Hindu Vedic Philosophy (The Paramardha Tattwam)

Translated from the Telugu by

C.P. Brown

[1829]

 

Translated from the Telugu Verses


(My humble salutations to Sreeman Brahmasri C P Brown for the collection)


Every thing is called the act of deity. But there is a deity superior to this god. That god slew Vishnu and he destroyed the appearance of Siva (abhava) Surely this is the great God indeed if thou consider it well.
They call a pot, olla; they name a hill, collis; salt they call sal; are they not however one? The languages alone are diverse, the essence is one.
Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma all see the leaf but view it who will, none can perceive the branch. Were the branch behold, would any abstain from lauding it?
He, he, and he exist in him; neither he, he, nor he is He. He that unites them with him--go to--he is the Divinity.
If thou know the beauty of the five letters, in these five cloth beatitude consist. He (the divinity) is the one who dwells in that five.
Slay Brahma, and mingle him with Vishnu. Slay Vishnu and resolve him into Siva. Slay Siva and become thyself the Siva yogee (or chief spirit).
To them who understand the meaning of the excellent sankhya yoga I will in this world declare the truth through the most noble raja-yoga. Listen to the greatness of Siva (pure sanskrit).
Why all this grief. If with singleness of heart thou extinguish thy desires by immersing thy soul in (Hari, Hara and Aaja, Vishnu, Siva and Brahma) the three gods and maintain a subdued spirit, happiness shall be formed within thee.
The body of this visible world is a vessel of God, the life therein is air. The sun, moon and fire are his eyes (number, body assemblage of eyes). There is no God but this.
He who slays his great (five) foes, and vanquishes cupid, and has learnt the five lettered name (Namassivaya), he attains the porch of him, the five faced who is entitled Bhava (emphatically existence i.e., Siva).
Of what use is that Saiva faith that knows not the path through this universe compounded of inanimate and animate bodies and lingams, They shall not know the becoming (or the act of transformation into) Hara the eight bodied.
He who divideth the lord Iswara into seven parts and has dedicated by the ceremony of pouring his whole body to God by any unfailing practice of such conduct shall become the chief of yogees.
He who hath attained the bliss that dwells in the five lettered name, shall shine both here and hereafter in bliss. To know this life and next, this is deity.

