There is no creation apart from seeing; seeing and creation are one and the same. And because that seeing is due to ignorance, to cease seeing is the truth of the dissolution [of the world].
Maya is next explained.
It is the might of the Supreme Being, called maya, which takes the form of sense perceptions and thereby creates this varied world, which the deluded ones are persuaded is real.
Ignorance of the individual is related to the power of illusion that belongs to the Supreme Being. There is no other explanation of creation.
It is next shown that engaging in these enquiries postpones the main thing, the quest of the real Self, which is the principal thing to be engaged in.
Enquiring into unrealities, taking them to be real, leads to forgetting the real [Self]. And there is no death other than this forgetting, because in this way the Self is almost lost to the seeker.
The urgency of seeking the Self is next pointed out.
If the aspirant knows the Self in this [very] life, then and only then, for him the real is real. If in this life he fails to know the Self, for him the real [Self] remains concealed by the unreal.
Therefore the aspirant, being firmly convinced that space and time are unreal, should give up the whole world and seek to know the substratum, the Self, through the quest of his own true nature.
The next topic dealt with is the duality of free will and fate.
Only he that thinks ‘I am the doer of actions and the recipient of the fruits of actions’ takes the distinction between the intellect [will] and fate as real. But the Self is neither the doer nor the recipient of the fruits of actions.
When the fruit of action is pleasant, man thinks that will is stronger than fate. But when the fruit of action is otherwise, he thinks that fate is stronger.
That this difference is unreal is then shown.
Fate is only action done before, and all action is done by the will. Hence the pair of will and fate is only unreal. How can their antagonism be real?
Since the root of [both] will and fate is the ego, this pair will cease to appear when the ego dies in the pursuit of the quest of the real Self. [Hence,] the sage is not aware of the distinction between free will and fate.
The sage, who is mind-free and hence free from attachments, and without a [personal] will, does not become a doer of actions, nor does he reap the fruits of actions. Therefore, he is not aware of the distinction between free will and fate.
Even in the case of an ignorant one, the real Self is ever enlightened, and hence does not engage in actions, nor suffer delusion. But in its presence the intellect becomes endowed with consciousness and is active according to the qualities that dominate it.
This is important. The real Self remains unaffected, being ever-free. It is only the mind (or intellect) that is ignorant and bound.
Therefore the aspirant must cease from thoughts of the worldly life and strive to become aware of the truth of the Self, which is the same as Brahman, by means of the quest of that Self.
Then the truth about the individual soul, which is called the jiva, is discussed.
It is in the seer of the world, called the jiva, that the truth of the world lies [because] when it arises, the world also appears, and when it goes into latency, the world also does the same.
Therefore the sage, knowing the truth of the ego by the direct experience of the real Self, becomes aware of the truth of the world. The rest, being overwhelmed by the belief that the body is the Self, entertain a false view of the world.
The soul is the primary form of ignorance. It is the sprout that grows into the poison-tree of worldly life. All this world is only its expanded form. The state of deliverance is just its final extinction.
The sage Buddha taught this truth; also the great teacher Sankara taught the same; our own Guru also tells us the same; and this is also the essence of the Vedantas.
The soul, who is seer of the world, is never known apart from his spectacle, the world. There is no soul in the state of deep sleep. Hence, like his spectacle [the world], he also is only a mental creation.
The soul is always known along with the body. Even when the body dies, one does not leave it without taking hold of another body.
Since thus the soul is not separable from the body, he is only part and parcel of the world. But unenlightened men, who are disciples of unenlightened gurus, ascribe immortality to this same [mythical] person.
Assuming, without enquiry, that this soul is the owner of the body and the real Self, they ascribe to that Self the qualities of worldliness and all else, which pertain only to this soul.
From this error arises various creeds concerning the real Self, which transcends all the creeds. Believing it to be bound, they follow various paths of yoga to free it from bondage!
The doing of actions, the reaping of their fruits, ownership of the body and the like, as well as worldliness, are the attributes of the soul. They are not attributes of the real Self, which is only pure consciousness, and is unrelated [to the world].
He that is, alas, persuaded that he is a soul has not eliminated the notion that the body is himself, [because] for him who does not know [by actual experience] that he is only consciousness, the belief in identity with the body is inescapable.
Since the blissful Self is experienced by all in the state of deep sleep, the intelligent man is able to find out, by his subtle intellect, that the Self is other than the body.
Because of this the sensible man, when he engages in discrimination, does not accept the notion that the Self is the body. But all the same, because he has not attained awareness of the truth of the real Self, he again confounds the Self with the body.
So long as the sense of being a soul does not cease, the sense, ‘I am the body’ does not become extinct. But it will be extinguished by attaining the supreme state, wherein the transcendent nature of the Self is experienced.
Only he is free from the notion, ‘I am the soul’, by becoming aware of his real Self as the Supreme Being, the one without a second. He is also free from the false notion ‘I am the body.’
The sadhaka must [therefore] understand that the Self is not the body, not the mind and not the soul, and thereafter, by following the path taught by Ramana, strive to become aware [by experience] of the Self as pure consciousness.
