Page 4
APAROKSHANUBHUTI
aparokShAnubhuti:
Video 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmEcmFCyhaU
Shankara is now going to discuss false appearance, sublation, and melting (dissolution). He explained detachment and discrimination previously.
The question to be examined is whether the world and the individual really exist or not. We normally ask whether God exists or not, taking the relative world as our standard of reference. Such an approach lacks validity because it is based on our belief that the world is real. But the world is an illusory appearance and lacks reality. As opposed to this, Shankara asks whether the world and the individual exist or not from the position of certitude of God. God, for Shankara, is the true substance, the “Am-ness” of “I Am.” Am-ness (i.e. “that I am”) does not require any external confirmation because one knows clearly about one’s own beingness. It is never in doubt. It is in fact Beingness as well as Knowingness also. Beingness is to know that “I am.” Because I know that “I am,” it involves knowing. Therefore, it is Knowingness also. Hence the hyphenated word Beingness-Knowingness does not require proof. It is self-evident.
Beingness-Knowingness is the standard reference for everything. For example, when we say there is the world, we say so based on the strength of our “knowing” it. But, as a matter of fact, we are that Knowingness. So we speak from that Knowingness. Happiness and sorrow are also “known” to us because of our ability to know. In the absence of Knowingness, happiness and misery would not have been known.
If we say that Ishwara exists, it is also based on our Knowingness. However, Ishwara is not self-evident. The world is also not self-evident. There is only one thing that has self-evidence and that is the Beingness. Hence Advaita holds that Beingness is the only Reality. Any further inquiry should proceed on the firm basis of self-evident Beingness.
If the existence of the world, the individual or Ishwara is being questioned, it is obvious that there must first be a questioner. The real questioner is the knowingness, the Knowledge. What was there prior to the question was Knowledge and that Itself is the Self. The Self is self-evident and It does not need any certification. Anything done or thought happens by means of Knowledge. So all things known or done are based on Knowledge. This is the great realization by the ancient Sages of Advaita. Knowledge is fundamental and there is no other thing. It is Non-dual. The triad, individual-world-Ishwara, is duality. It appears, but it is merely a fallacious appearance (AbhAsa).
Fallacious appearance is that whose existence is relational. It exists only when another substance interacts with it. It does not exist by itself. Reality is the substance which exists by Itself without dependence on another. It is never not-present, and is invisible to others.
Ishwara did not ever announce by himself that he existed. It is only our thinking that Ishwara exists. Therefore, his existence is not based on self-evidence, but is dependent on our conceptualization. So also is the existence of the world. It is dependent on our thinking. Similarly, the separate individual arises as a result of our thinking. Thoughts, such as, “I am happy; I suffer; I enjoy etc.” too arise because of our knowing. It’s merely an assumption that we are the doers or experiencers. We are actually the Witnesses. We remain unaffected as an ‘onlooker.’ That Witness is the “Self.” And that is the “Knowingness.” That itself is Consciousness. That is the “intrinsic nature.” Let this be clearly understood.
Shankara contends that only “I,” the self-evident Knowingness can question others but not the other way round. “I” am is eternal. “I am” does not need any external proof. I exist in happiness, in misery, in birth, and even in death.
Birth, death, and life are an experience. These three are experienced by “I.” Birth does not take birth by itself, life does not live by itself, and death does not die by itself. These are phases or experiences. If they are experiences, there ought to be an ‘experiencer.’ The experiencer is the Self. It is the same as one’s intrinsic quality, Knowingness or Consciousness. It is forever existent.
We have from Gita:
आगमापायिनोऽनित्या: … | -- verse 14, Ch 2, Bhagavad-Gita.
[They come and go, they are
impermanent….]
Things keep appearing and
disappearing. Hence even happiness and misery keep changing. But “I am” does
not change. One may say that “I do not remember my existence before birth or
after death.” Yes, a memory record may not be available; but the beingness
cannot be denied. We cannot remember our childhood. We cannot recollect what we
did as a little lad or lass of 3-4 years, but as adults we cannot deny that we
were once 3-4 years old.
It is the Consciousness that appeared
in the form of infant, child, adolescent, adult and so on. It is the false
appearance (AbhAsa) of Consciousness.
False appearance is different from not being at all (abhAva). Consciousness was there in unmanifested form before birth
and after death. Presently It has a manifested form. Gita says,
अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत ।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥
-- verse 28, Ch 2, Bhagavad-Gita.
[Beings have their beginning unseen,
their middle seen, and their end unseen again. Why to lament over them.]
There is no regret if a manifested
thing continues to appear. The regret is about the unmanifested thing not
appearing or not being visible. We feel sad that we don’t know what we were
before birth; we feel scared about what happens to us after death. If one were
able to see all the past lives and the lives coming in the future, one would be
Ishwara; no more an individual (jIva).
That is why Krishna says:
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन ।
[Many births of Mine have passed, as
well as yours; all these I know; but you don’t, Arjuna.]
In Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna says that
both He and Arjuna passed through several lives. The difference is that Krishna
knows about them; but Arjuna doesn’t. The cycle of births affects not only a
human being, it also affects Lord Ishwara. Though the lives of the Lord are
called Avatars (directly descended from above), our birth does not differ from
His. It is so because, the brahman is
the indweller in all of us. When it is brahman
that resides in the body, where can a separate individual be within the body? Therefore,
it is He who took birth in this body. He came into the body knowingly; and he
leaves it knowingly. In contrast, the individual comes into the body
unknowingly and leaves the body unknowingly. Does this imply that there are two
types of occupants in the body?
