Tattva Bodha by Adi Sankaracharya
Translated by Charles Johnston
The Awakening to Reality
I
To the Master, the World-Soul, the Master of seekers for union, obeisance; to the teacher, the giver of wisdom. To fulfill love for those who would be free, this Awakening to Reality is addressed to them.
The Four Perfections
We shall tell of the way of discerning reality, the perfection of freedom, for those who are fitted by possessing the Four Perfections.
What are the Four Perfections?
– The Discerning between lasting and unlasting things; No Rage for enjoying the fruit of works, either here or there; the Six Graces that follow Peace; and then the Longing to be free.
What is the Discerning between lasting and unlasting things?
– The one lasting thing is the Eternal; all, apart from it, is unlasting.
What is No Rage?
– A lack of longing for enjoyments here and in the heaven-world.
What is possession of the Perfections that follow Peace?
– Peace; Self-Control; Steadiness; Sturdiness; Confidence; Intentness.
What is Peace?
– A firm hold on emotion.
What is Self-Control?
– A firm hold on the lust of the eyes and the outward powers.
What is Steadiness?
– A following out of one’s own genius.
What is Sturdiness?
– A readiness to bear opposing forces, like cold and heat, pleasure and pain.
What is Confidence?
– Confidence is a reliance on the Voice of the Teacher and Final Wisdom.
What is Intentness?
– One-pointedness of the imagination.
What is the Longing to be free?
– It is the longing: “That Freedom may be mine.”
The Discerning of Reality
These are the Four Perfections. Through these, men are fitted to discern Reality.
What is the Discerning of Reality?
– It is this: the Self is real; other than it, all is fancy.
Self, Vestures, Veils, Modes
What is the Self?
– He who stands apart from the Physical, the Emotional, and the Causal Vestures; who is beyond the five Veils; who is witness of the three Modes; whose own nature is Being, Consciousness, Bliss — this is the Self.
The Three Vestures
What is the Physical Vesture?
– Being formed of the five creatures fivefolded, born through works, it is the house where opposing forces like pleasure and pain are enjoyed; having these six accidents: it is, is born, grows, turns the corner, declines, perishes; such is the Physical Vesture.
What is the Emotional Vesture?
– Being formed of the five creatures not fivefolded, born through works, the perfection of the enjoyment of opposing forces like pleasure and pain, existing with its seventeen phases: the five powers of knowing; the five powers of doing; the five lives; emotion, one; the soul, one; this is the Emotional Vesture.
The five powers of knowing are: Hearing, Touch, Sight, Taste, Smell. Hearing’s radiation is Space; Touch’s, Air; Sight’s, the Sun; Smell’s, the Twin Physicians; these are the powers of knowing.
Hearing’s business is the seizing of sounds; Touch’s business, the seizing of contacts; Sight’s business, the seizing of forms; Taste’s business, the seizing of tastes; Smell’s business, the seizing of odors.
The five powers of doing are: Voice, Hands, Feet, Putting-forth, Generating. Voice’s radiation is the Tongue of Flame; Hands’, the Master; Feet’s, the Pervader; Putting-forth’s, Death; Generating’s, the Lord of Beings; thus the radiations of the powers of doing.
Voice’s business is speaking; Hands’ business is grasping things; Feet’s business is going; Putting-forth’s business is removing waste; Generating’s business is physical enjoying.
What is the Causal Vesture?
– Being formed through ineffable, beginningless unwisdom, it is the Substance and Cause of the two Vestures; though unknowing as to its own nature, it is yet in nature unerring; this is the Causal Vesture.
