Chapter 2
1. Of the teacher-even if he be young illiterate, or addicted to the enjoyment of sense objects, even if he be a servant or a householder -none of these should be considered. Does anyone shun a gem that has fallen in an impure place?
Illiterate here refers to one who is not versed in the scriptures.
Addicted (apparently so.)
2. In such a case one should not consider even the quality of scholarship. A worldly person should recognize only the essence. Does not a boat. though devoid of beauty and vermilion paint nevertheless ferry passengers?
Essence,etc.- The essential qualification of the teacher is not intellectual immanence, but capacity to impart spiritual illumination.
3. The unmoving One, who without effort possesses all that is movable and immovable, is consciousness, naturally calm, like the sky.
4. How can He, the One and All-pervading, who moves effortlessly all that is movable and immovable, be differentiated! To me He is nondual.
5. I am verily supreme since I am the Absolute, more essential than all essences, since I am free from birth and death, calm and undifferentiated.
6. Thus I, free from all components, am worshipped by the gods, but being full and perfect, I do not recognize any distinctions such as gods and the like.
Free, etc.-not made up of parts; indivisible. Worshipped, etc.-because the true Self is the highest Divinity. Recognize, etc.-In the highest spiritual realization no distinctions and differences are perceived.
7. Ignorance does not create any doubt. What shall I do, being endowed with modifications of the mind? They arise and dissolve like bubbles in water.
Ignorance, etc.-The man of the highest spiritual perception, after realizing his Divine identity, may live on the relative plane and thus appear enveloped by ignorance, but even then he is never unaware of his Divinity.
What, etc.-Thought the man of highest spiritual perception appears to think, will, etc., yet, as the pure witness, he remains completely separate from mental activities.
8. Thus am I ever pervading all existence beginning with cosmic intelligence-pervading soft, hard, sweet, and pungent substances.
9. As pungency, coldness, or softness is nondifferent from water, so prakrti is nondifferent from purusa-thus it appears to me.
Prakrti-nature; relative existence.
Purusa-spirit, the Absolute.
10. The Lord of the universe is devoid of all names. He is subtler than the subtlest, supreme, He is spotless, beyond the senses, mind, and intellect.
Lord, etc.-the Self.
11. Where there is such a natural Being, how can there be “I”, how can there be even “you”, how can there be the world?
Natural-existing in its natural (i.e., pure) state.
12. That which has been described as being like ether is indeed Like ether. That is Consciousness-blameless, omniscient, and perfect.
13. It does not move about on the earth or dwell in fire. It is not blown by the wind or covered by water.
14. Space is pervaded by It, but It is not pervaded by anything. It is existing within and without. It is undivided and continuous.
15. One should successively take recourse to the objects of concentration, as mentioned by the yogis,in accordance with their subtlety, invisibility,and attributelessness.
Take, etc.-In order to attain to the Absolute (or dissolution in the Absolute, as is said in the next verse), one has to reach the state of infinite and undifferentiated Consciousness by eliminating all mental differentiation or movements.
The method of this elimination is to make consciousness dwell on one object continuously by obstructing its restless tendency to dwell on multifarious objects.
But the object of concentration has to be chosen carefully.
The beginner chooses a gross object.
When he has dwelt on it continuously for some time, his consciousness becomes subtle and steady.
He then chooses a subtle object to concentrate on.
Gradually he reaches a high state of concentration, but some differentiations in his consciousness still remain-there is the consciousness of himself as the concentrator, of the object on which he is concentrating, and of the process of concentration. Next even these differentiations vanish.
For the object of concentration dissolves, and there remains only the pure, undifferentiated Consciousness, the Absolute.
16. When through constant practice one’s concentration becomes objectless, then, being divested of merits and demerits, one attains the state of complete dissolution in the Absolute through the dissolution of the object of concentration, but not before then.
17. For the destruction of the terrible poisonous universe, which produces the unconsciousness of delusion, there is but one infallible remedy-the nectar of naturalness.
Unconsciousness, etc.-delusion which makes one unconscious of the Divine Reality.
Naturalness-the state of pure Existence; Divine Identity.
18. That which has form is visible to the eye, while the formless is perceived mentally. That (the Self), being beyond existence and non-existence, is called intermediate.
Intermediate-neither material nor mental, i.e., beyond both.
19. The external existence is the universe, the inner existence is called prakrti. One should try to know That which is more interior than the inner existence, That which is like water within the kernel of the coconut.
Prakrti-in its subtle aspects: cosmic intelligence, cosmic mind, etc.
20. Illusory knowledge relates to what is outside, correct knowledge to what is inside. Try to know That which is more interior than the inside, That which is like water within the kernel of the coconut.
