Advaita Pancharathnam by Sri Bhagavatpaada - Transliteration, Meaning, Reflections & addl. references (for contemplation)

222॥ अद्वैत पञ्चरत्नम् ॥
॥ advaita pañcaratnam ॥

nāhaṃ deho nendriyāṇyantaraṅgonāhaṅkāraḥ prāṇavargo na buddhiḥ ।dārāpatyakṣetravittādidūraḥsākṣī nityaḥ pratyagātmā śivo'ham ॥ 1 ॥

Meaning: I am not the body, nor the senses, nor the mind, nor the ego, nor the group of vital breaths nor prana, nor the intellect. I am the one who is far away from wife, children, farm, house etc. I am verily that Shiva who is witnessing directly, who is eternal and is the innermost Self.

Reflection: By carrying out contemplation with sraddha, distinguishing between Atman (Self) and Anaatman (Non-Self – body, senses, mind, ego, prana, buddhi) cognize the Pratyagaatman (Self-luminous Self – pulsating as “I” “I” across all acts of cognition)

Do not get deluded by the false notions like - "I’m Eashwar Thiagarajan"; "This body is myself”; “I’m different than him or her or this or that”; “I like this, so I want to be near it; or I hate this, so I need to be away from this”.

Recognize “I’m Shiva Swaroopa alone – the changeless ground of changeful phenomena (mithya-Jagad- adhiṣṭhāna). I as Self am pure consciousness & hence the adhistaana, in which the names, forms, appear/disappear. But all those appearances & disappearances cannot taint Me – the Self of the nature of pure consciousness – which illumines all names, forms, events. Just like movie screen is not tainted by nature of movies playing on it. The Naama 'Shiva' means the essential nature of auspiciousness or Mangalaswaroopa. Isvara is Self or Atman - the very essence or embodiment of extreme, supreme Bliss, Prosperity - śivoham

Reference (additional reading): Svetasvatara Upanishad 6-11, viz.

एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा।
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च।।6.11।।

ēkō dēvaḥ sarvabhūtēṣu gūḍhaḥ sarvavyāpī sarvabhūtāntarātmā.
karmādhyakṣaḥ sarvabhūtādhivāsaḥ sākṣī cētā kēvalō nirguṇaśca৷৷6.11৷৷

 One Divine being, who is One only, is hidden in all beings. He pervades all and He is the Inner Self of all beings. He presides over all actions and all beings dwell in Him. He is the witness and He is the pure consciousness. He is alone or single and is devoid of all gunas.

rajjvajñānādbhāti rajjau yathāhiḥ

svātmājñānādātmano jīvabhāvaḥ ।

āptoktyā'hibhrāntināśo sa rajju-

rjīvo nāhaṃ deśikoktyā śivo'ham ॥ 2 ॥

Meaning: When the rope was cognized (as the rope), there arose the cause for the (fictious) snake to manifest, similarly because our Atman is not Known, as it truly is (i.e. as Pure Unlimited Consciousness), this jīvabhāvaḥ (finite localized consciousness, limited by body, mind etc.) appears.  A person in the knowing about the real nature of the rope will dispel the illusion of the snake, similarly a Desika (Brahma Vit) helps the shishya recognize that 'I am not a Jeeva but am verily Shiva, alone’

Reflection: When we recognize, the true essence of Being, this delusion disappears. The knowledge that I’m a Jeeva is purely based on thinking that our existence (as Jeeva) depends on the relation of the Jeeva with body, mind, senses, prana etc., in waking state. But the Brahma Vidya’s declaration that we are Brahman of the nature of pure consciousness – leads to the recognition of our essential nature as pure consciousness, which has no physical, causal, spatial, temporal relation with body, mind etc. So, always remember that this knowledge of our infinite nature (Brahma Vidya) cannot be sublated by any external cause or effect. So, this Brahma Vidya is eternal and inviolable.

