Please note, this translation of the Avadhuta Gita plus commentary is now available as a paperback and ebook (Avadhuta Gita – Song of the Liberated Soul by Rory B Mackay), available on Amazon and many other retailers.
You are That which is both within and without. You are Shiva; you are everything everywhere! Why, then, is your mind so deluded?
Avadhuta Gita
Introduction
The Avadhuta Gita is a short and poetic Vedantic text condensed into seven chapters. (An eight chapter exists but is generally believed to be a later and, in this author’s view, inessential addition to the text.)
Admittedly, it may not be the ideal introduction for those new to Vedanta. It doesn’t expound the logic of the teaching, nor elaborate much upon its grand pronouncements. What it does is provide insight into the perspective of an enlightened mind; the mind of one who has pierced the veil of self-ignorance and is fully cognisant of the Absolute, Non-dual nature of Existence.
The term avadhuta refers to one who has transcended all worldly identifications and who lives freely and without bondage, craving or attachment. Such a soul has attained what we call enlightenment—which, in simple terms, means the shifting of our identity from the ego-self to the one, formless, all-pervading Awareness/Consciousness that animates and sustains all beings.
Unhindered by self-ignorance and its resultant sense of separation, lack, desire and attachment, the avadhuta is free to live life on his or her own terms. Such a Self-Realised being no longer identifies with the adjuncts of body, mind, intellect and ego, and sees no separation between themselves and God, or the various forms of the world. This is what the mystics call ‘God consciousness’ or ‘Unity consciousness’. Vedanta simply call it moksha, or liberation.
No longer dependent upon the ever-shifting forms of the world for their happiness, the liberated have no set rules. They may exist as yogis or ascetics, content to wander the countryside in utter nakedness. Or they may live as householders and hold down a job and family, outwardly appearing little different to anyone else.
Inwardly, however, things are an altogether different story. Unencumbered by a false ego-identity, and no longer taking themselves to be a finite entity subject to time, limitation and death, such a person’s mind is forever merged in its Source: the eternal, ever-free Reality that is Brahman, the Self, or pure unconditioned Consciousness.
The word ‘Gita’ means ‘song’. This text is, therefore, the song of the enlightened one or liberated soul. You might look upon the concise, pithy statements of each verse as the exaltations of a mind free from bondage.
There is little in the way of sequential progression to the verses, and they alternate between statements of indirect and direct knowledge. Indirect knowledge means knowing the Self as an object; as That which is to be known. Direct knowledge means owning one’s identity as the Self, and referring to it as “I am”; as That which is me; both the Knower and the known. One verse may speak of the Self in first person terms (“I am the Self”), while the next might refer to it in the second person (“you are the Self”). Both refer the one, universal Self—pure unconditioned Consciousness—the essence and substrate of Existence. This one Self illumines and enlivens every body and mind, just as the same sun shines through countless windows.
As with many Vedantic texts, the authorship of the Avadhuta Gita is open to debate, although it is attributed to the great sage Dattatreya, a quasi-mythical figure believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu.
The exact dating is disputed. Some suggest that it may have been composed around the 9th century, after the time of Adi Shankaracharya. Others believe, however, that it may have been passed down orally for centuries beforehand.
This is a perfect text for meditation and deep contemplation. The Avadhuta Gita is a work that has inspired seekers and the enlightened alike for centuries. I have endeavoured to maintain fidelity to the original Sanskrit while keeping the translation accessible and clear, and hopefully conveying its poeticism and eloquence. I would like to acknowledge the 1992 translation of Swami Abhayananda as being a particular inspiration.
While the text speaks for itself, I have provided commentary on select verses to elaborate upon certain ideas and resolve any potential confusions that might arise.
The Avadhuta Gita of Dattatreya
Commentary by Rory Mackay
Chapter 1
1. By Divine grace, the enlightened come to know the Truth of Non-duality, realising the unity of all things. This knowledge liberates the mind from great fear.
Why would the knowledge of Non-duality free the mind from fear? Fear is born of misidentification; of assuming ourselves to be what we are not. Owing to self-ignorance and taking appearance to be real, we believe ourselves to be nothing but a limited body-mind-ego entity. This fundamental misperception of reality lies at the root of humankind’s ingrained sense of separation and limitation.
Fear arises because what is finite is always subject to injury, death and cessation. At the level of form, there’s simply no way around this predicament. The only solution to the problem of existential fear is to inquire into the nature of the Self and reality. If fear is caused by the false notion of duality, which originates in the mind, then the only remedy, as we shall see, is to re-educate the mind with the Knowledge of Non-duality.
As the Taittiriya Upanishad states:
“When one realises the Self, in whom all life is changeless, nameless and formless, then one fears no more. Until we realise the unity of life, we live in fear.”
2. All that exists is the Self, and the Self alone. Blissful, indestructible and all-pervading, it cannot be separated from Itself. How, then, shall the Infinite worship Itself? Shiva is the undivided whole!
In the Avadhuta Gita, the term Shiva doesn’t refer to a specific deity as such, but to the eternal, formless and boundless Self. In its broadest sense, the word Shiva means “That which is always auspicious and all-pervading.” As the Absolute Reality pervading all things, Shiva is everything, everywhere. That being so, there is nothing It is not.
3. The world appears in Me like a desert mirage. To whom shall I bow? As pure Awareness, I alone am; free of impurity and untarnished by anything in this world.
Here we come to an important question. If, as the scriptures declare, the Self is an undivided whole—Infinite, without limit and without beginning or end—how can we explain this universe of finitude and duality?
According to Advaita Vedanta, this world of duality appears superimposed within the Self courtesy of maya. Maya is the inexplicable power within Awareness that creates the appearance of separation and duality within the Non-dual ground of pure, divisionless Being. Thus, within the formless Unmanifest, an entire universe of form and differentiation comes into apparent existence, much as a world of dreams appears in your mind each night as you sleep.
Just as you, the dreamer, are unaffected by the content of your dreams, no matter how wondrous or terrifying they might be, so, too, is the all-pervading Self unaffected by anything in this universe of form. From the perspective of the Self, it is appearance only and as unreal as the water of a desert mirage.
4. All that exists is the Self. Neither divided nor undivided, it defies categorisation. I can only speak of it with wonder and awe!
How can we speak of the Infinite? Using words to describe what is ultimately beyond words can only ever be a crude superimposition. The Infinite is said to be devoid of characteristics, because characteristics of any kind would require form, and form necessitates limitation.
5. The supreme truth of Vedanta, the Highest Knowledge, is simply this: I am the Self, the limitless Awareness pervading all things.
The full integration of this Knowledge is the key to moksha, or enlightenment. Enlightenment means liberation from suffering. If suffering is caused by identification with the finite, with maya’s realm of names and forms, liberation is attained by realising our identity as, and non-separation from, the Infinite. You might think of a sentient wave suddenly realising that it isn’t, in fact, a separate, self-existent and time-bound form, but is actually non-separate from the vast ocean pervading it. What relief; what wonder!
6. Neither constricted nor contained, I am the Self in all; the light shining within the heart of all beings. I am formless like the cloudless sky, unchanging, ever-pure and stainless.
7. Infinite and imperishable, I am pure Awareness without form. I am untouched by either joy or sorrow.
Joy and sorrow pertain to the mind, just as pleasure and pain pertain to the body. While the body and mind are experienced by the light of Awareness, Awareness, which is your own Self, remains free of both.
8. The actions of the mind, body and tongue, whether good or bad, do not affect me. Beyond the senses, I am the pure nectar of Self-knowledge.
It’s crucial to understand that although the body and mind are subject to modification and both pleasure and pain, the Self is unaffected, for it is subtler than the mind, body and senses. To know this beyond a shadow of a doubt is to be liberated from bondage.
