उपदेशसाहस्री (आदि शङ्कराचार्य - गद्य व पद्य भाग)

प्रकाशप्रकरणम् ॥ १२ ॥
CHAPTER XII
LIGHT
प्रकाशस्थं यथा देहं सालोकमभिमन्यते ।
द्रष्ट्राभासं तथा चित्तं द्रष्ट्राहमिति मन्यते ॥ १ ॥

1. Just as a man (erroneously) looks upon his body
   placed in the sun as having the property of light in it,
   so, he looks upon the intellect pervaded by the reflection
   of Pure Consciousness as the Self, the witness.
   यदेव दृश्यते लोके तेनाभिन्नत्वमात्मनः ।
   प्रपद्यते ततो मूढस्तेनात्मानं न विन्दति ॥ २ ॥
2. The Self gets identified with whatever¹ is seen
   in the world. It is for this reason that an ignorant man
   does not know himself (to be Brahman).
   [The reason why people mistake the combination of
   the subtle and the gross bodies for the Self is this
   identification caused by Its reflection. On account of
   there being the reflection of Pure Consciousness in the
   body, the senses, the mind, the intellect and the vital
   ¹ The body, the senses, the mind, the intellect and the vital force.

1-5] LIGHT 123
force they appear to be conscious and cannot, therefore,
be discriminated from the Self.]
दशमस्य नवात्मत्वप्रतिपत्तिवदात्मनः ।
दृश्येषु तद्ग्रहेऽवायं मूढो लोको न चान्यथा ॥ ३ ॥
3. An ignorant man gets identified with objects ¹
of knowledge and does not know the Self (which is
different from them) like the tenth ² boy who got identi-
fied as it were with the other nine.
त्वं कुरु त्वं तदेवेति प्रत्ययावेककालिकौ ।
एकनीडौ कथं स्यातां विरुद्धौ न्यायतो वद ॥ ४ ॥
4. Say how there can reasonably by the two con-
trary ideas, ‘You do this’ and ‘You are Brahman’ ³
at the same time and in respect of the same person.
देहाभिमानिनो दुःखं नादेहस्य स्वभावतः ।
स्वापवत्तत्प्रहाणाय तत्त्वमित्युच्यते दृशेः ॥ ५ ॥
5. Pain belongs to one identifying oneself with the
body. One not identifying oneself with it, as in deep
sleep, is, therefore, by nature free from pain. The
teaching, ‘Thou art That’ is imparted in order that this
identification ⁴ might be removed ⁵ from the Self.
¹ See foot-note, verse 2 above.
² After swimming across a river one of ten boys counted their
number and found that they were only nine. The reason for this
was that the boy did not count himself. He got, as it were, identi-
fied with the other nine and could not find that he was the tenth.
But he came to know that he was the tenth when he was told so.
³ Which is a non-doer. ⁴ Together with Ignorance, its cause.
⁵ The unity of the Self and Brahman is here taught and not action.

124 A THOUSAND TEACHINGS [CHAP. XII
दृशेश्छाया यदारूढा मुखच्छायायेव दर्शने ।
पश्यंस्तं प्रत्ययं योगी दृष्ट आत्मेति मन्यते ॥ ६ ॥
6. An ignorant person¹ looks upon the intellect
as the Self, when there is the reflection² of the Self in
the intellect like that of a face in a mirror.
तं च मूढं च यद्यन्यं प्रत्ययं वेत्ति नो दृशेः ।
स एव योगिनां प्रेष्ठो नेतरः स्यान्न संशयः ॥ ७ ॥
7. He who looks upon the ego, the indiscrimination
that produces delusion and other mental modifications
(or the reflection of the Self in them) as having no con-
nection with the Self, is, without doubt, the dearest to
the knowers of Brahman. No one else is so.
विज्ञातेर्यस्तु विज्ञाता स त्वमित्युच्यते यतः ।
स स्यादनुभवस्तस्य ततोऽन्योऽनुभवो मृषा ॥ ८ ॥
8. As it is the Knower³ of knowledge that is referred
to by the word 'Thou' (in the Sruti⁴) the understanding
of the term 'Thou' in this sense is correct. The other⁵
sense different from it is due to superimposition.
दृशिरूपे सदानित्ये दर्शनादर्शने मयि ।
कथं स्यातां ततो नान्य इष्यतेऽनुभवस्ततः ॥ ९ ॥
¹ 'योगी' in the text.
² This is why one attributes the properties (e.g., agency, experi-
encing, etc.,) of the intellect to the Self like those (e.g., spots etc.)
of the mirror to the face.
³ Br. U., 3. 4. 2. ⁴ Chh. U., 6. 8. 7.
⁵ I.e., the Self with the intellect etc. superimposed on It.

