The Chidakash Gita, verses 1-50

See also: verses 51-100, 101-150, 151-200, 201-250, 251-286.

1. Jnanis are mindless. To Jnanis, all are the same. They have no slumber, no dreams, nor sleep. They are always in sleep. The sun and the moon are the same to them. To them, it is always sunrise. The glass of a chimney lamp, when covered with carbon, is not transparent. Similarly, the carbon of the mind should be removed.

2. There are three nerves in the body: the sun or the Sushumna; the moon or the Ida; the star or the Pingala. The first is red in color, the second, blue, and the third, green.

3. Where these three nerves meet is the heart space. As we go on practicing yoga, the Bindu-sound is heard in the head. This sound is one, indivisible.

4. Just as camphor is consumed by the flames of fire, so also, mind must be consumed by soul-fire.

5. The copra, detached from the shell, makes a dull sound when shaken; so also the soul and body must be thought of as separate. The first is light; by that light, all vices are consumed.

6. Just as we draw water from a well, we should draw breath. When we breathe out, it should be like letting down the bucket into the well. When we breathe out, it is the carbon (the impurities of the body); when we breathe in, it is the breath of Omkar. Breath of Omkar is the manas (mind).

7. Manas is Jiva; but their positions are different. Jivatman is Paramatman.

8. A man or woman should be educated. What is education? Jiva should know the secret that He is the Paramatman.

9. Paramatman is in Jivatman. The real Mukti is to know the subtle in the gross.

10. We should leave off the gross sleep and sleep the subtle sleep. We should enjoy the sleep obtained from the practice of Pranayam.

11. The upgoing breath is like the wheels inside a clock. Its movement is inside. When the movement of the breath is internal, one will see the world in himself.

12. Just as we see the sky reflected in the water in an earthen pot, so also, to the internal vision, the sky of consciousness becomes visible.

13. If food is prepared in a gold vessel, the dog eats it. If it is prepared in an earthen vessel, then also the dog eats it.

14. The sunlight is reflected in the salt water of the sea. It is also reflected in the clear water of a tank at the top of a hill. It is not enough if we see with the eye but we should experience it.

15. On a tree grow numberless flowers. The flowers all perish but the tree does not perish for a long time. The visible is like flowers; the invisible is like the tree.

16. There are matches in a matchbox. Fire is produced only when the match is rubbed against the side of the box. So also, the Manas is the match; intelligence (Buddhi) is the side of the box. We should rub the Manas against Buddhi and then we get the kingdom of Self which is the same as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

17. A man should be quite indifferent to honor and dishonor. He should not have the least love for his body; such a man will see the Supreme Being in everything and everywhere.

18. The Supreme Light and the Universal Light are identical.

19. From a plank, are manufactured tables, chairs, etc. So also, Brahman is the primordial substance from which numberless worlds are formed.

20. Manas and the Atman are the same to all people. At the final stage of the universe, all is one. At the present stage, there is difference in their mode of breathing, thinking, and their mental tendencies.

21. Fire, air, water, and earth are common to all. These may be used by all people alike. Similarly, well-water may be used by a brahmin, a pariah, and children alike.

22. Manas is the gingilly; Buddhi is the oil mill; Amrita (ambrosia) is the oil.

23. Buddhi is the king. Manas is the minister. Manas should be subordinated to Buddhi.

24. When a road is crowded with five or six thousand people, it is almost impossible to drive a horse carriage along the road. The driver must be careful in driving the carriage. A cyclist's attention is not directed towards himself but towards the passerby.

25. When a man is entirely sunk in cold water, he no longer feels the cold of the cold water. A perfect man is not subject to anger.

26. When a seed is fried, it cannot sprout. When a lamp contains no oil, we do not call it a 'lamp'. When the sun is shining, a gaslight becomes dim. It is the sun that gives light to the whole world. If Manas is regarded as the king, Buddhi may be regarded as the prime minister. When a tree does not bear fruits, it has no beauty. There is no effect without cause. In darkness light persists. Darkness is ignorance. Light is Jnana (knowledge). One must see oneself. One must return to the place from whence one started. We must return the thing we have borrowed.

27. A guru (spiritual teacher) will lead any sort of man from a thorny path to the royal road. Such preceptors are of two kinds. One is the primary preceptor and the other, the secondary preceptor. Mind is the primary preceptor and the other, the secondary preceptor. One is not the preceptor of the other. He is only the secondary preceptor. The secondary preceptor is one who shows the water in the well. The guru who exists in the heart of all beings is the Jagad-Guru (universal preceptor).

28. People generally think that a teacher's body is guru. A man does not become a guru by simply wearing sandals and counting beads on a rosary. One who talks 'Brahma Jnana' and gives stones to his disciples is not a guru. Whatever a guru speaks in words, he must show it in action. First one must practice and after realisation, he must begin to teach others.