Reference (additional reading): Mandukya Karika Vaitathya Prakarana - verse 2.16

जीवं कल्पयते पूर्वं वचो भावान्पृथग्विधान् ।
बाह्यानाध्यात्मिकांश्चैव यथाविद्यस्तथास्मृतिः ॥ १६ ॥

jīvaṃ kalpayate pūrvaṃ vaco bhāvānpṛthagvidhān |
bāhyānādhyātmikāṃścaiva yathāvidyastathāsmṛtiḥ || 2.16 ||

2. 16. First of all, is imagined the Jīva (the embodied being) and then are imagined the various entities, objective and subjective, that are perceived. As is (one’s) knowledge so is (one’s) memory of it.

अनिश्चिता यथा रज्जुरन्धकारे विकल्पिता ।
सर्पधारादिभिर्भावैस्तद्वदात्मा विकल्पितः ॥ १७ ॥

aniścitā yathā rajjurandhakāre vikalpitā |
sarpadhārādibhirbhāvaistadvadātmā vikalpitaḥ || 2.17 ||

2. 17. As the rope, whose nature is not really known, is imagined in the dark to be a snake, a water-line, etc., so also is the Ātman imagined (in various ways).

निश्चितायां यथा रज्ज्वां विकल्पो विनिवर्तते ।
रज्जुरेवेति चाद्वैतं तद्वदात्मविनिश्चयः ॥ १८ ॥

niścitāyāṃ yathā rajjvāṃ vikalpo vinivartate |
rajjureveti cādvaitaṃ tadvadātmaviniścayaḥ || 2. 18 ||

2. 18. When the real nature of the rope is ascertained all illusions about it disappear and there arises the conviction that it is the one (unchanged) rope and nothing else; even so is the nature of the conviction regarding Ātman.

ābhātīdaṃ viśvamātmanyasatyam

satyajñānānandarūpe vimohāt ।

nidrāmohātsvapnavattanna satyam

śuddhaḥ pūrṇo nitya ekaḥ śivo'ham ॥ 3 ॥

Meaning: Just as the dream appears because of the instinct to enter sleep, all this world of duality, appears because of misconception, delusion. Therefore, it is not real. I, who am pure, whole, eternal and non-dual, am verily Siva

Reflection: Forgetting one’s waking state nature, one involves himself or herself into the dream world. This attachment to dream world, arises due to vasanas inherent in mind – which sets the stage for name and form, to roll on the screen of Self – Pure consciousness. While the movie is played out (in dream), the watcher of the movie identifies so well with it, that he forgets his waking self. Either during the dream or at the disruption of sleep – the dreamer regains his identity with waking self and dream events, people no longer have an hold on him. Similarly, once the cognition of the rope, as the real vastu, on which the idea of snake was superimposed – dawns, there is no more delusion.

The cognition of rope and snake does not exist at same time. So right knowledge serves to dispel the notion of the reality of the snake, while granting the vision of the rope. Similarly, the dream like nature of the waking state, ought to be realized – while learning to recognize one’s nature as infinite Self. Knowledge of Self is also knowledge of the unreality of the appearances, as mere superimpositions on Self. To think of a state which is neither realization or ignorance (like a meta-realization), is mere mental fiction.  Similarly knowing the nature of Atman as śuddhaḥ pūrṇo nitya ekaḥ - implies accepting that Atman is Lord Siva Himself – none else. Both Jeevathvam and Jadathvam – are mere fictions arising out of self-perpetuating ignorance.  

Everyone is cognizant of his/her existence, as they exclaim often – “I” “I”. The real meaning of this “I” is lost, in the medley of cognition of names & forms (the world of senses, including one’s own body, mind, personality etc.) as apart from Self. This perpetuates the Ignorance of Non-Dual Self.  Just like fiction of snake, exists on the rope – as Adhistaana, the ideas of Jeevathvam, Jadathvam are superimposed on Atman – the real meaning of “I” – namely Chaithanyam, which is śuddhaḥ pūrṇo nitya ekaḥ śivoham.

Reference (additional reading): Sri Sankara Bhasyam on Mandukya Karika – 2.32

Duality is superimposed upon Ātman through ignorance, like the snake, etc., upon the rope. How is it so? I am happy, I am miserable, ignorant, born, dead, worn out, endowed with body, I see, I am manifested and unmanifested, the agent, the enjoyer, related and unrelated, decayed and old, this is mine, —these and such other ideas are superimposed upon Ātman. The notion¹ of Ātman (Self) persists in all these, because no such idea can ever be conceived of without the notion of Ātman. It is like the notion of the rope which persists in (all superimposed ideas, such as) the snake, the water-line, etc.

