ATMA SAKSHATKARA

DIRECT AWARENESS OF THE SELF

Let there be peace and love among all beings of the universe. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

ENEDICTION

This is the Direct Awareness of the Self,

Graciously expounded to Guha by Ishwara Himself [Shiva],
The foremost and first Lord,
Seated as the Self in my Heart.

Ramana Maharshi

That SHIVA further says:

1. Guha! I shall tell you about a

different way
To reach that Reality which pervades
partless in all,
Too subtle, though, to be grasped [by
the mind].

2. By which the knowledge of

Awareness is well-attained,
Knowing which is to become Shiva
Himself,
What has not been told to any by Me,
Today, from Me, that wisdom, hear!

3. Handed down by the lineage of

Gurus,
And beyond the ken of logicians,
This is for liberation from the bondage
of the birth-death cycle.
Its Supreme vision shines at all places.

4. He who is the One pervading all

things,
He who has manifested as All,
He who has faces in all directions, who
is beyond thought,
Who remains Himself as all the verities
and transcends them too, is the Self.

5. He transcends all verities,

He is beyond the reach of speech, mind
and name.
"I am That [Shiva-Self]": thus you
should meditate
With perfectly undifferentiated mind,
on Shiva.

6. Firmly established as the Eternal

entity,
Imperishable and Undifferentiated,
The all-pervasive, partless knowledge
that cannot be fathomed by the mind,
It shines, with nothing prior to
compare.

7. Without stain, Indestructible, the totally serene,

The knowledge transcending all objects,
Beyond the pale of thought, conception and doubt,
That [Supreme] I am – no doubt about this.

8. That Supreme Divinity, Shiva, indeed am I,

Of the nature of all the mantras,
And transcending all the mantras,
Devoid of dissolution and creation.

9. What is visible, what is invisible, the moving and the stationary –

All these are pervaded by Me.
I am the Lord of this universe.
All shine because of Me.

10. Filled with a variety of forms, one different from the other,
Filled with a galaxy of worlds,
All this universe, from Shiva down to the earth,
Are all established in Me.

11. Whatever is seen in this world,

Whatever is heard in this world,
Whatever shines, conceptualised as inside and outside,
All these are pervaded by Me, the all-pervading One.
Realise this.

12. Though considering himself the Self,

He desires to attain that Shiva, the Supreme Self, as one apart.
Whoever contemplates on Shiva, thus in delusion,
Will not attain Shivahood by such contemplation – know this.

13. "Shiva is other than I; I am other than Shiva" –

Uproot this attitude of differentiation.
"I indeed am Shiva" –
This conviction that is non-dual, ever practise.

14. Full of this non-dual conviction,

He who, everywhere, abides ever in the Self,
Shall see, in all things, in all bodies,
Only that Shiva-Self – of this, there is no doubt.

15. Whoever has this conviction always, of the One Self,

Shall rid himself of delusion, and dual perception.
That yogi will attain to Omniscience –
So it is said in the Vedas. This you should know.

16. He who is praised in all scriptures

As the Unborn, the Ishwara,
That formless and attributeless Self,
He indeed am I – there is no doubt about this.

17. Only he who does not know his true nature

Is the jiva that is subject to the dharmas [characteristics] of birth, death, and so on.
He who knows his true Self is one who is Eternal,
He is the pure, He is Shiva. Without doubt, know this.

18. Hence, what men of discrimination should enquire carefully

And directly realise is the Self;
That Itself shines twofold,
As the Transcendental and the inferior divisions, the gross and the subtle.

19. The Supreme Nirvana is the Higher,

The inferior is manifest as the creation,
Mantras are spoken of as its gross form,
What abides in changeless Awareness is the subtle.

20. Shanmukha! Without realising It [Atma],

What avails explanations thereof in endless ways? Tell me!
All these are only a wonderful display of words,
The cause for the delusion of the mind.

