'NOT THIS, NOT THIS', BUT 'THIS IS THAT'

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122. The body, organs, Pranas, Manas, egoism, etc., all modifications,

 

the sense-objects, pleasure, and the rest, the gross elements such as

 

the ether, in fact, the whole universe, up to the Undifferentiated--

 

all this the non-Self.

 

 

 

123. From Mahat down to the gross body everything is the effect of Maya.

 

These and Maya itself know thou to be the non-Self, and therefore unreal

 

like the mirage in a desert.

 

 

 

124. Now I am going to tell thee of the real nature of the Supreme Self,

 

realizing which man is freed from bondage and attains liberation.

 

 

 

125. There is some Absolute Entity, the eternal substratum of the

 

consciousness of egoism, the witness of the three states, and distinct

 

from the five sheaths or coverings :

 

 

 

126. Which Knows everything that happens in the waking state, in dream,

 

and in profound sleep ; which is aware of the presence or absence of the

 

mind and its functions : and which is the backround of the notion of egoism.

 

This is That.

 

 

 

127. Which Itself sees all, but which no one beholds, which illumines

 

the intellect etc., but which they cannot illumine.

 

This is That.

 

 

 

128. By which this universe is pervaded, but which nothing pervades,

 

which shining, all this shines as its reflection,

 

This is That.

 

 

 

131. This is the innermost Self, the Primeval Purusha, whose Essence

 

is the constant realization of Infinite Bliss, which is ever the same,

 

yet reflecting through the different mental modifications, and

 

commanded by which the organs and Pranas perform their functions.

 

 

 

134. It is neither born nor dies, It neither grows nor decays, nor does It

 

undergo any change, being eternal. It does not cease to exist even when

 

this body is destroyed, like the sky in a jar when it is broken, for

 

It is independent.

 

 

 

Satchitananda

 

Kathy

 

 

 

135. The Supreme Self, different from the Prakriti and its modifications,

 

of the Essence of Pure Knowledge, and Absolute,

 

directly manifests this entire gross and subtle universe,

 

in the waking and other states, as the substratum of the persistent sense

 

of egoism, and maifests Itself as the Witness of the buddhi,

 

the determinative faculty.

 

 

 

 

---- VIVEKACADAMUNI - Adi Sankaracharya