[I am not subject to any disease, I am beyond all comprehension, free from all alternatives and all-pervading.   I am not the body which non-existence itself. This is held to be the true Knowledge by the Knowers.]

I have no diseases. I am the subject and not the superimposed idea (AbhAsa), I am the original and not a reflection (virtual image); there is no other substance than myself and I am omnipresent. This is the true Knowledge.

निर्गुणो निष्क्रियो नित्यो नित्यमुक्तोऽहमच्युतः ।
नाहं देहो ह्यसद्रूपो ज्ञानमित्युच्यते बुधैः ॥           --   27, aparokShAnubhUti.

[I am without any attribute or activity, I am eternal, ever free and imperishable. I am not the body which is non-existence itself. This is held to be the true Knowledge by the Knowers.]

The three guNa-s do not work on me. I have no deeds to perform; I am eternal, ever-free. There is no need for me to either get rid of any bondage nor to obtain liberation. I am never confined to the body. Thus do the Knowers speak about Knowledge.  Shankara explains here the nature of Knowledge in positive terms after speaking about nescience.

निर्मलो निश्चलोऽनन्तः शुद्धोऽहमजरोऽमरः ।
नाहं देहो ह्यसद्रूपो ज्ञानमित्युच्यते बुधैः ॥           --   28, aparokShAnubhUti.

[I am free from all impurity, I am immovable, unlimited, holy, un-decaying, and immortal. I am not the body which non-existence itself. This is held to be the true Knowledge by the Knowers.]

“I have no impurities. I do not have the end-points of birth and death. There is no end for me. I am pure, I am ageless and immortal.”

The five qualities of Atma that Shankara describes are:

1.Beingness-Knowingness-Happiness.

2.Changelessness.

3.All-pervasiveness(i.e. being present everywhere Atmahas nowhere to go).

4.Imperishability.

5.Immortality.

The next verse tells us how to find Atma.

स्वदेहे शोभनं त्यक्त्वा पुरुषाख्यं च संमतम् ।
किं मूर्ख शून्यमात्मानं देहातीतं करोषि भोः ॥        --   29, aparokShAnubhUti.

[Why do you assert the blissful, ever-existent Atma, which resides in your body and is different form it, which is known by the Purusha and is established (to be identical with brahman), to be absolutely non-existent?]

Atma is not confined to a place; it is all over. It shines brilliantly right in your body. Why look for it elsewhere? Why go on pilgrimages in search of It?

देहो देवालयः प्रोक्तः स जीवः केवलः शिवः ॥       --   mantra 10, skanda upaniShad.
त्यजेदज्ञाननिर्माल्यं सोऽहंभावेन पूजयेत् ।           --   mantra 11, skanda upaniShad.

[The body is said to be the temple, the deity Shiva is jIva; one should throw away the ignorance like the flowers already-used (in worship) and worship with the sense of “I am That.”]

One should worship the Atma inside oneself with the thought that “I am Atma.” It is totally unwise to go somewhere else for worship. Shankara avers that what is inside us is perfect, complete. It is inside and outside the body. If a thing is limited to be outside the body only, it cannot be complete. It is utterly foolish to say that Atma is not inside oneself. It is That only that is seeing the body. There is none else who can perceive it.

aprokShAnubhUti, much like the other treatises vivekacUDAmaNi, mahAvAkyadarpaNam, bhajagovindam, and so on is a an important text for constant reflection on the Advaitic message. 

The approach one has to adopt is to understand the Infinity from the finite. For instance, visualize the entire river from a pail of water. The “process” of obtaining that understanding is sAdhana. What appears in our perception is the world. The world is limited as it comprises finite things (particulars). Advaita sAdhana is to abstract the Universal from the particulars.