9. The mind is formless like space, yet it wears a million faces. Within it appear images from the past and worldly forms. Awareness, however—the essence of what I am—exists apart from the mind and remains unaffected by it.
10. As the Self, I am the one Existence; I am everything everywhere! Although appearing as multiplicity, I am undifferentiated and pervade all forms. As the Self, I am both the Unmanifest and the manifest; the seer and the seen.
11. You, also, are the one Existence! Why don’t you understand? You are the unchanging Self, the same shining consciousness that enlivens all beings equally. Limitless and indestructible, you are the all-pervading Light. For this ever-shining Light, there can be no distinction between day and night.
The Self is both self-existent and self-effulgent. Of the nature of Awareness or pure Consciousness, it is the light that has no opposite; for it is eternal and needs no other illumination to reveal it. Because this Awareness shines eternally, it has neither beginning nor end. By its light, all the objects of the mind and senses are revealed and known.
12. The Self is continuous, unbroken and changeless. The One within all, It knows no division. This “I” is both the subject and the supreme object of meditation. How can one divide the indivisible?
13. You, O Self, were never born and will never die. Birth and death do not pertain to You. You have never been a body. As the scriptures state in many ways: “All is Brahman”; all is Limitless and Eternal Awareness.
The Self doesn’t appear in a body; rather, the body appears in the Self. Were you to analyse your own direct experience, you would have to conclude that all objects, whether tangible material objects or the subtle objects of thought and imagination, appear in Awareness and are ultimately indivisible from Awareness. Awareness is the substrate and essence of all that is perceivable. Try though you might, you can never divorce Awareness from the objects it perceives.
14. You are That which is both within and without. You are Shiva; you are everything everywhere! Why, then, is your mind so deluded? Why do you run about like a frightened ghost?
Self-ignorance causes us to rush about the world like desperate phantoms. Driven by an inherent sense of lack and incompleteness, we find ourselves hungrily devouring objects of sensory experience in a desperate bid to remove this deep-rooted feeling of incompleteness. A mind subject to Self-ignorance is naturally a troubled, disturbed mind; a mind caught in the unrelenting grasp of samsara.
Buddhists speak of the realm of “hungry ghosts”. These wraithlike spectres are said to be constantly ravenous and desperate to keep consuming experience. Tragically, however, they have only pinhole mouths. As a result, no matter how hard they try, they can never satisfy their hunger. This metaphor perfectly describes the state of samsara, as experienced to varying degrees by almost every human being.
The key is plain to see in this verse. Dattatreya is addressing the mind. That’s where the problem lies. Ignorance is a product of the mind and the only solution is, therefore, to re-educate the mind.
15. Neither union or separation exist for you or me. There is ultimately no “you”, no “me”, and no universe about us. All is the Self alone.
All the waves in the ocean are nothing but water assuming a temporary time-bound form. Likewise, the universe and all the beings within it are nothing but the Self assuming a temporary time-bound form.
16. As Awareness, you cannot be be heard, or smelled, or tasted; nor can you be seen, or sensed by touch. Beyond the five senses, you are the Ultimate, all encompassing Reality. Why, then, do you suffer so?
The message of the Upanishads is simply this: To know yourself as you truly are is to go beyond suffering. Nothing in the world of form and experience can then touch or taint you any more than the fevered imaginings of the dreamer can affect the person dreaming.
17. Neither birth or death, nor bondage or liberation affect you at all. They exist in the mind, but not in You. Why then, my friend, are you crying? We are beyond name and form.
18. O mind, why do you flit about like a restless ghost? Realise the indivisible Self! Relinquish this attachment and false identification, and be happy and free!
When you believe yourself to be a finite entity with a deeply ingrained sense of lack and incompleteness, how can you ever be happy and free? Simply put, you cannot.
As long as you remain identified with the adjuncts of the body and mind—their woes are your woes. On the other hand, when you see them as simply objects appearing in the vast Awareness that you are, their properties no longer belong to you, and neither do their sorrows.
19. You are the changeless Truth and Essence of everything; the Eternal One; indomitable, boundless and ever free from modification. Neither attachment nor aversion belong to you. Why, then, do you entertain thoughts of limitation and succumb to desire?
Assimilating the knowledge “I am the Self; pure, limitless Awareness” will almost certainly take time. After all, the mind has been accustomed to thinking in terms of duality and limitation for decades; even lifetimes. Until this Knowledge is fully internalised, you will likely continue experiencing the mind’s same old patterns of limitation along with its ingrained desires and aversions.
Rather than seeing this as a bad thing, you can use it as a helpful gauge as to how firm your Self-Knowledge is. With time and the repeated application of Self-Knowledge to the mind, you’ll eventually find the old patterns of ignorance, self-limitation and craving fading away like darkness in the morning light.
20. The Vedantic scriptures unanimously declare the Self to be the pure, formless, imperishable Awareness that is essence of all forms. Know That to be your true nature beyond any doubt.
21. All forms, whether gross or subtle, are but temporary manifestations. Only the formless Reality pervading them is eternal. To realise this Truth is to pass beyond birth and death.
22. The Self, the One Reality, is ever the same; so say the great Sages. When you relinquish desire and attachment, the mind sees neither duality or unity.
Duality doesn’t exist outside of the mind. Reality is an undivided Whole. The mind, however, believing only the visible to be real and, taking itself to be a separate body/mind/ego, functions by breaking reality into bitesize pieces, labelling and categorising each. It thus creates an entire universe of “this” and “that”; “me” and “not-me”.
Falling for what Einstein called this “optical delusion of consciousness”—and believing ourselves to be separate, isolated and incomplete entities—our delusion binds us to desire and attachment, further deluding the mind. A deluded mind is incapable of interfacing with reality with any measure of clarity and inevitably leads us ever deeper into the bondage of samsara.
23. If you seek the Self in the unreal world of objects, how can you know the unity of existence? If you see the world as other than the Self, how can you know the unity of existence? True liberation is knowing everything as One.
24. When you realise yourself to be the pure and imperishable Reality—without birth, without body, and the same in all beings—how can you then say, “I know the Self” or “I don’t know the Self”?
For the enlightened, talk of the Self is unnecessary and redundant. It is enough to simply be the Self.
25. The Vedantic proclamation Tat tvam asi, “That thou art”, affirms the true nature of your identity as the Self. The saying neti neti, “not this, not this”, negates the reality of the world of the five elements.
One of the essential tools of Vedantic practice is learning to discriminate the Self from the “not-Self”, or the Real from the only apparently real. The upshot is that anything known to you as an object, whether gross or subtle—whether an outer form or the form of a thought, memory, emotion, and so on—cannot be you.
As the Self, you are never available as an object of perception because you are the eternal Subject; the boundless Awareness in which all objects arise and subside and by which they are known. You are the eternal Knower; always present, ever existent, yet never available for objectification. The real crux of spiritual practice is simply learning to discriminate between you, Awareness, and the ephemeral objects appearing in you.
26. The Self is the true identity of all; It contains and pervades this entire universe. Your very nature is fullness, for you are everything; the unbroken whole. For the Self, there is no thinker and no object of thought. Why then, O mind, do you go on thinking so shamelessly?
The Indian sage Tilopa once stated that the way to liberation was to “Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness.”
The human mind is designed to keep us safe and, as an extension of that, to guard and enhance our egoic self-concept. Vedantic meditation is continuously bringing the mind back to its Source, pure Awareness, allowing for the full assimilation of the Knowledge “I am Awareness”.
As pure Awareness, you have nothing to gain, nothing to lose, and nothing to acquire, protect or fear. A mind fully cognisant of this truth naturally begins to quieten; its grasping attachments and fitful anxieties melting like snow in the sunlight. This process of taming the mind can only be achieved by the consistent and rigorous application of Self-Knowledge.
