52 If one corrects one’s gross vision, transforming it into the eye of jnana, and if one attentively views [the world] with that eye of truth that is wholly jnana, then the world which was previously seen as the form of the five elements, beginning with space, will be only the Brahman that is wholly consciousness.

 

This idea appears in Ulladu Narpadu, verse 4:

 

Bhagavan: If one’s self is a form, then it follows that the world and the Supreme will have form also. If one’s self is not a form, who is there to see their forms, and how? Is there anything that is seen whose nature is other than that of the eye [that sees]? That eye is in reality the Self, the infinite eye.

 

Bhagavan elaborated on this in an explanation he gave to Lakshman Sarma:

 

If the eye that sees be the eye of flesh, then gross forms are seen; if the eye be assisted by lenses, then even invisible things are seen to have form; if the mind be that eye, then subtle forms are seen; thus the seeing eye and the objects seen are of the same nature; that is, if the eye be itself a form, it sees nothing but forms. But neither the physical eye nor the mind has any power of vision of its own. The real eye is the Self; as he is formless, being the pure and infinite consciousness, the reality, he does not see forms. (Maha Yoga, p. 83.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

53 If one corrects one’s defective vision, transforming it into the form of true jnana, the Supreme, and if one then sees with that jnana vision, the world that appeared as a sea of sorrows will exist as a sea of supreme bliss.

 

Question: In this life beset with limitations can I ever realise the bliss of the Self?

 

Bhagavan: That bliss of the Self is always with you, and you will find it for yourself, if you would seek it earnestly.

 

The cause of your misery is not in the life without; it is in you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them. All unhappiness is due to the ego; with it comes all your trouble. What does it avail you to attribute to the happenings in life the cause of misery which is really within you? What happiness can you get from things extraneous to yourself? When you get it, how long will it last?

 

If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it, you would be free. If you accept it, it will impose limitations on you and throw you into a vain struggle to transcend them. That was how the thief sought to ‘ruin’ King Janaka.

 

To be the Self that you really are is the only means to realise the bliss that is ever yours. (Maharshi’s Gospel, pp. 47-48.)

 

54 The jnani’s vision matures into being-consciousness-bliss, the eye of truth, because the mischievous movements of the ego-mind have ceased completely. Since the nature of the seen is not different from the nature of the eye that sees, to the true jnani the world too is definitely being-consciousness-bliss.

 

Verses 51, 52 and 53 are, respectively, about the world being sat (being), chit (consciousness) and ananda (bliss). Verse 54 combines the components and expounds on the nature of the world as sat-chit-ananda.

 

55 The world scene that unfolds like a dream is nothing other than the mind, a deluded perspective. Its true nature will appear as it really is only to the true awareness, the distilled being-consciousness that shines, transcending the mind-maya.

 

56 Foolish and deceitful mind, you who every day become greatly deluded upon seeing as different from yourself the dream [of the waking state], which occurs as wholly yourself! If you realise your true nature as it actually is, will this world be different from that reality, being-consciousness-bliss?

 

57 Just as the yolk of the egg of the many-hued green peacock is only one [in colour], the original state of this insubstantial world, which appears to be distorted into teeming multiplicity, is pure and unalloyed happiness. By abiding in the state of the Self, know this truth now, even while that Self, appearing as an effect, takes the form of the world manifesting through the power of maya.

 

Bhagavan made a minor correction to this verse. Muruganar wrote, ‘which shines as teeming multiplicity’. Bhagavan’s correction indicates that it is the Self alone that shines, not the distorted and fragmented unreal world that is projected by the individual self.