Mighty let us to cut pieces the six and seven foes of our souls and in the defection of wisdom unless we worship the dwellings of the three gods how shall we attain happiness? The forehead mark, food and scars on the body and daubings with ashes are in vain applied. Can the sons of earth hereby attain bliss through the love of these? O Vemana, the noblest of princes?
If thou be thyself converted into those three Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, who created, saved and destroy the three worlds and praise them, this man shall be transformed into the deity.
He who hath reduced Brahma, Vishnu and Siva in one shall become a parama yogee and the divinity. How can we comprehend one who thus is equal to the divinity.
Those who will not cease from the radical bond of the root (the mind) unless they destroy the eight creeds, how should they be called sages, rather are they mad.
The lingam is the great Siva; the life of the body if that creature be purified he shall attain God. Were there two paths how could the deity be attained?
Seize the robbers (passions) and put them to death; spare but one (the mind) whoever he be that knows this secret, this shall be to him the fruit that he seeks.
Let us seize the four robbers (four lusts and smite them on the head, cama, crodha, lobha and moha) but spare one (the mind) to the men of the mind that they may attain the fruits of wisdom.
The man who hath learnt to view the order of the secret charms of the six and three temples, he shall attain the path to perfection. True is this doctrine.
If thou gain the favour of Siva and thereby destroy the first principle (agnyana) of thy tree (body) and cast it (ignorance) as its root (maya) and thus worship Siva, thou shalt be as a mountain and how should death befall thee?
Have you seen the three worlds, beheld and attained to the three objects that possess the three qualities and the beatitude that dwells there-in?
He who looks upon rain, wind and sunshine as equal and abstains from thinking of honour or the like and continue in subjection--this is a stout hearted saint (yogee).
(The Parabramham) Under this tree there is not even the least shade; If the waters of delusion are unable to overflow this tree, it is as tree, how should that tree die?
 (The power of delusion) Often in the midst of her reality shakes her head in scorn, she often laughs, she is no woman, what means woman? and What is the name of the being?
(mystic) When the five birds (passions) were found in their hole (the body) and cried, one of them sought the origin. The parrot that sought him became him.
If the unknown being by meditation appear in thy mind thereafter to say he is dead merely signifies his ultimate tie; when, thou die give up all earthy connections and worship (Sarvēsa) the Lord of all (total obscurity).
The words of Vemana, if soundly understood, are surely the essence of all the Vedas. If thou do not invite and comprehend thy greatness in the five-lettered name shalt thou enjoy prosperity?
Wisdom is the prime teacher to this whole world. The one Pranava-mantra is the original teacher (teacher of teachers) and thirdly, truly, the Gayatri mantra is the teacher of our actions.
If thou understand the mystic syllable 'Om' (Pranava mantra) if it be in thy mind, the multitude of the acts of the mind shall not in the least affect thee. Then shall the devotee shine, a lamp of Divine knowledge.
Understand the power of the 'Om', Pranava mantra--it is the lingam. It resides in the three persons. Can others (those who are without) know and worship it?
He who hath united into one the composition of letters of the mystic syllable 'Om', and the visible mundane egg, he shall enjoy that letter 'Om'; and shall in certainty inherit bliss.
Why thou hast truly entered into the import of the mystic form of letters in 'Om' why persist in reading ten millions of other subjects? Fitly and visibly, shall the two letters Siva, constitute purity of soul in thee.
They who have rightly ordered their inner man, and considering justly the state of their heart, thrust it away, these are men of understanding. These shall dwell in delight in heaven--(terribly difficult).
They talk and talk of Divinity. What is in this Divinity? Were they to apply themselves and understand and see he is close to them. They cannot perceive the (mudricas) shadows that flit before the eyes closed in meditation.
The soul dwells in the little world of the corporal frame; and the sun inhabits the greater world of the universe and the divinity dwells in the sound, the globules of the splendour.
The fair (nadam) sound is produced from the (jyotee) visionary lights. The fair (bindu) globules are born from the nadam; and from the bindu are earth and heaven born.
All those who comprehending in their mind the scheme (or knack) of gazing at the sky (the khechari mudra) and who dispute not vainly these have subdued delusion. Can it other-wise be subdued?
The hooded serpent by knowing well to fix its gaze like as the crow under the cover gazes, thus does the yogee by inner wisdom gaze; this is the path of perfection.
How subtle is the interior vision? Pure is the sight of sight. Equal to the deity is the eye of our eye.
If thou carefully fix thy sight on the top of thy nose, then does a man correctly view the pre-eminent. He who hath known the pre-eminent cutteth off all secular ties.
Unless he sees (i.e., comprehend) the divine name (the mystic syllable named Pranava), a man cannot become faithful Unless he behold the lights (jyotees) that appear to the closed eyes, he is not in the way. Unless he behold the everlasting he is not in the state of beatitude.
By the mudricas in the mind being rightly ordered, as thou gazest on the linga of soul (the deity), it shall be manifested to thee and shall it be bestowed on thee devoid of teacher? That thou should’st understand it?
(Mystic) By gazing at the blight mudras, happiness or sorrow is produced. Looking at the blessing of the mudras and enjoying it, thou shalt shine as a beatified saint.
Unless thou dissolve the splendours of three affections, how should one attain permanent bliss in a fit manner? Unless thou annihilate thy mind can beatitude be put into thy hand,
Fixed in meditation, with eyes and ears closed, heard a ringing as of a bell in my mind; beholding I beheld a pure splendour and attaining the divinity. I beheld it within me. This is no hypocrisy. Look then to me.
Behold the (bayalu-ācāsa) sky and consider that splendour, view the departure of that light, uninjured. He that can view uninjured shall stand unshaken.
Lose not understanding behold the enlightening calas--confuse not the calas steadily behold the inner heaven (bayalu-antarācāsa); confuse not that heaven and steadily thou shalt behold the divinity.
In meditation if after gazing steadily thou persist not to the end, when thy sight fails again push on thy glance again. Him that fails unable to push it on, they look on as very light person.
Munees esteem the splendours that appear to the devotee fixed in meditation wonderful and excellent. If they understand, this is the chief spirit.
He is no exalted sage who cannot view the globules or his ringing sound, nor unite the splendours. Whatever pains he takes how shall he attain beatitude?
Let us know the time of attaining the truth and thus become the eternal. Let us thoroughly attain the mystic form (bindu) that exists with (lit. in) the sound (nadam). Then shall we attain bliss, and participate with no others in that enjoyment.