29. One who has thoroughly wiped off the idea 'I am the body' is fit to be called a guru. There is none higher than such a one. There is no god above such a guru. Such a guru is God, and God is such a guru.

30. If you keep sugar apart from us, we cannot have experience of its sweetness. If we eat it, then only we know its taste. A man cannot get Mukti if he simply repeats 'Rama, Krishna, or Govinda' for a thousand years. He must repeat it heartily (knowing the secret).

31. Cow milk can never be bitter. The stone fixed in the earth cannot speak. By visiting places of pilgrimage like Benares and Rameshvaram, a man cannot attain Mukti. What is essential is keeping the mind steady for a moment by introversion. Seeing earthen and stone images is not seeing God. It is mind's hallucination when you regard images as God. Without true Jnana, Mukti cannot be attained. Our taking the human birth is the effect. Giving it back is the cause. We must know the cause and effect. Likewise, we must know the good and the evil; the right and the wrong. Knowing all, peace must be attained.

32. If a building has no doors, we cannot call it a 'house'. Without fire, we cannot heat water. Without air, fire cannot burn. Without food and sleep, a man can live for a few days but without air (breathing), a man cannot live even for a few seconds.

33. Destruction of the world means transforming it into Vayu (air with its blue color). Raja Yoga is the place of indivisible monism. If you enter the ONE, you lose sight of the MANY.

34. In the infinite, there is no finite. To a Jnani, there is no Ajnani. To an Ajnani, there is no Jnani. If all the children beat a mother, she does not throw them away.

35. You must not leave the feet of a guru. Your mind should not flicker like the reflection of the sun in the shaking water.

36. The sea water is boundless. The tank water has a boundary. Our mind must be like the tank water. Mind is the cause of good and evil. A man may be good and bad according to his good or bad thoughts. God does not do good or evil to any man. The reason is, intelligence and knowledge are the divine faculties in man. A man protected by good thoughts cannot be harmed even by a cannon shot. Without yoga, liberation from karma is impossible.

37. Without knowing the secret (truth), if we simply decorate the exterior skin, our karma will not leave us. One cannot be a Sannyasi by external signs if he is internally a hypocrite. What you think, you must speak. What you speak, you must show by your acts. Do what you say. Say what you do. Such a man is a Jnani. He is a Paramahansa. He is a Yogi. He is a Sannyasi. One who has conquered desire is a true Sannyasi. Only a desireless man is fit to be a spiritual teacher.

38. What is served for others, should not be eaten by us. We must place a separate leaf for us and eat our food.

39. There is nothing like 'this one' has more and another has less. The power of thought, the ears, the nose, the hand, the eye, etc. are the same to all.

40. The nose is not the place where the eye is. Walking should be done by the legs only. Work done by the hands cannot be done by the head.

41. The head is the ocean of Ananda (bliss). In it is situated the Prana Linga, the seat of Liberation. This cannot be learned from books. It is inherent in the brain. The book consists of parts, but Jnana is the indivisible one. A book consists of chapters, but Jnana is single chaptered. For those who have not realised, a book is necessary. But to a man of realisation, there is only one undivided being. When a man takes birth, he is not born with a book in his hand but he is born with a brain. While coming (to this world) and going away (from this world), a man has no book in his hand. Only in the middle period he takes a book.

42. When a man is born, he is perfect. When he goes away then also, he is perfect. In the middle, he is subject to Maya. That which pervades in all directions is ONE, indivisible. That which is limited is divisible.

43. At the place where there is running water, there can be no mud. The place is quite clean. Ignorance (Ajnana) is mud. The current of water is Bhakti and Jnana.

44. It is not Bhakti to give a man some money or to give him a meal as charity. Bhakti is universal love. Seeing God, in all beings, without the least idea of duality, is Bhakti.

45. Without the control of breath (Pranayama), a man cannot be a yogi (a perfect man); nor is he a Sannyasi (saint). Without a rudder, it is impossible to steer a boat or ship.

46. To a good man, every man is good; everything is good. A man can be good by his own exertion.

47. We drink the juice of the sugar cane and throw away the refuse. Similarly, this body is a house for the Atman. When it is spoiled, we build a new one.

48. It is the nest that perishes, not the bird. The nest is built of earth. The blood vessels and nerves are earth. In the blood vessels are the blood and semen. This body made of flesh is subject to death. If it is not washed for a single day, it stinks. We cannot trust the human body.

49. Mind is the creator of ideas. When the gross ideas are suppressed and the man lives in the subtle, this state is called 'Nirvikalpa Samadhi' or Samadhi without ideas. Just as we teach a bird how to talk, keeping it in a cage with its feet bound, we must keep our mind in our Buddhi. A man must learn for himself.

50. Holding the nose with the hand, with eyes turned upwards and holding the breath in tight as if winding a clock spring with a key are similar to circus feats or a cinema show. These are not what is called 'Samadhi'.

Next: verses 51-100.