Chapter 12 ( 8 verses)

 CHAPTER TWELVE

जनक उवाच

Janaka spoke

{I STAY AS I AM}

कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वं ततो वाग्विस्तरासहः

अथ चिन्तासहस्तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-१॥

I am removed from the actions of the body at first. (I am not the doer of actions.)

Then, I am removed of the extension of speech. (I am not the one who talks.)

Then, I am removed of all thoughts. (I am not the one who thinks.)

In this manner, I am as I am (silent and motionless).

(Whenever the actions of the body, mind and speech go on, I practice the method of separating myself as an observer of those actions.

I try to be just aware of these actions, and watch these actions as done by a live inert machine. After a prolonged practice, this becomes my natural state, where I always stay as a witness only, and never the doer of any action.)

प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेरदृश्यत्वेन चात्मनः ।

विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदय एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-२॥

As I am no more attracted to the sense objects like sound etc,

and since the Self is not an object of sight,

I stay as I am,

as the single minded consciousness of the Self

being removed of all disturbances.

(I have practiced strict discipline of sense control first, abstaining physically from all objects. Then I understood the empty nature of sense objects through the Vichaara process (thinking and analyzing about their empty nature).

Now even when I enjoy the sense objects, I do not find any essence in them. I move mechanically among the objects like moving among empty clouds of no essence.

The sense objects do not affect me any more.

I do not develop the Vaasanaas also as the lingering taste of the sense pleasures.

I have also understood that the body which I used to identify with as myself is not the real ‘I’. The physical body is inert and is an object of sight for me.

I cannot be my own object of Knowledge, like the sense of sight cannot see itself.

Now I am able to maintain the continuous awareness-state throughout the day and night. I am always alert to the actions of the body, mind and speech.

Never do I swerve from my stable state of awareness.

I remain silent amidst the ‘perceived objects’ made of sound etc.

I now understand that sound, taste etc do not exist in the sense perceived objects.

Sound, taste etc exist in me only as the Knowledge of sound, taste etc.

I act as a witness to all these sense-experiences also.

I see the sound also as silence only.

I remain undisturbed at all times.

I stay as I am, the silent state which is always awake.)

समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ व्यवहारः समाधये ।

एवं विलोक्य नियमं एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-३॥

Observing that

  the (world) activities superimposed on the Self and

  the state of complete withdrawal from all perturbations,

is the same, I stay as I am.

(I do not have the need to do any contemplation practice at regular hours.

I do not have to practice any hard ascetic disciplines also.

I am always in the silent Self-state even amidst the noisy hubbub of the world.

I do not have to meditate on myself as an object of Knowledge, like a fool.

All the actions whether it is the contemplation-practice, or sense-enjoyment, both are inert emptiness states for me. I do not have to do any action to be aware of myself.

Action is contradictory to my nature.

I do nothing; so I stay as I am.)

हेयोपादेयविरहादेवं हर्षविषादयोः ।

अभावादद्य हे ब्रह्मन् एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-४॥

Hey Brahman!

Since I have renounced all thoughts of likes and dislikes,

and because of the absence of joy and apprehension both,

 I stay as I am!

(When there is nothing outside of me as a separate thing, what is there to like or dislike? What joy or sadness can be attached to inert objects of the world?

Every object, every experience is a Knowledge-shine of me only!

I am all-pervading as the Knowledge of all.

I am the essence of all.

All are in me and I am in all.

I am as I am!)

आश्रमनाश्रमं ध्यानं चित्तस्वीकृत​वर्जनम्

विकल्पं मम वीक्ष्यैतरेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-५॥

I stay as I am like another one, observing (my past efforts)

  when the perturbed state of renunciation of all things coveted by the mind,

  when I worried  about belonging or not-belonging to any (stage of life).

(I now watch the body and actions of the ego as watching another person’s actions.

I watch the meaningless actions I did, in order to understand the true ‘I’!

