CH 2 Joy of Self-R 13 - 21

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13. Wonderful am I! Adoration to myself! There is none so capable as I,

who am bearing the universe for eternity without touching it with the body.

 

None etc - the universe is superimposed on the Self. As such, the Self,

though untouched by body, is the eternal support of the universe.

 

 

14. Wonderful am I! Adoration to myself who have nothing at all that is

thought or spoken of.

 

Nothing - because nothing really exists except the Self.

 

All etc. - because the Self is the substratum and the Reality and the

phenomenal universe as perceptible to the senses is mere illusion. Even

from the emperical point of view of I, the Self, am master of all that

exists, of all that is thought or spoken of.

 

 

15. Knowledge, knower and the knowable - these three do not exist in

reality. I am that stainless self in which this triad appears through

ignorance.

 

Knowledge etc. - all relative knowledge depends upon subject - object

consciousness. Supreme knowledge transcends this consciousness.

 

Stainless - free from identification with the universe, both internal and

external.

 

 

16. Oh, the root of misery is duality. There is no other rememdy for

it except the realization that all objects of experience are unreal and that

I am pure, One, Consciousness, and Bliss.

 

 

17. I am Pure Consciousness. Through ignorance I have imposed

limitations on myself. Constantly reflecting in this way, I am abiding in

the Absolute.

 

Limitations - viz. egoism, mind, body, etc.

 

Absolute -where duality vanishes and the Self shines in pristine glory.

 

 

18. I have neither bondage nor freedom. Having lost its support, the

illusion has ceased. Oh, universe, through existing in me, does not really

so exist.

 

Neither etc. - Because Atman is eternally free.

 

Illusion - we think ourselves as bound, and therefore seek liberation. This

is only an illusion, which has its basis in ignorance of our true nature.

When, by constantly reflecting on the pure nature of the Self, this

ignorance is destroyed, the illusion loses its support and vanishes.

 

Universe etc. - when from a relative standpoint the universe is considered

to exist, it has its basis in the Self itself. But from the absolute

standpoint, there is no universe, the Self alone is.

 

 

19. I have known for certain that the body and the universe are nothing

and that the self is Pure Consciousness alone. So on what is it now

possible to have base imagination?

 

Now - when ignorance has been destroyed.

 

Imagination - of the universe and the body.

 

 

20. Body, heaven and hell, bondage and freedom, as also fear, all these

are mere imagination. What do I have to do with these -I whose nature is

Pure Consciousness?

 

The idea is: so long as, through ignorance, we consider the body, heaven,

hell etc. to be real, we are impelled to act in relation to them. But the

nature of the Self is Pure Consciousness; and the ideas of heaven, hell,

etc. are mere imagination. Therefore these have no reality to one who has

attained Self-knowledge, and he has nothing to do with them.

 

 

21. Oh, I do not find any duality. Even the multitude of human beings,

therefore, has become like a wilderness. To what should I attach myself?

 

Wilderness - in the wilderness we feeel absolutely alone. The consciousness

of aloneness comes to one who has attained Self-knowledge. Though

apparently there may be a crowd, really he is conscious of the self alone.

 

What etc. - as there is nothing real besides my self.

 

to be continued