish, one Self, self-luminous, moves unattached between dream and waking; and just as it, abandoning and taking up bodies that are really forms of death, moves back and forth between dream and waking like the great fish, so too, being born and dying, it is joined and disjoined with those very forms of death -- as it is said, 'it moves back and forth through both worlds.' This movement has thereby been indicated as the real counterpart of the transit between dream and waking. Here, then, this movement, together with its cause, is to be described at length; that is the purpose of this undertaking. There, this Self is made to enter, from the waking state, into the dream state; therefore the position of deep tranquil repose serves as the illustration of liberation. Then, having fallen back from there into the waking state, the ordinary business of worldly life is to be shown; that is this passage's connection [to what precedes]. This same [Self], having become perfectly tranquil by way of the dream state from the waking state, having remained in this deep repose, then, having slightly slipped from it again -- having taken delight and wandered about in the dream state, and so on, as before -- hastens back, precisely, to the waking state.

In plain words

From here, the text turns to describing how the self moves through birth after birth. The point is simple: the way you pass from the end of a dream into waking, in exactly that way you will pass from this body into another. To show this, an illustration follows.

Picture an ordinary cart in the street, loaded well past comfort: pots and tools piled on, a mortar and pestle, a winnowing basket, a cooking pot, food for the road, everything heaped up together. Loaded like that, it creaks and groans as the driver gets it moving. Keep that picture. Now look at the embodied self the same way. Who is it, really? It is the self wrapped in its subtle body, the one that wanders between this world and the next through birth and death — taking on one entanglement, shedding another — and wherever it goes, breath and the senses go out right behind it. And carried within all of that is the deeper self, the one that is light by its own nature, simply present, simply shining — the scriptures say it plainly: by that light alone, this one lives, and moves about. But the creaking, the strain, the actual departure — that belongs to the self bound up with the body, not to the light itself. If the two were simply the same thing, there would be nothing left in it to groan. Instead, at the vital points, cut one by one, it cries out in real pain and goes. And this is exactly what 'breath going upward' means: the moment the breath begins climbing instead of settling back down.

Close to the Sanskrit

From this point onward, the transmigration of this self is described. Just as this self has passed from the end of the dream-state to the waking-state, so will this one attain another body from this body — thus he states an illustration here.

There [in this connection]: just as in the world a cart — 'susamāhitam' meaning well, or exceedingly, loaded — with equipment such as pots and implements, with mortar, pestle, winnowing-basket, cooking-pot and the like, and furnished with food and provisions, that is, overladen with its burden — thus, being laden with weight, creaking, making a sound, would go, would proceed, driven by a carter — in just this way, as the illustration stated, this one belonging to the body — who is that? — the self conditioned by the subtle body, which wanders between this world and the other through birth and death marked by conjunction with and separation from sin, following whose departure the departure of the vital breaths and so on follows — that self, mounted, governed, illumined by the supreme self whose nature is self-luminosity — as it is said, 'by the self alone this one abides in light and wanders about' — departs creaking. There, by the light of consciousness that is the self, it is the subtle body, in which breath is chief, that goes and is illumined; its adjunct, the self, seems to go too; likewise another scriptural text says, 'in whom am I', and 'as if meditating'; hence it is said 'mounted by the self that is prājña'; otherwise, if it had become one with the prājña like the cart, how could it go creaking? Therefore the self conditioned by the subtle body, departing while its vital parts are being cut, crying out from the pain of that suffering, goes, departs. At what time is this? — it is said: when this occurs — 'this' being an adverbial qualifier — one whose breath goes upward, when the state of upward breathing belongs to him — that is the meaning.