He that can convert the nadam into the bindu and into the nadam again, also convert the nadu, the bindu, and the kala into one (place) and perceive the sound, this man shall become the yogee full of bliss.
The devotee who knoweth the internal sound produced in meditation, shall with joy know the soul within him and attain felicity. That sound is the giver of beatitude, proclaim this for the consolation of all men.
The yogee who knows the sound (nadam) shall in his mind know the path described in the vedanta proclaim abroad that this sound is the means of beatitude.
Lose the idea of "mine and thine" and be illustrious in the belief of exalted abstraction (nadam). By the absence of the belief and disbelief, thou shalt attain prudence.
He who through instruction hath attained the (nadam, the bindu and the kala) ringing sound, the globules and the splendours, that he perceives who in meditation seals his eyes and ears, he who establishes these in his soul and well fixes his wandering mind, this is the mighty sage whose soul shall obtain its passage through the sagittal suture of the skull.
The saint who knoweth the (nadam) ringing sound shall know the indivisible God and the mystic syllable. That is the seed of the five charactered name (Namassivaya). Proclaim to men that the nadam in the mind is the beatitude.
Convert the nadam and bindu into one nadam and convert the nadam, the bindu and the kala into a single nadam, to meditate while beholding the nadam, this is perfection.
Consider what is the twenty sixth essence. It is a wondrous vital spirit. If thou unite it intimately with the chief spirit in the (gurupada) cerebral suture. Him who doth this they shall surely call saint.
Establishing the six gods in the six limbs and fixing the chamber of the head firm on the one pillar of the spine, the reckoning is to allow but one ruler (man) to each house.
There are six sustainers of the earth. There are the six rulers, princes of the earth. The noble and great warriors are these know that the body is their chariot and mark the result.
The divinity (atma linga) dwells in what is termed the ajna chacra (the space between the eyes). It is only by gazing intently on this part that shines so nobly, that beatitude shall be attained by men.
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Cut down in thy soul the five chacras, nobly surmount those chacras and behold the plain beyond them.
The tree of beatitude has no (beginning) root but four fair boughs (forms of existence, animal, vegetable, insects, minerals). It is open to view and produces fruit. If thou eat them, they have no taste but cause appetite.
In that house in the threshold of which three ways meet with air, in the place where those three meet cloth Siva dwell (mystic of the body--worthless).
He who has the skill firmly to dwell in the six and three chacrams knowing their beauty he hath found the path to perfection.
If thou meditate in thy mind, in the sagittal suture shall there stand, He who is ruler of all to all who worship him does he give both sustenance and salvation.
Mind, words and works--if thou give up these three, and walk not up and down the royal path (a mystic part of the body), then shall any loss befall the yogee?
He who restraineth the six (lotuses) mortal parts of his body, and carefully fixeth his anus or backbone, and the parts above it and who also fixeth his mind is of course a twice born Brahmin.
Go and say, I have cast a great shame upon Vemana himself who named Vishnu and disgraced Siva and even Brahma. Let the one God alone be honoured.
Among them who are not wetted with rain and them who are not those who relying not on Vemana, follow not him (conduct themselves) wherever thou seek are not to be found. Never shall we see his equal.
Are there not eighty four lacs (84,00,000) of tribes of animals in all? As for the manner of their production in the earth, is he indeed that hath described it in your hearing, still to be called the mad Vemana.
He has thrown away his caste as water and slain his teachers (as Bheeshma in Bhārata) and nobly lied lies as big as elephants. Yet his name is just king--a great Vepa seed, bitter and worthless,
Locomotive animals all, till death, eat all excellent tasted things without leaving them, But immovable animals (hills and trees) are ever dropping their pride sorrowing remain.
You will say "We are versed in the knowledge of God" Ask yourselves--what is the meaning of Divinity? Tell, if you know whether he be whiteness, blackness or redness?
He knoweth not what sort of man he is, He knoweth not his former birth. For so debased a life why should be so careful? He knoweth not that this world is but an (maya) illusion of Ishwara!
He who wanders the various lands under the titles of the stranger, the recluse, of the noble Ganga of a hill or in the character of a man of exceeding beauty is yet one sole spirit of life.
Surely a teacher is requisite in the Siva creed and a teacher is evidently requisite in the Vishnu faith. What can the wretch of a debased nature learn without a teacher?
Surya lover of the lotus, was born in the race of Vishnu, husband of Lakshmi, the noble mother and as he duly goes his course, going about the lands and the earth; Vishnu nourisher of the elephant, travels as he does (for Surya is in reality but a form of Vishnu).
Let us know the source of the three Gods. First know one of the three, Then fitly with thy tongue offer praise.
The water in which the race of saints came plunging in defiled it. In which even Brahma being immersed cannot lift his head out of it. All men, whatever are plunged in this pond upto the middle.
By means of ambrosia all become stable. But if we seek ambrosia none can find it; ambrosia turns into venom--what a marvel this is!
Know well that this world is partly black, partly red, partly white (the three gunas--tamas, rajas, satwa). What is the reason that it should be all alike?
The ultimate has no lameness in his foot; He has no name in the dispute of his world. Understand that this is the bliss of others.
He was wonderfully born in the Brahmin class and being sunk in sin flowed thence into the other castes. Though born in the lotus, the sole of his foot is not wetted with the holy stream.
The king of hills (Himavat) is his father-in-law, the daughter of he hill (Parvathi) is his wife; a hill Kailas is his home; and gold hill, meru, his bow. Thus O Siva, thou art Lord of Hills. How art thou still given to such go between practices. (This is a sneer at sexual love originating in the creator).
The house is worldly connections, the bow is his weapon. The Five--lettered God is mother of redemption but all uniting with woman is but a lie.
If you twitch off a head of Brahma, they call it murdering Brahma. Brahma is a Vysya (a man of the third class), is he a Brahmin? If Brahma had even died would Siva become a Brahmin slayer. (This is an allusion to the base of the lingam representing Brahma).
Siva assumed the shape of the sharabha and slew Narasimha; which (masculine, yēdi) God is greater than Siva? Where is there one more worthy to be looked to?
Seeing that Vishnu abhorred not himself to be born in ten incarnations, to grow in them as to delight in them; if then thou do away the lustre of the noble married state shall thou hereby become one of the excellent.
Agajata (Paravati) causes him (Siva) who gave her half his body (see the mythology) to be slain (i.e., her worship as shacti, supersedes his)? If he cannot revenge this cruel is he man and not a woman?

