The Vasistha Gita
Tr. by K.R. Paramahamsa
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Chapter One    1. Salutations to the Serene Effulgence infinite and all-pervasive, unlimited by space and time! Salutations to the Pure Consciousness that can be realized only in experience!
   2. One who is totally ignorant or who knows the whole Truth is ineligible to study this book. The one who thinks ‘I am bound; I must become free’ is alone eligible to study it.
   3. Unless and until one is definitely blessed by the Supreme Lord, one will not find either a proper guru or the right scripture.
   4. Oh Rama! Just as a steady boat is obtained from a boat-man, the method of crossing the ocean of samsara is learnt by associating with great souls.
   5. The great remedy for the long-lasting disease of samsara is the enquiry ‘who am I? To whom does the samsara belong?’, which entirely cures it.
   6. Not a day should be spent in a place which does not possess the tree of a wise knower of Truth with its good fruit and cool shade.
   7. The sages are to be approached even if they do not teach. Whatever they say even in a lighter vein contains wisdom.
   8. The company of sages converts emptiness into fullness, death into immortality, and adversity into prosperity.
   9. If sages were concerned only with their own happiness, with whom could those tormented by the sorrows of samsara seek refuge?
   10. Oh good soul! That which is imparted to a worthy disciple that has become dispassionate is the real wisdom. That is the real purpose of the sacred srutis and texts and it is comprehensive.
   11. The customary method of teaching will only help preserve the tradition. Pure awareness arises when the disciple is clear in his understanding.
   12. The Supreme Brahman cannot be realized with the help of the sacred texts or the guru. The self realizes the Supreme Self with pure intellect, in supreme consciousness.
   13. All the arts acquired by men are lost by lack of practice. But the art of wisdom grows steadily once it rises.
   14. An ornament worn round the neck is considered lost through forgetfulness. When the mistake is realized, it is considered gained. Similarly, the Self is attained with the instruction of the guru.
   15. He who, not knowing his own self, takes pleasure in sense objects, is indeed an unfortunate person. He is like one who realizes very late that the food earlier eaten by him was poisonous.
   16. He who knows that worldly objects are deceptive and still hankers after them is a pervert and like an ass.
   17. Even the slightest thought immerses a man in sorrow. When he is devoid of all thoughts, he enjoys imperishable bliss.
   18. We experience the delusion of hundreds of years in a dream lasting a short while. Similarly, we experience the sport of Maya in our waking state.
   19. He whose mind is inwardly calm and serene, and free from attachment and hatred, and who looks upon this world like a mere spectator is a happy man.
   20. The life of the person who has understood well how to abandon all ideas of acceptance and rejection and who has realized the Consciousness which is within the innermost heart is illustrious.
   21. On the death of the physical body the consciousness limited to the heart (hrdayam) alone exits the body. People lament unnecessarily that the Self is extinct.
   22. When pots are broken, the space within them becomes unlimited. Similarly, when bodies cease to exist the Self remains eternal and unattached.
   23. Nothing whatever is born or dies anywhere at any time. It is the Brahman alone appearing illusorily in the form of the world.
   24. The Self is more extensive than space; IT is pure, subtle, undecaying and auspicious. As such, how could IT be born and how can IT die?
   25. All this (the Self) is tranquil, One without beginning, middle or end. IT cannot be said to be existent or non-existent. Know this and be happy.
   26. Oh, Rama! It is indeed nobler to wander begging about the streets of the outcastes (chandalas) with an earthen bowl in hand than to live a life of ignorance.
   27. Disease, poison, adversity or any other thing in the world causes less suffering to men than such stupidity (ignorance) engendered in their bodies.

Chapter Two    1. Just as the great ocean of milk became still when the Mandara Mountain (with which the ocean of milk was churned) became still, even so the illusion of samsara comes to an end when the mind is stilled.
   2. Samsara rises when the mind becomes active and ceases when it is still. Still the mind, therefore, by controlling the breath and the latent desires.
   3. This worthless (burnt-out) samsara is born of one’s imagination and vanishes in the absence of imagination. It is certain that it is absolutely unsubstantial.
   4. The idea of a snake in the picture of a snake ceases to be entertained when the Truth is known. Similarly, samsara ceases to exist when the Truth is realized, even if it appears to be apparent.
   5. This long-living ghost of samsara is the creation of the deluded mind of man and is the cause of his sufferings. It disappears when one ponders over it.
