ODE ON SELF



Translation by A. G. of Sri Sankaracharya' s sonnet
known as "Atma-Khatak". [Lit Poem of six slokas on Atma (Self)]

reprinted from “Theosophical Siftings” Volume - 3 -

[Page 20] I am not the body [Three in number – Sthula, Sukshma and Karana] nor the (fleeting) objects of the senses; and not to speak of a wife, a son, property or riches, I am not Ahankára (Egoism), the Pranas [Vital airs — five in number — Pran, Apan, Vyan, Udyan and Aman] nor Buddhi (spiritual Ego); I am the everlasting, the witness (of what was, is or would be) the Pratyagatmá. I am the Siva.

2. Verily as the words of the wise dispel the delusion of mistaking the rope for the snake, the instruction of the Guru destroys the false notion of conceiving (oneself) as Jiva (embodied self). I am the Siva.

3. There is nothing in the cosmos but I. And it is in me the non-dual, and through Maya (illusion), the phenomenal world assumes reality like the reflection (of objects) in the mirror. I am the Siva.

4. As in the stupefication of sleep even the unreal appears as real, Mohâ (infatuation) causes this world (of objects) to shine out as real in Atma of the form of Sat (truth), Chit (consciousness) and Anandam (bliss). I am the untainted, the perfect, the everlasting, the non-dual. I am the Siva.

5. I am not born. I do not grow. I do not perish. These (birth, growth and death) are spoken of the body as but virtues of Prakriti. [Cf. Bhagavat Gita, Chaps 2 and 3, vs 20 and 27] The power to generate action belongs to (is with) the Atma — the Chinmaya — the all-consciousness — and not to Ahankara (embodied personality). I am the Siva.

6. I am not the body — what are births and deaths to me ? I am not the Pranas — what are hunger and thirst to me ? I am not Chittam (mind), grief and delusion. I have none; I am not the doer of liberation (Moksha) or bondage. I have none.

 



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