16. You do not belong to that which is composed of the five objects of sense, such as sound; nor does that belong to you. You indeed are the supreme Reality. Why then do you suffer?
Five. – The world appearance is composed of the five objects of sense: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, and is not in reality connected with the Self.
17. For you there is no birth or death, for you there is no mind, for you there is no bondage or liberation, no good or evil. Why do you shed tears, my child? Neither you nor I have name and form.
18. Oh mind, why do you wander about deluded, like an unclean spirit? Behold the Self indivisible. Be happy through renunciation of attachment.
19. You verily are Truth, devoid of change, motionless, one, of the nature of freedom. You have neither attachment nor aversion . Why do you suffer, seeking the objects of desires?
20. All the scriptures say that the Truth is without attributes, pure, immutable, bodiless, and existing equally everywhere. Know me to be That.
21. Know that which has form to be false, that which is formless to be eternal. Through the instruction of this truth there is no longer rebirth into this world.
No longer, etc. – Knowing oneself as eternal, one is not born into this world anymore, since incarnation is caused only by the soul’s ignorance of its true nature.
Yet let it be known that some return for compassion’s sake while yet knowing the absolute.
22. Sages say that Reality is one only and the same. And through renunciation of attachment, the mind, which is one and many, ceases to exist.
One and many – “one” in a high (but not the highest) state of illumination, “many” in the state of ignorance.
23. If it is of the nature of the not-Self, how can there be Samahdi? If it is of the nature of the Self, how can there be Samahdi? If it is both “is” and “is not”, how can there be Samahdi? If all is one and of the nature of freedom, how can there be Samahdi?
It – inconscientousness or true realization.
Samahdi – the absorption of the mind in the absolute Brahman, as a result of which the eternal Truth is realized.
Dattatreya maintains that the practice of Samahdi has no justification.
If the universe of our experience is the not-Self, then the true “I” is not in the state of Samahdi, for Truth is not there.
If our experience is of the Self, then Samahdi is superfluous.
How can The Self then be in Samahdi?
24. You are pure homogeneous Reality, disembodied, unborn, and immutable.Why do you think of yourself as “I know it here” or as “I do not know”?
“I know it here”, etc. – Our knowledge of our Self in this earthly state is incorrect. To maintain that we do not have any true knowledge of our Self here is also incorrect.
25. By such sentences as “That thou art,” our own Self is affirmed. Of that which is untrue and composed of the five elements – the Sruti (scripture) says, “Not this, not this.” (Neti Neti)
That, etc. – the phenomenal existence as well as the unknowable.
Five elements – earth, water, fire, air, and ether, of which, according to the Indian systems of philosophy the whole relative existence is constituted. See verse 3.
Sruti – the Vedas, particularly the Upanishads, the original texts of the Vedanta philosophy.
26. As the self is filled by the Self, so is all filled continuously by you. There is no meditator or meditation. Why does your mind meditate shamelessly?
Shamelessly – One should be ashamed to meditate, because meditation pre-supposes a shameful orgetfulness of one’s true nature.
If one does not know The Self meditation is the way to realization. After realization one will cease to meditate.
27. I do not know the Supreme; how shall I speak of Him? I do not know the Supreme how shall I worship Him? If I am the supreme One, who is the highest Truth, who is homogeneous Being and like unto space, how then shall I speak of Him and worship Him?
Know, etc. – Empirical knowledge belongs to a lower state in which the Supreme cannot be perceived; therefore one cannot speak of “knowing” the Supreme.
If I am the supreme, how can I see myself?Can the eye see the eye?
28. The principle of ego is not the Truth, which is homogeneous, which is free from the cause of superimposition and distinctions of perceived and perceiver. How can the ego be That which is aware of Itself?
29. There is no substance whatever which is by nature unlimited. There is no substance whatever which is of the nature of Reality. The very Self is the supreme Truth. There is neither injury nor non injury in It.
Substance – relative reality.
30. You are the homogeneous Reality; you are pure, bodiless, birthless, and imperishable. Why then do you have any delusion about the Self? Again, why am I myself deluded?
