Fifteen Chapters on self-realisation: an English translation of the Pancadasi - a famous treatise on the way to enlightenment by John M Denton

Author:John M Denton [Denton, John M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-10-10T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 12 - The Bliss of the Self

12.1 Question: A yogin may indeed enjoy his own natural bliss (the bliss of the Self), which is different from the bliss of latent impressions and the bliss of deep sleep but what about the state of the ignorant?

12.2 Reply: The ignorant are born and die again and again in countless bodies due to the effects of their virtuous or unrighteous actions. What would be the point of our sympathy for them?

12.3 Suggestion: In order to help them something might be done. Reply: In that case you must find out whether they are eager to learn or averse to it. 12.4 Those who turn away from the teaching and are devoted to action may be prescribed paths of worship, adoration. Others who may be spiritually dull but eager to learn should through instruction be awakened by the bliss of the Self. 12.5 Yājñavalkyaḥ told his beloved wife Maitreyī, for the purpose of instruction, that ‘it is not for the sake of the husband, my dear, that he is loved but for the sake of the Self’.

12.6 Husband, wife, son, wealth, animals, priestliness, noble warriorness, worlds, gods, the Vedas - all are beloved for the sake of the Self.

12.7 A wife shows affection when she desires her husband and the husband responds except when he is suffering from disease, infirmity, hunger and so on.

12.8 Her love is not for the sake of her husband but for her own sake and her husband’s love is for the sake of his own Self and never for the sake of his wife.

12.9 Thus even in mutual love between husband and wife the motivation is one’s own desire for happiness.

12.10 A child may cry when kissed by a father with a prickly beard but the father is not kissing for the child’s sake but for his own. 12.11 Jewels, wealth and the like are without desires of their own but their owner looks after them with love and care for his own sake and none suppose otherwise.

12.12 A merchant leads his unwilling bullock by force. He loves the bullock for his own sake. Why would it be for the sake of the bullock?

12.13 A man of priestly rank who deserves respect is satisfied through respect. This complete satisfaction is not due to his position assigned by caste, which is just an abstract title but is earned by the man alone.

12.14 It is said that a person of a royal family feels like a ruler because he is of the Kṣatriya caste but the rulership does not extend to the caste. The same applies to the family of a man of the Vaiśya (merchant) or other castes.

12.15 Wishing ‘May I attain the realm of heaven or the world of Brahmā’ is not for the benefit of the worlds but for one’s own enjoyment alone. 12.16 People worship Īśvara, Viṣṇu and other deities in order to destroy sin but this is not for the sake of the deities for they are already without sin but for their own sake.

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