Chapter II: Joy of Self-Realization

#	Sanskrit Original	Translation by Bart Marshall	Translation by John Richards	Translation by Swami Nityaswarupananda
2.1	जनक उवाच। अहो निरञ्जनः शान्तो बोधोऽहं प्रकृतेः परः। एतावन्तमहं कालं मोहेनैव विडम्बितः॥	Janaka said: I am now spotless and at peace - Awareness beyond Consciousness. All this time I have been duped by illusion.	Janaka: Truly I am spotless and at peace, the awareness beyond natural causality. All this time I have been afflicted by delusion.	Janaka said: O, I am spotless, tranquil, Pure Consciousness and beyond Nature. All this time I have been duped by illusion.
2.2	यथा प्रकाशयाम्येको देहमेनं तथा जगत्। अतो मम जगत्सर्वमथवा न च किञ्चन॥	By this light alone the body and the universe appear. I am Everything or Nothing.	As I alone give light to this body, so I do to the world. As a result the whole world is mine, or alternatively nothing is.	As I alone reveal this body, even so do I reveal this universe. Therefore mine is all this universe, or verily nothing is mine.
2.3	सशरीरमहो विश्वं परित्यज्य मयाधुना। कुतश्चित् कौशलादेव परमात्मा विलोक्यते॥	Seeing there is no universe or body, by grace the Self is revealed.	So now that I have abandoned the body and everything else, by some good fortune or other my true self becomes apparent.	O, having renounced the universe along with the body, I am now perceiving the Supreme Self through wisdom (received from my Guru).
2.4	यथा न तोयतो भिन्नास्तरङ्गाः फेनबुद्बुदाः। आत्मनो न तथा भिन्नं विश्वमात्मविनिर्गतम्॥	As waves, foam and bubbles are not different from water, so the universe emanating from Self is not different from Self.	Just as waves, foam and bubbles are not different from water, so all this which has emanated from oneself, is no other than oneself.	As waves, foam and bubbles are not different from water, even so the universe emanating from the Self is not different from it.
2.5	तन्तुमात्रो भवेदेव पटो यद्वद्विचारितः। आत्मतन्मात्रमेवेदं तद्वद्विश्वं विचारितम्॥	Look closely at cloth, you see only threads. Look closely at creation, you see only Self.	In the same way that when analysed cloth is found to be just thread, so when all this is analysed it is found to be no other than oneself.	As cloth when analysed is found to be nothing but thread, even so this universe, duly considered, is nothing but the Self.
2.6	यथैवेक्षुरसे कॢप्ता तेन व्याप्तैव शर्करा। तथा विश्वं मयि कॢप्तं मया व्याप्तं निरन्तरम्॥	As sweetness pervades sugarcane juice, I am the essence of creation.	Just as the sugar produced from the juice of the sugarcane is permeated with the same taste, so all this, produced out of me, is completely permeated with myself.	Just as sugar generated in sugarcane juice is wholly pervaded by it (juice), even so the universe produced in me is permeated by me through and through.
2.7	आत्माज्ञानाज्जगद्भाति आत्मज्ञानान्न भासते। रज्ज्वज्ञानादहिर्भाति तज्ज्ञानाद्भासते न हि॥	Not seeing Self, the world is materialized. Seeing Self, the world is vanished. A rope is not a snake, but can appear to be.	From ignorance of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge of oneself it appears no longer. From ignorance of the rope a snake appears, and by knowledge of it it appears no longer.	The world appears from the ignorance of the Self and disappears with the knowledge of the Self, even as the snake appears from the non-cognition of the rope and disappears with its recognition.
2.8	प्रकाशो मे निजं रूपं नातिरिक्तोऽस्म्यहं ततः। यदा प्रकाशते विश्वं तदाहम्भास एव हि॥	I am not other than Light. The universe manifests at my glance.	Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing over and beyond that. When the world shines forth, it is simply me that is shining forth.	Light is my very nature and I am no other than that. When the universe manifests itself verily then it is I that shine.