Imagine the worldly objects to be gold ornaments on display and the world is the showcase in which they are displayed. It is gold everywhere and in everything. All the gold is exhausted having been distributed in them. Instead of the various forms, grasp the substance, gold, that is common to all of them. Suppose you melt all the ornaments, you will be left with gold alone. Similarly, the common substance in the world is One without a second. That is “Shiva,”  the Supreme Self. This process of Advaitic Melting is called pravilApana.

न भूमिर्न तोयं न तेजो न वायुः
न खं नेन्द्रियं वा न तेषां समूहः ।     --   verse 1, Shankara’s dasha shlokIAir, I am not space. Neither am I any of the Faculties nor am I their aggregate.]

In other words, melting is the understanding that “I am not any of the individual ornaments like the necklace or a ring or a bangle. I am nothing but Gold. It is Gold only when the ornaments are being perceived. After the ornaments are melted, what remains is Gold only.”

A mature and ripe seeker is one who is able to melt the world of objects into the common Oneness as he perceives it. Thus he notices the Universal Oneness and not a multiplicity of objects.  

We can easily melt the golden ornaments to be gold. But the individual objects and people in the world cannot be melted down into a single substance. How does one go about melting the world and the objects in it? It is to be done during perception. As you perceive the people and objects, notice the Universal “beingness” (presence) in them and the common feature of ‘knowability” of them (knowing their luster). Seeing the Universal Oneness is Advaita sAdhana. That itself is samAdhi in Advaita.

‘samAdhi’ means to be focused on the “evenness” (sama). Our ordinary perception is the opposite of it. We see multiplicity. Thus our vision is broken. Consequently, what we perceive also appears broken into many things.

In other words, a broken vision leads to seeing multiple things. A unified vision will show the Universal Oneness.

Perfection (absence of ‘lack’) is present right here in the body. Whatever (Perfection) is present inside the body is present outside it too. It is much like the pot-space and the Open-space. The Open-space Itself appears as the pot-space.  Even if It takes the form of the limited pot-space, It is actually the Open-space only.

स्वात्मानं शृणु मूर्ख त्वं श्रुत्या युक्त्या च पूरुषम् ।
देहातीतं सदाकारं सुदुर्दर्शं भवादृशाम् ॥         --   30, aparokShAnubhUti.            

[Try to know, with the help of shruti, and reasoning, your own Self, Purusha, which is different from the body, the form of existence, and very difficult for person like you to realize.]

Shankara severely rebukes the seeker who is not able to follow the teaching of the Upanishads and the brahma sUtra-s. He exhorts the seeker to listen to the teachings, reflect on them deeply, and ingest them through deep contemplative meditation. A teacher will be necessary during the first two phases – listening and reflecting on what is heard. After that there is neither a role nor a need for a Guru. However, the seeker has to salute the teacher for having helped him thus far. Once the seeker has been able to resolve all his doubts and obtain an unwavering ‘understanding’ of Advaita teaching, s/he has to proceed further on her own in order to abide in that realization.

The perfection that is all-pervading is seen as the “body” by the uninitiated. The initiated seeker has to see the body as an appearance of perfection. It’s not that the ornament is not gold; it is important to realize that gold is not just that ornament. So Perfection is not confined to one body or one appearance only. It is within and beyond the body and permeates all. Thus the body is only a ‘particular’ instance of Perfection.

The forms dissolve in the process of “melting.” Therefore, the appearances are impermanent. What remains after “melting” is the substance, Perfection. 

The disappearance of a form is ‘death.’ The body dies. But the “Knowledge” that knows the body is immortal. When one identifies oneself with the body, one is the ‘ego.’ As the ‘ego,’ one has death. In order to escape from death, one has to simply stop identifying oneself with the body and mind.

Forms perish, but the substance remains. An ornament may lose its form but the gold remains. The waves in the ocean disappear but the water remains. The seven colors in the rainbow disappear but the sunlight remains.

Reflect on these examples and find out who you truly are. Try to decipher everything that you perceive in the world from the knowledge of your true nature.

