Present equally within and without,
In constant bee-agitation,
Consciousness is of two kinds-
The generic and the specific.

As the concrete, the subtle, the causal and the Absolute
Basic consciousness is of four kinds,
So these names even of basic consciousness
Are also applicable to consciousness.

Lo, here, "I am the body,this is the pot,"
Depending on the concrete,
What looms in consciousness,
That is known as the concrete.

Here, what is the consciousness of the body
And the pot, that is the specific,
Likewise too what is the consciousness of "I" or "this"
Is known as the generic.

The senses, mind, intellect, interest items
And the five vital tendencies,
By what are made conscious - that is known as the subtle.
Because of dependence on the subtle.

"I am ignorant: such a consciousness
Is said to be the causal.
Here, that aspect which stands for "I" is the generic,
And the specific what stands for "am ignorant"

"I am the Absolute." Thus what consciousness attains
Is praised as the consciousness of the Absolute.
Here, the element "I" is the generic,
And "Absolute" is its specific attribute.

Where consciousness exists, there the
Object of consciousness exists, where
Consciousness exists not, its object neither.
Thus, both by agreement and difference, certitude comes.

As with the eye which cannot see itself,
So the Self does not see itself,
Therefore indeed, the Self is not the object of consciousness.
That which the Self sees is the object of consciousness.

What is the object of consciousness, that is conditioned,
What is unconditioned, that is not the object of consciousness.
What is conditioned is non-existent,
But what is unconditioned, itself THE EXISTENT IS THAT.

 

It is indeed the Self, though self-luminous
And detached, that through negativity
Does action bearing many forms,
Like the dream-agent in sleep.

"I think, I speak, I grasp, I hear."
In forms such as these are actions accomplished
By the supreme Self, which is also
The Self of pure reason and the senses.

From the Self, not different from itself
There exists a certain undefinable specificatory power
By that power, all actions
Are falsely attributed to the actionless Self.

The Self is always detached indeed.
One performs action as if attached due to ignorance.
The wise man, saying "I do nothing,"
Is not interested in action.

The one Self alone as fire it burns,
As wind it blows,
As water it rains,
As earth it supports and as a river it flows.

The one Self alone, remaining actionless,
Moves as upward and downward vital tendencies
Within the nervous centres, indeed,
It beats, murmurs and pulsates.

Here in this visible world, as what exists,
Grows, transforms, decreases and attains its end-
As subject to six forms of becoming-
That is no other than the actionless Self.

By means of the inner organs and the senses
Actions become Self-accomplished.
However, the wise man knows,
"I am the unattached, inner well-founded one"

Because of being an object of experience,
Even the "I" is a conditioning factor,
Superimposed like the mother-of-pearl gleam.
Above everything else, today and tomorrow one alone is.