A Thousand Teachings of Sri Sankaracharya Chapter Four The Nature of Right Knowledge How can those actions of which the root is egoism,
And which are accumulated in the mind,
Produce results when they are burnt by the fire of non-egoism,
The right knowledge that one is neither the doer of actions,
Nor the experiencer of their results?
Actions produce their results by overpowering the knowledge of Brahman in you,
Because they have the power of producing the body,
Etc.
Knowledge,
However,
Becomes manifest when the results of these actions come to an end.
As knowledge and the experiencing of pain and pleasure are both results of actions that have given rise to the present body,
And have begun to produce results,
It is reasonable that they are not incompatible with each other.
But other kinds of actions are different in nature.
The knowledge of one's identity with the pure self that negates the wrong notion of the identity of the body and the self sets one free,
Even against the will,
When it becomes as firm as the belief of one that is a human being.
All this,
Therefore,
Is established.
People do not receive self-knowledge on account of the fear that their duties,
According to their castes and orders of life,
Would be destroyed,
Like Udanka,
Who did not accept genuine nectar,
Which he thought was urine.
That people do not like to receive self-knowledge is due to their ignorance of the real nature of the self,
And a wrong and false conception about it.
The self seems to be moving when the intellect moves,
And it seems to be at rest when it is at rest on account of its identification with the intellect,
Like trees appearing to move in the eyes of those who are in a moving boat.
Similar is the misconception about transmigratory existence.
Just as trees are thought to be moving in a direction opposite to that of a moving boat by a person in it,
So transmigratory existence is wrongly thought to belong to the self,
By one who has identified themself with the intellect.
For there is the passage in the shruti,
As if at rest.
The modifications of the intellect are pervaded by the reflection of consciousness when they come to exist.
So the self appears to be identified with the sound,
Etc.
This is the reason why people are deluded.
As it is the object of pure consciousness,
And exists for it,
The ego is not the self.
Pure consciousness is the universal self,
When the object portion is rejected.
The self itself is not qualified by an arm which has been cut off and thrown away.
Similarly,
It is not qualified by any of the remaining things by which it is thought to be qualified.
Therefore all the qualifications are similar to the arm cut off and thrown away,
As they are all non-self.
So the self is free from all qualifications.
It is reasonable that,
Like ornaments,
All these are qualifications of the self,
Owing to superimposition through ignorance.
When the self is known,
They prove to be unreal.
After rejecting the object portion,
One should accept the self as the knower,
Free from all qualifications.
The ego,
The object portion,
Is also like the part of the body cut off.
The self,
Of which the whole of the object portion is the qualification,
Is different from it.
Bereft of all qualifications,
It has an independent existence,
Like that of one possessing a variegated cow.
As it is not the self,
The object portion in the consciousness,
The self-I,
Should be renounced by the wise.
As it was mixed with egoism previously,
The remaining non-object portion is implied by the word I,
In the sentence,
I am Brahman.
I am the supreme Brahman,
All-knowing and all-pervading.
As pervaded by the intellect,
All things,
In all conditions,
Are always illumined by me.
Just as I am the witness of all the objects of my intellect,
So I am that of the objects of other intellects.
I am not capable of being rejected or accepted.
Therefore,
I am the supreme Brahman.
As it is the witness of all intellects and their modifications,
The self is not of limited knowledge like the intellects,
And has no change,
Impurity,
Or material nature in it.
Just as in the presence of sunlight,
Colors such as red are manifested in a jewel,
So all objects are seen in the intellect,
In my presence.
All things are,
Therefore,
Illumined by me like sunlight.
Objects of knowledge exist in the intellect as long as it is there in waking and dream.
But they do not exist in the opposite case,
When the intellect is merged during deep sleep.
The knower is always the knower.
Duality,
Therefore,
Has no existence.
The intellect knew the non-existence of the supreme Brahman before the discrimination between the self and the non-self.
But after the discrimination,
There is no individual self different from Brahman,
Nor is there the intellect itself.
The connection of enjoyment,
Etc.
,
With me,
O my mind,
Who am by nature consciousness itself,
Is due to the delusion created by you.
As I am free from all attributes,
There is no utility accruing to me from your efforts.
Give up false attempts and come to rest in me,
From constant vain efforts,
As I am always the supreme Brahman,
As if free from bondage,
Unborn,
And devoid of duality.
The supreme Brahman,
The same in all beings,
And free from all attributes,
I am all-pervading like the ether,
Imperishable,
Auspicious,
Homogenous,
Partless and actionless.
I therefore have no benefit to be derived from your efforts.
No one different from me can belong to me,
Who am one only,
Nor can I who am unattached belong to anybody.
I have therefore no benefit to be derived from anything done by you.
As you are not other than myself,
You can have no effort,
Nor its results.
Considering that people are attached to the ideas of cause and effect,
I've composed this dialogue between the mind and the self,
Leading to the understanding of the real nature of the self,
In order that they might get freed from this bondage.
One gets liberated from ignorance,
The cause of great fear,
And roams over the world free from desires,
Free from grief,
A knower of the self,
The same in all beings,
And happy if one ponders over this dialogue.