The best practice for Self-realization is not to look at the particulars, but notice the unchanging substantive Commonality. Relative knowledge, such as religion, science, and art cannot help in obtaining such a vision. Any amount of information about birth, rebirth, heaven, hell, merit, demerit etc. falls under relative knowledge which concerns itself with “particulars” and, therefore impermanent. One has to “see” in all things the “Universal,” which is absolute and eternal.

अहंशब्देन विख्यात एक एव स्थितः परः ।
स्थूलस्त्वनेकतां प्राप्तः कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 31, aparokShAnubhUti.

[The Supreme Self known as “I” is but One, whereas the gross bodies are many. So how can this body be puruSha?]

The only substance that IS, is divided into I-consciousness (ahamkAra) and the Self (Atma). The ‘me-ness’ I feel is not the Universal “I,” the Supreme Self. It is the I-consciousness or the ego which imagines, “I am the body.” But it is not the Universal “I,” the Self, which knows, “I am everything everywhere.”

The main difference between Patanjali’s Yoga shAstra and Advaita is that the former searches for a way to escape out of the world, while the latter integrates the world into the Self. Yoga considers Ishwara to be different from the world. It does not take Ishwara to be the material cause for the world. So Ishwara, according to yoga, is like the potter and not the clay that pervades the pot. Shankara, on the other hand, emphasizes that Ishwara is both the efficient and material cause for the world, both the potter and the clay. Even the theistic philosophies which believe in a Godhead have been denounced by Shankara. Whatever the Godhead maybe, he is limited in spatial extension because He is said to be located in a particular place.

Therefore, worship of a god form is inadvisable for liberation, for a limited god can provide only a limited freedom and not Absolute Liberation. In order to obtain total Freedom, a seeker has to grasp the unlimited all-pervading Infinite Self that is everywhere and immanent in everything. What is worshiped has to be the Universal and not a ‘particular’ god form. Space exists everywhere in the inert world. Consciousness is space-like, pervading all.

Everyone knows and says “me.” But we are only referring to our limited self (body-mind) and not the “me” that pervades all that exists. One has to be aware of the Supreme truth that “I alone am.” If that is understood, one cannot think that “I am my body.” This understanding leads one to the Supreme Self. It is also called as the “Perfect I-Consciousness.” It gets echoed in:

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ -- shanti mantra from Shukla Yajurveda.

[Om. That is Perfection, This is Perfection. From that Perfection, This Perfection is projected. When Perfection is taken from the Perfection, Perfection alone remains.]

That being the case, how can one consider the gross body to be the “me”? A gross object is limited to a place. It cannot be all-pervasive.

Idols of gods may be made out of stone, metal alloys etc. and are believed to be powerful. But there is no real advantage in worshiping them, since they are gross and limited, and not all pervading. Since they are the manifestations of the Self (vibhUti), we neither discard them nor adore them.

अहेयमनुपादेयमनादेयम् …. | -- Verse 467, vivekacUDAmani.

[That which is to be neither shunned nor taken up …]

Idols cannot be accepted because they are not everything that IS. They cannot be denied because they are a manifestation of Beingess. Such an attitude is the Perfect Advaita. That is the reason Shankara visited many temples and composed hundreds of hymns. He saw the One in the many god forms. It is important to develop such a Universal vision.

The body being a “particular,” one cannot equate it to brahman. The Universal is brahman; the particular is not. If one is able to see the Universal, that Itself is the Supreme Self.

निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म तस्माद्ब्रह्मणि ते स्थिताः ॥ -- verse 19, Ch 5, Bhagavad-Gita.

[Spotless, indeed, and equal is brahman; wherefore in brahman they rest.]

Hence brahman is homogeneous and One. Therefore the Sages rest in brahman only.

अहं द्रष्टृतया सिद्धो देहो दृश्यतया स्थितः ।
ममायमिति निर्देशात्कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 32, aparokShAnubhUti.

