Advaita Vedanta · attributed to Shankaracharya
Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 4
No merit, no sin, no mantra, no pilgrimage
न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दुःखं न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदो न यज्ञः। अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम्॥
Neither virtue nor sin, neither pleasure nor pain. No mantra, no pilgrimage, no scripture, no ritual. I am neither enjoyer, enjoyed, nor the act of enjoyment. I am Consciousness-Bliss. I am Shiva. I am Shiva.
What this verse points to
The stanza discards the religious apparatus itself — mantra, pilgrimage, scripture, ritual — from a hymn that is being used as a devotional recitation. The irony is intended.
It then dissolves the triad of enjoyer, enjoyed, and enjoyment, which is the structure underneath all experience of gaining anything at all.
Sit with it
Do your usual practice, then set aside the sense that you performed it and something was gained.
About the Nirvana Shatakam
Also called Atma Shatakam — six stanzas, each stripping away another layer of what one takes oneself to be (mind, breath, emotion, virtue, relationship, form) and each closing with the same refrain: chidananda rupah shivoham, "I am consciousness and bliss; I am Shiva." It is a negation practice in the form of a hymn.
References to this text are given as stanza — here, 4.