Atma Bodha by
Adi Sankaracharya's
Translated by Swami Chinmayananda
Published by Chinmaya Mission, Mumbai
1. I am composing the Atma-Bodha, this treatise
of the Knowledge of the Self, for those who have purified themselves by
austerities and are peaceful in heart and calm, who are free from cravings and
are desirous of liberation.
2. Just as the fire is the direct cause for
cooking, so without Knowledge no emancipation can be had. Compared with all
other forms of discipline Knowledge of the Self is the one direct means for
liberation.
3. Action cannot destroy ignorance, for it is
not in conflict with or opposed to ignorance. Knowledge does verily destroy
ignorance as light destroys deep darkness.
4. The Soul appears to be finite because of
ignorance. When ignorance is destroyed the Self which does not admit of any
multiplicity truly reveals itself by itself: like the Sun when the clouds pass
away.
5. Constant practice of knowledge purifies the
Self (‘Jivatman’), stained by ignorance and then disappears itself – as the
powder of the ‘Kataka-nut’ settles down after it has cleansed the muddy water.
6. The world, which is full of attachments, aversions, etc., is like a dream. It appears to be real, as long as it
continues but appears to be unreal when one is awake (i.e., when true wisdom
dawns).
7. The Jagat appears to be true (Satyam) so long
as Brahman, the substratum, the basis of all this creation, is not realized. It
is like the illusion of silver in the mother-of pearl.
8. Like bubbles in the water, the worlds rise,
exist and dissolve in the Supreme Self, which is the material cause and the
prop of everything.
9. All the manifested world of things and beings
are projected by imagination upon the substratum which is the Eternal
All-pervading Vishnu, whose nature is Existence-Intelligence; just as the
different ornaments are all made out of the same gold.
10. The All-pervading Akasa appears to be
diverse on account of its association with various conditionings (Upadhis)
which are different from each other. Space becomes one on the destruction of
these limiting adjuncts: So also the Omnipresent Truth appears to be diverse on
account of Its association with the various Upadhis and becomes one on the
destruction of these Upadhis.
11. Because of Its association with different conditionings (Upadhis)
such ideas as caste, colour and position are super-imposed upon the Atman, as
flavour, colour, etc., are super-imposed on water.
12. Determined for each individual by his own
past actions and made up of the Five elements – that have gone through the
process of “five-fold self-division and mutual combination” (Pancheekarana) –
are born the gross-body, the medium through which pleasure and pain are
experienced, the tent-of-experiences.
13. The five Pranas, the ten organs and the
Manas and the Buddhi, formed from the rudimentary elements (Tanmatras) before
their “five-fold division and mutual combination with one another”
(Pancheekarana) and this is the subtle body, the instruments-of-experience (of
the individual).
14. Avidya, which is indescribable and
beginningless is the Causal Body. Know for certain that the Atman is other than
these three conditioning bodies (Upadhis).
15. In its identification with the five-sheaths
the Immaculate Atman appears to have borrowed their qualities upon itself; as
in the case of a crystal which appears to gather unto itself colour of its
vicinity (blue cloth, etc.
16. Through discriminative self-analysis and
logical thinking one should separate the Pure self within from the sheaths as
one separates the rice from the husk, bran, etc., that are covering it.
17. The Atman does not shine in everything
although He is All-pervading. He is manifest only in the inner equipment, the
intellect (Buddhi): just as the reflection in a clean mirror.
18. One should understand that the Atman is
always like the King, distinct from the body, senses, mind and intellect, all
of which constitute the matter (Prakriti); and is the witness of their
functions.
19. The moon appears to be running when the
clouds move in the sky. Likewise to the non-discriminating person the Atman
appears to be active when It is observed through the functions of the
sense-organs.
20. Depending upon the energy of vitality of
Consciousness (Atma Chaitanya) the body, senses, mind and intellect engage
themselves in their respective activities, just as men work depending upon the
light of the Sun.
21. Fools, because they lack in their powers of
discrimination superimpose on the Atman, the Absolute-Existence-Knowledge
(Sat-Chit), all the varied functions of the body and the senses, just as they
attribute blue colour and the like to the sky.
22. The tremblings that belong to the waters are
attributed through ignorance to the reflected moon dancing on it: likewise
agency of action, of enjoyment and of other limitations (which really belong to
the mind) are delusively understood as the nature of the Self (Atman).