The Veda is on every subject (words of the choultry). The signification of the Veda is a refuge (a branch of hold). Its rules are worthy to be known. Proclaim it consolingly in the world that the sound produced by closing the ears is subject to the state of meditation.
He who has seen the similarity of every generation and by wisdom knows the nature of the bathing, eating and lying in each, that man who thus knows how to walk is the grihasta (i.e., a perfectly virtuous man of the world).
If defilement attaches to food, it attaches also to the soul that thereby subsists. Food that is digested within us (let our soul) this is defilement. Food is the purification of the soul and the soul the purifier of the food. Thus united as the earth and sky are.
Daily does defilement flow down through the nine orifices, If this defilement of humanity be done away, man dies; foulness that never dies is produced in the loins.
Heedless of foulness and impurity, they eat three times a day, and worship him who sports within the soul (Brahma). He who thus attains the future life is the complete yogee.
That pious man who delights in bestowing house, garden, and field on Brahmins, long shall he rule the earth, and be filled with enjoyments.
The property given by a Brahmin to a Brahmin, though it be highly fruitful, yet cannot be enjoyed by a lord of earth (Brahmin). He must quit it.

Translated from the Telugu by

C.P. Brown

[1829]

 

Translated from the Telugu Verses

By not knowing clearly the corporal frame that exists in the external frame, those that are without become outcast. To know that external that is within this external--this is Divine knowledge.
All matter is concreted in the world and all is again resolved into space. That which we call the Divinity if we comprehend it, beatitude shall be manifested to us.
If thou make the face of the heaven and thy own face to be one and manifest the true nature of the external figure of the divinity, thou shalt by knowing outward external attain bliss. (loose version, the original being more obscure).
All connections are produced in this world; they are not aboriginal; and those ties shall again be resolved into primordial matter--view this well, if these connections be doomed to become resolved into space, then the path to beatitude is found to be in void (paraphrase).

The god knows him who is in the eye pupil: behold in the sky, Him who is in the pupil. The eye and the sky become the sky of the heart.
A man must become eternal by knowing the source of truth; and learning carefully the inmost word (the signification of the scriptures or upanishads) consider who that word is and closely view it.
If thou know the five lettered name of Namassiva thou knowest the supreme! If thou know the supreme, thou shalt for ever shine. He who shines glorious becometh the Spirit.
If the unborn enters our inner man as we meditate, we shall attain beatitude, but never shalt thou attain it by gazing on external shapes.

If by holding the Linga we become resolved into primitive nature, gazing on our bodies, we shall be happy. But men will not know the signification of the Linga, and thereby attain that coalescence. (Observe this curious grammatical construction)
The teacher, the image of Siva, compounded the three worlds into one, and combined the six worlds; thus he remains firm (these nine worlds, or regions are the nine mystic chacras of the human form).
If, ignorant of the postures thou learn not of thy teacher, their secret force (murma & curma) and fix not thy heart how shalt thou become of the second birth? (Dwija signifying a Brahmin, means, reform-regenerate)
The body is the Mundane Egg; what is called soul is air. The eyes are the moon and sun in our estimation. Where is there a Divinity beyond this? Ye are gods in your own estimation.

