Part 1 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

I. THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE REAL PRINCIPLE

3. The objects of knowledge, viz., sound, touch, etc., which are perceived in the waking state, are different from each other because of their peculiarities; but the consciousness of these, which is different from them, does not differ because of its homogeneity.

4. Similar is the case in the dream state. Here the perceived objects are transient and in the waking state they seem permanent. So there is difference between them.But the (perceiving) consciousness in both the states does not differ. It is homogeneous.

11. If the supreme bliss of the Self is not known, there cannot be the highest love for it. (But it is there). If it is known, there cannot be attraction for worldly objects.(That too is there). So we say, this blissful nature of the Self, though revealed, is not (strictly speaking) revealed.

15. Prakriti (i.e. primordial substance) is that in which there is the reflection of Brahman, that is pure consciousness and bliss and is composed of sattva, rajas and tamas (in a state of homogeneity). It is of two kinds.

16. When the element of sattva is pure, Prakriti is known as Maya; when impure
(being mixed up with rajas and tamas) it is called Avidya. Brahman, reflected in
Maya, is known as the omniscient Isvara, who controls Maya.

17. But the other (i.e. the Jiva, which is Brahman reflected in Avidya) is subjected to Avidya (impure sattva). The Jiva is of different grades due to (degrees of) admixture (of rajas and tamas with sattva). The Avidya (nescience) is the causal body. When the Jiva identifies himself with this causal body he is called Prajna.

18. At the command of Isvara (and) for the experience of Prajna the five subtle elements, ether, air, fire, water and earth, arose from the part of Prakriti in which tamas predominates.

19. From the sattva part of the five subtle elements of Prakriti arose in turn the five subtle sensory organs of hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell.

20. From a combination of them all (i.e. sattva portions of the five subtle elements) arose the organ of inner conception called antahkarana. Due to difference of function it is divided into two. Manas (mind) is that aspect whose function is doubting and buddhi (intellect) is that whose functions are discrimination and determination.

21. From the rajas portion of the five elements arose in turn the organs of actions known as the organ of speech, the hands, the feet, and the organs of excretion and generation.

22. From a combination of them all (i.e. the rajas portions of the five subtle elements) arose the vital air (Prana). Again, due to difference of function it is divided into five. They are Prana, Apana, Samana, Udana and Vyana.

23. The five sensory organs, the five organs of action, the five vital airs, mind and intellect, all the seventeen together form the subtle body, which is called the Suksma or linga sarira.

24. By identifying himself with the subtle body (and thinking it to be his own), Prajna becomes known as Taijasa, and Isvara as Hiranyagarbha. Their difference is the one between the individual and the collective (i.e. one is identified with a single subtle body and the other with the totality of subtle bodies).

25. Isvara (as Hiranyagarbha) is called totality because of his sense of identification with all the subtle bodies (of the universe). The other (the Taijasa) is called ‘individual” because it lacks this knowledge (and is conscious only of his self, being identified with his own subtle body).

26. To provide the Jivas with objects of enjoyment and make the bodies fit for such
enjoyment, the all-powerful Isvara has made each of the (subtle) elements partake
of the nature of all others.

27. Dividing each element into two equal halves and one half of each again into four (equal parts) the Lord mixed the subtle elements so that each gross element thus formed should contain one half of its own peculiar nature and one eighth of that of each of the other four.

28. From these composite elements the cosmic egg arose, and from it evolved all the
worlds as well as all the objects of experience and the bodies in which the experience take place. When Hiranyagarbha identifies himself with the totality of gross bodies he is known as Vaisvanara; when Taijasas do so with individual gross bodies (e.g.) of the devas, men or lower animals, they are known as Visvas.

29. They see only external things and are devoid of the knowledge of their true inner
nature. They perform actions for enjoyment, and again they enjoy for performing
action.

30. They go from birth to birth, as worms that have slipped into a river are swept from one whirlpool to another and never attain peace.

31. When the good deeds performed by them in past births bear fruit, the worms
enjoy rest being lifted from the river by a compassionate person and placed under
the shade of a tree on the bank.

32. Similarly, the Jivas (finding themselves in the whirlpool of samsara), receive the appropriate initiation from a teacher who himself has realised Brahman, and
differentiating the Self from its five sheaths attain the supreme bliss of release.

33. The five sheaths of the Self are those of the food, the vital air, the mind, the
intellect and bliss. Enveloped in them, it forgets its real nature and becomes subject to transmigration.

45. When the supreme Brahman superimposes on Itself Avidya, that is, sattva mixed
with rajas and tamas, creating desires and activities in It, then it is referred to as ‘thou’.

46. When the three mutually contradictory aspects of Maya are rejected, there
remains the one individual Brahman whose nature is existence, consciousness and
bliss. This is pointed out by the great saying 'That thou art’.

53. The finding out or discovery of the true significance of the identity of the
individual self and the Supreme with the aid of the great sayings (like Tattvamasi) is what is known as sravana. And to arrive at the possibility of its validity through
logical reasoning is what is called manana.

54. And, when by sravana and manana the mind develops a firm and undoubted conviction, and dwells constantly on the thus ascertained Self alone, it is called unbroken meditation (nididhyasana).

55. When the mind gradually leaves off the ideas of the meditator and the act of
meditation and is merged in the sole object of meditation. (viz., the Self), and is
steady like the flame of a lamp in a breezeless spot, it is called the super-conscious state (samadhi).

II. THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS

10. The various actions of man can be classified into five groups; speech, grasping,
movement, excretion and enjoyment of sexual intercourse. Action performed in
agriculture, commerce, service and so forth may be included into one or other of the
groups.

13. The mind enquires into the merits and defects of the objects which are perceived
by the senses. Sattva, rajas and tamas are its three constituents, for through them
the mind undergoes various modifications.

20. Differences are of three kinds: The difference of a tree from its leaves, flowers,fruits etc., is the difference within an object. The difference of one tree from another tree is the difference between objects of the same class. The difference of a tree from a stone is the difference between objects of different classes.

59. With Brahman as its basis, Maya creates the various objects of the world, just as
a variety of pictures are drawn on a wall by the use of different colours.

Source: http://www.celextel.org/othervedantabooks/panchadasi.html