THE AVADHUTA GITA
Song of the Free
of
Dattatreya
- With Commentary by Kevin Solway -
CHAPTER 1
Through the grace of God alone, the desire for nonduality arises in wise men to
save them from great fear.
Fear of untruth, fear of being in error regarding one's very life, leads the
wise to desire Reality, which is nonduality. One is wise who has been
made so by all that has caused him to be. This is called "grace of God"
because one is unable to generate any of the causes of one's becoming
wise. Even the conscious effort to become wise ultimately stems from
the environment, the All.
How shall I salute the formless Being, indivisible, auspicious, and immutable,
who fills all this with His Self and also fills the self with His Self?
The universe composed of the five elements is like water in a mirage. Oh, to
whom shall I make obeisance - I who am one and taintless?
All is verily the absolute Self. Distinction and nondistinction do not exist.
How can I say, "It exists; it does not exist"? I am filled with wonder!
All worldly difficulties fall away in the light of this supreme knowledge.
The wonder is that we had difficulties.
The essence and the whole of Vedanta is this Knowledge, this supreme
Knowledge: that I am by nature the formless, all- pervasive Self.
There is no doubt that I am that God who is the Self of all, pure, indivisible,
like the sky, naturally stainless.
I indeed am immutable and infinite and the form of pure Intelligence. I do not
know how or in relation to whom joy and sorrow exist.
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I have no mental activity, good or bad; I have no bodily function, good or bad;
I have no verbal action, good or bad. I am the nectar of Knowledge, beyond
the senses, pure.
The mind indeed is of the form of space. The mind indeed is omnifaced. The
mind is the past. The mind is all. But in reality there is no mind.
I, the One only, am all this, beyond space and continuous. How can I see the
Self as visible or hidden?
Thus you are One. Why then do you not understand that you are the
unchangeable One, equally perceived in all? O mighty One, how can you, who
are ever-shining, unrestricted, think of day and night?
Know the Self always to be everywhere, one and unintercepted. I am the
meditator and the highest object of meditation. Why do you divide the
Indivisible?
You are not born nor do you die. At no time do you have a body. The
scripture declares in many different ways the well-known dictum: "All is
Brahman."
You are He who is exterior and interior. You are the auspicious One existing
everywhere at all times. Why are you running hither and thither deluded, like
an unclean spirit?
Union and separation exist in regard neither to you nor to me. There is no you,
no me, nor is there this universe. All is verily the Self alone.
You do not belong to that which is composed of the five objects of sense, such
as sound; nor does that belong to you. You indeed are the supreme Reality.
Why then do you suffer?
For you there is no birth or death, for you there is no mind, for you there is no
bondage or liberation, no good or evil. Why do you shed tears, my child?
Neither you nor I have name and form.
O mind, why do you wander about deluded, like an unclean spirit? Behold the
Self indivisible. Be happy through renunciation of attachment.
You verily are Truth, devoid of change, motionless, one, of the nature of
freedom. You have neither attachment nor aversion. Why do you suffer,
seeking the objects of desires?
All the scriptures say that the Truth is without attributes, pure, immutable,
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bodiless, and existing equally everywhere. Know me to be That. There is not
the least doubt about it.
Know that which has form to be false, that which is formless to be eternal.
Through the instruction of this truth there is no longer rebirth into this world.
Sages say that Reality is one only and the same. And through renunciation of
attachment, the mind, which is one and many, ceases to exist.
If it is the nature of the not-Self, how can there be samadhi (superconscious
realization)? If it is of the nature of the Self, how can there be samadhi? If it is
both "is" and "is not", how can there be samadhi? If all is one and of the nature
of freedom, how can there be samadhi?
If Truth is other than my mind then how can I know it? If Truth is in fact
my mind then how can I know it? How can there be consciousness of
Truth if all is Truth?
You are pure homogeneous Reality, disembodied, unborn, and immutable.
Why do you think of yourself as "I know it here" or "I do not know"?
By such sentences as "That thou art," your own Self is affirmed. Of that which
is untrue and composed of the five elements the Sruti says, "Not this, not this."
As the self is filled by the Self, so is all filled continuously by you. There is no
meditator or meditation. Why does your mind meditate shamelessly?
What on earth are you meditating upon you fool? And what on earth do
you think you are meditating with?
I do not know the Supreme; how shall I speak of Him? I do not know the
Supreme; how shall I worship Him? If I am the supreme One, who is the
highest Truth, who is homogeneous Being and like unto space, how then shall I
speak of Him and worship Him?
The principle of ego is not the Truth, which is homogeneous, which is free
from the cause of superimposition and distinctions of perceived and perceiver.
How can the ego be That which is aware of Itself?
There is no substance whatever which is by nature unlimited. There is no
substance whatever which is of the nature of Reality. The very Self is the
supreme Truth. There is neither injury nor noninjury in It.
You are the homogeneous Reality; you are pure, bodiless, birthless, and
imperishable. Why then do you have any delusion about the Self? Again, why
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am I myself deluded?
When the pot is broken; the space within it is absorbed in the infinite space and
becomes undifferentiated. When the mind becomes pure, I do not perceive any
difference between the mind and the supreme Being.
There is no pot; there is no pot's interior space. Neither is there an individual
soul nor the form of an individual soul. Know the absolute Brahman, devoid of
knowable and knower.
Know me to be that Self who is everything and everywhere at all times, who is
eternal, steady, the All, the nonexistent, and the Existent. Have no doubt.
There are no Vedas, no worlds, no gods, no sacrifices. There is certainly no
caste, no stage in life, no family, no birth. There is neither the path of smoke
nor the path of light. There is only the highest Truth, the homogeneous
Brahman.
If you are free of the pervaded and the pervader, if you are one and fulfilled,
how can you think of yourself as directly perceptible by the senses or beyond
the range of the senses?
Some seek nonduality, others duality. They do not know the Truth, which is
the same at all times and everywhere, which is devoid of both duality and
nonduality.
How can they describe the Truth, which is beyond mind and words, which is
devoid of white and other colours, of sound and other qualities?
It is devoid of colour and also the lack of colour.
When all these appear to you as false, when the body and so on appear to you
like space, then you know Brahman truly, then for you there is no dual series.
That is, there is no confusion.
Even my natural self appears to me as non-distinct from the supreme Self; it
appears to be one and like space. How can there be meditator and meditation?
Similarly, when the everyday self appears to be the same as the world,
how can there be death?
What I do, what I eat, what I sacrifice, what I give - all this is not mine in the
least. I am pure, unborn, undecaying.
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Know all this universe to be formless. Know all this universe to be without
change. Know all this universe to be of purified body. Know all this universe
to be of the nature of the Absolute.
You are verily the Truth. There is no doubt about it - otherwise, what do I
know? Why do you consider the Self, which is perceptible to Itself, as
imperceptible?
My child, how can there be illusion and nonillusion, shadow and lack of
shadow? All this is one Truth, all this is of the nature of space and without
taint.
I am free in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. I am never bound.
This is my sure knowledge - that I am naturally spotless and pure.
The whole universe, beginning with the principle of cosmic intelligence, is not
in the least manifest to me. All is indeed Brahman alone. How can there be
any existence in caste or stage of life for me?
I know that all, in every way, is the one indivisible "I" which is self-sustained
and full, while the five elements, beginning with ether, are empty.
The Self is neither eunuch, man, nor woman: it is neither idea nor imagination.
How can you think the Self to be full of joy or joyless?
The Self certainly does not become pure through the practice of six-limbed
yoga. It certainly is not purified by the destruction of the mind. It certainly is
not made pure by the instructions of the teacher. It is Itself the Truth, It is Itself
the illumined One.
There is no body made up of five elements; nor is there anyone who is
disembodied. All is verily the Self alone. How can there be the three states
and the fourth?
I am not bound, I am not, indeed, liberated, and I am not different from
Brahman. Neither doer nor enjoyer, I am devoid of the distinctions of the
pervaded and the pervader.
As water, when water has been poured into water, has no distinctions, so
purusa and prakrti appear nondifferent to me.
Nature and soul.
If indeed you are never bound or liberated, how then can you think yourself
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with form or formless?
I know your supreme Form to be directly perceivable, like the sky. I know
your lower form to be as water in a mirage.
I have neither teacher nor instruction, limiting adjunct nor activity. Know that I
am by nature pure, bodiless, like the sky.
You are pure, you are without a body, your mind is not higher than the highest.
You need not be ashamed to say, "I am the Self, the supreme Truth."
Why are you weeping, O mind? Do you, the Self, be the Self by means of the
Self. Drink, my child, the supreme nectar of Nonduality, transcending all
divisions.
There is neither knowledge nor ignorance nor knowledge combined with
ignorance. He who has always such knowledge is himself Knowledge. It is
never otherwise.
There is no need of knowledge, reasoning, time, space, instruction from a
teacher, or attainment of samadhi. I am naturally the perfect Consciousness,
the Real, like the sky, spontaneous and steady.
I was not born nor have I death. I have no action, good or evil. I am Brahman,
stainless, without qualities. How can there be bondage or liberation for me?
If God pervades all, if God is immovable, full, undivided, then I see no
division. How can He have exterior or interior?
The whole universe shines undivided and unbroken. Oh, the maya, the great
delusion - the imagination of duality and nonduality!
Always "not this, not this" to both the formless and the formed. Only the
Absolute exists, transcending difference and nondifference.
You have no mother, no father, no wife, no son, no relative, no friend. You
have no likes or dislikes. Why is this anguish in your mind?
O, mind, for you there is no day or night, rising or setting. How can the wise
imagine an embodied state for the bodiless?
The Self is neither divided nor undivided, nor has It sadness, happiness, and the
like, nor is It all or less than all. Know the Self to be immutable.
I am not the doer or enjoyer. Work have I none, now or formerly. I have no
body, nor am I bodiless. How can I have or not have a sense of "my-ness"?
