Chapter Twenty


1.  In my perfect being (Atman), neither the elements, nor the body, nor the sense-organs, nor the thinking principle, nor the void, nor despondency, exist.

2.  What need is there for desirelessness or contentment, or what meaning have the Scriptures, Self-Knowledge, and the mind and its objects, to me, who am without a sense of duality?
            
3.  What is Knowledge, what is ignorance, what is the limited ego, or “I”, “This”, or “Mine”, what is bondage or freedom, to me, where is the definition of the Self?

4.  What is prarabdha Karma, what is liberation in life, or liberation at the time of death, to the undifferentiated?

5.  Where is the doer or the enjoyer, and where is the rising or vanishing of thought?  Where is direct perception of Reality, for me, who have cast off individuality?

6.  For me, who am free and above unity and multiplicity, there is no world and no candidate for release.  Neither do I recognize the state of contemplation nor the state of Knowledge.  The state of bondage and liberation are one to me.

7.  Having realized my own nature, the undivided essence, the manifestation and withdrawal of the world no longer exists for me.  Where is the goal, and where is the purpose?  Where is the seeker, and where is the liberated one?

8.  Neither am I Knowledge, the vehicle of Knowledge, nor the object of Knowledge.  What is entity or non-entity, to me, who am eternal perfection?

9.  What are joy and grief, distraction and concentration, dullness and delusion, to me, who am actionless?

10.  Being freed from all mental activity, where is relativity, where is transcendence, where is joy, and where is grief, for me?

11.  Being ever perfect, neither Maya nor the world, neither attachment nor detachment, neither Jiva nor Brahman exist in me.

12.  For me, who am immutable, indivisible, and rooted in the Self, there is neither the path of action, nor of renunciation, neither bondage nor release.

13.  I am Shiva, the unconditioned, the absolute Good.  What need is there for instruction or scriptural injunction?  I am neither Guru nor disciple.

14.  What need for further declarations?  Nothing emanates from me, nor does existence or non-existence, unity or duality. abide in me.