27. If I know not Shiva, how can I speak of Him? If I know not Shiva, how can I worship It? I am Shiva! The primal Essence of all; my nature, boundless like the sky, remains ever the same.
28. As the all-pervading Essence of all forms, I have no form of my own. I am beyond the division of subject and object. How could I possibly be an object to myself?
As the Self, you are pure Awareness; the eternal Subject. Always present and forever shining, Awareness is always the Knower and never the known. Just as a camera can photograph anything but itself, the Self enables the mind to perceive anything but is never itself an object of perception.
Some people are unsatisfied with this because they believe they want to ‘“experience the Self”. However, there is never any time that you are not experiencing the Self. It is the very medium by which you experience reality. It’s impossible to divorce the objects of Awareness from Awareness itself. Therefore, there’s never a time that you aren’t experiencing the Self. Because Awareness is subtler than the objects it illumines, you may simply not be aware of that Awareness, even though it is the very foundation of your entire existence.
29. Though wearing the guise of countless forms, the Infinite Reality has no form of its own. The one Self, the Highest Truth, is limitless. Nothing else exists. Actionless, the Self neither creates, sustains nor destroys anything.
Action pertains to maya, the world of the objects, which appears in the Self much as a dream appears in the sleeping mind. Just as the sun shines upon the world, allowing life to flourish while itself uninvolved and actionless, the Self is that which allows the maya world to exist and function, while remaining actionless and unchanged by it.
30. As the pure and changeless Essence; you are beyond form; birthless and deathless. For you, how could such a thing as delusion exist? Delusion cannot exist for the Infinite.
Ignorance is a product of the mind alone and never touches or changes the Self in any way. As the mind is the source of our Self-ignorance, the solution is to remedy this with the application of Self-Knowledge. No matter the state of the mind, whether enlightened or unenlightened, the Self is always free. That’s why delusion and illumination relate to the mind only—and not you, as the ever free Self.
31. When a glass jar is broken, the space within unites with the space around it. Similarly, when the mind is purified, it sees no difference between itself and Shiva, the Eternal Self.
Enlightenment isn’t a process of gain. It’s not about acquiring or “adding” anything to yourself in any way. It’s not an event or a process of becoming. It’s simply the result of Knowledge: the Knowledge that you are already whole and non-different from the pure, unchanging, taintless Awareness/Consciousness that is Self.
32. From the perspective of the Absolute, there is no jar and neither inner nor outer space. There is no body and no individual to lay claim to it. Everything is the One Indivisible Self. There is no subject, no object, and no separate parts.
33. Eternal and ever present in all things, the Self alone exists. The world of form, both Unmanifest and manifest, is nothing but my Self. Of this, I have no doubt!
34. For the Self, there are no scriptures, no world, and no rituals or offerings. There are no gods, nor classes, nor races of men; no stages of life, and no path of darkness or path of light. There is nothing but pure Awareness, the supreme Reality and highest Truth.
35. The subject and object are one and the same, and you are That eternal, non-dual One. This being so, with no existent “other”, how can the Self be perceived as an object?
36. Some seek Non-duality, while others remain content with duality. They don’t understand that the all-pervading Reality is beyond duality and non-duality.
To speak of Non-duality infers the existence of duality. Duality doesn’t exist outside of the mind. It exists in perception alone. The Self is beyond both duality and Non-duality because it is the eternal One without a second. It is the single existent factor in reality. In spite of appearances to the contrary, there is nothing other than it, so, for the enlightened, talk of duality and Non-duality is redundant.
37. How can one describe the supreme Reality when it has no colour, no sound, or qualities of any kind? How can one think or speak of that which is beyond the range of thought or speech?
Vedanta teaches by a process of superimposition and negation (adhyaropa apavada). For the purposes of teaching, we may ascribe certain qualities or attributes to the Self, but we later retract them by revealing that the ultimate Reality is beyond description and categorisation. It simply is.
38. When you know this world of form to be as vast and empty as the sky, then you will know the Self and pierce the veil of duality.
We come to realise the Real by negating the unreal.
39. With Indirect Knowledge, the Self appears to be other than I. With Direct Knowledge, I know it to be that which I am. Undivided like space, the Self alone exists. How, then, can the subject and object of meditation be separate?
The initial stages of teaching reveal the Self via Indirect Knowledge, as an object known to us—hence, we talk of “the Self”. As we begin to covert Indirect Knowledge to Direct Knowledge, we claim ownership of it. It’s no longer “the Self”, but “my Self”. After all, if the Self is everything, then what else can it be? What started as an abstract object is now firmly understood to be the eternal Subject; the very essence and totality of what we are.
40. I do not act, eat, give or take, for I am the Self. As the Self, I am actionless, pure, and beyond birth and death.
Pivotal to enlightenment is the realisation that, as the Self, you are actionless. The Self doesn’t act, although all actions happen by the grace of its existence. A helpful metaphor is to think of the sun. It is by virtue of the heat and light of the sun that life on Earth can exist and flourish. In many respects, the sun is the source of all life on our planet, yet it never performs any action itself other than existing and shining its light.
41. Know the whole of the universe to be without form. Know the whole of the universe to be without change. Know the whole of the universe to be pure and untouched by its contents. Know the whole of the universe to be the embodiment of Shiva.
Here, the “whole” refers to the Absolute order of reality; the ground of Existence which is the Self, or Shiva. In Vedanta terminology, we call this paramartika satyam, which means the absolute order of existence—the immaterial, boundless substratum in which the phenomenal universe appears as an objective world of form and experience (vyavaharika satyam). This objective world depends upon the Absolute for its existence just as the waves depend upon the ocean for their existence. After all, an effect cannot exist independently of its cause.
42. Know yourself to be the Ultimate Reality, and have no doubt. The Self is not something that can be known by the mind, for the Self is that by which the mind is known. How can you seek to know what you already are?
43. O dear one, why get so absorbed in the material universe? Whether the shadow is present or not, it has no independent reality. Existence is One. The Ultimate Reality is everything everywhere; all-pervading and free like space. Nothing else exists.
44. I am without beginning, middle or end. I am not bound, nor will I ever be. By my very nature, I am stainless, whole and pure. This I know with certainty.
45. From the subtlest of elements to the gross forms of the universe, all that exists is the Self alone. The stages of life and divisions of society have no meaning to me.
46. I see everything as the One Indivisible Reality. This undivided One constitutes the void, all of space, and the world of the senses and the five elements.
47. The world of manifold form is simply an appearance in the One Universal Awareness that is the Self. In spite of appearances, there is only one factor in existence, and that is the Self.
48. The Self is neither male, female, nor neuter. It possesses neither intellect nor the power of thought. How can you imagine it to possess form and distinction when it is the Essence of all things?
49. Practising yoga will not lead you to purity. Neither will emptying the mind of all thoughts, or following the teachings of a guru. As the immortal Self, you are, by your very nature, pure, Eternal Awareness.
Although spiritual teachings often speak in terms of attainment, the Self is not something you can attain. It is already attained. It is not something you can add to yourself or a state of consciousness you can manufacture. You are already the totality of Existence. The practise of yoga, meditation and the teaching of Vedanta cannot “add” that to you. They are simply tools for freeing the mind of Self-ignorance. When you remove that ignorance, the light of Truth alone remains.
50. Neither the gross body of the five elements, nor the subtle body of mind, intellect, and ego, have any independent reality. Only the Self has independent and lasting existence. All states of consciousness are but appearances in the Self.
In Vedanta, anything objectifiable by the mind and senses falls into the category of mithya. Mithya means that which is only apparently real; that which has no inherent existence of its own. Gold rings, ornaments and bangles are all examples of mithya. These objects have a name and form and are experienceable by the senses, but they have no independent existence of their own. The “ring”, for instance, doesn’t exist separately from the gold—it is simply gold in a certain shape and form. If you melt it down, the “ring” will be lost but the gold will remain because it exists independently of the ring.