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I have no fault such as passion and the like, nor have I any sorrow arising from
the body. Know me to be the one Self, vast and like the sky.
Friend mind, of what use is much vain talk? Friend mind, all this is mere
conjecture. I have told you that which is the essence: you indeed are the Truth,
like the sky.
In whatever place yogis die, in whatever state, there they dissolve, as the space
of a jar dissolves into the sky.
Giving up the body in a holy place or in the house of a candala, the yogi, even
if he has lost consciousness, becomes identified with the Absolute as soon as he
is free of the body.
Candala - one of the lowest castes.
The yogis consider duty in life, pursuit of wealth, enjoyment of love, liberation,
and everything movable or immovable such as man and so on to be a mirage.
This is my certain perception: I neither perform nor enjoy past action, future
action, or present action.
The avadhuta, alone, pure in evenness of feeling, abides happy in an empty
dwelling place. Having renounced all, he moves about naked. He perceives
the Absolute, the All, within himself.
Where there are neither the three states of consciousness nor the fourth, there
one attains the Absolute in the Self. How is it possible to be bound or free
where there is neither virtue nor vice?
There is no consciousness, and there can be no states of that which does
not exist.
The avadhuta never knows any mantra in Vedic metre nor any tantra. This is
the supreme utterance of the avadhuta, purified by meditation and merged in
the sameness of infinite Being.
There exists neither complete void nor voidlessness, neither truth nor untruth.
The avadhuta, having realized the truths of the scriptures, has uttered this
spontaneously from his own nature.
CHAPTER 2
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Of the teacher - even if he be young, illiterate, or addicted to the enjoyment of
sense objects, even if he be a servant or a householder - none of these should be
considered. Does anyone shun a gem fallen in an impure place?
In such a case one should not consider even the quality of scholarship. A
worthy person should recognize only the essence. Does not a boat, though
devoid of beauty and vermilion paint, nevertheless ferry passengers?
The unmoving One, who without effort possesses all that is movable and
immovable, is Consciousness, naturally calm, like the sky.
How can He, the One and All-pervading, who moves effortlessly all that is
movable and immovable, be differentiated! To me He is nondual.
I am verily supreme since I am the Absolute, more essential than all essences,
since I am free from birth and death, calm and undifferentiated.
Thus I, free from all components, am worshipped by the gods, but being full
and perfect, I do not recognize any distinctions such as gods and the like.
The most exceptional human beings, the "gods", perceive enough of the
avaduta to be in awe of him.
Ignorance does not create any doubt. What shall I do, being endowed with
modifications of the mind? They arise and dissolve like bubbles in water.
Thus am I ever pervading all existence beginning with cosmic intelligence -
pervading soft, hard, sweet, and pungent substances.
As pungency, coldness, or softness is nondifferent from water, so prakrti is
nondifferent from purusa - thus it appears to me.
The Lord of the universe is devoid of all names. He is subtler than the subtlest,
supreme. He is spotless, beyond the senses, mind and intellect.
Where there is such a natural Being, how can there be "I", how can there be
even "you", how can there be the world?
That which has been described as being like ether is indeed like ether. That is
Consciousness - blameless, omniscient, and perfect.
It does not move about on the earth or dwell in fire. It is not blown by the wind
or covered by water.
Space is pervaded by It, but It is not pervaded by anything. It is existing within
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and without. It is undivided and continuous.
One should successively take recourse to the objects of concentration, as
mentioned by the yogis, in accordance with their subtlety, invisibility, and
attributelessness.
When through constant practice one's concentration becomes objectless, then,
being divested of merits and demerits, one attains the state of complete
dissolution in the Absolute through the dissolution of the object of
concentration, but not before then.
For the destruction of the terrible, poisonous universe, which produces the
unconsciousness of delusion, there is but one infallible remedy - the nectar of
naturalness.
That which has form is visible to the eye, while the formless is perceived
mentally. That (the Self) being beyond existence and non-existence, is called
beyond.
The external existence is the universe, the inner existence is called prakrti. One
should try to know That which is more interior than the inner existence, That
which is like water within the kernel of the coconut.
Illusory knowledge relates to what is outside, correct knowledge to what is
inside. Try to know That which is more interior than the inside. That which is
like water within the kernel of the coconut.
There is only one very clear moon on the full moon night. One should perceive
That (the Self) like the moon; seeing duality is perversion.
It is indeed in this way that intelligence becomes divided and ceases to be allcomprehending.
A giver attains to wisdom and is sung with millions of names.
Whoever, whether he be ignorant or learned, attains to the full awareness of
Truth through the grace of a teacher's wisdom, becomes detached from the
ocean of worldliness.
Likewise if he attains to the full awareness of Truth without a teacher!
He who is free from attachment and hatred, devoted to the good of all beings,
fixed in knowledge and steady shall attain to the supreme state.
As the space within a pot dissolves in the universal space when the pot is
broken, so a yogi, in the absence of the body, dissolves into the supreme Self,
which is his true being.
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It has been said that the destiny of those devoted to action is the same as their
thought at the end, but it has not been said that the destiny of those established
in yoga is the same as their thought at the end.
"The end" is happening every single moment. In this moment our destiny
is determined.
One may express the destiny of those devoted to action with the organ of
speech, but the destiny of the yogis can never be expressed, because it is
transcendental.
Knowing this, one never says that the yogis have any particular path. For them
it is the giving up of all duality. The supreme attainment comes of itself.
The yogi, having died anywhere, in a holy place or in the house of an
untouchable, does not see the mother's womb again - he is dissolved in the
supreme Brahman.
He never experiences gain, so he never experiences loss.
He who has seen his true Self, which is innate, unborn, and incomprehensible,
does not, if anything desired happens to him, become tainted. Being free from
taint, he never performs any action. The man of self-restraint or the ascetic,
therefore, is never bound.
He attains to the supreme Self, who is eternal, pure fearless, formless, and
supportless, who is without body, without desire, beyond the pairs of opposites,
free from illusion, and of undiminished power.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom exists no Veda, no initiation,
no tonsure, no teacher, no disciple, no perfection of symbolic figures, no handposture
or anything else.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom is neither sambhavi, nor sakti,
nor anavi initiation; neither a sphere, nor an image, nor a foot, nor anything
else; neither beginning, nor ending, nor a jar, etc.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, from whose essence the universe of
movable and immovable objects is born, in whom it rests, and into whom it
dissolves, even as foam and bubbles are born of the transformation of water.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom is no closing of nostril nor
gazing nor posture, and in whom is neither knowledge nor ignorance nor any
nerve-current.
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He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, who is devoid of manifoldness, oneness,
many-and-oneness, and otherness; who is devoid of minuteness, length,
largeness, and nothingness; who is devoid of knowledge, knowableness, and
sameness.
He attains the supreme, eternal Self whether he has perfect self-control or not,
whether he has withdrawn his senses well or not, whether he has gone beyond
activity or is active.
He attains the supreme, eternal Self who is not mind, intelligence, body, senses,
or egoism; who is neither the subtle elements nor the five gross elements nor of
the nature of space.
When the injunctions cease and the yogi attains to the supreme Self, his mind
being void of differentiations, he has neither purity nor impurity; his
comtemplation is without distinguishing attributes; and even what is usually
prohibited is permissible to him.
Where mind and speech can utter nothing, how can there be instruction by a
teacher? To the teacher - ever united with Brahman - who has said these
words, the homogeneous Truth shines out.
CHAPTER 3
The distinctions of quality and absence of quality does not exist in the least.
How shall I worship Siva (the Absolute) who is devoid of quality and absence
of quality, who is devoid of attachment and detachment, who is of the form of
ether, omniform, beyond illusion, and all-pervading.
Siva (the Absolute) is ever without white and other colours. This effect and
cause are also the supreme Siva. I am thus the pure Siva, devoid of all doubt.
O beloved friend, how shall I bow to my own Self in my Self?
I am devoid of root and rootlessness and am ever manifest. I am devoid of
smoke and smokelessness and am ever manifest. I am devoid of light and
absence of light and am ever manifest. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
How shall I speak of desirelessness and desire? How shall I speak of
nonattachment and attachment? How shall I speak of Him as devoid of
substance and insubstantiality? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
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How shall I speak of the Whole, which is nondual? How shall I speak of the
Whole, which is of the nature of duality? How shall I speak of the Whole,
which is eternal and non-eternal? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
It is neither gross nor subtle. It has neither come nor gone. It is without
beginning, middle, and end. It is neither high nor low. I am truly declaring the
highest Truth and Reality - I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
Know all instruments of perception to be like ethereal space. Know all objects
of perception to be like ethereal space. Know this pure One as neither bound
nor free. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
My child, I am not difficult to comprehend, nor am I hidden in consciousness.
My child, I am not difficult to perceive, nor am I hidden in the perceptible. My
child, I am not hidden in the forms immediately near me. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am the fire that burns the karma of the one who is beyond all karma. I am the
fire that burns the sorrow of one beyond all sorrow. I am the fire that burns the
body of one who is devoid of body. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am the fire that burns the sin of one who is sinless. I am the fire that burns the
attributes of one who is without attributes. I am the fire that burns the bondage
of one who is without bondage. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
My child, I am not devoid of nonexistence and existence. My child, I am not
devoid of unity and absence of unity. My child, I am not devoid of mind and
absence of mind. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
It is not my ignorance that the One beyond illusion seems to be posited in
illusion. It is not my ignorance that the griefless One appears to be posited in
grief. It is not my ignorance that the greedless One appears to be posited in
greed. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
The creeperlike growth of worldly existence is never mine. The joy of
extended contentment is never mine. This bondage of ignorance is never mine.
I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
The activity involved in the extension of relative existence is not a modification
of myself. The gloom which is the expansion of grief is not a modification of
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myself. The tranquility which produces one's religious merit is not a
modification of mine. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
I have never any action which is the cause of regret and misery. Mine is never
a mind which is the product of the experience of misery. Since this egoism
never is mine, I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the
sky.