[“I” is well established as the subject of perception whereas the body is the object. This is learnt from the fact that when we speak of the body we say, “This is mine.” How can this body be puruSha?]

The seer or the observer is “I.” The body is the seen. Because I am not my body, I say that it is mine. It is like saying it’s ‘my book.’ I say so because I am not my book. The body is gross and has a form. ‘I’ is subtle and has no form. ‘I’ permeates and the body is the permeated. I is the ‘seer.’ The body is the seen.

अहं विकारहीनस्तु देहो नित्यं विकारवान् ।
इति प्रतीयते साक्षात्कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 33, aparokShAnubhUti .

[It is a fact of direct experience that the “I” is without any change, whereas the body is always undergoing changes. How can this body be puruSha?]

‘I’ do not change. The body is constantly changing from childhood to adolescence to adulthood to senility. In contrast I, the knower, sees all those changes and knows when I (knower) leave the body. The knowing stays the same, while the body continues to change. How can one say that a body that changes like that can be called brahman?

यस्मात्परमिति श्रुत्या तया पुरुषलक्षणम् ।
विनिर्णीतं विशुद्धेन कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 34, aparokShAnubhUti.

[Wise men have ascertained the nature of puruSha from that shruti text, (There is nothing higher than puruSha) etc. How can this body be puruSha?]

Shankara is referring to Upanishad mantra:

यस्मात्परं नापरमस्ति किञ्चित् …| -- III – 9, shwetashwatara upa.

[There is nothing superior or inferior to it.]

The Upanishad tells that there is nothing higher or lower than That. Thus is the nature of the Supreme Self. The implied meaning is that there is nothing other than That. That is Its pure essence. How can you then think of the impure body as the pure Self?

सर्वं पुरुष एवेति सूक्ते पुरुषसंज्ञिते ।
अप्युच्यते यतः श्रुत्या कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 35, aparokShAnubhUti.

[Again shruti has declared, in the puruSha sUkta that “All this is verily the puruSha.’ How can this body be puruSha?]

Shankara quotes from puruSha sUkta here.

पुरु॑ष ए॒वेदग्ं सर्वम्॓ । यद्भू॒तं यच्च॒ भव्यम्॓ ।
उ॒तामृ॑त॒त्व स्येशा॑नः । य॒दन्ने॑नाति॒रोह॑ति ॥ -- puruSha sUkta

[All that is past, present and future is His manifestation. He is the Emperor of the immortal state because He is beyond the material world.]

What is all is puruSha only. This is all perfect. It is similar to what the Upanishad says:

ब्रह्मैवेदममृतं पुरस्ताद्ब्रह्म पश्चाद्ब्रह्म दक्षिणतश्चोत्तरेण ।
अधश्चोर्ध्वं च प्रसृतं ब्रह्मैवेदं विश्वमिदं वरिष्ठम् ॥ -- II - i - 12, muNDaka upa.

[All this that is in front is but Brahman, the immortal. Brahman is at the back, as also on the right and the left. It is extended above and below, too. This world is nothing but Brahman, the highest.]

Everything and everywhere is brahman. To the north, to the south, above and below, front and back, It’s all brahman. Shankara is taking us to that level of understanding in a step-by-step process.

The first thing he does is eliminate the feeling that we are our body. He establishes that the body is not Atma , it is not the true substance. This is analysis, the first step in the process of self-inquiry. Next he explains what our true nature is. He asks us to notice the real substance that everything is permeated by. He then shows us that even our body is made up of the same substance, the Self, only. (This is synthesis, the second step in the process).

It is important to learn and apply this progressive method in order to understand Non-duality. Otherwise, there is the danger of treading into misleading theories. The one who has the tenacity to understand Advaita will not be drawn to other methods, such as yoga, action, worship, etc.

So when the Upanishad itself declares that all that is brahman, how can one take just this body to be brahman?

