The Crest-Jewel of Wisdom

by Shankaracharya

  Inward is the Self, outward also is the Self; the Self is to the east, the Self is also to the west. The Self is to the south, the Self is also to the north. The Self is above, the Self is beneath.

  Just as wave and foam, eddy and bubble are in their own nature water; so, from the body to the personality, all is consciousness, the pure essence of consciousness. [390]

  Being verily is all this world, that is known of voice and mind, there is nothing else than Being, standing on nature's other shore. Are cup and water-pot and jar anything but earth? He who is deluded by the wine of glamor speaks of "thou" and "I."

  "When by repeated effort naught remains but this," the scripture says, declaring absence of duality, to put an end to false transference of reality.

  Like the ether, free from darkness, free from wavering, free from limits, free from motion, free from change; having neither a within nor a without, having no other than it, having no second, is the Self, the supreme Eternal; what else is there to be known?

  What more is there to be said? The Eternal, the Life, the Self is seen here under many forms; all in this world is the Eternal, the secondless Eternal; the scripture says "I am the Eternal"; knowing this clearly, those whose minds are awakened, who have abandoned the outward, becoming the Eternal, dwell in the Self, which is extending consciousness and bliss. This, verily, is sure.

  Kill out desire that springs up through thought of self in the body formed of darkness, then violent passion in the formal body woven of the breath. Knowing the Self whose fame is sung in the hymns, who is eternal and formed of bliss, stand in the being of the Eternal.

  As long as the son of man enjoys this body of death, he is impure; from the enemies arises the weariness that dwells in birth and death and sickness. When he knows the pure Self of benign form, immovable, then he is free from these;--thus says the scripture too.

  When all delusive qualities attributed to the Self are put away, the Self is the supreme eternal, perfect, secondless, changeless.

  When the activity of the imagination comes to rest in the higher Self, the Eternal that wavers not, then no more wavering is seen, and vain words only remain.

  The belief in this world is, built up of unreality. In the one substance, changeless, formless, undifferentiated, what separateness can exist?

  In the one substance, in which no difference of seer, seeing, seen, exists, which is changeless, formless, undifferentiated, what separateness can exist? [400]

  In the one substance, like the world-ocean full to overflowing, changeless, formless, undifferentiated, whence can separateness come?

  Where the cause of delusion melts away, like darkness in light, in the secondless, supreme reality, undifferentiated, what separateness can there be?

  In the supreme reality, the very Self of oneness, how could any word of difference dwell? By whom is difference perceived in purely blissful dreamlessness?

  For this world no longer is, whether past, present, or to come, after awakening to the supreme reality, in the real Self, the Eternal, from all wavering free. The snake seen in the rope exists not, nor even a drop of water in the desert mirage, where the deer thirsts.

  This duality is mere glamor, for the supreme reality is not twofold; thus the scripture says, and it is directly experienced in dreamlessness.

  By the learned it has been perceived that the thing attributed has no existence apart from the substance, as in the case of the serpent and the rope. The distinction comes to life through delusion.

  This distinction has its root in imagining; when imagining ceases it is no more. Therefore bring imagining to rest in the higher Self whose form is concealed.

  In soul-vision the wise man perceives in his heart a certain wide-extending awakening, whose form is pure bliss, incomparable, the other shore, for ever free, where is no desire, limitless as the ether, partless, from wavering free, the perfect Eternal. t

  In soul-vision the wise man perceives in his heart the reality free from growth and change, whose being is beyond perception, the essence of equalness, unequalled, immeasurable, perfectly taught by the words of inspiration, eternal, praised by us.

  In soul-vision the wise man perceives in his heart the unfading, undying reality, which by its own being can know no setting, like the shimmering water of the ocean, bearing no name, where quality and change have sunk to rest, eternal, peaceful, one. [410]

  Through intending the inner mind to it, gain vision of the Self, in its own form, the partless sovereignty. Sever thy bonds that are stained with the stain of life, and effortfully make thy manhood fruitful.

  Standing in the Self, realize the Self in being, the Self from every disguise set free, Being, Consciousness, Bliss, the secondless; thus shalt thou build no more for going forth.

  The mighty soul no more regards this body, cast aside like a corpse, seen to be but the shadow of the man, come into being as his reflection, through his entering into the result of his works.

  Drawing near to the eternal, stainless awakening, whose nature is bliss, put very far away this disguise whose nature is inert and foul; nor let it be remembered again at all, for the remembrance of what has been cast forth builds for disdain.

  Burning this up with its root in the flame of the real Self, the unwavering Eternal, the wise man stands excellent as the Self, through the Self which is eternal, pure, awakening bliss.

  The body is strung on the thread of works already done, and is impure as the blood of slaughtered kine; whether it goes forward or stands, the knower of reality regards it not again, for his life is dissolved in the Eternal, the Self of bliss.