I am the death of the movement of the unmoving One. I am neither decision
nor indecision. I am the death of sleep and wakefulness. I am neither good nor
evil, neither the moving nor the unmoving. I am the death of the substance of
the insubstantial. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
This (Self) is neither knowable nor the instrument of knowing. It is neither
reason nor the one to be reasoned about. It is beyond the reach of words. It is
neither mind nor intelligence. How then can I speak this Truth to you? I am
the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
The supreme Reality is devoid of the undivided and the divided. The supreme
Truth is in no way within or without. It is beyond causation. It is not attached,
nor is It any substance. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
I am verily the Reality, free from such blemishes as attachment. I am verily the
Reality, free of such blemishes as destiny. I am verily the Reality, free of grief
caused by transmigratory existence. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
If there are no three planes (of existence), how can there be the fourth? If there
are no three times, how can there be quarters? The supreme Reality is the state
of the highest serenity. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
I have no such divisions as long or short. I have no such divisions as wide or
narrow. I have no such divisions as angular or circular. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I never had a mother, father, son, or the like. I was never born and never did I
die. I never had a mind. The supreme Reality is undistracted and calm. I am
the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am pure, very pure - beyond reason and of infinite form. I am nonattachment
and attachment - beyond reason and of infinite form. I am undivided and
divided - beyond reason and of infinite form. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
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homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
If the supreme Reality is only one and stainless, how can there be here the hosts
of gods beginning with Brahma, and how can there be here the worlds of
habitation, such as heaven? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
How shall I, the pure One, the "not this" and yet the "not this" speak? How
shall I, the pure One, the endless and the end, speak? How shall I, the pure
One, attributeless and attribute, speak? I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I ever perform the supreme action which is nonaction. I am the supreme Joy,
devoid of attachment and detachment. I am the everlasting Joy, devoid of body
and absence of body. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
The creation of the illusory universe is not my modification. The creation of
deceit and arrogance is not my modification. The creation of truth and
falsehood is not my modification. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
I am devoid of time, such as twilight - I have no disjunction. I am devoid of
interiorness and awakening. I am neither deaf nor mute. I am thus devoid of
illusion. I am not made pure by moods of mind. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am without a master and the absence of a master - I am unperturbed. I have
transcended mind and absence of mind - I am unpurturbed. Know me as
unperturbed and transcendent of all. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
How shall I say that this is a forest or a temple? How shall I say that this is
proved or doubtful? It is thus one uninterrupted, homogeneous, calm
Existence. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the
sky.
(The Self), devoid of life and lifelessness, shines forever. Devoid of seed and
seedlessness, of liberation and bondage, It shines forever. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
It shines forever, devoid of birth, mundane existence, and death. I am the
nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
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Thou hast no name and form even to the extent of allusion, nor any substance
differentiated or undifferentiated. Why dost thou grieve, O thou of shameless
mind? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Why weepest thou, friend? Thou hast no old age or death. Why weepest thou,
fried? Thou hast no misery of birth. Why weepest thou, friend? There is no
change for thee. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no natural form. Why dost thou weep,
friend? Thou hast no deformity. Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no
age. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no age. Why dost thou weep, friend?
Thou hast no senses. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no lust. Why dost thou weep, friend?
Thou hast no greed. Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no delusion. I am
the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Why dost thou desire affluence? Thou hast no wealth. Why dost thou desire
affluence? Thou hast no wife. Why dost thou desire affluence? Thou hast
none who is thine own. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
Birth in this universe of false appearances is neither thine nor mine. This
shameless mind appears as differentiated. This, devoid of difference and
nondifference, is neither mine nor thine. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Thou hast not the nature of nonattachment in the slightest, nor hast thou in the
slightest the nature of attachment. Thou hast not even the slightest of the
nature of desire. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
In thy mind there is neither the meditator, meditation, nor the object of
meditation. Thou hast no samadhi. There is no region outside thee, nor is there
any substance or time. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
I have told thee all that is essential. There is neither thou, nor anything for me
or for a great one; nor is there any teacher or disciple. The supreme Reality is
natural and exists in Its own way. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
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If I, the Supreme, of the nature of sky, alone exist, how can there be here the
supreme Truth which is blissful Reality, how can there be here the supreme
Truth which is not of the nature of bliss, and how can there be here the supreme
Truth of the nature of knowledge and intuition?
Know the One who is Consciousness and devoid of fire and air. Know the One
of nature of the Consciousness, who is devoid of earth and water. Know the
One of the nature of Consciousness, who is devoid of coming and going.
I am neither of the nature of the void nor of the nature of the nonvoid. I am
neither of pure nature nor of impure nature. I am neither form nor
formlessness. I am the supreme Reality of the form of Its own nature.
Renounce the world in every way. Renounce renunciation in every way.
Renounce the poison of renunciation and nonrenunciation. The Self is pure,
immortal, natural, and immutable.
CHAPTER 4
There is neither invitation nor casting off; how can there be flowers, leaves,
meditations, and recitation of sacred texts, and how can there be worship of
Siva, which is identity and difference?
The Absolute is not liberated from bondage and obstruction. The Absolute is
not purified, cleansed, and released. The Absolute is not liberated by union or
separation. I am, indeed, the free One, like the sky.
I have developed no false notion that all this reality comes into existence or that
all this unreality comes into existence. I am free from disease - my form has
been extinguished.
Stained, stainless, divided, undivided, differentiated - none of these appear to
me. I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
It has not happened that I, the ignorant one, have attained to Knowledge, nor
has it happened that I have become of the nature of Knowledge. And how can I
say that I have both ignorance and knowledge? I am free from disease - my
form has been extinguished.
It (the Self) does not appear to me as virtuous or sinful, as bound or liberated,
nor does It appear to me as united or separated. I am free from disease - my
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form has been extinguished.
I never have the high, low, or middle state. I have no friend or foe. How shall
I speak of good and evil? I am free from disease - my form has been
extinguished.
I am not the worshipper or the form of the worshipped. I have neither
instruction nor practice. How shall I speak of myself who am of the nature of
Consciousness? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
There is nothing here which pervades or is pervaded. There is no abode nor is
there the abodeless. How shall I speak of void and non-void? I am free from
disease - my form has been extinguished.
There is no one to understand and nothing, indeed, to be understood. I have no
cause and no effect. How shall I say that I am conceivable or inconceivable? I
am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
There is nothing dividing, nothing to be divided. I have nothing to know with
and nothing to be known. How shall I then speak of coming and going, my
child? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
I have no body or bodilessness, nor have I intelligence, mind, and senses. How
shall I speak of attachment and detachment? I am free from disease - my form
has been extinguished.
(The Self) is not separate or high and It has not disappeared even to the extent
of allusion. Friend, how can I speak of It as identical or different? I am free
from disease - my form has been extinguished.
Neither have I conquered the senses nor have I not conquered them. Selfrestraint
or discipline never occurred to me. Friend, how shall I speak of
victory and defeat? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
Never have I form or absence of form, never any beginning, middle, or end.
Friend, how shall I speak of strength and weakness? I am free from disease -
my form has been extinguished.
Never, my child, did I have death or deathlessness, poison or poisonlessness.
How shall I speak of the pure and impure? I am free from disease - my form
has been extinguished.
Never have I sleep or awakening. Never do I practise concentration or handposture.
For me there is neither day nor night. How shall I speak of the
transcendental and relative states? I am free from disease - my form has been
extinguished.
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Know me as free from the all and from the details composing the all. I have
neither illusion nor freedom from illusion. How shall I speak of such rituals as
morning and evening devotions? I am free from disease - form has been
extinguished.
Know me as endowed with all concentration. Know me as free from any
relative or ultimate aim. How shall I speak of union and separation? I am free
from disease - my form has been extinguished.
I am neither ignorant nor learned, I observe neither silence nor absence of
silence. How shall I speak of argument and counter- argument? I am free from
disease - my form has been extinguished.
Never do I have father, mother, family, caste, birth and death. How shall I
speak of affection and infatuation? I am free from disease - my form has been
extinguished.
Never do I disappear - I am ever manifest. Never do I have effulgence or
absence of effulgence. How shall I speak of such rituals as morning and
evening devotions? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
Know me beyond all doubt to be boundless. Know me beyond all doubt to be
undivided. Know me beyond all doubt to be stainless. I am free from disease -
my form has been extinguished.
The wise, my child, give up all meditations; they give up all good and evil
deeds and drink the nectar of renunciation. I am free from disease - my form
has been extinguished.
There is verily no versification where one knows nothing. The supreme and
free One, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous Being and pure of
thought, prattles about Truth.
CHAPTER 5
The word Om is like the sky, it is not the discernment of the essence of high
and low. How can there be enunciation of the point of the word (Om) which
annuls the manifestation of the Unmanifest?
The srutis - such as "That thou art" - prove to thee thou art indeed That, devoid
of adjuncts and the same in all. Why dost thou who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
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If thou art the identity in all, if thou art devoid of above and below, within and
without, and of even the sense of unity, then why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no discrimination of rules and precepts, there is no cause or effect.
That which is the identity in all is without words and the collocation of words.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no knowledge or ignorance and no practice of concentration. There is
no space or absence of space and no practice of concentration. There is no time
or absence of time and no practice of concentration. Why dost thou, who art
the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no pot-space or pot, no individual body or individual. There is no
distinction of cause and effect. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
There is only the state of freedom which is the All and undifferentiated, which
is devoid of the distinction of short and long, of round and angular. Why dost
thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the One without void and absence of void, without purity and impurity,
without the whole and the part. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
There is no distinction of the different and the non-different. There is no
distinction of within, without, or junction of the two. It is the same in all,
devoid of friend and foe. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in
thy heart?
It is not of the nature of disciple or non-disciple; nor is it the discernment of the
difference between the living and the nonliving. There is only the state of
freedom - the All, the Undifferentiated. Why dost thou, who art the identity in
all, grieve in thy heart?