21. All the dharmas [qualities] abide in the Self.

Whichever of them the individual self [jiva] imagines,
Whereby he concentrates his thoughts again and again on it,
He will attain that object – there is no doubt of this.

22. Thus has been told by Me as the knowledge of the Self

What has been gathered succinctly in a condensed form.
All, by any means, is of the nature of the Self.
Realising this, may you ever be strengthened in the thoughts of the Self.

23. The deities, the Vedas, the fire sacrifices,

The various gifts to priests in the course of their performance –
None of this exists there [in the nature of the Self].
Be tuned to the blemishless, omni-faceted, steadfast knowledge of the Self.

24. To the jiva drowning in the vast ocean of the birth-death cycle,
And seeking a refuge,
What affords refuge is only that knowledge of the Self,
Not anything else – know this.

25. He who becomes of the nature of the Supreme

And realises It as It really is,
Shall, though experiencing all changing states,
Attain liberation without effort – be aware of this.

26. There is no greater blessing anywhere,

Apart from the gaining of the Self.
Meditate ever on the Self. He, who is the Self,
He indeed is the one all-pervasive Supreme Self – be aware of this.

27. It is not the prana [vital air] nor the apana [the air that travels down] even,
Nor the instruments superior even to these, the senses, mind and such.
Reach ever for the thought of the Self.
That is the Omniscient and the Perfect.

28. It is neither inside nor outside,

Not afar, nor nearby, nor does It fit in any place.
That Supreme is formless, all-pervasive and effulgent,
Direct your thoughts ever to It.

29. It is across, above, and below,

Inside and outside, which are divisions, ever established firmly everywhere –
The Void, the self-luminous Self.
Ever meditate on That more and more.

30. Not a void, not a non-void,

It is also the non-void, and the Void,
Pervasive everywhere, but without predilections –
Ever think of this Self.

31. Afflictionless, and without any support for Itself,

Bereft of caste, name, and form –
That taintless, attributeless Self
You should unceasingly meditate upon.

32. With no refuge, with nothing to support It,

Beyond the range of comprehension, without parallel,
Faultless by nature, the Eternal –
The Self that is so, meditate upon it joyfully, forever.

33. Embracing dispassion and thus desisting from all karmic activity,
Shying away from society,
One should, thereafter, ever meditate upon
The Self within oneself, in oneself, by oneself – be aware of this.

34. Country and lineage, the traditional castes and style of life,
Effacing various thoughts arising in the wake of these,
The wise man should meditate daily,
Upon his [real] nature.

35. "This is the mantra", "This is the Deity",

"This is indeed what is called meditation",
"This indeed is tapas" –
Casting afar all such thoughts,
Concentrate on the nature of your own Self.

36. The Self is without thought.

Make it impossible for the thought-oriented [mind] to think at all.
Make the mind that thinks, to get settled on the Self.
Let not the mind think of anything else.

37. The Self is not something that can be thought of,

Nor is It something that cannot be thought of.
It is not thought itself,
It is indeed Itself thought –
What does not lean towards any of the above,
The Supreme that is the Self, ever meditate upon It.

38. Meditate ever on That

Which is beyond the reach of the mind,
Allowing no refuge for the mind.
The joy that is attained in abundance in that Self,
That is beyond all verities and complete.

39. Without any differences, and beyond the reach of thinking,

Without any precedent, without anything similar,
That which is the utmost frontier and extolled as the Supreme bliss,
Be immersed in It.

40. Discarding all desire for objects,

Destroying the modes of the mind,
The non-dual state of being the One,
When the mind ceases to be,
Is the one called Supreme bliss.
41. All directions, all places, all times
Are conducive for the Yoga of the Self, so say the scriptures.
Differences of castes and orders of life and such,
Cannot cause any differences in the least to the nature of knowledge.

42. The colour of milk is one, the colours of the cows many,
So is the nature of knowledge, observe the wise ones.
Beings of various marks and attributes,
Are like the cows, their realisation is the same;
This is an example we should know.