2.9	अहो विकल्पितं विश्वमज्ञानान्मयि भासते। रूप्यं शुक्तौ फणी रज्जौ वारि सूर्य्यकरे यथा॥	The mirage of universe appears in me as silver appears in mother-of-pearl, as a snake appears in a rope, as water appears on a desert horizon.	All this appears in me imagined due to ignorance, just as a snake appears in the rope, the mirage of water in the sunlight, and silver in mother of pearl.	O, the universe appears in me being conceived through ignorance, even as silver appears in the mother-of-pearl, snake in the rope and water in the sunbeam.
2.10	मत्तो विनिर्गतं विश्वं मय्येव लयमेष्यति। मृदि कुम्भो जले वीचिः कनके कटकं यथा॥	As a pot returns to clay, a wave to water, a bracelet to gold, so will the universe return to Me.	All this, which has originated out of me, is resolved back into me too, like a jug back into clay, a wave into water, and a bracelet into gold.	Just as a jug dissolves into earth, a wave into water or a bracelet into gold, even so the universe which has emanated from me will dissolve into me.
2.11	अहो अहं नमो मह्यं विनाशो यस्य नास्ति मे। ब्रह्मादिस्तम्बपर्यन्तं जगन्नाशेऽपि तिष्ठतः॥	I am wonderful indeed - beyond adoration. I cannot decay nor ever die, though God and all the universe should perish to the last blade of grass.	How wonderful I am! Glory to me, for whom there is no destruction, remaining even beyond the destruction of the world from Brahma down to the last clump of grass.	Wonderful am I! Adoration to myself who know no decay and survive even the destruction of the world from Brahma down to the clump of grass.
2.12	अहो अहं नमो मह्यमेकोऽहं देहवानपि। क्वचिन्न गन्ता नागन्ता व्याप्य विश्वमवस्थितः॥	I am wonderful indeed - beyond adoration. Even with a body I am One. I neither come nor go. I am everywhere at once.	How wonderful I am! Glory to me, solitary even though with a body, neither going nor coming anywhere, I who abide forever, filling all that is.	Wonderful am I! Adoration to myself who, though with a body am one, who neither go anywhere nor come from anywhere but abide pervading the universe.
2.13	अहो अहं नमो मह्यं दक्षो नास्तीह मत्समः। असंस्पृश्य शरीरेण येन विश्वं चिरं धृतम्॥	I am wonderful indeed - beyond adoration. I am astounded at my powers. The universe appears within me but I do not touch it.	How wonderful I am! Glory to me! There is no one so clever as me! I who have borne all that is forever, without even touching it with my body!	Wonderful am I! Adoration to myself! There is none so capable as I, who am bearing the universe for all eternity without touching it with the body.
2.14	अहो अहं नमो मह्यं यस्य मे नास्ति किञ्चन। अथवा यस्य मे सर्वं यद्वाङ्मनसगोचरम्॥	I am wonderful indeed - beyond adoration. I am everything thought or spoken, and have nothing.	How wonderful I am! Glory to me! I who possess nothing at all, or alternatively possess everything that speech and mind can refer to.	Wonderful am I! Adoration to myself who have nothing or have all that is thought and spoken of.
2.15	ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं तथा ज्ञाता त्रितयं नास्ति वास्तवम्। अज्ञानाद्भाति यत्रेदं सोऽहमस्मि निरञ्जनः॥	In Reality, knowledge, the knower, and the knowable do not exist. I am the transparent Self in which through ignorance they appear.	Knowledge, what is to be known, and the knower - these three do not exist in reality. I am the spotless reality in which they appear because of ignorance.	Knowledge, knower and knowable - these three do not in reality exist. I am that stainless (Self) in which this triad appears through ignorance.
2.16	द्वैतमूलमहो दुःखं नान्यत्तस्यास्ति भेषजम्। दृश्यमेतन्मृषा सर्वं एकोऽहं चिद्रसोऽमलः॥	Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery. The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there. I am One - aware, blissful, immaculate.	Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realisation that all this that we see is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness.	Oh, duality is the root of misery. There is no other remedy for it except the realization that all objects of experience are false and that I am one and pure, intelligence and bliss.
2.17	बोधमात्रोऽहमज्ञानादुपाधिः कल्पितो मया। एवं विमृशतो नित्यं निर्विकल्पे स्थितिर्मम॥	I am unbounded Awareness. Only in imagination do I have limits. Reflecting on this, I abide in the Absolute.	I am pure awareness though through ignorance I have imagined myself to have additional attributes. By continually reflecting like this, my dwelling place is in the Unimagined.	I am Pure Intelligence. Through ignorance I have imposed limitation (upon myself). Constantly reflecting in this way, I am abiding in the Absolute.
