Adi Shankara (788 ~ 820 AD)
Painting By Raja Ravi Varma (1904)
I am not mind, not intellect, not ego, not thought.
I am not the ears, the tongue, the nose or the eyes, or what they witness,
I am neither earth nor sky, not air nor light.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I am not the breath of prana, nor its five currents.
I am not the seven elements, nor the five organs,
Nor am I the voice or hands or anything that acts.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I have no hatred or preference, neither greed nor desire nor delusion.
Pride, conflict, jealousy -- these have no part of me.
Nothing do I own, nothing do I seek, not even liberation itself.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I know neither virtue nor vice, neither pleasure nor pain.
I know no sacred chants, no holy places, no scriptures, no rituals.
I know neither the taste nor the taster.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I fear not death. I doubt neither my being nor my place.
I have no father or mother; I am unborn.
I have no relatives, no friends. I have no guru and no devotees.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Free from doubt, I am formless.
With knowledge, in knowledge, I am everywhere, beyond perception.
I am always the same. Not free, not trapped -- I am.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Truly, I am Shiva, pure awareness.
Shivo Ham! Shivo Ham!
I am not the ears, the tongue, the nose or the eyes, or what they witness,
I am neither earth nor sky, not air nor light.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I am not the breath of prana, nor its five currents.
I am not the seven elements, nor the five organs,
Nor am I the voice or hands or anything that acts.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I have no hatred or preference, neither greed nor desire nor delusion.
Pride, conflict, jealousy -- these have no part of me.
Nothing do I own, nothing do I seek, not even liberation itself.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I know neither virtue nor vice, neither pleasure nor pain.
I know no sacred chants, no holy places, no scriptures, no rituals.
I know neither the taste nor the taster.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I fear not death. I doubt neither my being nor my place.
I have no father or mother; I am unborn.
I have no relatives, no friends. I have no guru and no devotees.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Free from doubt, I am formless.
With knowledge, in knowledge, I am everywhere, beyond perception.
I am always the same. Not free, not trapped -- I am.
I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Truly, I am Shiva, pure awareness.
Shivo Ham! Shivo Ham!
~ Adi Shankara
(Translated By Ivan M. Granger)
Beautiful rendition of the above is available at http://youtu.be/_AHBSi2_Dpc
ReplyDeleteYou are what you think. Guru Vashisht, Adi Shankaracarya, Ashtavakra, Krishnamurthi and host of other immortal souls are loudly chanting these verses for time immemorial. But our intellect is so poor that it fails to trust them. The trust, if at all, is fleeting at best. If we had trusted them, we would not have been continuing our present journey in the same manner as we did in yesteryears. The mind is even poorer. The less said about it, the better. Our ego knows no surrender. It fails to even remain healthy. Forget about this surrendering business. So whatever, Shankracharya says is very good. But we have no ear for it!
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