43. Reality [Brahman] intimately pervades all,

It shines with faces in all directions.
Established in It without a pause,
Think not of differences such as regions and directions.

44. In this world itself, there is no mark, lifestyle, or tradition,

For the one who becomes of the nature of the Self.
He has nothing to gain by any action of his; no action need he perform,
Nor any injunctions prescribing actions apply to him – know this.

45. Moving or standing or sleeping,

Waking or taking food or water,
In the face of the wind, the cold and the sun,
Unaffected will he be, in any state, at any time.

46. Fear, indigence, sickness, burning fever, indigestion –

Even when all these affect,
One established in the Self,
Peaceful and shining full,
He is never at his wit’s end on any count; he will savour the satisfaction of the Self.

47. Whether going forward or returning, I am not the one that moves.
When enquired into, there is no going or coming.
In the ever-changing dharma of prakrti, the cause of illusive creation,
I never was immersed, nor am I now.

48. All activities prescribed are the work of prakrti, the illusion.
Prakrti, so spoken of, is the Source of all action.
"I am the immaculate", "I am the actionless", thus indeed will reflect
The wise man, the knower of Truth.

49. For him there is no bondage of prakrti, the delusion.

He has earned the name of the liberated one.
He shall never be touched by the defects
Spoken of as the action of prakrti.

50. The manner in which a lamp shines,

Destroying darkness with its light – in like manner,
By destroying the enveloping darkness, arising from inexplicable ignorance,
The Self, of the nature of the pure light of knowledge, shines.

51. Even as the lamp, with the fuel of ghee spent, attains peace,
The yogi, continuously contemplating on the Truth of the Self,
Will be at peace in the Self.
Nothing greater is there to be attained than the Self – this is the Truth.

52. When the pot is carried, the space within the pot,
Though conceived of as carried,
Is it not the pot only that is carried?
The Self too, like space, remains motionless.

53. When the pot breaks, the space in the pot

Merges one with the great Space.
When the inert body passes away, the Self, seemingly in the body,
Becomes immediately one with the Supreme Self.

54. Thus, the Lord who is Omniscient

Spoke with authority then:
"One who is liberated, severed from all bondage,
Becomes all-pervasive, endless,
With Absolute Awareness."

55. Discarding totally all the agamas,

Attaining the pure samadhi of Atma Yoga,
Realising, by due enquiry, there is nothing else greater than This,
Destroy all wrong ideas, in the mind, of differences.

56. Meditating continuously on the great knowledge thus,

That yogi who attains ever the bodiless nature,
That pure jnani whose dharma is the dharma of That [bodiless nature] alone,
Is the liberated one, shining inside and out, reaching across to every place.

57. Omniscience and bliss, and mature wisdom,

Remaining independent, limitless strength –
Attaining all these, He shines ever, the Self without afflictions.
With an immaculate body, He, as the Self, merges in Shiva.

58. Japa of the name, worship, bathing in holy waters, ritual sacrifices,
None of these or others are needed.
The fruits of dharma and adharma,
Water oblations to forefathers,
None of these are for him.

59. No injunctions for observance, no fasts,

Nothing required by way of getting into or out of [any action],
No vows of celibacy for him, know this.

60. Not having any recourse to falling into the fire or water,
Or falling from the mountain top,
Enjoy the feast of the knowledge of Shiva, Eternal and pure.
Rid of the rules applying to all creation, move about as you please.

61. I tell you this is the Truth, the Truth, the Truth, thrice over.
There is nothing greater than This,
Nothing greater is there to be known,
Nothing at all, nowhere ever.

62. Rid of any blemish, rid of ignorance, with pure intellect, being the pure Self,
By the pure conviction that all that is seen is pure,
Meditating on the immaculate nature,
He shall attain Awareness.

2019
English translation by Dr. H. Ramamurthy «आत्मसाक्षात्कारātmasākṣātkāra», 2007.Source:
Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Chapter of the Sarvajnanottara Agama.
Theology, Philosophy and Tradition of Shiva, December 18, 2007