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

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

93. Just as many objects are seen in a picture, so the various names and forms exist in Brahman. By negating both names and forms, one can understand that what remains is existence, consciousness and bliss.

94. Even though a man standing on the bank of a river sees his body reflected upside down in the water, he nevertheless identifies himself with his own body in the shore; similarly an aspirant after realisation of Brahman should know himself as Brahman.

96. Different mental creations are formed every moment, while those which pass are
lost for ever. The objects of the practical world should be looked upon similarly.

97. Childhood is lost in youth and youth is lost in old age. The father once dead does not return. The day which is past never comes back.

100. As the big rock lying in the bed of a river remains unmoved, though the water flows over it, so also while names and forms constantly change, the unchanging Brahman does not become otherwise.

102. Without seeing the mirror it is impossible to see the objects reflected in it.
Similarly wherefrom can there be any knowledge of names and forms without a
knowledge of their substratum, which is existence, consciousness and bliss ?

103. Having learnt of Brahman as existence, consciousness and bliss, one should fix the mind firmly on Him and should restrain it from dwelling on names and forms.

XIV. THE BLISS OF KNOWLEDGE

13. As water does not stick to the leaves of a lotus so after realisation future actions cannot stick to the knower.

15. Sri Krishna says: ‘Just as a blazing fire reduces the fuel to ashes, so, O Arjuna,the fire of knowledge burns up all actions’.

16. ‘He who has no notion of I-ness and whose mind is not tainted by desire for results of action is not really a killer even if he kills people; he is not bound by his actions’.

42. Let the ignorant people of the world perform worldly actions and desire to
possess wives, children and wealth. I am full of supreme bliss. For what purpose
should I engage myself in worldly concerns ?

XV. THE BLISS OF OBJECTS

7. (Another Shruti says): ‘The supreme Self, though one only, exists in every object.
Like the moon reflected in water, though one It appears as many’.

35. May the Lord who is both Hari and Hara ever be pleased by this ‘Bliss of
Brahman’ and may He protect all creatures who take refuge in Him and are pure in
heart.

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Part 8 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

9. Thus even in the mutual love between husband and wife the incentive is one’s
own desire for happiness.

10. A child, when kissed by its father, may cry, being pricked by the latter’s bristly beard, still its father goes on kissing the child – it is not for its sake but for his own.

12. A merchant forces his bullock, though unwilling, to carry a load. He loves the bullock for his own sake, how can it be for the bullock’s ?

60. A son is dearer than wealth, the body dearer than the son, the sense-organs dearer than the body, life and mind dearer than the sense organs and the Self is supremely dearer than life and mind.

65. When a married couple desire to have a son and do not have one, they are
disappointed and miserable. After conception, a miscarriage or the pain of labour
causes sorrow.

66. When a son is born he may suffer from diseases or from the position of the
planets at his birth, or he may be stupid or obstinate, or after the investiture of
sacred thread, he may study nothing or if he is learned, he may remain unmarried.

67. Again he may start pursuing the wives of others, or he may have an unwieldy
family and remain in poverty, or he may grow wealthy and yet die in his youth.
Infinite are the sorrows of parents.

68. Having considered all this, the disciple must abstain from forming an attachment
to other things. He should focus his love on the Self and contemplate It day and
night.

83. Knowing that for some Yoga is difficult and for some others knowledge, the great
Lord Sri Krishna speaks of these two paths.

XIII. THE BLISS OF NON-DUALITY

10. So the illusive appearance of the world in the partless bliss can be explained.
Like the power of a magician, the power of Maya may be said to bring the objective
world into being.

14. “The supreme Brahman is eternal, perfect, non-dual and omnipotent”, so says
the Veda and Vasistha supports this.

18. ‘Just as a tree with its fruits, leaves, tendrils, flowers, branches, twigs and roots is latent in the seed, so does this world abide in Brahman’.

20. ‘O Rama, when the all-pervasive, eternal and infinite Self assumes the power of
cognition, we call it the mind’

21. ‘O Prince, first arises the mind, then the notion of bondage and release and then the universe consisting of many worlds. Thus all this manifestation has been fixed or settled (in human minds), like the tales told to amuse children’.

27. ‘Thus to those who have no discrimination the world appears to be real like the
tale repeated to the child’.

35. The pot is not different from the clay, as it has no existence apart from the clay; it is neither identical with the clay, as in the unmoulded clay it is not perceived.

47. Though a man appears head downwards when reflected in water, he is not so.
No one would ever mistake it for the real person standing on the bank.