I watch how foolish of me it was to abstain from physical objects which were just empty images! What was I abstaining from, when there was nothing at all there?

What did I try to renounce, when I possessed nothing; and nothing was there outside of me? All those perturbed states of ignorance, where abstinence and renunciation took place, look like the actions of a child to me.

To what stage of a life can the Self belong to?

I am just the awareness that witnesses the story of life narrated by the mind.

I am just the awareness that witnesses the pictures of the world drawn by the senses.

I just as aware; never think, or talk or do actions of any sort.

I am not celibate student, or a house-holder, or a recluse also.

Why should I renounce the kingdom also, when nothing is there as an outside world except as the empty expanse of Knowledge?

What matters if the sense objects are enjoyed or not enjoyed?

What is good or bad? What is to be sought or rejected? What is auspicious or inauspicious? What is bondage or liberation, for whom?

I am the unperturbed state which understands the world as my knowledge shine only.

I stay as I am!)

कर्मानुष्टानमज्ञ्नानाद्यथैवोपरमस्तथा

बुद्ध्वा सम्यगिदं तत्त्वं एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-६॥

I have detached myself from the ‘doership’ of

all the performance of actions I was engaged in through ignorance;

and understanding the truth of my true essence,

I stay as I am.

(I was never bound; and all the actions I did to get liberation also are a form of ignorance only. I am detaching from that all. I have not attained anything newly.

I was always as I am.)

अचिन्त्यं चिन्त्यमानोऽपि चिन्तारूपं भजत्यसौ ।

त्यक्त्वा तद्भावनं तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥१२-७॥

When thinking about the unthinkable one,

 the mind is engaged in thinking only.

I will even stop thinking about that; and stay as I am.

(What meaning is there in contemplating on myself with closed eyes, seated in a lotus posture, inside a dark cave?

Will the Self vanish off, if I open the eyes?

Will the Self vanish off, if I do not contemplate on it with effort?

Will the Self vanish off, if the ‘actions of sense enjoyments, talking, walking’ go on?

Will the Self vanish off, if I engage the mind busily in attending to the affairs of the kingdom?

Mind is made to think; it is its nature; it will attend to the affairs of the kingdom, by its very capacity to think.

Why should I imagine the absence of the Self, when the mind and body are engaged in worldly affairs?

Why should I expect the mind to be always chanting the Mantra ‘I am Brahman’?

Why should I remember myself forcefully?

Why should I remember me? When is the time I am not there?

How can I think about the unthinkable one through a process of meditation, Japa or any penance-act?

Any thought or action cannot make one reach the Supreme state, even if it is an action of sitting in meditation-practice for hours! It is sheer hypocrisy!

I stay as the awareness of all actions.

If I stay as witness only, of the mind and its thinking, I stay as I am.

It does not matter to me, whether the mind is busy in thinking about the kingdom, or sleeping after the exhaustive work.

I watch the states of waking up, dream, and sleep of the mind as a witness only.

I am not bothered about what quivering is happening in the mind as images and life-stories. I stay as a witness only; as awareness only; as silence only!

एवमेव कृतं येन स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ।

एवमेव स्वभावो यः स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ॥१२-८ ॥

He, who follows this method, attains the fulfilment of his life.

He, whose nature is this, attains the fulfilment of his life.

(He who understands this stays as a liberated while living.

The world does not vanish off; the body does not evaporate off; life does not end off; when Self-Knowledge is attained.

Instead, the liberated Yogi’s awareness continues even after the death of the body, with the same Knowledge he had gained.

He does not get forced to take another birth in some unknown world as a human or a rat or a dog or a tree. His Vaasanaas which produce such lives remain dead. 

The Yogi is free; very very free!

He is free to have an identity like Shiva or Vishnu, or no-identity like Siddhas, or remain as just awareness of oneself, with all the bliss of the entire perceived phenomena as his state!

His state is like the sweetness of the sugar cane juice, after the plant has been crushed and discarded as worthless.)