It is without form and formlessness. It is without difference and nondifference.
It is without manifestation and evolution. Why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no bondage due to fetters of good and evil qualities. How shall I
perform the actions related to death and life? There is only the pure, stainless
Being - the same in all. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Here is the Being devoid of existence and nonexistence, of desire and
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desirelessness. Here verily is the highest Consciousness, identical with
freedom. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the Truth undifferentiated by truths, devoid of junction and disjunction.
Since it is the same in all and devoid of all, why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart.
Here is the Supreme, devoid of association and dissociation, unlike a house,
cottage, or sheath. Here is the Supreme devoid of knowledge and ignorance.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Change and changelessness, the definable and the indefinable are untrue. If the
truth is in the Self alone, why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Here verily is the conscious Being who is completely the All. Here is the
conscious Being who is all-comprehensive and undivided. Here is the
conscious Being, alone and immutable. Why dost thou, who art the identity in
all, grieve in thy heart?
It is ignorance to see difference in the Undifferentiated. Doubt in what is
beyond doubt is ignorance. If there is only the one undivided Consciousness,
then why dost thou who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no state of liberation, no state of bondage, no state of virtue, no state of
vice. There is no state of perfection and no state of destitution. Why dost thou,
who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
If the homogeneous Being is devoid of cause and effect, division and
subdivision, colour and lack of colour, then why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart?
The Self is here in the universal Consciousness which is the All and undivided.
It is here in the universal Consciousness which is absolute and immovable. It is
here in the universal Consciousness which is devoid of men and other beings.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
The Self transcends all, is indivisible and all-pervading. It is free from stain of
attachment, immovable and all-pervading. It is without day and night and allpervading.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no coming of bondage and freedom from bondage. There is no
coming of union and separation. There is coming of reasoning and disputation.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Pure, vast and homogeneous like the sky, the Self is the same in all and devoid
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of all. It is the homogeneous Being divested of essence, nonessence, and
change. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the Self, which is more than dispassionate to virtue and vice, to
substance and nonsubstance, to desire and desirelessness. Why dost thou, who
art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the Self, the same in all, which is without grief and grieflessness. Here
is the Supreme, without happiness and sorrow. The supreme Truth is devoid of
teacher and disciple. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Verily there is no offshoot, essence, or absence of essence. Neither is there the
movable nor the immovable, sameness nor variety. The Self is devoid of
reason and unreason. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Here is the Essence, the concentration of all essences, which is said to be
different from one's individual consciousness. To be the instrument of the
perception of objects is unreal. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
Since the Vedas have declared variously that this (universe) made of ether and
the like is like a mirage, and since the Self is one, indivisible, and the same in
all, why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Where one knows nothing, there is verily no versification. The supreme and
free One, pure of thought, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous
Being, prattles about the Truth.
CHAPTER 6
The srutis declare in various ways that all this, the ether and its like, and we
ourselves, are like a mirage. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be the comparable and the comparison?
The Supreme is without divisibility and indivisibility. The Supreme is without
activity and changeability. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be worship, how can there be austerity?
The Mind is verily supreme, undivided, all-pervasive, and devoid of largeness
and smallness. The Mind is indeed the indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute. How can we do anything with the mind and speech?
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The Self is the negation of the distinction between day and night. The Self is
the negation of the risen and not-risen. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be the sun, the moon, and fire?
The Self is that from which the distinctions of desire and desirelessness, of
action and inaction are gone. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be consciousness differentiated by exterior and
interior?-
If the Self is devoid of essence and lack of essence, if it is without void and
nonvoid, if there is only one indivisible, all- comprehensive Absolute, how can
there be a first, how can there be a last?
If the Self is a negation of difference and nondifference, if it is the negation of
knower and knowable, if there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be the third, how can there be the fourth?
The spoken and the unspoken are not the Truth, the known and the unknown
are not the Truth. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute,
how can there be objects, senses, mind, and intellect?
Ether and air are not the Truth; earth and fire are not the Truth. If there is only
one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be cloud, how can
there be water?
If the Self is the negation of imagined worlds, if It is the negation of imagined
gods, if there is only one indivisible, all- comprehensive Absolute, how can
there be discriminating consciousness of good and evil?
The Self is the negation of death and deathlessness. It is the negation of action
and inaction. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how
can one speak of coming and going?
No such distinctions exist as prakrti and purusa. There is no difference
between cause and effect. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can one speak of self and not-self?
There is no coming of the third kind of misery or of the second kind of misery,
due to the gunas. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute,
how can there be an old man, a young man, or an infant?
The Supreme is without caste and stage of life, without cause and agent. If
there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be
consciousness of the destroyed and the undestroyed?
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The destroyed and the undestroyed are both false. The born and the unborn are
both false. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how
can there be the perishable and the imperishable?
The Self is the annihilation of the masculine and nonmasculine. It is the
annihilation of the feminine and the nonfeminine. If there is only one
indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be consciousness of joy
and lack of joy?
If the Supreme is free of delusion and sorrow, doubt and grief, if there is only
one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be "I" and "mine"?
The Supreme is the destruction of virtue and vice. It is the destruction of
bondage and freedom from bondage. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be here any consciousness of sorrow
and absence of sorrow?
No distinction of sacrificer and sacrifice exists. No distinction of fire and
ingredients exists. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute,
say how there can be any fruits of work.
The Self is verily free from sorrow and absence of sorrow. The Self is free
from pride and absence of pride. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be consciousness of attachment and
nonattachment.
No such change as illusion and freedom from illusion exists. No such change
as greed and freedom from greed exists. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be consciousness of discrimination and
lack of discrimination?
There is never any "you" and "I". The discrimination of family and race is
false. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that case how can I
make any salutation?
The Self is that in which the distinction of teacher and disciple disappears and
in which the consideration of instruction also disappears. I am indeed the
Absolute and the supreme Truth. How can I, in that case, make any salutation?
There is no imagined division of bodies. There is no imagined divisions of
worlds. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that case how can
I make any salutation?
The Self, never endowed with passion or devoid of it, is verily spotless,
immovable and pure. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that
case how can I make any salutation?
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No distinction such as body and bodilessness exists, nor is it true that there is
false action. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that case how
can I make any salutation?
Where one knows nothing, there is verily no versification. The supreme and
free One, pure of thought, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous
Being, prattles about the Truth.
CHAPTER 7
The enlightened one, nude or clad in a patched garment made of rags gathered
from roads, follows the path which is devoid of virtue and vice and stays in an
empty abode, absorbed in the pure, stainless, homogeneous Being.
The enlightened one aims at that which is without any mark or marklessness.
He is skilful, being devoid of right and wrong. He is the absolute Truth,
stainless and pure. How can the liberated one engage in discussion and
disputation?
Free from entrapment in the snares of hope and devoid of purificatory
ceremonies, the enlightened one is ever absorbed in the Absolute. Thus, having
renounced all, he is the Truth, pure and stainless.
How can there be any discussion here of body and disembodiment, of
attachment and detachment? Here is the Truth Itself in Its spontaneous natural
form - pure, immovable like the sky!
Where the Truth is known, how can there be form or formlessness? Where
there is the Supreme, whose form is like the sky, how is perception of any
object possible?
The supreme Self is indivisible, of the form of the sky. It is the Truth, pure and
stainless. Thus, how can there be here difference and nondifference, bondage
and freedom from bondage, transformation and division?
Here is only the absolute Truth, indivisible and the All. How can there be here
union, disunion, or pride? If thus there is here only the Supreme, indivisible
and the All, how can there be here any substance or absence of substance?
Here is the absolute Truth, indivisible and pure, stainless and the All, of the
form of the sky. Thus, how can there be here association and dissociation?
How, truly, can there be here any play or cessation of play?
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The enlightened one is a yogi devoid of yoga and absence of yoga. He is an
enjoyer, devoid of enjoyment and absence of enjoyment. Thus he wanders
leisurely, filled with the spontaneous joy of his own mind.
If the yogi is always related to knowledge and perception, to duality and unity,
how can he be free here? How can a yogi be natural and free from attachment
here? He is the enjoyer of the pure, stainless, and homogeneous Being.
The Self is Destruction, devoid of the destroyed and undestroyed. The Self is
the Auspicious Moment, devoid of the auspicious and inauspicious time. Thus
how can there be here substance and absence of substance? The Truth which is
homogeneous is of the form of the sky.
Forever divested of all and united to the Self, the enlightened one is the All,
free and devoid of truth. Thus, how can there be here life and death, and how
can there be any accomplishment through meditation or lack of meditation?
All this is magic, like a mirage in the desert. Only the absolute Self, of
indivisible and impenetrable form, exists.
To all things, from the practice of religious laws and duties to liberation, we are
completely indifferent. How can we have anything to do with attachment or
detachment? Only the learned imagine these things.
Where one knows nothing, there is verily no versification. The supreme and
free One, pure of thought, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous
Being, prattles about the Truth.
CHAPTER 8
By my making pilgrimage to Thee Thy all-pervasiveness has been destroyed by
me. With my meditation Thy transcendence of the mind has been destroyed by
me. Thy transcendence of speech has been destroyed by me by my singing Thy
praise. Ever forgive me these three sins.
A sage is one whose intelligence is unsmitten by lusts, who is self-controlled,
gentle, and pure, who possesses nothing, who is indifferent, who eats
moderately, is quiet and steady, and has taken refuge in Me.
The sage is vigilant and resolute, has a profound mind, and has conquered the
six bondages; he is not proud, but gives honour to others; he is strong, friendly
to all, compassionate, and wise.
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Song of the Free
of
Dattatreya
- With Commentary by Kevin Solway -
CHAPTER 1
Through the grace of God alone, the desire for nonduality arises in wise men to
save them from great fear.
Fear of untruth, fear of being in error regarding one's very life, leads the
wise to desire Reality, which is nonduality. One is wise who has been
made so by all that has caused him to be. This is called "grace of God"
because one is unable to generate any of the causes of one's becoming
wise. Even the conscious effort to become wise ultimately stems from
the environment, the All.