If the truth of the soul is investigated with the pure mind, in the light of the teachings of the sages, it will be easily seen that this soul exists because of the ignorance [of the true Self], and [hence] does not really exist at all.
Some think that there are two selves, making a distinction between the self that is the soul, and the Self that is the Supreme Being. And they say that the Supreme Being is the Self of the soul, and the soul is the body of the Supreme Being.
The selfhood of the soul is unsteady and uncertain. The real Self is only the Supreme Being and nothing else. It has been clearly stated by our Guru that the one called the soul is unreal, and that the Supreme Being alone is the real Self.
The term ‘soul’ implies unreality; the term ‘supreme’ implies reality. The sadhaka, thus knowing that the soul is unreal, should strive to get rid of the notion, ‘I am the soul’.
[Also,] revelation says that the Supreme Being itself entered into the bodies in the form of the soul. Hence, it is clear to us that the soul is not a distinct entity apart from the Supreme Being.
The soul appears and vanishes; the real Self neither comes into being nor vanishes. The souls are many, [but] the Supreme Being is only one. This being so, how can the soul be the real Self?
The [real] Self, being real in its own right as pure consciousness, does not become lost in deep sleep. But the soul, being an outcome of ignorance, and [hence] not real in its own right, goes into latency in deep sleep.
That Supreme Being, which is experienced by all alike as pure happiness in deep sleep, and which is the sole survivor in the supreme state, as the one without a second, is the real Self.
The Self is declared to be the true meaning of the term ‘I’, because it shines uninterruptedly both in the state of deep sleep in which the ego [the soul] is latent, and in the supreme state in which the ego is dead once and for all.
That one, which is Brahman, is itself ever shining as ‘I’ inside the Heart as the Self. But, because of delusion, man confounds him with this soul, who is only co-extensive with the body.
The ignorance does not hinder the awareness of ‘I am’. It hinders only the awareness, ‘I am pure consciousness’. Every one is aware of his own existence. But no one is aware of himself as distinct from the veiling sheaths.
That Self which is [only] consciousness, does not arise as ‘I’. The inert body does not say ‘I’. But between the two there arises someone, who is unreal, as ‘I’, having the size of the body.
By joining together the consciousness of the real Self, which has the form of ‘I’, with the inert body, there arises the sense ‘I am the body’. This sense is itself the soul.
Since it is believed to be real by confounding the body and the real Self as one, this soul, a false appearance due to ignorance, has the name, ‘The knot binding together consciousness and the inert [body]’.
But there never was a real joining of the real Self with the inert body, nor did anyone having the name ‘soul’ really come into existence; nor did ‘the All’ become changed into a soul.
Maya is next explained.
It is the might of the Supreme Being, called maya, which takes the form of sense perceptions and thereby creates this varied world, which the deluded ones are persuaded is real.
Ignorance of the individual is related to the power of illusion that belongs to the Supreme Being. There is no other explanation of creation.
It is next shown that engaging in these enquiries postpones the main thing, the quest of the real Self, which is the principal thing to be engaged in.
Enquiring into unrealities, taking them to be real, leads to forgetting the real [Self]. And there is no death other than this forgetting, because in this way the Self is almost lost to the seeker.
The urgency of seeking the Self is next pointed out.
If the aspirant knows the Self in this [very] life, then and only then, for him the real is real. If in this life he fails to know the Self, for him the real [Self] remains concealed by the unreal.
Therefore the aspirant, being firmly convinced that space and time are unreal, should give up the whole world and seek to know the substratum, the Self, through the quest of his own true nature.
The next topic dealt with is the duality of free will and fate.
Only he that thinks ‘I am the doer of actions and the recipient of the fruits of actions’ takes the distinction between the intellect [will] and fate as real. But the Self is neither the doer nor the recipient of the fruits of actions.
When the fruit of action is pleasant, man thinks that will is stronger than fate. But when the fruit of action is otherwise, he thinks that fate is stronger.
That this difference is unreal is then shown.
Fate is only action done before, and all action is done by the will. Hence the pair of will and fate is only unreal. How can their antagonism be real?
Since the root of [both] will and fate is the ego, this pair will cease to appear when the ego dies in the pursuit of the quest of the real Self. [Hence,] the sage is not aware of the distinction between free will and fate.
The sage, who is mind-free and hence free from attachments, and without a [personal] will, does not become a doer of actions, nor does he reap the fruits of actions. Therefore, he is not aware of the distinction between free will and fate.
Even in the case of an ignorant one, the real Self is ever enlightened, and hence does not engage in actions, nor suffer delusion. But in its presence the intellect becomes endowed with consciousness and is active according to the qualities that dominate it.
This is important. The real Self remains unaffected, being ever-free. It is only the mind (or intellect) that is ignorant and bound.
Therefore the aspirant must cease from thoughts of the worldly life and strive to become aware of the truth of the Self, which is the same as Brahman, by means of the quest of that Self.
Then the truth about the individual soul, which is called the jiva, is discussed.
It is in the seer of the world, called the jiva, that the truth of the world lies [because] when it arises, the world also appears, and when it goes into latency, the world also does the same.
