The holy trinity of nonduality is atman, brahman, and maya, oh my.
Consciousness, existence, and the bliss of limitlessness are not three but the incalculable nature of brahman triangulated.
And waking, dreaming, and deep sleep are three states of consciousness appearing in the so-called fourth, turiyam
translation by Prabhavananda / Isherwood (edited):
Wrapped in its five coverings, beginning with the physical, which are the products of its own Maya, the Atman remains hidden, as the water of a pond is hidden by a veil of scum.
When the scum is removed, the pure water is clearly seen. It takes away a man's thirst, cools him immediately and makes him happy.
When all the five coverings are removed, the pure Atman is revealed. It is revealed as God dwelling within; as unending, unalloyed bliss; as the supreme and self-luminous Being.
The wise man who seeks liberation from bondage must discriminate between Atman and non-Atman. In this way, he can realize the Atman, which is Infinite Being, Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Love. Thus he finds happiness.
The Atman dwells within, free from attachment and beyond all action. A man must separate this Atman from every object of experience, as a stalk of grass is separated from its enveloping sheath. Then he must dissolve into the Atman all those appearances which make up the world of name and form. He is indeed a free soul who can remain thus absorbed in the Atman alone.
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This body is the "physical covering". Food made its birth possible; on food it lives; without food it must die. It consists of cuticle, skin, flesh, blood, bone and water. It cannot be the Atman, the ever-pure, the self-existent.
It did not exist before birth, it will not exist after death. It exists for a short while only, in the interim between them. Its very nature is transient, and subject to change. It is a compound, not an element. Its vitality is only a reflection. It is a sense-object, which can be perceived, like a jar. How can it be the Atman-the experiencer of all experiences?
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THAT covering of the Atman which is called "the vital covering" is made up of the vital force and the five organs of action. The body is called "the physical covering". It comes to life when it is enveloped by the vital covering. It is thus that the body engages in action.
This vital covering is not the Atman-for it is merely composed of the vital airs. Air-like, it enters and leaves the body. It does not know what is good or bad for itself, or for others. It is always dependent upon the Atman.
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THE mind, together with the organs of perception, forms the "mental covering". It causes the sense of "I" and "mine". It also causes us to discern objects. It is endowed with the power and faculty of differentiating objects by giving them various names. It is manifest, enveloping the "vital covering"
The mental covering may be compared to the sacrificial fire. It is fed by the fuel of many desires. The five organs of perception serve as priests. Objects of desire are poured upon it like a continous stream of oblations. Thus it is that this phenomenal universe is brought forth.
Ignorance is nowhere, except in the mind. The mind is filled with ignorance, and this causes the bondage of birth and death. When, in the enlightenment of the Atman, a man transcends the mind, the phenomenal universe disappears from him. When a man lives in the domain of mental ignorance, the phenomenal universe exists for him.
In dream, the mind is emptied of the objective universe, but it creates by its own power a complete universe of subject and object. The waking state is only a prolonged dream. The phenomenal universe exists in the mind.
In dreamless sleep, when the mind does not function, nothing exists. This is our universal experience. Man seems to be in bondage to birth and death. This is a fictitious creation of the mind, not a reality.
The wind collects the clouds, and the wind drives them away again. Mind creates bondage, and mind also removes bondage.
The mind creates attachment to the body and the things of this world. Thus it binds a man, as a beast is tied by a rope. But it is also the mind which creates in a man an utter distaste for sense-objects, as if for poison. Thus it frees him from his bondage.
The mind, therefore, is the cause of man's bondage dage and also of his liberation. It causes bondage when it is darkened by rajas. It causes liberation when it is freed from rajas and tamas, and made pure...
The "mental covering", therefore, cannot be the Atman. It has a beginning and an end, and is subject to change. It is the abode of pain. It is an object of experience. The seer cannot be the thing which is seen.
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THE discriminating faculty with its powers of intelligence, together with the organs of perception, is known as the "covering of intellect". To be the doer is its distinguishing characteristic. It is the cause of man's birth, death and rebirth.
The power of intelligence that is in the "covering of intellect" is a reflection of the Atman, the pure consciousness. The "covering of intellect" is an effect of Maya. It possesses the faculty of knowing and acting. It always identifies itself entirely with the body, sense-organs, etc.
It has no beginning. It is characterized by its sense of ego. It constitutes the individual man. It is the initiator of all actions and undertakings. The states of waking and dreaming belong to this "covering of intellect". It experiences joy and sorrow.
Because of its sense of "I" and "mine", it constantly identifies itself with the body, and the physical states, and with the duties pertaining to the different stages and orders of life.
This "covering of intellect" shines with a bright light because of its proximity to the shining Atman. It is a garment of the Atman, but man identifies himself with it and wanders around the circle of birth, death and rebirth because of his delusion.
The Atman, which is pure consciousness, is the light that shines in the shrine of the heart, the center of all vital force. It is immutable, but it becomes the "doer" and "experiencer" when it is mistakenly identified with the "covering of intellect".
The Atman assumes the limitations of the "covering of intellect" because it is mistakenly identified with that covering, which is totally different from itself.
This man, who is the Atman, regards himself as being separate from it, and from Brahman, who is the one Atman in all creatures. An ignorant man, likewise, may regard a jar as being different from the clay of which it was made.
By its nature, the Atman is forever unchanging and perfect. But it assumes the character and nature of its coverings because it is mistakenly identified with them. Although fire is formless, it will assume the form of red-hot iron.
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THE "covering of bliss"' is that covering of the Atman which catches a reflection of the blissful Atman itself. Nevertheless, this covering is a creation tion of our ignorance. Its nature consists of the various degrees of happiness which are experienced when a desired object is gained. Its blissful nature is spontaneously felt by righteous men when they reap the reward of their good deeds. It expresses that joy which all living beings may experience without making any effort towards it.
The "covering of bliss" is fully revealed to us in the state of deep sleep. It is partially revealed in the waking and the dreaming states, when any desirable object is being enjoyed.
This "covering of bliss" cannot be the Atman, for the following reasons: it has limitations; it is an effect of Maya; its joyful nature is experienced as the result of good deeds; it is of the same kind as the other coverings, which are all products of Maya.
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IF WE reason and meditate on the truth of the scriptures, transcending all the five coverings of ignorance, we realize the ultimate Existence-which which is the Atman, the witness, the infinite consciousness.
The Atman is self-luminous, distinct from the five coverings. It is the witness of the three states of consciousness. It is existence, changeless, pure, ever-blissful. It is to be realized by the man of discrimination as the Atman within himself.
Verses II. i. 3. to II. v. 2. describe the five sheaths which constitute the embodied creature. They are the sheaths of food or matter, the prana or vital breath, the mind, the intellect, and bliss-arranged in telescopic manner, one inside another. The outer derives its reality from the inner. Brahman is the innermost reality; It is untouched by any of the sheaths, but is the unrelated ground of all. The physical sheath cannot function without being energized by the sheath of the prana, or vital breath; the mind directs the prana, and the intellect controls the mind; the intellect is dependent upon bliss.
~Nikhilananda
II.
i.
1. Om, the knower of Brahman attains the Supreme. With reference to that, is the following hymn recited: Brahman is the Truth, Knowledge and Infinity. He who knows It as existing in the cave of the heart in the transcendent ākāśa, realises all his desires along with omniscient Brahman.
2. From that (which is) this Ᾱtman, is space born; from ākāśa, air; from air, fire; from fire, water; from water, earth; from earth, herbs; from herbs, food; and from food, man.
3. He indeed is this man consisting of the essence of food. This is his head. This is his right wing. This is his left wing (side). This is his trunk. This is the hind part forming his support and foundation. About this also is the following Vaidika verse.
ii.
1. All beings that exist on earth are born of food. They, thereafter, live by food; again, they ultimately go back to it and merge to become food. So, verily, food is the eldest of all the creatures. On that ground it is called the medicament for all. Those who meditate on Brahman as food, indeed obtain all food. From food all beings are born, having been born, they grow by (consuming) food. Food is that which is eaten by the beings and also that which in the end eats them; therefore, food is called annam.