In the same way, this entire universe of name and form has no independent existence of its own. It is mithya; an effect dependent on an underlying cause—namely, pure Awareness or Consciousness (terms we use synonymously). The forms of the world are entirely dependent upon the Essence from which they arise and subside—and that essence is Universal Awareness.
50. I am neither bound nor am I liberated. I am neither the doer nor the enjoyer of action. I am pure Awareness and nothing else. I do not pervade, nor am I pervaded.
Vedantic scriptures talk of the Self as being “all-pervading” like space. Dattatreya appears to contradict that in the final sentence of this verse. This is simply a shift of perspective. From the perspective of maya, it helps to think of the Self as the Essence pervading all things. But from the perspective of the Self, It doesn’t pervade anything. Why? Because there is nothing other than It—and, therefore, nothing to pervade.
51. When ice and water are mixed, they become one without distinction. Similarly, in combination, prakriti and purusha, matter and spirit, are indistinguishable from each other.
The terms prakriti and purusha refer to the principles of matter and spirit; the seen and the unseen, or the objects and the Awareness in which they appear.
The two are “indistinguishable” because, in order to experience anything, both principles must be present. You can never experience the objective phenomenal world without Awareness. Awareness is That by which all forms are perceived and That from which they borrow their existence. Therefore, to exist and function in the world, both these factors must combine to create the universe of form and experience.
52. Having never been bound, I need never be liberated. How could the Self, with or without form, ever be bound?
53. The Supreme Self, the mother of all things, exists everywhere like space. The world of form appears in it like the water of a desert mirage.
The world of maya, of form and differentiation, appears in the Self, Awareness, much as a dream appears in the mind of the dreamer (or, to use the example here, a mirage in the mind of a desert traveller). The dreamer pervades the entire dream; there is nowhere and nothing he or she is not. While the dream isn’t real, you can’t claim that it doesn’t exist, for it is clearly experienced by the mind and the inward turned senses. Rather, like the sand mistaken for a desert oasis, it appears to exist at some level, but is not real.
54. I have neither guru nor teaching and no action to perform. I am, by my very nature, as pure and as free as the formless sky.
55. You are the self-existent purity. Neither body nor mind pertain to you. You are the Supreme Reality. Do not be ashamed to declare, “I am the Self, the Supreme Reality!”
56. Why do you weep, O mind? Realise the Self, beloved. Drink the timeless nectar of Non-duality.
Our sorrows are always born of self-misapprehension. By taking appearance to be real, we have assumed ourselves to be a limited body-mind entity subject to all manner of suffering, pain and eventual death. When our perspective shifts to the Awareness in which the body and mind arise, we realise ourselves to be unbounded and free. By shifting perspective, the mind no longer has cause to grieve.
57. Knowledge does not pertain to you, nor ignorance; nor a mixture of the two. You, yourself, are the essence of Knowledge; a Self-existent Knowledge that never ceases or errs.
58. I am not knowledge born of the intellect, nor am I attained by deep meditation or yoga. I am not gained by the passage of time or by the guru’s instruction. My nature is pure Awareness; the highest Truth and ultimate Reality. Though I may appear to change with time, I am like space; ever changeless and free.
59. As I have no birth, I have no death. I perform no action, either good or bad. I am Awareness; pure and free of all qualities. How can bondage or liberation exist for that which has no form?
60. If the Self is all-pervading, eternal, whole, and without division, there can be no differentiation whatsoever. How, then, can it be regarded as being either “inside” or “outside”?
61. The entire universe shines as One; inseparable, divisionless and partless. Belief in the independent existence of maya is a great delusion. Duality and Non-duality are mere concepts of the mind.
62. The world of form, which has no independent existence, cannot be separated from the formless in which it appears. How can there be either division or union when there is nothing but the Self alone?
63. You have no mother or father, nor brother, spouse, child, or friend. You are unaffected by attachment or impartiality. Why, then, is your mind so perturbed?
Relationship troubles disappear the instant you realise that, as the One without a second, there is only You! Everyone you ever encounter is but an expression of the one Consciousness; the same sun reflected upon all the mirrors in all the world.
64. O mind, there is neither day nor night, creation nor dissolution. The light of the Self is continuous and never rises or sets. How can the wise possibly believe that the formless Self can in any way be affected by the world of form?
Ordinarily, the process of creation involves a change in the underlying substance. For instance, when milk is churned into butter it undergoes an irreversible change and will never be milk again.
However, although the maya world is a product of the Self in much the same way heat is a product of fire, the Self is unaffected by this creation. The creation appears, but the Self remains unchanged. This is because the Self is of a different order of reality to the manifest world. What happens in one order of reality is specific to that level and can’t affect any other order of reality. For example, even though you might dream that you’ve won the lottery, when you wake up in the morning you won’t bother trying to claim your prize. This is because the lottery win only pertained to the dream order of reality; it doesn’t impact the waking order of reality whatsoever. Just as the waking world is unaffected by the world of your dreams, the Self is unaffected by the world of maya.
65. It is neither divided nor undivided. It experiences neither sorrow nor joy. It is neither the universe, nor is it not the universe. The Self is the eternal, imperishable One.
66. I am not the doer, nor am I the enjoyer. I am unbound by karma, past or present. I have no body, nor am I bodiless. Therefore, how can a sense of possession, of “mine” or “not mine”, be assigned to Me?
With the assimilation of Self-Knowledge comes the negation of your sense of doership and ownership. The Self—being the totality of everything; divisionless, actionless and ever whole—can have no sense of ownership; of “me” or “mine”, because there is nothing other than it. The notion of possession is meaningless when there is no other.
67. I am uncontaminated by passions or attachment, nor do I suffer from bodily afflictions. Know me to be the one Self; as vast and endless as the open sky.
68. O mind, my friend, what is the use of so much vain talk? O mind, my friend, what is to gain by such fruitless wrangling? I have told you the highest Truth: You are the ultimate Reality. You are unbound and free like space.
Enlightenment is basically the re-education of the mind. Rather than identifying as a body-mind entity, as has been the mind’s default setting, your centre of identification shifts to Awareness. This rarely happens overnight, for it requires the steady and consistent application of Self-Knowledge to the errant mind. In Vedanta, the term for this re-education of the mind is nididhyasana. For it to work, all your thoughts, beliefs and habitual reactions must be examined as they arise and held up to the light of Truth: the Knowledge that you are whole, ever-free Awareness. Without this process of mental reeducation, the formations of the mind will continue to be conditioned by the mind’s old patterns of ignorance.
69. In whatever place and in whatever state a yogi dies, his consciousness is absorbed into the Absolute, just as the space inside a jar unites with the space around it when the jar is broken.
70. Whether he dies at a holy place or in a lowly hut, the yogi, having divested himself of all bodily identification, realises his non-separation from the Absolute pervading all.
This and the previous verse explore what happens when the Self-Realised person sheds their body. Because they have realised their identity as the Self, they have negated their karma. Karma belongs to the world of maya, whereas the transcendent Self is ever untouched by maya.
The Self was never actually bound in any way. A false identification lay at the root of our bondage; a sense of doership and ownership—specifically, believing ourselves to be a body/mind/ego subject to birth, death and karma. When this ignorance is destroyed, our “karmic account” is closed, so to speak; and, in the absence of karma, no further birth is necessary.
71. To the enlightened, righteousness, action, the pursuit of wealth, pleasure and liberation—and all the people and objects in the world—are as illusory as the water of a desert mirage.
The wise see the objects of the world for what they are: maya—a dependent effect resulting from an independent cause: ie., the Self. The world and all the objects in it certainly exist, but, just as a dream has no any existence outside of the dreamer, they have no inherent existence of their own.