We are born in air and grown in air. Understand the order of blessing in the air. For, from air is born that air of the soul which is our essence.
He who has himself become the universe and knows that the great whole dwells in him and who has learned to unite his inner man with all that is external this man while yet on earth, has attained perfection.
Meditate on the thought that is within our thought and know it; this thou must do in the appropriate mode by giving up all thy other thoughts. The thought of thought is essence (tatwa); it is soul (or it is the essential spirit).
Connection originates in this outward world. Let it be resolved again into universe. If we resolve it fairly into universe, this is the path to happiness.

If thou become the universe, the great all shall shine resplendent in thee, that man who knoweth the god who shineth within him shall hereby attain beatitude.
If thou canst see that the all is one, thou shalt attain a sure knowledge of God; thy eye-lid shall not close night or day. Behold that great spirit that is the light of light.
Unless thy outward form be (humbled) mortified thou shall not see the living form. But who is able to mortify that outward form? Unless the creation be destroyed, we cannot behold the creation.
All fear belongs to the body; If we quit fear the certainly we shall attain will be that of the great spirit; the only destruction shall be that of the body. Teach men that victory is the property of the soul.

The yogee who knows the one letter (Om) shall know the (param) Deity, beholding him and attain his nature. He shall himself become the forms in which the Deity exists and all the rest of the creation, becoming a particle of the primeval unity.
The yogee who raiseth his palms aloft fixeth his feet, fixeth his gaze full on heaven becometh hereby part of the universe and attaineth length of days.
Consider that fire, and air, and all worlds exist in the body at their proper places. Then touch and behold the Teacher in thy mind.
If thou quit not the hopes of the place above and devise a mode attain it, thou shalt arrive therein, that place and thou shalt be united, and thou shalt become the self-existent Deity.

He is himself metamorphosed into the worship and into the worshipper that performs adoration. He becomes himself sacrificial implement. Wherever he performs worship he becomes himself (Omnipresent). He is myself, and I myself am, he.
All that is born on the earth was born in the earth. All reality is born in the body. The great whole is produced from toil . Let us ourselves become that mighty whole.
If the soul be closely united with the body though it be devout, unless it quits, the body is not blessed. Through the body must we attain the abode of beatitude.
If thou know that the prime existent is single and fix thy mind on that prime, never quitting the prime thou shalt become the unborn. He that path quitted the prime is like to the blind.

Without making distinctions of situations (lit, without saying there or here) as we behold all things, the god (Vishnu) ever views and comprehends all things. The circumambient (God Vishnu) goes around the orbit of the world.
By considering forms thou shalt attain the unseen and thy form shall assimilate to his. Devoid of both these (i.e., body and mind) become thus invisible. (loose version)
By viewing thyself inwardly, thou shalt become the joy of the world. By viewing what is external, thou shalt be immersed in earthly connections. By beholding thyself, the divinity shall become thy salvation.
That divinity who is our rescue is attained by deep thought. If thou comprehend him by meditation thou shalt become that being, If thou know the thought of thought, thou shalt become it.

All those who possess pure wisdom gaze of the Mundane Oval. If thy mind be pure, thou shalt ever gaze on the admirable pindanda universe of the body.
Being born in a human generation and grown up in it, if, after becoming a man, a man cries scorn on the line of men, and (become a Haracula) becomes a participator in the nature of Siva; he shall become Siva.
The devotee who knoweth the great secret walketh with out considering the burning sunshine, he shall live to all time on the earth. Is the attainment of wisdom in the power of a glutton?
To nourish our bodies let us cease from all mental occupation and by the aid of the living being let us daily rove free from care. By considering our bodies, we shall perceive that the Divine soul permanently resides within us.

In the one body of the universe there are forms innumerable. How many forms shine in it! When they perish all shall become one whole. Thus is the nature of spirit. (This ataveladi has four versions).
(A difficult verse in pure Telugu)
It is only one man here and there who can try and explain the second birth of (yatees) the recluse with extreme exactitude. It is an extraordinary qualification; sense is more stable than even worship.
Where is heaven for that soul full of cupidity, that thinks his body is his own self and entangled in his own (vāsana, smell) attractions ensnared in repeated births and deaths. Ignorant of all matter wallows in lusts.
He who grips his foot in the palm of his hand and with an eye fixed on heaven stands firm. He shines transformed into the universe and shall live long.

