"The very first step in understanding what this is all about is giving up the concept of an active, volitional 'I' as a separate entity and accepting the passive role of perceiving and functioning as a process." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Monday, September 8, 2014

Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

KING JANAKA said:

The acutely intelligent can accomplish the purpose in a trice. Aspirants may be divided into three groups: the best, the middle class, and the lowest.

Of these, the best class realize at the very moment of hearing the Truth. Their ascertainment of truth and contemplation thereon are simultaneous with their learning.

Realization of truth requires no effort on their part. Take my case for instance. On a moonlit summer night, I was lying drunkenly on a downy bed in my pleasure garden in the loving embrace of my beloved. I suddenly heard the sweet nectar-like songs of invisible aerial beings who taught me the oneness of the Self, of which I was unaware till that moment. I instantly thought it over, meditated on it, and realized it in less than an hour. For about an hour and a half I remained in samadhi - the state of Supreme Bliss.

I regained consciousness and began to muse over my experience: Oh wonderful! How full of bliss I was! It was extraordinary. Let me return to it. The happiness of the king of the gods cannot equal even a fraction of my bliss.

Not even the creator, Brahman, could have that bliss; my life had been wasted in other pursuits. Just as a man ignores the fact the he holds Chintamani (the celestial gem capable of fulfilling one's desires) in his hands, and goes begging food, so also people who are ignorant of the fount of bliss within themselves, waste their lives seeking external pleasures! For me such hankerings are done with! Let me always abide in the eternal, infinite source of bliss within me! Enough of such foolish activities! They are shades of darkness and vain repetitions of useless labor. Be they delicious dishes, perfumed garlands, downy beds, rich ornaments or vivacious damsels - they are mere repetitions, with no novelty or originality in them. Disgust for them had not arisen in me before, because I had been foolishly treading the way of the world.

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सर्वभूताधिवासं यद्भूतेषु च वसत्यपि।
सर्वानुग्राहकत्वेन तद्स्म्यहं वासुदेवः॥

That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings,
who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being:
I AM THAT. -- Amritabindu Upanishad