The answer is “No.”
The “Individual” is a phase of
Ishwara. Ishwara who is in the stage of “unknowingness” of his births and
deaths is the individual (jIva). The
individual in the phase of “knowingness” is Ishwara. So it is not that there
are two types of entities. The difference is in knowing and not knowing. In
other words, Knowledge and ignorance are the differentiating factors.
Shankara called the state of knowing as
vidyA (Knowledge) and the state of
not knowing as avidyA (ignorance). In
the state of Knowledge, “what-is” is only the one Self in Its natural intrinsic
state. The same Self appears as the individual, the world, and Ishwara in the
state of ignorance. The appearance of the three is called as the fallacious
appearance. Therefore, we are now living in the state of false appearance. We
are not living in reality.
The variety of thoughts that appear to
one’s mind and the multiplicity of objects that appear before us are all false appearances.
Division of things into many makes the One appear as ‘particulars.’ Instead, if
the ‘Universal’ is viewed everywhere, that would be the basic substance, the
Oneness. It is like the gold being the one substance and the many ornaments its
appearances. The litmus test for this is “melting.” The multiple forms
disappear when they are melted. But the substance never disappears. Likewise,
the happiness and sorrow we experience and the relationships we have disappear
on melting (of names and forms, the false appearances of Consciousness). But
the “I am” never disappears.
For example, happiness dissolves
sorrow. Sorrow dissolves happiness. Thus they neutralize one another. Hence
their algebraic sum is finally zero. It shows that both are unreal. When there
are two things and each depends on the other for its existence, they are called
“unreal.” The unreal thing cannot exist by itself.
In short, all things that are relative
to one another are false. For example, a seed comes out of a tree. A tree comes
out of a seed. Therefore, both are false. They both depend on the soil. Soil is
the absolute here. It is neither the seed nor the tree. The soil does not
depend on the tree or the seed. Thus what exists by itself independently without
the need of a medium to know it is the absolute. But in this example, soil
cannot be the true absolute because it does not have knowingness. It is not
aware of its own existence. Soil cannot be the Self.
To be Absolute, two conditions need to
be satisfied: It must be formless and
must have consciousness or knowingness. For example:
Earth has a form, it is insentient.
Hence it is not the Self. So also the fundamental elements water and fire. They
have forms but no consciousness. They are not Self. Wind is mobile and does not
have consciousness, therefore it is also not the Self. ‘Space’ is formless. So
it fulfils one of the two conditions. It has beingness (sat). But it is not conscious (cit)
of its existence. So space too is not Self. Space cannot and does not know
about its beingness. It is we, as the knowers, who can certify about its
beingness. Hence knowingness is the only true means to knowledge. Beingness is
known through knowingness.
The combination of the knower and the
known is the merger of Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is auspiciousness, aliveness.
This aspect is symbolically represented in the temple in Chidambaram where
Shiva and Shakti are presented as empty space and darkness. One needs to
meditate deeply on this aspect of Shiva-Shakti.
इत्यात्मदेहभेदेन देहात्मत्वं निवारितम् ।
[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.]
The moment one considers the Self to be contracted to the body,
ego gets engendered. The ego is the sense of ‘me.’ Along with the ego, the
‘not-me’ also gets produced. The not-me
is the world which is referred as ‘mine.’ The world looks as though it is real.
Shankara impressed on us earlier in his teaching that the physical
body, subtle body, and the causal body as well as the world are the not-Self.
It was done to draw our attention to the Self through discrimination. Now he
integrates them all into the Self by saying that their “appearance” is false. Thus
he denies reality to the bodies and the world. Denying reality to any of them
would imply that merit or demerit, good or bad, birth or death will also have
no reality to them. In other words, all ‘That-IS’ is the Supreme Self, the only
One that exists.
In order to be able to see the Self, the Universal in all, one
should first know Its nature. For example, only after we know the nature of gold,
its presence can be recognized by us in all the ornaments made out of gold.
Once we understand the nature of the Self, we will recognize its presence in
all the objects.
चैतन्यस्यैकरूपत्वाद्भेदो युक्तो न कर्हिचित् ।
[No division in Consciousness is admissible at any time as It is
always one and the same. Even the ‘individual’ must be known as false, like the
illusion of a snake in a rope.]
Shankara tells us that the body is also Self. He indicates that what
is required is a change in our viewpoint. Whatever we saw earlier as the snake,
was actually a rope. The appearance of the snake is illusory, an AbhAsa. Similarly, the body which is
seen as flesh and bone is in reality Self. The mistaken viewpoint has to be amended.
What is seen as the wave, as the bubble, as the foam, as the
spume, as the spray and so on are all “water” only. Instead of seeing them to
be different, one has to notice the oneness of water in all of those forms. Likewise,
Consciousness is common in all. Consciousness is one in all. He equates the
Seer to be the seen. Only an Advaitin can make such a
bold statement as he claims - that the observed is the observer itself, matter
is the spirit itself, world is the Self itself.