72. As the Self, I perform no action. No action, past or present, was ever undertaken or enjoyed by Me. This I know beyond all doubt.
73. The liberated soul, aware that all is but his own Self, lives alone, always content, and moves about the world, open-hearted, happy and free.
As long as you believe your happiness to be dependent upon external factors you’ll inevitably experience a lifetime of anxiety and sorrow. Only when you realise that happiness and freedom are inherent to your very nature can you breathe easy and begin to enjoy life for what it is.
The enlightened know there’s nothing to gain in the world and nothing to lose either. With this comes an incredible sense of detachment and fearlessness as you realise that there’s nothing that you can’t do in life. Life ceases to be a relentless struggle to “make things work” and “become somebody” and instead becomes a celebration of gratitude and wonder.
74. States of consciousness, whether exalted or mundane, are irrelevant when all is experienced as the Self alone. When neither dharma nor adharma pertain, how could you experience either bondage or liberation?
The dualistic yogic notion of the Self as a “state of consciousness” that can be attained or added to you is a huge obstacle to Self-Knowledge. It has kept sincere and ardent seekers locked in ignorance, misplaced effort and frustration throughout the ages. The Self is limitless and eternal, therefore, there’s nothing other than it. So, whatever state of consciousness you are experiencing right now can only be the Self. In fact, the Self is that by which all states of consciousness are experienced and known. You can never not be experiencing the Self. All that’s missing is true knowledge of the Self: the knowledge that you are already whole, complete and free—and this knowledge is attained by removing the mind’s ignorance.
75. The liberated being, having assimilated the knowledge of their own essential nature, declares that neither the mantras of scripture nor the practices of tantra can ever adequately reveal the Self.
76. It is meaningless to differentiate between the void and the world of form. It is pointless to speak of the “real”and “the unreal”. All that exists is the One, unchanging, Eternal Self. That is the declaration of the scriptures.
1. By Divine grace, the enlightened come to know the Truth of Non-duality, realising the unity of all things. This knowledge liberates the mind from great fear.
Why would the knowledge of Non-duality free the mind from fear? Fear is born of misidentification; of assuming ourselves to be what we are not. Owing to self-ignorance and taking appearance to be real, we believe ourselves to be nothing but a limited body-mind-ego entity. This fundamental misperception of reality lies at the root of humankind’s ingrained sense of separation and limitation.
Fear arises because what is finite is always subject to injury, death and cessation. At the level of form, there’s simply no way around this predicament. The only solution to the problem of existential fear is to inquire into the nature of the Self and reality. If fear is caused by the false notion of duality, which originates in the mind, then the only remedy, as we shall see, is to re-educate the mind with the Knowledge of Non-duality.
As the Taittiriya Upanishad states:
“When one realises the Self, in whom all life is changeless, nameless and formless, then one fears no more. Until we realise the unity of life, we live in fear.”
2. All that exists is the Self, and the Self alone. Blissful, indestructible and all-pervading, it cannot be separated from Itself. How, then, shall the Infinite worship Itself? Shiva is the undivided whole!
In the Avadhuta Gita, the term Shiva doesn’t refer to a specific deity as such, but to the eternal, formless and boundless Self. In its broadest sense, the word Shiva means “That which is always auspicious and all-pervading.” As the Absolute Reality pervading all things, Shiva is everything, everywhere. That being so, there is nothing It is not.
3. The world appears in Me like a desert mirage. To whom shall I bow? As pure Awareness, I alone am; free of impurity and untarnished by anything in this world.
Here we come to an important question. If, as the scriptures declare, the Self is an undivided whole—Infinite, without limit and without beginning or end—how can we explain this universe of finitude and duality?
According to Advaita Vedanta, this world of duality appears superimposed within the Self courtesy of maya. Maya is the inexplicable power within Awareness that creates the appearance of separation and duality within the Non-dual ground of pure, divisionless Being. Thus, within the formless Unmanifest, an entire universe of form and differentiation comes into apparent existence, much as a world of dreams appears in your mind each night as you sleep.
Just as you, the dreamer, are unaffected by the content of your dreams, no matter how wondrous or terrifying they might be, so, too, is the all-pervading Self unaffected by anything in this universe of form. From the perspective of the Self, it is appearance only and as unreal as the water of a desert mirage.
4. All that exists is the Self. Neither divided nor undivided, it defies categorisation. I can only speak of it with wonder and awe!
How can we speak of the Infinite? Using words to describe what is ultimately beyond words can only ever be a crude superimposition. The Infinite is said to be devoid of characteristics, because characteristics of any kind would require form, and form necessitates limitation.
5. The supreme truth of Vedanta, the Highest Knowledge, is simply this: I am the Self, the limitless Awareness pervading all things.
The full integration of this Knowledge is the key to moksha, or enlightenment. Enlightenment means liberation from suffering. If suffering is caused by identification with the finite, with maya’s realm of names and forms, liberation is attained by realising our identity as, and non-separation from, the Infinite. You might think of a sentient wave suddenly realising that it isn’t, in fact, a separate, self-existent and time-bound form, but is actually non-separate from the vast ocean pervading it. What relief; what wonder!
6. Neither constricted nor contained, I am the Self in all; the light shining within the heart of all beings. I am formless like the cloudless sky, unchanging, ever-pure and stainless.
7. Infinite and imperishable, I am pure Awareness without form. I am untouched by either joy or sorrow.
Joy and sorrow pertain to the mind, just as pleasure and pain pertain to the body. While the body and mind are experienced by the light of Awareness, Awareness, which is your own Self, remains free of both.
8. The actions of the mind, body and tongue, whether good or bad, do not affect me. Beyond the senses, I am the pure nectar of Self-knowledge.
It’s crucial to understand that although the body and mind are subject to modification and both pleasure and pain, the Self is unaffected, for it is subtler than the mind, body and senses. To know this beyond a shadow of a doubt is to be liberated from bondage.
9. The mind is formless like space, yet it wears a million faces. Within it appear images from the past and worldly forms. Awareness, however—the essence of what I am—exists apart from the mind and remains unaffected by it.
10. As the Self, I am the one Existence; I am everything everywhere! Although appearing as multiplicity, I am undifferentiated and pervade all forms. As the Self, I am both the Unmanifest and the manifest; the seer and the seen.
11. You, also, are the one Existence! Why don’t you understand? You are the unchanging Self, the same shining consciousness that enlivens all beings equally. Limitless and indestructible, you are the all-pervading Light. For this ever-shining Light, there can be no distinction between day and night.
The Self is both self-existent and self-effulgent. Of the nature of Awareness or pure Consciousness, it is the light that has no opposite; for it is eternal and needs no other illumination to reveal it. Because this Awareness shines eternally, it has neither beginning nor end. By its light, all the objects of the mind and senses are revealed and known.
12. The Self is continuous, unbroken and changeless. The One within all, It knows no division. This “I” is both the subject and the supreme object of meditation. How can one divide the indivisible?
13. You, O Self, were never born and will never die. Birth and death do not pertain to You. You have never been a body. As the scriptures state in many ways: “All is Brahman”; all is Limitless and Eternal Awareness.
The Self doesn’t appear in a body; rather, the body appears in the Self. Were you to analyse your own direct experience, you would have to conclude that all objects, whether tangible material objects or the subtle objects of thought and imagination, appear in Awareness and are ultimately indivisible from Awareness. Awareness is the substrate and essence of all that is perceivable. Try though you might, you can never divorce Awareness from the objects it perceives.
14. You are That which is both within and without. You are Shiva; you are everything everywhere! Why, then, is your mind so deluded? Why do you run about like a frightened ghost?
