It is (possible) reasonable to envelop wind and to cut into (empty) space, to string together watery waves but not give up attachment to (worldly) life.
(In contrast) by attaining Brahman, what is to be got is got, which causes no grief; it is the place of highest joy.
Even trees live, so do animals and birds – only he (really) lives, whose mind is sustained by contemplation; the others who have no (spiritual) rebirth are only old donkeys.
Shastra is a burden to one who lacks (spiritual) discrimination, knowledge is a burden to one attached (to life); mind is a burden to one without security, body is a burden to one ignorant of the self.
II-16-26. From ego does danger arise, so do bad mental ailments and desire – there is no enemy more dangerous than Ego; whatever in the moving and unmoving world was enjoyed by Ego – all that is unreal; only freedom from Ego is real. The mind runs hither and tither, in vain and with zeal, like a dog in the village. O Brahman, I have been made inert by the pursuit of thirst and eaten by my mind as by a dog.
Containment of the mind is impossible even by drinking up the ocean uprooting Meru and eating fire. Mind is the cause of objects; when it exists, the three worlds exist; when it does not, so do they, so it should be cured with effort.
Whatever wealth of merit I acquire, that Thirst cuts down, like a mouse cutting a string. Thirst is a fickle monkey – it sets foot in impassable places, hankers after fruits even when filled with them; never rests long in a place.
Throat is a bee in the lotus-heart. One moment, it goes to Patala; another, the sky; and another, it hovers in the bush of space; of all the griefs of worldly life, only thirst gives the longest grief; a person (well-guarded) in the harem it involves in great trouble.
Abandonment of brooding is the (preventive) chant for the cholera of Thirst.
II-27-38. There is nothing as pitiable as the body, low and meritless; it exults over a little and suffers over a little. The body is the great abode of the house-holder i.e. the Ego. Let it roll about or be steady – what is it to me, O Preceptor !
This body pleases me not – the senses (animals) are bound by six ropes (vices) – in its yard, Ego leaps about, it is crowded with the servants – the mind. It is frightening with the entrance held by the monkey (tongue) – in it are seen the (bared) teeth and bones. Tell me, what is attractive in the body which is made of blood and flesh, in and out, and which is only to perish – let him trust the body, who sees steadiness in lightnings, autumn clouds, and cities in the sky (illusions). Childhood is the abode of fear from the teacher, mother, father, other people and older children.
One is overwhelmed by the goblin of lust which exists in the cave of one’s mind and causes many delusions. Slaves, sons, women, relatives and friends laugh at a man shaken by old age as at a mad man. Desire is full of the defect of helplessness, grows long in old age, the sole friend of all danger and confuse foment is the heart.
The attribution of happiness to worldly life – even this is cut by time like grass by a rat. Time tries to possess selfishly (every thing from) grass and dust (to) Indra and gold, which is the dust of Meru – destroys all and all the three worlds are occupied by it.
III-39-48. What is auspicious about woman – a puppet of flesh – moved by a machine in the cage of the body – having nerves, bones and knots ?
Why are you deluded; separate the skin, flesh, blood and tears and then look at the body. Is it attractive ?
The pearl necklace on the breast is like the current of Ganga on Meru (fleeting and ephemeral) – the same breast is eaten by dogs at the due time like a lump of food, in the cemetery and corners of the directions.
Women are the flame of sin, have the soot of hair, pleasing to the eye but not to be touched; they burn man like grass.
Women are the fuel lovely, yet harmful, of the fires of all blazing at a distance whether they have taste (attachment) or not.
Women are the traps to catch the birds – men, spread by the hunter, Manmatha, the lump of bait, the string of wickedness to men who are the fish in the pond of birth (life) and moving in the mud of mind.
I will have none of this woman who is the basket of all defects – gems – the chain of misery. Only he with a woman has desire for enjoyment; where is enjoyment for one who has no woman ? Giving up women means giving up the world; by this one shall be happy.
III-49-54. Even the Quarters (like North) are not seen, regions give other (wrong) instruction; even the oceans and the stars dry up, even the permanent becomes impermanent, even Yogins (Siddhas) perish, demons and others decay; Brahma is reduced (to nothing), the unborn Vishnu too; Shiva becomes non-existent, the lords of the quarters decay. Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and all classes of creatures run towards destruction, like water-streams towards the marine fire. Dangers come for a moment, so does wealth; birth and death are only for a moment – everything dies. The brave ones are killed by those not brave – a hundred are killed by one. Poison changes its scope (effect) – poison is not poison !
