Nature of Self-Realization


7.1

Janaka said:

In me, as in an ocean that
is limitless, the ship of world
gets tossed about – blown here and there
by my own wind of inner mind –
though all the while, just what I am
remains completely undisturbed.

7.2

In me, as in an ocean that
is limitless, the wave of world
may rise or vanish of itself.
I do not gain or lose thereby.

7.3

In me, as in an ocean that
is limitless, the world is only
name, conceived by mind alone.

I am thus utterly at peace,
unmixed with any made-up form.
In this alone do I abide.

7.4

Just what self is cannot be found
in objects that have come to be.
Nor is there any object in
just that pure self which is unmarked
and utterly unlimited,
beyond all stain of compromise.
Thus unattached, desireless,
true self is found at perfect peace.
In this alone do I abide.

7.5

I am, in truth, pure consciousness.
The changing world is an entangled
web of show – effectively
made up by many tricky faculties
of seeming sense and mind.

So how and where can any thought
of ‘mine’ tell what is right from wrong?
What properly distinguishes,
for ‘me’, what to reject as wrong
from what I rightly may accept?