Self-ignorance causes us to rush about the world like desperate phantoms. Driven by an inherent sense of lack and incompleteness, we find ourselves hungrily devouring objects of sensory experience in a desperate bid to remove this deep-rooted feeling of incompleteness. A mind subject to Self-ignorance is naturally a troubled, disturbed mind; a mind caught in the unrelenting grasp of samsara.
Buddhists speak of the realm of “hungry ghosts”. These wraithlike spectres are said to be constantly ravenous and desperate to keep consuming experience. Tragically, however, they have only pinhole mouths. As a result, no matter how hard they try, they can never satisfy their hunger. This metaphor perfectly describes the state of samsara, as experienced to varying degrees by almost every human being.
The key is plain to see in this verse. Dattatreya is addressing the mind. That’s where the problem lies. Ignorance is a product of the mind and the only solution is, therefore, to re-educate the mind.
15. Neither union or separation exist for you or me. There is ultimately no “you”, no “me”, and no universe about us. All is the Self alone.
All the waves in the ocean are nothing but water assuming a temporary time-bound form. Likewise, the universe and all the beings within it are nothing but the Self assuming a temporary time-bound form.
16. As Awareness, you cannot be be heard, or smelled, or tasted; nor can you be seen, or sensed by touch. Beyond the five senses, you are the Ultimate, all encompassing Reality. Why, then, do you suffer so?
The message of the Upanishads is simply this: To know yourself as you truly are is to go beyond suffering. Nothing in the world of form and experience can then touch or taint you any more than the fevered imaginings of the dreamer can affect the person dreaming.
17. Neither birth or death, nor bondage or liberation affect you at all. They exist in the mind, but not in You. Why then, my friend, are you crying? We are beyond name and form.
18. O mind, why do you flit about like a restless ghost? Realise the indivisible Self! Relinquish this attachment and false identification, and be happy and free!
When you believe yourself to be a finite entity with a deeply ingrained sense of lack and incompleteness, how can you ever be happy and free? Simply put, you cannot.
As long as you remain identified with the adjuncts of the body and mind—their woes are your woes. On the other hand, when you see them as simply objects appearing in the vast Awareness that you are, their properties no longer belong to you, and neither do their sorrows.
19. You are the changeless Truth and Essence of everything; the Eternal One; indomitable, boundless and ever free from modification. Neither attachment nor aversion belong to you. Why, then, do you entertain thoughts of limitation and succumb to desire?
Assimilating the knowledge “I am the Self; pure, limitless Awareness” will almost certainly take time. After all, the mind has been accustomed to thinking in terms of duality and limitation for decades; even lifetimes. Until this Knowledge is fully internalised, you will likely continue experiencing the mind’s same old patterns of limitation along with its ingrained desires and aversions.
Rather than seeing this as a bad thing, you can use it as a helpful gauge as to how firm your Self-Knowledge is. With time and the repeated application of Self-Knowledge to the mind, you’ll eventually find the old patterns of ignorance, self-limitation and craving fading away like darkness in the morning light.
20. The Vedantic scriptures unanimously declare the Self to be the pure, formless, imperishable Awareness that is essence of all forms. Know That to be your true nature beyond any doubt.
21. All forms, whether gross or subtle, are but temporary manifestations. Only the formless Reality pervading them is eternal. To realise this Truth is to pass beyond birth and death.
22. The Self, the One Reality, is ever the same; so say the great Sages. When you relinquish desire and attachment, the mind sees neither duality or unity.
Duality doesn’t exist outside of the mind. Reality is an undivided Whole. The mind, however, believing only the visible to be real and, taking itself to be a separate body/mind/ego, functions by breaking reality into bitesize pieces, labelling and categorising each. It thus creates an entire universe of “this” and “that”; “me” and “not-me”.
Falling for what Einstein called this “optical delusion of consciousness”—and believing ourselves to be separate, isolated and incomplete entities—our delusion binds us to desire and attachment, further deluding the mind. A deluded mind is incapable of interfacing with reality with any measure of clarity and inevitably leads us ever deeper into the bondage of samsara.
23. If you seek the Self in the unreal world of objects, how can you know the unity of existence? If you see the world as other than the Self, how can you know the unity of existence? True liberation is knowing everything as One.
24. When you realise yourself to be the pure and imperishable Reality—without birth, without body, and the same in all beings—how can you then say, “I know the Self” or “I don’t know the Self”?
For the enlightened, talk of the Self is unnecessary and redundant. It is enough to simply be the Self.
25. The Vedantic proclamation Tat tvam asi, “That thou art”, affirms the true nature of your identity as the Self. The saying neti neti, “not this, not this”, negates the reality of the world of the five elements.
One of the essential tools of Vedantic practice is learning to discriminate the Self from the “not-Self”, or the Real from the only apparently real. The upshot is that anything known to you as an object, whether gross or subtle—whether an outer form or the form of a thought, memory, emotion, and so on—cannot be you.
As the Self, you are never available as an object of perception because you are the eternal Subject; the boundless Awareness in which all objects arise and subside and by which they are known. You are the eternal Knower; always present, ever existent, yet never available for objectification. The real crux of spiritual practice is simply learning to discriminate between you, Awareness, and the ephemeral objects appearing in you.
26. The Self is the true identity of all; It contains and pervades this entire universe. Your very nature is fullness, for you are everything; the unbroken whole. For the Self, there is no thinker and no object of thought. Why then, O mind, do you go on thinking so shamelessly?
The Indian sage Tilopa once stated that the way to liberation was to “Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness.”
The human mind is designed to keep us safe and, as an extension of that, to guard and enhance our egoic self-concept. Vedantic meditation is continuously bringing the mind back to its Source, pure Awareness, allowing for the full assimilation of the Knowledge “I am Awareness”.
As pure Awareness, you have nothing to gain, nothing to lose, and nothing to acquire, protect or fear. A mind fully cognisant of this truth naturally begins to quieten; its grasping attachments and fitful anxieties melting like snow in the sunlight. This process of taming the mind can only be achieved by the consistent and rigorous application of Self-Knowledge.
27. If I know not Shiva, how can I speak of Him? If I know not Shiva, how can I worship It? I am Shiva! The primal Essence of all; my nature, boundless like the sky, remains ever the same.
28. As the all-pervading Essence of all forms, I have no form of my own. I am beyond the division of subject and object. How could I possibly be an object to myself?
As the Self, you are pure Awareness; the eternal Subject. Always present and forever shining, Awareness is always the Knower and never the known. Just as a camera can photograph anything but itself, the Self enables the mind to perceive anything but is never itself an object of perception.
Some people are unsatisfied with this because they believe they want to ‘“experience the Self”. However, there is never any time that you are not experiencing the Self. It is the very medium by which you experience reality. It’s impossible to divorce the objects of Awareness from Awareness itself. Therefore, there’s never a time that you aren’t experiencing the Self. Because Awareness is subtler than the objects it illumines, you may simply not be aware of that Awareness, even though it is the very foundation of your entire existence.
29. Though wearing the guise of countless forms, the Infinite Reality has no form of its own. The one Self, the Highest Truth, is limitless. Nothing else exists. Actionless, the Self neither creates, sustains nor destroys anything.
Action pertains to maya, the world of the objects, which appears in the Self much as a dream appears in the sleeping mind. Just as the sun shines upon the world, allowing life to flourish while itself uninvolved and actionless, the Self is that which allows the maya world to exist and function, while remaining actionless and unchanged by it.
30. As the pure and changeless Essence; you are beyond form; birthless and deathless. For you, how could such a thing as delusion exist? Delusion cannot exist for the Infinite.
Ignorance is a product of the mind alone and never touches or changes the Self in any way. As the mind is the source of our Self-ignorance, the solution is to remedy this with the application of Self-Knowledge. No matter the state of the mind, whether enlightened or unenlightened, the Self is always free. That’s why delusion and illumination relate to the mind only—and not you, as the ever free Self.