How shall I salute the formless Being, indivisible, auspicious, and immutable,
who fills all this with His Self and also fills the self with His Self?
The universe composed of the five elements is like water in a mirage. Oh, to
whom shall I make obeisance - I who am one and taintless?
All is verily the absolute Self. Distinction and nondistinction do not exist.
How can I say, "It exists; it does not exist"? I am filled with wonder!
All worldly difficulties fall away in the light of this supreme knowledge.
The wonder is that we had difficulties.
The essence and the whole of Vedanta is this Knowledge, this supreme
Knowledge: that I am by nature the formless, all- pervasive Self.
There is no doubt that I am that God who is the Self of all, pure, indivisible,
like the sky, naturally stainless.
I indeed am immutable and infinite and the form of pure Intelligence. I do not
know how or in relation to whom joy and sorrow exist.
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I have no mental activity, good or bad; I have no bodily function, good or bad;
I have no verbal action, good or bad. I am the nectar of Knowledge, beyond
the senses, pure.
The mind indeed is of the form of space. The mind indeed is omnifaced. The
mind is the past. The mind is all. But in reality there is no mind.
I, the One only, am all this, beyond space and continuous. How can I see the
Self as visible or hidden?
Thus you are One. Why then do you not understand that you are the
unchangeable One, equally perceived in all? O mighty One, how can you, who
are ever-shining, unrestricted, think of day and night?
Know the Self always to be everywhere, one and unintercepted. I am the
meditator and the highest object of meditation. Why do you divide the
Indivisible?
You are not born nor do you die. At no time do you have a body. The
scripture declares in many different ways the well-known dictum: "All is
Brahman."
You are He who is exterior and interior. You are the auspicious One existing
everywhere at all times. Why are you running hither and thither deluded, like
an unclean spirit?
Union and separation exist in regard neither to you nor to me. There is no you,
no me, nor is there this universe. All is verily the Self alone.
You do not belong to that which is composed of the five objects of sense, such
as sound; nor does that belong to you. You indeed are the supreme Reality.
Why then do you suffer?
For you there is no birth or death, for you there is no mind, for you there is no
bondage or liberation, no good or evil. Why do you shed tears, my child?
Neither you nor I have name and form.
O mind, why do you wander about deluded, like an unclean spirit? Behold the
Self indivisible. Be happy through renunciation of attachment.
You verily are Truth, devoid of change, motionless, one, of the nature of
freedom. You have neither attachment nor aversion. Why do you suffer,
seeking the objects of desires?
All the scriptures say that the Truth is without attributes, pure, immutable,
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bodiless, and existing equally everywhere. Know me to be That. There is not
the least doubt about it.
Know that which has form to be false, that which is formless to be eternal.
Through the instruction of this truth there is no longer rebirth into this world.
Sages say that Reality is one only and the same. And through renunciation of
attachment, the mind, which is one and many, ceases to exist.
If it is the nature of the not-Self, how can there be samadhi (superconscious
realization)? If it is of the nature of the Self, how can there be samadhi? If it is
both "is" and "is not", how can there be samadhi? If all is one and of the nature
of freedom, how can there be samadhi?
If Truth is other than my mind then how can I know it? If Truth is in fact
my mind then how can I know it? How can there be consciousness of
Truth if all is Truth?
You are pure homogeneous Reality, disembodied, unborn, and immutable.
Why do you think of yourself as "I know it here" or "I do not know"?
By such sentences as "That thou art," your own Self is affirmed. Of that which
is untrue and composed of the five elements the Sruti says, "Not this, not this."
As the self is filled by the Self, so is all filled continuously by you. There is no
meditator or meditation. Why does your mind meditate shamelessly?
What on earth are you meditating upon you fool? And what on earth do
you think you are meditating with?
I do not know the Supreme; how shall I speak of Him? I do not know the
Supreme; how shall I worship Him? If I am the supreme One, who is the
highest Truth, who is homogeneous Being and like unto space, how then shall I
speak of Him and worship Him?
The principle of ego is not the Truth, which is homogeneous, which is free
from the cause of superimposition and distinctions of perceived and perceiver.
How can the ego be That which is aware of Itself?
There is no substance whatever which is by nature unlimited. There is no
substance whatever which is of the nature of Reality. The very Self is the
supreme Truth. There is neither injury nor noninjury in It.
You are the homogeneous Reality; you are pure, bodiless, birthless, and
imperishable. Why then do you have any delusion about the Self? Again, why
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am I myself deluded?
When the pot is broken; the space within it is absorbed in the infinite space and
becomes undifferentiated. When the mind becomes pure, I do not perceive any
difference between the mind and the supreme Being.
There is no pot; there is no pot's interior space. Neither is there an individual
soul nor the form of an individual soul. Know the absolute Brahman, devoid of
knowable and knower.
Know me to be that Self who is everything and everywhere at all times, who is
eternal, steady, the All, the nonexistent, and the Existent. Have no doubt.
There are no Vedas, no worlds, no gods, no sacrifices. There is certainly no
caste, no stage in life, no family, no birth. There is neither the path of smoke
nor the path of light. There is only the highest Truth, the homogeneous
Brahman.
If you are free of the pervaded and the pervader, if you are one and fulfilled,
how can you think of yourself as directly perceptible by the senses or beyond
the range of the senses?
Some seek nonduality, others duality. They do not know the Truth, which is
the same at all times and everywhere, which is devoid of both duality and
nonduality.
How can they describe the Truth, which is beyond mind and words, which is
devoid of white and other colours, of sound and other qualities?
It is devoid of colour and also the lack of colour.
When all these appear to you as false, when the body and so on appear to you
like space, then you know Brahman truly, then for you there is no dual series.
That is, there is no confusion.
Even my natural self appears to me as non-distinct from the supreme Self; it
appears to be one and like space. How can there be meditator and meditation?
Similarly, when the everyday self appears to be the same as the world,
how can there be death?
What I do, what I eat, what I sacrifice, what I give - all this is not mine in the
least. I am pure, unborn, undecaying.
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Know all this universe to be formless. Know all this universe to be without
change. Know all this universe to be of purified body. Know all this universe
to be of the nature of the Absolute.
You are verily the Truth. There is no doubt about it - otherwise, what do I
know? Why do you consider the Self, which is perceptible to Itself, as
imperceptible?
My child, how can there be illusion and nonillusion, shadow and lack of
shadow? All this is one Truth, all this is of the nature of space and without
taint.
I am free in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. I am never bound.
This is my sure knowledge - that I am naturally spotless and pure.
The whole universe, beginning with the principle of cosmic intelligence, is not
in the least manifest to me. All is indeed Brahman alone. How can there be
any existence in caste or stage of life for me?
I know that all, in every way, is the one indivisible "I" which is self-sustained
and full, while the five elements, beginning with ether, are empty.
The Self is neither eunuch, man, nor woman: it is neither idea nor imagination.
How can you think the Self to be full of joy or joyless?
The Self certainly does not become pure through the practice of six-limbed
yoga. It certainly is not purified by the destruction of the mind. It certainly is
not made pure by the instructions of the teacher. It is Itself the Truth, It is Itself
the illumined One.
There is no body made up of five elements; nor is there anyone who is
disembodied. All is verily the Self alone. How can there be the three states
and the fourth?
I am not bound, I am not, indeed, liberated, and I am not different from
Brahman. Neither doer nor enjoyer, I am devoid of the distinctions of the
pervaded and the pervader.
As water, when water has been poured into water, has no distinctions, so
purusa and prakrti appear nondifferent to me.
Nature and soul.
If indeed you are never bound or liberated, how then can you think yourself
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with form or formless?
I know your supreme Form to be directly perceivable, like the sky. I know
your lower form to be as water in a mirage.
I have neither teacher nor instruction, limiting adjunct nor activity. Know that I
am by nature pure, bodiless, like the sky.
You are pure, you are without a body, your mind is not higher than the highest.
You need not be ashamed to say, "I am the Self, the supreme Truth."
Why are you weeping, O mind? Do you, the Self, be the Self by means of the
Self. Drink, my child, the supreme nectar of Nonduality, transcending all
divisions.
There is neither knowledge nor ignorance nor knowledge combined with
ignorance. He who has always such knowledge is himself Knowledge. It is
never otherwise.
There is no need of knowledge, reasoning, time, space, instruction from a
teacher, or attainment of samadhi. I am naturally the perfect Consciousness,
the Real, like the sky, spontaneous and steady.
I was not born nor have I death. I have no action, good or evil. I am Brahman,
stainless, without qualities. How can there be bondage or liberation for me?
If God pervades all, if God is immovable, full, undivided, then I see no
division. How can He have exterior or interior?
The whole universe shines undivided and unbroken. Oh, the maya, the great
delusion - the imagination of duality and nonduality!
Always "not this, not this" to both the formless and the formed. Only the
Absolute exists, transcending difference and nondifference.
You have no mother, no father, no wife, no son, no relative, no friend. You
have no likes or dislikes. Why is this anguish in your mind?
O, mind, for you there is no day or night, rising or setting. How can the wise
imagine an embodied state for the bodiless?
The Self is neither divided nor undivided, nor has It sadness, happiness, and the
like, nor is It all or less than all. Know the Self to be immutable.
I am not the doer or enjoyer. Work have I none, now or formerly. I have no
body, nor am I bodiless. How can I have or not have a sense of "my-ness"?
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I have no fault such as passion and the like, nor have I any sorrow arising from
the body. Know me to be the one Self, vast and like the sky.
Friend mind, of what use is much vain talk? Friend mind, all this is mere
conjecture. I have told you that which is the essence: you indeed are the Truth,
like the sky.
In whatever place yogis die, in whatever state, there they dissolve, as the space
of a jar dissolves into the sky.
