Chapter Three

(Ribhu:)
I shall continue further with what was told by the Supreme Siva. The various beings and
worlds are illusory. Existence and nonexistence are illusory. Creation, sustenance, and
dissolution are illusory. Widespread enjoyment and attachments are illusory. The senses
and such others are illusory. Brahma is illusory. The Veda-s and other scriptures are
illusory; all words are illusory.
The Supreme Brahman, the mass of Bliss, is the only Reality.
2
The variety of woes and wealth are illusory.
The wonderful home and property are illusory.
The eye and the form it sees are illusory.
The tongue and the taste it feels are illusory.
The nose and the scent it smells are illusory.
Oblations and the gods they propitiate are illusory.
Gotra (lineage), sutra (religious canon), and clan, are all illusory.
The defectless Supreme Brahman is the only Reality.
6
Various things such as this and that or anything else are illusory.
"I," "you," and "others" that are spoken of are all illusory.
What is thought of as "here" and "elsewhere" are all illusory.
All kinds of practices and secret rituals are illusory.
All things in this all-embracing world are illusory.
Even a cause for all this universe is totally illusory.
All that appear as the seen are illusory.
The Supreme Brahman, the Seer, is the only Reality.
7
The concept of the entire moving and unmoving is illusory.
The concept of the differentiation among all is illusory.
The concept of an integral whole is illusory.
The concept that the integral whole is a misconceived notion is illusory.
The cause of the entire world, Brahma, is illusory.
The sustainer of all, Hari, is illusory.
The destroyer of the world, Hara, is illusory.
The undivided Supreme Brahman is the only Truth.
8
Penance and prayers are illusory. Holy waters are illusory.
The study of the Veda-s is illusory. The homa-s (sacrifices) are illusory.
Worship of Siva and others is illusory. Mantra-s (mystic formulas) are illusory.
The various castes (varnam) and orders of life (asrama-s) are illusory.
Auspicious satsang and such are illusory.
The succession of times such as past and others are illusory.

All these valueless, worldly appearances are illusory.

The imperishable Supreme Brahman is the only Reality.
9
Pure soul! the various appearances that are seen Do not really exist at all.
Understand that any appearance arising out of maya (delusion)
Is benumbing illusion.
Further, I shall give you the secret definition As told by
the Supreme Siva, in the way you can understand.
All the world, individuals (jiva-s), and the Supreme (Para) are ever only
The Supreme Brahman, of the nature of pure Knowledge.

10
Ignorance, which is of the nature of darkness and all its differentiations,
The mind that creates duality and all its differentiations,
The spreading world and all its differentiations,
The macrocosm of a million galaxies and all its differentiations,
The triad of worlds and such and all its differentiations.
The various qualities (guna-s), defects (dosa-s),
and all their modifications, And all the words of the Guru, who is the embodiment of
grace
Be of the certitude that all these are Brahman, of the nature of Knowledge.

11
All of the highest, the median, and the lowest,
Omkara (the letter Om), the first letter "a" (akara) and all the letters,
All actions that are variegatedgood and bad,
All activities that are of varying types, All things that are seen likewise,
All things that are heard in different places,
And all things that make the picture of this world
Be of the certitude that all these are Brahman, which is pure Consciousness.
12
All things that are interdependent in various ways,
All things that are described by words,
All things that are rejected with contempt,
All things that are accepted with pleasure,
All things that offer more and more,
All actions that are accomplished better and better,
And all virtuous acts like bathing in holy waters and such
Be of the certitude that all these are the blemishless Brahman.
13
Be of the certitude that all that exists
As manifold and indicated as "this" is Brahman.
Be of the certitude that everything that exists always
As "I," "I," is all Brahman.
Whatever appears wherever,

And in whatever manner, as the seen

All such appearances are Brahman, the Seer.
Be ever of this steadfast certitude.
14
Hear further the highly secret and wonderful definition
That was given to me by the Lord (Isvara)
On the exalted Kailasa mountain,
Which I shall now give for the benefit of all.
All that which appears as differentiated
Is ever of the nature of differenceless Consciousness alone.
The nature of that extolled Consciousness, which alone is.
Is the nature of the indivisible Supreme Brahman.

15
What is thought of here as "I" is only Consciousness.
What is seen as "this" is only Consciousness.
The conditioning of pure Consciousness is, also, only
Consciousness. The world as it appears is only Consciousness.
What is pointed out therein as "you" and "I" are, also, only
Consciousness. Space, air, and fire are all only Consciousness;
Water and earth are, also, only Consciousness.
All the five gods are only Consciousness.

16
The past and the future are only Consciousness.
The present is only Consciousness.
The matter that undergoes mutation is only Consciousness.
The qualities that are described are only Consciousness.
The knower and the knowledge are only Consciousness.
The knowledge and what is known by it are, also, only
Consciousness.
The beginning and the end are. also, only Consciousness.
The big and the small are. also, only Consciousness.

