Guru Vachak Kovai notes

1065. Even though one has attained abundantly and completely [all] the occult powers [siddhis] beginning with anima, which are loved [so much] by foolish worldly people,

all the learning learnt by one who has not attained the perfect gem of Self by severing the primal knot [the chit-jada-granthi or ego], 

is void.

1104. Except those who subside [and abide] in the Heart with consciousness [with remembrance of the existence-consciousness ‘I am’], no one can attain the flawless state of reality,

 [because] the reality is veiled by the mind’s forgetfulness and thinking in sleep and in waking respectively.


294. Attention to one’s own Self, which is ever shining as ‘I’, the one undivided and pure Reality, is the only raft with which the jiva, who is deluded by thinking “I am the body”, can cross the ocean of unending births. 

272. Since one does not love to listen to the teaching of the Supreme Self, 

which is ever going on in the Heart, 

one comes out with great enthusiastic delusion. 

Because of this, one needs a Guru outside.

193. When the mind [i.e., the ego’s attention] which wanders outside,
 knowing only other objects [2nd and 3rd persons] –
begins to attend to its own nature,
 all other objects will disappear,
and then, by experiencing it’s own true nature [i.e. Self], the pseudo-‘I’ will also die.

...

cling like an udumbu to Self in his heart.

..

141. After knowing that the purport at the heart of all scripture is that the mind should be subdued in order to gain Liberation, what is the use in continuously studying them? 
Who am I?

140. The divine flow of poetry can spring only from a heart which has become still, being completely freed by Self-attention from all attachment towards the five sheaths, starting with Annamaya [the body composed of food].



143. For those who are very attached to their filthy bodies, all the study of Vedanta will be as useless as the swinging of the goat’s fleshly beard unless,

with the aid of Divine Grace, their studies lead them to subdue their egos.


144. To be freed from ignorance by mere studies is as impossible as the horns of a horse,

 unless by some means the mind is killed

and the tendencies are thus completely erased 

by the blossoming of Self Knowledge

176. The truly powerful tapas is that state in which,

having lost the sense of doership, 

and knowing well that all is His Will, 

one is relieved from the delusion of the foolish ego. 
Thus should you know.


392. When mano-laya is gained by restraining the breath,
 one should keenly enquire,
 using such a peaceful mind which is now condensed from the scattered five [sense-knowledges] into the one ‘I’-consciousness,
and know that Sat-Chit which is not the body.

409. “To fix the stupid and egotistical mind as One with the pure Shiva [i.e. Self],

 by subduing it within the Heart 

so that it cannot wander out through the sense-organs,

 is alone the best tapas,” say the true Tapasvins.



atmakara vritti = tapa

410. Uninterruptedly  maintaining Atmakara-vritti 

[i.e. the flow of Self-attention],

 which swallows within itself the appearance of the universe with all its differences,

 is, when pondered over, the only mark of the unique Tapas.



414. Union with the Feet of the Lord as the form of Love [Bhakti], in which all the ego’s activities die, is the Path of Siddhanta.

The loss of the ego by abiding in Self [Atma-Nishta], which is the supreme Jnana and Bliss, is the Path of Vedanta.


446. Since the reality, the source [of ‘I’, the ego], shines so very subtle in the heart as to be known only to a very subtle attention,

it is impossible for those whose mind is as gross 

and as blunt as the head of a pestle to attain the target!

452. If you firmly fix your mind in the Heart, the true knowledge will dawn. 

503. The true knowledge [jnana] will not dawn without exploring within,

 the essence of the instruction ‘That Thou Art’ uttered unceasingly 

through the speech of His glance by the Sadguru, Self, the form of Siva [on earth], dwelling in the hearts of His devotees.

538 (a) To know Self clearly,

 rejecting all alien things [the universe] as mere nothingness [sunya] 

is the supreme knowledge [jnana] transcending time and space, 

other than which there is no worthy [or superior] knowledge.

The knowing of all times and places or the knowing of others’ minds is not worthy knowledge.


563. If the mind, which is full of ignorant delusion and which sees the worlds in dreams [in the two dreams, that is, in waking and dream] but which does not see its own truth, enquires who it itself is [in other words, ‘Who am I?’] and thereby loses its mind-nature, it will then shine as the Sun of true knowledge [jnana], remaining at the Feet of the Lord.


647...it is clear that the aim of this chapter is to expose the futility of objective attention (that is, to expose that Self cannot be attained by attention to second and third person objects)......


648. Except by the Lord’s Grace, which begins to function when one surrenders oneself completely to His Feet with sincere devotion,

it [the reality] cannot be cognised merely by the skill of the mind of the jiva. 

So subtle is the reality.


657. Worship of the formless is possible only for those who have lost the notion ‘I am this form [the body]’.


658. To worship the formless reality through thought-free thought [that is, by attending to the thought-free Self-awareness, ‘I am’] is best.