Whatever is seen is itself the Self. It is wrong to differentiate
the world from the Self. It is also wrong to think “I am an individual.” Only
water exists really and not the wave. Similarly, what-IS is the Self only. It
is the Self that appears in the form of the individual.
If the water is seen as the non-existing wave, the wave is called
as a ‘Fallacious appearance’ (AbhAsa).
The wave has to be ‘sublated’ (apavAda) because it is incorrect
to think that the waveform is different from water. Seeing the wave as nothing
but water is ‘melting’ (pravilApana)
of the form. Thus we have first the Fallacious appearance which is sublated by
noting the subject-object non-difference and finally melted to dissolve the
form in order to see the real substance. These are the three stages in the
process of grasping the Reality.
रज्ज्वज्ञानात्क्षणेनैव यद्वद्रज्जुर्हि सर्पिणी ।
[As through the ignorance of the real nature of the rope the very
rope appears in an instant as a snake, so also does Pure Consciousness appear
in the form of the phenomenal universe without undergoing any change.]
Shankara beautifully integrates duality with non-duality, the non-self
with the Self. He says, because you did not know the nature of the rope, you mistook
it for a snake. Its appearance in the form of a snake does not vest in the
rope. It is you, the observer, who attributed the appearance of a snake on to
the snake.
If the basic substance is known, the appearance will not mislead
anyone. So it is the ignorance of the basic substrate that makes one see
different things. In an instant, it is possible to see all those different
things as the One Self, if we understand the nature of the substance they are
made up of. If the nature of Gold is not known, only then is one carried away
by the diversity of the ornaments. If Gold is cognized, all the ornaments will
be seen as Gold. Unable to cognize the Self, one feels that s/he is witnessing
his family and a world and not the Self.
It is the “Knowingness” which is appearing in the form of the
world. It is the Knowingness of Self that is taking the shape of wife/husband,
family, happiness/misery, natural hazards and other dangers. Therefore, there
is no need to complain if any problem or difficulty arises. Everything is the
form of brahman. That is the position
of an individual stabilized in Consciousness (sthita prajna).
उपादानं प्रपञ्चस्य ब्रह्मणोऽन्यन्न विद्यते ।
[There exists no other material cause of this phenomenal universe
except brahman. Hence this entire
universe is but brahman and nothing
else.]
A pot is made up of clay. The world is like the pot. Consciousness
of the Self is like the clay of the pot. Even looking at an inert entity like
the Himalaya Mountains, one should be able to cognize brahman in it. Don’t think of it as a heap of rocks and minerals. It
is the Supreme Self appearing in that form. It is Consciousness that is
appearing as the rock, the stone, the peak, and the slope. It is all
Consciousness. That is why it is “silent.” Silence is the quality of the
Supreme Self.
As human beings, we are losers because we lost the ability to be
silent. We keep talking. Talking is an affliction we have because of the mind.
If the man is able to remain silent with no movement in the mind or in thought
or speech, he would be the Self. Be like the Mountain. The Mountain attained
the Silence unknowingly. Man should attain that Silence knowingly. Remaining
silent unknowingly is the nature of the inert ‘space.’ Remaining silent
knowingly is the nature of Consciousness-space.
Shankara does not say that the Self is just the efficient cause (nimitta kAraNa) of
the world. If Self were to be merely the efficient cause, the effect would be
separate from the cause. He says the Self is also the material cause (upAdAna kAraNa). An
effect cannot exist apart from the material cause. The potter may be different
from the pot. But not the clay.
Thus, there is no other material that is at the root of the world.
The world is all brahman and nothing
else. There is no material with which a wave is made up of other than the
water. The water in the form of ocean supplied all the required stuff for the
wave to rise. So also it is Consciousness that provided the material for the
mountain to rise. It is the Beingness and the Knowingness swelling up in the
form of the mountain. It is the same Beingness-Knowingness occurring as the big
Pacific Ocean. It is the same rising that appears as a line of trees. It is
Knowingness-Beingness rotating like a ball around itself that is the globe
earth. Every one of them is the Beingness-Knowingness, from dimensionless point
to linear shaped objects to 2-D surfaces and 3-D objects. It is the wheel of samsAra – the cycle of births and
deaths. So it’s all brahman and there
is nothing else, as the Mahavakyas say:
सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म …|
-- III
– xiv – 1, chAndogya
upa.
[This
entirety is brahman only.]
अयमात्मा ब्रह्म .. |
--
I – 2, mANDUkya upa.
[The
individual is brahman.]
प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म ॥
-- III – v – 3, aitareya upa.
[brahman is Consciousness and not
insentient.]
अहं ब्रह्मास्मीति |
-- I – iv – 10, brihadAraNyaka.
[I
am brahman.]
The
above major declarations of the Upanishads encapsulate the Advaita
jnAna
(Non-dual Knowledge). Contemplation on them, particularly the last one, is
itself a very good exercise in assimilating Self-Knowledge.
Thus
is the teaching of Shankara.
There is an advantage in knowing the difference between a fallacious appearance and the Reality. The fallacious appearances may be forgotten, but we never lose the Reality. The moment the Reality is realized, the apparitions disappear.
Once you have the knowledge of the rope, the misapprehension of the snake goes away. In the same way, the world ceases to exist on the attainment of Self-knowledge.