असङ्गः पुरुषः प्रोक्तो बृहदारण्यकेऽपि च < ।
अनन्तमलसंसृष्टः> कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 36, aparokShAnubhUti.

[It is said in brihadAraNyaka that “The puruSha is completely unattached.” How can this body which inheres innumerable impurities be puruSha?]

Shankara now brings in brihadAraNyaka Upanishad which said that the puruSha inside the body is unattached. He has no relation with the body organs, life-force and the mind. Still it looks as though there is a relationship. This body, full of impurities, cannot be the immaculate Self.

तत्रैव च समाख्यातः स्वयंज्योतिर्हि पूरुषः < ।
जडः> परप्रकाश्योऽयं कथं स्याद्देहकः पुमान् ॥ -- 37, aparokShAnubhUti.

[It is also clearly stated that “The puruSha is self-illuminated. How can this body which is insentient and illumined by an eternal source be puruSha?]

In the same Upanishad, it is also said that the Self is self-effulgent. All other lights, including the Sun, depend on something else for their glow. It is the Supreme Self which ignited the Sun and moon. Even the mind glows because of Self. Mind is not self-luminescent.

तं ह देवं आत्मबुद्धिप्रकाशं मुमुक्षुर्वै शरणमहं प्रपद्ये॥ -- VI – 18, shwetAswatara upa.

[I take refuge in the Effulgent One, whose light turns the understanding towards the Atma, seeking liberation.]

Mind is compared to the moon and intellect to the Sun. It is something else, the self-effulgent One, that illuminates both the mind and the intellect.

The body is inert. It has no consciousness of its own. Only that which is Conscious can illuminate it. It is the Consciousness that knows the body. If there is no Consciousness, there is no one to know the body. Therefore, at the time of death, there is no one to care whether the body is cremated or buried. This thought can generate fear in us. But the scripture assures us, “know that you are not the body, and you will have nothing to fear.”

The entire Advaita literature, unlike other sciences and arts, addresses the fundamental questions on life and death. Its sole aim is to help us escape death by pointing out to us that we are not the body and that we truly are the illuminating Consciousness.

प्रोक्तोऽपि कर्मकाण्डेन ह्यात्मा देहाद्विलक्षणः ।
नित्यश्च तत्फलं भुङ्क्ते देहपातादनन्तरम् ॥      --   38, aparokShAnubhUti.

[The first part of the Vedas (dealing with action) declares that the Self is different from the body and permanent, as it endures even after the fall of the body and reaps the fruits of actions.]

Some people believe that the action-centered religion offers a means to escape from death. But it does not. Shankara vehemently denies the utility of ‘karmic religion’ for liberation. In fact, he says, karma-centered religion is a hindrance. It’s not the world, but it is the religious beliefs that have to be abandoned. Bhagavad-Gita says:

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।             --     verse 66, Ch 18, Bhagavad-Gita

[Abandoning all righteous deeds, seek me as thy sole Refuge.]

त्यज धर्मं अधर्मं च … |                   --   Mahabharata.

Bhishma tells Dharmaraja in the Mahabharata that one needs to abandon both righteousness and unrighteousness for attaining liberation. Righteous deeds may be good, but they are nothing but golden fetters. The pursuit of ‘dharma’ or “righteousness” as a goal for human beings is binding because ‘dharma’ is particular, not Universal. It is not the Supreme Self. It can yield merit, heaven or some other benefits, but it cannot yield liberation.

The karma-oriented religion may say that the self is different from the body. But the ‘self’ that religion talks about is the individual (jIva-Atma). It does not talk about the true inner Self. The true Self is that which is not connected to any of the bodies. For there are three bodies – the gross, subtle, and causal. Religion might say that the ‘self’ is not connected to the gross body, that the ‘self’ remains in the subtle and causal bodies after the death of the gross body and experiences the fruits of actions performed with the gross body. This ‘self’ that religion talks about is not the Absolute Self of Advaita.

