Direct Self Relization

Author(s): Adi Shankaracharya
Publisher: Unknown

Page 2

17) Atman is verily one and without parts, whereas the body consists of many parts; and yet the people see (confound, mistake, confuse) these two as one! What else can be called ignorance but this?
18) Atman is the ruler of the body and is internal, the body is the ruled and is external; and yet, the people see (confound) these two as one! What else can be called ignorance but this?
19) Atman is all consciousness and holy, the body is all flesh and impure; and yet, the people see (mistake) these two as one! What else can be called ignorance but this?
20) Atman is the (supreme) Illuminator and purity itself; the body is said to be of the nature of darkness; and yet, the people see (mistake) these two as one! What else can be called ignorance but this?
21) Atman is eternal, since it is Existence itself; the body is transient, as it is non-existence in essence; and yet the people see (mistake) these two as one! What else can be called ignorance but this?
22) The luminosity of Atman consists in the manifestation of all objects. Its luminosity is not like that of fire or any such thing, for (in spite of the presence of such lights), darkness prevails at night (at some place or other).
23) How strange is it that a person ignorantly rests contented with the idea that he is the body, while he knows it as something belonging to him (and therefore, apart/separate from him), even as a person who sees a pot (knows it as apart from him)!
24) I am verily Brahman, being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. I am not the body, which is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
25) I am without any change, without any form, free from all blemish and decay. I am not the body, which is nonexistence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
26) I am not subjected to any disease, I am beyond all comprehension, free from all alternatives and all-pervading. I am not the body, which is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
27) I am without any attribute or activity, I am eternal, ever free, and imperishable. I am not the body, which is nonexistence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
28) I am free from all impurity, I am immovable, unlimited, holy, undecaying, and immortal. I am not the body, which is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
29) O you ignorant one! Why do you assert the blissful, ever-existent Atman, which resides in your own body and is (evidently) different from it, which is known as Purusha and is established (by the Shruti as identical with Brahman), to be absolutely non-existent?
30) O you ignorant one! Try to know, with the help of Shruti and reasoning, your own Self, Purusha, which is different from the body, (not a void but) the very form of existence, and very difficult for persons like you to realize.
31) The Supreme (Purusha) known as "I" (ego) is but one, whereas the gross bodies are many. So how can this body be Purusha?
32) "I" (ego) is well established as the subject of perception, whereas the body is the object. This is learnt from the fact that, when we speak of the body, we say: "This is mine." So, how can this body be Purusha?
33) It is a fact of direct experience that the "I" (Atman) is without any change, whereas the body is always undergoing changes. So how can this body be Purusha?
34) Wise men have ascertained the (real) nature of Purusha from that Shruti text, "(There is nothing) higher than He (Purusha)," etc. So how can this body be Purusha?