व्याप्यव्यापकता मिथ्या सर्वमात्मेति शासनात् ।
[shruti declares
that “All this is brahman.” It
follows from that that the idea of the pervaded and pervading is illusory. This
Supreme Truth being realized, where is the room for any distinction between the
cause and effect?]
When the scripture itself declares that everything is the Self, there is no question of one thing permeating another thing. When all ‘That-is’ is Self, it is meaningless to claim that one thing is imperfect and another thing is perfect, and then add that the perfect pervades the imperfect.
Once it is said that ocean is all water, why speak of the wave being pervaded by the water? The Absolute is all pervading, there is no scope for the relative to exist. When all That-is is the seer, there is no scope for the seen to be present.
If the nature of Self is understood as stated above, there is no question of any “difference” amongst things. When every one of the ornaments is shining with the luster of gold, there is no ‘difference’ between different ornaments. The ornaments look different if they are not seen from the angle of gold. All the differences disappear from the perspective of gold.
There can be innumerable ornaments; but gold is one. There can be any number of appearances; but the Reality is One. Such an unwavering position is the Advaitic Steadiness (niShTha) following the Advaitic worldview (dRiShTi).
श्रुत्या निवारितं नूनं नानात्वं स्वमुखेन हि ।
[Certainly the shruti has directly denied the manifoldness in brahman. The Non-dual cause being an established fact, how could the phenomenal world be different from It?]
The Vedas clearly pronounce that there is One only and there are not many. There are no different things here. There is a common substance inside all those which seemingly appear to be different. Pay attention to that ‘Universal’ and grasp it. If the ornaments are seen separately, there are differences between them. But if they are all seen as gold, they are all one.
Two substances cannot exist together at the same time at the same place. It is an important principle which has to be deeply contemplated upon. Either the Self has to be there or the world. But both together cannot be at one place at the same time. If they appear together, one has to be real and the other has to be unreal. What we may consider to be unreal is not non-existent because we experience it. Therefore, we have to conclude that whatever is real is itself appearing in a different form. Hence, we may call it as a false appearance.
Summing up, we may say that the entire world is the false appearance of the Supreme Self.
दोषोऽपि विहितः श्रुत्या मृत्योर्मृत्युं स गच्छति ।
[Moreover, the shruti has condemned (the belief in multiplicity) with the words, “The person who sees variety in this, goes from death to death to death.]
Whoever sees multiplicity will be falling into the cycle of
repeated births and deaths. Every
one of us, as human beings, is subject to mAyA.
It is this mAyA that forces us to see
multiplicity where there is only Oneness. A human being suffers as a result of
this inability to see the Oneness. His vison always shows division. There is
division inside himself in the form of continuous thoughts, and he sees
division outside in conformity. This
results in bondage. If there is Oneness inside, he will see Oneness outside too.
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन ।
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् ॥
--
verse 41, Ch 2, Bhagavad-Gita.
[Arjuna, there is one thought of a resolute nature. Many-branched and endless are the thoughts of the irresolute.]
Krishna says in Gita that there should be only one determined thought. If innumerable thoughts arise inside, one will see multiplicity outside. Multiplicity is a disease. When thought is one and the nature is one, it becomes the samAdhi state. One either is at ease in samAdhi or is afflicted by disease.
ब्रह्मणः सर्वभूतानि जायन्ते परमात्मनः ।
[Inasmuch as all the beings are born of brahman, the Supreme Self, they must be understood to be verily brahman.]
A question now arises. How does one say that all That-is is brahman?
In order to answer the above, “superimposition,” a technique of the Advaita
ashtAnga
yoga, is used. Superimposition is to imagine a thing to exist while it does not
actually exist. Sublation is to eliminate the false imagination. What does not actually
exist is the world; but we imagine it to be real. What really exists is brahman alone.
We say that all this is brahman because everything is born from it. The Supreme Self is brahman. We say that pot is clay because it comes out of clay. We hold the wave to be water because it comes out of water. Likewise, whatever is born of brahman has to be brahman.
Saying that it is born out of brahman is superimposition. To say, therefore, it is brahman is sublation.
यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । येन जातानि जीवन्ति । यत्प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति । तद्विजिज्ञासस्व । तद्ब्रह्मेति । --
taittirIya Upanishad, Bhriguvalli, anuvAka 1, mantra 1.
[Know that from which all beings take birth, that which they live by after being born, and toward which they move and they finally merge into. That is brahman.]
That from which all beings are generated, because of which they live, and ultimately travel towards and merge into, because of which the creation, sustenance, and dissolution take place, that alone Is. Nothing else exists. The same thing is conveyed by the second aphorism of brahma sUtra-s.
जन्माद्यस्य यतः ॥ -- aphorism 2, brahma sUtra-s.
[From which the origin etc. (sustenance and
dissolution) of the world (happens).]
All things are taking birth from “That.” Therefore, they are all That only.
ब्रह्मैव सर्वनामानि रूपाणि विविधानि च ।
[The shruti has clearly said that brahman alone is the substratum of all variety of names, forms and actions.]
“brahman” is the support for all. It keeps the names and forms close to Itself. For example, the name and form of a wave is close to the water in the ocean. The name and form of a necklace are close to gold. The name and form vest in the substratum. The name and shape of the wave were potentially within the ocean water and got expressed when they manifested. The name and form of the necklace were within the gold and got expressed when they manifested. As long as they were latent, they were unmanifest. When they are expressed, they get manifested.
