Chapter: 6, Sub-Chapter: 10 The Indescribable
|| ShriRam || 1. The listener asks, "What is this satisfaction which is said to be like nothing else, and which cannot be described? Please explain fully what it is. 2. If a mute person eats sugar, he cannot describe its sweetness. Please explain to me what this means. 3. If we ask about the experience of this satisfaction, it is said that it cannot be told in words. Whom can we ask for the answer? 4. Everyone says things which cannot be understood, and the experience does not come to me. Please do something in such a way that the correct thoughtfulness is established with certainty." 5. In this way, the listener asked these questions. Now I shall explain the answer. Listen alertly with your full attention. 6. Is that which is called "the place of satisfaction," merely an experience, or is it one's pure "Self Nature" (Swaroopa)? I shall make it perceptible through speech. 7. It is "That" which cannot be expressed in words but cannot be understood without being spoken about. On trying to imagine or conceive of it, imagination itself gets destroyed. 8. That Supreme Reality, Parabrahman, which is the great secret of the Vedas should be understood. It is only by keeping the company of saints that everything is understood. 9. Now I shall tell about that which gives deep satisfaction. Listen to what is being said coming out of the experience of Reality, which is beyond description. 10. To know the sweetness of sugar, one has to be given sugar. Similarly, to understand That which is being described but cannot be described is not possible without the Sadguru. 11. One who searches oneself begins to understand through the teachings of the Sadguru. Such a one goes on to gain the natural understanding and experience of Reality. 12. With firm intellect, one must first find one’s own Being. With that, suddenly there is samadhi (absorption in Being). 13. When correctly finding one’s own root, the sense of an individual "I" is known to be illusory. What remains is the Reality, which is satisfaction itself. 14. The "primary premise" is that the Self is the witness of all. This has been said in the Vedas. However, the "final understanding" is attained by the accomplished ones (the Siddhas) alone. 15. If one tries to attain the "final understanding" with the state of being the witness of all, this is just a state, while the Self is beyond any state. It is stateless. 16. When the knowledge of objects gets wiped out, the seer no longer exists as an individual seer. At that time, the ego, that is the conceit of "I," disappears. 17. Where the sense of "me" disappears, that itself is the sign of the experience of the satisfaction which cannot be described in words. 18. This talk is one of extraordinary thoughtfulness. Even so, the words are all illusory, empty, and superficial. The meaning alone, is what is deep. 19. Because of the words, the meaning is understood. Once the meaning is understood, the words become useless. What the words tell about is That which is full of meaning, but the words themselves are false. 20. Because of the words, the thing becomes apparent. Upon seeing the thing, the words disappear. The words are empty, while the meaning is sustained. 21. Grain is protected because of the husk. The grain is kept and the husk is thrown away. Similarly, words are like the husk and the meaning is the grain. 22. The Essence, which is the grain, is contained within the outer shell. When the grain is removed, the empty shell is discarded. Similarly, in relation to Parabrahman, words are like husks which are abandoned. 23. The simile of the word making the meaning apparent is not totally accurate because while it is true that after the words are spoken, the meaning is apparent, even before any words were spoken, the meaning was existing. 24. Giving up the husk of the words, take the grain of pure meaning which is "Self-experience." 25. When we use the statement "That which is different from the visible," this is what is meant by using words. The meaning of the statement is what should be understood, and that is "Pure Understanding." 26. Similarly, that "Pure Understanding" should be understood to be itself the primary premise, which is the inconceivable Self-experience that cannot be understood. 27. Sometimes it is said that what remains after the sky is strained through a sieve is the experience of Essence, but this concept is only a creation of imagination. 28. The untrue is what is born out of imagination, so how can there be Reality in it? Really, there is no place at all for experience. 29. It is wrong to say that one can get an experience without duality. For this reason, there is no place for experience (in Oneness). 30. In experience, the three factors40 are present (experiencer, experiencing, and object of experience), but in non-duality, duality is not present. Therefore, the term "beyond words" is appropriate. 