31. When a glass jar is broken, the space within unites with the space around it. Similarly, when the mind is purified, it sees no difference between itself and Shiva, the Eternal Self.
Enlightenment isn’t a process of gain. It’s not about acquiring or “adding” anything to yourself in any way. It’s not an event or a process of becoming. It’s simply the result of Knowledge: the Knowledge that you are already whole and non-different from the pure, unchanging, taintless Awareness/Consciousness that is Self.
32. From the perspective of the Absolute, there is no jar and neither inner nor outer space. There is no body and no individual to lay claim to it. Everything is the One Indivisible Self. There is no subject, no object, and no separate parts.
33. Eternal and ever present in all things, the Self alone exists. The world of form, both Unmanifest and manifest, is nothing but my Self. Of this, I have no doubt!
34. For the Self, there are no scriptures, no world, and no rituals or offerings. There are no gods, nor classes, nor races of men; no stages of life, and no path of darkness or path of light. There is nothing but pure Awareness, the supreme Reality and highest Truth.
35. The subject and object are one and the same, and you are That eternal, non-dual One. This being so, with no existent “other”, how can the Self be perceived as an object?
36. Some seek Non-duality, while others remain content with duality. They don’t understand that the all-pervading Reality is beyond duality and non-duality.
To speak of Non-duality infers the existence of duality. Duality doesn’t exist outside of the mind. It exists in perception alone. The Self is beyond both duality and Non-duality because it is the eternal One without a second. It is the single existent factor in reality. In spite of appearances to the contrary, there is nothing other than it, so, for the enlightened, talk of duality and Non-duality is redundant.
37. How can one describe the supreme Reality when it has no colour, no sound, or qualities of any kind? How can one think or speak of that which is beyond the range of thought or speech?
Vedanta teaches by a process of superimposition and negation (adhyaropa apavada). For the purposes of teaching, we may ascribe certain qualities or attributes to the Self, but we later retract them by revealing that the ultimate Reality is beyond description and categorisation. It simply is.
38. When you know this world of form to be as vast and empty as the sky, then you will know the Self and pierce the veil of duality.
We come to realise the Real by negating the unreal.
39. With Indirect Knowledge, the Self appears to be other than I. With Direct Knowledge, I know it to be that which I am. Undivided like space, the Self alone exists. How, then, can the subject and object of meditation be separate?
The initial stages of teaching reveal the Self via Indirect Knowledge, as an object known to us—hence, we talk of “the Self”. As we begin to covert Indirect Knowledge to Direct Knowledge, we claim ownership of it. It’s no longer “the Self”, but “my Self”. After all, if the Self is everything, then what else can it be? What started as an abstract object is now firmly understood to be the eternal Subject; the very essence and totality of what we are.
40. I do not act, eat, give or take, for I am the Self. As the Self, I am actionless, pure, and beyond birth and death.
Pivotal to enlightenment is the realisation that, as the Self, you are actionless. The Self doesn’t act, although all actions happen by the grace of its existence. A helpful metaphor is to think of the sun. It is by virtue of the heat and light of the sun that life on Earth can exist and flourish. In many respects, the sun is the source of all life on our planet, yet it never performs any action itself other than existing and shining its light.
41. Know the whole of the universe to be without form. Know the whole of the universe to be without change. Know the whole of the universe to be pure and untouched by its contents. Know the whole of the universe to be the embodiment of Shiva.
Here, the “whole” refers to the Absolute order of reality; the ground of Existence which is the Self, or Shiva. In Vedanta terminology, we call this paramartika satyam, which means the absolute order of existence—the immaterial, boundless substratum in which the phenomenal universe appears as an objective world of form and experience (vyavaharika satyam). This objective world depends upon the Absolute for its existence just as the waves depend upon the ocean for their existence. After all, an effect cannot exist independently of its cause.
42. Know yourself to be the Ultimate Reality, and have no doubt. The Self is not something that can be known by the mind, for the Self is that by which the mind is known. How can you seek to know what you already are?
43. O dear one, why get so absorbed in the material universe? Whether the shadow is present or not, it has no independent reality. Existence is One. The Ultimate Reality is everything everywhere; all-pervading and free like space. Nothing else exists.
44. I am without beginning, middle or end. I am not bound, nor will I ever be. By my very nature, I am stainless, whole and pure. This I know with certainty.
45. From the subtlest of elements to the gross forms of the universe, all that exists is the Self alone. The stages of life and divisions of society have no meaning to me.
46. I see everything as the One Indivisible Reality. This undivided One constitutes the void, all of space, and the world of the senses and the five elements.
47. The world of manifold form is simply an appearance in the One Universal Awareness that is the Self. In spite of appearances, there is only one factor in existence, and that is the Self.
48. The Self is neither male, female, nor neuter. It possesses neither intellect nor the power of thought. How can you imagine it to possess form and distinction when it is the Essence of all things?
49. Practising yoga will not lead you to purity. Neither will emptying the mind of all thoughts, or following the teachings of a guru. As the immortal Self, you are, by your very nature, pure, Eternal Awareness.
Although spiritual teachings often speak in terms of attainment, the Self is not something you can attain. It is already attained. It is not something you can add to yourself or a state of consciousness you can manufacture. You are already the totality of Existence. The practise of yoga, meditation and the teaching of Vedanta cannot “add” that to you. They are simply tools for freeing the mind of Self-ignorance. When you remove that ignorance, the light of Truth alone remains.
50. Neither the gross body of the five elements, nor the subtle body of mind, intellect, and ego, have any independent reality. Only the Self has independent and lasting existence. All states of consciousness are but appearances in the Self.
In Vedanta, anything objectifiable by the mind and senses falls into the category of mithya. Mithya means that which is only apparently real; that which has no inherent existence of its own. Gold rings, ornaments and bangles are all examples of mithya. These objects have a name and form and are experienceable by the senses, but they have no independent existence of their own. The “ring”, for instance, doesn’t exist separately from the gold—it is simply gold in a certain shape and form. If you melt it down, the “ring” will be lost but the gold will remain because it exists independently of the ring.
In the same way, this entire universe of name and form has no independent existence of its own. It is mithya; an effect dependent on an underlying cause—namely, pure Awareness or Consciousness (terms we use synonymously). The forms of the world are entirely dependent upon the Essence from which they arise and subside—and that essence is Universal Awareness.
50. I am neither bound nor am I liberated. I am neither the doer nor the enjoyer of action. I am pure Awareness and nothing else. I do not pervade, nor am I pervaded.
Vedantic scriptures talk of the Self as being “all-pervading” like space. Dattatreya appears to contradict that in the final sentence of this verse. This is simply a shift of perspective. From the perspective of maya, it helps to think of the Self as the Essence pervading all things. But from the perspective of the Self, It doesn’t pervade anything. Why? Because there is nothing other than It—and, therefore, nothing to pervade.
51. When ice and water are mixed, they become one without distinction. Similarly, in combination, prakriti and purusha, matter and spirit, are indistinguishable from each other.
The terms prakriti and purusha refer to the principles of matter and spirit; the seen and the unseen, or the objects and the Awareness in which they appear.
The two are “indistinguishable” because, in order to experience anything, both principles must be present. You can never experience the objective phenomenal world without Awareness. Awareness is That by which all forms are perceived and That from which they borrow their existence. Therefore, to exist and function in the world, both these factors must combine to create the universe of form and experience.
52. Having never been bound, I need never be liberated. How could the Self, with or without form, ever be bound?
53. The Supreme Self, the mother of all things, exists everywhere like space. The world of form appears in it like the water of a desert mirage.
The world of maya, of form and differentiation, appears in the Self, Awareness, much as a dream appears in the mind of the dreamer (or, to use the example here, a mirage in the mind of a desert traveller). The dreamer pervades the entire dream; there is nowhere and nothing he or she is not. While the dream isn’t real, you can’t claim that it doesn’t exist, for it is clearly experienced by the mind and the inward turned senses. Rather, like the sand mistaken for a desert oasis, it appears to exist at some level, but is not real.
