Iswara Darsanam

Upadesa saar – verses 21 to 25 

In verses 16 to 20 Maharishi started his discussion on Jnana yoga with an enquiry into mind. This led to enquiry into thoughts as mind is only a flow of thoughts.  This in turn led to enquiry on ‘I’ thought or ahamkara as all thoughts are either ‘I’ thoughts or based on ‘I’ thoughts. When ‘I’ thought was investigated, it led to the Real ‘I’, pure Consciousness, as ahamkara is only a reflection of the Consciousness in the mind. In verse 19 he has declared that this process of enquiry is Self-enquiry only as it reveals the Real Self, Athma and in verse 20, he has described how for the Jnani the ahamkara is destroyed and the self-shining Athma is revealed in the spiritual heart always.  Now in the next verse Maharishi wants to reassure the ajnani seeker that he need not fear the state of loss of ego, which is only his incidental nature and not intrinsic nature and that he had been experiencing the loss of ego regularly in deep sleep without being aware of it.  Verse 21:

इदमहंपदाऽभिख्यमन्वहम् |(Idamaham pada’bhikyamanvaham)
अहमिलीनकेऽप्यलयसत्तया ||(Ahami leenake’pyalaya Sattayaa)

This sat-chit-Athma is the real “I”, and it shines continuously even as the ego ‘I’ dissolves and disappears daily (in deep sleep).

The ego ‘I’ is not present in all the three states of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep.  Unlike the Athma, it is subject to coming and going and it is not one’s real nature as whatever is subject to arrival and departure is not one’s real nature. For instance heat is fire’s intrinsic nature but for an iron rod which is hot only when it is placed in fire, heat is only incidental nature. So one’s real intrinsic nature is Sat-Chit- Athma which is a witness to the absence of ahamkara in the deep sleep state and to the presence of ahamkara in the wakeful state and ahamkara is only the incidental nature.  But we are much attached to this ego ‘I’ as it is an instrument of transaction with the glamour of the outside world in the wakeful state and we have mistaken this ego ‘I’ as our real Self.  It is only through Self-enquiry, we can understand the truth that it is only a reflection.  The truth of the Real ‘I’ is further elucidated in the next verse 22.

विग्रहेन्द्रियप्राणधीतमः | (Vigrahendriya prana dheetamah)
नाहमेकसत्तज्जडम् ह्यसत् || (Naham eka sat tad jadam hi asat)

I am not the physical body, the sense-organs, the physiological functions, the mind or ignorance (intellect).  They are inert and hence unreal.  I am one, non-dual Existence.

In the discussion on Kosa-Panchakam we had seen that our body-mind complex can be viewed as five layers of personality one subtler than the other. They are, in the increasing order of subtlety:

1)    Annamaya kosa – physical or anatomical personality

2)    Pranamaya kosa – physiological personality

3)    Manomaya kosa – psychological or emotional personality

4)    Vijnanamaya kosa – intellectual or thinking personality

5)    Anandamaya kosa – potential personality experienced during deep sleep.

Maharishi explains in this verse that all these kosas are material in nature as they are matter only and are not sentient and cannot reveal themselves or others by themselves and are subject to change. It is the unchanging pure Consciousness which is beyond all the kosas that lends sentiency to the body-mind complex through its reflection in the mind, Chitabhasa, the reflection of Chit.  The negation of all these kosas to arrive at the real Self is called Pancha kosa viveka.  The phrase “Vigrahendriya prana dheetamah” in the first line of the verse stands for the five kosas as below:

Vigraha – Annamaya kosa

Prana – Pranamaya kosa

Indriya – Manomaya kosa

Dhee – Vijnamaya kosa

Tamaha – Anandamaya kosa

In the second line he asserts that Real ‘I’ is none of these as they are inert and only the non-dual Existence, Sat, is the Real ‘I’. This Sat alone is Chit and there is no second thing to illuminate Sat is confirmed in the next verse 23.