31. The root cause of the appearance of day and night is the sun. If the sun was removed, what would there be to say about day and night? 32. The thought of speech and silence exists due to Omkar (the reverberation of Om). If the OM sound itself is not there, what pronunciation can be made? 33. The experience and the experiencer exist because of Illusion. If Illusion does not exist, then what can be said about experience? 34. If we say that "I" am one thing, and an "object" is another, there is differentiation (the experience of separateness). Only if there is experience, is it possible to speak about discrimination. 35. The mother of separateness (Maya) is false like a daughter of a barren woman. Therefore, there is no separateness. Unity is what is original. 36. The unborn was sleeping, and in a dream, he saw a dream where he went to the Sadguru and surrendered the sorrows of the worldly life. 37. With the blessings of the Sadguru, the worldly existence is known to be false. Having gained Self-Knowledge, one asks, "Where is the basis for ignorance?" 38. Whatever was existing never became existent, and that which was non-existent disappeared into nothingness. Thus, when that which is and that which is not are both gone, "That" which remains cannot be said to be nothing or anything. 39. Beyond nothingness is Pure Knowledge that is satisfaction itself. It is the singularity which is not different from the spontaneous state of Beingness. 40. With the explanation of non-duality, duality gets dissolved. When talk about Self-Knowledge is going on, awakening takes place. 41. The listeners are asked to be alert and apply the mind to the meaning of what is being said so that there may be inner understanding, and you may gain true satisfaction. 42. Whatever was said about Self-Knowledge has all disappeared like a dream. What remains is the indescribable happiness, beyond description. 43. There is oneness without words, with neither any experience nor an experiencer. Like this he is awakened. 44. There, he saw the dream within a dream, and he became awake by awakening. Words are a failure there, and the end of that awakeness cannot be found. 45. The root of this explanation will be given again in a simple and direct manner so that you may gain a clear understanding of this inner satisfaction. 46. Then the disciple requested, "Yes Master, please tell us again what you have explained up to now. 47. Please give the explanation again so that the signs of this experience of satisfaction may be known. 48. Who is the one who is not born? How did he see the dream? How is the explanation given in the dream?" 49. Recognizing the respect of the disciple, the Master gives the answer. The listeners should now listen to that answer with focused attentiveness. 50. Dear disciple, listen with attentiveness. Know that the one who is unborn is you, yourself. You have seen the dream in the dream. Now, I shall tell you about this. 51. You should understand that the thought of the dream in a dream is this worldly life. You have come here and utilized thoughtfulness with regard to the Eternal and the ephemeral. 52. Having surrendered to the Sadguru you are taking part in pure discourse with the confirmation of actual experience, and this is happening right now. 53. In the experience of this talk, you understand that whatever has been spoken is false. Resting in the most profound stillness, you will understand awakeness. 54. When all of the noise of the talk about Knowledge has subsided, the meaning is apparent. Giving thought to this, the inner experience is naturally present. 55. You feel that you have acquired this awakeness, and that "this experience has happened to me." This is merely delusion that has not yet disappeared. 56. To say that the experience has dissolved in the experience, and that there is experience without the experiencer, this also is a part of the dream, and indicative that you have not yet awakened, my dear one. 57. If after having awakened from the dream, you say that the "I was the unborn one in the dream," this indicates that the dream's effects, and the memories and feelings of the dream are not yet gone. 58. If in the dream one feels that one is awake, this is a sign of experience in the dream. You feel you that it is true that you are awake, but this is still of the nature of delusion. 59. Awakeness is beyond this. How is it possible to describe That in which even the power of the discrimination does not function? 60. Understand that this satisfaction cannot be described in words. Recognize the sign of it is wordlessness. 61. Total satisfaction is like this. Understand that it cannot be described. With this explanation, there is the coming into this wordlessness. Thus in Shri Dasbodh, a dialogue between the Guru and disciple, Sub- Chapter 10 of Chapter 6, named "The Indescribable" is concluded.
