प्रतिभाससमुत्थानं प्रतिभासपरिक्षयम् । यथा गन्धर्वनगरं तथा संसृतिविभ्रमः
The arising and ceasing of appearances is like a city in the clouds; so too is the delusion of transmigration.
प्राकृतो ऽस्मीति विस्मृत्या तावच् छोचति भूमिपः । भूमिपो ऽस्मीति सञ्जाता यावन् नास्य हृदि स्मृतिः
A common man grieves as long as he forgets, 'I am the king'; but when the memory, 'I am the king,' arises, that grief no longer remains in his heart.
नश्यते जातया ब्रह्मन् प्राक्स्मृतिर् वर्तमानया । शरदेवोपगतया प्रावृड् जाड्यविकारिणी
O Brahman, the previous memory is destroyed by the arising of the present one, just as the rainy season, when it arrives, brings dullness and changes to the earth.
घनप्रवाहा यैव स्याच् चित्तेहा सैव वर्धते । य एवोच्चैस् स्वरस् तन्त्र्यास् स एवाक्रामति श्रुतिम्
Whatever strong current exists in the mind here, that alone increases; just as whatever note is struck loudly on the string, that alone reaches the ear.
अहम् एको ऽहम् आत्मा त्व् इत्य् एकां भावय भावनाम् । तया भावनया युक्तस् स एव त्वं भवस्य् अलम्
Contemplate this one thought: 'I am the one Self, I alone am.' With this contemplation, you become established as that very Self—this is sufficient.
एवं ह्य् असम्भवद् इदं त्व् अविभागभास्वद् ब्रह्मत्वम् उत्तमपदं परम् एव देवः । पूजांशपूजनसुपूजकपूज्यरूपं किञ्चिन् नकिञ्चिद् इव चित्तपनैकमूर्तिः
In this way, the supreme state of Brahman arises—undivided, radiant, and beyond conception. It is the divine, appearing as worship, the portion offered, the excellent worshipper, and the worshipped; it is like something and nothing, the one form of consciousness alone.
इत्थं स्थितम् इदं विश्वं सदसद् देवरूपि च । द्वैतैक्यपदनिर्मुक्तं मुक्तद्वैतैक्यम् अप्य् उत
Thus, this universe stands as both existent and nonexistent, appearing as the divine; it is free from the notions of duality and unity, and even transcends liberated duality and unity.
चितेः कलङ्कवद् रूपम् इति संसारितां गतम् । अकलङ्कम् असंसारि तच् चाभिन्नं द्वयात्मकम्
The form of consciousness, when tainted, leads to worldly existence; when untainted and free from worldly bonds, it remains undivided, yet appears as dual.
इयम् अस्मीति सम्प्राप्तकलङ्का चिन् निबध्यते । एताम् एव कलां बुद्ध्वा स्वत्वाभिन्नां विमुच्यते
When consciousness acquires the stain of 'I am this,' it becomes bound; realizing this very limitation as not separate from oneself, one is liberated.
चिद् अर्थाकारताभावाद् द्वित्वात् सत्त्वं समुज्झती । सुखदुःखादितां धत्ते नसत्यां सद् इति क्षणात्
When consciousness lacks the form of objectivity, duality ceases and pure being is abandoned; then, in an instant, it assumes the state of pleasure, pain, and so on, though these are not truly real.
शुद्धा निरंशा सत्यैका सत्ता चेत्येवमादिभिः । विमुक्ता नामशब्दार्थैस् सर्वैस् सर्वात्मिकापि खम्
Though pure, partless, and one with truth, though called existence, consciousness, and so on, it is free from all names and concepts, yet is the essence of all, like space.
सर्वं निरुपमं शान्तं मनसो ऽन्ते त्रिमार्गगम् । ब्रह्मेदं बृंहितं ब्राह्म्या शक्त्याकाशनिकाशया
All is incomparable, peaceful, and at the end of the mind’s path, found in three ways; this is Brahman, expanded by the power of Brahman, appearing as the space-like power of consciousness.
मनसा मनसि च्छिन्ने सर्वाक्षप्रसवात्मनि । द्वितीये ऽथ तृतीये वा पदे किम् अवशिष्यते
When the mind is dissolved within itself, in the source of all sensory activity, what remains in the second or third state?
यावत् किलात्मनस् सत्ता महासत्तैव तावती । समस्तास्तमये जाते सत्ता केव कुतश् च का
As long as the existence of the self persists, so long does the great existence endure; when all has come to cessation, what existence remains, and from where?
