Ekaślokī by Sri Bhagavatpāda

Guru: kiṃ jyotis tava?

What is your light?

(By what light do you see, know things)

Śiṣya: bhānumān ahani me, rātrau pradīpādikam.
During the day, the sun is my light. At night, a lamp and such things are my light.

(The disciple answers from the standpoint of knowing things through the senses)

Guru: syād evam. ravi-dīpa-darśana-vidhau kiṃ jyotir ākhyāhi me?
Granted. But in the very act of seeing the sun and the lamp, what is the light by which they are known? Tell me.

(How do senses function? – think Kena Upaniṣad)

Śiṣya: cakṣuḥ.
The eye.

(But the disciple thinks of the stula indriya… Here we must be reminded of Drg Drsya Viveka sloka “rūpaṃ dṛśyaṃ locanaṃ dṛk…”)

Guru: tasya nimīlanādi-samaye kiṃ?
When the eye is closed (i.e. what is the light then?)

(But Sri Guru is persistent, in his infinite compassion)

Śiṣya: dhīḥ.
The mind, or intellect.

(……..taddṛśyaṃ dṛktu mānasam)

(Mind is the seer, the stula Indriyas are the seen)

Guru: dhiyo darśane kiṃ?
How are you aware of your mind? (i.e. by what light the mind is known)

(Gradually the Guru leads the attention from things out there, to the thinking device itself… how are you aware of the thoughts?)

Śiṣya: tatra aham.
There, it is I.  (i.e. I illumine my thoughts – i.e. I’m aware of my thoughts)

(Now the disciple begins to recognizes that inner light.........but what if this is not the ultimate reality, what is there is another "consciousness" to illumine this "consciousness"?)

Guru: ato bhavān paramaṃ jyotis.
Therefore, you are the supreme light (of awareness itself).

(This awareness or consciousness in which thoughts arise, subsist and abide..........is the ultimate reality - satyam itself.... infinite awareness itself. Consciousness is an singular infinite of which there is no plural)

Śiṣya: tad asmi, prabho.
That I am, O prabho.

(In the presence of Guru, who step wise guided the sisya, the disciple recognizes one’s Self as Pure Being (Sat), Pure Consciousness (Chit) – hence beyond thoughts, names, forms, time, space – Infinity (Anantam))

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Dear reader, when you come to the last phrase, do not use phrases like “The Self in me” or “the Ātman in me,” 

Simply say: I, the Self, am Sat-Chit-Ānanda.

When you say “the Self in me” or “the Ātman in me,” the word “me” still betrays the long-standing habit of identifying with the body, mind, and personality.

The real “me,” the true “I,” is Ātman itself. That is the Self which the Ācārya has guided the śiṣya to recognize.

tad asmi, prabho.

tad asmi, prabho.

tad asmi, prabho.