Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sankara's Six Stanzas on Nirvana























Om. I am neither mind, intelligence, ego, nor chitta,
Neither the ears nor the tongue, nor the senses of smell and sight;
Neither akasa nor air, nor fire nor water nor earth:
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness - I am Siva, I am Siva.

I am neither the prana nor the five vital breaths,
Neither the body's seven elements nor its five sheaths,
Nor hands nor feet nor tongue, nor other organs of action:
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness - I am Siva, I am Siva.

Neither greed nor delusion, loathing nor liking, have I;
Nothing of pride or ego, of dharma or liberation;
Neither desire of the mind nor object for its desiring;
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness - I am Siva, I am Siva.

Nothing of pleasure and pain, of virtue and vice, do I know,
Of mantra or sacred place, of Vedas or sacrifice;
Neither am I the eater, the food, nor the act of eating;
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness - I am Siva, I am Siva.

Death or fear have I none, nor any distinction of caste;
Neither father nor mother, nor even a birth, have I;
Neither friend nor comrade, neither disciple nor guru;
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness - I am Siva, I am Siva.

I have no form or fancy: the All-pervading am I;
Everywhere I exist, and yet am beyond the senses;
Neither salvation am I, nor anything to be known:
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness - I am Siva, I am Siva.

(Taken from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)

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