2. Other than that (soul) made up of the essence of food there is an inner soul (sheath) made of the prāṇa. With it this is filled. This (prāṇamaya) is of the same form as the previous. Its human form is exactly as the human form of the former. Of that, prāṇa is the head, vyāna is the right side, apāna the left side, ākāśa is the trunk, earth is the tail or the support. About this also there is the following Vaidika verse.
iii.
1. Through prāṇa, the gods (indriyas) live and so also do men and the animal kingdom. Prāṇa is verily the life of beings. Therefore, it is called the universal life or the life of all. Those who meditate on Brahman as prāṇa come to live the full span of their life. Prāṇa verily is the life of beings. Therefore, it is called universal life or the life of all.
2. Of that former (annamaya), this prāṇamaya is the ātman. Different from this prāṇamaya – self made up of the prāṇas, there is another self constituted of the mind. With that self made of mind, the prāṇamaya is full. This also is of the form of man. Its human form is according to that of the former. Of it, Yajus is the head, Ṛk is the right side, Sāman is the left side, the scriptural injunction (ādeśa) is the trunk and the group of hymns of Atharva-vada is the tail and the support. There is the following Vaidika verse about it.
iv.
1. Whence all the speech turns back with the mind without reaching It (the eternal Truth, the Brahman), He who knows the bliss of eternal Truth, the Brahman, fears not at any time. This mind is the embodied soul of the prāṇamaya. Of this (prāṇamaya) the manomaya is the Self.
2. Different from that made up of mind (manas) is another inner soul made up of intelligence (vijñāna) and by that this (manomaya- self) is filled. It also has the shape of man. According to the human shape of the previous, is the human shape of this one. Faith (śraddhā) is its head, righteousness (ṛtam) its right side, truth (satyam) its left side, yoga is the trunk and total intellect (mahaḥ) is the tail and the support. There is this following Vaidika verse about it.
v.
1. Knowledge performs the sacrifices and it is the real agent of all the physical activities. All the ‘gods’ worship Knowledge as Brahman, the eldest. If a man knows Knowledge as Brahman and if he does not swerve from it, he attains all desires and comes to abandon all the sins in the body.
2. Of That, of the former, this one verily is the embodied self. Different from this self made up of intellect (vijñānamaya) is another self within, formed of bliss (ānandamaya). By this, that is filled (by ānandamaya the vijñānamaya is full). It also has the shape of man. According to the human form of that is the human form of this. Of it, joy (priya) is the right side, rejoicing (moda) is the left side, and bliss (pramoda) is the trunk. Brahman is the tail support. There is this following Vaidika verse about it.
vi.
1. If he knows Brahman as non-existent, he becomes himself non-existent. If he knows Brahman as existent, then (they) the world knows him to be existent. Of the former (ānandamaya kośa), the Self is the essence.
~tr. Chinmayananda
Nikhilananda Notes:
2.1.3 The aim of the Upanishads is to teach a man the nature of Brahman, which is his inmost self. But his mind is identified with the various physical objects of the outer world. Without a visible symbol he cannot fix his mind on the transcendental Consciousness. Thus the visible body is described as a symbol of Atman. In this particular verse, the physical man is pictured as a bird, which resembles a sacrificial fire. This fire-arranged in the form of a hawk, a heron, or some other bird-has a head, two wings, a trunk, and a tail, The Taittiriya Upanishad describes all the different sheaths in a like manner.
2.2.2 The use of the word sheath (kośa) is apposite because the kośa resembles a scabbard which holds within it a sword. Four other sheaths will be described, one after another, in order to point out the innermost Self, or Atman, which is identical with Brahman and is beyond the body, the vital breath, the mind, the intellect, and bliss. The Upanishad here follows a process by which the external chaff is removed in order to reveal the innermost kernel. The five sheaths, though not Atman, are described as such, in a figurative sense, from the relative standpoint. They appear to be conscious, like Atman, because of their close proximity to Atman, as iron filings near a magnet appear to be active.
2.3.1 The word gods denotes such divinities as the gods of fire, water, etc. Prana signifies vāyu, or air. The meaning of the passage is that the gods breathe or become active after being energized by the prana, or air. Or, since the chapter deals with the soul, the word gods may mean the senses, and prana, the vital breath. The meaning would then be that the sense-organs become endowed with life through the vital breath. // The passage indicates that even the animals possess life and a soul. They too are endowed with five sheaths, presently to be described the subtle abiding within the gross, the inner permeating the outer -all of which are conjured up by avidyā, or ignorance. The innermost essence behind the sheaths is Atman, eternal and unchanging, which is defined as "Reality, Knowledge, and Infinity," and which belongs to human beings and animals alike.
2.5.2 The word ānandamaya (consisting of bliss) has the same termination (maya) as annamaya (consisting of food), pranamaya (consisting of prāna), etc. Therefore the sheath of bliss is also a change or modification, like the sheaths previously mentioned. It is not Ātman, or Brahman. Secondly, the Upanishad speaks of attaining the sheath of bliss. Therefore this sheath is an object and not Brahman. Thirdly, the sheath of bliss is described as being endowed with a head, a right wing, etc. Brahman is utterly devoid of parts. Fourthly, Brahman is described in the scriptures as being devoid of all attributes (Br. Up. II. iii. 6; III. viii. 8); but this is not true of the sheath of bliss. Lastly, Brahman is mentioned in the text as the support or tail of this sheath. Therefore the sheath of bliss is an effect, like the other sheaths, and not the Pure Brahman. Ananda, or bliss, is the fruit of knowledge and action. The sheath of bliss describes Brahman in Its aspect of the enjoyer. Though pure in Itself, Brahman becomes the enjoyer in the phenomenal realm by identifying Itself with the sheath of bliss.
2.6.1 Brahman is the ultimate support of the five sheaths. These sheaths have been described in order to demonstrate the transcendental Brahman. Through the contemplation of the sheath of bliss, the aspirant ultimately realizes the Pure Brahman. The example is given of the luminous ray of a gem, which is mistaken for the gem itself, but by following which one ultimately reaches the gem. Beyond the sheath of bliss there exists the Pure Brahman, which transcends all duality and is the substratum of the phenomenal universe.
In a Valley in Vermont, the Green Mountain Boys
and Girls are playing Bluegrass like Kentucky Derby Day.
Dead Flowers and Autumn Leaves,
Pink Cadillacs and an Urge for Going,
Turn, Turn, Turn.
Scientific theories concerning consciousness are a dime-a-dozen but cost millions and millions. In advaita, theories are created to be deconstructed.
Searching in vain for their holy grail, scientific materialism is all for nothing if consciousness is not proven to be a creation of the material world.
Consciousness is the ground of existence. The proof is your self. Neither body, breath, mind, intellect, nor ecstasy is atman. Thus speaks the panchakosha.
The body is neither immortal nor immutable.
The vital breath is both inner and outer. Atman is neither nor in-between.
Ignorance of reality resides in the mind, projecting a universe and all the gods.
The intellect knows only the dark—until enlightened by the satguru.
Happiness, joy, and ecstasy are like kissing the mystical reflection of limitless bliss.
THE "covering of bliss"' is that covering of the Atman which catches a reflection of the blissful Atman itself. Nevertheless, this covering is a creation of our ignorance. Its nature consists of the various degrees of happiness which are experienced when a desired object is gained. Its blissful nature is spontaneously felt by righteous men when they reap the reward of their good deeds. It expresses that joy which all living beings may experience without making any effort towards it.
The "covering of bliss" is fully revealed to us in the state of deep sleep. It is partially revealed in the waking and the dreaming states, when any desirable object is being enjoyed.
This "covering of bliss" cannot be the Atman, for the following reasons: it has limitations; it is an effect of Maya; its joyful nature is experienced as the result of good deeds; it is of the same kind as the other coverings, which are all products of Maya.
~tr. Parabhavananda / Isherwood
Chinmayananda:
Now the ānandamaya kośa is being described. Ᾱnandamaya kośa is also a vṛtti, a mental disturbance; ‘vṛtti’ means ‘thought’. Even during deep sleep there are thought waves. The prāṇa, the mind and the intellect are annihilated or transcended.
