Self Discovery

?r? ?a?kara ?c?rya, Śrī Śaṅkara Ācārya, Warwick Jessup, Elena Jessup, Warwick Jessup, Elena Jessup

• Publisher: Shepheard Walwyn Publishers
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780995517295
• eBook ISBN: 9781838058302
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

Self Discoveryis a translation into English ofthe first part of Svatmanirupanam, a work attributed tb the great spiritualteacher Sankara. The text teaches howveils may be removed to discoverone's own true Self asunlimited bliss.

SELF DISCOVERY

KNOWING ‘I AM’

1

I bow to the feet of the divine teacher, which pulverise the unbearable world of duality¹, subduing the demon of false² perception.

śrī divine, guru teacher, caraṇa foot, dvandva pair, √vand to venerate, bow to, aham (asmad) I, mathita pulverised, duḥsaha unbearable, dvandva duality;

bhrānti false perception, graha demon, upaśānti cessation, pāṃsumaya consisting of dust, yasya (yad) of which, bhasita ashes, ā√tan to spread.

¹ The Sanskrit word for ‘duality’ here is ‘dvandva’ oſten referring to pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain. ‘Dvandva’ is also used in this line in the sense of ‘the two feet’ of the teacher which are venerated. This image indicates the humility needed on the spiritual path.

² The Sanskrit word here is ‘bhrānti’, literally ‘wandering’, and coming to mean ‘perplexity, confusion, doubt, error, false opinion’, referring to false perception, here the perception of duality, particularly the duality of subject and object.

2

I bow to that best of teachers, who is compassionate and destroys all doubts, whose feet point out the non-dual experience³ known as ‘That’⁴.

deśika teacher, vara best, dayālu compassionate, √vand to bow to, aham (asmad) I, nihata destroyed, nikhila all, sandeha doubt;

yat (yad) that, caraṇa foot, dvaya pair, advaya non-dual, anubhava experience, upa√diś to point out, tat (tad) That, pada word, artha meaning.

³ This is ‘advaya anubhava’ in Sanskrit. Experience of the non-dual may seem self- contradictory, but the word for experience ‘anubhava’ literally means ‘being along with’. Hence this type of experience is not experience of something separate.

⁴ This is a reference to such expressions in the Upaniṣads as ‘You are That’ (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7) in which ‘That’ means the ultimate reality.

3

Scorched by the blaze of worldly illusion, the disciplined aspirant is enlightened by the teacher through words enabling discovery of one’s own Self ⁵.

saṃsāra worldly illusion, dāva conflagration, pāvaka fire, santapta scorched, sakala all, sādhanā spiritual practice, upeta endowed;

sva own, ātman Self, nirūpaṇa discovery, nipuṇa capable, vākya sentence, words, śiṣya disciple, pra√budh to enlighten, guru teacher.

⁵ The Sanskrit expression here gives the whole work its title ‘Svātmanirūpaṇam’. ‘Nirūpaṇa’ means ‘discovering, stating, determining, defining’, from the root ‘rūp’ with the prefix ‘ni’. ‘Rūp’ means ‘to form, figure, represent (especially on stage)’ and ‘ni-rūp’ to perform, indicate by gesture; to find out, discover, ascertain; to investigate, examine, search, consider, reflect upon.’

4

Who can doubt their own existence? ⁶ Even if you have such a doubt the doubter is really your Self.

asti there is, exists, svayam oneself, iti thus, asmin (idam) in this, artha matter,

kasya (ka) of which, asti, saṃśaya doubt, puṃs person;

atra here, api even, saṃśaya, cet if, saṃśayitṛ doubter,

yaḥ (yad) who, saḥ (tad) he, eva really, bhavasi you are, tvam You.

⁶ Śaṅkara here clearly distinguishes his teaching from doctrines which maintain that the Self does not exist. For Śaṅkara, the Self (ātman) and the Absolute (brahman), which are identical, are positive, and by nature being, consciousness and bliss (sat-citānanda). This topic is also discussed in Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.6.1.

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Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Note on Page Design
• Self Discovery
• Back Cover