The gross body may be burnt away after its death. But there is no way to dispose off the other two bodies. Some people even make offerings, such as food and water, to the subtle and causal bodies of the dead. The true Self that Advaita refers to does not consume food and water either as the gross body or as the subtle body.

लिङ्गं चानेकसंयुक्तं चलं दृश्यं विकारि च ।
अव्यापकमसद्रूपं तत्कथं स्यात्पुमानयम् ॥          --   39, aparokShAnubhUti.

[Even the subtle body consists of many parts and decays. It is also an object of perception, is changeable, limited and unreal by nature. How can this be puruSha?]

Religion says that the subtle body continues after the death of the gross body. The subtle body is said to consist of many particulars like the mind. So it is said to be visible in the subtle world. It transmigrates and enters another body. Mind is subtle and limited. It does not permeate all.

One’s knowledge is perfect if one is able to perceive the gross body, the subtle body, the causal body, and even beyond. Not otherwise.

एवं देहद्वयादन्य आत्मा पुरुष ईश्वरः ।
सर्वात्मा सर्वरूपश्च सर्वातीतोऽहमव्ययः ॥  --   40, aparokShAnubhUti

[The Immutable Self, the substratum for the ego, is different from those two bodies and is the puruSha, the Ishwara (the Lord of all), the Self of all; It is present in every form, yet transcends them all.]

What is implied here is that the Self is beyond the ‘dharma puruShArtha’ (the third of the four goals set for human pursuit).Two of the goals (wealth and desires) are procured by means of the physical body. Righteousness (dharma), the third, is achieved through the subtle body.  The gross body and the subtle body are not the Self. Self is beyond all bodies. Only liberation (mOksha) will lead to the Self. Shankara says:

ब्रह्मावगतिर्हि पुरुषार्थः …|              --           I.i.1, brahma sUtra bhAShya.  

[The realization of brahman is the only goal to be pursued (puruShArtha).]

The real goal for a human being is the experiential understanding of brahman. What is beyond the physical body is Ishwara, the Perfection. There is no use in being concerned with or interested in the experiences of the empirical world, nor that of shAstra-s, or even that of dharma.

Shankara is pointing to the Oneness of the individual and brahman when he says that the Self is beyond the two bodies (gross and subtle). One remains an individual if one identifies with the bodies. One is Ishwara if one identifies with that which is beyond the bodies. All forms are me, I am the Self of all, but I am not confined to those forms. I transcend all forms.

The general rule to be remembered is that all particulars are the Universal; but no particular by itself is the Universal. The entire world is the Supreme Self; but the Supreme Self is not just the world. That is to say that the Supreme Self is not confined to any single individual or object, whereas all the individuals and objects are within the Supreme Self. The seeker should learn to view the world (including the spouse, children, properties) as the Self, but not the Self as the world. If we view the Self as the world, we will be preoccupied with the world only and not the Self. Every ornament is gold. But gold is not confined to a specific ornament.

Our problem is that the world is visible; but not the Self. It is advisable to look at all the ornaments together as gold. Instead, if one sees gold as ornaments, the substance gold goes into the background and only the forms of ornaments will be seen. The substance gold gets masked by the form of the ornaments. So the important question to ask is what one’s attention is focused on? If attention is on the form, the substance fades into the background. If the attention is on the substance, the form fades into the background and the substance will be visible. Similarly, if our focus is on our family and possessions, they become visible and the Supreme Self gets obscured.

Several thoughts arise in the mind. All thoughts are particulars, so the Universal Self fades into the background. The Self gets divided into thoughts in our mind. It appears externally as though fragmented into our partner, family, children, property, and so on. The bit of the Self that is ‘here’ inside is the nAama (the ID/name tag). The fragment that is ‘there’ outside is rUpa (form). All the transactions that happen between the two is “action” (kriYa). Action is another name for samsAra – the cycle of births and deaths. The nAma-rUpa-kiya sums up a man’s life.  