Samādhi is a state wherein all thought waves have totally stopped. Deep sleep is not samādhi; during deep sleep there are yet subtle vṛtties in the intellect. These vṛtties can be said to be bliss thoughts (ānanda vṛtti).
At these moments, the bliss of Infinitude is tasted a little. Śaṅkara, in his poetic exuberance says, “The ripples of thought waves arising out of tamas in our mind, kiss the reflection of the bliss of Infinitude. This is the characteristic of the ānandamaya kośa.”
Priya, moda and pramoda are different degrees of happiness experienced when we come in different degrees of contact with the objects of our liking.
A lover sitting in his home and thinking of his beloved feels happy. Though the beloved is far away, to think of the beloved is happiness. In English, we may call this pleasurable emotion felt in the bosom as ‘pleasure’ (priya).
When the beloved, the object of our liking is in front of us, the pleasure is intensified and that intensified pleasure is called ‘moda’, in English let us call it ‘joy’.
And when we are actually indulging in or enjoying, when the object of our pleasure is in our possession, that pleasure is naturally, most intensified. This maximum intensity of joy is called ‘pramoda’, again in English let us call it ‘ecstasy’.
When we are in dreamless deep sleep, we are in the bliss sheath. Our experience in deep sleep is, ‘I don’t know.’ ‘I know nothing’ is our only experience in deep sleep. None of the things that one generally experiences as objects, emotions and thoughts are there. So absence of things and utter ignorance are the nature of this sheath.
Dayananda:
The ānandamaya is described in this verse. Ānandamaya is a specific vṛtti, born of tamas, avidyā- tamojṛmbhitā. All the vṛttis are born of avidyā only.
Ānanda-pratibimba is reflection of ānanda. So ānandamaya is a vṛtti which is pervaded by reflected ānanda. Ānandamaya is not svarupānanda, it is a particular vṛtti.
There are a lot of people who translate the word ‘ānanda’ as bliss which is not correct. Bliss itself is a vṛtti-viśeṣa, whereas the ānanda is the nature of the ātmā and not a vṛtti. In the sentence ‘satyaṁ jñānam anantam brahma’, the word ‘ananta’ stands for ānanda. Ananta means that which is free from any limitation. That is the nature of ātmā. Therefore, limitlessness, wholeness, fullness is the meaning of the word ‘ānanda.‘
The common experiential ānanda one gets is also a mātra, fraction of the vṛtti viśeṣa, a particular state of mind, and is limited in terms of time also. So it is time-bound. Again there are degrees in the experiential ānanda. Therefore we have different words like - pleasure, happiness, joy, etc. All these are vṛtti-viśeṣas with different degrees of intensity. In the experience of any ānanda, the fullness of the ātmā is manifest and that is what is sought after by all.
When what you like is in sight, there is a vṛtti-viśeṣa called priya. Labhe modaḥ, when what you like is gained or very nearly gained then there is the vṛtti called moda. And when you experience the thing you like then the vṛtti that rises in your mind is pramoda. So, all these are vṛtti-viśeṣas born in the wake of desirable objects. Since the vṛtti is born, there will be nāśa, destruction for it. Even when you gain the desired object, you may find it not very desirable; there is again the nāśa of that vṛtti-viśeṣa. All this is a set-up to prove that these priyādi vṛttis are not exactly the ānanda that we are talking about.
Similarly, ānanda being the nature of ‘I’ is never away from ‘I’. So, the statement ‘I was happy’ is a mistake. That is why ānandamaya becomes a kośa. The ānandamayasya-kośa is very clearly manifest in deep sleep, ānandamayasya sphūrtiḥ utkaṭā suṣuptau. In the deep sleep the ānanda is unaffected by any other vṛtti, because no other vṛtti is there. The ahaṅkāra is resolved in sleep, so all the notions about the self are resolved. In sleep there is no identification with the body, etc, so problems related to body, etc are not there. And therefore ānanda is predominant in sleep.
Similarly, in sleep, the ānanda that obtains is nothing but svarupānanda. The only difference is that in sleep there is no other vṛtti to vitiate this ānanda whereas, in waking and dream, there are degrees of resolution and subsequent vṛttis that inhibit the quality and the duration of ānanda.
In both waking and dream you have a judgement about yourself which also stifles the ānanda. In sleep, however, there is nothing to stifle it; so it is uninhibited.
There is a great enthusiasm to go to sleep but there is a reluctance to get up. From this we understand that sleep must be an island of joy which we want to enter into but are reluctant to get out of.
This ānandamaya cannot be the para-ātmā, naiva ayam ānandamayaḥ parātmā. This is negation of ānandamaya. At every level there is negation. Why can it not be parātmā? Sopādhikatvāt, because it has got an upādhi. The upādhi is the mind. Vṛtti-viśeṣa, a particular vṛtti of the mind is the upādhi of ānandamaya.
frm Taittiriya 2.5.1
In fact, ānandamaya is the self which is other than and interior to that vijñānamaya. The vijñānamaya is filled up by the ānandamaya. This ānandamaya also is of human form only. It is of human form in keeping with the human form of that vijñānamaya. A pleasant disposition indeed is its head. Joy is the right wing. Ecstasy is the left wing. Ānanda is the trunk. Brahman is the tail (as it were) which is the support. In this regard, there is the following mantra.
207. The ānandamaya kośa (bliss sheath) is that modification of nescience which is kissed by a reflection of the Ᾱtman, which is Bliss Absolute. Pleasure and so on, are its attributes and it springs into expression when an object agreeable to it presents itself. The fortunate feel it spontaneously when the fruits of their good actions manifest. Every being, without the least effort, derives great joy from it.
208. The ānandamaya kośa is fully manifest in the deep sleep state. While in the dream and waking states it is only partially manifest depending upon the sight of pleasing objects and so on.
~tr. Chinmayananda
buddhirbuddhīndriyaiḥ sārdhaṁ savṛttiḥ kartṛlakṣaṇaḥ vijñānamayakośaḥ syāt puṁsaḥ saṁsārakāraṇam (186)
buddhiḥ- the buddhi; buddhīndriyaiḥ sārdham - along with the sense organs; savṛttiḥ - with the thought modifications; kartṛlakṣaṇaḥ - characterised as doer; vijñānamaya kośa; - is the vijñānamaya-kośa; puṁsaḥ - for the person; saṁsārakāraṇam - cause of saṁsāra; syāt - would be.
Commentary:
Here the word ‘vijñānamaya’ is used in the sense of both the doer and the enjoyer. The identification here is with the aham-vṛtti, ‘I’ thought; therefore the vijñānamaya is aham-vṛtti-viṣaya, the locus of ‘I’ thought. Being the locus of ‘I’ thought, it becomes the subject- knower and doer. Everything else is idam-vṛtti or object, which is looked upon as ‘this,’ something different from me.
The Taittirīyopaniṣad says, ‘vijñānam yajñam tanute karmāṇi tanute‘pi ca,’ the vijñānamaya is the one who performs all the actions, vaidika as well as the laukika. The vaidika karmas are purely scriptural or religious like agnihotra, etc. The laukika karmas are the actions like bathing, cooking, eating, etc. The vijñānamaya performs all these activities and enjoys their results. Therefore the vijñānamaya is the central figure in the whole complex of human life.
It is unlike the ātmā which is free from any vṛtti. Vijñānamaya means there is aham-vṛtti or ‘I’-sense. Again it is kartṛ-lakṣaṇāḥ - the one who is characterised as kartā, doer, as the subject. Kartā does not mean only doer, it also stands for knower, seer, hearer, etc. So it is the subject.
It becomes the cause of saṁsāra for the person, puṁsaḥ saṁsāra-kāraṇam syāt. The vijñānamaya can keep the person in saṁsāra forever or it can free the person also. It is the cause for both the perpetuation of saṁsāra as well as its elimination.