48. According to the doctrine of the non-dualists, such knowledge (i.e., the
knowledge of the unreality of the superimposed thing, the world), gives liberation,
the supreme goal of life. As the substratum clay is not rejected, the appearance of a
pot in it is accepted.

49. In an actual modification of the substratum, when milk is turned into curd (for
example), the former form, milk, disappears. But in the modification of clay into a
pot or gold into an ear-ring, the substratum does not change.

50. (Doubt): When a pot is broken into pieces, they do not resemble the original
clay, for broken pieces only are seen. (Reply): It is not so, for when reduced to
powder they do. The persistence of gold in the ear-ring is very clear.

62. The nature of Brahman is existence, consciousness and bliss, whereas the nature of the world is name and form. In the Nrisimha-Uttara-Tapaniya Upanishad existence, consciousness and bliss are said to be the ‘indications’ of Brahman.

64. After creating names and forms Brahman remains established in His nature, i.e.,
remains as immutable as ever, says the Purusha Sukta. Another Shruti says that
Brahman as the Self reveals names and forms.

65. Another Shruti says that before creation the universe was unmanifest and that
afterwards it became manifest as name and form. Here Maya, the inexplicable power
of Brahman, is referred to as ‘unmanifest’.

69. Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: ‘O descendant of Bharata, beings are unmanifest in the beginning, manifest in the present and unmanifest again at the end’.

79. Both name and form are without any real existence because they are subject to
creation and destruction. So know them as superimposed by the intellect on
Brahman, just as waves and foam are on the ocean.

86. Just as in the sleeping state a power inherent in the Jiva gives rise to impossible dreams, so the power of Maya inherent in Brahman, projects, maintains and destroys the universe.

90. In a sleeping man various dreams are created; similarly the power of Maya
creates diverse appearances in the immutable Brahman.

92. Brahman characterised as existence, consciousness and bliss is the common
basis of both the animate and inanimate objects; they differ only in their names and
forms.

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Part 7 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

49. The eagle rushes only to its nest hoping to find rest there. Similarly the Jiva eager only to experience the bliss of Brahman rushes to sleep.

55. Just as what happens outside in the street may be called external and what is done inside the house internal, so the experiences of the waking state may be called external and the dreams produced inside the mind and the nervous system may be called internal.

56. The Shruti says: ‘In sleep even a father is no father’. Then in the absence of all worldly ideas the Jivahood is lost and a state of pure consciousness prevails.

58. A text of the Atharva Veda says: ‘In the state of deep sleep, when all the objects of experience have been absorbed and only darkness (Tamas) prevails, the Jiva
enjoys bliss’.

59. A man from deep sleep remembers his happiness and ignorance and says: ‘I was sleeping happily; I knew nothing then’.

60. Recollection presupposes experience. So in sleep there was experience. The bliss
experienced in dreamless sleep is revealed by consciousness itself which also reveals
the undifferentiated ignorance (Ajnana) covering bliss in that state.

69. The self (Chidabhasa) in the waking and dream states, is connected or
associated with various sheaths such as Vijnanamaya and appears as many (i.e.,
plays various roles). In the deep sleep state, however, they get merged and become
latent like a dough of many (powdered) wheat-grains.

72. In the enjoyment of the bliss of Brahman in deep sleep, the consciousness
reflected in ignorance is the means. Prompted by its Karma, good or bad, the Jiva
gives up the enjoyment of bliss and goes out to the waking state.

74. For a short time after the waking up the impression of the bliss of Brahman enjoyed during sleep continues. For he remains for some time calm and happy,without taking any interest in the enjoyment of external objects.

75. Then, impelled by his past actions ready to bear fruits, he begins to think of duties and their implementation entailing sufferings of many kinds and gradually forgets the bliss of Brahman experienced (a few minutes before).

77. (Objection): Well, if a mere state of quietude were enjoyment of the bliss of
Brahman then the lazy and the worldly would achieve the end of their life. What then
is the use of the teacher and the scriptures ?

78. (Reply): Your contention would be correct, if he realised that the bliss that he
experienced was the bliss of Brahman. But who can know Brahman that is so
immensely profound without the help of the teacher and the scripture ?

79. (Objection): I know what Brahman is from what you yourself have said. Why then am I without the bliss of realisation ? (Reply): Listen to the story of a man who like yourself imagined that he was wise.

80. This man, hearing that a large reward was offered to anyone who knew the four
Vedas, said, ‘I know from you that there are four Vedas. So give me the reward’.

