Chapter 2

1. The Avadhuta said: One should not worry whether a teacher is a child, one engaged in worldly pleasures, a fool, a servant, or a householder. Who would reject a jewel that is found in an impure place?
2. One should not focus on the literary merit of a teaching; a person of quality should only grasp the essence. Does not a boat, even if unadorned and unattractive, carry passengers across the river?
3. The changeless and the changing are effortlessly consumed by the calm, inherently existent consciousness, which is like space.
4. He who effortlessly moves the one, consisting of the moving and unmoving, how can that all-pervading One be different from me? How can it not be non-dual?
5. I am indeed the supreme Shiva, more essential than the essence and the non-essence, free from coming and going, beyond thought, and untroubled.
6. I am that, worshipped by the gods, free from all parts. Because of my fullness, I do not accept any division like that of gods and others.
7. There is no doubt about delusion. What shall I do, being established in my own nature? Bubbles arise and dissolve in water.
8. And in pungent substances.
9. Just as bitterness, coldness, and softness exist in pungent, cold, and soft substances and in water, so too do Prakriti (nature) and Purusha (consciousness) appear non-different to me.
10. That which is beyond all names, subtler than the subtle, supreme, beyond mind, intellect, and senses, stainless, the lord of the universe.
11. Where such a natural state exists, how can 'I' be there? How can 'you' be there? How can the moving and unmoving world be there?
12. That which has been described as being like space is indeed like space itself. It is consciousness, flawless, all-knowing, and complete.
13. It is not moved by the earth, nor carried by the wind. It is not covered by water, nor does it rest in fire.
14. Space is pervaded by it, but it is not pervaded by anything. It exists within and without, undivided and continuous.
15. Because of its subtlety, it is invisible; because of its attributeless nature, yogis gradually find support in what is described as a support.
16. When one, through constant practice, becomes supportless, one is not absorbed within but becomes free from merit and demerit.
17. For the destruction of the terrible poison of the world, which causes the swoon of delusion, there is only one unfailing remedy: the nectar of naturalness.
18. That which is conceivable is formless; that which is visible has form. That which is free from being and non-being is called the intermediate.
19. The external world is manifest existence; the inner is called Prakriti (nature). That which is inner than the inner is to be known, like the water within a coconut.
20. Delusory knowledge is external; correct knowledge is in the middle. The middle of the middle is to be known, like the water within a coconut.
21. Just as the moon on a full moon night is one and exceedingly pure, so should one see That. A dualistic view is a distortion.
22. In this way, the intellect is not differentiated everywhere. The giver attains patience, and his name is sung by millions.
23. By the grace of a Guru's wisdom, whether one is a fool or a learned person, he who realizes the truth becomes detached from the ocean of worldly existence.
24. He who is free from love and hate, devoted to the welfare of all beings, firm in knowledge, and steadfast, attains the supreme state.
25. When the pot is broken, the space within the pot merges into the universal space. Similarly, when the body ceases to be, the yogi merges into his true nature, the Supreme Self.
26. This has been said of the state of those free from action at the time of death. The state of those engaged in yoga has not been described in the same way.
27. The destiny of those engaged in action can be described by the organs of speech. The destiny attained by yogis is indescribable and powerful.
28. Knowing this path, it is not imagined by yogis. For them, the cessation of conceptual thought happens, and perfection arises spontaneously.
29. Whether one dies in a holy place or in the house of an outcaste, the yogi does not see the womb again; he merges into the supreme Brahman.
30. He who sees his own nature as innate, unborn, and unthinkable, may act as he pleases, but he is not tainted by any fault. Even if he does not perform any action even once due to its absence, he is not bound, nor is he a self-controlled ascetic.
31. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, which is free from ailment, incomparable, formless, supportless, bodiless, and desireless; free from duality and delusion, and whose power is undiminished.
32. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, where there are no Vedas, no initiation, no tonsure ceremony, no guru, no disciple, no collection of yantras (mystical diagrams), and no mudras (hand gestures) or other things are perceived.
33. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, where there is no Shaiva, Shakta, or human principle, nor is there the gross body, the form, or the subtle body; nor is there the beginning, culmination, or process of creation like that of a pot.
34. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, from whose nature this universe of moving and unmoving things arises, exists, and dissolves, like foam and bubbles from the modifications of water.
35. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, where there is no breath control, no gaze, no posture, where knowledge and ignorance are not perceived, and where there is no movement of the nadis (subtle energy channels).
36. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, which is devoid of multiplicity and unity, both and otherness, smallness and length, greatness and nothingness, and is free from measure, the measurable, and sameness.
37. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, whether he is self-controlled or not, whether he is a collector or not, whether he is inactive or active.
38. He attains that eternal Lord, the Self, who is not the mind, not the intellect, not the body, not the senses, not the subtle elements, not the five gross elements, not the ego, and who is of the nature of space.
39. When the mind of the yogi, free from distinctions, has attained the state of the Supreme Self through injunction and prohibition, there is neither purity nor impurity, no thought of the formless, and everything becomes permissible or forbidden.
40. Where mind and speech are not able to describe, how can there be a guru's instruction? To the Guru who has spoken this story and to the one who is united with it, the truth shines forth equally.