The vijñānamaya being a kartā is the villain of the piece to cause saṁsāra. He is the one who is given the upadeśa, teaching, of ‘tattvamasi.’ The upadeśa is not given to the manomaya because it is a mere instrument. The teaching has to come from outside. The vijñānamaya himself cannot recognise, ‘I am Brahman.‘
~Dayananda
anuvrajaccitpratibimbaśaktiḥ vijñānasañjñaḥ prakṛtervikāraḥ jñānakriyāvān ahamityajasraṁ dehendriyādiṣvabhimanyate bhṛśam (187)
vijñāna-sañjñaḥ - The kośa known as vijñāna; anuvrajat-citpratibimba-śaktiḥ - is the power of reflected consciousness that has entered it; prakṛteḥ - of prakṛti; vikāraḥ - modified form; jñāna-kriyāvān - has knowledge and action; aham iti - as ‘I’; ajasram - always; deha-indriyādiṣu - in the body, sense organs, etc; bhṛśam - totally; aham iti - as ‘I’; abhimanyate- identifies.
Commentaries:
The vijñānamaya is conscious of everything. It is the one which has got the power of illumining everything because of consciousness borrowed from the cit. Vijñānamaya is one in which the cit, the caitanya, has entered as though. It has got the cit-śakti or power of consciousness, even though borrowed.
The vijñānamaya is the modified form of the prakṛti or avidyā alone, prakṛter-vikāraḥ: Among all the vṛttis of the antaḥkaraṇa, the vijñānamaya is the main vṛtti. Also it is jñāna-kriyāvān, one who does the act of knowing. He is the knower who uses all the means of knowledge and gathers knowledge.
All the attributes of the physical body are assumed by the vijñānamaya. Similarly, he identifies with the prāṇa, senses, and mind, and assumes their attributes. All the attributes of the body-mind-sense-complex are loaded on the ātmā. The vijñānamaya becomes the ātmā until one knows the real ātmā.
It is very difficult to make the person even to see the fact that the ātmā is to be understood and that it is other than the vijñānamaya. Īśvara’s grace alone makes him listen to this. One may undergo psychotherapy but not the ātmā-vicāra. Until Īśvara-anugraha, grace of the Lord is gained, crossing the vijñānamaya cannot take place.
~Dayananda
The vijñānamaya kośa is constantly accompanied by the reflection of the light, Cit, Consciousness. Consciousness is all-pervasive at all times. The world of plurality floods up within it, as it were. Consciousness reflected in the intellect is intelligence, just as the electricity reflected in or functioning in the bulb is light.
The matter vestures cannot function by themselves in the absence of Consciousness. They are, after all, composed of inert cells. The intelligence is there only because of the Consciousness playing through the intellect in us. The matter equipment, the intellect, becomes brilliant because of the light of Consciousness. The intellect by itself has no intelligence, it is like a mirror in darkness.
The function of the intelligence, the vijñanamaya kośa is ‘to know‘. Jñāna is its main function. It gives rise to the concept of ‘I, the knower’. The mind projects the world of objects and the intellect illumines them with its intelligence which is reflected in the light of Consciousness and there arises the notion of, ‘I know’. This process of mental projection and intellectual recognition goes on at all times and the feelings of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ are created.
~Chinmayananda
An edit of Prabhavananda / Isherwood translation of 188 onward:
It has no beginning. It is characterized by its sense of ego. It constitutes the individual man. It is the initiator of all actions and undertakings. The states of waking and dreaming belong to this "covering of intellect". It experiences joy and sorrow.
Because of its sense of "I" and "mine", it constantly identifies itself with the body, and the physical states, and with the duties pertaining to the different stages and orders of life.
This "covering of intellect" shines with a bright light because of its proximity to the shining Atman. It is a garment of the Atman, but man identifies himself with it and wanders around the circle of birth, death and rebirth because of his delusion.
The Atman, which is pure consciousness, is the light that shines in the shrine of the heart, the center of all vital force. It is immutable, but it becomes the "doer" and "experiencer" when it is mistakenly identified with the "covering of intellect".
The Atman assumes the limitations of the "covering of intellect" because it is mistakenly identified with that covering, which is totally different from itself.
This man, who is the Atman, regards himself as being separate from it, and from Brahman, who is the one Atman in all creatures. An ignorant man, likewise, may regard a jar as being different from the clay of which it was made.
By its nature, the Atman is forever unchanging and perfect. But it assumes the character and nature of its coverings because it is mistakenly identified with them. Although fire is formless, it will assume the form of red-hot iron.
1. Seer Solar Metaphor
Consciousness is the sun.
And reflected consciousness is the moon.
The sun is that self-shining witness and unmoving mover.
The moon is the knower of the dark.
Moonlight is the mind shining on maya.
Or through it with truest viveka.
a. Viveka: Discrimination between the Real and the unreal, between the Self and the non-Self, between the permanent and the impermanent; right intuitive discrimination; ever-present discrimination between the transient and the permanent. ~Sivananda
b. Not a fan of the english translation of discrimination for viveka. The word has been abused by jim crow in america. Discernment is an alternative definition but it sounds passive to these ears. Viveka is much more alive. Long live the sanskrit.
2. Chidabhasa-Chaitanya Knower
If brahman is equivalent to space, kutastha is equivalent to that space in a jar.
In this language, brahman is turiyam, and kutastha is the sakshi.
Consciousness reflects in the buddhi and is called chidabhasa-chaitanya, the knower.
a. footnotes from Svananda's Glossary of Sanskrit Terms:
Brahman: The Akhandaikarasa Satchidananda, the Absolute Reality; the Truth proclaimed in the Upanishads; the Supreme Reality that is one and indivisible, infinite, and eternal; all-pervading, changeless Existence; Existence-knowledge-bliss Absolute; the substratum of Jiva, Isvara and Maya; Absolute Consciousness; it is not only all-powerful but all-power itself; not only all-knowing and blissful, but all-knowledge and bliss itself. ~S
Kutastha: Absolutely changeless; He who is found without exception in all creatures from Brahma or the creator down to ants and Who is shining as the Self and dwells as witness to the intellect of all creatures, rock-seated, unchanging; another name for Brahman.
Turiya: Superconscious state; the noumenal Self of creatures which transcends all conditions and states; oneness.
Sakshi: Witnessing principle; seer; Kutastha which passively observes the actions of the body and the senses; witness.
Buddhi: Intellect; understanding; reason.
Chidabhasa: Reflected consciousness; the reflection of intelligence (Jiva).
Chidabhasa-chaitanya: Reflection of consciousness from Kutastha-Brahman.
3. Paraverse Prophecy
Brahman is pure intelligence.
The pure intelligence of the witness reflects within diaphanous dreamstuff of the buddhi and this intellect is the knower.
Pure intelligence is the witness. Reflected intelligence in the intellect is the knower. Reflected knowing is artificial intelligence. Can this superintelligence build a better buddhi?
Through Duality
-One comes to nonduality through duality. One word is all it takes to make the silence dual.
-They say it takes a mind to remove a mind. Throw both thorns away.
-Maya is neither existence nor non-existence. Brahman's power is double-edged today.
To One Half-Awake
-Events happen in timelessness. The mind connects them with its spider silk of spactime faster than the speed of manifesting light.
-Every sleeping dream is like being in an art performance. Then every sleeping dream is like an art performance. Now every waking dream is like being in an art performance.
-In other words, sleeping dreams seem like waking dreams as they're happening. And the waking dream feels like reality to one half-awake.
Devatmasakti Om
-Every individual reflection of consciousness exhibits a point of view born of subtle genetic material and social mind-conditioning. Cain slays Abel and so on.
-Disidentifying with an ego is like waiting for Godot. Listen to a Mantropanisad while you wait: Kena, Katha, even Svetsvatara.
-Devatmasakti! Consciousness is me. Existence is you. Atman is Brahman. Om.
Every individual reflection of consciousness exhibits a point of view born of subtle genetic material and social mind-conditioning. Cain slays Abel and so on and so on.
Disidentifying with an ego is like waiting for Godot. Listen to a Mantropanisad while you wait: Kena, Katha, even Svetsvatara.
Devatmasakti! Consciousness is me. Existence is you. Atman is Brahman. Om.
Events happen in timelessness. The mind connects them with its spider silk of spactime faster than the speed of manifesting light.