54. I have neither guru nor teaching and no action to perform. I am, by my very nature, as pure and as free as the formless sky.
55. You are the self-existent purity. Neither body nor mind pertain to you. You are the Supreme Reality. Do not be ashamed to declare, “I am the Self, the Supreme Reality!”
56. Why do you weep, O mind? Realise the Self, beloved. Drink the timeless nectar of Non-duality.
Our sorrows are always born of self-misapprehension. By taking appearance to be real, we have assumed ourselves to be a limited body-mind entity subject to all manner of suffering, pain and eventual death. When our perspective shifts to the Awareness in which the body and mind arise, we realise ourselves to be unbounded and free. By shifting perspective, the mind no longer has cause to grieve.
57. Knowledge does not pertain to you, nor ignorance; nor a mixture of the two. You, yourself, are the essence of Knowledge; a Self-existent Knowledge that never ceases or errs.
58. I am not knowledge born of the intellect, nor am I attained by deep meditation or yoga. I am not gained by the passage of time or by the guru’s instruction. My nature is pure Awareness; the highest Truth and ultimate Reality. Though I may appear to change with time, I am like space; ever changeless and free.
59. As I have no birth, I have no death. I perform no action, either good or bad. I am Awareness; pure and free of all qualities. How can bondage or liberation exist for that which has no form?
60. If the Self is all-pervading, eternal, whole, and without division, there can be no differentiation whatsoever. How, then, can it be regarded as being either “inside” or “outside”?
61. The entire universe shines as One; inseparable, divisionless and partless. Belief in the independent existence of maya is a great delusion. Duality and Non-duality are mere concepts of the mind.
62. The world of form, which has no independent existence, cannot be separated from the formless in which it appears. How can there be either division or union when there is nothing but the Self alone?
63. You have no mother or father, nor brother, spouse, child, or friend. You are unaffected by attachment or impartiality. Why, then, is your mind so perturbed?
Relationship troubles disappear the instant you realise that, as the One without a second, there is only You! Everyone you ever encounter is but an expression of the one Consciousness; the same sun reflected upon all the mirrors in all the world.
64. O mind, there is neither day nor night, creation nor dissolution. The light of the Self is continuous and never rises or sets. How can the wise possibly believe that the formless Self can in any way be affected by the world of form?
Ordinarily, the process of creation involves a change in the underlying substance. For instance, when milk is churned into butter it undergoes an irreversible change and will never be milk again.
However, although the maya world is a product of the Self in much the same way heat is a product of fire, the Self is unaffected by this creation. The creation appears, but the Self remains unchanged. This is because the Self is of a different order of reality to the manifest world. What happens in one order of reality is specific to that level and can’t affect any other order of reality. For example, even though you might dream that you’ve won the lottery, when you wake up in the morning you won’t bother trying to claim your prize. This is because the lottery win only pertained to the dream order of reality; it doesn’t impact the waking order of reality whatsoever. Just as the waking world is unaffected by the world of your dreams, the Self is unaffected by the world of maya.
65. It is neither divided nor undivided. It experiences neither sorrow nor joy. It is neither the universe, nor is it not the universe. The Self is the eternal, imperishable One.
66. I am not the doer, nor am I the enjoyer. I am unbound by karma, past or present. I have no body, nor am I bodiless. Therefore, how can a sense of possession, of “mine” or “not mine”, be assigned to Me?
With the assimilation of Self-Knowledge comes the negation of your sense of doership and ownership. The Self—being the totality of everything; divisionless, actionless and ever whole—can have no sense of ownership; of “me” or “mine”, because there is nothing other than it. The notion of possession is meaningless when there is no other.
67. I am uncontaminated by passions or attachment, nor do I suffer from bodily afflictions. Know me to be the one Self; as vast and endless as the open sky.
68. O mind, my friend, what is the use of so much vain talk? O mind, my friend, what is to gain by such fruitless wrangling? I have told you the highest Truth: You are the ultimate Reality. You are unbound and free like space.
Enlightenment is basically the re-education of the mind. Rather than identifying as a body-mind entity, as has been the mind’s default setting, your centre of identification shifts to Awareness. This rarely happens overnight, for it requires the steady and consistent application of Self-Knowledge to the errant mind. In Vedanta, the term for this re-education of the mind is nididhyasana. For it to work, all your thoughts, beliefs and habitual reactions must be examined as they arise and held up to the light of Truth: the Knowledge that you are whole, ever-free Awareness. Without this process of mental reeducation, the formations of the mind will continue to be conditioned by the mind’s old patterns of ignorance.
69. In whatever place and in whatever state a yogi dies, his consciousness is absorbed into the Absolute, just as the space inside a jar unites with the space around it when the jar is broken.
70. Whether he dies at a holy place or in a lowly hut, the yogi, having divested himself of all bodily identification, realises his non-separation from the Absolute pervading all.
This and the previous verse explore what happens when the Self-Realised person sheds their body. Because they have realised their identity as the Self, they have negated their karma. Karma belongs to the world of maya, whereas the transcendent Self is ever untouched by maya.
The Self was never actually bound in any way. A false identification lay at the root of our bondage; a sense of doership and ownership—specifically, believing ourselves to be a body/mind/ego subject to birth, death and karma. When this ignorance is destroyed, our “karmic account” is closed, so to speak; and, in the absence of karma, no further birth is necessary.
71. To the enlightened, righteousness, action, the pursuit of wealth, pleasure and liberation—and all the people and objects in the world—are as illusory as the water of a desert mirage.
The wise see the objects of the world for what they are: maya—a dependent effect resulting from an independent cause: ie., the Self. The world and all the objects in it certainly exist, but, just as a dream has no any existence outside of the dreamer, they have no inherent existence of their own.
72. As the Self, I perform no action. No action, past or present, was ever undertaken or enjoyed by Me. This I know beyond all doubt.
73. The liberated soul, aware that all is but his own Self, lives alone, always content, and moves about the world, open-hearted, happy and free.
As long as you believe your happiness to be dependent upon external factors you’ll inevitably experience a lifetime of anxiety and sorrow. Only when you realise that happiness and freedom are inherent to your very nature can you breathe easy and begin to enjoy life for what it is.
The enlightened know there’s nothing to gain in the world and nothing to lose either. With this comes an incredible sense of detachment and fearlessness as you realise that there’s nothing that you can’t do in life. Life ceases to be a relentless struggle to “make things work” and “become somebody” and instead becomes a celebration of gratitude and wonder.
74. States of consciousness, whether exalted or mundane, are irrelevant when all is experienced as the Self alone. When neither dharma nor adharma pertain, how could you experience either bondage or liberation?
The dualistic yogic notion of the Self as a “state of consciousness” that can be attained or added to you is a huge obstacle to Self-Knowledge. It has kept sincere and ardent seekers locked in ignorance, misplaced effort and frustration throughout the ages. The Self is limitless and eternal, therefore, there’s nothing other than it. So, whatever state of consciousness you are experiencing right now can only be the Self. In fact, the Self is that by which all states of consciousness are experienced and known. You can never not be experiencing the Self. All that’s missing is true knowledge of the Self: the knowledge that you are already whole, complete and free—and this knowledge is attained by removing the mind’s ignorance.
75. The liberated being, having assimilated the knowledge of their own essential nature, declares that neither the mantras of scripture nor the practices of tantra can ever adequately reveal the Self.
76. It is meaningless to differentiate between the void and the world of form. It is pointless to speak of the “real”and “the unreal”. All that exists is the One, unchanging, Eternal Self. That is the declaration of the scriptures.
Om Tat Sat.
