Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

The ghoul then put to him the following very subtle questions which I shall repeat to you, Parasurama! They are:

What is more extensive than space and more subtle than the subtlest? What is its nature? Where does it abide? Tell me, Prince.

(Hemanguda said:)

Listen, Spirit! Abstract Intelligence is wider than spage and subtler than the subtlest. Its nature is to glow and it abides as the Self.

Spirit: How can it be wider than space, being single? Or how is it subtler than the subtlest? What is that glow? And what is that Self? Tell me, Prince.

Prince: Listen, Spirit! Being the material cause of all, intelligence is extensive though single; being impalpable it is subtle. Glowing obviously implies consciousness and that is the Self. 

Spirit: Where and how is chit (Abstract Intelligence) to be realized and what is the effect?

Prince: The intellectual sheath must be probed for its realization. One-pointed search for it reveals its existence. Rebirth is overcome by such realization.

Spirit: What is that sheath and what is concentration of mind? Again, what is birth?

Prince: The intellectual sheath is the veil drawn over Pure Intelligence; it is inert by itself. One-pointedness is abiding as the Self. Birth is the false identification of the Self with the body. 

Spirit: Why is that Abstract Intelligence which is ever shining not realized? What is the means by which it can be realized? Why did birth take place at all?

Prince: Ignorance is the cause of non-realization. Self realizes the Self; there is no external aid possible. Birth originated through the sense of doership.

Spirit: What is that ignorance of which you speak? What is the Self? Whose is the sense of doership?

Prince: Ignorance is the sense of separateness from consciousness and false identification with the non-Self. As for the Self, the question must be referred to the Self in you. The ego or the I-thought is the root of action.

Spirit: By what means is ignorance to be destroyed? How is the means acquired? What leads to such means?

Prince: Investigation cuts at the root of ignorance. Dispassion develops investigation. Disgust for the pleasures of life generates dispassion towards them.

(To be continued)