Salutations to Lord Sri Krishna who is infinite Bliss, whose form is auspicious to the whole world, and who, by a mere ray of His glance, dries up the ocean of delusion of those who surrender to Him.
Verse 2
I ever exist and I always shine; never do I dislike myself. Therefore, it is established that Truth / Brahman, of the
nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, alone I am.
Verse 3
In Me, the space of Consciousness, alone does the whole world, like the castle in the sky, rises. How am I,
therefore, not Brahman, the all-knower and the cause of all?
Verse 4
I do not perish by myself since there is continuous recollection (as "I"). Nor am I destroyed by someone else since
I am part-less. Also since I do not depend on any support, destruction of support cannot cause my destruction.
(Hence I am imperishable).
Verse 5
The element of space cannot be dried, burnt, made wet or cut even by equally real elements like wind, fire, water and
weapons respectively. How elements like wind, fire, water and weapons respectively. How then can I,
the pure Consciousness, be destroyed by things superimposed upon Me?
Verse 6
The inert universe can never be experienced without the proximity of Consciousness, I, the Consciousness, therefore,
am present everywhere.
Verse 7
The world cannot be reckoned to exist without its experience. The experience of the inert world,
in turn is not possible without Consciousness. The association of the inert with Consciousness again,
cannot be there but for superimposition. Therefore, I (the Consciousness) am 'one without a second'.
Verse 8
I am not the body, nor the sense organs, nor the pranas, nor the mind, nor the intellect
because these are all objects of the my thought or of the this thought.
Verse 9
I am the witness, all-pervading and dear and never the ego (ahankara) which has the
calamitous association with modifications, limitations and afflictions.
Verse 10
Sorrow and other defects are not experienced when the ego or "I-thought" (ahankara) goes to
sleep. Therefore, the world of plurality (samsara) belongs to the ego or ahankara alone which
constantly undergoes transmigration, change and so on, and not to Me who is the witness of
ego or ahamkara.
Verse 11
The ego (ahankara) that sleeps does not know sleep. In the Self / Atman that sleeps not, dream and
waking cannot be; therefore I am the witness of the dream, waking and deep sleep states and
I do not have these conditions.
Verse 12
Cessation of all particular (objective) knowledge is deep sleep, and the rise of particular knowledge
constitutes dream and waking. How can these three belong to Me, who is their witness, and ever of the nature of Knowledge?
Verse 13
I am the knower of things that have the six modifications. I am free of all modifications, otherwise I
would in no way be in a position to imagine the memory of those modifications.
Verse 14
If a thing is born and disappears every moment, taking different forms successively, then how can such a
changing thing remember the changes?
Verse 15
And no one can ever see one's own birth or death. Birth is the final moment of prior non-existence (earlier absence)
and death is the first moment of posterior non-existence (the later absence) respectively.
Verse 16
Based on which light / knowledge is the statement, "I do not know" made? How can the self-illumined Self be ever
touched by ignorance?
Verse 17
Even then, this inexplicable something (ignorance) does appear as long as one lives in the absence of enquiry.
It is like thick mist in the space of Consciousness that lasts till the rise of the sun of Knowledge,
born of enquiry.
Verse 18
In this long dream consisting of this universe, projected out of the great sleep called ignorance of the Self,
do all these delusions like heaven, liberation and so on spring forth.
Verse 19
This division as the inert things (worlds) and the sentient beings (jivas) is imagined in Me, the pure Consciousness,
just like the moving and the stationary things in a painting upon a portion of an even wall.
Verse 20
Even My witness hood is not absolute but is assumed with reference to the thoughts arising in the mind.
This (witness hood) is only an assumption in the waveless ocean of Consciousness (that I am).
Verse 21
There cannot be any loss (decrepitude) to Me - the ocean of Immortality - from the rise of unreal waves,
nor can the false (ignorance caused) evening clouds colour Me (cause any attachment in Me) - the mountain of
pure crystal (Consciousness).
Verse 22
Like spaceness is the nature of space, Existence is my very 'nature' and not one of My 'qualities'. Existence is not
considered as a classifiable quality because there is no existence apart from Me.
Verse 23
Consciousness is My nature only and not My quality. If it is a quality then, the Self is knowledge (an object of knowledge)
by it. In that case, it becomes not-self. If the Self is not knowable, it would be non-existent.
Verse 24
I alone am Bliss and it (Bliss) is not different from Me. If it is different from Me, it is not Bliss at all.
For, It would not be dear, if It is not for Me, and if It is for Me, It is not dear by Itself.
Verse 25
One reality indeed cannot be of many natures ever. Therefore, dismissing (discarding) the differences that
belong to the world (upadhis), undivided do I remain (exist).
Verse 26
That great light of Consciousness of one essence am I, indicated by the words of the Sruti as "Thou Art",
and which is the pure one (immaculate), eliminating (through Knowledge) the conditioning of remoteness and limitations.
Verse 27
That effulgent Consciousness am I, which is self-established, all-full, without beginning and end and in which the illusory
ideas of the worlds, the individual, the disciple, the teacher and God, are all extinct.
Verse 28
May this nectar of non-dual Truth (Brahman) revealed by poet Sri Laksmidhara's verses, which are like autumnal lotuses,
be joyfully drunk by all wise men who are like bees.