81. (Objection): He knew the number, not the text, of the Vedas fully. (Reply): You
too have not known Brahman fully.

82. (Objection): Brahman is by nature indivisible and is bliss absolute, untouched by
Maya and its effects. How can you speak of the knowledge of Brahman as complete
or incomplete ?

83. (Reply): Do you simply say the word ‘Brahman’ or do you see its meaning ? If
you know only the word, it remains for you to acquire knowledge of its meaning.

92. In the waking state the Jiva gets identified with the body, as fire with a red-hot ball of iron. As a result of this he comes to feel with certainty: ‘I am a man’.

116. ‘Mind has been described as of two types, pure and impure. The impure is that which is tainted by desires, the pure is that which is free from desires’.

117. ‘The mind alone is the cause of bondage and release. Attachment to objects leads to bondage and freedom from attachment to them leads to release’.

125. A man carrying a burden on his head feels relief when he removes the load;similarly a man freed from worldly entanglements feels he is in rest.

132. The knower of truth, experiencing the bliss of Brahman in the waking state experiences it also in the dreaming state, because it is the impressions received in the waking state that give rise to dreams.

XII. THE BLISS OF THE SELF

5. Yajnavalkya instructed this by pointing out to his beloved wife, Maitreyi, that ‘a wife does not love her husband for his sake’.

6. The husband, wife or son, riches or animals, Brahmanahood or Kshatriyahood, the
different worlds, the gods, the Vedas, the elements and all other objects are dear to
one for the sake of one’s own Self.

7. A wife shows affection to her husband when she desires his company; the
husband too reciprocates but not when he is engaged in worship or afflicted with
illness, hunger and so forth.

8. Her love is not for her husband’s sake but for her own. Similarly the husband’s
love also is for his own satisfaction and not for hers.

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Part 6 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

48. Or, if he has no worldly desires, he is born in a family of Yogis who have pure
intellect due to their practice of enquiry into the nature of Brahman, for such a birth is hard to obtain.

81. A student, diligent in reciting the Vedas, reads or recites them even in his dreams through the force of habit. Similarly, one who practises meditation, continues it even in his dreams.

84. A woman devoted to a paramour, though engaged in household duties, will all
the time be dwelling in mind on the pleasures with him.

85. While enjoying in mind the pleasure of the company of her lover, her household
duties though not much disturbed, are managed indifferently.

86. The woman with attachment to a paramour cannot fully do the work as a woman attached to her domestic duties does, with enthusiasm.

91. If he controls and concentrates his mind, he is a meditator and not a knower of
truth. To know a pot the mind need not be controlled.

95. Once the nature of the Self has been conclusively determined, the knower can
speak of it, think of it or meditate on it at will.

96. (Doubt): The knower too, like a meditator, forgets worldly affairs in his
contemplation. (Reply): Let him forget. This forgetfulness is due to his meditation
and not because of his knowledge of the Self.

97. Meditation is left to his will, for his release has been achieved through
knowledge. From knowledge alone comes release. This the scriptures announce with
drum-beats.

98. (Doubt): If a knower does not meditate, he would be drawn to external affairs.
(Reply): Let him happily engage himself in them. What is the objection for a knower
to be so engaged ?

99. (Doubt): This sort of reasoning is wrong, for there the scriptures will be violated.

(Reply): If so, what is right reasoning please ? (Doubt): Right reasoning is to follow the injunctions and prohibitions of the scriptures. (Reply): But they do not apply to the enlightened.

100. All these injunctions and prohibitions are meant for those who believe
themselves to belong to a certain caste or station and stage of life.

102. The clear-sighted knower from whose heart all attachment has vanished is a
liberated soul whether he performs or not concentration or action.

103. He whose mind is free from all desires or former impressions has nothing to
gain from either action or inaction, meditation (Samadhi) or repetitions of holy
formulas.

104. The Self is associationless and everything other than the Self is a display of the magic of Maya. When a mind has such a firm conviction, wherefrom will any desire
or impression come in it ?

130. Those who give up meditation on the attributeless Brahman and undertake
pilgrimages, recitations of the holy formulas and other methods, may be compared
to ‘those who drop the sweets and lick the hand’.

X. THE LAMP OF THE THEATRE

9. That consciousness which reveals at one and the same time the agent, the action
and the external objects is called ‘witness’ in the Vedanta.

10. The witness, like the lamp in a dancing hall, reveals all these as ‘I see’, ‘I hear’,‘I smell’, ‘I taste’, ‘I touch’ as pieces of knowledge.

