Avadhoota Gita By Dattatreya

31. He attains to the supreme Self, who is eternal, pure, fearless, formless, and supportless, who is without body, without desire, beyond the pairs of opposites, free from illusion and of undiminished power.

Pairs, etc.-such as heat and cold, pain and pleasure, ignorance and knowledge, life and death, which are all relative.

32. He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom exists no Veda, no initiation, no tonsure, no teacher, no disciple, no perfection of symbolic figures, no hand-posture or anything else.

Symbolic, etc.-In ritualistic worship geometrical figures drawn on metal, stone, etc., are sometimes used as symbols of Divinity.

Hand-posture-called mudra, used as art of ritualistic worship.

33. He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom is neither sambhavi, nor sakti, nor anavi initiation; neither a sphere, nor an image, nor a foot, nor anything else; neither beginning, nor ending, nor a jar, etc.

Sambhavi, etc.-Tantrika texts speak of three kinds of initiation.

Sambhavi initiation, which is very rare, is that in which the teacher by a mere word, look, touch, or by will imparts the highest knowledge of God to the disciple instantly.

Sakti initiation is that in which the teacher instills into the disciple a great spiritual power which will of itself, within a reasonable time, bring about the disciple’s spiritual emancipation. The disciple does not have to exert himself for this realization. Such initiation also is exceptional.

Anavi or mantri initiation is that in which the teacher, on an auspicious day, instructs the disciple concerning the method of spiritual practice he should follow, gives him a word or a phrase (called mantra) to repeat, and offers other necessary instructions.

The disciple must practice according to these instructions to gain spiritual knowledge.

Sphere-a round symbol made of stone, etc.

Foot- Sometimes either an image of a foot or a footprint is used as a symbol of worship.

Beginning, etc.-ceremonial beginning and ending of worship.

Jar-Sometimes a jar filled with water is used as a symbol of the all-pervading Divinity.

34. He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, from whose essence the universe of movable and immovable objects is born, in whom it rests, and into whom it dissolves, even as foam and bubbles are born of the
transformation of water.

35. He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, in whom is no closing of nostril nor gazing nor posture, and in whom is neither knowledge nor ignorance nor any nerve-current.

Closing, etc.-In the practice of pranayama or breath control, each nostril in turn is closed with a finer in order to breatheonly with the other nostril.

Gazing-fixing the eyes on a certain point to induce concentration.

Posture-a particular way of sitting which allows the body to be most comfortable and yet conduces to the practice of mental concentration.

Nerve-current-The reference is to the three nerves mentioned in Yoga texts-ida, pingala and susumna along which thought-currents are made to flow in order to realize higher states of consciousness.

36. He attains to the supreme, eternal Self, who is devoid of manifoldness, oneness, many-and-oneness, and otherness; who is devoid of minuteness, length, largeness, and nothingness; who is devoid of knowledge, knowableness, and sameness.

37. He attains the supreme, eternal Self whether he has perfect self-control or not, whether he has withdrawn his senses well or not, whether he has gone beyond activity or is active.

Has, etc.-whether he appears to have self-control or not.

38. He attains the supreme, eternal Self who is not mind, intelligence, body, senses, or egoism; who is neither the subtle elements nor the five gross elements nor of the nature of space.

39. When injunctions cease and the yogi attains to the supreme Self, his mind being void of differentiations, he has neither purity nor impurity; his contemplation is without distinguishing attributes; and even what is usually prohibited is permissible to him.

Injunctions-prescriptions given by the scriptures to a spiritual aspirant in regard to what he should practice.

The yogi who has attained to the Highest is beyond the need of such prescriptions.

Contemplation, etc.-The spiritual aspirant is prohibited from doing certain things, just as he is enjoined to do other things; but upon attaining the Highest he goes beyond all injunctions and prohibitions.

Realizing himself as the Absolute, he may act in even an apparently evil way, just as God does some apparently evil things in His creation.

40. Where mind and speech can utter nothing, how can there be instruction by a teacher? To the teacher-ever united with Brahman who has said these words, the homogeneous Truth shines out.