Those voluptuaries who forget their thoughts and principles (i.e., themselves; lit. chitta is the faculty of doubt and buddhi that of assurance) are given up to vain confidence and cannot collect their whole attention and fix it on Siva. They shall never attain bliss (terribly difficult).
How should those who imagine themselves to be one with their body, and who remain immersed in the ocean of the cursed three attachments (to wife, son and wealth) attain the knowledge (sangati) of the truth (moksham).
He exists in the shape of the universe and is the general soul. He is the all witnessing spirit. He hath truly converted.. himself into the soul. Look at the universal world. He is himself all and even exists in truth.
He that has seen is greater than who has heard. But he that possesses Him is greater than who hath beheld. Greatest of the noble is he in the earth.

It thou firmly fix the idea of the divinity in the mind, and establish thyself in the temple of the body, thou shalt be firm in the earth and attain the inner vision.
If thou excuse that life (jiva tatwa) that possesses the marks of vitality, to be united to the teacher, he is greater than the life. He who thus restrains the body is himself.
The great whole exists within us. If we know that we are, if, by this means of salvation in this soul shall the man who thus walks attains heaven.
If a man be converted into his intrinsic self in the midst of all external he would contract no alienation. I swear by my father. If we were converted into self how should we entertain any anxiety?

If he be himself prudent cautiously will he save himself, and in every manner he considers himself as the great spirit.
If he knows that he is himself the universe and the universe himself; that he is himself all essence, if, knowing this he fails to walk accordingly, there is no salvation for that map.
(Pure Sanskrit) Water, earth, fire, sky, air--it is well known that these compose the world. The natural body, the invisible form, the body of delusion, if thought on, are the basis of all.
To say I will not this (i.e., wish not for it) and still not to leave it but remain entangled in the desire of things convenient nor quit them. This is origin of worldliness.
p. 50
If the face and name are unalterable, the name and the face are both implicated in our acts. It would be well if we could lose both our name and face.
The devotee to Siva who understands all the properties of the body, shall not entangled in desire and deceived to his ruin. How should a juggler be ensnared by any man?
The exalted sages have declared in the earth that when through instruction a man relinquishes the desires (or schemes) of his mind, he shall through his love of them attain the abode of purities.
If thou be thyself excellent, but, as the bliss be wedded to nature and ruin thy beatification thou shall not behold that preceptor who caused the creation of precepts.
Doth an infant know any thing of (dressing) roasting stones to extract metals? The god-like sage alone comprehends it. Know thou the degraded nature metal and leave it?
p. 51
If thy mortal form perish, thy inward eye shall clearly shine. If the fruits be destroyed that tree becomes free as the tree of desire. If thy eye be humbled to see with it is happiness.
Where is shame hidden? Where is the darkness of ignorance hidden? Where is hunger hidden? In the soul! Learn ye the hiding of the hidden sleep of abstraction.
Look on thy chief (jewels or foes) passions! Haste to destroy them nourish the whole of thy friends (or lovers). He who thus behold the great light and in the midst of the body fixes his desire--this man is himself Hari.
Our own shadow is our foe, and our shadow is a witness to us of our bulk in the body; my passions are my enemies and my mind is the only aid I have. This is true.

To cut off the evils (diseased) of the body ceasing the look of love towards the robbers (evil wishes) knowing the origin, attaching our thought to him and uniting the mind to him--If the devotee thus recognizes the (friendship) mutual love between the creature and the creator, this is the institute of sanctity.
Though the sage be touched (or affected) by any object of sense, he is not in truth moved truly. Vemana hath learnt, in the host of sensual objects and passions to abstain from the six evils (cama, crodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsara) and all other sources of sin (durvishaya). (a tremendous puzzle, but correctly done.)
If we consider our real form however great we may seem in our own delusions, and those of ascetics, and be filled with them can we hereby see god.
He that hath seen and can name the place of his primordial birth, walks in wisdom in the earth; the place of our origin is in the divinity (tatwa).

From fire which was produced from air was water created; in the atmosphere it appeared, being self born; such is the history of Maya, that had no father.
Those who in their minds muse on the gem on the summit of essence are skilled in tatwa. He who hath truly beheld in the midst of darkness, the great light, this is the devotee. He who truly knoweth that the soul exists in God and God in the soul hath religious vision. He is the pure, who in the Sankhya yogamu (which enumerates the qualities of spirit) hath ascertained that the entire world is in Siva. In any but this path shall any one ever attain the deity? If the life leave the belly, and depart how should it be puffed up?