11. The light in the dancing hall uniformly reveals the patron, the audience and the
dancer. Even when they are absent, the light continues to shine.

12. The witness-consciousness lights up the ego, the intellect and the sense-objects.
Even when ego etc., are absent, it remains self-luminous as ever.

13. The unchangeable witness is ever present as self-luminous consciousness; the intellect functions under its light and dances in a variety of ways.

14. In this illustration the patron(sponsrer) is the ego, the various sense-objects are the audience, the intellect is the dancer, the musicians playing on their instruments are the sense-organs and the light illumining them all is the witness-consciousness.

15. As the light reveals all the objects remaining in its own place, so the witnessconsciousness,itself ever motionless, illumines the objects within and without (including the operations of the mind).

XI. THE BLISS OF YOGA

21. As the happiness derived from sense-objects is covered by thousands of afflictions, it is misery only. There is therefore no happiness in the limited.

37. Our happiness and misery, however, are not to be known by inference; both
their presence and absence are directly experienced.

39. If sleep does not produce an experience of bliss why do people make so much efforts to procure soft beds etc., ?

42. But the happiness experienced in deep sleep is not obtained from any object. A man may go to sleep expecting to be happy, but before long he experiences a happiness of a higher order.

45. To remove that weariness the Jiva rushes towards his real Self and becoming
united with it experiences the bliss of Brahman in sleep.

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Part 5 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

244. After a man has realised the nature of the rope, the trembling caused by the
erroneous idea of the snake disappears gradually only and the idea of the snake still
sometimes haunts him when he sees a rope in darkness.

247. In the example already cited, the tenth man, who may have been crying and
beating his head in sorrow, stops lamenting on realising that the tenth is not dead;
but the wounds caused by beating his head take a month gradually to heal.

255. Let the ignorant people of the world perform worldly actions and desire to possess wives, children and wealth. I am full of supreme bliss. For what purpose should I engage myself in worldly concerns ?

279. The realm of duality, destroyed by knowledge, may still be perceived by the
senses, but such perception does not affect illumination. A living rat cannot kill a cat;then how can it do so when dead ?

VIII. THE LAMP OF KUTASTHA

21. That consciousness which witnesses the interval between the disappearance and the rise of successive Vrittis and the period when they do not exist and which is itself unmodifiable and immutable, is called Kutastha.

37. The Upanishad says that the Self (Atman) thought: ‘This body with the organs
cannot live without me’, and so cleaving the centre of the skull it entered into the
body and started experiencing the changeable states (e.g., wakeful, dreaming etc.,).

39. The Self becomes the ego identifying itself with the body composed of the five
elements and when the body perishes (once for all) the ego too perishes with it.
Thus said Yajnavalkya to Maitreyi.

40. ‘This Self is not perishable’ – thus the Shruti differentiates the Kutastha from
everything else. ‘The Self is associationless’ – such statements sing the everdetached state of Kutastha.

41. The passage which says that the body only dies and not the Jiva does not mean
that he is released but only that he transmigrates.

43. A man may be mistaken for the stump of a tree; but the notion of the stump is destroyed when the man is known to be a man. Similarly, when the Jiva knows ‘I am Brahman’, his notion ‘I am Buddhi (the ego-consciousness in the mind)’ is destroyed.

48. The consciousness, the substratum on which the illusion of Chidabhasa together
with the body and the sense organs is superimposed, is known as Kutastha in
Vedanta.

57-58. As the support of the unreal world, its nature is existence; as it cognises all insentient objects, its nature is consciousness; and as it is always the object of love,its nature is bliss. It is called Shiva, the infinite, being the means of revelation of all objects and being related to them as their substratum.

63. When we sleep, our dreams create even Jiva and Ishvara. What wonder is there then that the Great Maya creates them in the waking state ?

IX. THE LAMP OF MEDITATION

14. After indirectly knowing the one indivisible homogeneous Brahman from the books on Vedanta, one should meditate on or think repeatedly ‘I am Brahman’.

15. Without realising Brahman to be one’s own Self, the general knowledge of Him
derived through the study of the scriptures, viz., ‘Brahman is’, is here called indirect knowledge, just as our knowledge of the forms of Vishnu etc., is called.

16. One may have knowledge of Vishnu from scriptures as having four arms etc., but if one does not have a vision of Him, he is said to have only indirect knowledge,inasmuch as he has not seen Him with his eyes.

18. From the scripture a man may have a conception of Brahman as existence,
consciousness and bliss but he cannot have a direct knowledge of Brahman unless
Brahman is cognised as the inner witness in his own personality.