Therefore the sage, knowing the truth of the ego by the direct experience of the real Self, becomes aware of the truth of the world. The rest, being overwhelmed by the belief that the body is the Self, entertain a false view of the world.
The soul is the primary form of ignorance. It is the sprout that grows into the poison-tree of worldly life. All this world is only its expanded form. The state of deliverance is just its final extinction.
The sage Buddha taught this truth; also the great teacher Sankara taught the same; our own Guru also tells us the same; and this is also the essence of the Vedantas.
The soul, who is seer of the world, is never known apart from his spectacle, the world. There is no soul in the state of deep sleep. Hence, like his spectacle [the world], he also is only a mental creation.
The soul is always known along with the body. Even when the body dies, one does not leave it without taking hold of another body.
Since thus the soul is not separable from the body, he is only part and parcel of the world. But unenlightened men, who are disciples of unenlightened gurus, ascribe immortality to this same [mythical] person.
Assuming, without enquiry, that this soul is the owner of the body and the real Self, they ascribe to that Self the qualities of worldliness and all else, which pertain only to this soul.
From this error arises various creeds concerning the real Self, which transcends all the creeds. Believing it to be bound, they follow various paths of yoga to free it from bondage!
The doing of actions, the reaping of their fruits, ownership of the body and the like, as well as worldliness, are the attributes of the soul. They are not attributes of the real Self, which is only pure consciousness, and is unrelated [to the world].
He that is, alas, persuaded that he is a soul has not eliminated the notion that the body is himself, [because] for him who does not know [by actual experience] that he is only consciousness, the belief in identity with the body is inescapable.
Since the blissful Self is experienced by all in the state of deep sleep, the intelligent man is able to find out, by his subtle intellect, that the Self is other than the body.
Because of this the sensible man, when he engages in discrimination, does not accept the notion that the Self is the body. But all the same, because he has not attained awareness of the truth of the real Self, he again confounds the Self with the body.
So long as the sense of being a soul does not cease, the sense, ‘I am the body’ does not become extinct. But it will be extinguished by attaining the supreme state, wherein the transcendent nature of the Self is experienced.
Only he is free from the notion, ‘I am the soul’, by becoming aware of his real Self as the Supreme Being, the one without a second. He is also free from the false notion ‘I am the body.’
The sadhaka must [therefore] understand that the Self is not the body, not the mind and not the soul, and thereafter, by following the path taught by Ramana, strive to become aware [by experience] of the Self as pure consciousness.
If the truth of the soul is investigated with the pure mind, in the light of the teachings of the sages, it will be easily seen that this soul exists because of the ignorance [of the true Self], and [hence] does not really exist at all.
Some think that there are two selves, making a distinction between the self that is the soul, and the Self that is the Supreme Being. And they say that the Supreme Being is the Self of the soul, and the soul is the body of the Supreme Being.
The selfhood of the soul is unsteady and uncertain. The real Self is only the Supreme Being and nothing else. It has been clearly stated by our Guru that the one called the soul is unreal, and that the Supreme Being alone is the real Self.
The term ‘soul’ implies unreality; the term ‘supreme’ implies reality. The sadhaka, thus knowing that the soul is unreal, should strive to get rid of the notion, ‘I am the soul’.
[Also,] revelation says that the Supreme Being itself entered into the bodies in the form of the soul. Hence, it is clear to us that the soul is not a distinct entity apart from the Supreme Being.
The soul appears and vanishes; the real Self neither comes into being nor vanishes. The souls are many, [but] the Supreme Being is only one. This being so, how can the soul be the real Self?
The [real] Self, being real in its own right as pure consciousness, does not become lost in deep sleep. But the soul, being an outcome of ignorance, and [hence] not real in its own right, goes into latency in deep sleep.
That Supreme Being, which is experienced by all alike as pure happiness in deep sleep, and which is the sole survivor in the supreme state, as the one without a second, is the real Self.
The Self is declared to be the true meaning of the term ‘I’, because it shines uninterruptedly both in the state of deep sleep in which the ego [the soul] is latent, and in the supreme state in which the ego is dead once and for all.
That one, which is Brahman, is itself ever shining as ‘I’ inside the Heart as the Self. But, because of delusion, man confounds him with this soul, who is only co-extensive with the body.
The ignorance does not hinder the awareness of ‘I am’. It hinders only the awareness, ‘I am pure consciousness’. Every one is aware of his own existence. But no one is aware of himself as distinct from the veiling sheaths.
That Self which is [only] consciousness, does not arise as ‘I’. The inert body does not say ‘I’. But between the two there arises someone, who is unreal, as ‘I’, having the size of the body.
By joining together the consciousness of the real Self, which has the form of ‘I’, with the inert body, there arises the sense ‘I am the body’. This sense is itself the soul.
Since it is believed to be real by confounding the body and the real Self as one, this soul, a false appearance due to ignorance, has the name, ‘The knot binding together consciousness and the inert [body]’.
But there never was a real joining of the real Self with the inert body, nor did anyone having the name ‘soul’ really come into existence; nor did ‘the All’ become changed into a soul.
Interesting.
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