________________
Iṣṭopadeśa - The Golden Discourse
दुःखसन्दोहभागित्वं संयोगादिह देहिनाम् । त्यजाम्येनं ततः सर्वं मनोवाक्कायकर्मभिः ॥
(28)
The soul, due to its association with the non-soul body and the like, has to live through many afflictions. I, therefore, renounce all such association, along with the activities of the mind, speech and body.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
From the empirical point of view (vyavahāra naya), the soul is said to be the enjoyer of the fruits of karmas in the form of pleasure and pain, but from the transcendental point of view (niscaya naya), the soul experiences only consciousness (cetană), concomitant with perception (darśana) and knowledge (jñāna). The ignorant, engrossed in the nature of various species of karmas, enjoys the fruits of karmas (in the form of pleasure and pain), and the knowledgeable is aware of the fruits of karmas but does not enjoy them. The right believer calmly bears the fruits of karmas and is not affected by them. Experiencing the fruits of karmas, the Self who identifies himself with those fruits of karmas, thereby getting happy or miserable, bonds himself again with the seeds of misery in the form of eight kinds of karmas.
To attain excellent meditation one should turn all one's faculties inwards. To reach this stage it is necessary to check the activities of the body, mind and speech which produce disquietude of the soul. Clinging to the idea of self-realization and fortified against the influx of karmas, the Self meditates, with due control of
80