उपदेशसाहस्री (आदि शङ्कराचार्य - गद्य व पद्य भाग)

1-4] NEGATION 89 पूर्वबुद्धिमबाधित्वा नोत्तरा जायते मतिः । दृशिरेकः स्वयं सिद्धः फलत्वात्स न बाध्यते ॥ ३ ॥ 3. A following ¹ knowledge does not arise without negating ² the previous ³ one (e.g., the knowledge of the rope does not come without destroying that of the snake in a rope-snake). Pure Consciousness, the Self, only has an independent existence and is never negated as It is the result ⁴ of evidences. इदं वनमतिक्रम्य शोकमोहादिदूषितम् । वनाद्गान्धारको यद्वत्स्वात्मानं प्रतिपद्यते ॥ ४ ॥ 4. One attains one's own innermost ⁵ Self by crossing ⁶ the forest of this body infested with ferocious beasts of grief, delusion, etc., like the man ⁷ of the country of Gândhâra who crossed the forest and reached his own country. ¹ The right Knowledge of the substratum. ² So, the Knowledge of the Self does not arise without destroying the previous Know- ledge of egoism etc. ³ The superimposed Knowledge. ⁴ See paras 103 and 108 (Part I). ⁵ It is the innermost because It is the substratum of the intellect, the mind, the vital force, the body, etc., each of which is supposed by the ignorant to be the Self. ⁶ By discriminating the body and the mind from the Self. ⁷ The story runs thus : This man, with his eyes covered and thrown in a deep forest far away from his own country, was very miserable and was crying loudly in order that the covering of his eyes might be removed, when a kind man did it and indicated the path to his country. The man then did reach his own country by remembering the instruction of the kind man. (Such is the case with the disciple and the teacher.) See Chh. U., 6. 14.