Jivanmukta Gita

(by Shri Dattatreya) Song of the Liberated in Life I. I offer again and again humble salutations to that great Being which is immanent in all creation, which shines forth as consciousness (chit) and is ever liberated, which is the witness of all actions and true knowledge and which is no other than my innermost self. The liberation while the individual is still alive is called Jivanmukti. It connotes a definite state. If it is identified with the death of the physical body, then that liberation which results from the physical body applies equally to the animals such as dogs and pigs. Jiva is Shiva itself. It is thus in the manner defined, immanent in all creatures. The person who sees only this truth in life is said to be the liberated though alive. Even as the sun illumines the whole world, Brahman which is immanent in all creatures illumines the whole world. He who realises this is said to be liberated in life. Even as the moon which appears manifold when reflected in water, in the form of lakes, rivers or pots and yet is one single entity, Atman the self appears as many when it takes on different forms (and yet is only one, bieng absolutely indivisible). Only that person who knows the truth of Atman is said to be liberated in life, Jivanmukta. Brahman is immanent in all that exists. For this reason it is devoid of differnce or identity, that is it cannot be defined in terms of difference (bheda), nondifference (abheda), or difference-non-difference (bhedabheda), The person who sees Brahman strictly in this manner is said to be liberated though alive. The nature of the Reality is as follows : The body transcends the limitations of space. The Supreme Being is the soul in it. I am the actor and the experience as well. He who knows it is named the Jivanmukta, the liberated in life. Only he who has relinquished the conative senses and the introspective faculty but has realised the soul within him is said to be Jivanmukta, the liberated in life. He whose somatic activity is free from grief and infatuation, and the one who has no concern whatever with what is agreeable or disagreeable is called the liberated in life.

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The person who has come to the decision 'I do not know any activity in the 1

sense that it is supposed to be ordained (by shastra)', the person who never observes any action by superimposing doership on himself, and understands that activity is Brahman itself, is one who is said to be liberated in life. XI. The person who understands and actually sees the Supreme Lord of all the world as being spirit itself which pervades all space and therefore as being given along with all creatures, the centres of activity, is said to be liberated in life. The Jiva of the creatures that exist from the beginningless time is Shiva himself. Jiva therefore is never destroyed. Having known this truth the person who bears no hatred to any creature is said to be liberated in life. The self is the preceptor. It is yourself. It is all this. It is the all pervading spirit. It is never affected by anything. Jiva and Shiva are thus the same. For both therefore there is no subtraction and no addition. The person who knows this truth is said to be liberated in life. By means of internal introspection that which the wise see as their mind. The same is the mind 'He am I' soham. This mind with the meditation 'He am I' is the all pervading Shiva. He knows this thuth is said to be liberated in life. By means of meditation that which the wise see is the spirit. The same is called mind, the mind of the wise. The same is called void, destruction and wholesale destruction. The knower of this thuth is said to be liberated in life. He is said to be liberated in life whose mind delights always in understanding, reflecting and meditating, absorbed in meditation and is free from the relative ideas of bondage and liberation. That wise whose mind has transcended the properties of the root matter is absorbed in joy within himself. He who is absorbed in spirit, the essence of knowledge which is Brahman Itself is said to be liberated in life. Those wise men who by means of meditation see the illumination within themselves are those by whom mind is achieved. They then see the reality as 'He am I'. He who understands the Self in this manner is said to be liberated in life. The wise see that the great Self which is the same as the power as the auspicious, Shiva the whole universe including the body and the delusion that pertains to the mind i.e., heart are nothing but the spirit. The person who understands this truth is said to be liberated in life. The wise man whose mind constantly meditating on 'He am I' soham is fixed in the state of transcendence having transcended waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep and becomes fixed in the all absorbing spirit is said to be liberated in life. This knowledge i.e. manas defined as 'He I am' soham is the spirit chaitanya even as the bead is in the string. The reality presented as 'He am I' is the highest Brahman itself. It is formless. One who knows this truth is said to be 2

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liberated in life, Jivanmukta. The notion of this and thus and so forth is a fiction oposed to truth and that is commonly known as volition. It is this mental activity that is the cause in ordinary life of the distinctions of I and mine. He who is aware of this as the result of the knowledge and lack of self will become entirely free of volitional activity. Such a one is spoken of as the unfettered soul though embodied. XXIII. What is that which the wise and the knowing have known? It is that liberation which is the condition where the mind becomes steadfast. That is the established truth. He who is aware of this is the unfettered soul though embodied. Whoever practises yoga is one who attained mental excellence. One of this type is a person of inner renunciation, called so on account of the fact that he has renounced all illusory objects. That is the reason why outwardly he conducts himself as absolutely inert. He is thus the two-fold renouncer, both within and without. He is spoken as the unfettered soul though embodied.

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Thus ends the song on Jianmukta composed by Shri Dattatreya, the lion of vedant.