14.11 Self alone remains after negating everything. No other effort is needed to know Self. It is self-revealing. The knowledge that Self is Brahman is enlightenment. On enlightenment, the (last) desire for liberation goes away resulting in contentment and peace.
14.12 Shankara advises that a seeker should aspire to think that he is all-pervading Self which is beyond mind and body and they are locus of miseries. I, the Self, am beyond miseries. Let the mind and body take action to remove miseries. Nothing can be added or subtracted from Self. How can Self do anything?
14.13 Having reached the other bank of a river, wishing to reach the bank is a contradiction. Similarly, it is a contradiction if a knower of Self wishes to perform action. Alternatively, only a pseudo jnani enjoins action upon himself.
14.14 Enlightenment means freedom from likes and dislikes. A (so called) knower of the Self harbouring likes and dislikes is not fit for enlightenment. Consequently, liberation remains veiled.
14.15 A meditator of Hiranyagarbha identifies himself with Hiranyagarbha which is the collective (cosmic) life forces. It is an aspect of Isvara. Sun and earth are included in Isvara. From the perspective of Isvara, sun and earth are not separate from It. There is no day and night for Isvara and no duties can be performed in particular hours of day and night. If the meditator is not expected to perform rites, only a fool can think that a knower of non-dual Brahman performs rites.
14.16 The author says that since Self is of the nature of consciousness, it neither remembers nor forgets itself. Perhaps the idea is that a jnani who identifies with Self cannot remember or forget Self. It is further said that the idea that the mind remembers Self is born of ignorance. Swami Jagadananda says (in the footnote) that the mind cannot remember as it is inert. I think that the mind cannot remember Self because Self is not an object (see 14.17)
14.17 Only ignorant ones think that supreme Self is to be known as an object. Anything known to you is other than Self. The ignorance is removed by knowledge as snake disappears in rope-snake metaphor in the presence of light.
14.18 & 14.19 Self is non-dual. Duality has no independent existence. There is no desk independent of wood. The ideas of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ do not belong to Self. They are functions of mind and are superimposed on the Self due to Ignorance. They do not exist when the non-dual Self is known. There can be no effect (superimposition) when there is no cause (ignorance).
There is no duality in the form of action, doer of action and result of action from the standpoint of Self, the witnessing consciousness because they do not have separate existence apart from Self. There is Self inside and outside the creation. The wood pervades inside and outside the desk. Clay alone is inside and outside of the pot. Gold alone pervades every part of ornament.
14.20 Consciousness illumines the mind which illumines the sense organs which are the seer, hearer, etc. In this sense, it is said that different roles are played by consciousness with the instrument of mind and sense organs. I am changeless consciousness. Identification with the roles is the cause of suffering because roles change according to the situation. When Consciousness, the real ‘I’ is mixed with the roles, it is a recipe for suffering.
14.21 to 14.25 As all beings, moving and non-moving, are endowed with powers of seeing etc, their essential nature is all-pervading and indestructible consciousness which is also my true nature.
In the vision of a Self-realized person, Self is devoid of agency and has no relation with actions and results thereof and It is not an enjoyer. An ignorant person who identifies with mind and body thinks otherwise. As Self is free from of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, a Self-realized person is free from desires and is naturally at peace.
Contd Part 15