Key Advaita Verses Sarve janah sukhino bhavantu! Bhavatu Sarav Mangalam!

Paropakara punyaya, papaya parapeedanam (one attains merit by working for the welfare of others and commits sin by hurting others). The most important verse in Mahabharata. Selections from Avadhuta Gita: 1. Through the grace of God alone, the desire for non-duality arises in wise persons to save them from great fear. 2. How shall I salute the formless, non-dual Being, indivisible, auspicious, immutable, who fills all this with His Self and also fills the self with His Self. 3. I alone am, ever free from all taint. The universe composed of five elements exists like a mirage within me. To whom shall I bow? 4. All is verily the absolute Self, free from distinction and non-distinction. Neither can it be said, It is nor It is not. What a great mystery! 5. The quintessence and the whole of Vedanta is this Knowledge: I am the Self, by nature formless and all-pervading. 6. That God who is indeed the Self in all, impersonal and changeless, like unto space, by nature purity itself, verily, verily, that alone I am. 15. Na tvam naham jagan-nedam sarvam atmaiva kevalam. There is no you, no me, nor is there this universe. All is verily the Self alone. 18. Abhinnam pasya catmanam raga-tyagat sukhi bhava. (18). Behold the Self indivisible. Be happy through renunciation of attachment. 21. Know that which has form to be unreal, that which is formless to be eternal. Through the instruction of this truth there is no longer rebirth into this world. 23. Katham samadhih moksha-svarupam yadi sarvam ekam. If all is one and of the nature of liberation, how can there be Samadhi? 25. By such utterances as That thou art, your own self is affirmed. Of that which is untrue and composed of the five elements the Sruti says, Not this, not this.

33. Know me to be that Self who is everything and everywhere at all times, who is eternal, stead, the All, the nonexistent, and the Existent. Have no doubt. 36. Some seek nonduality, other duality. They do not know the Truth, which is the same at all times and everywhere, which is devoid of both duality and notduality.

43. tattvam ekam idam sarvam vyomakaram niranjanam. All this in one Truth, all this is of the nature of space and without taint. 49. atmaiva kevalam sarvam turiyam ca trayam katham. All is verily the Self alone. How can there be three states and the forth. 59. na jatoham mrto vapi na me karma subhasubham visuddham nirgunam brahma bandho muktih katham mama. I was not born nor have I death. I have no action, good or evil. I am Brahman, stainless, without qualities. How can there be bondage or liberation for me? 68. yat sara-bhutam kathitam maya te tvam tattvam gaganopamosi. I have told you that which is the essence: you indeed are the Truth, like the sky. 74. Where there are neither the three states of consciousness nor the fourth, there one attains the Absolute in the Self. How is it possible to be bound or free where there is neither the virtue nor the vice.

Selections from Isa Upanisad: Isavasyamidam sarvam yatkica jagatyam jagat tena tyaktena bhujitha ma grdhah kasyasvid dhanam. 1. All this, whatever exists in this world of becoming, is permeated by the Lord. Therefore, find your joy in renunciation (by giving up the sense attachment, of me or mine). Do not covet, for whose is the wealth? Mahatma Gandhi regarded the opening verse of Isa Upanisad as the gist of Hinduism and Dr. T.P.M. Mahadevan (cited in Saroja, 1985, p. 175) considered it to be the quintessence of Vedanta. kurvanneveha karmani jijivisecchatam samah evam tvayi nanyatheto'sti na karma lipyate nare. 2. Always thus doing ones work here, one may desire to live a hundred years. There is no other way than this to live; thus living, the work does not bind.

