Summary of the Teaching

1. Learn the names of the five elements by heart, and then gain an understanding of their forms by direct experience.
2. Analyze them and discover what is Eternal and what is ephemeral. This analysis must be done through observation and understood in one’s actual experience.
3. The investigation into the five elements is done by understanding their names and forms, and sifting the Essence from the non-essential. This is being told to you with a firm purpose. Please listen attentively.
4. Earth, Water, Light (Fire), Air (Wind), and Sky (Space) are the names that are commonly used for the five elements. Now, listen to the description of their forms with confidence.
5. Earth means the earth that supports us. Water means the water we drink, water from rain, rivers, seas, etc. Light means fire, the sun, and all luminous objects.
6. Air means the wind. Sky means vast empty space. Now, inquire into your own mind as to what is permanent.
7. Just as one can know the condition of the entire pot of rice by testing just one cooked grain, similarly, with a small amount of experience a great deal can be understood.
8. With regard to earth, many things get constructed and destroyed. It is the actual experience of everyone that many structures are created and then disappear in the visible world.
9. Therefore, it can be seen that whatever gets constructed gets destroyed. It can also be seen that water gets dried up, light appears and disappears, and the movement of the wind becomes still.
10. It can also be seen that space is only a name, and that upon investigation, the name does not remain. Thus, it can be recognized that whatever is made up of the five elements will not remain permanently.
11. The entire expanse of the five elements is such that it is definite that it will all perish. Understand that only the formless Self is eternal and real.
12. That Self cannot be comprehended by anybody. Without Knowledge (Jnana) it cannot be realized. Therefore, ask the saints about it.
13. When asking the saints, they say that it is indestructible. One cannot speak of birth and death in regard to the Self.
14. Forms appear in the formless, and the formless appears in the forms. The formless and forms can be recognized using the power of discrimination.
15. Understand that the formless is Eternal and forms are ephemeral. This is called the investigation into the Eternal and the ephemeral.
16. The non-essential appears in the Essence, and the Essence is in the non-essential. Investigate the difference between Essence and the non-essential and see the results of this type of investigation.
17. All that is made up of five elements is illusory, but they appear in a myriad of forms. The Self is the only one thing that exists permeating everything.
18. Sky (space) is present in all of the other four elements. In the same way, the Reality is present permeating the sky. Observing minutely, it can be seen that the sky and Reality are inseparable.
19. Sky is known as sky because it has attributes, or certain properties (which are destructible). Without those attributes there is no appearance of sky as such. That which has no appearance is indestructible.
20. Now, let this analysis be enough. That which does not get destroyed must be discerned and seen with thoughtful investigation.
21. The Supreme Self, Paramatman, is formless. This is understood through investigation into Essence. This must be seen for oneself.
22. When the body comes to an end, the wind element leaves it. This can be understood to be true right now by trying to hold your breath.
23. When the breathing is finished, the body falls dead and is called a corpse which has no capacity to do anything.
24. Without the body, the wind cannot do any actions, and without the wind the body cannot perform any functions. With thoughtfulness it can be seen that either one cannot do anything without the other.
25. With the common way of seeing, there is the appearance of what we call the human body. By utilizing proper thought, it is seen that there is nothing really making up a body. Recognize this to be the sign of non-dual devotion.
26. If one says that "I am the doer," then everything should happen according to one’s desire, but everything does not happen according to our desires. This being the case, it is proven that the statement "I am the doer" is false.
27. If oneself is not the doer, then who is the enjoyer? This can only be understood by correct thoughtfulness. Without thoughtfulness this will not be known.
28. Thoughtfulness and thoughtlessness are like light and darkness. That which is changing is not the same as the changeless.
29. Where there is no thoughtful analysis, understanding is not possible. The Truth cannot be know through guesswork and speculation.
30. That which is understood through direct experience is correct. Without actual experience one cannot have correct understanding. How can one who is blind from birth evaluate the value of various gemstones?
31. Therefore, blessed is the knowledgeable person who is one with the attributeless. Such a one is recognized by his self-surrender and is truly regarded as "Supreme Being" (ParamaPurusha) itself.