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Saturday 24 August 2013

51) Atmastakam - A Translation

Adi Sankara, eight years of age was wandering alone in the Himalayas in search of a Guru- The Divine Teacher. There he was asked by a sage. this question "Who are you ?"

It was then that Adi Sankara answered these six stanzas to the sage, Swami Govindpada Acharya who would later become his Guru and guide him to the highest of self realizations.

Adi Sankara answered:

Om

I am not the mind neither the intellect nor am I the self.
I am not the ears, neither tongue nor the nostrils nor the eyes.
I am not Ether, neither  earth, nor  light, nor  air .
I am the conscious embodiment of complete bliss.
I am Shiva .Shiva is I .  |1|


I am not the life force neither am I the Five winds.
I am neither the five elements of the physical body.
Nor am I the Five Sheaths of the Self, nor am I matter,
Nor am I my speech, I am not my hands or feet
I am the conscious embodiment of complete bliss.
I am Shiva .Shiva is I . |2|

I am not aversion, neither am I rage,  nor greed nor desire.
I am not intoxication nor am I the emotion of jealousy.
I am not the Law of Life , neither wealth nor lust nor liberation.
I am the conscious embodiment of complete bliss.
I am Shiva .Shiva is I . |3|

I am not sin neither virtue nor happiness nor sorrow
I am neither the Mantra neither the sacred sanctuary
Nor am I the Veda nor am I the ritual offering.
I am not Food, neither am I the consumer nor the consumed .
I am the conscious embodiment of compelte bliss.
I am Shiva .Shiva is I . |4|

I am not  death neither fear, nor am I the discrimination of caste/ creed,
I am neither the Father nor am I the Mother.I am birth-less.
I am not the  brother, neither am I the friend ,
Nor am I the Guru nor am I the disciple.
I am the conscious embodiment of complete bliss.
I am Shiva .Shiva is I . |5|

I am the formless form that is  beyond the mind's imagination .
I am the omniscient, omnipresent, all pervading master of all the senses.
I am the oneness that always is
And am neither the liberation nor the entanglement
I am the conscious embodiment of complete bliss.
I am Shiva .Shiva is I . |6|









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