Chapter 17

 

1.

A person who is content within himself, whose indreeyas are pure, and is always happy to be by himself, has attainded the fruit of Gnan and the practice of Yoga.

 

2.

It is a matter of great astonishment that a person who has Tattvagnan never experiences sorrow because this whole universe becomes filled with that One (the Supreme Tattva).

 

3.

None of the objects of this world have the capacity to give happiness to a person who is aatmaaraama (content within his Self), just as bitter neem leaves lack the capacity to give pleasure to an elephant who has feasted on the sweet leaves of a salla creeper.

 

4.

A person who has no desire for more pleasures after indulging in some sensual pleasure, and is unperturbed if he gets no worldly pleasures, is a Mahapurush; not easily found in this world.

 

5.

This world has bubhukshu (hungry people) as well as mumukshu (those who desire Moksha), but the Mahapurush who has no desire for either, is not easily found in this world.

 

6.

No Tattvagnani whose inclinations are magnanimous, has any feeling of wanting, or wanting to give up, Dharma Artha, Kama, and Moksha, life or death.

 

7.

Enlightened people have no wish for vilaya (dissolution) or aversion for sthiti (sustenance), and so they are happy with whatever they get in life.

 

8.

As soon as a person gets the Gnan, ‘I am kritaartha (fulfilled)’, the inclinations of the intellect are reduced. That is why an enlightened person remains carefree even when looking with the eyes, listening with the ears, touching with the skin, smelling with the nose, and tasting with the tongue.

 

9.

A person whose ocean (this world) has dried up (because of realizing that it is a mirage) sees the world as shoonya (empty). His efforts are futile, and his indreeyas are vikala (restless), but he has neither any desire nor renunciation for any of them.

 

10.

He is neither awake nor asleep; he doesn’t open or shut his eyes. It is strange, the state of a mukta-chitta (one whose mind is free of inclinations) person is indefinable.

 

11.

A mukta purush is always serene. His heart is limpid, wherever he goes. He remains untouched by desire. He remains as he is everywhere he goes, looking beatific.

 

12.

A Mahapurush has the wealth of having made the great decision (that he is the Atma; not the body). While seeing, listening, touching, smelling, indulging, catching, speaking, and walking, he remains free of attachments-aversions, desire, or desirelessness. He is truly mukta (liberated).

 

13.

A mukta purush has no interest in any perceived object that s like the anaatmaa (that, which is not the Atma). That is why he remains free of nindaa-stuti (criticism-praise), harsha-shoka (joy-sorrow), daana-adaana (giving-not giving).

 

14.

The Mahapurush who has made the mahaa-nishchaya (great decision that he is the Atma, not the body) remains undisturbed, whether he encounters an attractive woman or death. He remains serene. That person is mukta.

 

15.

A sthitapragna (one who is established in his self) and samadarshee (who has equanimity for all) person considers sukha-dukha, women-men, wealth-adverse circumstances to be equal.

 

16.

A person who no longer considers the world to be real has neither violence nor compassion. Neither does his life have a lack of restraint nor does it have a feeling of poverty. He feels no surprise, and he feels no agitation.

 

17.

A mukta purush has no aversion for vishay, nor is he tempted by them. His mind is not attached to anything. He always enjoys whatever he gets or doesn’t get.

 

18.

When a person’s thoughts are blank for the duration of that, which is mithya, and he is established in his kaivalya svaroopa (non-dual form), that person is unaware of the false imaginings of Samadhi and vikshe`pa (disturbance), hita-ahita (benefit-harm).

 

19.

A person whose ahamtaa (subtle ego of individuality) and mamataa (emotional attachments) have been destroyed, and who has reached the decision that nothing exists except his Self, is free of karmas and their fruits, even while he works; because all his hopes and mental states have dissolved in his Self.

 

20.

A man whose mana (emotional mind) and mental world have lost their reality becomes established in a state that cannot be defined. It can neither be said to be aware of his mana, moha (deluded thinking), or dream state, nor can it be called a jada (insensate) state