Names and forms are concealed during the dissolution phase and are expressed in the creation phase. When the latency and expression happen on their own, it is of no use for us. The one who controls them is Ishwara. In other words, by exerting control over the power of mAyA, Ishwara manifests or dissolves names and forms. If the individual can do the same, i.e., manifest and dissolve names and forms on his own free will, he will be Ishwara.
It is like the magician who has the skill to produce magic. He has the power of magic that we don’t have. So all we can do is watch while he performs his magic. We will not be able to decipher his acts. He can cast a spell and also fold it back at his will.
Ishwara has the magic power. Hence he is a magician. We are not.
If he teaches us that knowledge and we are able to grasp it, we
will also be magicians, at the same level as him. We are able to live because
of his grace. If he decides on implosion, he can end everything. We have no control.
All things happen because of Ishwara’s intention.
Intentions originate when there is “knowledge.” It cannot be partial knowledge.
It has to be omniscience. The one who is omniscient is the Supreme Self.
Therefore, the Supreme Self comprises all names, forms, and
actions. The cycle of births is none other than the names, forms, and actions.
What bears those three is brahman. If
we are able to grasp brahman, we ourselves
will be able to support the three. We ourselves, on our own, can then be the
cause for the evolution or involution of the universe. We will no longer be helpless
spectators of whatever happens.
It does not mean, however, that there will be multiple number of brahman-s if each of us is brahman. There will be only one brahman because brahman has no form. All brahman-s
will merge into that One formlessness. And formlessness implies omnipresence –
all-pervasiveness. There cannot be more than one all-pervasive formless entity.
More than one entity can come into existence only when there is a form and
limited spread. Therefore, individuals are many. But the Supreme Self is One.
If a thing is complete and perfect, there is no scope for
multiplicity. The scripture also declares that all that is, is complete and
perfect. It does not say that one thing is complete and another is not, as can
be seen in the following mantra:
पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ --
IshAvAsya upaniShad, shukla yajurveda.
[That is perfect, This is Perfect. When perfection is taken from
the perfection, Perfect alone remains.]
सुवर्णाज्जायमानस्य सुवर्णत्वं च शाश्वतम् ।
[Just as a thing made of gold has ever the nature of gold, the
thing being born of brahman has also
likewise the nature of brahman.]
The ornaments that are made from gold are gold only. They stay
forever as gold. They would not be permanent as ornaments. That is the
difference between the ‘appearance’ and the Reality. As long as we remain as
ornaments, we cannot escape from the cycle of birth and death. So we should
remain as Consciousness, the “Reality” which
is our true nature.
Shankara tells us how to practice this. Right at the time of
perceiving the apparent world, the perceiver (seer) should perceive himself and
the world as the Reality. By taking a stand as Consciousness, the perceiver loses
the feeling of “I am an individual” and becomes the Reality. By taking the
position that all that is seen is reality, the entire world loses its names and
forms and becomes a featureless smear of space. The Perceiver will be
Consciousness and the world will be Beingness, and together they will be Consciousness-space.
The Sanskrit word “lingam”
stands for a symbol. There is a temple in South India by the name “Cidambaram” which is a combination of ‘cit’ (Consciousness) and ‘ambaram’ (space).
It symbolizes open conscious-space. There is no idol in the shrine. The “Seeing”
itself is all that exists. The temple Ramesawaram symbolizes the element ‘Earth.’ The temple in Srisailam represents the element ‘Water.’ The temple in Varansai represents the element ‘Fire.’ The temple in Kalahasti stands for the element ‘Air.’
The idea behind these symbolical representations is to lead our minds
from the gross visible world to subtler and subtler levels, and finally to the
Supreme Self where name, form, and action do not exist and nothing is
‘visible.’ Thus they try to convey the Advaitic truth.
Shankara explains, using the techniques of superimposition and
sublation, in the verse 51 that the world is none other than brahman. It is superimposition to say
that the world originated from brahman.
Establishing that the world is the same as brahman
is sublation.
स्वल्पमप्यन्तरं कृत्वा जीवात्मपरमात्मनोः ।
[Fear grips the ignorant one who makes even the slightest
distinction between the individual self and the Supreme Self.]
A taittirIya
mantra is used in the above verse. The mantra says:
यदा
ह्येवैष एतस्मिन्नुदरमन्तरं कुरुते । अथ तस्य भयं भवति । --
II-vii-1, taittirIya upa.
[Whenever the aspirant creates the slightest difference in It, he
is smitten with fear.]
Shankara cautions us against making even the slightest of
difference between Ishwara and the individual. He calls the person who makes
such differentiation a fool. If we perceive Ishwara as different, we will
naturally be scared. The Upanishad explains that the reason for the fear about
anything is our idea that it is different from us. When one is able to look at
the other with a feeling of non-difference, no fear engenders.
If we are able to see that “the entire world is myself and Ishwara
is also myself,” we will feel immensely happy. The important point that this
verse makes is that not even an iota of difference should be made. Even a
minute difference could cause a lot of fear. If we focus the illumination of
knowledge on names and forms, all fear will dissolve.
यत्राज्ञानाद्भवेद्द्वैतमितरस्तत्र पश्यति ।
[When duality appears through ignorance, one sees another; when
everything becomes identified with the Self, one does not perceive another even
in the least.]
