उपदेशसाहस्री (आदि शङ्कराचार्य - गद्य व पद्य भाग)

1-4] NEGATION 89
पूर्वबुद्धिमबाधित्वा नोत्तरा जायते मतिः ।
दृशिरेकः स्वयं सिद्धः फलत्वात्स न बाध्यते ॥ ३ ॥
3. A following ¹ knowledge does not arise without
negating ² the previous ³ one (e.g., the knowledge of the
rope does not come without destroying that of the
snake in a rope-snake). Pure Consciousness, the Self,
only has an independent existence and is never negated
as It is the result ⁴ of evidences.
इदं वनमतिक्रम्य शोकमोहादिदूषितम् ।
वनाद्गान्धारको यद्वत्स्वात्मानं प्रतिपद्यते ॥ ४ ॥
4. One attains one's own innermost ⁵ Self by
crossing ⁶ the forest of this body infested with ferocious
beasts of grief, delusion, etc., like the man ⁷ of the
country of Gândhâra who crossed the forest and
reached his own country.
¹ The right Knowledge of the substratum. ² So, the Knowledge
of the Self does not arise without destroying the previous Know-
ledge of egoism etc. ³ The superimposed Knowledge. ⁴ See paras
103 and 108 (Part I).
⁵ It is the innermost because It is the substratum of the intellect,
the mind, the vital force, the body, etc., each of which is supposed
by the ignorant to be the Self. ⁶ By discriminating the body and
the mind from the Self. ⁷ The story runs thus : This man, with
his eyes covered and thrown in a deep forest far away from his
own country, was very miserable and was crying loudly in order
that the covering of his eyes might be removed, when a kind
man did it and indicated the path to his country. The man then
did reach his own country by remembering the instruction of the
kind man. (Such is the case with the disciple and the teacher.)
See Chh. U., 6. 14.