Adi Shankaracharya was an Advaita Vedanta teacher from the 7th century influenced by Buddhist philosophy. Dr. Robert Svoboda describes his teachings as containing Buddhist ideas of liberation but reintroducing the concept of universal soul that is not referenced in Buddhist texts.

Advaita means non-duality. A duality is a categorization. Good vs evil (Churchill vs Hitler). Angel vs demon (Christ vs Antichrist). Spiritual vs non-spiritual (abstaining from vs consuming alcohol). If it is true that everything is a manifestation of the universal oneness, then all dualities are false. These are false dual classifications created by the mind. In my view, the negative of the two categories in the dual is often borne out of the feeling of aversion. Whatever one feels aversion towards becomes the negative category. Aghora Tantra uses the felt sensation of ‘disgust’ as a guiding light to locate and exterminate all false dualities.

A small note here that not all Hindu schools are non-dual. A quick glance at the Wikipedia page on Vedanta philosophy will reveal to you the intricacies of the various schools of thought. I sometimes wonder if it’s a waste of time - a trap of Maya (illusion) - to expend energy on the question of whether there is a universal soul and whether any dualities exist. The Buddha was known to quite literally ignore any question that did not deal directly with transferring the practical knowledge of ending suffering that included questions that idly speculated about the metaphysics of the universe we lived in. There is a sutta where someone asks him a bunch of questions about universal consciousness, heaven/hell, afterlife etc. And he picks up a handful of leaves from the ground and says - “There is as much knowledge about the world as trees in this forest but my teachings only are these handful of leaves that deal directly with ending suffering”.

Regardless, the Atma Shatakam, composed by Adi Shankaracharya, is a wonderful verse. Simultaneously summarizing the essence of human existence while not identifying with the various components that make up human existence.

I find it critical to absorb Vedic wisdom in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit language has an intriguing relationship between sounds of the words, the meaning they carry and the parts of the body those sounds can be absorbed in. If you have encountered the concept of different sounds activating different parts of the nervous system, you probably have a sense of what I’m referring to here. What follows is a translation of it. Here’s my Sanskrit recitation of it.

I am not my thinking mind, my discerning intelligence, my Ego that creates a sense of self-identification.

I am not my sense of hearing, tasting, smelling or seeing.

I am not space, earth, fire or air.

I am the awareness of bliss and the bliss of expansive awareness. I am Shiva.

I am not the vital life force (praana).

Nor am I the 5 vital airs (vaayuh) in the body - forward moving (praana), downward moving (apaana), moving to the periphery and back (vyaana), digestive air (samaana), air in charge of speech (udaana).

Nor the 7 vital tissues of the body - lymph/plasma (rasa), blood (rakta), flesh (maansa), fat (medhas), bone (asthi), tissue encased in bone (marrow, spinal cord and brain) (majja), reproductive tissue (shukra).

Nor the 5 illusory sheathes/bodies (kosha) - physical body made from food (annamaayakosha), life-force body (praanamayakosha) , body containing mind/emotions/feelings (manomayakosha), causal body containing all my individual karmas (vidyanmayakosha), the blissful body that contains all karmas (aanandmayakosha).

Nor am I the 5 types of actions I perform - speech, handling, movement, sexual or excretory.

I am the awareness of bliss and the bliss of expansive awareness. I am Shiva.

I am not aversion nor greed nor passion nor delusion nor intoxication nor envy. I am not the 4 things required for average human life - dharma ie path to be followed, artha ie possessions, kama ie desire, moksha ie freedom from the delusion caused by the first 3.

I am the awareness of bliss and the bliss of expansive awareness. I am Shiva.

I am not my good karmas, nor my bad karmas because the law of karmas is a part of the manifested world. I am not sukha - good space - happiness. I am not dukkha- bad space - unhappiness. I am not limited to mantras - Sanskrit sounds that awaken a certain physical vibrational state. I am not limited by tirthas - places that contain concentrated sacred energy. I am not the vedas - ancient Indian scriptures. Nor am I the yagnas - the sacrifices prescribed in the vedas.

I am neither enjoyment, the object that is enjoyed nor the enjoyer.

I am the awareness of bliss and the bliss of expansive awareness. I am Shiva.

I am not my fear of death. I am not subject to the discriminations arising from caste. I don’t have a father nor mother nor a birth. Nor relations nor friends nor teacher nor students.

I am the awareness of bliss and the bliss of expansive awareness. I am Shiva.

I am that which never fluctuates in its perception of reality. I am that form which is formless. I am all-pervasive and everywhere, in every sense organ. Always equanimous, I don’t attach to anything nor do I get freed from anything.

I am the awareness of bliss and the bliss of expansive awareness. I am Shiva.

| Om Namah Shivaya |

A couple of points of note here.

The sense of touch and the element of water are missing from the list of what I am not. Dr. Svoboda says that they are implied by the inclusion of the other senses and elements. I am inclined to wonder if their omission is intentional.

I always find it fascinating to notice what isn’t mentioned in scriptures. For example, trees and plants are not referenced in the Buddhist divisions of realms of existence.

And secondly, bone marrow and brain and spinal cord are put in the same category. I had never really encountered them in the same category before.