  Knowing the partless bliss, the Self as his own self, with what desire or from what cause could the knower of reality cherish the body?

  Of the perfect adept this is the fruit, of the seeker for union, free even in life--to taste without and within the essence of being and bliss in the Self.

  The fruit of cleanness is awakening, the fruit of awakening is quiescence; from realizing the bliss of the Self comes peace, this fruit, verily, quiescence bears.

  When the latter of these is absent, the former is fruitless. The supreme end is the incomparable enjoyment of the Self's bliss. [420]

  The famed fruit of wisdom is not to tremble before manifest misfortune. The various works that were done in the season of delusion, worthy of all blame -how could a man deign to do them after discernment has been gained?

  Let the fruit of wisdom be cessation from unreality, a continuation therein is the fruit of unwisdom;--this is clearly seen. If there be not this difference between him who knows and him who knows not, as in the presence of the mirage to the thirsty deer, where is the manifest fruit of wisdom?

  If the heart's knot of unwisdom be destroyed without remainder, how could sensual things cause continuance in unreality, in him who has no desire?

  When mind-images arise not in the presence of sensual things, this is the limit of purity; when the personal idea does not arise, this is the limit of illumination. When life-activity that has been dissolved does not arise again, this is the limit of quiescence.

  He whose thought is free from outward objects, through standing ever in the nature of the Eternal, who is as lightly concerned with the enjoyment of sensual things followed by others as a sleeping child, looking on this world as a land beheld in dream, when consciousness comes back, enjoying the fruit of endless holy deeds, he is rich and worthy of honor in the world.

  This sage, standing firm in wisdom, reaches Being and Bliss, he is changeless, free from all acts, for his Self is dissolved in the Eternal.

  Being that is plunged in the oneness of the Eternal and the Self made pure, that wavers not and is pure consciousness alone, is called wisdom.

  They say he stands firm in wisdom, in whom this wisdom steadfastly dwells. He in whom wisdom is firmly established, who enjoys unbroken bliss, by whom the manifested world is almost unheeded, is called free even in life.

  He who with thought dissolved is yet awake, though free from the bon
dage of waking life, whose illumination is free from impure mind-images, he, verily, is called free even in life.

  He who perceives that his soul's pilgrimage is ended, who is free from disunion even while possessing division, whose imagination is free from imaginings, he, verily, is called free even in life.

  He who even while this body exists, regards it as a shadow, who has no sense of personality or possessions--these are the marks of him who is free in life. [430]

  Whose mind lingers not over the past, nor goes out after the future, when perfect equanimity is gained, this is the mark of him who is free even in life.

  In this world, whose very nature is full of differences, where quality and defect are distinguished, to regard all things everywhere as the same, this is the mark of him who is free even in life.

  Accepting wished and unwished objects with equanimity in the Self, and changing not in either event, is the mark of him who is free even in life.

  When the sage's imagination is fixed on tasting the essence of the bliss of the Eternal, so that he distinguishes not between what is within and without, this is the mark of him who is free even in life.

  Who is free from thought of "I" and "my," in body and senses and their works, who stands in equanimity, bears the mark of one who is free even in life.

  He who has discerned the Eternal in the Self, through the power of sacred books, who is free from the bondage of the world, bears the mark of one who is free even in life.

  He who never identifies himself with the body and senses, nor separates himself in thought from what is other than these, bears the mark of one who is free even in life. [438]

  07. The Three Kinds Of Works

  (Verses 439--468)

  HE who through wisdom discerns that there is no division between the Eternal and the manifested world, bears the mark of one who is free even in life.

  Whose mind is even, when honored by the good, or persecuted by the wicked, bears the mark of one who is free even in life.

  In whom all sensuous objects, put forth by the supreme, melt together like the rivers and streams that enter the ocean's treasure house, making no change at all, since he and they are but the one Being, this sage self-conquered is set free.

  For him who has understood the nature of the Eternal, there is no return to birth and death as of old; if such return there be, then the nature of the Eternal was not known.

  If they say he returns to birth and death through the rush of old imaginings, this is not true; for, from the knowledge of oneness, imaginings lose all their power.

  As the most lustful man ceases from desire before his mother; so, when the Eternal is known, the wise cease from desire, through fullness of bliss.

  The scripture says that, even for him who profoundly meditates, there is a going after outward things of sense, on account of Works already entered on.

  As long as there is the taste of pain and pleasure, so long are there Works already entered on; the fruits come from the acts that went before; without these acts where would the fruits be?

  From the knowledge that I am the Eternal, the accumulated Works, heaped up even through hundreds of myriads of ages, melt away like the work of dream, on awaking.

