“I am Pure Consciousness” — Atma Bodha by Adi Shankaracharya

In Atma Bodha (Verse 10), Adi Shankaracharya says:

“Avidyā kāma karmaṇyām avasthitir iśvarasya sā.”

“Delusion, desire, and action belong to the ego — not to the Self.”

This verse reminds us: You are not the doer. You are not the thinker. You are pure consciousness in which all these arise and dissolve.

Thoughts come and go. Desires come and go. Even actions happen — but the Self remains untouched, like the sky unaffected by passing clouds.

Shankara teaches that avidya (ignorance) creates the illusion of individuality — the “I” that wants, acts, and suffers. But once we know the truth:

“I am not the body, not the mind — I am the unchanging Self.”

— the illusion begins to fall away.

Spend a few moments today silently repeating:

“I am the witness. I am pure consciousness.”

Not as a mantra, but as a remembering.

Let the false drop away.

Let the light of knowledge shine.