33. If a person does not realise the Self even after practising till death, he will surely realise it in a future life when all the obstacles will have been eliminated.

34. Knowledge will arise either in this birth or the next, says the author of the
Brahma Sutras. The Shruti also says that there are many who listen to the teachings
on non-duality and yet do not realise in this life.

35. By virtue of the practice of spiritual enquiry in a previous birth, Vamadeva had realisation even while in his mother’s womb. Such results are also seen in the case of studies.

36. In spite of reading many times a boy may not be able to memorise something,but sometimes, next morning, without any further study, he remembers all that he has read.

47. Because of his practice of enquiry such a Yogi enters into the heaven of the
meritorious and then if he is not freed from desires, he is born again in a pious and
prosperous family.

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Part 4 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

222. (Reply): These two meanings do not accord with the Advaita view. They
postulate a difference between Jiva and Ishvara, but in the Advaita doctrine there is
no distinction between ‘That’ and ‘Thou’. Statements appearing to make such a
distinction are only steps towards understanding of non-duality.

235. The Shruti declares that in fact there is no destruction and no origination; none in bondage and none engaged in practice for liberation; no aspirant for liberation and none liberated. This is the transcendental truth.

236. Maya is said to be the desire-fulfilling cow. Jiva and Ishvara are its two calves.Drink of its milk of duality as much as you like, but the truth is non-duality.

261. Owing to lack of true discrimination a man identifies egoism with the Self, and then thinks: ‘May this object be mine’, and so forth. This is called desire.

274. The man who is attached to objects is troubled by the world; happiness is enjoyed by the unattached. Therefore give up attachment if you desire to be happy.

283. Without the knowledge of Reality even perfect detachment and complete
withdrawal from worldly actions cannot lead to liberation. A man endowed with
detachment and withdrawal, but failing to obtain illumination, is reborn in the
superior worlds because of great merit.

284. On the other hand by the complete knowledge of the Reality a man is sure to
have liberation, even though his detachment and withdrawal are wanting. But then
his visible sufferings will not come to an end owing to his fructifying Karma.

VII. THE LAMP OF PERFECT SATISFACTION

20. When a man is as firmly convinced of his identity with Brahman as an ordinary
man is convinced of his identity with the body, he is liberated even if he does not
wish for it.

22. The Self is ever cognised. We speak of Its being known directly or indirectly,
being known or unknown, as in the illustration of the tenth man.

23. The tenth man counts the other nine, each of whom is visible to him, but forgets himself the tenth, though all the time seeing himself.

24. Being himself the tenth, he does not find him. ‘The tenth is not visible, he is
absent’, so he says. Intelligent people say that this is due to his presence being
obscured by ignorance or Maya.

129. If you give up food, you will not live; but will you not be alive if you give up
studies (other than scriptures)? So why so much insistence on pursuing such
studies?

130. (Doubt): How then the ancient knowers like Janaka administered kingdoms ?
(Reply): They were able because of their conviction about the truth. If you have that,then by all means engage yourself in logic or agriculture or do whatever you like.

131. Once he is convinced of the unreality of the world, a knower, with mind undisturbed, allows his fructifying Karma to wear out and engages himself in worldly affairs accordingly.

147. ‘The desires are never quelled by enjoyment but increase more like the flame of a fire fed on clarified butter’.

162. When a man is neither willing nor unwilling to do a thing but does it for the
feelings of others and experiences pleasure and pain, it is the result of ‘fructifying Karma through the desire of others’.

163. (Doubt): Does it not contradict the text at the beginning of this chapter which
describes the enlightened man as desireless ? (Reply): The text does not mean that
desires are absent in the enlightened man, but that desires arising in him
spontaneously without his will produce no pleasure or pain in him, just as the
roasted grain has no potency.

164. Roasted grain though looking the same cannot germinate; similarly the desires
of the knower, well aware of the unreality of objects of desire cannot produce merit
and demerit.

168. That which is not destined to happen as a result of our past Karma will not happen; that which is to happen must happen. Such knowledge is a sure antidote to the poison of anxiety; it removes the delusion of grief.

191. There is therefore no contradiction between the two statements in the
scriptures that ‘desires are a sign of ignorance’ and that ‘the wise man may have
desires’, because the desires of a wise man are too weak to bind.

193. Many Shruti texts declare that a husband loves his wife not for her sake and the wife loves him not for his sake, but for their own sake.

