O Atma Swarupas,
Like any upanishad chanting / commentary starts
with a shanti path or an invocation prayer, Atma Bodha usually has the
following invocation prayer composed by Adi Sankara.
प्रातः स्मरामि हृदि संस्फुरदात्मतत्त्वं
सच्चित्सुखं परमहंसगतिं तुरीयम् ।
यत्स्वप्नजागरसुषुप्तिमवैति नित्यं
तद्ब्रह्म निष्कलमहं न च भूतसङ्घः
PRÁTAH SMARÁMI HRUDI
SAMSPHURAD ÁTMA TATTVAM
SAT CHIT SUKHAM PARAMA
HAMSA GATIM TURIYAM
YAT SVAPNA JÁGARA
SUSSUPTAM AVAITI NITYAM
TAD BRAHMA NISKALAM AHAM
NA CHA BHUTA SAÑGHA.
At the early hours of the day, I meditate
upon the essential SELF, clearly experienceable in the heart cave AS THE
ESSENCE (TATWAM),
-That which is Existence, Knowledge and
Bliss in nature,
-That which is the supreme goal, the
Parama hamsa state,
-That which is the fourth state of
consciousness (Turiyam),
-That which illumines all experiences in
all the three state of consciousness, waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
- That which is that part less Brahman,
not this assembly of matter envelopments!
Commentary
Like my heart throb every
moment, along with every heart beat, let me experience clearly in my heart, the
reality:- That is SATH (Pure Existence), CHIT (Pure awareness) SUKHAM (Pure
Bliss).
That is Parama hamsa, the goal
of all sages. (Parama saham Aham)
(Parama hamsa is also
explained in the context of the Hamsa Bird, which has the capacity to
segregate water from milk, takes in only the milk and discards the water. That
is, the attainment of the state where, one is clearly able to discriminate
between the real and the unreal and discard the real and embrace only
the real)
That which is the Turiya state
or the 4th state of consciousness, as clearly explained in mandukya upanishad,
the state of pure awareness, existence, consciousness.
That which illumines all the other three states
of consciousness - waking, dream state and deep sleep.
(The three states of consciousness and
the fourth state, Turiya, have been dealt with elaborately in this blog
under the theme "Vedas and Vedanta". The link to that post is given
below
Readers may please use the above link
and read about the 2 states of consciousness explained in a simple manner)
That is part less, indivisible Brahman and not
the mere matter which my body, mind appears to be, at the surface level!!
What a positive,
wonderful prayer in the early hours even before we start our day,
asserting with conviction, what we really are, so that, we remember the same
through out the day and not end up believing about ourselves what we
really are not!!
Love.