Every sleeping dream is like being in an art performance. Then every sleeping dream is like an art performance. Now every waking dream is like being in an art performance.
In other words, sleeping dreams seem like waking dreams as they're happening. And the waking dream feels like reality to one half-awake.
One comes to nonduality through duality. One word is all it takes to make the silence dual.
They say it takes a mind to remove a mind. Throw both thorns away.
Maya is neither existence nor non-existence. Brahman's power is double-edged today.
The power of universal consciousness is the principle of existence manifesting as the laws of physics
and the verities of love.
The power of individual consciousness is beginningless ignorance spontaneously realizing.
Only consciousness is real. Universal consciousness is the stuff of myth. Individual consciousness is complete nescience.
footnotes
It's just as much stopping thinking as not thinking stopping
and thinking is a dangerous tool when left to an untrained mind.
If this thinking appears in that consciousness as I know it does,
am I this individual or am I that?
draft
THE POWER OF UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE PRINCIPLE OF EXISTENCE MANIFESTING AS THE LAWS OF PHYSICS AND THE VERITIES OF LOVE
the power of individual consciousness is beginningless ignorance spontaneously realizing
Scientific materialism is all about the laws of physics. Love is all about the verities of love.
Only consciousness is real. Universal consciousness is the stuff of myth. Individual consciousness is complete nescience.
Brahman is the name of an awareness so clear it would blow my mind if I ever stopped thinking about it.
This individual consciousness is what it takes in the big picture of things called Maya for awareness to be self-aware as it is.
In the name of Brahman, Saguna and Nirguna, supreme god of universal consciousness and absolute awareness, I sing.
foonotes
1.
the power of universal consciousness is the principle of existence manifesting as the laws of physics
and the verities of love
2.
it's just as much stopping thinking as not thinking stopping
and thinking is a dangerous tool when left to an untrained mind
3.
if this thinking appears in that consciousness
as I know it does, am I an individual or am I that
4.
THE POWER OF UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE PRINCIPLE OF EXISTENCE MANIFESTING AS THE LAWS OF PHYSICS AND THE VERITIES OF LOVE
the power of individual consciousness is beginningless ignorance spontaneously realizing
5.
Scientific materialism is all about the laws of physics. Love is all about the verities of love.
Only consciousness is real. Universal consciousness is the stuff of myth. Individual consciousness is complete nescience.
A wave is this imaginary entity within the sea not knowing it's the sea.
In duality, the buddhi turns to ego and the inner instrument, subdividing into mind and intellect and memory, and so on and so on and scooby dooby shakti of three.
It appears as if the self goes through unawareness to get to self-awareness but that's a cross-section of reality and not the whole, that is whole, this is whole.
The world is a kaleidoscope of names and forms superimposed upon immaculate existence.
People are just assemblages of thoughts appearing on the silver screen of consciousness.
Samsara is a film of namarupa playing on nirvana. Here we are now. Please enlighten us.
footnotes
a wave is this imaginary entity within the sea not knowing it's the sea
in duality, the buddhi turns to ego and the inner instrument, subdividing into mind and intellect and memory, and so on and so on and scooby dooby shakti of three
it appears as if the self goes through unawareness to get to self-awareness but that's a cross-section of reality and not the whole, that is whole, this is whole
Tejomayananda translations & commentaries:
24. Thoughts arising in the mind like desires, etc. are the seen. One should meditate on Consciousness as their witness. This is the meditation with duality associated with the seen.
The extraneous details about the posture, time and place of meditation are not discussed in this text. The main principles of meditation are directly discussed.
In the practice of meditation with duality within and associated with the seen, the meditator meditates on the Self as the witness of the thoughts.
I know myself to be the observer of the thoughts, as though standing on the bank of a river watching its flow. I do not say in words, 'I am the Seer of the thoughts. I am not the thoughts I perceive', I just remain the observer.
25. 'I am unattached, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss self-shining, free from duality', this is the practice of meditation with duality associated with words.
In meditation associated with words, the nature of the Self is contemplated upon directly without any reference to thoughts or any other adjuncts (gross body, senses or mind). The Self, as revealed by the statements according to the Upaniṣad and as understood by the seeker through proper discrimination, is owned as one's own nature.
The absolute Self can have no relation with the unreal individual (jīva), its conditionings or the world projected by it. On knowing this when the words are brought to the mind, the mind abides in the Self.
Similarly, I am, I know I am, and I am the source of all happiness, hence I am Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. I shine and all else shines after me, yet none can or need illumine me since I am self-shining. Other than Existence, nothing exists and there cannot be two infinites, thus I am One without a second, the infinite, non-dual Truth.
Such words are not mantras meant for a verbal or mental repetition. One should not roll the beads saying 'I am unattached, I am unattached'. It is meaningless to say this without understanding its full significance. The words are used only with the aim of establishing ourselves in the Truth they signify.
The words themselves should not become the focus of our attention, but we should lift our mind to the meaning they imply. The words only help our efforts to concentrate the mind. Since words are used as an aid, this is called meditation associated with words. The words may be in any language, not necessarily in Sanskrit.
Meditation associated with the seen and with words are not techniques to be practised sequentially. However, the latter is subtler than the former.
26. But, the non-dual state of meditation is like a flame in a place free from wind on account of complete absorption in the Bliss of Self-realisation, having ignored both the seen and the words.
Tu' indicates the change of topic. The practice of meditation with duality of the meditator and the object of meditation was described. When the thought, 'I am the Seer of thoughts' is maintained, it is meditation associated with the seen. When a continuous flow of thoughts like 'I am unattached, I am Consciousness' is maintained, it is meditation associated with words.
When thoughts end, the perception of the world ceases along with the duality. Time, space and causation are concepts of the mind. When the mind is transcended, so are time, space and causation. Thoughts are made of words, words of sound and sound is born from movement. When thoughts merge, we experience a stillness and silence beyond comprehension. It is compared to a calm, waveless ocean.
That into which the mind merges is samādhi. The effects merge into the cause. The waves into the ocean, gold ornaments into gold. Similarly, the mind merges into the Self. Hence samādhi is the Self.
Practice means effort and effort presupposes duality of the doer and the objective to be attained. Hence nirvikalpa samādhi cannot be a stage of practice. When all efforts end, one glides into it as in sleep. In sleep, too there is no duality and one is always happy.
But sleep is not samādhi. Sleep is a state of inertia, while samādhi is a state of knowledge. Sleep is the absence of sorrows a negative peace; samādhi is the positive experience of Bliss. Sleep is temporary; samādhi is eternal.
Dayananda commentary:
24. Fact is they are dṛśyāḥ, objects, of your consciousness and you are witness to all of them. Contemplation is going to be purely in keeping with realities you know. No imagination, no cakra, etc. We are not interested in any imagination. I do not say there is no cakra meditation but people confuse Vedanta with all that. Clarity is not there. Kāmādyāḥ cittagāḥ dṛśyāḥ sarve. That is the reality.
Without being a śākṣī, you cannot objectify a thought, a condition of the mind. The contemplation is not towards dṛśya, but towards śākṣī. The moment you say this is sākṣyam, this is an object being witnessed, you are already the witness. The thoughts go on changing, each thought is kṣaṇika (momentary) but the sākṣī, the witness, is invariable.
Nikhilananda commentary:
24. Because of the presence of the Atman, the mind and its modifications are seen to be active. Then the process of the meditation is this: Whenever any thought appears in the mind, take it to be an object and be indifferent to it. But think of the eternal and permanent Atman as your real nature. The object, which is an idea, appears and disappears. This sort of concentra-tion is always associated with an ob-ject of thought.
25. While practising this type of con-centration the practitioner thinks, 'I am the Witness, the innermost Self.' The object of his meditation is the nondual Self free from the ideas of desire, etc., which are foreign to the Ātman. There is only a current of self-consciousness. This sort of concentra-tion is called savikalpa as it is not free from ideas altogether. Such ideas as, 'I am unattached,' etc., are present in this samādhi.
26. Through the constant practise of the savikalpa samādhi, the mind becomes free from all distractions that are the result of attachment to sense-objects. There-fore, the student then becomes competent to practise nirvikalpa samādhi in which the mind becomes steady like the unflickering flame of a candle kept in a windless place.