Seeing the trio - the individual, the world, and Ishwara - is
duality. The duality arises from nescience. Because the duality has its origins
in ignorance, even Ishwara is ignorance. Therefore, to think of the world is
ignorance. To think of Ishwara is ignorance.
यत्र हि द्वैतमिव भवति तदितर इतरं जिघ्रति तदितर इतरं पश्यति तदितर इतरं शृणोति …|
-- II– iv –14, brihadAraNyaka upa.
[When there is duality, as it were, then one smells something, one
sees something, one hears something, …]
As the Upanishad says, as long as there is duality, one keeps on seeing
other things, smelling other things, hearing other things. The subject-object
differentiation takes place.
… सर्वमात्मैवाभूत्तत्केन कं पश्येत्तत्केन कं जिघ्रेत्तत्केन कं रसयेत्तत्केन कमभिवदेत्तत्केन कं शृणुयात्तत्केन कं मन्वीत …| -- IV–v –15, brihadAraNyaka upa.
[… when to the knower of Brahman everything has become the Self,
then what should one see and through what, what should one smell and through what,
what should one taste and through what, what should one speak and through what,
what should one hear and through what, what should one think …]
It was already mentioned that duality arises because of ignorance.
Likewise, the subject-object difference as the observer and the observed or the
triad of observer-observing-observed also arises because of ignorance. It is
the ignorance of the fact that what-IS is Beingness only everywhere. The same
one Beingness appears as the observer, the observing, and the observed. One can
say that the Beingness appears as though split into the
observer-observed-observing much like what happens when a large picture is viewed
through three small windows. I know that the three views are there because all of them exist.
Because I am, I know them to exist; because there is knowingness, I am able to
know; because there is an object to be known, I am able to see it. Thus we can
see that the Beingness pervades the three – the observer-observing-observed.
Not only Beingness, even Knowingness is pervading all the three. Otherwise they
may not have been known. In other words, the Supreme Self, another name for
Beingness-Knowingness, is everywhere and all the names and forms are the
Supreme brahman. One should constantly
meditate and reflect on this truth. That itself is an adequate method of
inquiry into Truth.
यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतानि ह्यात्मत्वेन विजानतः ।
[When one realizes all as identified with the Self, neither delusion nor sorrow will arise because of the absence of duality.]
To the one to whom all creatures appear as the Self, where is delusion or misery?
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥ -- 7, IshAvAsya upa.
[Where is the delusion, where is the sorrow once the Oneness is realized?]
When everything is seen as One, it is Perfect vision. It is not ignorance anymore. Because all is One, there is no scope for sorrow. Sorrow can arise only if there are two: one who feels the sorrow and the thing that causes sorrow. Duality produces happiness and sorrow. Happiness and unhappiness do not exist in Non-duality.
अयमात्मा हि ब्रह्मैव सर्वात्मकतया स्थितः ।
[birhadAraNyaka upaniShad declared that this Atma, which is the Self of all, is verily brahman.]
Only a Non-dualist can announce so courageously that every individual is brahman. No other philosophy can say so.
अयमात्मा ब्रह्म … | -- mantra 2, mANDUkya upa; II-v-19, birhadAraNyaka upa.
[This Atma is brahman.]
If one feels that he is the Self in all, then he will be the Self in all. If he thinks that he is the self of only one body-mind, obviously then he will not be the Self of all other body-minds. If the pot-space imagines that it is confined to that specific pot, it will see a difference between its space and the space in the other pots. It will always feel separate from the open-space. If the pot-space breaks from the confines of the pot, it will see itself in the other pots and it will also feel the oneness with the open-space. That is equivalent to saying “I am brahman.”
अनुभूतोऽप्ययं लोको व्यवहारक्षमोऽपि सन् |
[This world, though an object of our daily experience, and serving all practical purposes, is like the dream world, of the nature of non-existence, because it is contradicted the next moment.]
The teaching says that the world is nothing but beingness-knowingness. But we see it full of particulars, distinct things. We are able to transact with them.
The biggest question in everyone’s mind is applying the doctrine of Non-duality in one’s life. Many doubt if it is merely an intellectual theory or has practical value to it.
Shankara asserts that, although the world appears to be experienced by us and we are transacting with it, it is unreal. He compares it to the dream world where we also do transactions, experience happiness, sorrow, and so on. But we know they do not exist on waking up from the dream. The awake world too disappears, just like the dream world.
Our own life seems like a cinema. All our past experiences, relationships, achievements, acquisitions are not here today. What is happening now is not there the next moment. Yesterday is the dream of today. Tomorrow is the deep sleep. Today is the awake world. Tomorrow becomes today and today becomes yesterday. The future becomes present and the present becomes the past. The present feels as though it is a fleeting moment compressed between the past and the present. Does this not appear like a dream?
स्वप्नो जागरणेऽलीकः स्वप्नेऽपि जागरो न हि ।
[The dream experience is unreal in waking, whereas the waking experience is absent in dream. Both are non-existent in deep sleep which again, is not experienced in either.]
Last night’s dream is not real in awake state. The awake state is unreal in tonight’s dream. Both of these become untrue in deep sleep. Deep sleep does not exist in the other two states. Therefore, all the three states are unreal.
