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The Sage
425. He is the enjoyer of the fruit of infinite
past good deeds, blessed and to be revered on earth, who free from
external things by always been established in his awareness of God,
regards objects which others look on as desirable like some-one half
asleep, or like a child, and who looks at the world like a world seen in
a dream, or like some mere chance encounter.
426. That ascetic is of established wisdom who enjoys the experience
of being and bliss with his mind merged in God, beyond change and beyond
action.
427. That function of the mind which is imageless pure awareness, and
which is immersed in the essential oneness of oneself and God is known
as wisdom, and he in whom this state is well established is called one
of established wisdom.
428. He whose wisdom is well established, whose bliss is
uninterrupted, and whose awareness of multiplicity is virtually
forgotten, he is regarded as liberated here and now.
429. When a man's mind is at rest in God even when he is awake he
does not share the usual condition of being awake. He whose awareness is
free of desires is regarded as liberated here and now.
430. He whose worries in samsara have been put to rest, who though
made up of parts does not identify himself with them, and whose mind is
free from thoughts, he is regarded as liberated here and now.
431. The sign of a man liberated here and now is the absence of
thoughts of "me" and "mine" in the body while it still exists, going
along with him like his shadow.
432. The sign of a man liberated here and now is not running back to
the past, not dwelling on the future, and being unconcerned about the
present.
433. The sign of a man liberated here and now is to look with an
equal eye on everything in this manifold existence with all its natural
faults, knowing that in itself it is without characteristics.
434. The sign of a man liberated here and now is to remain unmoved in
either direction, looking on things with an equal eye within, whether
encountering the pleasant or the painful.
435. The sign of a man liberated here and now is to be unaware of
internal or external, since the ascetic's mind is occupied with enjoying
the experience of the bliss of God.
436. The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he remains
unconcerned and free from the sense of "me" and "mine" in the things
needing to be done by the body and the senses and so on.
437. The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he is free from
the bonds of samsara, knowing his own identity with God with the help of
the scriptures.
438. He is regarded as liberated here and now who has no sense of
"this is me" in the body and senses, nor of "it exists" in anything
else.
439. The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he knows by
wisdom that there is never any distinction between God and what proceeds
from God.
440. The sign of a man liberated here and now is that he remains the
same whether he is revered by the good or tortured by the bad.
441. That ascetic is liberated into whom, because of his being pure
reality, the sense object can flow and merge without leaving any
alteration, like the water of a river's flow.
442. There is no more samsara for him who knows the Truth of God as
there was before. If there is, then it is not the knowledge of God,
since it is still outward turned.
443. If it is suggested that he still experiences samsara because of
the strength of his previous desires, the answer is, No, desires become
powerless through the knowledge of
one's oneness with Reality.
444. The impulses of even an extremely passionate man are arrested in
face of his mother, and in the same way those of the wise cease in face
of the perfect bliss of the knowledge of God.
445. Some-one practising meditation is seen to have external
functions still. Scripture declares that this is the effect of the
fruits of previous conditioning.
446. So long as pleasure and the like occur, one acknowledges the
effect of previous conditioning. A result occurs because of a previous
cause. Nothing happens without a cause.
447. With the realisation that "I am God", all the actions
accumulated over ages are wiped out, like actions in a dream on waking
up.
448. How could the good or even dreadfully bad deeds done in the
dreaming state lead a man to heaven or hell when he arises from sleep?
449. Recognising himself as unattached and impartial space, he never
hold on to anything with the thought of actions yet to be done.
450. Space is not affected with the smell of wine by contact with the
jar, and in the same way one's true nature is not affected by their
qualities through contact with the things one identified oneself with.
451. The karma created before the arising of knowledge does not come
to an end with knowledge without producing its effect, like an arrow
shot at a target after being loosed.
452. An arrow released in the understanding that it was at a tiger
does not stop when it is seen to be a cow, but pierces the target with
the full force of its speed.
453. The effects of previous conditioning are too strong for even a
wise man, and it is eliminated only by enduring it, but the effects of
present and future conditioning are all destroyed by the fire of true
understanding. Those who are always established in the knowledge of
their oneness with God, as a result of that are not affected by these
three aspects of conditioning since they share the unconditioned nature
of God.
