Knowledge of Reality and Not Otherwise (Pancadasi 6: 209-219 & Commentary by Krishnananda)

209. In whatever form Īśvara is worshipped, the worshipper obtains the appropriate reward through that form. If the method of worship and the conception of the attributes of the deity worshipped are of a high order, the reward also is of a high order; but if otherwise, it is not. (see Note 1)

210. The liberation, however, can be obtained through the knowledge of reality and not otherwise. The dreaming does not end until the dreamer awakes. (see Note 2)

211. In the secondless principle, Brahman, the whole universe, in the form of Īśvara and Jīva and all animate and inanimate objects, appears like a dream.

212. Māyā has created Īśvara and Jīva, represented by the sheath of bliss and the sheath of intellect respectively. The whole perceptible world is a creation of Īśvara and Jīva.

213. From the determination of Īśvara to create, down to His entrance into the created objects, is the creation of Īśvara. From the waking state to ultimate release, the cause of all pleasures and pains, is the creation of Jīva.

214. Those who do not know the nature of Brahman, who is secondless and associationless, fruitlessly quarrel over Jīva and Īśvara, which are creations of Māyā.

215. We always approve those who appear to us to be devoted to truth and pity others but do not quarrel with those who are deluded.

219. Therefore the aspirants to liberation should never engage themselves in disputations about the nature of Jīva and Īśvara. They ought to practise discrimination and realize the reality of Brahman.

~Pancadasi 6: 209-219 (tr-Swahananda

Notes

1. As is our attitude towards Ishvara, so is the way in which we will have a response from Him. The quickness or the slowness of the response from God depends upon the intensity of the feeling of devotion to God. If it is a very intense feeling, the response is very quick. If the feeling is comparatively mild, the response will also be mild and it will take a longer period of time to act.

2. We may worship any god and we may receive the fruits of our devotion in some way, but liberation is a different matter altogether. It is not a worship; it is not an attainment of any particular thing. It is not the fruit of our action. It is Being as such. To enter into Pure Being is moksha, or liberation. But this is not easy, because the nature of Pure Being excludes all that is outside, or external. Neither myself, nor yourself, nor the world—nothing of this kind will be there because the perception of duality, multiplicity and externality contravene the nature of Pure Being.

~Krishnananda from Commentary on the Panchadasi pp 140-141