Anuvada of the Prose Section of Chapter 66 of 

'Mahimandala Gita' by Arakkhita Das 

Translated by Sailen Routray

Bell of the Vedanta Temple at Santa Barbara (Wikimedia Commons)

If one sees what can/should not be seen, if one builds/lifts what can/should not be built/lifted, if one does what can/should not be done, if one eats what can/should not be eaten, if one says repeatedly what can/should not be repeatedly said, if one, therefore, masters what can/should not be mastered; if one is able to do all this, then one may know that, through the filter of one’s own experiences. 

Let us tell you what one does after one has known that through the filter of one’s own experiences – one does not bother about what one eats and where one sleeps; one does not bother about the eye, the nose, the face, the ears and the organs for excretion, the five aspects of the psyche and the twenty-five prakritis, the eleven indriyas, the six great enemies and the three gunas; one does not bother about sickness, one does not bother about sin, non-sin, merit, non-merit, dharma, non-dharma, heaven, hell, the auspicious, and the inauspicious, truth, non-truth, greed, non-greed, kama, non-kama, the virtuous and the non-virtuous, gain, non-gain, essence, non-essence, vikaara and non-vikaara, jaati and non-jaati, the masculine and the non-masculine, the feminine and the non-feminine, the living and the non-living, the chanted and the un-chanted. 

Listen! Having known that through the filter of one’s own experiences, one never again bothers with all these ever again. The embodied being, and the ultimate, Chandra, Surya, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Sachi, Yama, Kubera, Varuna, Nairuta, Brihaspati, the ten Dikpalas, the constellations, the clouds, the heavens, the earth and the nether worlds; water, fire, air, and the sky; listen, oh mind, one never bothers with any of these. 

Vedanta Temple at Montecito, California (Wikimedia Commons)

The four Vedas, Yoganta, Vedanta, Siddhanta, Naganta; listen, oh mind, one never practices any of these. Only if one knows that one does not bother with chanting, contemplation, worship, reflection, meditation, mantras, yogasutras, pilgrimage, austerities, and fasting. 

One does not bother with the numerous places of pilgrimage, the numerous fasts, the numerous styles of yoga, knowledge, meditations, devotions, contemplations, chantings, offerings, mantras, markings, substances, gods, chandis, ghosts and witches; listen, oh mind, one does not practice anything related to any of them, one does not fear them nor does one worship them; one sees them all as equals, and realises that there is nothing in the world apart from me. 

I am spread throughout the world; I am that; realising thus, one sees all as equal, the numerous trees, flowers, fruits, soils, stones, birds, animals, insects, fish, flies, horseflies, cows, buffaloes, boars, deers, horses, elephants, goats, sheep, pigs, cats, dogs; the many forms of rats, snakes, smaller animals, ants, termites, lizards,  scorpions, humans, gods, rakshasas, weapons, texts, Puranas, Gitas, musical instruments, debates, Vedas, Jyotishas, indulgences, maladies, dances, songs, musical instruments, clothes, cuisines, the six rasas, the eight metals, the nine gems, the six seasons, the static and the dynamic; the ones that fly and the ones that swim, the numerous varieties of insects and flies, all the fifty-six crore species of creatures from all the four directions; one sees them as equals and in doing so, one sees them as that. 

If one finds such a person then one can rest assured that such a person abides in that. Such a one does not drown in water; even Agni does not burn him, the strongest of the winds do not make him fly, swords do not hurt him; even if the earth decays, his being does not decay, it becomes the heavens, the earth, the nether worlds, it seeps into the fifty-six crore species of creatures and can attain varied forms intermittently; the seven worlds become like grass to him; Brahma, Indra, Chandra, Surya, none equal him, the thirty-three crore gods, humans, rakshasas the earth, water, teja, vayu, akash, nothing equals his essence. 

Leaf from a Manuscript of Mandukya Karika by Goudapada
(Photo Credit - Wikimedia Commons)

Therefore, oh mind, listen to the grace of devotion; one who has an empty mind knows that, knows nothing apart from that, knows the world to be that, wanders alone and shuns company, has that for company, feels only that, has no fears and knows nothing apart from that, so that one knows only that and doing so meditates in that, sleeps in that, sings in that; therefore, oh mind, listen to what you wanted to hear. 

