AVADHUTA GITA PART 1: SELF 1. By the Grace of the impersonal, Absolute Reality, those seeking liberation are inspired above all men with the disposition to non-duality, which relieves them of the great fear. 2. How can I salute the Self [ones true nature], which is indestructible, which is all bliss, which in Itself and by Itself pervades everything, and which is inseparable from Itself? 3. I alone am, ever free from all taint. The world exists like a mirage within me. To whom shall I bow? Reader, do you exist? 4. Verily the one Self is all, free from differentiation and non-differentiation. Neither can it be said, It is nor It is not. What a great mystery. 5. This is the whole substance of Vedanta; this is the essence of all knowledge, theoretical and intuitional. I am the Self, by nature impersonal and all-pervasive. 6. That Absolute Reality who is the Self in all, impersonal and changeless, like unto space, by nature purity itself, verily, verily, That I am. 7. I am pure knowledge, imperishable, Infinite. I know neither joy nor pain; whom can they touch? 8. The actions of the mind, good and evil, the actions of the body, good and evil, the actions of the voice, good and evil, exist not within the Self. I am the nectar which is knowledge Absolute; beyond the range of the senses I am. 9. The mind is as space, embracing all. I am beyond mind. In reality, mind has no independent existence. 10. How can it be said that the Self is manifest? How can it be said that the Self is limited? I alone am existence; all this objective world am I. More subtle than space itself am I. 11. Know the Self to be Infinite consciousness, self-evident, beyond destruction, enlightening all bodies equally, ever shining. In It is neither day nor night. 12. Know the Self to be one, ever the same, changeless. How can you say: I am the meditator, and this is the object of meditation? How can perfection be divided? 13. You, Self, were never born, nor did you ever die. The body was never yours. The ancient scriptures have repeatedly affirmed: This is all Brahman [Reality]. 14. You are all the Absolute Reality, free from all change, the same within and without, Absolute bliss. Run not to and fro like a ghost. 15. Neither unity nor separation exist in you nor in me. All is Self alone. I and you and the world have no real being. 16. The subtle faculties of touch, taste, smell, form and sound which constitute the world without are not yourself, nor are they within you. You are the great all-transcending Reality. 17. Birth and death exist not in the mind, not in you, as do also bondage and liberation. Good and evil are in the mind, and not in you. Beloved, why do you cry? Name and form are neither in you nor in me. 18. Oh my mind, why do you range in delusion like a ghost? Know the Self to be above duality and be happy. 19. You are the essence of knowledge, indomitable, Eternal, ever free from modifications. Neither is there in you attachment nor indifference. Let not yourself suffer from desires. 20. All the scriptures describe the Self as without attributes, ever pure, imperishable, without a body, the Eternal Truth. Know That to be who you are. 21. Know all forms, physical and subtle, as illusion. The Reality underlying them is Eternal. By living this Truth one passes beyond birth and death. 22. The sages call the Self the ever-same. By giving up attachment the mind sees neither duality nor unity. 23. Concentration is not possible either on perishable objects, on account of their mutability, nor on the Self. Is and is not do not apply to the Self either. In the Self, freedom Absolute, how is a state of Self-absorption possible? 24. Birthless, pure, bodiless, equable, imperishable Self you know yourself to be. How then can you say, I know my Self or I know not my Self? 25. Thus have the sacred scriptures spoken of the Self; That You Are! Of the illusory world, born of the five physical elements, the scriptures declare: Neti, neti [neither this, nor that or literally, not this, not this]. 26. All this is ever pervaded by you as the Self. In you is neither the meditator nor the object of meditation. Why, mind, do you shamelessly meditate? 27. I know not Reality. How can I speak of Him? Who Reality is I do not know. How can I worship Him? 28. I am the only Reality, like Absolute space is my nature. In me is neither unity nor variety. The cause of imagination too is absent in me. 29. Free from subject and object am I. How can I be Self-realisable? Endless is my nature, nothing else exists. Absolute Truth is my nature, nothing else exists. 30. Self by nature, the Supreme Reality am I, neither am I slayer nor the slain. 31. On the destruction of a jar, the space in it unites with all space. In my Self and Reality I see no difference when the mind is purified. 32. Absolute Reality alone is, as pure consciousness. In truth there is no jar, and no jar-space, no embodied Soul [Self], nor its nature. 33. There are no worlds, no scriptures, no deities, no sacrifices, no castes, no family tribes, no nationalities, no smoke-path, no shining-path. 34. Some there are that prize non-dualism, others hold to dualism. They know not the Truth, which is above both. 35. How can the ultimate Reality be described, since It is neither white nor any other colour, has no qualities such as sound, and is beyond voice and mind? 36. I eat, I give, I act; such statements do not apply to the Self, which is purity, birthless and imperishable. 37. Where the one Reality alone is, how can it be said that this world is illusory or this world is not illusory, this is a shadow or this is not a shadow? 38. I am without beginning and without end. Never was I bound. By nature pure, taintless is my Self. This I know for sure. 39. From subtle substance down to formed creation, there is nothing but the one Reality; most clearly do I see this. Where then is the division of caste? 40. The Absolute Void and its opposite, all am I everlastingly. 41. Self is not male or female, nor is It neuter; neither is It happiness nor suffering. How dare you pervert It? 42. Self is not purified by the six methods of Yoga. Absence of the mind makes It no clearer. The teachings of a Guru reveal It not. It is all purity, in Itself, by Itself. 43. I am neither bound nor free. I am not separate from Reality. 44. Neither the doer nor the enjoyer of the fruits of action am I. The pervader or the pervaded I am not. 45. As a volume of water poured into water is inseparably united with water, so, I perceive, matter and spirit are one. 46. Why do you call the Self personal and impersonal. Since you are neither bound nor free? 47. Pure, pure you are, without a body, unrelated to the mind, beyond the illusory world; why are you ashamed to acknowledge: I am Self, the Supreme Reality!? 48. My beloved mind, why do you cry? Realise your Self, drink the timeless great nectar of non-duality. 49. Knowledge born of the intellect am I not. By nature Truth Eternal am I. I am perpetual immutability. 50. Neither formless nor with form, described in the scriptures as neither this, nor that, free from separation and unity, the true Self reigns Supreme. 51. There is no father, no mother, no kinsman, no son, no wife, no friend, no prejudice, no doctrine. Why are you disquiet, my mind? 52. Why do the wise imagine the bodiless Reality to be a body? In It there is neither day nor night, neither rising nor setting. 53. Since the imperfections of attachment and the like are not in me, I am above the suffering of the body. Know me to be Infinite, like unto space, one Self. 54. My mind, my friend, many words are not needed, and the world hardly comprehends reason. In a word, I have told you the essence of truth: You are Truth, you are as space. 55. In whatever place and in whatever state the yogi dies, his spirit is absorbed into That, as, on the destruction of the jar, the space in the jar is united with Absolute space. 56. Whether he dies conscious or in coma, in a holy temple or in the house of an untouchable, he obtains liberation, becoming the all-pervading Reality. 57. The yogis regard righteousness, prosperity, desire for paradise and liberation, and also the moving and fixed objects, as mere will-o-the-wisps. 58. The avadhut [liberated one or jnani] in unshakable equanimity, living in the holy temple of nothingness, walks naked, knowing all to be Reality. 59. Where there is no third [deep sleep] nor Fourth state [Turiya], where all is known as the Self, where there is neither righteousness nor unrighteousness, how can there be either bondage or liberation?
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:54:15 +0000