त्रयमेवं भवेन्मिथ्या गुणत्रयविनिर्मितम् ।
[All the three states are unreal as they are the creation of the three guNa-s. But their witness is beyond all the guNa-s, eternal and is Consciousness Itself.]
The three states of consciousness are illusory because they comprise the three guNa-s – satva, rajas, and tamas. Wherever the three guNa-s exist, that cannot be real. Space, time, objects, body, life-force, mind etc. are made up of the three guNa-s. The only thing that is real is that which transcends the three guNa-s, that which is free of all qualities. That is the Supreme Self. This is the message we get from Bhagavad-Gita too.
Because the world is composed of the three guNa-s, it is unreal. However, the “knowing” of the world transcends the three guNa-s. Consciousness or brahman is free of the three qualities. The three qualities (guNa-s) divide things. There cannot be a division in Consciousness. Consciousness is formless, all-pervading, and is the Self of all.
यद्वन्मृदि घटभ्रान्तिं शुक्तौ वा रजतस्थितिम् ।
[Just as (after the illusion is gone) one is no more deluded to see a jar in clay or silver in nacre, so does one no more see the individual in brahman when brahman is realized.]
While looking at clay, one can imagine it to be a pot. While looking at nacre, one can mistake it for silver. Similarly, while looking at the Self, one mistakenly sees it as an individual. The individual is untrue and brahman is the Reality.
The individual and the world, names and forms, are costumes worn by brahman.
यथा मृदि घटो नाम कनके कुण्डलाभिधा ।
[Just as clay is described as a pot, gold as an ear ring, and nacre as silver, so is brahman described as the individual.]
The pot is latent in clay. A pot appears when it is made from clay; ornaments appear when they are made from gold. The appearance of silver is concealed in nacre. Likewise, the individual is concealed in the Self, and when it manifests, it is called an individual.
यथैव व्योम्नि नीलत्वं यथा नीरं मरुस्थले ।
[Just as blueness in the sky, water in the mirage and a human figure in a post (are illusory), so is the world in brahman.]
After proving that the individual is a false appearance, Sankara establishes the nature of the world. Just like how we see the blue color in the sky, water in a mirage, and mistake a post for a man (under dim light), similarly, having not known brahman, we see names and forms.
यथैव शून्ये वेतालो गन्धर्वाणां पुरं यथा ।
[Just as the appearance of a ghost in an empty place, of a castle in the air, and a second moon in the sky, so is the appearance of the world in brahman.]
The condition of the world is like seeing ghosts in empty place. One’s own fear appears as ghost, though there are actually no ghosts. A magician may create a castle in empty space. But that castle does not really exist. One may see double moon under defective eye vision. Similar is the case of the appearance of multiplicity in the One Universal.
यथा तरङ्गकल्लोलैर्जलमेव स्फुरत्यलम् ।
[Just as it is water that appears as ripples and waves, or it is copper that appears in the form of a vessel, so it is the Self that appears as the entire world.]
Shankara first established that the world is unreal. Now he says that the world is a false appearance. Only a thing that has existence is real. But the real is not perceivable. Therefore, anything which appears cannot be real. A real thing may have a false appearance.
Imagine yourself on a beach. What exists in front of you is actually
water; but what you see are the waves which appear and disappear. The beingness
of water is real. But its appearance as waves is unreal. Hence, we may say that what is seen is only a
false appearance.
The copper appears in the form of a vessel. The moment it takes the form of a vessel, the copper gets a finite shape and a definite name. It now gives scope for transaction – one can fill it with water or something else. The interactions we have with our life-partner, family, society etc. are also transactions.
घटनाम्ना
यथा
पृथ्वी
पटनाम्ना
हि
तन्तवः
।
[Just as it is the clay under the name of a pot, or it is the threads that appear in the name of cloth, so it is the Self that appears in the name of the world. It is this Self which has to be known by negating the names.]
Giving us various examples from our daily life, Shankara impresses on us to change our worldview. Instead of perceiving the transactional unreal names and forms, he asks us to notice the Reality. We are accustomed to a particular way of perception. We have to intentionally change our outlook. A drunkard feels that he would die without liquor. It requires a strong determination on his part to change his habit. So also is our case. We are so habituated to dealing with the apparent world that we miss the Reality. Poet-philosopher Bhartrihari says:
पीत्वा
मोहमयीं
प्रमादमदिरां
उन्मत्तभूतं
जगत्
| -- verse 43, vairAgya shatakaM, Bhartrihari.
[The world has become mad by drinking the stupefying wine of
delusion.]
Bhartrihari said that everyone in the world had become mad by drinking
the wine of forgetfulness. We behave as though we are inebriated. A Guru comes
along and warns that we will sink deeper into the cycle of birth and death
unless we come out of intoxication. He advises us to shift our perception from
looking at the particulars to seeing the Reality which is right here. We then
begin a new way of perception. As we cultivate more and more of the new
outlook, the old habits wear of.
Shankara gives a significant instruction. He says, “Instead of
seeing it as a pot, learn to look at it as clay. It is clay that is appearing
as pot; it is the threads appearing in the form of a cloth; it is Consciousness
that is appearing in the form of the world. Remove the names and forms. See the
world as the Supreme Self. Consider the names and forms as the name and form of
the Self.”
In the next few verses, Shankara resorts to the technique of
Melting (pravilApana).