   6. Oh Rama! Maya is such that it brings delight through its own destruction; its nature is inscrutable; it ceases to exist even while it is being observed.
   7. Dear boy! Wonderful indeed is this Maya which deludes the entire world. It is on account of it that the Self is not perceived even if IT pervades all the limbs of the body.
   8. Whatever is seen does not truly exist. It is like the mythical city of Gandharvas or a mirage.
   9. That, which is not seen, though within us, is the eternal and indestructible Self.
   10. Just as the trees on a bank of a lake are reflected in the water, so also all these varied objects of the world are reflected in the vast mirror of our consciousness.
   11. This creation which is a mere play of Consciousness rises up like the delusion of a snake in a rope (when there is ignorance) and disappears when there is right knowledge.
   12. Even though bondage does not really exist, it becomes strong through desire for worldly enjoyments; when this desire subsides, bondage becomes weak.
   13. Like waves rising in the ocean, does the unstable mind rise in the vast and stable expanse of the supreme Self.
   14. It is because of the mind which always, of its own accord, imagines quickly and freely, that this magical show of the world is projected in the waking state.
   15. This world, though unreal, appears to exist and is the cause of life-long suffering to an ignorant person, just as a ghost is to a boy.
   16. One who has no idea of gold sees only the bracelet. One does not at all have the idea that it is merely gold.
   17. Similarly, towns, houses, mountains, serpents, etc are all in the eyes of the ignorant man separate objects. From the absolute point of view this object (the world) is the subject (the Self) itself; it is not separate (from the Self).
   18. The world is full of misery to an ignorant man and full of bliss to a wise man. The world is dark to a blind man and is bright to one who has eyes to see.
   19. The bliss of a man of discrimination who has rejected samsara and discarded all mental concepts constantly increases.
   20. Like clouds that suddenly appear in a clear sky and as suddenly dissolve in it, the entire universe appears in the Self and dissolves in IT.
   21. He who reckons the rays of sun as non-different from the sun, and realizes that they are the sun itself is stated to be the undifferentiating man.
   22. Just as the cloth, when investigated, is seen to be nothing but thread, so also this world, when enquired into, is (realized to be) merely the Self.
   23. This fascinating world rises like a wave in the ocean of Consciousness and dissolves in IT. How then can it be different from the Consciousness when it appears in the middle?
   24. Just as the foam, the waves, the dew and the bubbles are not different from water, even so this world which has come out of the Self is no different from the Self.
   25. Just as a tree consisting of fruits, leaves, creepers, flowers, branches, twigs and roots exists in the seed of the tree, even so this manifest world exists in the Brahman.
   26. Just as the pot ultimately goes back to mud, waves into water and ornaments into gold, so also this world which has come out of the Self ultimately goes back to the Self.
   27. The snake appears when one does not recognize the rope; it disappears when one recognizes the rope. Even so this world appears when the Self is not recognized; it disappears when the Self is recognized.
   28. It is only our forgetfulness of the invisible Self which causes the world to appear just as the ignorance of the rope causes the snake to appear.
   29. Just as the dream becomes unreal in the waking state and waking state in the dream, so also death becomes unreal in birth and birth in death.
   30. All these are thus neither real nor unreal. They are the effect of delusion, mere impression arising out of some past experiences.

Chapter Three    1. The knowledge of the Self is the fire that burns up the dry grass of desire. This indeed is what is called Samadhi, not mere abstention from speech.
   2. He who realizes that the whole universe is really nothing but Consciousness and remains quite calm is protected by the armour of the Brahman; he is happy.
   3. The yogi who has attained the state beyond everything and remains always cool as the full moon is truly the Supreme Lord.
   4. He who reflects in his innermost heart upon the purport of the Upanisads dealing with the Brahman, and is not moved by joy and sorrow is not tormented by samsara.
   5. Just as birds and beasts do not take shelter on a mountain on fire, so also evil thoughts never occur to a knower of the Brahman.
   6. Wise men also make others angry, like foolish men. They do so only to test their ability to control their innate feelings.
   7. Just as the trembling caused by the illusion of the snake in the rope persists for sometime even after realizing that it is only a rope and no snake, so also the effect of illusion persists for a while even after getting rid of all delusions.
   8. Just as a crystal is not stained by what is reflected in it, so also the knower of Truth is not really affected by the result of his acts.