Nirvikalpa samādhi, which is identical with the highest Knowledge, can be attained only as a result of dis-crimination between the real and the unreal. After this discrimination, the student becomes indifferent to every-thing of the relative world.
By the practice of samādhi described above the practitioner realizes his own Self which is of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. But this concentration can also be practised with the help of any object in the external world. By such concentration one can realize the nature of Brahman and creation. Brahman and Self are identical
27. The first kind of samādhi is possible with the help of any external object as it is with the help of an internal object. In that samādhi the name and form are separated from what is Pure Existence (Brahman).
We have seen in śloka 24 that concentration can be practised with the help of an object perceived in-ternally. Similar concentration can be practised with the help of an external object also. Every object, as we have also seen, has three unchangeable aspects, namely: Existence, visibility, and attractiveness. The practitioner should concentrate his mind on Pure Existence, which is the same as Brah-man, and dissociate himself from the changing aspects of name and form.
The Mahavakya of the Mandukya is Ayam Atma Brahma.
Consciousness is the ground. Existence is the principle.
You are That. I am Brahman. We are the walrus.
footnotes
1. "The time has come the Walrus said, to talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing-wax of cabbages and kings."
2. "People ask the way to Cold Mountain but you can't get here from there.
Vines hang in spiraling loops, ancient rock rises high and steep, monkeys gather highland fruit, egrets fill their bills with fish from an icy pond. One or two scrolls of the immortals go murmuring by.
If your heart is the same as my heart, we’re already here."
That which turns absolute consciousness into universal consciousness is maya (illusion, dream).
That which turns universal consciousness into individual consciousness is avidya (ignorance, nescience).
That which returns individual consciousness into satcitananda is the same kind of knowledge discovering
an individual body of water appearing in this vast desert is just a mirage.
afterword
The shakti of maya is two of course. The first power is projecting the universal out of the absolute. The second power veils the universe with the individual. Thus science is not real. Religion is unreal. Only brahmavidya is real.
They say the brain deliberately suppresses the many dreamstate dreams so as not to bewilder the waking state one.
Gaudapada, Shankara's paramaguru, says there's only two states of consciousness—sleep and deep sleep.
And the only waking state is self-realization. Arise and awaken from the sleep without beginning.
footnotes
1. Norepinephrine levels drop to near zero during REM sleep turning off all dream-saving to memory.
2. And the two states of sleep are the so-called waking dreamstate and the sleeping dreamstate.
3. Without names and forms the world is nothing but Brahman.
In this verse, the author has introduced three observers, three illuminators: 1. sense organs, 2. mind, 3. sākṣī. 1 and 2 are relative illuminators and 3 is the absolute illuminator. ~Paramarthananda
The Ātman or the Innermost Self is the ultimate perceiver. If a perceiver of the Ātman is sought, the inquiry will end in what is known as a regressus ad infinitium. ~Nikhilananda
The eye is unaffected by what it perceives. It remains untainted and untinted by the qualities and hues it sees in objects. Thus the Seer is unaffected by the seen. ~Tejomayananda
To see the green color one uses the same eye that would be used to see the red color. This shows that there is plurality in the dṛśyam and there is non-duality in the drk. ~Paramarthananda
The eye is subject to changes which are perceived by the mind; for it is the mind that thinks: ‘I am blind,’ etc. The mind knows the changes because it is a unity. ~Nikhilananda
One seer, mind, and there are varied conditions of senses. Mind is one dṛk, and everything is dṛśya. That is eyes, etc are themselves dṛśyas to the mind, to the manomaya-ātmā. ~Dayananda
All dramas on the stage of life are a complicated intermingling of different thoughts. These are all witnessed by the same Consciousness. ~Tejomayananda
We think that ātmā is an object of our experience. There is no such thing as the experience of ātmā because ātmā is ever the experiencer. ~Paramarthananda
States or functions of the mind have been adopted from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.5.3). ~Nikhilananda
Called Sākṣī (masculine noun), Cit (feminine) and Caitanya (neuter), Consciousness is neither masculine, feminine nor neuter. It is beyond classification. ~Tejomayananda
Science talks of the origination of cidābhāsa. About RC (reflected consciousness), whereas Vedānta talks about the eternity of OC, the original consciousness. ~Paramarthananda
B. Reflected Consciousness
Ahaṅkāra (ego) and the antaḥkaraṇa (inner equipment). The inner equipment has three types of thoughts – the mind, intellect and the faculty of memory. ~Tejomayananda
How does the mind become the seer? A reflection of the sunlight is formed on the moon’s surface. The moon gets illumined and the moon becomes the illuminator of the earth. ~Paramarthananda
Ahaṅkāra is Īśvara manifesting in this form. Not a bad thing or a good thing. If trying to remove ahaṅkāra, in the name of removing ahaṅkāra, ahaṅkāra will be sitting there! ~Dayananda
Just as the fire and the iron ball get connected, the mind and the reflected consciousness get connected. The mind borrows sentiency from the sākṣī and the body borrows sentiency from the mind. ~Paramarthananda
The reflection of Consciousness is sentient and unchanging. The ‘I’ notion or ego is inert and changing. The identification of the ego with the reflection of Consciousness brings into existence the ‘sentient ego’ or jīva. ~Tejomayananda
If we look into it, we learn that the heat in the iron belongs to the fire. We understand which belongs to what. In spite of both of them being together, our understanding is with viveka. If this viveka is not there, there is confusion. ~Dayananda
Man falls into a vicious circle of birth and death because of the notion that he is finite, born due to the identification of the Witness Self with the ego. Ignorance of our true nature gives rise to this fundamental error. ~Tejomayananda
The whole Vedānta is about knowing that I do have no mind and that I do not have any connection with the mind. Therefore the conditions of the mind cannot make me a saṁsārī. ~Paramarthananda
The ahaṅkāra is a conscious entity naturally. There is no problem. The body is conscious due to ahaṅkāra identifying with the body. This is also not a problem. Third is ahaṅkāra with sākṣī. Sākṣī is not recognised at all. ~Dayananda
Here, it should be understood that the natural identification goes naturally. No effort can be put forth, nor is there a need to exert in order to end it. When the Self is realised, this identification drops automatically. ~Tejomayananda
The identification of the ego with the witnessing Consciousness is due to error which is destroyed only by the attainment of Knowledge. The three kinds of identifications disappear simultaneously when the jīva realizes itself as Brahman. ~Nikhilananda
There is difference and non-difference. Sākṣī is mistaken to be ahaṅkāra. Ahaṅkāra is sākṣī and that is okay. But sākṣī is ahaṅkāra, sākṣī is antaḥkaraṇa, sākṣī is a sense organ is not okay. ~Dayananda
It should be noted that these states belong only to the ego and not to the immutable Consciousness. These states, therefore, enjoy the same degree of reality. To us, however, the waking appears real and the dream illusory. ~Tejomayananda
Therefore, waking, dream and deep sleep, all of them are due to ahaṅkāra’s glory. Therefore, this whole glory is for ahaṅkāra, not for ātmā. Ahaṅkāra is mithyā. ~Dayananda
The dream experiences, which have the same nature as the waking ones, are known to be internal only in the waking state. The waking experiences are also mere ideas or thoughts of the perceiving mind. ~Nikhilananda
People are preoccupied in trying to know the meaning of objects seen in the dream. It is as meaningless as why one saw a pigeon, instead of a crow, perched on a tree in the waking state. Vedānta inquires into the mechanism of a dream. ~Tejomayananda
In waking you perceive what is. In dream you perceive whatever you think. This waking world is Īśvara. In dream you are Īśvara, you create; everything is just you. ~Dayananda
The subtle body is also called the liṅga śarīra, ‘Liṅga’ – to know. That by which something is known, symbolised, or indicated is called a ‘liṅgam’. For instance, smoke is the liṅgam of fire, Śivaliṅga, a symbol of Lord Śīva. The subtle body is the indicator of life in the body. ~Tejomayananda
With this verse, the author concludes the discussion of the formation and function of the three seers. Hereafter the author gets into the main topic of the text, namely the cause of saṃsāra and its remedy. ~Paramarthananda
Although it looks as if the next topic is coming from nowhere, it is not nowhere. It is the other side of tat-tvam-asi; tvam asi meaning ‘you are’ is one side of the equation and tat meaning ‘that’ is the other side. That is being brought in here. ~Dayananda
C. Maya
The seen world seems to be inseparably knotted up with the sentient Seer. The cause is said to be māyā. It should be noted that māyā does not really exist, but is postulated only to account for our experience of the world.