yastu sarvni bhtni tmanyevnupashyati, sarvabhtesu ctmnam tato na vijugupsate. 6. And he who sees all beings in the self itself, and the Self in all beings, feels no hatred towards anyone by virtue of that realization. yasminsarvani bhutanyatmaivabhudvijanatah tatra ko mohah kah soka ekatvamanupasyatah. 7. For one who clearly sees all beings in his own self and his own self in all beings, everywhereTo him who has realized Oneness, what delusion is there, what grief? Or how can there be delusion or suffering when Oneness has been realized? Selections from Bhagavad Gita: y The Vedas deal with the three Gunas. Be thou free, O Arjuna, from the triad of the gunas1 (nistraigunyo bhava rjuna), free from the pairs of opposites, ever-equanimous, free from (the thought of) getting and keeping, and established in the Self. (II. 45) When a man completely casts away all the desires of the mind, satisfied in the Self alone by the Self, then is he said to be one established in steady wisdom. (II. 55) The gunas (qualities) of Nature perform all work. One whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks, "I am the doer." (III. 27) But, one, with true insight into the domains of gunas and action, knowing that gunas as senses merely acting on gunas as objects, does not become attached. (III. 28) Learn the Truth by humble submission, by inquiry, and by service to the knowers of Truth. Those wise men, the Seers of Truth, will teach you that Knowledge." (IV. 34) The knower of Truth, (being) centered (in the Self) should think, "I do nothing at all"though seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing, speaking, letting go, holding, opening and closing the eyes convinced that it is the senses that move among sense-objects. (V. 8-9) Resting in Brahman, with intellect steady and without delusion, the knower of Brahman neither rejoices in receiving what is pleasant nor grieves on receiving what is unpleasant. (V. 20)

y y

Guna is a technical term of Sankhya philosophy also used in the same sense by the Vedanta. Prakrti or Nature is constituted of three Gunas: Sattva (equilibrium or purity), Rajas (attraction or activity), and Tamas (inertia). Prakrti is the three Gunas, not that she has them. Guna is wrongly translated as quality; it is substance as well as quality, matter, and force. Where ever there is name and form, there is Guna. Guna also means a rope, that which binds. (Swarupananda, 1996, pp. 55-56)

Persons who, meditating on Me as non-separate, worship Me in all beings (all round), to them who are constant and devout in this, I provide what they lack and secure what they have. (IX. 22) When one has renounced all thoughts, then is one said to have attained to yoga.2 (Sarva-Samkalpa sannyasi, yoga-arudhahsth tada ucyate) (6.4)

Miscellaneous Verses y It is just like an empty pitcher placed in the sky, having nothing inside or outside; and again, it is just like a full pitcher placed in the sea, full of (water) both inside and outside. Yoga Vashishtha in Nikhilananda (1998, p. 35) Mann eva manushyaanaam kaaranam bandha mokshayoh Bandhaaya vishayaasaktam muktaih nirvishayam smritam. Mind alone is the cause for bondage and liberation; cause of bondage when attached to sense objects, cause of liberation when freed from them. ~Brahmabindupanisad, verse 2, in Harshananda, 1999, p. 107 y The Sruti says, With the disappearance of the attachment to the body and with the realization of the Supreme Self, to whatever object the mind is directed one experiences Samadhi. (VS Iyer trs. cited in Drg-Drsya Viveka, 1998, p. iii)

In explaining the phrase renouncing all thoughts, Shankara's commentary is illuminating: "When he has learned to habitually renounce all thoughts which give rise to desire for objects of this world and of the next, then he is said to have become a Yogaarudhah, to be one who is attained to yoga (or established in yoga)" (Sastry, 1995, p. 186, emphasis added). To underscore the fact that desire has thought as its source/root (samkalpa mullah hi sarve kamah) and hence the vital link between our thoughts and desires, Shankara then quotes Mahabharata: "O desire, I know where thy root lies. Thou art born of thought. I shall not think of thee, and thou shall cease to exist as well as thy root." (Shanti Parva, 177-25). And that whatever actions a man does, all that is the effect of desire itself (Manu-Smrti 2.4). Therefore, when one gives up all desires, renunciation of all action becomes possible. Shankara finally concludes his commentary on this verse noting that by saying that the aspirant should renounce all thoughts, the Lord implies that he should abandon all desires and all actions as well (Sastry, 1995, pp. 186-187).

