KAIVALYA UPANISHAD : 21. Swami Advaitananda.

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) :

Members of Adhyatma Yoga Academy, Bangalore under the leadership of Dr. Subrmanian Ananda visited Adi Sankara Nilayam as part of their Sankara Yatra. The group spent a good time in the Illom – the ancient maternal birth home of Sri Adi Sankaracharya, chanting the Sankara ashtottaranamavali, the Totakashtakam and witnessed the morning Aarti. 

Dr. Gauri Mahulikar (Academic Director CIF) and Br. Taarini Chaitanya gave them a briefing on the sthala-mahima – the significance of the ancient home that was revived and is being maintained thanks to the vision of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. 

Enraptured, the group left with the inspiration to study, contemplate and live the teachings of Adi Sankaracharya. Here are a few glimpses of the same.

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Saturday, February 11, 2023. 07:00.

6. THE EXPERIENCE OF IDENTITY

(Mantras : 20-24, 5 no.)

“Advaita Anubhava Prakasha”

Mantram - 21: My “Bodiless” Body

Post-21.

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Mantram - 21: My “Bodiless” Body

5 apaanipaadah aham,  achintya-shaktih;  =  That which is without hands and legs, I am;  And of incomprehensible power, I am;

6 pashyaami achakshuh, sah shrnomi akarnah;  =  Without eyes, I am That which sees; Without ears, I am That which hears;

7 aham vijaanaami,  vivikta-roopah;  =  I am That which knows everything, Devoid of all forms; 

8 na cha asti vettaa mama chitsadaa aham.Yet, there is none that knows Me –I am That Ever-pure Knowledge.

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Bhashyam (Vyakyanam) :

As we meditate on themes such as these, it is surely inevitable that we come to 

realize that we are dealing with something that is way beyond all our phenomenal 

experiences. We are compelled to approach Divinity with great awe and respect. 

[ Note: The word Sah (‘That’) in 6 has to be taken as subject for all the phrases in 

this verse. Thus it has been included in each line of the translation, as required by Samskrit 

grammar rules, and as explained by Acharyaji. The same applies to Aham (‘I’), wherever it 

has been dropped.]

5-6 We are used to expressing power through our organs of action, symbolized here 

as “hands and feet”. The Divinity we are trying to comprehend is Power itself; it does not 

need hands and legs to work through. It is a vast limitless ocean of Power.

7 In the same way, our knowledge needs our senses to bring in the information, as 

well as an external object which we can ‘know’ with our intellect, and thus claim to be 

knowledgeable. 

8 The Divine Consciousness is Knowledge itself, the all-knowing principle; it does not 

need an intellect to assemble information gathered from senses like the eye or ear, nor any

object to be known. It is self-luminous. Its self-luminosity is not like the sun or lamp which

burn fuel in order to produce their luminosity. The Self is luminous Consciousness itself, 

which is not a product of burning.

“None knows Me” – the Supreme and the self or Ego cannot be known together.

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Next
Mantram - 22 :  The Author of Cosmic Law :
To be continued

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