  Whatever one does while dreaming, however good or bad it seems, what effect has it on him, on awaking to send him either to hell or heaven?

  On knowing the Self, unattached, enthroned like the dome of heaven, the man is no longer stained at all by Works to come.

  As the ether enclosed in the jar is not stained by the smell of the wine, so the Self encompassed by its vestures, is not stained by any quality of theirs. [450]

  Works that have been entered on, before wisdom's sunrise, are not destroyed by wisdom, until they have reached their fruition; like an arrow aimed and sent forth at the mark.

  The arrow discharged by the thought that there was a tiger, does not stop when it is seen to be a cow, but pierces the mark through its exceeding swiftness.

  Verily, Works entered on are the most formidable to the wise, they disappear only through being experienced. But Works accumulated and Works to come both melt away in the fire of perfect wisdom.

  When they have beheld the oneness of the Self and the Eternal, and stand ever firm in the power of that knowledge, for them those three kinds of Works exist no longer; for them there is only the Eternal, free from every change.

  When the saint rests in the Self, through understanding that the Self is other than its vestures, that the Self is the pure Eternal; then the myth of the reality of Works entered on no longer holds him, just as the myth of union with things of dream no longer holds him who has awakened.

  For he who is awake no longer keeps the sense of "I and mine and that," for his looking-glass body and the world that belongs to it; but comes to himself merely through waking.

  Neither a desire for pursuing mythical objects, nor any grasping after even a world full of them, is seen in him who has awakened. But if the pursuit of mirages goes on, then it is seen for certain that the man has not wakened from sleep.

  Thus dwelling in the supreme Eternal, through the real Self, he stands and beholds naught else. Like the memory of an object looked on in dream, so is it, for the wise, with eating or the other acts of life.

  The body is built up through Works; the Works entered upon make for the building up of various forms; but the Self is not built up through works.

  "Unborn, eternal, immemorial," says the Scripture, whose words are not in vain; of him who rests in that Self, what building up of Works entered on can there be?

  Works entered upon flourish then, when the Self is identified with the body; but the identifying of Self with body brings no joy, therefore let Works entered upon be renounced. [460]

  Even the building up of a body through Works entered on is a mirage; whence can come the reality of a mere reflected image? whence can come the birth of an unreality?

  Whence can come the death of what has not even been born? Whence can come the entering on of what does not even exist?--if there be a melting away of the effects of unwisdom, root and all, through the power of wisdom.

  How does this body stand? In the case of him who takes inert things to be real, Works entered on are supported by the sight of outward things--thus says the scripture; yet it does not teach the reality of the body and the like, to the wise.

  One, verily, is the Eternal, without a second. There is no difference at all. Altogether perfect, without beginning or end, measureless and without change.

  The home of Being, the home of Consciousness, the home of Bliss enduring, changeless; one, verily, without a second, is the Eternal. There is no difference at all.

  Full of the pure essence of the unmanifested, endless, at the crown of all; one, verily, without a second, is the Eternal; there is no difference at all.

  That can neither be put away, nor sought after; that can neither be taken nor approached--one, verily, without a second, is the Eternal; there is no difference at all.

  Without qualities, without parts, subtle, without wavering, without stain; one, verily, without a second, is the Eternal; there is no difference at all. [468]

  08. Master And Pupil

  (Verses 469--518)

  THE TEACHER SPEAKS:

  THAT, whose nature no man can define; where is no pasturage for mind or word; one, verily, without second, is the Eternal; there is no difference at all.

  The fullness of Being, self-perfect, pure, awakened, unlike aught here; one, verily, without second, is the Eternal; there is no difference at all!

  They who have cast away passion, who have cast away sensual delights, peaceful, well-ruled, the sages, the mighty, knowing reality in the supreme consummation, have gained the highest joy in union with the Self.

  Thou worthy one also, seeking this higher reality of the Self, whose whole nature is the fullness of bliss, washing away the delusions thine own mind has built up, be free, gaining thy end, perfectly awakened.

  Through Soul-vision, through the
Self utterly unshaken, behold the Self's reality, by the clear eye of awakening; if the word of the scripture is perfectly perceived without wavering, then doubt arises no more.

  On gaining freedom from the bonds bound by unwisdom as to the Self; in the gaining of that Self whose nature is truth, knowledge, bliss; the holy books, reason, and the word of the guide are one's evidences; an evidence too is the realizing of the Self, inwardly attained.

  Freedom from bondage and joy, health of thought and happiness, are to be known by one's self; the knowing of others is but inference.

  As the teachers, who have reached the further shore, and the teachings tell, let a man cross over through that enlightenment which comes through the will of the higher Self.

  Knowing the Self through one's own realization, as one's own partless Self, and being perfected, let him stand firm in the unwavering Self.