Selections from Sri Shankaracharya: Obeisance to Sri Daksinamurti3, who at the time of spiritual awakening, has verily realized his own Self, one without a second, having understood that the world is within oneself even as a city is reflected in a mirror is, but projected as if it is outside, by maya, as in dream. (Harshananda, p. 40) Through the company of the good, there arises non-attachment; Through non-attachment, there arises freedom from delusion; Through freedom from delusion, one realizes the Immutable Reality; Experiencing the Immutable Reality, one attains liberation-in-life. Hymn (9) of Bhaja Govindam Stotra y In dream, when there is no actual contact with the external world, the mind alone creates the whole universe consisting of the enjoyer, etc., and similarly in the waking state alsothere is no difference. Therefore, all this phenomenal universe is the projection of the mind. (Vivekachudamani, 70) Just as one, within a dream, sees the world within oneself as if it is separate, in the same way, during the waking state also, let this world be judged. (9) Just as one who has woken up from sleep does not see the objects shown in dream, even so, one does not see the world after attaining knowledge par excellence, i.e, knowledge of Brahman-Atman as the basis of all existence and consciousness. (12) Manasollasa, Harshananda, 2000, pp. 6-7. It is the essence of the Consciousness manifesting as the self in the three states, and it is the cessation of all phenomena. It is Peace, Bliss, and the One without a second. This is what is known as the Fourth (Turiya). This is Atman and this has to be realized. (Mandukya Upanisad, 7) The eternal Atman, whichthrough the changes of waking,

Daksinamurti (literally, south facing portrait), the personification of spiritual wisdom, is one of the aspects of Lord Siva. He is usually depicted as sitting, under a bunyan tree, in yoga posture exhibiting cinmudrathe jnana mudraa hand with the index finger touching the thumb, the other three fingers extended. The meaning of the mudra is that one cannot know Truth if one has not mastered the analysis of the three states of consciousness, avasthatraya. As VS Iyer explains it: The bent forefinger touching the thumb means that when you separately stretch out the fingers, i.e. examine the three states, there is a seer or drik which knows them, symbolized by the index finger; this is Turiya, the fourth. The touching of the forefinger with the thumb means that this fourth state is one with the Atman or Self. (cited in Fung, Paul Brunton: Bridge between East and West, 2004, p.77).

dreaming, and dreamless sleep, Through childhood, youth, maturity, and old age Persists as the inexhaustible flow of consciousness, Revealing Itself in the heart as the ever present sense of "I." ~Hymn to Sri Dakshinamurti, Nikhilananda, 1987, p. 179. Nirvan Shatakam: manobuddhy-ahamkara chittani naham, na cha shrotra jihve na cha ghrana netre; na cha vyomabhumir na tejo na vayuh, chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham. I am neither the mind, intelligence, ego or memory, Neither the ears nor the tongue, nor the senses of smell and sight; Neither ether nor air, nor fire or water nor earth: I am Eternal Bliss and AwarenessI am Siva! I am Siva! ~Six Stanzas on Nirvana, Nikhilananda, 1987, p. 217 aham nirvikalpo nirakararupo vibhurvyapya sarvatra sarvendriyanam sada me samatvam na muktirna bandhah chidanandarupah shivoham shivoham I have neither dualities nor shape or form; I am present everywhere and pervade all the senses; I am always equanimous; I am neither liberation nor bondage; I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss-Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva. (Reddy, 2007, p. 178) Brahm satya, jagat mitthya, jivo brahmo na parae4. The world is illusory. Brahman (Universal Self) is the sole reality. Individual Self (Atman) is not apart from Brahman, though. Selections from Ashtavakra Gita:
In the first part of this mahavakaya, the reality of phenomenal world is denied and the reality of Brahman is upheld; and, finally, the identity between Brahman (universal Self) and Atman (individual Self) is established (The Atman is the individual Self within, the eternal witness of all. The Brahman is the Self without, the universal Self of all). In other words, the world as perceived by our senses is ultimately unreal. The world is unreal not in the sense that it does not exist per sefor that will not pass the test of common sensebut unreal in the sense that it does not exist on its own, apart from Brahman, the ultimate reality. This is one good summary of Advaita Vedanta. 4