   9. Even while he is intent on outward actions, the knower of Truth always remains an introvert, and is extremely calm like one asleep.
   10. Firmly convinced of non-duality and enjoying perfect mental peace, yogis go about their work seeing the world as if it were a dream.
   12. He may cast off his body at Kashi (Varanasi) or at the house of an outcaste. He, the desire-less one, is liberated at the very moment he attains knowledge of the Brahman.
   13. Oh Rama! To one, who is desire-less, the earth is the hoof-print of a cow, Mount Meru a small mound, space as little as contained in a casket and the three worlds a blade of grass.
   14. Like an empty vessel in space, the knower of Truth is empty both within and without, while at the same time is full within and without, like a vessel immersed in the ocean.
   15. He who neither likes nor dislikes the objects seen by him and who acts like one asleep is said to be a liberated person.
   16. He who is free from the knots (of desires) and whose doubts have been set at rest is liberated even when he is in the body (jivan-mukta). Although he may seem to be bound, he is free. He remains like a lamp in a picture.
   17. He who has easily cast off all his egoistic tendencies and has abandoned even the object of meditation is said to be liberated even when he is in the body (jivan-mukta).
   18. He who does not , like a blind person, recognize his relatives, who dreads attachment as he would a serpent, who looks upon sense-enjoyments and diseases alike, who regards the company of women as he would a blade of grass, and who finds no distinction between a friend and a foe, experiences happiness in this world and the next.
   19. He who casts away from his mind all objects of perception and, attaining perfect quiescence, remains still as space, unaffected by sorrow, is a liberated man; he is the Supreme Lord.
   20. The noble-hearted man whose desires of the heart have come to an end is a liberated man. It does not matter whether he does or does not practise meditation or perform action.
   21. The idea of Self in the non-Self is bondage. Abandonment of it is liberation. There is neither bondage nor liberation for the ever-free Self.
   22. If, by perceiving that the objects of perception do not really exist, the mind is completely freed from those objects, there ensues the supreme bliss of liberation.
   23. Abandonment of all latent tendencies is said to be the real liberation, by the wise; that is also the faultless method of attaining liberation.
   24. Liberation is not on the other side of the sky; nor is it in the nether world, nor on the earth. The extinction of the mind resulting from the eradication of all desires is itself liberation.
   25. Oh Rama! There is no intellect, no nescience, no mind and no individual soul (Jiva). They are all imagined in the Brahman.
   26. To one who is established in what is infinite, pure consciousness, bliss and unqualified non-duality, where is the question of bondage or liberation, seeing that there is no second entity?
   27. Oh Rama! The mind has by its own activity bound itself. When it is calm it is free.

Chapter Four    1. Consciousness, which is undivided, imagines to itself desirable objects and runs after them. It is then known as the mind.
   2. From the omnipresent and the omnipotent Supreme Self arose, like ripples in water, the power of imagining separate objects.
   3. Just as fire born out of wind is extinguished by the same wind, so also that which is born of imagination is destroyed by imagination itself.
   4. The mind has come into existence through imagination on account of forgetfulness. Like the experience of one’s own death in a dream, it ceases to exist when scrutinized.
   5. The idea of Self in what is not the Self is due to incorrect understanding. The idea of reality in what is unreal, oh Rama, know that to be the mind.
   6. Ideas such as ‘This is he’, ‘I am this’, ‘That is mine’ constitute the mind; the mind disappears when one ponders over these false ideas.
   7. It is the nature of the mind to accept certain things and to reject others; this is bondage, nothing else.
   8. The mind is the creator of the world; the mind is the individual person; only that which is done by the mind is regarded as done, not that which is done by the body. The arm with which one embraces one’s wife is the very arm with which one embraces one’s daughter.
   9. The mind is the cause of the objects of perception. The three worlds depend upon it. When it is dissolved, the world is also dissolved. It is to be cured (purified) with self-effort.
   10. The mind is bound by the latent impressions (vasanas). When there are no impressions, it is free. Therefore, oh Rama, bring about quickly, through discrimination, the state in which there are no impressions.
   11. Just as a streak of cloud stains (or appears to stain) the moon, or a blotch of ink a lime-plastered wall, so also the evil spirit of desire stains the inner man.
   12. Oh Rama! He who, with mind transcended, offers all the three worlds, like dried grass, as an oblation in the fire of knowledge, becomes free from the illusions of the mind.