Giving up the body in a holy place or in the house of a candala, the yogi, even
if he has lost consciousness, becomes identified with the Absolute as soon as he
is free of the body.
Candala - one of the lowest castes.
The yogis consider duty in life, pursuit of wealth, enjoyment of love, liberation,
and everything movable or immovable such as man and so on to be a mirage.
This is my certain perception: I neither perform nor enjoy past action, future
action, or present action.
The avadhuta, alone, pure in evenness of feeling, abides happy in an empty
dwelling place. Having renounced all, he moves about naked. He perceives
the Absolute, the All, within himself.
Where there are neither the three states of consciousness nor the fourth, there
one attains the Absolute in the Self. How is it possible to be bound or free
where there is neither virtue nor vice?
There is no consciousness, and there can be no states of that which does
not exist.
The avadhuta never knows any mantra in Vedic metre nor any tantra. This is
the supreme utterance of the avadhuta, purified by meditation and merged in
the sameness of infinite Being.
There exists neither complete void nor voidlessness, neither truth nor untruth.
The avadhuta, having realized the truths of the scriptures, has uttered this
spontaneously from his own nature.
CHAPTER 2
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Of the teacher - even if he be young, illiterate, or addicted to the enjoyment of
sense objects, even if he be a servant or a householder - none of these should be
considered. Does anyone shun a gem fallen in an impure place?
In such a case one should not consider even the quality of scholarship. A
worthy person should recognize only the essence. Does not a boat, though
devoid of beauty and vermilion paint, nevertheless ferry passengers?
The unmoving One, who without effort possesses all that is movable and
immovable, is Consciousness, naturally calm, like the sky.
How can He, the One and All-pervading, who moves effortlessly all that is
movable and immovable, be differentiated! To me He is nondual.
I am verily supreme since I am the Absolute, more essential than all essences,
since I am free from birth and death, calm and undifferentiated.
Thus I, free from all components, am worshipped by the gods, but being full
and perfect, I do not recognize any distinctions such as gods and the like.
The most exceptional human beings, the "gods", perceive enough of the
avaduta to be in awe of him.
Ignorance does not create any doubt. What shall I do, being endowed with
modifications of the mind? They arise and dissolve like bubbles in water.
Thus am I ever pervading all existence beginning with cosmic intelligence -
pervading soft, hard, sweet, and pungent substances.
As pungency, coldness, or softness is nondifferent from water, so prakrti is
nondifferent from purusa - thus it appears to me.
The Lord of the universe is devoid of all names. He is subtler than the subtlest,
supreme. He is spotless, beyond the senses, mind and intellect.
Where there is such a natural Being, how can there be "I", how can there be
even "you", how can there be the world?
That which has been described as being like ether is indeed like ether. That is
Consciousness - blameless, omniscient, and perfect.
It does not move about on the earth or dwell in fire. It is not blown by the wind
or covered by water.
Space is pervaded by It, but It is not pervaded by anything. It is existing within
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and without. It is undivided and continuous.
One should successively take recourse to the objects of concentration, as
mentioned by the yogis, in accordance with their subtlety, invisibility, and
attributelessness.
When through constant practice one's concentration becomes objectless, then,
being divested of merits and demerits, one attains the state of complete
dissolution in the Absolute through the dissolution of the object of
concentration, but not before then.
For the destruction of the terrible, poisonous universe, which produces the
unconsciousness of delusion, there is but one infallible remedy - the nectar of
naturalness.
That which has form is visible to the eye, while the formless is perceived
mentally. That (the Self) being beyond existence and non-existence, is called
beyond.
The external existence is the universe, the inner existence is called prakrti. One
should try to know That which is more interior than the inner existence, That
which is like water within the kernel of the coconut.
Illusory knowledge relates to what is outside, correct knowledge to what is
inside. Try to know That which is more interior than the inside. That which is
like water within the kernel of the coconut.
There is only one very clear moon on the full moon night. One should perceive
That (the Self) like the moon; seeing duality is perversion.
It is indeed in this way that intelligence becomes divided and ceases to be allcomprehending.
A giver attains to wisdom and is sung with millions of names.
Whoever, whether he be ignorant or learned, attains to the full awareness of
Truth through the grace of a teacher's wisdom, becomes detached from the
ocean of worldliness.
Likewise if he attains to the full awareness of Truth without a teacher!
He who is free from attachment and hatred, devoted to the good of all beings,
fixed in knowledge and steady shall attain to the supreme state.
As the space within a pot dissolves in the universal space when the pot is
broken, so a yogi, in the absence of the body, dissolves into the supreme Self,
which is his true being.
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It has been said that the destiny of those devoted to action is the same as their
thought at the end, but it has not been said that the destiny of those established
in yoga is the same as their thought at the end.
"The end" is happening every single moment. In this moment our destiny
is determined.
One may express the destiny of those devoted to action with the organ of
speech, but the destiny of the yogis can never be expressed, because it is
transcendental.
Knowing this, one never says that the yogis have any particular path. For them
it is the giving up of all duality. The supreme attainment comes of itself.
The yogi, having died anywhere, in a holy place or in the house of an
untouchable, does not see the mother's womb again - he is dissolved in the
supreme Brahman.
He never experiences gain, so he never experiences loss.
He who has seen his true Self, which is innate, unborn, and incomprehensible,
does not, if anything desired happens to him, become tainted. Being free from
taint, he never performs any action. The man of self-restraint or the ascetic,
therefore, is never bound.
He attains to the supreme Self, who is eternal, pure fearless, formless, and
supportless, who is without body, without desire, beyond the pairs of opposites,
free from illusion, and of undiminished power.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom exists no Veda, no initiation,
no tonsure, no teacher, no disciple, no perfection of symbolic figures, no handposture
or anything else.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom is neither sambhavi, nor sakti,
nor anavi initiation; neither a sphere, nor an image, nor a foot, nor anything
else; neither beginning, nor ending, nor a jar, etc.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, from whose essence the universe of
movable and immovable objects is born, in whom it rests, and into whom it
dissolves, even as foam and bubbles are born of the transformation of water.
He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom is no closing of nostril nor
gazing nor posture, and in whom is neither knowledge nor ignorance nor any
nerve-current.
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He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, who is devoid of manifoldness, oneness,
many-and-oneness, and otherness; who is devoid of minuteness, length,
largeness, and nothingness; who is devoid of knowledge, knowableness, and
sameness.
He attains the supreme, eternal Self whether he has perfect self-control or not,
whether he has withdrawn his senses well or not, whether he has gone beyond
activity or is active.
He attains the supreme, eternal Self who is not mind, intelligence, body, senses,
or egoism; who is neither the subtle elements nor the five gross elements nor of
the nature of space.
When the injunctions cease and the yogi attains to the supreme Self, his mind
being void of differentiations, he has neither purity nor impurity; his
comtemplation is without distinguishing attributes; and even what is usually
prohibited is permissible to him.
Where mind and speech can utter nothing, how can there be instruction by a
teacher? To the teacher - ever united with Brahman - who has said these
words, the homogeneous Truth shines out.
CHAPTER 3
The distinctions of quality and absence of quality does not exist in the least.
How shall I worship Siva (the Absolute) who is devoid of quality and absence
of quality, who is devoid of attachment and detachment, who is of the form of
ether, omniform, beyond illusion, and all-pervading.
Siva (the Absolute) is ever without white and other colours. This effect and
cause are also the supreme Siva. I am thus the pure Siva, devoid of all doubt.
O beloved friend, how shall I bow to my own Self in my Self?
I am devoid of root and rootlessness and am ever manifest. I am devoid of
smoke and smokelessness and am ever manifest. I am devoid of light and
absence of light and am ever manifest. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
How shall I speak of desirelessness and desire? How shall I speak of
nonattachment and attachment? How shall I speak of Him as devoid of
substance and insubstantiality? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
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How shall I speak of the Whole, which is nondual? How shall I speak of the
Whole, which is of the nature of duality? How shall I speak of the Whole,
which is eternal and non-eternal? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
It is neither gross nor subtle. It has neither come nor gone. It is without
beginning, middle, and end. It is neither high nor low. I am truly declaring the
highest Truth and Reality - I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
Know all instruments of perception to be like ethereal space. Know all objects
of perception to be like ethereal space. Know this pure One as neither bound
nor free. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
My child, I am not difficult to comprehend, nor am I hidden in consciousness.
My child, I am not difficult to perceive, nor am I hidden in the perceptible. My
child, I am not hidden in the forms immediately near me. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am the fire that burns the karma of the one who is beyond all karma. I am the
fire that burns the sorrow of one beyond all sorrow. I am the fire that burns the
body of one who is devoid of body. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am the fire that burns the sin of one who is sinless. I am the fire that burns the
attributes of one who is without attributes. I am the fire that burns the bondage
of one who is without bondage. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
My child, I am not devoid of nonexistence and existence. My child, I am not
devoid of unity and absence of unity. My child, I am not devoid of mind and
absence of mind. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
It is not my ignorance that the One beyond illusion seems to be posited in
illusion. It is not my ignorance that the griefless One appears to be posited in
grief. It is not my ignorance that the greedless One appears to be posited in
greed. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
The creeperlike growth of worldly existence is never mine. The joy of
extended contentment is never mine. This bondage of ignorance is never mine.
I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
The activity involved in the extension of relative existence is not a modification
of myself. The gloom which is the expansion of grief is not a modification of
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myself. The tranquility which produces one's religious merit is not a
modification of mine. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
I have never any action which is the cause of regret and misery. Mine is never
a mind which is the product of the experience of misery. Since this egoism
never is mine, I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the
sky.
