उपदेशसाहस्री (आदि शङ्कराचार्य - गद्य व पद्य भाग)

32 A THOUSAND TEACHINGS 44. "One, eager to realize this right Knowledge spoken of in the Sruti, should rise above the desire for a son, wealth and this ¹ world and the next which are described in a five-fold ² manner and are the outcome of a false reference to the Self of castes, orders of life and so on. As this reference is contradictory to right Knowledge it is intelligible why reasons are given ³ regarding the prohibition of the acceptance of (the reality of) difference. For when the Knowledge that the one non-dual Self is beyond phenomenal existence is generated by the scriptures and reasoning there cannot exist (side by side with it) a knowledge contrary to it. None can think of chillness in fire or immortality and freedom from old age in regard to the (perishable) body. One, therefore, who is eager to be established in the Knowledge of the Reality should give up all actions ⁴ with yajnopavīta and the rest, their accessories, which are the effects of ignorance." HERE ENDS A METHOD OF ENLIGHTENING THE DISCIPLE ¹ See foot-notes 1 and 2 on para 2 above. ² Br. U., 1. 4. 17. ³ by the Srutis. ⁴ Obligatory daily duties enjoined by the Vedas occasional rites, rites performed for some particular object and with a view to future fruition and actions prohibited by the Vedas.