III-55-57. Objects (of the world) destroy (only) one more birth, poison destroys life only once; it is time my mind is burnt in the forest fire of defects. Desires for enjoyment do not flash even in the illusory fatamorgana; so, oh preceptor, waken me quickly with the knowledge of truth. If you do not, I shall take to silence, without pride and jealousy, contemplating Vishnu with the mind like one turned into a painting.
IV-1-24. Nidagha, there is nothing else to be known by you, you are the best of the of the enlightened – you know by your intellect, with God’s grace – I shall wipe away the error caused by the impurity of the mind:
Control of inner and outer senses, enquiry, contentment and the fourth, contact with good people – resort to one at least of these giving up everything, with all effort – when one is achieved, the others also are achieved.
One shall develop wisdom only at first; first liberation from worldly life, by means of scripture, contact with good people, penance and self-control. One’s own experience (of the self), Shastra and the preceptor form one statement (they yield a single purpose) by practising (the teachings of) which the self is ever looked at (realized).
If you do (achieve) every moment, the avoidance of the sustained fancy and desire, then you will have reached the sacred, mindless state. Samadhi is said to be the freedom of the mind from agency (activity). That itself is oneness, that is the highest and auspicious joy.
You should remain, like a dumb, blind and deaf person, giving up with your mind, the thought of all things as the self.
The vision got through words of (Vedanta) that you are composed, unborn, beginningless and endless, shining, taste (bliss) alone, devoid of symptoms of mind – all this is for the (lower) knowledge and wasteful – only Om is real.
All the visible things in the world are nothing more than the consciousness without vibration – contemplate this.
Or, with mind ever enlightened and performing worldly functions, you remain knowing the oneness of the self, like the calm ocean.
Only the knowledge of Truth is the fire to the grass of mental impressions – this is said to be Samadhi, not mere silence.
Just as the world is active when the much desired sun has arisen (Mani – gem of the day, the sun), so also do the creatures of the world, when the supreme reality is present. So, oh sage, the agentship and non-agentship in the self arise: — the spirit is a non-agent when there is no desire – an agent by his mere presence.
These two exist in the Supreme Being – agency and non-agency – Resort to it firmly which is the (ultimate) cause of the two. So, by the thoughts, well kindled, that I am always a non-agent, the remains only the state of equality called the supreme immortality.
Listen, O Nidagha, there are born in the world, men of noble qualities in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, ever in the ascendant and happy like (autumnal) moons in the sky; not depressed during danger, like a gold lotus at night, nor aspiring beyond what is destined, delighting in the path of the good people. They shine through this firm (personality) with merits in the friendship; even-minded and reconciled, pleasing, ever good in conduct. They are within limits like the ocean, placid in mind, do not give up discipline, like the sun.
A wise person should enquire fully ‘What am I ? How did this blemish of Samsara develop ?’ One should not take to wrong deeds nor live with a low person. Death, the killer of all, should not be looked up in mockery. One should look only at the pure consciousness, avoiding the body, the bone, flesh and blood which are inauspicious, the consciousness being the string that holds together all the creatures like a necklace. Pursuing what is acceptable and avoiding totally what is not – this is the (proper) nature (attitude) of the mind. The seer shall be rid of grief knowing that he is Brahman with his own realization by the path prescribed by the preceptor.
IV-25. Enlightenment arises in the state of detachment wherein the fall of a hundred sharp swords is borne like strokes with lilies, burning with fire like drenching with snow, charcoal like sandalwood, endless fall of arrows like a fall of cool water to relieve summer heat, cutting one’s own head like happy sleep, the deprivation of speech like silence, deafness like a blessing.
IV-26-27. The self as always observed by the practice of realization which arises from the instruction of the preceptor. Just as the directions once again as before the delusion, so the world – delusion goes away destroyed by knowledge – consider this.
IV-28. Riches do not help, nor friends nor kinsmen, nor the strain of the body, nor resorting to sacred waters and temples, but only through the conquest of the mind is that condition reached.
IV-29-38. All the miseries, hankerings, unbearable mental pain are lost in people with a calm mind, like darkness in the sun. All creatures subside (attain calmness) in a serene person like children mischievous or soft, in their mother.
Not by drinking elixirs, nor by the embrace of wealth does a person get so much joy as by inner peace.
He is said to be a serene person, who does not exult or feel depressed on hearing, touching, eating, seeing and knowing the good or the bad.
Whose mind is not agitated, clear like the moon’s disc, in death, festival as well as in battle.
Only the serene person shines among ascetics, knowers, sacrificers, kings, men of strength and of virtue.
The calm persons are great who have attained contentment with the drink of Amrita and delight in the self.