For example, a rope is mistaken for a snake. The non-apprehension of the rope is due to the veiling power and the misapprehension of the snake is caused by the projecting power. Similarly, māyā veils the Truth and projects the entire world of experiences.
Both Reality and māyā are indescribable, yet there is a difference between them. Māyā’s effect is experienced, but its status cannot be determined. Reality being the subject can never become an object of experience. Reality exists and yet is indescribable, and māyā is an illusion and therefore, indescribable.
~Tejomayananda
Creation is the name of that form of Brahman in the reality of Existence Consciousness Bliss, as in the ocean there are waves which are like the manifestation of all names and forms.
In perceiving gold ornaments, the gold thought remains unchanging, even though the forms change. Hence, though forms are unreal, their substratum, gold, is real. Ramana Maharshi says, ‘Can there be thoughts of the existence of objects without the Existence principle?’ ~Tejomayananda
In empirical experience, every appearance has a positive substratum. The illusion of names and forms appears from, and disappears in, Brahman. From the causal standpoint, Brahman is both the material and efficient cause of the world. ~Nikhilananda
The creation Is nothing but the manifesting of nāma-rūpa and not a production of even an ounce of matter. Nobody including God can create matter. Brahman is independently existing and the nāma-rūpa is dependently existing. ~Paramarhananda
The veiling power does not hide the individual in its entirety. One knows that one is; only one does not know who one is, so one takes the body to be oneself. Further enquiry shows that the Self is the Witness Consciousness and that the body is inert. The same applies analysing the world of names and forms. When under the influence of the veiling power, the world alone exists. When by the Guru’s grace, he reflects deeper, he understands that the names and forms are a mere superimposition on the Reality. ~Tejomayananda
To understand this, our own dream is a good example. The dream has two powers, vikṣepa-śakti and āvaraṇa-śakti. When we go to sleep, vikṣepa-śakti takes over and an internal world is generated. Once the waker, when going to sleep, enters the dream world as the dream individual operating the dream body and experiencing the dream universe, the āvaraṇa-śakti starts operating and the dream individual does not know the dream as dream and the dream becomes a problem. ~Paramarthananda
The reflection of Consciousness does not belong to either the Witness or the subtle body. The subtle body identifies with the reflection of Consciousness, giving rise to a sentient thought. The sentient thought identifies with the gross body, and enlivens it. The empirical embodied individual is Witness + reflection of Consciousness + subtle body + gross body. Without the Witness, nothing would exist. The reflection of Consciousness alone gives sentiency to thoughts. The subtle body experiences the world, and the gross body is the counter from which all transactions take place. ~Tejomayananda
First, I make the mistake that I require support. Second, I think that I am going to get that support from the world and so I seek support from the perishable people, possessions, power, etc. The first mistake is the subjective mistake and the second is the objective mistake and this leads to saṃsāra. ~Paramarthananda
We should first ask the question, ‘Who is bound?’ The one who is bound alone seeks Liberation. The Self need not and cannot be liberated (since it is ever liberated and infinite). The gross body and the thoughts of the subtle body by themselves are inert. The inert does not know bondage or Liberation. The Self and the not-Self neither need, nor seek Liberation.
The individual jīva due to its Identification with the body is finite and Bound. This finitude is superimposed on the Infinite Self. Hence the suffering of man. On enquiry, ‘For whom is the bondage?’ the jīvahood (finitude) ends. This is Liberation or the destruction of the veiling. The individual jīva does not remain to say he is liberated since he never did exist. The bondage was imaginary and so also the notion of Liberation. The Self is ever free.
~Tejomayananda
Here the author says that because the confusion is at two levels the resolution has to be done at two levels. First confusion is that I require support. That confusion is resolved by understanding that I am the sākṣī. The hollow nāma-rūpa world is mistaken to be substantial and real. When that mistake happens, I decide to lean upon the non-substantial world. I should not depend on any person, possession, or position but depend on only one thing, which is Brahman. ~Paramarthananda
The substratum alone lends existence to the superimposition. The substratum pervades the superimposition, like the background screen which pervades colours and forms of the movie. They constantly change on the unchanging screen. Similarly, the Reality is the changeless and all-pervading substratum of the world. ~Tejomayananda
A jīvanmukta is one who has removed the āvaraṇa-śakti but allows the vikṣepa-śakti to continue as long as the prārabdham is present. Body-mind continuing is not the problem, āvaraṇam is the problem. Āvaraṇam is ignorance. Ignorance will only go with knowledge. That knowledge is ātma-anātma-viveka which requires śāstra pramāṇam in the form of śravaṇaṃ and mananam with the help of a guru. ~Paramarthananda
The real self can't be experienced. The real self is the witness.
Awareness descends into attention. Attention descends into dream.
Dream descends into omnipotent Isvara and its seed of Maya.
There's the waking state, the dream state, and the deep myth state.
From the point of view of Maya, it's Saguna Brahman.
From the point of view of Isvara, it's Nirguna Brahman.
Thus the true pov of I Am is Atman.
The silence of pure consciousness is beyond the big bang.
Reflected consciousness is consciousness passing through the prism of duality breaking into ego and the inner instrument.
The light of consciousness before, after, and during this prism of thinking is never not the light and I am never not that.
Footnotes:
1. Disclaimer: the truth is beyond words.
2. And the inner instrument subdivides into intellect, mind, and memory.
3. Thus spake the Mahavakyas.
4. The real self can't be experienced. The real self is the witness.
5. Awareness descends into attention. Attention descends into dream. Dream descends into omnipotent Isvara and its seed of Maya. The waking state, the dream state, and the deep myth state.
6. From the point of view of Maya, it's Saguna Brahman. From the point of view of Isvara, it's Nirguna Brahman.
7. The true pov of I-Am is Atman.
september river saturday—the crossword puzzles of marina docks are full of words—serenity, destiny, grace—blue moon, morning star, dream catcher—at last, time out, why not
There's the eye of the body, the eye of the mind, and eye of Atman.
The eye of the physical body looks out upon a land of golden idols.
The eye of the subtle mind reflects a poet, a pauper, a pawn, and a king.
The I of Atman is pure consciousness, awareness, Parabrahman.
Science isn't real. Even its theory of everything is fictional. And consciousness only presents an unsolvable problem for all of its consciousness studies.
Religion is unreal. All you can say is saguna brahman with its power of maya made the universe the way it appears to be. For Isvara isn't as much a god as a dreamweaver.
Only consciousness is real. Consciousness is the noumenal absolute called ayam atma brahma. To clarify, pure consciousness is the nonconceptual witness to both dream states and deep sleep.
That everything appears in consciousness is fact number one. And no one can deny one's own existence to be honest. Accordingly, consciousness-existence is the metaphysical ground and first principle.
Thoughts appear in consciousness. Thoughts bond to other thoughts. In time, an entanglement of thought is formed named ego. Ego evaluates new thoughts and combinations thereof, and loves them, hates them, or forgets them.
Reflected consciousness-existence identifying with an ego is one big error. Like anything based in ignorance, it has an end via the appropriate knowledge. But because such ignorance is beginningless, it shall require revelation.
footnotes
1. No effort can take you there, only the clarity of understanding. Trace your misunderstandings and abandon them, that is all.
Relax and watch the 'I am'. Reality is just behind it. Keep quiet, keep silent; it will emerge, or, rather, it will take you in.
~Nisargadatta Maharaj
2. The light of the Self within is reflected in the intellect, and this reflected light is passed on, by contact (samparka), to the lower mind, senses and the body.
