Advaita Vedanta · attributed to Shankaracharya
Nirvana Shatakam, stanza 5
No death, no doubt, no birth, no teacher, no student
न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्म। न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यः चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम्॥
I have no fear of death, no doubt, no caste. No father, no mother, no birth. No companion, no disciple, no teacher. I am Consciousness-Bliss. I am Shiva. I am Shiva.
What this verse points to
Social identity now: caste, parents, birth, friends, and finally the guru–disciple relation through which this very teaching is being transmitted. Nothing is exempted for being useful.
Setting aside the teacher-student pair is the sharpest moment in the hymn. The relationship that carries the teaching is itself among the things the teaching finally removes.
Sit with it
List what you would say if asked who you are. Read the list back as things you have, not things you are.
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, 5.