   13. When one knows the real truth about acceptance and rejection and does not think of anything, but abides in oneself, abandoning everything, one’s mind is transcended.
   14. The mind is terrible (ghoram) in the waking state, gentle (santam) in the dream state, dull (mudham) in deep sleep and dead when not in any of these three states.
   15. Just as the powder of the kataka seed, after precipitating the dirt in water, becomes merged in water, so also the mind itself, when transcended, merges in the Self.
   16. The mind is samsara; the mind is also said to be bondage; the body is activated by the mind just as a tree is shaken by the wind.
   17. Conquer your mind first by pressing the palm with the palm, grinding the teeth with the teeth and twisting the limbs with the limbs.
   18. Does not the fool feel ashamed to move about in the world as he pleases and talk about meditation when he is not able to conquer even the mind?
   19. The only god to be conquered is the mind. Its conquest leads to the attainment of everything. Without its conquest all other efforts are fruitless.
   20. To be unperturbed is the foundation of blessedness. One attains liberation by it. To human beings, even the conquest of the three worlds, without the conquest of the mind, is as insignificant as a blade of grass.
   21. Association with the wise, abandonment of latent impressions, self-enquiry and control of breathing are the means of conquering the mind.
   22. To one who is shod with leather, the earth is as good as covered with leather. Even so to the pure mind which is undivided consciousness, the world overflows with nectar.
   23. The mind becomes bound by thinking ‘I am not the Brahman’; it becomes released by thinking ‘I am the Brahman’.
   24. When the mind is transcended there is no perception of duality or unity. What remains is the Supreme Brahman, peaceful, eternal and free from misery.
   25. There is nothing to equal the supreme joy felt by a person of pure mind who has attained the state of Pure Consciousness and overcome death.

Chapter Five    1. Oh Rama! The enquiry into the Self of the nature of ‘Who am I?’ is the fire which burns up the seeds of the evil tree which is the mind.
   2. Just as the wind does not affect the creepers in a picture, so also afflictions do not affect one whose understanding is fortified by firmness and always reflected in the mirror of enquiry.
   3. The knowers of Truth declare that enquiry into the truth of the Self is knowledge. What is to be known is contained in IT like sweetness in milk.
   4. To one who has realized the Self by enquiry, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are objects of compassion.
   5. To one who is fond of enquiry into ‘What is this vast universe?’ and ‘Who am I?’ this world becomes quite unreal.
   6. Just as in a mirage the idea of water does not occur to one who knows it, even so latent impressions do not rise in one whose ignorance has been destroyed by realizing that everything is the Brahman.
   7. By the abandonment of latent impressions or by the control of breathing, mind ceases to be the mind. Practise whichever you like.
   8. Oh Pure Soul! Cherish the association of sages and true scriptures; you will attain the state of Supreme Consciousness not in the course of months but days.
   9. Latent impressions cease to be active when one associates with sages, discards all thoughts of samsara and remembers that the body has to die.
   10. Oh Raghava! Even ignorant persons convert, by the firmness of their conviction, poison into nectar and nectar into poison.
   11. When this body is taken to be real, it serves the purpose of a body. But when it is seen to be unreal, it becomes like space (not material).
   12. Oh Rama! While lying on a soft bed, you wander about in all directions with a dream body; but in the waking state, where is that body?
   13. Just as a respectable man avoids contact with an outcaste woman carrying dog’s flesh, so also one should discard the thought ‘I am the body’, even if everything were to be lost.
   14. When the aspirant thinks only of the Brahman, and remains calm and free from sorrow, his egoity dies of itself.
   15. If one realizes the unity of things everywhere, one always remains tranquil, inwardly cool and pure like space without the sense of ‘I’.
   16. If inwardly one is cool, the whole world will be cool. But if inwardly one is agitated, the whole world will be a burning mass.

Chapter Six    1. I, the pure, stainless and infinite Consciousness beyond Maya, look upon this body in action like the body of another.
   2. The mind, the intellect, the senses, etc are all the play of Consciousness. They are unreal and seem to exist only owing to lack of insight.
   3. Unmoved by adversity, a friend of the entire world in prosperity, without ideas of existence and non-existence, I live free from misery.
   4. Inactive am I, desire-less, clear as the sky, free from hankering, tranquil, formless, ever-lasting and unmoving.
   5. I have now clearly understood that the five elements, the three worlds and I myself are Pure Consciousness.
   6. I am above everything; I am present everywhere; I am that which exists; I am unable to say anything beyond this.
   7. Let imaginary waves of universe rise or fall in Me who am the ocean of Infinite Consciousness; there is no increase or decrease in me.