17
Words in all their variety are only Consciousness.
The utterances that express the words are only Consciousness.
What appears as various groups is only Consciousness.
What follows these appearances is only Consciousness.
The most intense desire is only Consciousness.
The aversion for what was desired is only Consciousness.
What is denoted by "here" and "elsewhere" is only
Consciousness. All nonexistence and all existence are only Consciousness.

18
Brahma, the maker of the manifold, is only Consciousness.
Vishnu, the sustainer, is only Consciousness.
Hara, the destroyer, is only Consciousness.
All the gods, demons, and men are only Consciousness.
All the wandering animal creation is only Consciousness.
All the world, moving and stationary, is only Consciousness.
The Guru who leads and the disciple are only Consciousness.
The father and the sons and others are only Consciousness.

19
The seen and the seer are only Consciousness.
The knowledge and the knowable are only Consciousness.
The fixed and the changing are only Consciousness.
The gross and subtle bodies are only Consciousness.
The causal body is, also, only Consciousness.
Maya (illusion) and mahat (projected light of Absolute
Consciousness) are, also, only Consciousness.
The embodied and the disembodied are only Consciousness.
Action and cause are all only Consciousness.

20
The Veda-s and Vedanta are only Consciousness.
Duality and nonduality are only Consciousness.
Directions and the directionless are only Consciousness.
The guardians of the directions are only Consciousness.
Pot and cloth (examples used in philosophical discussion) and
other such analogies are only Consciousness.
Various interactions that are seen are all only Consciousness.
Name and form are all only Consciousness.
All objects are only Consciousness.
21
Various beings are only Consciousness.
The expanding worlds are only Consciousness.
The various prana-s (vital airs) that move about are only
Consciousness.
The wavering faculties are only Consciousness.
The several sheaths are only Consciousness.
The good and bad merits due to actions are only Consciousness.
The changing living beings are only Consciousness.
Everything, ever, is only Consciousness.
22
The permanent that is fixed is only Consciousness.
The impermanent that is unsteady is only Consciousness.
The Truth. which is exalted, is Consciousness.
The non-truth, which should be shunned, is only Consciousness.
The steady substratum is only Consciousness.
The fickle superimposition is only Consciousness.
Various kinds of happiness and sorrow are only Consciousness.
All objects that are differentiated are only Consciousness.

23
The fourfold requisites for spiritual practice are only
Consciousness. The changeless Liberation is, also, only Consciousness.
What has become modified into multiplicity is only
Consciousness. What the Veda-s proclaim is only Consciousness.
What the rare scriptures reveal is only Consciousness.
What is reached and what is beyond reach are only
Consciousness.
Whatever exists, wherever and howsoever, Is all only Consciousness.

24
Except for Consciousness, there is no bondage.
Except for Consciousness, there is no Liberation.
Except for Consciousness, there is no individual (jiva).
Except for Consciousness, there is no Lord (Isvara).
Except for Consciousness, there is no world.
Except for Consciousness, there is not an atom.
Whatever is Consciousness will nowhere be destroyed. It is of the nature of the
Supreme Brahman.
25
This word, proclaimed by Sankara (the Beneficent One), is the Truth, the Truth.
Doubt there is none.
I asseverate this, touching the protecting feet
Of the exalted Supreme Siva.
This is the meaning, this is the meaning, proclaimed in all the
parts of the Veda-s.
Of this there is no doubt.
Whoever hears this once lovingly
Will become the Supreme Brahman, which is the One.

26
By the study of the Upanishad-s with devotion,
By offerings to the devotees of Paramasiva (Supreme Siva),
By worship to the perfectly full Supreme Siva in the
form of a defectless, divine linga,
By stay in the widespread holy Siva centers,
By various other prescribed regulations,
The grace of the Supreme Siva, Brahman, Shall pour forth.
And the indivisible, infinite Knowledge of the Self will dawn.

27
How [is one) to invoke for worship (in a fixed place) the Supreme Siva
Who is of the nature of sphurana (flashing, sparkling, breaking
forth, vibrating)?
How [is one] to offer a seat to the Supreme Siva
Who is the substratum (base) of everything?

How [is one] to offer water for washing the feet and other honors
to the already pure One?
How [is one] to bathe the Self-abiding One who cannot be wetted by anything?
How [is one] to cover with an offering of cloth
The Supreme One who is all pervasive and clothed only in space?
28
How [is one] to put across the sacred thread
For the One who is beyond all prescribed castes and orders of life?
How [is one] to adorn with shining ornaments
The incorporeal, undifferentiated One?
How [is one] to anoint with sweet-smelling sandal paste
The One with no connections or attachments?
How [is one] to worship with fragrant flowers
The One who is devoid of any vasana-s (scent of anamnesis, tendency)?

29
How [is one] to offer, with love, incense and light to the One
Who is noseless and is Self-illumined?
How [is one] to offer food (naivedya) to the One
Who, in reality,
Is immersed in Bliss?
How [is one] to offer betels to the One
Who Himself, indeed, delights all the worlds?
How [is one] to offer all other honors?

30
How [is one] to offer the camphor light
To the luminous Consciousness that reveals fire and such
other (lights)?
How [is one] to circumambulate
Around the endless One?
How [is one] to fall in full prostration In front of the ever nondual One?
How [is one] to praise with words
The One who is beyond the reach of the mind and words?