6-13] LIGHT 125
9. How can there be knowledge or ignorance in
Me who am eternal and always of the nature of Pure
Consciousness ? No knowledge,¹ therefore, other than
the Self ² can be accepted.
यत्स्थस्तापो रवेर्देहे दृशेः स विषयो यथा ।
तत्त्वस्थस्तद्वद्देहं दृशेः स विषयस्तथा ॥ १० ॥
10. Just as the heat of the sun (in a part of the body)
together with that part of the body is the object of the
knower, so, pain and pleasure together with the intellect
in which they lie are the objects of the Self.
प्रतिषिद्धेदमंशज्ञः खमिवैकरसोऽद्वयः ।
नित्यमुक्तः सदा शुद्धः सोऽहं ब्रह्मास्मि केवलः ॥ ११ ॥
11. I am Brahman without attributes, ever pure,
ever free, non-dual, homogeneous like the ether and of
the nature of Consciousness from which the object
portion ³ has been negated.⁴
विज्ञातुर्नैव विज्ञाता परोऽन्यः संभवत्यतः ।
विज्ञाताहं परो मुक्तः सर्वभूतेषु सर्वदा ॥ १२ ॥
12. I am always the free ⁵ supreme Knower in all
beings inasmuch as there cannot be a more compre-
hensive knower different from Me.
यो वेदालुप्तदृष्टित्वमात्मनोऽकर्तृतां तथा ।
ब्रह्मवित्त्वं तथा मुक्त्वा स आत्मज्ञो न चेतरः ॥ १३ ॥
¹ A mental modification with the reflection of Consciousness
in it. ² Pure Knowledge. ³ See foot-note 3, verse 2, Chapter II.
⁴ On the authority of the Sruti, 'Not this, not this.'
⁵ Because untouched by the properties of objects of knowledge.

126 A THOUSAND TEACHINGS [CHAP. XII
13. He who Knows that the Consciousness of the
Self never ceases to exist, and that It is never an agent
and also gives up the egoism that he is a Knower¹ of
Brahman is a (real) knower of the Self. Others are
not so.
ज्ञातैवाहऽमविज्ञेयः शुद्धो मुक्तः सदेत्यपि ।
विवेकी प्रत्ययो बुद्धेर्दृश्यत्वान्नाशवान्यतः ॥ १४ ॥
14. Capable by no means of being known I am the
knower and always free and pure as the discriminat-
ing knowledge² is in the intellect³ and liable to
be destroyed on account of its being an object of Know-
ledge.
अलुप्ता त्वात्मनो दृष्टिनोत्पाद्या कारकैर्यतः ।
दृश्यया चान्यया दृष्ट्या जन्यतास्याः प्रकल्पिता ॥ १५ ॥
15. The Consciousness⁴ of the Self, on the other
hand, never goes out of existence and is not capable of
being produced by the action of agents etc. inasmuch
as producibility is superimposed on It by another
consciousness,⁵ Its object and different from It.
देहात्मबुद्ध्यपेक्षत्वादात्मनः कर्तृता मृषा ।
नैव किंचित्करोमीति सत्या बुद्धिः प्रमाणजा ॥ १६ ॥
¹ The consciousness 'I am a knower of Brahman' is a modifi-
cation of the mind and should not, therefore, be attributed to
the Self. ² The modification of the mind, 'I am Brahman.'
³ And not in the Self. ⁴ The Self which is Consciousness.
⁵ Phenomenal consciousness. It contributes its own producibility
to the Self on account of superimposition.

13-19] LIGHT 127
16. The doership of the Self is false as it depends on
the misconception of the body being the Self. That I
do not do anything is the true knowledge which arises
from the right evidence, (the Vedas).
कर्तृत्वं कारकापेक्षमकर्तृत्वं स्वभावतः ।
कर्ता भोक्तेति विज्ञानं मृषैवेति सुनिश्चितम् ॥ १७ ॥
17. Agency depends on doership, instruments¹ etc.
but non-agency is natural. It has, therefore, been very
well ascertained that the knowledge that one is a doer
and experiencer is certainly false.
एवं शास्त्रानुमानाभ्यां स्वरूपेऽवगते सति ।
नियोज्योऽहमिति ह्येषा सत्या बुद्धिः कथं भवेत् ॥ १८ ॥
18. How can the idea that I am a person to be
enjoined (by the Vedas to perform actions) be true
when the real nature of the Self is thus² known from
the scriptures³ and inference?⁴
यथा सर्वान्तरं व्योम व्योम्नोऽप्यभ्यन्तरो ह्यहम् ।
निर्विकारोऽचलः शुद्धोऽजरो मुक्तः सदाद्वयः ॥ १९ ॥
19. Just as the ether is in the interior⁵ of all,⁶ so,
I am in the interior⁷ even of the ether. Therefore I am
without change, without motion, pure, devoid of old
age, ever free and without a second.
¹ Of action and of knowledge.
² As described in this chapter. ³ See verse 8. ⁴ See verse
10 above.
⁵ Being the material cause. ⁶ The other four elements. ⁷ I.e., I
am the substratum of everything.