Upadesa Saram

1All actions undertaken will have an impact and effectFor that is how nature works.But whatever action takes place, it is not itself aware.Actions are not the first principle of being.2The effect of an action will fade and then passBut will leave behind impressions.Such impressions seed further action,This is never ending and endlessly binding.3But when actions are performed freely without attachmentAnd are undertaken willingly in love and service,Then impressions do not bind.Such action purifies the mind and points the way to freedom.4When the faculties of body, speech and mindAre directed in action to worship, praise and meditation,Such freedom will certainly be attained.5That to which worship should be appliedIs this very nature of existence and creation.To see this whole as the very form of GodIs perfect worship and perfect action.6To apply worship through praise and mantra is beneficial,Especially when subtle, delicate and soft.But the best practice of all, the best worship, is meditation.7Meditation is finest when it is constant,Flowing as one continuous current,Remaining unbrokenLike a steady stream of oil.8Then God is not seen as anotherBut is known and held as the very I within.This is the noblest attitude to take.9Abiding as that, in pure being,Thought is transcended through love.This is the essence and supremacy of devotion.10To be so absorbed in the heart;The source from which we sprang,Is the unifying path of all yoga;The common essence of Raja, Karma, Bhakti and Jnana.12Understand that mind and breath as thought and actionFork out like two branchesBut both springFrom a single root.11Regulating the breath quietens the mindLike a bird caught in a net.Breath regulation helps absorption in the heart.13Where absorption is only partial, thought patterns maysubmergeBut they will rise again and repeat.Where absorption is complete, mind is undone,Such thought patterns will then rise no more.14With breath controlled and thought restrained,The inward-turned mindFades and ends.15Then with mind at peace, the mighty seerReturns to his own natural beingAnd has no binding actions left to perform.16It is true wisdom for the mind to turn awayFrom outer objects and in this way beholdIts own radiant form.17For when unceasingly the mindScans its own form,It becomes apparent that there is nothing substantial to befound.This direct path of realisation is open to everybody.18Thoughts alone make up the mindAnd of all thoughts, the “I thought” is the root.What is thought to be the mind is nothing other than thisnotion I.19When one turns within and searchesFrom where has this I thought arisen,The assumed I vanishes.This is Self-enquiry where wisdom’s quest is fulfilled.20With this I notion faded,Now, there in its place, the power of I, I, arises,The one, the very Self, the infinite,The heart of being.21It is this existence which is the permanent reality,For even in deep sleepWhere we have no present sense of I,We do not cease to be.22Body, senses, mind, breath, sleepAre all insentient.They cannot be I;That which is enduring and real.23The knowing of beingIs performed by being.There is no other knower that does thisTherefore, being is awarenessAnd we are all awareness.24In the nature and wholeness of beingAll creatures and all creation is but one substance,Only differing in actions and appearance.25Seeing oneself as free of all attributesIs to know the heart,For that shines ever and constant as the pure Self.26To know the Self is to be the Self,For the Self is not two.In such knowledge,One abides as that.27Realisation is the wholeness of being.Transcending both knowing and not knowing.For as such there is no object to be known.28Through absorption in one’s own nature,One abides as that, with no beginning or end;Unbroken consciousness and joy.