Be Established in Self-Knowledge

Sage Vasishtha

Cut off all the fetters of desire and hope solely with the intelligence that is unlimited and which is endowed with patience and perseverance, and go beyond dharma and adharma. When one is firmly rooted in self-knowledge, even the worst of poisons turns into immortalizing nectar. It is only when this self-knowledge is overpowered by ignorance that the delusion of world-appearance arises in the mind; but when one is firmly established in self-knowledge - which is infinite, unlimited and unconditioned - then the delusion or ignorance that gave rise to world-appearance comes to an end. Then, the light of your wisdom will radiate in the four directions, throughout the world.

To one who thus drinks the nectar of immortality in the shape of self-knowledge, the delights of sense-pleasures become painful. We resort to the company of only those who have attained self-knowledge; the others are donkeys in human garb. Even as elephants move with long strides, the sages who have reached the higher states of consciousness rise to the highest states of consciousness. They have no external help at all and no sun illumines their path: self-knowledge alone is their light. In fact, the sun and the worlds become non-objects of perception and knowledge, even as lamps lose their luminosity while the midday sun shines.