¹ Notion—The Ātman persists through all our experiences; for at no time is it possible to conceive that Ātman, in the form of the perceiver, (Dṛk) is absent or non-existent.

nāhaṃ jāto na pravṛddho na naṣṭo

dehasyoktāḥ prākṛtāḥ sarvadharmāḥ ।

kartṛtvādiścinmayasyāsti nāhaṃ-kārasyaiva

hyātmano me śivo'ham ॥ 4 ॥

Meaning: Never was I born, nor growing nor dying. All these are qualities of Prakriti (original matter) which appears as if it’s in Me, but in truth all this belongs to the body (modification of Prakriti). The doership (Kartrutva), enjoyership (Bhoktrutva) etc. are belonging to Ahamkara (ego – i.e. the thought of individuality that manifests in mind) alone and not to Me who am Chinmaya or Pure Consciousness - I am of Shiva (pure auspiciousness consciousness) alone."

Reflection: The mere declaration of Vedanta that “You are not the body, mind, etc. You are the Auspicious, Peaceful, Nondual Reality” – clarifies for us the very purpose of Vedanta. The purpose of Vedanta or the benefit of Vedanta is the knowledge it communicates to us about our very nature. We may know many things, about many things – like about space, galaxies, physics, micro-biology, languages, art, music etc.… but do we know our self? This knowledge of Atman – as infinity, as Brahman – is Brahma Vidya. This is the very fundamental knowledge, upon which all the duality rests.

Hence the Sruti says “brahmavidyāṃ sarvavidyāpratiṣṭham” – All other knowledge (of duality) rests on Knowledge of Brahman (Brahma Vidya)” – Mundaka Upanisad 1.1.1

If we were to gain wealth, education, land, or access to heaven – all this if done, at the expense of the knowledge of Self – suffering is inevitable. So, when people ask me what is the benefit of Vedanta? The answer is Vedanta or Brahma Vidya’s main benefit or rather only benefit – is to give us the most valuable thing in the whole wide world of experience – namely our True Self – taintless, immortal, infinite.

Knowing oneself has birthless, deathless, as pure consciousness in which idea of Prakriti appears, only to disappear later – one is truly freed from false sense of doership and enjoyership. Any actions, after the acceptance of this Brahma Vidya – is only because one’s past actions (Prārabdha). But such actions – do not yield suffering, even if they do not go as planned. This is because the knowledge of one’s infinite Self, as Chinmaya is never sublated by action, or its outcomes.

Also, this grieving process which most ignorant people undertake “Why did God does this to me?” or “God is cruel” etc.…. will become needless. The acceptance of one’s Prārabdha becomes natural to one, who has accepted with finality the truth of Brahma Vidya.

Reference (additional reading): Gita Slokas.

yē caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasāstāmasāśca yē.

matta ēvēti tānviddhi natvahaṅ tēṣu tē mayi৷৷7.12৷৷

7.12. Whatever being (and objects) that are pure, active and inert, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.

Sri Sankara Bhasyam: Although they originate from Me, still, tu, however; aham, I; am na tesu, not in them-I am not subject to them, not under their control, as are the transmigrating beings. Te, they, again; mayi, are in Me, subject to Me, under My control.

Reflection: Isvara is like screen on which movie is played. Movie is on screen, but the screen takes no part in the movie – unaffected by the proceedings of the movie. Similarly is Isvara (Atman) and Prakriti.

tribhirguṇamayairbhāvairēbhiḥ sarvamidaṅ jagat.

mōhitaṅ nābhijānāti māmēbhyaḥ paramavyayam৷৷7.13৷৷

7.13. Deluded by these three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) this world does not know Me as distinct from them and immutable.