   8. How wonderful that, in Me, the infinite ocean of Consciousness, waves of Jiva (individual souls) rise, sport for a while and disappear according to their nature.
   9. The world which has come into existence on account of my ignorance has dissolved likewise in Me. I now directly experience the world as supreme bliss of Consciousness.
   10. I prostrate to Myself who am within all Being, the ever-free Self abiding as Inner-Consciousness (Intelligence).

Chapter Seven    1. Oh Raghava! Be outwardly active, but inwardly inactive; outwardly a doer, but inwardly a non-doer. Thus play your part in the world.
   2. Oh Raghava! Abandon all desires inwardly, be free from attachments and latent impressions, do everything outwardly and thus play your part in the world.
   3. Oh Raghava! Adopt a comprehensive view characterized by the abandonment of all objects of contemplation, live in your innate Self, liberated even while alive, and thus play your part in the world.
   4. Burn the forest of duality with the fire of the conviction ‘I am the one Pure Consciousness’ and remain happy.
   5. You are bound firmly on all sides by the idea ‘I am the body’. Cut that bond by the sword of knowledge ‘I am Consciousness’ and be happy.
   6. Discarding the attachment to non-self, regarding the world as one and whole, with attention concentrated and turned inward, remain as Pure Consciousness.
   7. Remain always as Pure Consciousness which is your true nature beyond the states of waking, dream and deep-sleep.
   8. Oh Mighty-armed! Be always free from mental concepts like the heart of a rock, though not insentient like it.
   9. Do not be that which is understood, or the one who understands. Abandon all concepts, and remain what you are.
   10. Eliminate one concept by another, mind by the mind and thus abide in the Self. Is this difficult, oh holy man?
   11. Sever the mind which has, on account of its cares, become red-hot, with the mind which is like iron sharpened by the study of the scriptures.
   12. Oh Raghava! What have you to do with this inert and dumb body? Why do you feel helpless and miserable by joys and sorrows on account of it?
   13. What a vast difference between the flesh, blood, etc comprising the body and you, the embodiment of Consciousness! Even after knowing this, why do you not abandon the idea of the Self in this body?
   14. The mere knowledge that this body is like a piece of wood or a clod of earth enables one to realize the Supreme Self.
   15. How strange that, while the Brahman is forgotten by men, the unreal called avidya (nescience) appears to be real to them!
   16. It is again strange that while the Supreme Brahman is forgotten by men the idea ‘This is mine’ called avidya is firmly held by them.
   17. When you do your work, do it without attachment even as a crystal which reflects the objects before it.
   18. The conviction that everything is the Brahman leads one to liberation. Therefore, reject entirely the idea of duality that is ignorance.

Chapter Eight    1. If you separate yourself from the body and abide at ease in Consciousness you will become one with the sole Reality, everything appearing insignificant like grass.
   2. After knowing that by which you know this world, turn the mind inward and then you will clearly realize the effulgence of the Self.
   3. Oh Raghava! That by which you recognize sound, taste, form and smell, know that as your self, the Supreme Brahman, the Lord of lords.
   4. Oh Raghava! That in which the beings vibrate, that which creates them, know that Self to be your real self.
   5. After rejecting, through reasoning, all that can be known as non-truth, which remains as Pure Consciousness, regard that as your real self.
   6. Knowledge is not separate from you and that which is known is not separate from knowledge. Hence there is nothing other than the Self, separate from IT.
   7. Always think ’All that Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Indra and others always do is done by me, the embodiment of Consciousness.’
   8. Reflect as ‘I am the whole universe. I am the undecaying Supreme Self. There is neither past nor future.’
   9. Reflect as ‘Everything is the Brahman, Pure Consciousness, the Self of all, indivisible and immutable.’
   10. Meditate calmly on ‘There is neither I nor any other thing. Only the Brahman exists always full of bliss, everywhere.’
   11. The sense of perceiver and perceived is common to all embodied beings. But the yogi worships the Self – the only One.

Chapter Nine    1. When this assemblage of body, senses, etc acts of its own accord, there arises an idea ‘I am this’. This is the Jiva stained by the dirt of ignorance.
   2. When the conviction that everything is the all-pervasive Consciousness becomes firm, the Jiva comes to an end like a lamp without oil.