y y y y y

If you separate yourself from the body and mind and rest in consciousness, you will at once be happy, peaceful, and free from bondage. (1.4) You are the one seer of all and really ever free. Verily this alone is your bondage that you see the seer as other than yourself. (1.7) Do you who have been bitten by the great black serpent of egoism I am the doer, drink the nectar of the faith I am not the doer, and be happy. (I.8) The body bound up with the organs of senses comes, stays and goes. The Self neither comes nor goes. Why do you then mourn it?* (XV 9) Let the body last to the end of a Kalpa (a cycle of time) or let it go even today. Where is the increase and decrease in you who are pure Consciousness?* (XV 10) *These verses were chanted while VS Iyer was breathing his last breath!

Sri Ramakrishna used to emphasize that renunciation of unreal represents the true significance of Bhagavad Gita: If the word Gita is rapidly repeated it would sound Tagi, Tagi And Tagi is a modification of Tyagithe man of renunciation. Renunciation of the phenomenal existence is the gist of the Gita (op. cit., Chidbhavananda, 2000, p. 170). It must be pointed out that dispassion does not mean relinquishing ones duties. As Iyer (1980a, p. xix) points out: Neglect of ones duties, on the pretext of detachment means nothing but selfishness and love of inactivity. In the ultimate analysis, renunciation is an inner, mental act and should not be confused with outward tokens of abandonment. True renunciation is the renunciation of kartapann the deeply ingrained sense of doership. Only then, the actions do not bind a man: na karma lipyate nare (Isa Upanisad, 2). This is the high art of inaction in action and action in inaction that the Gita (4.18) declares to be the way of the wise ones (brahm-jnanis). Sri Ramana Maharshi once said: An atma jnani alone can be a good karma yogi. (Maharshis Gospel, p. 16)

Self is ever-realized Therefore, we have only to eliminate what is falsely ascribed to Brahman by avidya5; we have to make no more effort to acquire knowledge of Brahman as He is quite self-evident. Though thus quite self-evident, easily knowable, quite near, and forming the very Self, Brahman appearsto the unenlightened, to those whose reason (Buddhi) is carried away by the differentiated phenomenon of
5

Avidya means nescience, i.e., ignorance of our true nature.

names and forms created by avidyaas unknown, difficult to know, very remote, as though He were a separate thing. But to those whose reason (Buddhi) has turned away from external phenomena, who have secured the grace of the guru, and attained the serenity of the self (manas), there is nothing else so blissful, so well known, so easily knowable, and quite so near as Brahman. Accordingly, the knowledge of Brahman is said to be immediately comprehended. (Sastry, 1995, p. 487) This is also borne out by the key verse in the Gita (2.55) that defines sthitapragah as follows: When a man completely casts away all the desires of the mind, satisfied in the Self alone by the Self, then is he said to be one established in steady wisdom. In this regard, a verse from Brhadaranyaka Upanisad (4-4-5) is highly pertinent: Whatever forms the object of desire, that he wills; and whatever he wills, that he acts (Sastry, 1995, p. 186). Likewise, whatever actions a man does, all that is the effect of desire itself (Manu-Smrti 2.4). Therefore, when one gives up all desires, renunciation of all action becomes possible. (Gambhirananda, 1984, op. cit., pp. 280-281) At the end of many births, the man of wisdom attains Me, realizing that all this is Vasudeva (the innermost Self). Such a great-soul is very hard to find. (bah n m janman m ante, j nav n m m prapadyate; v sudevah sarvam iti, sa mah tm sudurlabhah) (VII, 19)

Namantro aksharam nasti, nasti mullakam aushdham Ayogayam pursho nasti, yojakah tatra dhurlabham. Mahabharata satyam bruyat priyam bruyat ma bruyat satyam apriyam priyam ca nanritam bruyat eshha dharmah santananh Manu Samriti

Word Meaning: satyam -- truth; bruyat -- speak; priyam -- pleasing; bruyat -- speak; ma -do not; bruyat -- speak; satyam -- truth; apriyam -- not pleasing. TRANSLATION One should speak the truth, which is agreeable, not the truth which is disagreeable. One should not speak an untruth which is agreeable. This is the eternal dharma.