The eternal form of bliss
Whichever way you may look, search and experience, it is the Self alone, says the Vivekachoodamani of Sri Adi Sankaracharya. After explaining that the Self is all the gods that we know of, in the subsequent verses he explains in beautiful poetry that it is the Self within, the Self without, the Self before, the Self after, the Self in the east, the Self in the west, the Self above and the Self below.
In a beautiful example, the Acharya says, "Just as the waves, the foam, the surf, the bubbles and other manifestations of an ocean are nothing but water alone in its essential nature; the body, mind and the intellect are nothing but consciousness alone. Everything in this universe is the one conscious essence and very pure too."
This whole universe, which is expressed in speech and in thoughts, is nothing but the Brahman alone. There is nothing other than that existence called Brahman which is even beyond the pale of matter in nature. Can the pot, the vessel and the water jug made from clay be anything other than clay?
Due to the intoxicating effect of Maya alone does everyone say out of delusion that this is yours and that is mine.With the help of many methods, the Vedas declare that there is nothing other than that existence. It speaks of a non-dual state that will cure us of the disease of superimposition.
Is there anything else that begs to be known when the Supreme truth exists everywhere like the sky, pure and with no imagination in it? It has no frontiers and its form of formlessness cannot be seen. It is neither within nor without. It is the endless and the non-dual self. Beyond the Self which is the supreme reality, is there anything to be known?
Is there anything else that needs to be known and told, other than that the Brahman alone is the individual Jeeva or being? The whole universe has formed itself out of the Brahman which is exclaimed by the Vedas as the very Jeeva itself. The Vedas say that everything in the Universe is wrapped by the fire of that Brahman.
Enough is enough of the thought of I in a covering which is of the nature of putrefying waste. Rest your mind on the changeless indicator of life which has been praised by sages and is of the eternal form of bliss. Get used to this eternal form of the Self and abide yourself in this form itself.
As long as we serve the form which is actually the form of a corpse, the feeling of uncleanliness will not go away. He suffers from the thought of others and hence is not free of birth and death.
The moment when the pure Self is recognised and worshipped in its form of auspiciousness, then alone do the Vedas say that you are free from the impurity of being born and dying. The word play is beautiful in Sanskrit - instead of worshipping the form of the corpse, Shavakaram, worship the form of auspiciousness, Shivakaram