454. The question of the existence of past conditioning does not
apply for the ascetic who, by getting rid of self-identification with
anything else, is established within in the knowledge of the perfection
of God as his true nature, just as questions concerned with things in a
dream have no meaning when one has woken up.
455. He who has woken up makes no distinctions about his dream body
and the multiplicity of things connected with it as being "me", "mine"
or anything else, but simply remains himself by staying awake.
456. He has no desire to assert the reality of those illusions, and
he has no need to hold on to the things he has woken up from. If he
still chases these false realities he is certainly considered not awake
yet.
457. In the same way he who lives in God remains in his own nature
and seeks nothing else. Like the memory of things seen in a dream is the
way the seer experiences eating, going to the toilet and so on.
458. The body has been formed by causation so past causality
appropriately applies to it, but it does not apply to the beginningless
self, since one's true nature has not been causally formed.
459. Scriptures which do not err affirm that one's true nature is
"Unborn, eternal and abiding" (Katha Upanishad 1.2.18), so how could
causality apply to someone established in such a self?
460. Causality applies only so long as one identifies oneself with
the body, so he who does not consider himself the body has abolished
causality for himself.
461. Even the opinion that causality applies to the body is a
mistake. How can a false assumption be true, and how can something which
does not exist have a beginning? How can something with no beginning
have an end, and how can causality apply to something that does not
exist?
462-463. The ignorant have the problem that if ignorance has been
completely eliminated by knowledge, how does the body persist? To settle
this doubt scripture talks about causality in accordance with
conventional views, but not to teach the reality of the body and such
things to the wise.
464. Complete in himself, without beginning or end, infinite and
unchanging, God is one and without a second. There is nothing other than
He.
465. The essence of Truth, the essence of Consciousness, the eternal
essence of Bliss and unchanging, God is one and without a second. There
is nothing other than He.
466. The one reality within everything, complete, infinite, and
limitless, God is one and without a second. There is nothing other than
He.
467. He cannot be removed or grasped; he cannot be received from
someone else, or held onto. God is one and without a second. There is
nothing other than He.
468. Without attributes, indivisible, subtle, inconceivable, and
without blemish, God is one and without a second. There is nothing other
than He.
469. His appearance is formless, beyond the realm of mind and speech.
God is one and without a second. There is nothing other than He.
470. Exuberant Reality, self-reliant, complete, pure, conscious and
unique, God is one and without a second. There is nothing other than He.
471. Great ascetics who have abandoned desires and given up
possessions, calm and disciplined, come to know this supreme Truth, and
in the end attain the supreme peace by their self-realisation.
472. You too should recognise this supreme Truth about yourself, your
true nature and the essence of bliss, and shaking off the illusion
created by your own imagination, become liberated, fulfilled and
enlightened.
473. See the Truth of yourself with the clear eye of understanding,
after the mind has been made thoroughly unwavering by meditation. If the
words of scripture you have heard are really received without doubting,
you will experience no more mistaken perception.
474. When one has freed oneself from association with the bonds of
ignorance by the realisation of the reality of Truth, Wisdom and Bliss,
then scripture, traditional practices and the sayings of the wise remain
proofs, but the inner experience of truth is proof too.
475. Bondage, freedom, contentment, worry, health, hunger and so on
are matters of personal experience, and other people's knowledge of them
can only be by inference.
476. Impartial gurus teach, as do the scriptures, that the wise man
crosses over by means of wisdom alone through the grace of God.
477. Knowing his true indivisible nature by his own realisation the
perfected man should remain in full possession of himself free from
imaginations within.
478. The conclusion of all the scriptures and of experience is that
God is the individual and the whole world too, and that liberation is to
remain in the one indivisible Reality. The scriptures are also the
authority for the non-duality of God.
479. Having thus attained the supreme reality by self discipline
through the words of his guru and the testimony of the scriptures, his
faculties at peace and his mind at peace, he becomes something
self-poised and immovable.
Vivek Chudamani
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