 If one is incapable of doing this formless worship of God, to worship God in form is proper.

659. Let those who have become a prey to the delusion of action [karma],

being unable to follow the original path of the light of Self, 

existence-consciousness, worship the form of their beloved God.

Then they will gradually lose their delusion [towards names and forms and action] and finally [by the Grace of God or Guru] attain the Supreme Self.


No one pointedness...then, all in vain

662. If the observances prescribed in the Vedas do not abundantly give you real and one-pointed devotion towards the Feet of God, know that all the strenuous efforts made by you to observe them strictly and unfailingly are utterly in vain.

imp-

697. For those who uninterruptedly concentrate upon the unlimited and all-pervading space of consciousness [chittambalam], there is not even an iota of fate [prarabdha]. This alone is what is meant by the scriptural saying, “Fate does not exist for those who seek heaven”.


720. Those who, with minds matured through bhakti, have fully drunk the essence of bhakti, will like to attain only the divine nectar of supreme bhakti as the fruit of [their] bhakti.


725. Unless the Lord [the God and Guru] who resides within [as Self], by the power of His Grace pulls the mind within,
 who can, by the mere power of the stealthy and mischievous mind,
prevent its out-going nature and reach the Heart and rest in peace?

Grace by Bhakti alone

726. The Grace of God, whose form is eightfold, cannot be obtained without the Grace of Guru. Neither by vidyas [arts and learning] nor by any other means will Grace be obtained, but only by bhakti [towards Guru].




728. To tell the truth, the Grace of God and the enquiry ‘Who am I?’, which is the means for abiding within, each being a great help to the other, together lead one to the state of oneness with the supreme Self.

729. Unless the supreme Reality [God or Self] Itself reveals Itself in the Heart, the delusion [maya] of this world-dream will not end.

 The enquiry ‘Who am I who sees this dream?’ is the worship [upasana] which brings forth [the Grace of the Supreme for] this revelation.


What is Dhyana?

738. Mentally imagining oneself to be the Supreme Reality, which shines as existence-consciousness-bliss  [sat-chit-ananda], is meditation [dhyana]. 


What is Enquiry?

Fixing the mind in Self so that the seed of false delusion [the ego] is destroyed is enquiry [vichara].


756. Other than Self-enquiry, which is the best [sadhana], there is no sadhana whatsoever to make the mind subside. 

If made to subside by other sadhanas, the mind will remain a while as if subsided, but will rise up again.


758. The best path to subside the activities of the mind – which springs forth externally as [the triad or triputi] the seer, the seeing and the object seen – is to train the mind to see its own nature

[in other words, to practice Self-attention].



763. Only to such a mind which has gained the inner strength of one-pointedness, Self-enquiry will be successful. 

But a weak mind will be like wet wood put into the fire of jnana-vichara.


765. So long as there is triputi-bheda [the experience of the difference between the triad – the knower, the act of knowing and the object known], sadhana is indispensable. From [the experience of] the triad [triputi], one can determine that the false delusion, the ego, has not yet been annihilated.

Michael James: From this verse it is clear that the ego is the base upon which the triads (triputis) depend for their existence



769. Self-abidance [atma-nishtha], which shines without defect, alone will destroy all bondage, which is non-Self.

 [On the other hand] discrimination [viveka] which distinguishes the real, one’s own nature, from the unreal, is only an aid to pure desirelessness.


770. If you enquire [you will find that] you are not that [the body] 
which you now take yourself to be. 

[Therefore]  enquire what you are, drown in the heart and be directly established as ‘You are That [Self]’.


771. Knowing well that there is no permanent foothold anywhere for the soul except in remaining merely as the one reality,
 destroy desires towards everything,
 but without aversion [towards anything],

and abide in the Heart as one with the supreme existence-consciousness [Sat-Chit]. 



829. Since it is impossible to know beforehand the last moment of one’s life, 

it is best for one who has a firm determination [to put an end to birth and death] to renounce at the very moment he gets disgust for the body and world.



imp-

830. Just as a fruit falls from the tree when ripe, so an  aspirant will certainly renounce his family life like saltless gruel as soon as he becomes fully mature,
unless his prarabdha interferes as an obstacle.


863. Except through the destruction of the false delusive sense ‘I’ (am the body)’, there is no experience of real Jnana.


866. When the feeling ‘I am the body’ [dehatma-buddhi] goes, the delusive confusion and anxieties will end. 

Aha! The ‘I’ shining in the heart in which enquiry is conducted, is the differenceless supreme consciousness [nirvikalpa chit-param].


867. God, who seems to be non-existent, alone is ever existing, while oneself [the individual], who seems to be existing, is ever non-existent.


The state of thus seeing one’s own non-existence [maya] can alone be said to be the supreme Jnana


881. All the benefit to be obtained by inner enquiry is only the destruction of the deceptive ‘I’-sense [the ego].

 It would be too much to say that it is to attain Self, which always shines clear and ever-attained.