Such a person knows that which is singular in form, how can anyone else know that; in fact, no one can know that, as that does not have colour, eyes, face, ears, nose, eyes, hands, legs, heart, belly, waist, back, head or skin, form, marks, blood, flesh; being beyond sight, speech, colour, air, form and repetition; listen, oh mind, no one sees that without devotion. 

All the jivas are eroded out from that and on death go back to rest in that. In death lies birth; now let us explicate with an analogy; if we take a pot with some sweetened water in it to a pond, and then empty the pot into the pond, and fill the pot with water from the pond, then does the water in the pot taste sweet? 

Likewise, once a form dissolves it never returns; there is no birth after death, once this body goes, it is never to be had again; therefore only if you abide in the body, then you can know that which is singular in form. Listen, oh mind, feel everything with equanimity and abide in the singular in form without any vikaara, for that is unrecognisable for a mind that has an iota of vikaara... 

Painting Depicting Hamsa Avatar of Vishnu
Miniature Painting by Mahesh from Chamba (c 1725-50)
Photo Credit (Wikimedia Commons)

Note

The text presented above is as act of anuvada of the three prose pages of Chapter 66 of 'Mahimandala Gita' by Arakkhita Das. This was published in 2007, accompanied by a larger note, in Sarai Reader 07: Frontiers. This volume was edited by Monica Narula, Suddhabrata Sengupta, Jeebesh Bagchi and Ravi Sundaram. It was published at Delhi by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. 

While annotating this anuvada, intricate endnotes have been avoided, and the names of the gods and a few words, such as vikaara and indriya have been left unexplicated and untranslated. The word Brahman has been translated as ‘that’, with italicisation. This has been done in the interest of fluency as well as to avoid imposing the conceptual weight of monism that the word (which connotes a metaphysical absolute) is generally made to carry. This is also in consonance with the general Upanishadic practice of referring to Brahman as tat (which can be translated as 'that'). The syntax has also been suitably amended so as to assist in the process of anuvada, i.e., the retelling of the narrative again and again; the aim has been to maintain the mantra-like tonality, or the incantatory effect of the text. 

Copyright of the English translation rests with the translator. 

A View from the Annapurna Base Camp
Photo Credit (Wikimedia Commons)

Glossary:

Agni: The fire-god of the Hindu pantheon

Akash: One of the five constitutive elements of the Hindu, more accurately Samkhya, Universe

Brahma: The creator god

Brihaspati: The teacher (guru) of the gods.

Chandi: (a class of lesser female gods in Hinduism that express the sacred feminine in its most powerful aspects)

Chandra: The moon-god

Dikpalas: The ten deities in charge of the ten directions

Guna: Generally translated as qualities, it can also mean properties or elements

Indra: The most important god in early Vedic religious practice

Indriya: generally translated as sense organs. Can also mean the faculties of the organs

Jaati: Most of the time translated as caste; a better rendition will be ‘a class of things’

Jiva: life or something possessing life

Kama: desire or the god of desire

Kubera: The god of wealth

Nairuta: The south-western direction

Prakritis: According to Samkhya philosophy, components of the primordial lmatter. Often prakriti is translated as ‘ nature’.

Puranas: Hindu and Jain epics that deal with the genealogies of mythical kings, and gods, and also provide descriptions of cosmology and philosophy that were primarily composed between the 3^rd century ac to the 17^th century ac

Rakshasa: a class of beings traditionally opposed to the gods in Indian mythology

Sachi: Another name of Indra

Shiva:The god of destruction, one of the’ trinity’ of the three most important male Hindu gods

Surya: The sun god

Teja: The god of effulgence or the sun’s rays

Varuna: An early Vedic god traditionally associated with water and the sea

Vayu: The god of wind/air

Vikaara: In Vedanta philiophy vikara is a modification/differentiation of the supreme or a modification from any natural state. Generally it has a negative connotation and can signify deterioration. In Samkhya philosophy vikaara is the outcome of a process of transformation of an entity from its origin, i.e. prakriti. Vikaara in Buddhist formulations means the characteristic  condition of the genetic material qualities

Vishnu: The preserver god of the Hindu trinity

Yama: The god of death

Yogasutra: The most famous yogasutra is purported to be authored by Patanjali. In the context of this text it refers to any set of codified spiritual practices