सत्वभासिका चित्क़्ववेतरा | (Satva bhaasikaa chit kvavetharaa) 

सत्तयाहिचित् चित्तया ह्यहम् || (Sattayaa hi chit chittayaa hi aham)

Is there another thing apart from Consciousness which can illumine Existence? (There is no other thing).  Because Existence is Consciousness and Consciousness is Existence (‘I am').

In verse 20 we have seen that the words Sat (pure Existence) and Chit (pure Consciousness) are given as the definitions of Athma which is real Self or “I”.  If ‘I’ the Sat, Existence, is to be illumined by a different entity then ‘I’ becomes jada, inert. But  I have no doubt in regard to my existence and I am aware of my being conscious of my existence. Further Sat and Chit are not separate attributes of ‘I’, they only reveal ‘I’ as unqualified consciousness and unqualified existence. As Swami Paramathmananda explains in his commentary “’I’ as Chit pervading the material pancha-kosa makes them alive and functioning; ‘I’ as Sat pervading the material panchabhuthas makes them existent and ‘I’ am Sat-Chit-Athma.”  Maharishi lifts the enquiry to a higher dimension from next verse 24.

ईशजीवयोर्वेषधीभिदा | (Isa Jeevayoh Vesha Dhee bhidaah) 

सत्स्वभावतो वस्तु केवलं || (Sat Svabhaavatah Vasthu Kevalam)

Between Jivatma and Paramatma, there is difference only with respect to costume (upadhi).  But from the standpoint of essential nature which is Sat (and Chit) the Absolute Reality alone is.

Up to the 23rd verse Maharishi analysed the nature of the individual, and through negating the body, mind, ahankara etc. he arrived at the Athma as the essential nature of the Jiva and this Athma is in the form of pure Existence and pure Consciousness, Sat-Chit.  After establishing the essential nature of Athma, he now states in this verse that this Jivathma is essentially same as the Paramathma. Based on the angle of view, Sat-Chit Athma is called either Jivathma or Paramathma. It is called as Jivathma when operating through micro media of the body-mind complex and it is seen as Paramatma through the macro media of the universe.  Operating medium is different but the operating Athma is the same.  To put in another way Sat-Chit Athma with the body-mind complex as upadhi is called Jivathma and the same Sat-Chit Athma with the Jagat as upadhi is called Paramathama.  So between Jeevathma and Paramathma there is only upadhi-bedha and not svabhava-bedha. Consciousness blessing the individual is called Jivathma and the same Consciousness blessing the total is called Paramathma. So this Sat-Chit Athma which we have claimed as the real nature of Jivathma is also the nature of Paramathma or Ishwara, thus making Jivathma and Paramatma as essentially one.   The oneness of nature is called Jivathma-Paramathma-Aikyam which is further dicussed in the next verse, 25:

वेषहानतः स्वात्मदर्शनम् | (Vesha haanatah svaatma darshanam) 

ईशदर्शनं स्वात्मरूपतः || (Isha Darshanam Svaatmaroopatah)

When the upadhi (limitations or adjuncts) of body-mind are shed, one will attain Self-realisation which is one’s vision of one’s own Self.  This alone is vision of Iswara (God) as one’s own Self.

Maharishi pointed out in the earlier verse that difference between Jiva and Iswara is only in their upadhi. Sat-Chit Athma is their common intrinsic nature. When Jiva is known minus the limiting adjunct of body-mind complex, Jivathma is realised as the limitless Sat-Chit Athma. This is the vision of Self. As this limitless Sat-Chit Athma is also the intrinsic nature of Iswara, this is the vision of Iswara as well. Swami Dayananda states in his talks on Upadesa Saar “If I give up identification with the upadhi and see myself as I am, that is Iswara Darsanam because the Lord is nothing but I.”  Further Darsanam here means knowledge and not the literal meaning of the word.  This vision of Iswara being the same as vision of Self is only a corollary of Jivathma-Paramathma-Aikyam, introduced in the earlier verse.

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