   3. Like a misguided Brahmin who abandons his own nobility and adopts the life of a sudra, the Lord assumes the role of the Jiva.
   4. Just as a child sees an apparition created by its own fancy, so also the stupid Jiva creates, on account of delusion, this unreal body and sees it as separate from it.
   5. A child super-imposes an elephant on a clay elephant and plays with it; even so, an ignorant man super-imposes the body, etc on the Self and carries on his activities.
   6. The picture of a snake does not cause fear of a snake when it is realized to be only a picture. Similarly, when the Jiva-snake is clearly understood, there is neither misery nor the cause of misery.
   7. The snake super-imposed on a garland merges in it; so also the sense of separateness rising from the Self merges in the Self.
   8. Although bracelets appear to be many, as gold they are one. Similarly, although the adjuncts are many, the Self is truly One.
   9. Like the organs of the body and modifications (vessels) of clay, non-duality appears as duality and multiplicity in the form of the moving and unmoving objects.
   10. Just as a single face is reflected as many in a crystal, in water, in ghee or in a mirror, so also the Self is reflected in many intellects (minds).
   11. Just as the sky appears to be stained by dust, smoke and clouds, so also the pure Self, in contact with Maya, appears to be soiled.
   12. Just as metal in contact with fire acquires the quality of fire, namely heat, so also the senses, etc in contact with the Self acquire the quality of the Self.
   13. Just as the invisible Rahu becomes visible when it is seized by the moon, even so the Self is known by experiencing the objects of perception.
   14. When water and fire come together, they acquire the qualities of each other. Similarly, when the Self and the inert body come together, the Self looks like the non-self.
   15. Just as fire thrown into a large sheet of water loses its quality, so also Consciousness in contact with the unreal and the inert seems to lose its real nature and becomes inert.
   16. The Self is realized in the body only with effort like sugar from sugarcane, oil from sesame seeds, fire from wood, butter from a cow, and iron from ore.
   17. Like the sky seen in an unbroken crystal, the Supreme Lord – Supreme Consciousness exists in all objects.
   18. Just as a big lamp kept inside a vessel made of precious stones illumines by its light both outside and inside, so also the one Self illumines everything.
   19. Just as the sun’s reflection in a mirror illumines other things, so also the reflection of the Self in pure intellects illumines.
   20. That in which this wonderful universe appears like a snake in a rope is the eternal luminous Self.
   21. The Self is without beginning or end. IT is immutable Existence and Consciousness. IT manifests space; IT is the source of the Jiva and higher than the highest.
   22. The Self is Pure Consciousness, eternal, omnipresent, immutable and self-effulgent like the light of the sun.
   23. The omnipresent Self, the substratum of all, is non-different from the effulgent Consciousness like heat from fire. IT can only be experienced.
   24. Pure Consciousness without intellect, the Supreme Self, the illuminator of all, the indivisible, the all pervading within and without is the firm support of All That Exists.
   25. The Self is Absolute Consciousness. IT is pure awareness, undecaying, free from all ideas of acceptance or rejection and not limited by space, time or genus.
   26. Just as air (gaseous form) in the universe pervades everything, so also the Self, the Lord, abides in spirit (bodiless) in everything.
   27. The Consciousness which exists in the expanse of the earth, in the ornaments, in the sky and in the sun exists also inside the worms lying in their shells under the earth.
   28. There is neither bondage nor liberation, neither duality nor non-duality. There is only the Brahman always shining as Consciousness.
   29. Awareness is the Brahman; the world is the Brahman; the various elements are the Brahman; I am the Brahman; my enemy is the Brahman; and my friends and relatives are the Brahman.
   30. The ideas of ‘Consciousness’ and an ‘object of consciousness’ are bondage; freedom from such ideas is liberation. Consciousness, the object of consciousness and everything else is the Self; this is the sum and substance of all systems of philosophy.
   31. There is only Consciousness here. This universe is nothing but Consciousness; you are Consciousness; I am Consciousness; the worlds are Consciousness. This is the conclusion.
   32. That which exists and which shines is the Self; anything else which seems to shine does not really exist. Consciousness alone shines by itself. Ideas of knower and known are idle postulates.

Chapter 10    1. Supreme bliss cannot be experienced through contact of the senses with their objects. The supreme state is that in which the mind is transcended through one-pointed enquiry.