The way to immortality is by dissolving all the particulars into the Universal. In other words, melt away all the thoughts into the “Knowing” of them. This is “cit”, the knowingness aspect of the Self. Melt all the things and people that you perceive into the “feel” of beingness. Whether it is the spouse or children or property, every one of them “is.” This is the “sat” or ‘beingness’ aspect of the Self. Since both ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ are formless, they dissolve into One. That is the direct experiential Non-dual understanding. It is the Truth. Therefore it appears fresh each time. It is quite exciting and exhilarating even to hear and work on this process. What is untrue does not give such a pleasure. The unreal gets exposed sooner or later.

We discussed this topic at great length to explain two key concepts – omnipresence and immanence. You are the substance of all forms, and all forms are only you. You are the Universal – the beingness and knowingness. You are also the ‘particulars.’ Shankara now takes this inquiry a notch higher. He is going to tell us that even the body is Self.

First, Shankara, said that the body is not the Self, that they are different from one another. He repeatedly pointed out the difference between them. Now he shows that the Self is shining as the body, which is a fallacious appearance. Since the appearance is only a manifestation of the Self, he dissolves the appearance into the Self (pravilApana). He teaches the application of the Eight Steps of Advaita in the following verses.

इत्यात्मदेहभानेन प्रपञ्चस्यैव सत्यता ।
यथोक्ता तर्कशास्त्रेण ततः किं पुरुषार्थता ॥ --   41, aparokShAnubhUti

[The difference between the Self and the gross body has been asserted thus logically which is valid in the phenomenal world. Of what good does is it for the human life?]

Shankara says that the logicians did not comprehend the truth correctly when they said that the Self is limited to the body. They mistook the gold to be the necklace (and nothing else). One cannot say that the Gold is a neckless only because such a stand would give rise to questions about other forms of ornaments, such as the ring, bangle, bracelet, and so on. A proper answer should be in such a way that it does not give rise to more questions. Once Advaita says that ‘all’ appearances are the Supreme Self, further questions about the particulars need to be raised.

If we limit the self to the body, it engenders ‘me-ness’ and the ‘mine-ness’ due to attachment to the world. The world will then seem to be real. This is a highly significant point that Shankara makes. It is best to contemplate deeply on these words of Shankara. Spread the fragrance of the Self onto everything thing that you perceive. There is no higher sAdhana than that. It will lead one to immortality as it is said in the following verse:

ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥    --  mahAmRityumjaya mantra, Rg veda.

[Aum. We worship Shiva who is the essence of spirituality and who nourishes all beings. May he severe our bondage of worldly life like a cucumber (is severed from the creeper) and liberate us from death, by making us realize that we are never separated from our immortal nature.    

Shankara now discusses the Advaita aShTAnga yoga.

After teaching about detachment and discrimination, Shankara asks if we have recognized the true substance that is eternally existent. The three – individual, the world, and Ishwara – are not real. They are fallacious. They are unreal but not non-existent. If they were non-existent, they would not have been visible at all. Fallacious appearance refers to an object whose appearance is dependent on some other object. One or many fallacious appearances can come into existence only if at least one real substance is present. Based on that which is real, one can detect that which is not real. Whatever that real thing is, that is the true substance. The appearance of the triad of jIva-jagat-Ishwara depends on the One Reality.

We cannot declare the jIva-jagat-Ishwara as non-existing because they have ‘Reality’ as their substratum. We cannot deny the existence of the necklace when gold itself has chosen to take that form. But we cannot assert that the necklace exists because it loses its form when it is melted. The necklace has a point of origin (when it is made) and a point of end (when it is melted). What is real is the gold – gold was there before the appearance of the necklace, gold was there during its existence and gold is there after the necklace is no more. Hence what is true is gold. If we see the necklace as gold, it is real. Any contrary view is unreal.