सर्वोऽपि
व्यवहारस्तु
ब्रह्मणा
क्रियते
जनैः
।
[People perform all their actions in and through brahma (but they are not aware of that due to ignorance), just as, due to ignorance, persons do not know that all pots and pans are nothing but clay.]
Whatever you transact or interact with, it is happening always with brahman. Talking to your spouse is talking to the Supreme Self who appears in that form at that moment. We may be wearing a necklace on our neck; but actually we are wearing Gold. It doesn’t matter that it has the shape of a necklace at that time. It’s not the ring you have on your finger. It is gold in that form. So what is needed is a change in the outlook.
Though it is brahman appearing as your partner in front of you, your mind perceives it as wife or husband, and not the Self.
कार्यकारणता
नित्यमास्ते
घटमृदोर्यथा
।
[Just as there ever exists the relation of cause and effect between the clay and the pot, so does the same relation exist between brahman and the phenomenal world. This has been established through reason and scripture.]
Names for cause and effect are invented by us. We think of clay as the cause and pot as the effect. Neither the pot nor the clay themselves ever announce that. Cause and effect are not separate. That is the Advaita perspective. When you cognize a pot, take it to be clay. If you cognize forms, the clay becomes many – the pot, the cup, the plate, the pan etc. If we look at them as clay, there is no difference; all of them are clay. Likewise, contemplate everything to be brahman, not as distinct objects.
गृह्यमाणे
घटे
यद्वन्मृत्तिकाऽऽभाति
वै
बलात्
।
[Just as the knowledge of clay forces itself upon our mind while thinking of a pot, so also does the idea of ever-shining brahman flash on us while thinking of the phenomenal world.]
Even if we do not notice it, the clay draws our attention strongly towards itself. When we see the pot, we are in fact only seeing the clay. Whether we notice it or not, it is the clay that is actually there.
Whatever we may be looking at, all that really exists is Beingness and Knowingness. Even when we look at a thing as a ‘particular,’ what we are truly looking at are Beingness and Knowingness. Similarly when we’re looking at the world, what we are seeing is brahman only.
सदैवात्मा
विशुद्धोऽपि
ह्यशुद्धो
भाति
वै
सदा
।
[Self, though ever pure, always appears to be impure, just as a rope always appears in two different ways to a knowledgeable person and an ignorant one.]
We are actually looking at the pure brahman but we cognize it as the impure world. It appears as though the same rope appears as two – as a rope for some and as a snake for some others. The one who sees the rope is the Knower. The one who sees the snake is the ignorant one. Similarly, the One brahman appears as brahman to the Knower and as the world to the ignorant one.
These verses must be repeatedly and deeply meditated upon in order to directly and experientially realize brahman.
Even our body is brahman. From a dualistic point of view, the body may be considered a collection of flesh, blood, and bones. But from the Advaitic point of view, it is brahman. Just as the pot is pervaded by clay, the body is pervaded by brahman (Knowingness).
Shankara himself taught us earlier that the body is impure and perishable. But here he presents the Advaitic view. Everything depends on the view one takes. If everything is seen from the angle of Consciousness, then all is Consciousness.
Jesus Christ may have said that the body comes from dust and goes back to dust. That is true from a dualistic point of view; but not so from the Advaitic viewpoint. If you perceive the world as brahman, then everything is brahman. Even dust is brahman.
यथैव
मृण्मयः
कुंभस्तद्वद्देहोऽपि
चिन्मयः
।
[Just as a pot is all clay, so also is the body consciousness. The division, therefore, into the Self and non-Self is made by the ignorant to no purpose.]
Just like the pot is all clay, our body is all Consciousness. Only the ignorant speak of the difference between the Self and not-Self.
Initially, we were taught to distinguish the Self from not-Self. Now the teaching says that there are no two different things. It’s all Self and nothing else. Because we were unaware of the fact that what is all is Self only, we were told to make a distinction between the two at the beginning. We first do analysis and then arrive at synthesis. The process involves first recognizing the Self clearly, and then cognizing the not-Self also as the Self.
सर्पत्वेन
यथा
रज्जू
रजतत्वेन
शुक्तिका
।
[Just as a rope is imagined to be a snake and nacre to be a piece of silver, so is the Self determined to be the body by an ignorant person.]
The ignorant one considers the rope as snake; likewise the ignorant one thinks that Consciousness is body. If one is a Knower, he would see the body also to be the Self.
Self-Knowledge is to be able to see the body also as Consciousness. It is ignorance to think of the Self as the body. If one speaks of the body as impure, does not exist and so on, it can be safely said that she or he has not yet understood the Advaitic message.
घटत्वेन
यथा
पृथ्वी
पटत्वेनैव
तन्तवः
।
[Just as clay is thought of as a pot, and threads as cloth, so is the Self determined to be the body by an ignorant person.]
We are looking at the clay as though it is a pot. We are looking at the Self as though it is the world. We look at the threads but take it to be a cloth. Likewise, the ignorant sees the Self as the body.
कनकं
कुण्डलत्वेन
तरङ्गत्वेन
वै
जलम्
।
[Just as gold is thought of as an ear stud and water as waves, so is the Self determined to be the body by an ignorant person.]
Seeing brahman as the body is like seeing the gold as limited to an ear stud or water as limited to a wave.