Adi Sankaracarya

॥ śrīḥ ॥
॥ brahmānucintanam ॥

Meditation on Brahman

I am, indeed, the Supreme Brahman,

Called the Supreme Being, changeless;

Thus should be in certitude the Liberated;

Otherwise, he will be one bound, indeed.

(Alternative translation for fourth line:

One bound, indeed, will be otherwise.)

I am, indeed, the Supreme Brahman.

Let this be contemplated with a mind of certainty,

Being of the nature of Consciousness, being without attachment,

Being unaffected, [and] by persevering effort.

I am, indeed, the Supreme Brahman,

And I am not different from Brahman;

Thus, indeed, should a brahmana (a brahmin) meditate,

Abiding in Brahman.

Free of all limitations

And with uninterrupted Awareness,

Having known thus that I am Brahman,

How can one become one who observes castes and orders of life?

One who knows, “I am Brahman,”

He becomes all this;

By not being nonexistent, the gods become the Lord (Isvara);

Their Self, indeed, he becomes.

(Alternative translation of the fourth line: Because their Self he becomes.)

(Alternative translation of the fourth line: [As] their Self he becomes established.)

“This one is different; I am different,”

He who thus contemplates upon (worships, is devoted to) other gods,

That man does not know Brahman.

He is like a beast (one in bondage) among the gods.

I am the Self; I am not anyone different.

I am, indeed, Brahman, not having any portion of sorrow.

I am of the nature of Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

I am of the innate nature that is ever liberated.

Those who move about having the conviction

That oneself is always Brahman,

Not for them in the least are there any wrong actions,

And there are no dangers (distress) arising out of wrong actions.

Having the conviction that oneself is always Brahman,

One should move about happily.

If, for one moment, one thus does contemplation

Upon the Self as, “I am Brahman,”

(Alternative translation: He who does contemplation for a moment

On the Self thus as, “I am Brahman,”

Having the conviction that oneself is always Brahman,

Should move about happily.)

That destroys great sin, which causes one to fall,

Just as sunrise does to darkness.

From ignorance of Brahman,

Was born space, like a bubble.

From space arose wind,

From wind, light (fire); therefrom water;

And from water, earth was born;

Therefrom rice, barley, and such.

The earth in waters, water in fire,

Fire in wind, wind in space,

And even this space in the unmanifested, and that in the Immaculate;

The Immaculate I am, Hari.

I am Visnu (the All-Pervasive),

I am Visnu, I am Visnu, I am Hari.

The doer, the enjoyer (experiencer), and such,

All that, also, has arisen from ignorance, indeed.

I am the imperishable, I am the endless (the boundless).

I am Govinda (the Protector of the world, the One known through scriptural texts), I am Hari.

I am bliss, I am the entirety (the all, without remainder).

I am the Unborn; I am the Immortal.

I am eternal; I am without doubts (without differentiation).

I am without form; [I am] changeless.

I am of the nature of Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

I am one who goes beyond the pentad of sheaths.

I am the non-doer; I am the non-enjoyer;

The unattached, the Supreme Lord.

Always by my presence

All the senses become active.

I am free of beginning, middle, and end.

I am never one bound at any time.

By nature blemishless, pure, I, indeed, am He.

There is no doubt of this.

(Alternative translation: In the beginning, middle, and end, I am the Liberated.

I am never one bound at any time.

By nature blemishless, pure, I, indeed, am He.

There is no doubt of this.)

I am, indeed, Brahman, not of samsara.

I am the Liberated; thus one should be abiding in that conviction.

If not capable of [such] conviction,

These sayings one should always practice.

By means of which practice that conviction will arise (come to be),

As in the case of the bee and the worm,

Giving up here [any] doubt (uncertainty),

One should practice with determination.

By the yoga of meditation, in a month’s time,

One atones for the sin of killing a brahmin;

By constant practice for a year,

The eight accomplishments one shall attain.

By continuous, lifelong practice,

One who strives shall become one liberated while alive.

I am not the body and not the prana;

And, likewise, not the senses, indeed.

I am not the mind, not the intellect,

Not, indeed, thinking (memory), and not the ego.

I am not earth, not water,

Not fire and not wind, likewise.

