26. Salutations to Thee who are the meritorious deeds that take one to the worlds of enjoyment, and the holy living that leads one to the realms of spiritual glory – to Thee who are also Death and the inflictor of the suffering which accrues as the result of evil deeds.
Dharma is, on one count, the ethical potency or the force or the power of merit and demerit that controls the universe. It is the governing ethical force of the universe.
The Mimamsa says that merit and demerit are not qualities (gunas); they constitute the potential force, which are the Extraordinary and the Unseen. This force resides in the atman in the agent and controls and determines the future life of the atman here, hereafter and in the future lives, which it takes through transmigration. Enjoyment or suffering physically arises as a result of the merit or demerit of the actions performed. On the other hand, austerity coupled with holiness leads to liberation.
27. Salutations to Thee who are the fulfiller of all prayers and the omniscient First Cause. Salutations again to Thee, Krishna, who are infinite intelligence and the teacher of the Universal Gospel – to Thee who are also the ancient Being who revealed the Sankhya and the Yoga.
Sankhya is the science of the spirit. Yoga is the art of spiritual communion.
28. Salutations to Thee who are Rudra, the embodiment of the I-sense and the seat of the triune efficiency of action, instrument of action, and action itself. Salutations to Thee, who are also Brahma, the source of all scriptures and endowed with the power of knowledge and action.
There is no experience that is not the experience of the ego (I-sense). Neither the mind nor the senses work in the absence of the ego such as ‘I see’, ‘I do’, etc. They work only in unison with the ego. If the ego is not present, the mind does not think, nor do the senses perceive. Yet the Ego is a product of Prakrti or Nature.
The ego is of three kinds, depending on which of the three attributes is dominant – the transparent ego, the active ego and the static ego. In fact, the three are aspects or phases of the same ego. All the other non-physical categories such as the mind, the five senses, the five organs of action, the five subtle elements and the five gross elements, all of which constitute the world of experience issue out of the ego. It comprehends and covers the entire world. It is not merely related to any one point of reference.
Shankara says, “Talk as much philosophy as you please, worship as many gods as you like, observe all ceremonies, sing devoted praises to any number of divine beings – liberation never comes, even at the end of a hundred aeons, without realization of the Self. This realization of the Self is within and yet transcendentally other than the individual ego. The realization of the Self is enlightenment of the ignorance and deliverance from the mortal consequences of that ignorance”.
29. Thou who are the Light of Consciousness that reveals all perceptions! Grant unto us, who are praying for it, the vision of that form of Thine which is dear to all devotees and which is worshipped by all bhagavatas.
Shankara says, ‘If you do not have a consciousness, then everything is dark and nothing in the universe exists’. This corresponds to the view of the modern quantum mechanics that unless you can observe a thing, it just does not exist. This is for the reason that there must be an interaction between the observer and the observed to complete a measurement. It is consciousness that fills the bill in the material world in the sense that it determines its existence and makes possible its perception.
30. Grant unto us the vision of Thee, who have the blue complexion of a fresh water-laden rain-cloud and who are endowed with four well-proportioned arms, and a handsome face;
31. who have eyes like lotus petals, attractive eyebrows, nose, teeth, cheeks, face and ears;
32. whose side long-glances overflow with joy; who have handsome locks of hair, ear-ornaments and a wearing-cloth yellow in colour like the inside of a lotus flower;
33. who are bedecked with a shining diadem, bracelets, pearl necklaces, anklets, girdles, etc and rendered attractive with hands holding the conch, discus, mace and lotus, besides jewel-chain and the like;
34. who have shoulders powerful like those of a lion and lustrous with various ornaments, a neck beautified with the gem kaustubha¸ and a chest with Sri clinging to it, which thereby eclipses the beauty of a polished stone edged with gold;
35. who have an abdomen broad and indrawn like a banyan leaf and beautified by its three creases, and the slight movement caused by breathing;
36. who wear on Thy comely waist of bluish tinge a bright yellow cloth encircled by a golden waist-band; who have handsome flanks, thighs, knees and feet; and
37. whose feet resemble an autumnal lotus in beauty and remove the darkness of sin overcastting the mind with the spiritual radiance of its nails. Oh Teacher of all! Thou are verily the revealer of the path to be trodden by all spiritual aspirants, groping in the darkness of ignorance.
38. To those who aspire for self-purification, meditation on this form offers the means. For those who discharge their duties as offerings unto Thee, their devotion provides them with protection.
39. Only men endowed with supreme devotion can attain Thee – the rarest of all attainments for men, the object of the quest even of inhabitants of heavenly regions, and the supreme goal of all endowed with self-knowledge.
40. After having worshipped Thee with single-minded devotion, which is very difficult of attainment and rare even among holy men, who would desire any blessings other than the shelter provided by Thy holy feet!