   2. The bliss arising from the contact of the senses with their objects is inferior. Contact with the sense objects is bondage; freedom from it is liberation.
   3. Attain the pure state between existence and non-existence and hold on to it; do not accept or reject the inner or the outer world.
   4. Depend always on that true reality between the sentient and the inert which is the infinite space-like heart.
   5. The belief in a knower and the known is called bondage. The knower is bound by the known; he is liberated when there is nothing to know.
   6. Abandoning the ideas of seer, seen and sight along with latent desires (vasanas) of the past, we meditate on that Self which is primal light that is the basis of sight.
   7. We meditate on the eternal Self, the light of lights, which lies between the two ideas of existence and non-existence.
   8. We meditate on that Self or Consciousness, the bestower of the fruits of all our thoughts, the illuminator of all radiant objects and the farthest limit of all accepted objects.
   9. We meditate on that immutable Self, our reality, the bliss of which arises in the mind on account of the close contact between the seer and the seen.
   10. If one meditates on that state which comes at the end of the waking-state and the beginning of sleep, he will directly experience undecaying bliss.
   11. The rock-like state in which all thoughts are transcended and which is different from the waking and the dream states is one’s supreme state.
   12. Like mud in a mud-pot, the Supreme Self that is Existence, space-like Consciousness and Bliss exists everywhere, inseparable from perceived things.
   13. The Self shines by Itself as the one boundless ocean of Consciousness agitated by waves of thought.
   14. Just as the ocean is nothing but water, the entire world of objects is nothing but Consciousness filling all the objects like the infinite space.
   15. The Brahman and space are alike as to their invisibility, all-pervasiveness and indestructibility. But the Brahman is also Consciousness.
   16. There is only the one wave-less and profound ocean of pure nectar, blissful through and through everywhere.
   17. All this is truly the Brahman; all this is Atman; do not divide the Brahman into ‘I am one thing’ and ‘this is another’.
   18. As soon as it is realized that the Brahman is all-pervasive and indivisible, this vast samsara is found to be the Supreme Lord.
   19. One who realizes that everything is the Brahman truly becomes the Brahman. Who would not become immortal if he were to drink nectar?
   20. If you are wise, you become the Brahman by such conviction; if not, even if you are repeatedly told, it amounts to throwing on ashes (it will be of no avail).
   21. Even if you have known the real Truth, you have to practise always. Water will not become clear and pure by merely uttering the word kataka fruit.
   22. If one has the firm conviction ‘I am the Supreme Self called the undecaying Vasudeva’, one is liberated; otherwise, one remains bound.
   23. After eliminating everything as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, the Supreme Being that cannot be eliminated remains. Think ‘I am That’ and be happy.
   24. Know always that the Self is the Brahman, one and whole. How can that which is indivisible be divided into ‘I am the meditator’ and ‘the other is the object of meditation’?
   25. When one thinks ‘I am Pure Consciousness’, it is called meditation. When even the idea of meditation is forgotten, it is Samadhi.
   26. The constant flow of mental concepts relating to the Brahman without the sense of ‘I’ achieved through intense practice of self-enquiry is what is called Samprajnata Samadhi.
   27. Let violent winds which characterize the end of aeons blow; let all the oceans unite; let the twelve suns burn simultaneously; still no harm befalls one whose mind is extinct.
   28. Know that Consciousness which is the witness of the rise and fall of all the beings to be the immortal state of supreme bliss.
   29. Every moving or unmoving thing what so ever is only an object visualized by the mind. When the mind is annihilated, duality or multiplicity is not perceived.
   30. That which is immutable, auspicious and tranquil, that in which this world exists, that which manifests itself as the mutable and immutable objects is the sole Consciousness.
   31. Before discarding the slough, the snake regards it as itself. But when once it has discarded it in its hole, it does not look upon it as itself any longer.
   32. He who has transcended both good and evil does not, like a child, refrain from prohibited acts from a sense of sin, nor does he do what is prescribed from a sense of merit.
   33. Just as a statue is contained in a block of stone even if it is not actually carved out, so also the world exists in the Brahman. Therefore, the Supreme State is not a void.
   34. Just as a pillar is said to be devoid of the statue when it has not actually been carved out, so also the Brahman is said to be void when IT is devoid of the impression of the world.
   35. Just as still water may be said to contain or not contain ripples, so also the Brahman may be said to contain or not contain the world. IT is neither void nor existence.