Direct Self Relization

Author(s): Adi Shankaracharya
Publisher: Unknown

Page 5

75) Just as one sees the illusion of a tree on account of water, so does, a person on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
76) Just as to a person going in a boat everything appears to be in motion, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
77) Just as to a person suffering from a defect (jaundice) white things appear as yellow, so does one on account of ignorance, see Atman as the body.
78) Just as to a person with defective eyes everything appears to be defective, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
79) Just as a firebrand, through mere rotation, appears circular like the sun, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
80) Just as all things that are really large appear to be very small owing to great distance, so does, one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
81) Just as all objects that are very small, appear to be large, when viewed through lenses, so does, one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman, as the body.
82) Just as a surface of glass is mistaken for water, or vice versa, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
83) Just as a person imagines a jewel in fire or vice versa, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
84) Just as when clouds move, the moon appears to be in motion, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
85) Just as a person through confusion loses all distinction between the different points of the compass, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
86) Just as the moon (when reflected) in water appears to one as unsteady, so does one, on account of ignorance, see the Atman as the body.
87) Thus, through ignorance arises in Atman, the delusion of the body, which, again, through Self-realization, disappears in the supreme Atman.(Superimposition)
88) When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?
89) O enlightened one, pass your time always contemplating on Atman, while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for, it ill becomes you to feel distressed.
90) The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.
91) After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.
92) That Karma, which is done in a previous life, is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).
93) Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?
94) The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist? 95) Just as a person, out of confusion, perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does, an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world, without knowing the reality. (confusion)