31
How [is one] to release to his usual abode, after worship,
The One who pervades everything internal and external?
Though such external worship with all these honors
Is inappropriate for the Lord (Isvara),
Listen son! with attention and interest,
To the worship of the changeless Sambhu (Bestower of happiness),
Existence-Knowledge-Bliss,
By internal bhavana (conviction) as expounded
In the knowledgeable Vedanta texts.

32
The conviction that there is no such thing as maya (illusion)
And [that] I remain as the delusionless Supreme Siva
Is the avahana (invocation).

The conviction that I am the pure Supreme Siva,

changeless and abiding in Himself,
Is the offering of a spotless asana (seat).
The conviction that I am not affected by good or bad accretions
Consequent on connections of the mind
Is the offering of water for padya (the washing of the feet).

33
Renunciation of the longstanding, widespread, and fickle
avidya (ignorance) Is the respectful libation to the linga of the Self.
The conviction that all will drink
Of the drops of the unimpeded shower
Of the Bliss that is the Supreme Siva
Is the offering of achamana (a sip of water).
Hear further, son!
The mode of performing abhiseka (the ablution).

34
The contemplation that all the worlds are moist
With the perfectly full, delightful rain that is I
And I am the unblemished Brahman
That cannot get wet with the water of action is the
effective ablution.
The determination that I am the perfect fullness
That cannot be covered in the least by anything else
Is the appropriate offering of a garment
To the linga (symbol of Siva) of the Supreme Self.

35
The meditation that I am the Supreme Brahman,
The power that wears the three strands of the three guna-s(qualities),
which constitute the world,
Is the offering of the sacred thread
to the linga of the Supreme Self.
Determining that I am the Self, Which is incorporeal and totally devoid of all
distinguishing marks,
Is the offering of ornaments.
The contemplation that I am the power entirely pervading the world,
With various scents (of past impressions, vasana-s), is the offering of sandal paste.

36
Renouncing the vritti-s (modes) that are the consequences of the
three guna-s (qualities)
Constitutes the offering of rice grains to the primordial linga.
Rejecting the threefold division of "preceptor," "I" and" Isvara (Lord),"
Is the offering of the bilva leaves

.
Avoiding the bad odor of the vasana-s (impressions of the past)
Is the waving of incense.
The constant bhavana (conviction) that I am the Supreme Siva,
Without qualities and Self-illumined, is the offering of light.

37
The understanding that I am the several crores of universes
Is the food offering to the Supreme Siva.
The undivided mode that is the enjoyment of the changeless
Brahman-Bliss Constitutes the offering of vyanjana (seasonings).
The incessant cleaning with Knowledge Of the sticky polluted remains,
Called fundamental, fickle ignorance,
Constitutes the offering of water for the washing of hands.

38
Renouncing the attachment to sensual pleasures
Is the offering of tambula (betel packs).
The pure Knowledge of Brahman,
Which dispels the darkness of ignorance,
Is the glowing camphor offering.
The perception that all that appears as multiplicity
is the one Brahman
Is the offering of a pure flower garland,
Oh pure one! to the Supreme Siva linga, the mass of Bliss.

39
The contemplation that I am the perfectly full, blissful Self
Is the scattering of flowers in worship.
The contemplation that the universe with its myriad activities revolves round me
Constitutes the prescribed circumambulation.
The contemplation that all will ever bow to me,
And I shall never bow to anyone,
Ever constitutes the bow
To the great linga of the Self.

40
The thought that there is no trace
Of name or form in me, who am the universe,
Constitutes the singing of the exalted names,

Which is a prescribed feature of the worship of the Supreme.

The contemplation that there is no need
For any deed for me in this world
Constitutes other honors to be extended
In worship by the mind.

41
The absorption in meditation,
Rid of all delusions of the mind and distractions,
Constitutes the release of the linga, the Supreme Siva without parts,
Back to the usual abode.
One who thus performs this pure worship
Even once as told in Vedanta
Will remove vasana-s (past impressions, tendencies) and all ajnana (ignorance)
and sorrow
And attain the great Bliss of Liberation.

42
Isvara (the Lord), in His compassion,
Will bestow Knowledge and Liberation, Gradually, step by step,
Even to those who do not have the due capacity
To perform worship as now explained
And who perform external worship, with love,
To the Supreme Siva, in accordance with the prescribed rituals
On images and the like.

43
Suta, who is ever all-knowing,
Told all the great sages that
Skanda, in His endless compassion,
Expounded to Jaigheeshavya
How the sage Ribhu lovingly explained to Nidagha
The definition of the Supreme Principle.
In the (same) manner
That the Supreme Siva, in His graciousness, taught.
44

It is the limitless form of the spotless Isvara (the Lord)

in a state of joyous dance that explains here
That the apparent variegated multiplicity is only an illusion,
Confers the Enlightenment that the substratum of this unreality is
only Knowledge,
And gives the procedure of performance
of this worship of the attributeless in the mind.