Essence of Vedic Scriptures

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The essence of the Vedantic scriptures may be

condensed into the following points.

 

First: In me, the unmoving Brahman, all that seems

different is utterly without reality. I alone am. This

is called the standpoint of elimination (badha

drishti)

 

Second: The dream and all else that appears in me as

the result of magic is an illusion. I alone am the

Truth. This is called the standpoint of illusion

(mithya drishti).

 

Third: All that appears as form apart from the sea,

that is the bubble and the wave, is the sea. All that

is seen in a dream is seen in him who sees the dream.

Similarly, in me as in the ocean or the man who

dreams, all that seems separate from me is myself.

This is called the standpoint of resolving (the effect

into its cause) (pravikalpa drishti).

 

Reject the outer world by any of these three means and

recognize him who sees it to be infinite, pure,

homogeneous Brahman, who is the Self. He who has thus

realized Brahman is liberated. Although all three of

these viewpoints are aids to realization, the third,

in which one conceives everything as one's own Self,

is the most powerful. Therefore, knowing the

indivisible Self to be one's own Self, by one's own

experience, one must abide in one's own nature, beyond

any mental form. What more is there to say? The whole

world and all individuals are really Brahman, and

abidance as that indivisible Brahman is itself

deliverance. This is the essence and conclusion of all

the Vedas. The scriptures are the authority for this.

 

The disciple realized the truth of the Self through

these words of the Guru, through the authority of the

scriptures and by his own understanding. He controlled

his sense organs and, becoming one-pointed, remained

for a short time absorbed in unswerving samadhi in

that supreme Self. The he rose up and spoke thus to

his Guru:

 

Oh Master of the supreme experience, incarnation of

the supreme peace, of Brahman, of the eternal essence

of non-duality, endless ocean of grace, I bow down to

you.

 

- Vivekachudamani

 

 

 

 

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