198. When King Janaka asked Yajnavalkya about the nature of the Self, the sage
first told him of the sheath of intellect and then, pointing out its inadequacy (to be the Self), ended in teaching him of the immutable Kutastha.

211. It is common experience that the states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep are distinct from one another, but that the experiencing consciousness is the same.

213. ‘When a man realises his identity with that Brahman which illumines the worlds
of the waking, dreaming and sleeping states, he is released from all bonds’.

214. ‘One should consider the Self to be the same in the waking, dreaming and sleeping states. That Atman which knows itself as beyond the three states is free from rebirth’.

215. ‘That Self which is not subject to experience in any of the three states, which can be called pure consciousness, the witness, the ever blissful and which is neither the enjoyer nor the enjoyment or the object of enjoyment, That I am’.

225. The subtle body is affected on the one hand by desire, anger and so forth and
on the other by inner and outer control, peace of the mind and serenity of the
senses. The presence of the former affections and the absence of the latter lead to
misery.

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Part 3 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

102. The Yogis postulate the existence of Ishvara. Prakriti functions owing to the proximity of consciousness and Ishvara is the controller of Prakriti. He is quite distinct from and superior to the Jivas, says the Shruti.

108. It is a fact that the Jivas, too, are not affected by sufferings etc., as they too are unattached; but when they fail to comprehend their real nature, they imagine that they are affected by sufferings, works and so forth.

116. So say people who worship the creator Brahma for obtaining children and quote
passages which say, ‘Brahma created the people’.

117. The Bhagavatas call Vishnu the only Ishvara because the lotus-born Brahma
issued from the navel of Vishnu.

118. The Saivas on the authority of their Agamas declare Shiva alone to be Ishvara,
as according to a tradition in the Puranas, Vishnu in spite of all his efforts could not discover the feet of Shiva.

119. The followers of the creed of Ganesha say that the elephant-faced Lord is the
only Ishvara for Shiva in order to conquer the demons of the three cities worshipped
Ganesha.

120. There are many other sects which try to declare their own favourite deity to be
the supreme. They quote hymns from Shruti and alleged traditions in support of their
views.

121. So every entity from the Inner Ruler to inert objects is considered as Ishvara by someone or other, for we find that even the sacred fig tree, the sun-plant and the
bomboo etc., are worshipped by the people as family deities.

143. Even if all the learned people of the world try to determine the nature of this world, they will find themselves confronted at some stage or other by ignorance.

144. Tell us, if you can, how the body and senses came out of the seed, or how
consciousness was born in the foetus. What answers will you give to these questions
?

146. In the end you will have to say, ‘I do not know’. Therefore the wise declare this world to be like a magic show.

147. What can be more magical than the fact that the seed in the uterus becomes a conscious individual, that it develops head, hands, feet and other organs, that it passes through the states of childhood, youth and old age and that it perceives, eats,smells, hears, comes and goes ?

152. As the tree is latent in the seed, so the waking and dreaming worlds are implicit in deep sleep. Similarly, the impressions of the entire universe are latent in Maya.

185. The creation and destruction of the world are comparable to day and night, to
the waking and sleeping states, to the opening and closing of the eyes and the
activity and quiescense of the mind.

199. There are two types of Shruti text describing the creation of the world either as a gradual evolution or as instantaneous. There is no contradiction, for the dream
world sometimes arises gradually out of deep sleep, but at other times it arises
instantaneously.

200. Hiranyagarbha or Sutratman, otherwise called the subtle-body, is the totality of
the subtle bodies of all Jivas. He conceives Himself as the totality of all egos or ‘I’ - consciousnesses, like the threads of a piece of cloth; and He is said to be endowed with the powers of volition, conation and cognition.

209. In whatever form Ishvara is worshipped, the worshipper obtains the appropriate
reward through that form. If the method of worship and the conception of the
attributes of the deity worshipped are of a high order, the reward also is of a high
order; but if otherwise, it is not.

210. The Liberation, however, can be obtained through the knowledge of reality and not otherwise. The dreaming does not end until the dreamer awakes.

216. From the worshippers of objects like grass to the followers of Yoga, all have
wrong ideas about Ishvara. From the materialist Charvakas to the followers of
Sankhya, all have confused ideas about Jiva.

219. Therefore the aspirants to liberation should never engage themselves in
disputations about the nature of Jiva and Ishvara. They ought to practise
discrimination and realise the reality of Brahman.

220. (Doubt): Such disputation is a means to the understanding of Brahman.
(Reply): It may be so, but be careful to avoid being drowned helplessly in the sea of
confusion.