23. Attachment, desire, pleasure, pain, etc.,
are perceived to exist so long as Buddhi or mind functions. They are not
perceived in deep sleep when the mind ceases to exist. Therefore they belong to
the mind alone and not to the Atman.
24. Just as luminosity is the nature of the Sun, coolness of water and
heat of fire, so too the nature of the Atman is Eternity, Purity, Reality,
Consciousness and Bliss.
25. By the indiscriminate blending of the two –
the Existence-Knowledge-aspect of the Self and the thought-wave of the
intellect – there arises the notion of “I know”.
26. Atman never does anything and the intellect
of its own accord has no capacity to experience ‘I know’. But the individuality
in us delusorily thinks he is himself the seer and the knower.
27. Just as the person who regards a rope as a
snake is overcome by fear, so also one considering oneself as the ego (Jiva) is
overcome by fear. The ego-centric individuality in us regains fearlessness by
realising that It is not a Jiva but is Itself the Supreme Soul.
28. Just as a lamp illumines a jar or a pot, so also the Atman illumines the mind and the sense organs, etc. These material-objects by themselves cannot illumine themselves because they are inert.
29. A lighted-lamp does not need another lamp to illumine its light. So too, Atman which is Knowledge itself needs no other knowledge to know it.
28. Just as a lamp illumines a jar or a pot, so also the Atman illumines the mind and the sense organs, etc. These material-objects by themselves cannot illumine themselves because they are inert.
29. A lighted-lamp does not need another lamp to illumine its light. So too, Atman which is Knowledge itself needs no other knowledge to know it.
30. By a process of negation of the
conditionings (Upadhis) through the help of the scriptural statement ‘It is not
this, It is not this’, the oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul,
as indicated by the great Mahavakyas, has to be realised.
31. The body, etc., up to the “Causal Body” –
Ignorance – which are objects perceived, are as perishable as bubbles. Realize
through discrimination that I am the ‘Pure Brahman’ ever completely separate
from all these.
32. I am other than the body and so I am free
from changes such as birth, wrinkling, senility, death, etc. I have nothing to
do with the sense objects such as sound and taste, for I am without the
sense-organs.
33. I am other than the mind and hence, I am
free from sorrow, attachment, malice and fear, for “HE is without breath and
without mind, Pure, etc.”, is the Commandment of the great scripture, the
Upanishads.
34. I am without attributes and actions; Eternal
(Nitya) without any desire and thought (Nirvikalpa), without any dirt
(Niranjana), without any change (Nirvikara), without form (Nirakara),
ever-liberated (Nitya Mukta) ever-pure (Nirmala).
35. Like the space I fill all things within and
without. Changeless and the same in all, at all times I am pure, unattached,
stainless and motionless.
36. I am verily that Supreme Brahman alone which
is Eternal, Pure and Free, One, indivisible and non-dual and of the nature of
Changeless-Knowledge-Infinite.
37. The impression “I am Brahman” thus created
by constant practice destroys ignorance and the agitation caused by it, just as
medicine or Rasayana destroys disease.
38. Sitting in a solitary place, freeing the
mind from desires and controlling the senses, meditate with unswerving
attention on the Atman which is One without-a-second.
39. The wise one should intelligently merge the entire world-of-objects
in the Atman alone and constantly think of the Self ever as contaminated by anything
as the sky.
40. He who has realised the Supreme, discards
all his identification with the objects of names and forms. (Thereafter) he
dwells as an embodiment of the Infinite Consciousness and Bliss. He becomes the
Self.
41. There are no distinctions such as “Knower”,
the “Knowledge” and the “Object of Knowledge” in the Supreme Self. On account
of Its being of the nature of endless Bliss, It does not admit of such
distinctions within Itself. It alone shines by Itself.
42. When this, the lower and the higher aspects
of the Self are well churned together, the fire of knowledge is born from it,
which in its mighty conflagration shall burn down all the fuel of ignorance in
us.
43. The Lord of the early dawn (Aruna) himself
has already looted away the thick darkness, when soon the sun rises. The Divine
Consciousness of the Self rises when the right knowledge has already killed the
darkness in the bosom.
44. Atman is an ever-present Reality. Yet,
because of ignorance it is not realised. On the destruction of ignorance Atman
is realised. It is like the missing ornament of one’s neck.