If thou walk not so as to become free from. (set aside) all the evil qualities of thy acts how should thou acquire the divine essence? Will a lamp devoid of oil blaze merely by filling it with dry sesasum oil seeds--that are not freed from their hurtful substance.
Like as the seeds and the husk (between themselves) are born together in water but the husk (goes) is destroyed so the concomitant evil fruits of his acts who knows the essence of God will leave him undefiled--Indeed it is thus.
Acts of religion are far removed from the wise and the wise is far from acts in Caliyuga. The man of purity who ceaseth both works and knowledge truly hath attained beatitude, For, when he is perfect, faith and works shall both terminate.
If thou be not a performer of acts thou knowest not good works. He who is trueth to works shall not see any good. Unless thou enter the water, surely thou can't know the depth; nor, devoid of works know happiness.

If thou look upon the fruits of thy actions as being defiled will hypocrisy; then shalt thou attain the fruits of thy righteousness. Felicity consists in surpassing both thy righteousness and thy good works.
Fruits (senses) produced in a tree (the body) exulting, united in fair beauty, ripen--eat the fruits (beatitude) and know the leaves of a tree. (Here it is impossible to discriminate in English between caya and pandu).
Like as a swan will not touch the (mansodakam) heavenly stream but turns it off, thus let the yogee be untouched by acts; he shall ramble in all delight.
Searching well into the body and setting God before our eyes, and throwing aside our future acts, verifying our mind and quitting the love of our various ties, he that applies himself to stand there, is the best:
The Puranas of acts are a great deep. In those acts never shall we see Siva; surely none is able to declare Siva, the destroyer of acts. Acts are vile, and vile.

Vishnu, Brahma, the demigods, the munis and all the rest were nobly born and then lost their state of happiness, regularly proceeded through the state of decrepitude and death. This was through the savour of delusion.
They who perpetually enquire which among three Gods is the chief (or root) cannot, being fools, know the chief--surely there is a higher root of the three.
There are men who being unable first to perceive which is the noblest of the three, go into destruction. There is one original substance of which the three are formed.
Know ye (ascertain and learn) that root that knoweth the three. First know Him who is above the three and extol him with the tongue.

Translated from the Telugu by

C.P. Brown

[1829]

 

Translated from the Telugu Verses

(Mystic) If through pleasure, and the favour of the teacher, if thou quit this house with nine doors, thou shalt become the universal spirit and the universe.
Strife ceases when anger ceases; when strife ceases wishes also cease. The connections that lead to future transmigrations cease when distinctions are done away and when the three qualities of virtue, passion and ignorance are dissolved, beatitude is permanent, O Vema.
He that knows not the mystical syllable, Om, never can become a saint. He that knows not the glory of god is no yogee. He that knows not the everlasting is not in a state of beatitude.
p. 28
By conquering the senses he that is steady knows the essence of god. How should a man not knowing himself will call such a man a sage?
He who daily and highly considers and forgets from his mind the distinctions of I and thou and he that thus liveth is the noble ascetic.
Search and view thyself; thou art the living being. Behold the great (tatwa) existent and thou shalt become the spirit. Earth and Heaven shall depart and delusion herself be destroyed.
He who knowing all the powers of Him who dwelleth in the dwelling shall seize his evil mind and seat it. He who can retain his body is the greatest of devotees.
If thou apply thy heel and hold it firmly to thy anus and then seek for thy interior so as to understand the entrance of power, then if thou also cause a change in thy mind (give thy word) and determine on attaining felicity and it becomes the perfection. This is the path of perfection (or yoga).
p. 29
By aid of the observances the mind is stayed. By wrath it is dissipated. The steadfast mind obtains fearlessness. Resolution puts an end to alliance. The mind that is removed from alliance suffers us to attain tranquillity. From tranquillity is equality he himself becomes the entire world. If he be transmuted into the universe, he is Essence (tatwa). That Essence will watch its opportunity and vanquish all the senses. If he becomes thus skilled in tatwa he shall become it himself. He shall thus be a raja yogi in lustre and shine in the world.
Words are a pack of evils; to keep a matter secret is a virtue; avarice is like to death, loan a misfortune, an oath is an evil, words are arrows--all this is not in the least known to men.
Why does this body a bag with nine holes in it, require convenient things and a high caste, tell me. Believe not that it is thine. Understand and say I am Brahma,

