The Bliss of Shiva

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The Bliss of Shiva

 

I am neither earth nor fire, neither air nor ether, neither

sensory powers nor all these together, as all of these are

transient. I am He that remains alone in deep dreamless rest, the

secondless, supreme and attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

I am neither caste nor its divisions, neither rite nor rule, nor

am I the fixed mind or mood or mental exercise; this entire illusion

of 'I' and 'mine' is rooted in the not-self and is wholly dispelled

by the cognition of the Self. I am the secondless, supreme and

attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

I am neither mother nor father, neither the gods nor the worlds,

neither scriptures nor oblations nor shrines; in deep dreamless rest

I am neither abandoned nor in a state of absolute non-existence. I am

the secondless, supreme and attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

Neither Sankhya doctrine nor the Shaiva school, neither the

Pancharatra nor the Jaina, neither the Mimamsaka nor any other

standpoint, is cognition of TAT. Through perfect union, my wholly

pure nature is void of all but Self. I am the secondless, supreme and

attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

I am neither above nor below, neither inside nor outside,

neither midward nor forward, neither before nor behind; I am

indivisible and partless and all-pervading like space. I am the

secondless, supreme and attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

I am neither white nor black, neither red nor yellow, neither

stooped nor stout, neither short nor tall; I am of the formless

nature of self-resplendent consciousness. I am the secondless,

supreme and attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

There is neither teacher nor teaching, learner nor learning,

neither thou nor I, nor this empirical universe; I am universal self-

consciousness, the reality which is untinctured by any modification.

I am the secondless, supreme and attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

For me there is neither waking nor dream nor deep sleep, nor am

I conditioned by any of these states; all three are of the nature of

nescience, but I am the fourth beyond these three. I am the

secondless, supreme and attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

All this universe, being other than the SELF, is unreal; the

SELF alone is complete, constituting the ultimate refuge, self-

established and self-dependent. I am the secondless, supreme and

attributeless Bliss of Shiva.

 

Say that It is One, as there can be no second, nothing other

than That. There is neither uniqueness nor commonality, neither

entity nor non-entity; this secondless One is neither void nor

plenum. How can I convey this Supreme Wisdom?

 

Shri Shankacharya