2.18	न मे बन्धोऽस्ति मोक्षो वा भ्रान्तिः शान्ता निराश्रया। अहो मयि स्थितं विश्वं वस्तुतो न मयि स्थितम्॥	I am neither free nor bound. The illusion of such things has fallen into disbelief. Though I contain creation, it has no substance.	For me here is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased. Truly all this exists in me, though ultimately it does not even exist in me.	I have neither bondage nor freedom. The illusion having lost its support has ceased. Oh, the universe, though existing in me, does not in reality so exist.
2.19	सशरीरमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदिति निश्चितम्। शुद्धचिन्मात्र आत्मा च तत्कस्मिन् कल्पनाधुना॥	Having seen for certain that this universe and body is without form or substance, I am revealed as Awareness alone. Imagination has no place here.	I have recognised that all this and my body are nothing, while my true self is nothing but pure consciousness, so what is there for the imagination [to] work on now?	I have known for certain that the body and the universe are nothing and that the Self is only Pure Consciousness. So on which now can imagination be possible?
2.20	शरीरं स्वर्गनरकौ बन्धमोक्षौ भयं तथा। कल्पनामात्रमेवैतत् किं मे कार्यं चिदात्मनः॥	The body exists only in imagination, as do heaven and hell, bondage, freedom, fear. Are these my concern? I, who am pure Awareness?	The body, heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, and fear too, all this is pure imagination. What is there left to do for me whose very nature is consciousness?	Body, heaven and hell, bondage and freedom, as also fear, all these are mere imagination. What have I to do with all these - I whose nature is Chit?
2.21	अहो जनसमूहेऽपि न द्वैतं पश्यतो मम। अरण्यमिव संवृत्तं क्व रतिं करवाण्यहम्॥	I see no differences or separation. Even the multitudes appear as a single formless desert. To what should I cling?	Truly I do not even see dualism in a crowd of people, so what would I gain by replacing it with a wilderness?	O, I do not find any duality. Even the multitude of human beings, therefore, has become like a wilderness. What should I attach myself to?
2.22	नाहं देहो न मे देहो जीवो नाहमहं हि चित्। अयमेव हि मे बन्ध आसीत् या जीविते स्पृहा॥	I am not the body. I do not have a body. I am Awareness, not a person. My thirst for life bound me to a seeming of life.	I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am not a living being. I am consciousness. It was my thirst for living that was my bondage.	Neither am I this body, nor am I embodied. I am not Jiva, I am Chit. This indeed was my bondage that I had thirst for life.
2.23	अहो भुवनकल्लोलैर्विचित्रैर्द्राक् समुत्थितम्। मय्यनन्तमहाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते समुद्यते॥	In the limitless ocean of Myself the winds of the mind roil the myriad waves of the world.	Truly it is in the limitless ocean of myself, that stimulated by the colourful waves of the worlds everything suddenly arises in the wind of consciousness.	Oh, in me, the limitless ocean, diverse waves of worlds are produced forthwith on the rising of the wind of the mind.
2.24	मय्यनन्तमहाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते प्रशाम्यति। अभाग्याज्जीववणिजो जगत्पोतो विनश्वरः॥	But when the wind subsides in the limitless ocean the ark of personhood is swallowed up, along with the universe it carries.	It is in the limitless ocean of myself, that the wind of thought subsides, and the trader-like living being's world-boat is wrecked by lack of goods.	With the calming of the wind of the mind in the infinite ocean of myself, the ark of the universe of Jiva the trader, unfortunately meets destruction.
2.25	मय्यनन्तमहाम्भोधावाश्चर्यं जीववीचयः। उद्यन्ति घ्नन्ति खेलन्ति प्रविशन्ति स्वभावतः॥	And how wonderful it is! In the limitless ocean of Myself, waves of beings arise, collide, play for a time, then disappear - as is their nature.	How wonderful it is that in the limitless ocean of myself the waves of living beings arise, collide, play and disappear, according to their natures.	How wonderful! In me, the shoreless ocean, the waves of individual selves rise, strike (each other), play (for a time) and disappear, each according to its nature.