Containing 25 sacred Sanskrit shlokas with multi-author commentaries and translations.
जनक उवाच
अहो निरंजनः शान्तो
बोधोऽहं प्रकृतेः परः ।
एतावंतमहं कालं
मोहेनैव विडम्बितः ॥
"Janaka said: Truly I am spotless and at peace, the awareness beyond natural causality. All this time I have been afflicted by delusion."
यथा प्रकाशयाम्येको
देहमेनो तथा जगत् ।
अतो मम जगत्सर्वम-
थवा न च किंचन ॥
"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."
सशरीरमहो विश्वं
परित्यज्य मयाऽधुना ।
कुतश्चित् कौशलादेव
परमात्मा विलोक्यते ॥
"So now that I have abandoned the body and everything else, by good fortune my true self becomes apparent."
यथा न तोयतो भिन्नास्-
तरंगाः फेन बुदबुदाः ।
आत्मनो न तथा भिन्नं विश्वमात्मविनिर्गतम् ॥
"Waves, foam, and bubbles do not differ from water. In the same way, all this which has emanated from oneself is no other than oneself."
तंतुमात्रो भवेदेव
पटो यद्वद्विचारितः ।
आत्मतन्मात्रमेवेदं
तद्वद्विश्वं विचारितम् ॥
"When you analyse it, cloth is found to be just thread. In the same way, when all this is analysed it is found to be no other than oneself."
यथैवेक्षुरसे क्लृप्ता
तेन व्याप्तैव शर्करा ।
तथा विश्वं मयि क्लृप्तं
मया व्याप्तं निरन्तरम् ॥
"The sugar produced from the juice of the sugarcane is permeated throughout with the same taste. In the same way, all this, produced out of me, is completely permeated with myself."
आत्माऽज्ञानाज्जगद्भाति
आत्मज्ञानान्न भासते ।
रज्जवज्ञानादहिर्भाति
तज्ज्ञानाद्भासते न हि ॥
"From ignorance of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge of oneself it appears no longer. From ignorance of the rope it appears to be a snake, and by knowledge of it it does so no longer."
प्रकाशो मे निजं रूपं
नातिरिक्तोऽस्म्यहं ततः ।
यदा प्रकाशते विश्वं
तदाऽहंभास एव हि ॥
"Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing other than that. When the world shines forth, it is only me that is shining forth."
अहो विकल्पितं
विश्वंज्ञानान्मयि भासते ।
रूप्यं शुक्तौ फणी रज्जौ
वारि सूर्यकरे यथा ॥
"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."
मत्तो विनिर्गतं विश्वं
मय्येव लयमेष्यति ।
मृदि कुम्भो जले वीचिः
कनके कटकं यथा ॥
"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."
अहो अहं नमो मह्यं
विनाशो यस्य नास्ति मे ।
ब्रह्मादिस्तंबपर्यन्तं
जगन्नाशोऽपि तिष्ठतः ॥
"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."
अहो अहं नमो मह्यं
एकोऽहं देहवानपि ।
क्वचिन्न गन्ता नागन्ता
व्याप्य विश्वमवस्थितः ॥
"How wonderful I am! Glory to me, solitary even though with a body, neither going or coming anywhere, I who abide forever, filling all that is."
अहो अहं नमो मह्यं
दक्षो नास्तीह मत्समः ।
असंस्पृश्य शरीरेण
येन विश्वं चिरं धृतम् ॥
"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!"
अहो अहं नमो मह्यं
यस्य मे नास्ति किंचन ।
अथवा यस्य मे सर्वं यद्
वाङ्मनसगोचरम् ॥
"How wonderful I am! Glory to me! I who possess nothing at all, or alternatively possess everything that speech and mind can refer to."
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं तथा ज्ञाता
त्रितयं नास्ति वास्तवं ।
अज्ञानाद् भाति यत्रेदं
सोऽहमस्मि निरंजनः ॥
"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."
द्वैतमूलमहो दुःखं नान्य-
त्तस्याऽस्ति भेषजं ।
दृश्यमेतन् मृषा सर्वं
एकोऽहं चिद्रसोमलः ॥
"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."
बोधमात्रोऽहमज्ञानाद्
उपाधिः कल्पितो मया ।
एवं विमृशतो नित्यं
निर्विकल्पे स्थितिर्मम ॥
"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."
न मे बन्धोऽस्ति मोक्षो वा
भ्रान्तिः शान्तो निराश्रया ।
अहो मयि स्थितं विश्वं
वस्तुतो न मयि स्थितम् ॥
"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."
सशरीरमिदं विश्वं
न किंचिदिति निश्चितं ।
शुद्धचिन्मात्र आत्मा च
तत्कस्मिन् कल्पनाधुना ॥
"Recognising that all this and my body too are nothing, while my true self is nothing but pure consciousness, what is there left for the imagination to work on now?"
शरीरं स्वर्गनरकौ
बन्धमोक्षौ भयं तथा ।
कल्पनामात्रमेवैतत्
किं मे कार्यं चिदात्मनः ॥
"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?"
अहो जनसमूहेऽपि
न द्वैतं पश्यतो मम ।
अरण्यमिव संवृत्तं
क्व रतिं करवाण्यहम् ॥
"I do not even see dualism in a crowd of people, so what do I gain if it is replaced by a desert?"
नाहं देहो न मे देहो
जीवो नाहमहं हि चित् ।
अयमेव हि मे बन्ध
आसीद्या जीविते स्पृहा ॥
"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."
अहो भुवनकल्लोलै-
र्विचित्रैर्द्राक् समुत्थितं ।
मय्यनंतमहांभोधौ
चित्तवाते समुद्यते ॥
"Truly it is in the infinite ocean of myself, that, stimulated by the colourful waves of the world, everything suddenly arises in the wind of consciousness."
मय्यनंतमहांभोधौ
चित्तवाते प्रशाम्यति ।
अभाग्याज्जीववणिजो
जगत्पोतो विनश्वरः ॥
"In the infinite ocean of myself, the wind of thought subsides, and the world boat of the living-being traders is wrecked by lack of goods."
मय्यनन्तमहांभोधा-
वाश्चर्यं जीववीचयः ।
उद्यन्ति घ्नन्ति खेलन्ति
प्रविशन्ति स्वभावतः ॥
"How wonderful it is that in the infinite ocean of myself the waves of living beings arise, collide, play, and disappear, in accordance with their nature."