I am the death of the movement of the unmoving One. I am neither decision
nor indecision. I am the death of sleep and wakefulness. I am neither good nor
evil, neither the moving nor the unmoving. I am the death of the substance of
the insubstantial. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
This (Self) is neither knowable nor the instrument of knowing. It is neither
reason nor the one to be reasoned about. It is beyond the reach of words. It is
neither mind nor intelligence. How then can I speak this Truth to you? I am
the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
The supreme Reality is devoid of the undivided and the divided. The supreme
Truth is in no way within or without. It is beyond causation. It is not attached,
nor is It any substance. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
I am verily the Reality, free from such blemishes as attachment. I am verily the
Reality, free of such blemishes as destiny. I am verily the Reality, free of grief
caused by transmigratory existence. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
If there are no three planes (of existence), how can there be the fourth? If there
are no three times, how can there be quarters? The supreme Reality is the state
of the highest serenity. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
I have no such divisions as long or short. I have no such divisions as wide or
narrow. I have no such divisions as angular or circular. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I never had a mother, father, son, or the like. I was never born and never did I
die. I never had a mind. The supreme Reality is undistracted and calm. I am
the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am pure, very pure - beyond reason and of infinite form. I am nonattachment
and attachment - beyond reason and of infinite form. I am undivided and
divided - beyond reason and of infinite form. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
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homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
If the supreme Reality is only one and stainless, how can there be here the hosts
of gods beginning with Brahma, and how can there be here the worlds of
habitation, such as heaven? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
How shall I, the pure One, the "not this" and yet the "not this" speak? How
shall I, the pure One, the endless and the end, speak? How shall I, the pure
One, attributeless and attribute, speak? I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I ever perform the supreme action which is nonaction. I am the supreme Joy,
devoid of attachment and detachment. I am the everlasting Joy, devoid of body
and absence of body. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
The creation of the illusory universe is not my modification. The creation of
deceit and arrogance is not my modification. The creation of truth and
falsehood is not my modification. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
I am devoid of time, such as twilight - I have no disjunction. I am devoid of
interiorness and awakening. I am neither deaf nor mute. I am thus devoid of
illusion. I am not made pure by moods of mind. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
I am without a master and the absence of a master - I am unperturbed. I have
transcended mind and absence of mind - I am unpurturbed. Know me as
unperturbed and transcendent of all. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
How shall I say that this is a forest or a temple? How shall I say that this is
proved or doubtful? It is thus one uninterrupted, homogeneous, calm
Existence. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the
sky.
(The Self), devoid of life and lifelessness, shines forever. Devoid of seed and
seedlessness, of liberation and bondage, It shines forever. I am the nectar of
Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
It shines forever, devoid of birth, mundane existence, and death. I am the
nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
129
Thou hast no name and form even to the extent of allusion, nor any substance
differentiated or undifferentiated. Why dost thou grieve, O thou of shameless
mind? I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Why weepest thou, friend? Thou hast no old age or death. Why weepest thou,
fried? Thou hast no misery of birth. Why weepest thou, friend? There is no
change for thee. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no natural form. Why dost thou weep,
friend? Thou hast no deformity. Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no
age. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no age. Why dost thou weep, friend?
Thou hast no senses. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no lust. Why dost thou weep, friend?
Thou hast no greed. Why dost thou weep, friend? Thou hast no delusion. I am
the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Why dost thou desire affluence? Thou hast no wealth. Why dost thou desire
affluence? Thou hast no wife. Why dost thou desire affluence? Thou hast
none who is thine own. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
Birth in this universe of false appearances is neither thine nor mine. This
shameless mind appears as differentiated. This, devoid of difference and
nondifference, is neither mine nor thine. I am the nectar of Knowledge,
homogeneous Existence, like the sky.
Thou hast not the nature of nonattachment in the slightest, nor hast thou in the
slightest the nature of attachment. Thou hast not even the slightest of the
nature of desire. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence, like
the sky.
In thy mind there is neither the meditator, meditation, nor the object of
meditation. Thou hast no samadhi. There is no region outside thee, nor is there
any substance or time. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous Existence,
like the sky.
I have told thee all that is essential. There is neither thou, nor anything for me
or for a great one; nor is there any teacher or disciple. The supreme Reality is
natural and exists in Its own way. I am the nectar of Knowledge, homogeneous
Existence, like the sky.
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If I, the Supreme, of the nature of sky, alone exist, how can there be here the
supreme Truth which is blissful Reality, how can there be here the supreme
Truth which is not of the nature of bliss, and how can there be here the supreme
Truth of the nature of knowledge and intuition?
Know the One who is Consciousness and devoid of fire and air. Know the One
of nature of the Consciousness, who is devoid of earth and water. Know the
One of the nature of Consciousness, who is devoid of coming and going.
I am neither of the nature of the void nor of the nature of the nonvoid. I am
neither of pure nature nor of impure nature. I am neither form nor
formlessness. I am the supreme Reality of the form of Its own nature.
Renounce the world in every way. Renounce renunciation in every way.
Renounce the poison of renunciation and nonrenunciation. The Self is pure,
immortal, natural, and immutable.
CHAPTER 4
There is neither invitation nor casting off; how can there be flowers, leaves,
meditations, and recitation of sacred texts, and how can there be worship of
Siva, which is identity and difference?
The Absolute is not liberated from bondage and obstruction. The Absolute is
not purified, cleansed, and released. The Absolute is not liberated by union or
separation. I am, indeed, the free One, like the sky.
I have developed no false notion that all this reality comes into existence or that
all this unreality comes into existence. I am free from disease - my form has
been extinguished.
Stained, stainless, divided, undivided, differentiated - none of these appear to
me. I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
It has not happened that I, the ignorant one, have attained to Knowledge, nor
has it happened that I have become of the nature of Knowledge. And how can I
say that I have both ignorance and knowledge? I am free from disease - my
form has been extinguished.
It (the Self) does not appear to me as virtuous or sinful, as bound or liberated,
nor does It appear to me as united or separated. I am free from disease - my
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form has been extinguished.
I never have the high, low, or middle state. I have no friend or foe. How shall
I speak of good and evil? I am free from disease - my form has been
extinguished.
I am not the worshipper or the form of the worshipped. I have neither
instruction nor practice. How shall I speak of myself who am of the nature of
Consciousness? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
There is nothing here which pervades or is pervaded. There is no abode nor is
there the abodeless. How shall I speak of void and non-void? I am free from
disease - my form has been extinguished.
There is no one to understand and nothing, indeed, to be understood. I have no
cause and no effect. How shall I say that I am conceivable or inconceivable? I
am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
There is nothing dividing, nothing to be divided. I have nothing to know with
and nothing to be known. How shall I then speak of coming and going, my
child? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
I have no body or bodilessness, nor have I intelligence, mind, and senses. How
shall I speak of attachment and detachment? I am free from disease - my form
has been extinguished.
(The Self) is not separate or high and It has not disappeared even to the extent
of allusion. Friend, how can I speak of It as identical or different? I am free
from disease - my form has been extinguished.
Neither have I conquered the senses nor have I not conquered them. Selfrestraint
or discipline never occurred to me. Friend, how shall I speak of
victory and defeat? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
Never have I form or absence of form, never any beginning, middle, or end.
Friend, how shall I speak of strength and weakness? I am free from disease -
my form has been extinguished.
Never, my child, did I have death or deathlessness, poison or poisonlessness.
How shall I speak of the pure and impure? I am free from disease - my form
has been extinguished.
Never have I sleep or awakening. Never do I practise concentration or handposture.
For me there is neither day nor night. How shall I speak of the
transcendental and relative states? I am free from disease - my form has been
extinguished.
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Know me as free from the all and from the details composing the all. I have
neither illusion nor freedom from illusion. How shall I speak of such rituals as
morning and evening devotions? I am free from disease - form has been
extinguished.
Know me as endowed with all concentration. Know me as free from any
relative or ultimate aim. How shall I speak of union and separation? I am free
from disease - my form has been extinguished.
I am neither ignorant nor learned, I observe neither silence nor absence of
silence. How shall I speak of argument and counter- argument? I am free from
disease - my form has been extinguished.
Never do I have father, mother, family, caste, birth and death. How shall I
speak of affection and infatuation? I am free from disease - my form has been
extinguished.
Never do I disappear - I am ever manifest. Never do I have effulgence or
absence of effulgence. How shall I speak of such rituals as morning and
evening devotions? I am free from disease - my form has been extinguished.
Know me beyond all doubt to be boundless. Know me beyond all doubt to be
undivided. Know me beyond all doubt to be stainless. I am free from disease -
my form has been extinguished.
The wise, my child, give up all meditations; they give up all good and evil
deeds and drink the nectar of renunciation. I am free from disease - my form
has been extinguished.
There is verily no versification where one knows nothing. The supreme and
free One, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous Being and pure of
thought, prattles about Truth.
CHAPTER 5
The word Om is like the sky, it is not the discernment of the essence of high
and low. How can there be enunciation of the point of the word (Om) which
annuls the manifestation of the Unmanifest?
The srutis - such as "That thou art" - prove to thee thou art indeed That, devoid
of adjuncts and the same in all. Why dost thou who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
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If thou art the identity in all, if thou art devoid of above and below, within and
without, and of even the sense of unity, then why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no discrimination of rules and precepts, there is no cause or effect.
That which is the identity in all is without words and the collocation of words.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no knowledge or ignorance and no practice of concentration. There is
no space or absence of space and no practice of concentration. There is no time
or absence of time and no practice of concentration. Why dost thou, who art
the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no pot-space or pot, no individual body or individual. There is no
distinction of cause and effect. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
There is only the state of freedom which is the All and undifferentiated, which
is devoid of the distinction of short and long, of round and angular. Why dost
thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the One without void and absence of void, without purity and impurity,
without the whole and the part. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
There is no distinction of the different and the non-different. There is no
distinction of within, without, or junction of the two. It is the same in all,
devoid of friend and foe. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in
thy heart?
It is not of the nature of disciple or non-disciple; nor is it the discernment of the
difference between the living and the nonliving. There is only the state of
freedom - the All, the Undifferentiated. Why dost thou, who art the identity in
all, grieve in thy heart?
It is without form and formlessness. It is without difference and nondifference.