मनसा मनसि च्छिन्ने स्वेन्द्रियावयवात्मनि । विचारेण समाधानात् प्रयोगेण जयेन वा
When the mind is dissolved within itself, in its own sensory components, whether by inquiry, by absorption, by practice, or by conquest,
द्वैतैक्यकलनाभेदे गलिते कलितात्मनि । सत्यालोके जगज्जाले प्रोच्छूने विलयं गते
When the distinction between duality and unity ceases in the self that has realized unity, and in the light of truth the web of the world is scattered and dissolved,
शिष्यते शीर्णसंसारकलनाकलनात्मिका । भृष्टबीजोपमा सत्ता जीवस्य चितिनामिका
What remains is the essence of the dissolution of worldly constructs, the existence likened to a roasted seed, called consciousness in the living being.
पश्यन्तीनामकलिता त्यजन्ती चेत्यचर्वणम् । मनोमहाभ्रनिर्मुक्तशरदाकाशकोशवत्
It is the unmanifest, called the seer, abandoning the chewing of objects, like the autumn sky freed from the great clouds of the mind.
शुद्धा चिद् भावमात्रस्था चेत्यचिच्चापलाद् गता । अदूरविप्रकृष्टेशा पदोपनतिपावनी
Pure, abiding only in the state of consciousness, freed from the fickleness of subject and object, sanctifying the approach to the near and far supreme state.
चिद् व्योमात्मेति कलिता गलिताखिलकल्पना । समस्तसामान्यवती नावतीर्णभवार्णवा
Consciousness, conceived as the sky of awareness, with all imagination dissolved, possessing universal sameness, not descended into the ocean of becoming.
अपुनर्बोधसौषुप्तपदपाण्डित्यपीवरी । पारम् आसाद्य विश्रान्ता चिरश्रान्ता तते पदे
Having reached the far shore of the deep sleep-like state of non-reawakening, rich in the scholarship of sleep, she, long wearied, finds rest in that state.
एतत् ते मनसि क्षीणे कथितं प्रथमं पदम् । द्वितीयं शृणु विप्रेन्द्र शक्तेर् अस्यास् सुपावनम्
This, O foremost of Brahmins, is the first state I have described to you when the mind is dissolved; now hear the second, the supremely pure power of this.
एषैव मननोन्मुक्ता चिच्छक्तिश् शान्तिशालिनी । सर्वज्योतिस्तमोमुक्तवितताकाशसुन्दरी
This very power of consciousness, freed from the mind, full of peace, radiant with all light, untouched by darkness, and beautiful as the expanse of space—
घनसौषुप्तलेखावच्छिलान्तस्सन्निवेशवत् । सैन्धवान्तस्स्थरसवद् वातान्तस्स्पन्दशक्तिवत्
—is like the subtle trace of deep sleep, like the essence within a stone, like the salt within water, like the latent motion within wind.
कालेनायाति तत्रैव परां परिणतिं यदा । शब्दशक्तिर् इवाकाशे परमाकाशगा तदा
In time, she attains there the highest transformation, just as the power of sound, in space, reaches the supreme ether.
चेत्यांशोन्मुखतां नूनं त्यजन्त्य् अम्ब्व् इव चापलम् । वातलेखेव चलनं पुष्पलेखेव सौरभम्
She surely abandons all inclination toward objects of cognition, just as water gives up restlessness, as a line of wind gives up movement, or a line of fragrance gives up scent.
कालताकाशते त्यक्त्वा सकले चापले ऽमला । न जडां नाजडां स्फारां धत्ते सत्ताम् अनामिकाम्
Having abandoned all impurity in the expanse of time, she, pure, assumes neither inert nor non-inert, nor expansive being—she abides in an unnamable existence.
दिक्कालाद्यनवच्छिन्नां महासत्तापदाद् गताम् । तुर्यतुर्यांशकलिताम् अकलङ्काम् अनामयाम्
Transcending limitation by direction, time, and so on, having reached the state of supreme existence, she partakes of the fourth beyond the fourth, stainless and free from affliction.
काञ्चिद् एव विशालाक्षसाक्षिवत् समवस्थिताम् । सर्वतस् सर्वदा सर्वप्रकारास्वादतत्पराम्
There is a certain state, O wide-eyed one, that is ever established as the witness, always and everywhere, delighting in every manner of experience.
एषा द्वितीया पदता कथिता तव सुव्रत । तृतीयं शृणु वक्ष्यामि पदं पदविदां वर
This, O noble one, is described as the second stage; now listen, best of those who know the stages, as I explain the third.