And not space and not sound,

And not touch, likewise, [not] taste,

I am not smell, not form,

And I am not illusion (delusion) [and] not remembrance.

(Alternative version of the text pertaining to the final two words of the fourth line:

no transmigration, no successive stages of existence, no mundane or worldly existence)

Being always of the nature of the Witness,

I am, indeed, Siva, that which alone is.

In me, indeed, all are born.

In me, all are established.

In me, all reach dissolution.

That Brahman, without a second, I am,

The Omniscient I am, the Infinite I am,

The Omnipotent, the Lord of all.

Bliss-Truth-Knowledge I am;

Thus is the meditation on Brahman.

This manifested (diverse) universe is false, indeed.

Truly, I am the changeless Brahman.

The Vedanta-s and the experience of the Gurus,

Likewise, are here the proof.

I am, indeed, Brahman, not of this samsara,

And I am not different from Brahman.

I am not the body; the body is not mine.

I am the everlasting (the ancient), that which alone is,

Only one, without a second;

[Apart] from Brahman, there is nothing here, indeed.

Like a lamp, in the center of the lotus of the heart,

The essence of the Veda-s, full of Pranava,

Beyond argument, reached by the yogis by meditation,

United with Hari, the Guru, and Siva,

Existing in all beings, the One—

He who contemplates on this,

Even once, with the mind, indeed,

He is one that is liberated.

Thus, of the venerable, glorious, highest renunciate, wandering recluse and great spiritual teacher,

Sri Govinda Bhagavan, whose feet are to be worshiped,

The disciple, the venerable, glorious Sankara Bhagavan, [by him] composed,

The Meditation on Brahman concludes.

~ from the Bouquet of Nondual Texts

advaita pañcaratnam

The Nondual Pentad of Gems
(The Five Jewels of Nonduality)

I am not the body, not the senses or the interior of the body,

Not the ego or the group of prana-s, not the intellect;

From wife, husband, place, possessions (or wealth), and such far removed,

The Witness, the Eternal, the Self within, Siva I am.

Just as, because of ignorance of the rope, the snake appears in the rope,

Because of ignorance of one’s own Self, for oneself there is the attitude (concept) of being an individual (jiva);

For, [as] by the words of a trusted friend, indeed, that is a rope, upon the destruction of the confusion (cause of error),

By the words of the Guru, I am not the jiva (individual); Siva I am.

The unreal universe appears in oneself;

Without delusion in the nature of Being-Knowledge-Bliss

That is unreal like delusion, dream, and sleep,

The pure, the perfect, the eternal, the One, Siva I am.

(Alternative translation: This universe that appears in oneself is unreal.

In the nature of Truth-Knowledge-Bliss is the removal ((negation)) of delusion.

Like a dream of sleep’s delusion, that is unreal.

The pure, the perfect, the eternal, the One, Siva I am.)

I am not born, not grown, [and] not perished.

[These] are said of the body, [and are] all the conditions (properties) of material nature.

Doership and such are of that which is full of Consciousness, not of the ego, indeed,

For truly, of myself, Siva I am.

(Alternative translation: I am not born, not grown, [and] not perished.

[These] are said of the body, [and are] all the conditions ((properties)) of material nature, doership, and such.

Of that which is full of Consciousness, it is not the ego, indeed,

Because, for me, of the Self, Siva I am.)

Apart from me, nothing else whatsoever of the universe exists here.

True it is that illusion becomes the form (takes the shape) of external objects,

Equal to a mirror shining in the mind.

In me, in nonduality, it shines (appears); therefore, Siva I am.

(Alternative translation: Apart from me, nothing else whatsoever of the universe exists here.

True it is that illusion becomes the form ((takes the shape)) of external objects,

Equal to the seeing conceived ((imagined)) in the mind.

In me, in nonduality, it shines ((appears)); therefore, Siva I am.)

Thus, of the venerable, glorious, highest renunciate, wandering recluse and great spiritual teacher,

Sri Govinda Bhagavan, whose feet are to be worshipped,

The disciple, the venerable, glorious Sankara Bhagavan, [by him] composed,

The Nondual Pentad of Gems (The Five Jewels of Nonduality) concludes.

~ from the Bouquet of Nondual Texts