All men are intoxicated and entangled in the six inimical causes of evil propensities. Imagining this to be the path of prudence they walk in it; but they cannot view and perceive the truth of god.
Burning the tree of earthly ties, the wise man engaging himself in wisdom proceeds with propriety. The tree thus burnt will be very delightful.
Seeing that connections keep the world in darkness, connections yet form a tie between man and his creator. If all these connections were dissolved, then in the true path should man see beatitude. (Loose version)
The eye is first fixed on the path of instructions. In the midst, when we have learned somewhat the view dwelleth on our own mind, and at the last the vision resteth on him who is pure light.
p. 31
Whenever you behold him he is looking at nothing else; he fixes his eyes with quivering lids upon beatitude night and day in one fixed manner, shall he ever learn to bow to Yama who visiteth the sins of men? What more need we say the whole way of beatitude shall be attained by Vemana.
Unless thou relinquish vain words, the formula (of prayer and worship) cannot be learnt; unless thou relinquish the form of prayer and become absorbed in meditation the mind cannot be restrained. Unless thou restrain thy mind thou shalt not attain beatitude.
In this filled vessel of the body with which light and darkness agree well, if we forget the sleep of meditation, however great we be we cannot know the first thing.
He that will strive and bind all the designs, or think not on anything in his mind, but be like as a picture, this is the truly great man, whether he be in forest or town,

He who will remain in contemplation with quivering eyelids and fail not to fix the Being in his mind, but perpetually view him--easy is not anywhere for beatitude to be duly placed in him.

By mere thinking shalt) thou attain truth? If thou meditate not, but remain still shalt thou reach it? By thinking neither on thought nor on the absence, this is true path and beatitude.
If thou fix the sight of both thy eyes equally and thy mind he similarly fixed, if thou restrain all external tastes and heedfully gaze, the deity shall be made evident to thee.
Closing the external nine and mingling the internal airs with your mind, if, understanding this secret you perform the worship of the (atmalingam) Divinity, this is the beatitude.
p. 33
Let the pure saint confuse all his connections (valenu for valenu) in this outward world in conformity to his high desires. In his outward connections be thus dissolved he shall attain heaven and beatitude (Kailasa and Mukti) .
Quickly stop your anus with your left heel and fasten your anus and part of generation. Then set thy desire in thy mind on the unseen (secret) and behold him.
He whose mind sleeps in abstraction is the great saint wherever he lies, the securest situation is the (destruction) retention of respiration. He who can securely loose his apertures (mudras) they being fixed of themselves becomes the chief. He is not entangled in connections; is alone the independent sage. (lit: Indifferent)
He who maketh his inmost mind pure (or who maketh his inside his outside) and slays all worldliness, burneth his caste and casting off all qualities hath attained the reflection of reflections. He is the devotee.
p. 34
If thou truly understand, thou cannot seek god. Then can't see him if thou move not thy eyeballs. If thou wink not thy eyelids, he will appear betwixt them.
He who fixing his view eagerly on the end of the nose, looking into his heart, hath noble might. If he knows the path of beatitude, h becomes the exalted devotee.
The spirit that is named unparalleled being united with the spirit of his pristine name will be destroyed in one mode. That mode Vemana will teach thee.
He who has severed the desires of his house from him and duly in his heart is cautious; he who thus establishes his house, is deeply skilled in tatwa.
He is the happiest person in the world who in whatever his views and in the six creeds and sects and the four asramas wavers not at any time in his walk.

It is impossible for us to see the wondrous writing on the noble hill in our path, following the shadow of our nose. If we go to view, it is perfection. It is Siva.
A man shall attain long life when he has learnt to low breathing (i.e. to save up some respirations daily of the portion predestined to each man). Then shall he grow, he shall wear his body through out the age of Brahma.
He that will not be entangled in the forest of (acshara) letters but considering the (nobleness) charms of (acshara) the indestructible, and in this earth adores the prime letter (Om) this man shall become Imperishable (acshaya). This is sufficient!
There is no distinct region named deity; self is evidently the deity. If thou know thyself thou art the divinity.
p. 36
The whole world exists in the divine atom. The divine atom lies hid in our body The man that restrains his mind will surely attain beatitude (mucti).
Like him who, holding butter in his hand, but not knowing its properties, wishes for ghee (which he might obtain by merely melting the butter) is he who being himself divinity meditates on God as though removed from him.
By beholding the first of being thou shalt become united with the universe. No man is able to behold that prime existence. That prime who is the path of bliss existeth within the soul.
He who knows clearly in his own mind that he is a part of the universe, internally and externally, the man who hath brightly learned this shall in this world attain beatitude.