It is without manifestation and evolution. Why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no bondage due to fetters of good and evil qualities. How shall I
perform the actions related to death and life? There is only the pure, stainless
Being - the same in all. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Here is the Being devoid of existence and nonexistence, of desire and
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desirelessness. Here verily is the highest Consciousness, identical with
freedom. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the Truth undifferentiated by truths, devoid of junction and disjunction.
Since it is the same in all and devoid of all, why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart.
Here is the Supreme, devoid of association and dissociation, unlike a house,
cottage, or sheath. Here is the Supreme devoid of knowledge and ignorance.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Change and changelessness, the definable and the indefinable are untrue. If the
truth is in the Self alone, why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Here verily is the conscious Being who is completely the All. Here is the
conscious Being who is all-comprehensive and undivided. Here is the
conscious Being, alone and immutable. Why dost thou, who art the identity in
all, grieve in thy heart?
It is ignorance to see difference in the Undifferentiated. Doubt in what is
beyond doubt is ignorance. If there is only the one undivided Consciousness,
then why dost thou who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no state of liberation, no state of bondage, no state of virtue, no state of
vice. There is no state of perfection and no state of destitution. Why dost thou,
who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
If the homogeneous Being is devoid of cause and effect, division and
subdivision, colour and lack of colour, then why dost thou, who art the identity
in all, grieve in thy heart?
The Self is here in the universal Consciousness which is the All and undivided.
It is here in the universal Consciousness which is absolute and immovable. It is
here in the universal Consciousness which is devoid of men and other beings.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
The Self transcends all, is indivisible and all-pervading. It is free from stain of
attachment, immovable and all-pervading. It is without day and night and allpervading.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
There is no coming of bondage and freedom from bondage. There is no
coming of union and separation. There is coming of reasoning and disputation.
Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Pure, vast and homogeneous like the sky, the Self is the same in all and devoid
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of all. It is the homogeneous Being divested of essence, nonessence, and
change. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the Self, which is more than dispassionate to virtue and vice, to
substance and nonsubstance, to desire and desirelessness. Why dost thou, who
art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Here is the Self, the same in all, which is without grief and grieflessness. Here
is the Supreme, without happiness and sorrow. The supreme Truth is devoid of
teacher and disciple. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Verily there is no offshoot, essence, or absence of essence. Neither is there the
movable nor the immovable, sameness nor variety. The Self is devoid of
reason and unreason. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy
heart?
Here is the Essence, the concentration of all essences, which is said to be
different from one's individual consciousness. To be the instrument of the
perception of objects is unreal. Why dost thou, who art the identity in all,
grieve in thy heart?
Since the Vedas have declared variously that this (universe) made of ether and
the like is like a mirage, and since the Self is one, indivisible, and the same in
all, why dost thou, who art the identity in all, grieve in thy heart?
Where one knows nothing, there is verily no versification. The supreme and
free One, pure of thought, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous
Being, prattles about the Truth.
CHAPTER 6
The srutis declare in various ways that all this, the ether and its like, and we
ourselves, are like a mirage. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be the comparable and the comparison?
The Supreme is without divisibility and indivisibility. The Supreme is without
activity and changeability. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be worship, how can there be austerity?
The Mind is verily supreme, undivided, all-pervasive, and devoid of largeness
and smallness. The Mind is indeed the indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute. How can we do anything with the mind and speech?
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The Self is the negation of the distinction between day and night. The Self is
the negation of the risen and not-risen. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be the sun, the moon, and fire?
The Self is that from which the distinctions of desire and desirelessness, of
action and inaction are gone. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be consciousness differentiated by exterior and
interior?-
If the Self is devoid of essence and lack of essence, if it is without void and
nonvoid, if there is only one indivisible, all- comprehensive Absolute, how can
there be a first, how can there be a last?
If the Self is a negation of difference and nondifference, if it is the negation of
knower and knowable, if there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can there be the third, how can there be the fourth?
The spoken and the unspoken are not the Truth, the known and the unknown
are not the Truth. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute,
how can there be objects, senses, mind, and intellect?
Ether and air are not the Truth; earth and fire are not the Truth. If there is only
one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be cloud, how can
there be water?
If the Self is the negation of imagined worlds, if It is the negation of imagined
gods, if there is only one indivisible, all- comprehensive Absolute, how can
there be discriminating consciousness of good and evil?
The Self is the negation of death and deathlessness. It is the negation of action
and inaction. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how
can one speak of coming and going?
No such distinctions exist as prakrti and purusa. There is no difference
between cause and effect. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive
Absolute, how can one speak of self and not-self?
There is no coming of the third kind of misery or of the second kind of misery,
due to the gunas. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute,
how can there be an old man, a young man, or an infant?
The Supreme is without caste and stage of life, without cause and agent. If
there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be
consciousness of the destroyed and the undestroyed?
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The destroyed and the undestroyed are both false. The born and the unborn are
both false. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how
can there be the perishable and the imperishable?
The Self is the annihilation of the masculine and nonmasculine. It is the
annihilation of the feminine and the nonfeminine. If there is only one
indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be consciousness of joy
and lack of joy?
If the Supreme is free of delusion and sorrow, doubt and grief, if there is only
one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute, how can there be "I" and "mine"?
The Supreme is the destruction of virtue and vice. It is the destruction of
bondage and freedom from bondage. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be here any consciousness of sorrow
and absence of sorrow?
No distinction of sacrificer and sacrifice exists. No distinction of fire and
ingredients exists. If there is only one indivisible, all-comprehensive Absolute,
say how there can be any fruits of work.
The Self is verily free from sorrow and absence of sorrow. The Self is free
from pride and absence of pride. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be consciousness of attachment and
nonattachment.
No such change as illusion and freedom from illusion exists. No such change
as greed and freedom from greed exists. If there is only one indivisible, allcomprehensive
Absolute, how can there be consciousness of discrimination and
lack of discrimination?
There is never any "you" and "I". The discrimination of family and race is
false. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that case how can I
make any salutation?
The Self is that in which the distinction of teacher and disciple disappears and
in which the consideration of instruction also disappears. I am indeed the
Absolute and the supreme Truth. How can I, in that case, make any salutation?
There is no imagined division of bodies. There is no imagined divisions of
worlds. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that case how can
I make any salutation?
The Self, never endowed with passion or devoid of it, is verily spotless,
immovable and pure. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that
case how can I make any salutation?
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No distinction such as body and bodilessness exists, nor is it true that there is
false action. I am indeed the Absolute and the supreme Truth. In that case how
can I make any salutation?
Where one knows nothing, there is verily no versification. The supreme and
free One, pure of thought, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous
Being, prattles about the Truth.
CHAPTER 7
The enlightened one, nude or clad in a patched garment made of rags gathered
from roads, follows the path which is devoid of virtue and vice and stays in an
empty abode, absorbed in the pure, stainless, homogeneous Being.
The enlightened one aims at that which is without any mark or marklessness.
He is skilful, being devoid of right and wrong. He is the absolute Truth,
stainless and pure. How can the liberated one engage in discussion and
disputation?
Free from entrapment in the snares of hope and devoid of purificatory
ceremonies, the enlightened one is ever absorbed in the Absolute. Thus, having
renounced all, he is the Truth, pure and stainless.
How can there be any discussion here of body and disembodiment, of
attachment and detachment? Here is the Truth Itself in Its spontaneous natural
form - pure, immovable like the sky!
Where the Truth is known, how can there be form or formlessness? Where
there is the Supreme, whose form is like the sky, how is perception of any
object possible?
The supreme Self is indivisible, of the form of the sky. It is the Truth, pure and
stainless. Thus, how can there be here difference and nondifference, bondage
and freedom from bondage, transformation and division?
Here is only the absolute Truth, indivisible and the All. How can there be here
union, disunion, or pride? If thus there is here only the Supreme, indivisible
and the All, how can there be here any substance or absence of substance?
Here is the absolute Truth, indivisible and pure, stainless and the All, of the
form of the sky. Thus, how can there be here association and dissociation?
How, truly, can there be here any play or cessation of play?
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The enlightened one is a yogi devoid of yoga and absence of yoga. He is an
enjoyer, devoid of enjoyment and absence of enjoyment. Thus he wanders
leisurely, filled with the spontaneous joy of his own mind.
If the yogi is always related to knowledge and perception, to duality and unity,
how can he be free here? How can a yogi be natural and free from attachment
here? He is the enjoyer of the pure, stainless, and homogeneous Being.
The Self is Destruction, devoid of the destroyed and undestroyed. The Self is
the Auspicious Moment, devoid of the auspicious and inauspicious time. Thus
how can there be here substance and absence of substance? The Truth which is
homogeneous is of the form of the sky.
Forever divested of all and united to the Self, the enlightened one is the All,
free and devoid of truth. Thus, how can there be here life and death, and how
can there be any accomplishment through meditation or lack of meditation?
All this is magic, like a mirage in the desert. Only the absolute Self, of
indivisible and impenetrable form, exists.
To all things, from the practice of religious laws and duties to liberation, we are
completely indifferent. How can we have anything to do with attachment or
detachment? Only the learned imagine these things.
Where one knows nothing, there is verily no versification. The supreme and
free One, pure of thought, absorbed in the consciousness of the homogeneous
Being, prattles about the Truth.
CHAPTER 8
By my making pilgrimage to Thee Thy all-pervasiveness has been destroyed by
me. With my meditation Thy transcendence of the mind has been destroyed by
me. Thy transcendence of speech has been destroyed by me by my singing Thy
praise. Ever forgive me these three sins.
A sage is one whose intelligence is unsmitten by lusts, who is self-controlled,
gentle, and pure, who possesses nothing, who is indifferent, who eats
moderately, is quiet and steady, and has taken refuge in Me.
The sage is vigilant and resolute, has a profound mind, and has conquered the
six bondages; he is not proud, but gives honour to others; he is strong, friendly
to all, compassionate, and wise.
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