Because it is the gold only that has taken the form of the necklace, we must perceive the necklace as gold, and not as its form, the necklace. That itself is the sAdhana (process). The sAdhana is to repeatedly contemplate on it as gold only.  A time comes when the perceiver as well as the percept (the necklace) will end. The perceiver is the individual and the percept is the world. Both will end.

Spouse and children, happiness and misery are all examples for the necklace. They are the thought modifications of the perceiver. The individual is the summation of the thought modifications and the world is the summation of the percepts. Both are unreal. The Consciousness which is witnessing both those ideas and objects is the only Real entity. That is ‘brahman.’ That is “I.” What exists everywhere is Consciousness.

In the triad of Knower, the means to know, and the known, the one common aspect is “knowing.” This “knowing” is Consciousness. In the sentence, “I see this,”
n   I is ‘knowing,’
n  What is seen (this) is also ‘knowing,’ and
n The instrument (intellect) through which the seeing happens is also ‘knowing.’

Shankara points out that if a thing is ‘seen,’ there has to be some commonality between the seer and the seen. Otherwise, it will not even be sensed. (In the modern Information Technology, it is called establishing a ‘handshake’). Hence the seer and the seen must be ‘related’ to each other in one way or another.

While the world consists of innumerable variety of objects, the seer is only one substance. There are no varieties in It. Therefore, the knowingness of the Seer must be present in the seen too. In other words, the entire world of multiple objects is only a modulation of the ‘knowing.’

For example, if I see an object, say the wall, and know that it is a wall, the knowingness from me must have reached and covered the object. In order to successfully establish the handshake, the object must also have an ability to receive the knowingness from me. Otherwise, there would have been no relation established between the two. In the absence of a relationship, the seer wouldn’t be able to know what the object is.

Extending the logic, we can say that the individual and all the objects of the world are permeated by ‘brahman.’ Because brahman alone is the real entity, the individual and the world have to be merely apparitional. Expressed in a different way, brahman Itself appears as the individual and the world. It is like saying that necklace, bangle, ring and so on are nothing but the appearances of gold in those forms. That being so, we may as well say they are all gold and need not be seen as different. One may use each of them for a different purpose. Still their forms cannot be real. If reality is attributed to forms, we will never be able to come out of them; we will be stuck with them. That will be the death.

In order to be free from the clutches of the unreal world, the individual should grasp the Reality. The unreal will then come under control.  Thus the birth, life, and death of the Supreme Self is not really birth, life and death respectively.

Shankara avers that what is all seen is apparitional. The reality is Self. Whatever is apparitional, it will get sublated. Instead of perceiving the illusory things as they are, their form should be melted into the Universal, the Self which is the Knowingness. As a result, as the knower, we will not be any more subjected to birth and death. After all, birth and death are particulars. When particulars get melted, what remains is changeless and seamless. Shankara expounds the above steps in the next 30-40 verses.

इत्यात्मदेहभेदेन देहात्मत्वं निवारितम् ।
निवारितम् इदानीं देहभेदस्य ह्यसत्त्वं स्फुटमुच्यते ॥  --   42, aparokShAnubhUti

[The view that the body is the Self has been denounced thus by pointing out the difference between the Self and the body. Now is clearly sated the unreality of the difference between the two.]

Just because we spoke of a difference between the Self and the body, we cannot take it as the final word. What we denied is the idea that the body alone is Self. It does not mean that the body is not made out of the Self. For example, to limit the gold to just the necklace is not correct. But to see the necklace as comprising ‘gold’ is correct.

If one perceives the world as  “Beingness-Knowingness,” the world appears as the Self. If one loses track of “Beingness-Knowingness” and looks at the objects and persons with their names and forms (like wife/husband; land/property; I/you etc.) as separate entities, it will lead to misery. The Self will disappear and the world with its separate objects will appear.