221. (Doubt): All right, but the Vedantins must accept the Sankhya doctrine that Jiva
and Ishvara are associationless, pure consciousness and eternal and the Yoga
doctrine that Jiva and Ishvara, referred to as ‘thou’ and ‘that’ respectively in the
dictum ‘That thou art’, are of a pure nature.

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

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Part 2 - Important Couplets From Vedanta Panchadasi By Sri Vidyaranya Swami

Translated by Swami Swahananda Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

III. THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE FIVE SHEATHS

3. The body which is produced from the seed and blood of the parents, which are in turn formed out of the food eaten by them, grows by food only. It is not the Self, for it does not exist either before birth or after death.

5. The vital airs which pervade the body and give power and motion to the eyes and
other senses constitute the vital sheath. It is not the Self because it is devoid of
consciousness.

6. That which gives rise to the ideas of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ with regard to one’s body,house and so forth, is the mind sheath. It is not the Self because it has desires and is moved by pleasure and pain, is subject to delusion and is fickle.

7. The intellect which has the reflection of pure consciousness, and which pervades the whole body up to the tips of the fingers in the waking state but disappears in deep sleep, is known as the intellect sheath. It also is not the Self because it too is changeable.

8. The inner organ functions as the agent and also the instrument. Hence though
one, it is treated as two, viz., the intellect sheath and the mind sheath. Their fields of operation are the inner world and the outer world respectively.

9. There is a position or function (of the intellect) which, at the time of enjoying the fruits of good actions, goes a little farther inward and catches the reflection of the bliss and at the end of this enjoyment, merges in deep sleep. (This is what is known as the sheath of bliss).

10. This bliss sheath also cannot be the Self because it is temporal and
impermanent. That bliss which is the source of this reflection is the Self; for it is
eternal and immutable.

11. (Objection): By granting that the sheaths beginning with that of food (body) and
ending in that of bliss (joy or sleep) are not the Self, yet (when they are negated),
no further object remains to be experienced.

12. (Reply): True, bliss sheath etc., are experienced and not anything else. Yet who
can deny that by which these are experienced ?

13. As the Self is Itself of the nature of experience only. It cannot be an object of experience. Since there is no experiencer nor any experience other than It, the Self is unknowable – not because It does not exist but because It cannot be an object of experience.

IV. THE DIFFERENTIATION OF DUALITY

2. The Svetasvatara Upanishad says: ‘Know Maya as Prakriti and Brahman associated with Maya as the great Ishvara’ (who imparts existence and consciousness to it and guides it). It is He who creates the world.

3. The Aitareya Upanishad says that before creation there was Atman only, and He thought, ‘Let me create the world’, and then He created the world by His will (to create).

4. The Taittiriya Upanishad says that from the Self or Brahman alone arose in succession the whole creation including Akasa, (ether), air, fire, water, earth,vegetation, food and bodies.

5. The Taittiriya Upanishad says that desiring ‘I shall be many, so I shall create’, the Lord meditated; and thus created the world.

20. Objects created by Ishvara (e.g., gems) do not alter; they remain the same. But
gems may affect different people differently according to their mental states.

21. One man may feel happy on obtaining a gem, whereas another may feel disappointed at failing to obtain it. And a man uninterested in it, may only look on and feel neither happy nor disappointed.

22. The Jiva creates these three feelings of happiness, disappointment or
indifference with regard to the gem, but the nature of the gem as created by Ishvara
remains the same throughout.

23. Through personal relationships, one and the same woman appears differently as
a wife, a daughter-in-law, a sister-in-law, a cousin and a mother; but she herself
remains unchanged.

24. (Objection): These different relationships may be seen, but no changes in the
woman’s appearance are seen to result from other people’s ideas about her.

25. (Reply): Not so. The woman has a subtle body as well as a physical body
composed of flesh etc. Although other people’s ideas about her may not affect her
physical body, yet they can change her mental state.

27. (Reply): True, Acharya Shankara, Sureshvara and others acknowledge the fact that the mind assumes the form of the external object with which it comes into contact and modifies that form to suit its purposes.

29. Or just as sunlight assumes the forms of the objects which it illumines, so the
mind assumes the forms of the objects which it perceives.

33. In dream, when external (material) objects are absent, man is bound by the intellect to pleasure and pain, although outer objects are not perceived. In deep sleep, in a faint and in the lower Samadhi (when the mental functions are temporarily suspended), no pleasure or pain is felt inspite of the proximity of outer objects.