Swami Sivanandaji: On account of delusion created by these three gunas they are not able to break the worldly ties and to turn the mind towards the Supreme Self – who is the Lord of the three gunas. Atman is Avyayam: Immutable or unchangeable or inexhaustible or imperishable. The Self is of one homogeneous essence. It has not got the six changes or modifications (Shad Vikaras - existence birth, growth, modification, decay and death).

matto nānyatkiñcidatrāsti viśvaṃ

satyaṃ bāhyaṃ vastu māyopaklṛptam ।

ādarśāntarbhāsamānasya tulyaṃ

mayyadvaite bhāti tasmācchivo'ham ॥ 5 ॥

Meaning: Apart from me there does not exist a real world of duality whatsoever. Whatever exists externally is imagined because of Maya. This (show of duality) appears in Me who am non-dual, just like an image appears in a mirror. Hence, I am Shiva

Reflection: If Atman alone abides as non-dual truth, how is the world explained? How does a Jeevan mukta transact? The answer is hidden in the very statement – Atman Alone Is. To think, there is a world of duality, apart from Atman – is to think there is wave apart from ocean or water! No amount of duality contradicts the nondual nature of Atman, which itself appears as names/forms superimposed on it. This magical superimposition is Maya!

Know that Atman manifests Himself as AparokshAnubhava – immediate experience of self-awareness, existence. It’s recognized by the lakshanam of consciousness. When it’s said Atman is jnAna Swarupam – it implies – aparokshajnAna – Self-Knowledge – which is self-evident, independent of the mind. It is because of Atman’s nature of pure consciousness, we all cognize even the mind & all that it shows – i.e. rest of the world.

Even though duality exists briefly, changefully as superimposition on Atman, it can’t be counted as something independent of Atman – to make Atman part of duality framework. In other words, for something to be counted as (1) Atman, (2) Universe or Maya…. Maya or Universe must be present at all times as Atman. If it manifests in one way or the other, for brief while and then vanishes – it ought to be treated as unreal and mere superimposition on Atman.

The question of world becoming sublated upon knowledge of Brahman, is invalid – since the world never had an independent existence to begin with. So, the question of it ceasing to exist also does not arise. The world of duality – is cognized by virtue of consciousness – which is infinite Self. So, by knowing one’s self as the infinite non-dual Self – the belief in the separate existence of duality – vanishes. As far as sense or sensory knowledge is considered post-realization – it shall continue in the realm of duality, as far as Prārabdha continues. This statement too (i.e. w.r.t Prārabdha) is only an explanation for those Sadhakas, who have not yet developed complete sraddha in nonduality. Because if sraddha in non-duality has arisen – why even bother for explanation about duality!!

All Brahma Vidya Sastram, Guru Sampradhaya are from Vyavahaarika standpoint or in the relative domain of Maya.  Adviteeya Atman alone is the Absolute Reality.

Reference (additional reading): Dakshinamurti Slokham (1)

viśvaṃ darpaṇadṛśyamānanagarītulyaṃ nijāntargataṃ

paśyannātmani māyayā bahirivodbhūtaṃ yathā nidrayā ।

yaḥ sākṣātkurute prabodhasamaye svātmānamevādvayaṃ

tasmai śrī gurumūrtaye nama idaṃ śrīdakṣiṇāmūrtaye ॥ 1॥

Salutations Sri Dakshinamurti, who is the Guru, who at the time of spiritual awakening, has verily realized his own Self, the one without a second, having understood that the world is within oneself even as city reflected in a mirror is, but projected as if it is outside, by the maya as in dream.

Manasollaasa by Sri Sureshwara Charya (Vartikam on Sri Dakshinamurti slokam)

ātmalābhātparo lābho nāstīti munayo viduḥ ।

tallābhārthaṃ kaviḥ stauti svātmānaṃ parameśvaram ॥ 1.2॥

2. The sages hold that there is no greater gain than gain of Atman, the Self. With a view to this gain, the sage adores his own Self, the Parameshwara.

svecchayā sṛṣṭamāviśya viśvaṃ yo manasi sthitaḥ ।

stotreṇa stūyate'nena sa eva parameśvaraḥ ॥ 1.3॥

3. He who, having entered into the Universe created by His own will, manifests Himself in the mind of everyone, it is the Parameswara, verily that is being adored by this hymn.  (tat srstva tadevAnuprAvisat – Tai Up 2.6)

iti śrīmatparamahaṃsaparivrājakācāryasya

śrīgovindabhagavatpūjyapādaśiṣyasya

śrīmacchaṅkarabhagavataḥ kṛtau

advaita pañcaratnaṃ sampūrṇam ॥