People identify themselves with this or that aspect of the psycho-physical organism, depending on how far their powers of discrimination have developed and rescued them from crude self-identification with the body.
As long as there is failure to discriminate the Self from the intellect, the Self appears ‘like’ the appearances that come before it. But in truth it is pure light and does not really act or move.
~Alston from Sankara on the Soul
Alston:
We are not here concerned with the intricacies of the early history of the conceptions associated with the names Brahmā, Hiraṇyagarbha, Sūtra, Antaryāmin, Mahat, Buddhi, Satya, Prajāpati, Vāc, Virāṭ, Ka, Prāṇa, Vāyu and other names used by Śaṅkara in connection with the chief deity presiding over the evolution and withdrawal of the universe.
Name and form, imagined through nescience, unmanifest before the beginning of the world-period and gradually brought into manifestation in accordance with the deeds of living beings as the world-process unfolds, are what constitute the stuff of the world for Śaṅkara.
They and their transformations form the external adjuncts of the supreme unchanging principle of Consciousness, and when the latter is viewed in association with the universe it assumes the appearance of a deity.
Various names were used for this deity in the ancient texts, of which the most important, for Śaṅkara, have been listed above. The deity can be conceived either as the universe (Virāṭ), or as the Cosmic Intellect (Buddhi, Mahat, Hiraṇyagarbha) in which all individual intellects are contained and in which the impressions of the previous thoughts and deeds of all creatures lie, or as the Vital Energy (Prāṇa, Vāyu) by which the whole process is sustained.
All lesser deities that preside over natural phenomena governed by law (e.g. Āditya, the sun-god) can be represented as modifications of the one great deity called variously Brahmā, Hiraṇyagarbha, Prajāpati or by other names. The exception is Viṣṇu (alternatively called Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa and Bhagavān), who is often identified with the Absolute.
As for the creator-deity, he is but the instrument of the Absolute, non-conscious in himself and requiring to be sustained and illumined by the light of the Absolute before he can unfold its powers of knowledge and action.
Extracts on this topic are arranged in three groups. Group A gives texts affirming that the Absolute stands supreme, untouched by any of its adjuncts, and yet that, from the standpoint of nescience, we have to accept the traditions of the Veda and Smṛti which represent the Absolute as if it were unfolding the universe through the knowledge and activity of a great creator-deity, the first-born to emerge at the beginning of the world-period, called by any of the names listed above and functioning as the ‘body’ and all-vivifying ‘soul’ of the universe.
Group B concentrates on texts where this deity is specifically revered under the name Hiraṇyagarbha. The name ‘Hiraṇyagarbha’ means ‘Golden Germ’ or ‘Golden Embryo’, and referred, at an early stage of its history, to the first nucleus of manifest being that formed in the infinite waters of unmanifest being before creation, and from which all manifest being was to unfold.
In Śaṅkara’s texts, the term Hiraṇyagarbha tends to stand for the mental aspect of the world-soul. He speaks of it as the collective mind embracing all individual minds, as the repository of all mental impressions and as the material for the ‘seventeen-fold subtle body’.
Texts in Group C discuss the minor deities exercising lesser power into which the Cosmic Vital Energy (prāṇa) breaks up. Such gods have certain supernormal powers, especially that of being present at many different sacrifices at different places at the same time, while themselves remaining only one. But they are mortal and powerless on their own, receiving all their strength from the Lord. Moreover, considered as individuals, even their existence and authority is temporary: they are office-bearers, and only the office is important.
~excerpted and radically edited from 'Sankara on the Creation' pp191-3
Alston:
Śaṅkara’s answer is that from the standpoint of the highest truth there is no plurality and no world and no Creator, and only the divine ground exists, if even the notions of existence or ground can be applied to it.
But from the standpoint of nescience the world of duality is a fact. And from that standpoint it is a grievous error to believe that the world-process goes on through the operation of any blind force and without the conscious support and control of an omniscient and omnipotent Lord.
In Śaṅkara, the terms ‘Īśvara’ (the Lord) and ‘Parameśvara’ (the supreme or highest Lord) are virtually interchangeable terms. The notion of ‘the Lord’ or ‘the highest Lord’ is also usually identical with that of the Absolute (ātman, brahman), though in certain contexts it may be distinguishable.
The only positive characteristic which Śaṅkara attributes to the Lord is that of Consciousness. He seldom attributes the character of ‘bliss’ either to the Absolute or to ‘the Lord’ and he certainly never associates the latter with the ‘bliss sheath’ in the manner of his followers.
From the Lord’s nature as Consciousness other characteristics follow. He is omnipresent (sarva-gata). Hence He is in the body of the individual, but that body does not limit Him. He is eternally self-evident from beginningless time.
As He is Himself perfectly identical with the Absolute, He is often characterized by negatives. He has no body, He is not an agent, enjoys not a whiff (gandha) of individual experience and has no defects or sins. As He identifies Himself with no body, He does not experience the feeling ‘I suffer’.
He is eternal and raised high above all change (kūṭasthanitya) like the highest Self, He has no form (rūpa), He is imperceptible (adṛśya) and needs no support (ādhāra). He cannot be known through the secular means of knowledge, and for this very reason His nature is revealed as the final import of the meaning of the Veda.
He is not subject to transmigration (asamsārin) and His Lordly power (aiśvarya) knows no limits. These and similar texts show that for Śaṅkara ‘the Lord’ (īśvara) and ‘the Absolute’ (brahman) are essentially one and the same thing.
His nature is Consciousness. All other affirmations in regard to Him reduce Him below His real stature. Such affirmations can, however, occur. They occur when the Lord is considered in His capacity as ‘Lord’ specifically in relation to the world or to the individual soul, or when He is taken as an object of meditation.
There are just a few passages in which, considered in such contexts as these, the Lord is actually differentiated from the Absolute (brahman), though even in these contexts the Lord and the Absolute are normally identified.
The Lord may be called, in relation to the world over which He is ‘Lord’, its projector (sraṣṭṛ) or its maker (kartṛ) or the one who fashioned (akalpayat) the universe, or the cause (kāraṇa) of the universe. He is the unmoved mover. He is omniscient and is often called omnipotent (sarva-śakti).
He exists in everything as its essence, and, despite the mention of subordinate deities, it is He ultimately who witnesses and presides over the evolution of all forms even after they have come into manifestation. When the texts speak of various subordinate deities, they imply that all are the one deity Īśvara viewed under different external adjuncts.
The view that the Lord, though pure Consciousness in his true nature, is somehow at the same time an active being manipulating his power of Māyā, is appropriate and useful for the development of the religious consciousness, which is a necessary preliminary before the final stages of the spiritual path for most people. But if it is taken as the final truth, it will imply that the Lord is an agent and is subject to change and is consequently Himself phenomenal.
The stricter usage, therefore, is to reserve the terms Hiraṇyagarbha, Brahmā or Prajāpati for the world-soul and to use the term ‘Īśvara’ (the Lord) to denote pure Consciousness as Witness and that by whose Light the world-soul and all living beings carry out their powers of activity and knowledge within the phenomenal world.
Within the world-appearance there are deities or powers which carry out their cosmic functions owing to the presence within them of the Light of the Lord, who is Himself a motionless, actionless Witness.
So Śaṅkara says, ‘Thus the lordship, omniscience and omnipotence of the Lord exist relative to the limitations and distinctions of nescience only, and in reality there can be no practice of rulership or omniscience on the part of the Self, in which all distinctions remain eternally negated in knowledge’.
Nevertheless, precisely because He is thus pure Consciousness (cit), He is the only effective root of all activity and knowledge, for He is that which alone exists. Thus, although He is in the true sense bereft of all form, body, organs or action, He is in fact the effective controller of the world-display.
For ‘The cosmic powers take up and lay down their activities in a controlled way through the mere proximity of the Lord as actionless Witness’.
Thus the Lord, though without bodies and organs of His own, carries out activities through the bodies and organs of the deities or cosmic powers. The conception of unmoving mover is illustrated by the analogies of a magnet and a king, both of which cause directed activity in others by their mere presence.
~excerpted and radically edited from 'Sankara on the Creation' pp8-80