34. A liar told a man whose son had gone to a far-off country that the boy was dead,although he was still alive. The father believed him and was aggrieved.

35. If, on the other hand, his son had really died abroad but no news had reached
him, he would have felt no grief. This shows that the real cause of a man’s bondage
is his own mental world.

38. (Objection): If the mind causes bondage by giving rise to the phenomenal world,
the world could be made to disappear by controlling the mind. So only Yoga needs to
be practised; what is the necessity of knowledge of Brahman ?

39. (Reply): Though by controlling the mind duality can be made to disappear
temporarily the complete and final destruction of the mental creation is not possible
without a direct knowledge of Brahman. This is proclaimed by the Vedanta.

45. ‘An intelligent person, who has studied the scriptures and has repeatedly
practised what they enjoin should renounce them after knowing the supreme
Brahman, just as a man throws aside a flaming torch at the end of his journey’.
[Amritanada Upanishad]

46. ‘An intelligent person, who has studied the scriptures and has practised what
they enjoin should discard them after experiencing Brahman as his Self, just as a
man discards the husk when he has found the grain’. [Amrita-Bindu Upanishad]

47. ‘A wise man, having experienced Brahman as his Self, should keep his higher intuitive faculty (prajna) united with Brahman. He should not oppress his mind with many words, for they are a mere waste of energy’. [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]

48. It has been clearly told in the Shruti: ‘Know that One and give up other talks’ [Mundaka Upanishad] and ‘A wise man should restrain his speech and keep it within the mind’. [Katha Upanishad]

52. You may say: Let there be no liberation in life; I am satisfied if there is no birth anymore. We reply: Then (if the desires remain), you will have births also. So be satisfied with heaven only.

53. If you say that the pleasures of heaven are defective, having waning and
gradation, and so are to be renounced, then why don’t you give up this source of all
evils, the passions ?

55. Sri Sureshvara says that one who pretends to be a knower of Brahman and yet lives without moral restraint is like a dog that eats unclean things.[Naiskarmyasiddhi-IV-62]

66. If sometimes owing to actions performed in previous births the mind of a
reflective man is distracted by desire, then it may be brought back to a peaceful
state by the constant practice of spiritual meditations.

V. FIXING THE MEANING OF THE GREAT SAYINGS

2. The one consciousness which is in Brahma, Indra and other gods, as well as in
human beings, horses, cows, etc., is Brahman. So the consciousness in me also is
Brahman.

VI. THE LAMP OF THE PICTURE

7. On consciousness are superimposed various forms. In each of them there is a reflection, i.e., a special function of consciousness. They are known as the Jivas and are subject to the process of birth and death.

12. Therefore one should always enquire into the nature of the world, the individual Self and the supreme Self. When the ideas of Jiva and Jagat (world) are negated, the pure Atman alone remains.

13. By negation it does not mean that the world and Jiva cease to be perceptible to
the senses, it means the conviction of their illusory character. Otherwise people
would be automatically liberated in deep sleep or in a faint.

14. ‘The supreme Self alone remains’ also means a conviction about Its reality and
not non-perceiving of the world. Otherwise there would be no such thing as liberation
in life.

69. The Buddhists believe that the Atman consists of the momentary states of the intellect, because the intellect, endowed with the faculty of understanding, is the basis of the mind and through it the mind grasps matter.

70. The internal organ (Antahkarana) has two kinds of vrittis, viz., the ‘I’-
consciousness, and ‘this’ consciousness. The first constitutes the intellect, the
subject-consciousness and the second the mind, the object-consciousness.

75. Quoting the Shruti, ‘In the beginning all this was non-existent (Asat)’, the Buddhists say that perception and the objects of perception are the creations of illusion.

76. The Vedantins refute them by saying that there can be no illusion without a
substratum which is not an illusion. The existence of the Atman must be admitted.
Even the void has a witness; if not, it would be impossible to say, ‘There is a void’.

94. The first of the sheaths, the bliss-sheath which persists in the state of deep sleep and which does not manifest consciousness fully, is taken as Atman by the followers of Prabhakara and some logicians. What they state to be the nature of the Self, is in fact, characteristic of the bliss-sheath.

95. The followers of Bhatta hold that consciousness is hidden in Atman and that its
nature is both consciousness and unconsciousness. This is inferred from the fact of
the remembrance of sound sleep by the awakened man.

96. ‘I became unconscious and slept’, such feeling expresses the memory of that inert state which he actually experienced. But this remembrance of unconsciousness in deep sleep would not be possible unless there were at the same time a conscious element.

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

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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

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