Divison of the Self by Admananda Krishnamenon Jivas,
Like waves in the sea,
Come into being,
Rise and fall,
Fight against each other,
And die.
Striking against the seashore,
Waves recede,
Tired and worn out,
Seeking rest and great peace.
Likewise souls seek the Supreme in various ways.
Jivas have their birth,
Life,
And death in the sea itself.
Jivas in the Lord.
Waves are nothing but water,
So is the sea.
Likewise,
The Jiva and the Lord are nothing other than sat-cit-ananda.
When waves realize the sea is their common support,
All fight ceases.
Much is not gained thereby.
This is not the final word.
Work lies ahead to remove the sense of separateness.
When water is realized,
Wave and sea vanish.
What appeared as two is thus realized as one.
Water can be reached straight away from wave by following the direct path.
If the way through sea is taken,
Much more time is needed.
The light in the perception of sense objects is the changeless atma,
The one without a second which abides in filling all.
To see it as it is,
The objects must be separated from it,
Or else they must be made to point towards it.
The I must be removed from body to atma.
Freedom from bondage,
Peace,
And happiness will flow from this.
Atma is that changeless,
One taste,
Into which thoughts and feelings merge.
To see it,
Enter it,
And establish it as the I removes all delusions and brings in lasting peace.
One does not need to be told,
For one knows it clearly that the I does not change.
The I persists in all the states.
It is there when there is thought.
It is there when there is no thought.
If so,
What other evidence is needed to show that it cannot be the doer or the enjoyer,
Which means change?
At the time a thing is being done,
There is no thought or feeling that one is doing it.
This is further proof that one is not a doer.
Claiming to have done a thing after the doing cannot make one a doer.
The intense feeling that one is neither doer nor enjoyer removes all bondage and one's real nature comes to light thereby.
Thoughts such as immutable and formless cannot even by their negative import show reality as it is.
The statement that man is not a beast is no doubt true,
But does it show any of his true characteristics?
It is impossible to show reality as it is.
Words are at best mere pointers.
If,
Without knowing this,
One contemplates what is literally signified by words,
One's experience of reality will be tainted to that extent.
If words are taken merely as helps to rise above all thoughts,
It is perfectly in order.
If reality is conceived of as beyond all thoughts,
And contemplation directed accordingly,
Words may help to lead one to a stage where all thoughts cease and reality is experienced.
Doubt may arise whether it is possible to contemplate anything beyond all thoughts.
It is possible.
The difficulty is only apparent.
It is true that only an object of perception can be directly contemplated.
The eye is always perceiver and never an object of perception.
As it is not an object of perception,
Direct contemplation of the eye is out of the question.
Nonetheless,
Because it is experienced as one's being,
It is possible to contemplate it indirectly.
Can it not be contemplated as the residue left after the removal of everything objective from the apparent eye?
This contemplative thought itself will automatically come to a standstill in the end,
And in that stillness will be seen shining one's nature.
What is beyond all thoughts may be indirectly contemplated in other ways as well.
They will also take one to one's true nature.
Please bear in mind that such words as consciousness or knowledge,
Being or happiness all point to the eye.
Hold on to one thought to dispel other thoughts.
Let that thought be such as points to one's own being.
Think of your being as that into which all thoughts merge.
Then the one thought taken hold of gives up its form and merges into being.
Just as we apply the word knowledge to denote also the function of knowing,
We use the word happiness to denote the function of enjoying as well.
It is within the experience of all that knowledge and happiness dawn only when the respective functions of knowing and enjoying cease.
Thus knowledge and happiness are one's own being.
With this conviction,
If thought is directed to either of these,
That thought also gives up its form and merges.
This merging will never be into deep sleep,
But into one's own being.
All knots of the heart will be cut asunder by this means.
It is clear that one thing can never change into another without the destruction of its swaroopa,
Its essential nature.
If its swaroopa is destroyed,
Can the thing remain over?
Unless it remains over,
How can it be said that it has changed into another,
Since its identity is lost and there is nothing to connect it with the new thing?
Thus a thing can never undergo a change.
There is neither birth nor death.
Are not both changes?
She who in like manner,
By a searching inquiry into the nature of things,
Discovers this truth and abides in it,
Is the great soul who has gained their objective,
Known the one thing that has to be known,
And remains ever content.
In the deep sleep state,
And whenever any desire is accomplished,
I alone shine as the undisturbed peace and happiness.
I am the inmost principle which is sat-chit-ananda itself.
I am that which transcends all.
Just before and just after every thought and feeling,
I shine in my own glory by myself.
It is in me that thoughts and feelings rise and set.
I am their changeless witness.
I am the light of consciousness in all thoughts and perceptions,
And the light of love in all feelings.
I have no birth nor death.
No grief nor delusion.
I transcend bondage and liberation.
The world,
Which rises in and grows by thought,
Is also thought itself.
Thought is nothing but consciousness,
And consciousness is my being.
Therefore,
The whole world is consciousness,
Which is myself.
I am perfect and indivisible.
I have no mindness,
No attachment,
Nor egoism.
I am eternal,
Nondoer,
All purity,
Self-dependent and self-luminous,
Attribute-less,
Changeless and unconditioned.
I am the abode of love,
Stainless,
The one without a second,
And ever peaceful.