45. Brahman appears to be a ‘Jiva’ because of
ignorance, just as a post appears to be a ghost. The ego-centric-individuality
is destroyed when the real nature of the ‘Jiva’ is realised as the Self.
46. The ignorance characterised by the notions
‘I’ and ‘Mine’ is destroyed by the knowledge produced by the realisation of the
true nature of the Self, just as right information removes the wrong notion
about the directions.
47. The Yogi of perfect realisation and
enlightenment sees through his “eye of wisdom” (Gyana Chakshush) the entire
universe in his own Self and regards everything else as his own Self and
nothing else.
48. Nothing whatever exists other than the
Atman: the tangible universe is verily Atman. As pots and jars are verily made
of clay and cannot be said to be anything but clay, so too, to the enlightened
soul and that is perceived is the Self.
49. A liberated one, endowed with
Self-knowledge, gives up the traits of his previously explained equipments
(Upadhis) and because of his nature of Sat-chit-ananda, he verily becomes
Brahman like (the worm that grows to be) a wasp.
50. After crossing the ocean of delusion and
killing the monsters of likes and dislikes, the Yogi who is united with peace
dwells in the glory of his own realised Self – as an Atmaram.
51. The self-abiding Jivan Mukta, relinquishing
all his attachments to the illusory external happiness and satisfied with the
bliss derived from the Atman, shines inwardly like a lamp placed inside a jar.
52. Though he lives in the conditionings
(Upadhis), he, the contemplative one, remains ever unconcerned with anything or
he may move about like the wind, perfectly unattached.
53. On the destruction of the Upadhis, the contemplative one is totally
absorbed in ‘Vishnu’, the All-pervading Spirit, like water into water, space
into space and light into light.
54. Realise That to be Brahman, the attainment
of which leaves nothing more to be attained, the blessedness of which leaves no
other blessing to be desired and the knowledge of which leaves nothing more to
be known.
55. Realise that to be Brahman which, when seen,
leaves nothing more to be seen, which having become one is not born again in
this world and which, when knowing leaves nothing else to be known.
56. Realise that to be Brahman, which is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute,
which is Non-dual, Infinite, Eternal and One and which fills all the quarters –
above and below and all that exists between.
57. Realise that to be Brahman which is
Non-dual, Indivisible, One and Blissful and which is indicated in Vedanta as
the Immutable Substratum, realised after the negation of all tangible objects.
58. Deities like Brahma and others taste only a
particle, of the unlimited Bliss of Brahman and enjoy in proportion their share
of that particle.
59. All objects are pervaded by Brahman. All
actions are possible because of Brahman: therefore Brahman permeates everything
as butter permeates milk.
60. Realise that to be Brahman which is neither
subtle nor gross: neither short nor long: without birth or change: without
form, qualities, colour and name.
61. That by the light of which the luminous,
orbs like the Sun and the Moon are illuminated, but which is not illumined by
their light, realise that to be Brahman.
62. Pervading the entire universe outwardly and inwardly
the Supreme Brahman shines of Itself like the fire that permeates a red-hot
iron-ball and glows by itself.
63. Brahman is other than this, the universe.
There exists nothing that is not Brahman. If any object other than Brahman
appears to exist, it is unreal like the mirage.
64. All that is perceived, or heard, is Brahman
and nothing else. Attaining the knowledge of the Reality, one sees the Universe
as the non-dual Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute.
65. Though Atman is Pure Consciousness and ever
present everywhere, yet It is perceived by the eye-of-wisdom alone: but one
whose vision is obscured by ignorance he does not see It; as the blind do not
see the resplendent Sun.
66. The ‘Jiva’ free from impurities, being
heated in the fire of knowledge kindled by hearing and so on, shines of itself
like gold.
67. The Atman, the Sun of Knowledge that rises
in the sky of the heart, destroys the darkness of the ignorance, pervades and
sustains all and shines and makes everything to shine.
68. He who renouncing all activities, who is free of all the limitations
of time, space and direction, worships his own Atman which is present
everywhere, which is the destroyer of heat and cold, which is Bliss-Eternal and
stainless, becomes All-knowing and All-pervading and attains thereafter
Immortality.
Thus concludes Atma-Bodha.
read also about liberation: Liberation is freedom from ego Liberation and Jivanmukta
Peace love harmony