Translation contd
with one's own eyes; can others make him know it?
Sloka #55
- अविद्याकामकर्मादिपाशबन्धं विमोचितुम् ।
- कः शक्नुयाद्विनात्मानं कल्पकोटिशतैरपि ॥५५॥
Translation
55. Who but one's own self can get rid of the bondage caused by the fetters of Ignorance, desire, action and the like, aye, even in a hundred crore of cycles?
[Ignorance of our real nature as the blissful Self leads to desire, which in its turn impels us to action, entailing countless sufferings.
Cycle — Kalpa, the entire duration of the evolved universe. See note on Sloka 6. ]
Sloka #56
- न योगेन न सांख्येन कर्मणा नो न विद्यया ।
- ब्रह्मात्मैकत्वबोधेन मोक्षः सिध्यति नान्यथा ॥५६॥
Translation
56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor .by work, nor by learning., but by the realisation of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no ether means.
[None of these, if practised mechanically, will bring on the highest knowledge — the absolute identity of the Jiva and Brahman — which alone, according to Advaita Vedanta, is the supreme way to liberation.
'Yoga' may mean Hathayoga which strengthens the body.
According to the Sankhya philosophy liberation
