Seer-Seen relationship

Drik Drisya Viveka – 1

Drik-Drisya Viveka is a Prakarana Grantha like Athma Bodha and Tattva Bodha which were dicussed in earlier blogs.  Prakarana Grantha is an explanatory text or a supporting text written by a later day Acharya for understanding the main source, the fundamental three works of Vedanta, Prasthana Triam, namely the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras. But unlike Tattva Bodha it does not deal with all the six aspects of Vedantic teaching i.e. jiva, the individual; jagat, the world; Iswara and Creation; bandha, the bondage; moksha, liberation; sadhana, the means by which the jiva can travel from bondage to liberation. Drik-Drisya Viveka, is a prakarana grantha that highlights the jiva-vichara i.e. Jiva, bandha, moksha and sadhanas.  The author of Drik-Drisya Viveka is not clearly known. According to some people, Adhi Sankaracharya is the author while some others say that Vidyaranya is the author. But there are quite a good number of people who say that Vidyaranya’s guru, Bharathi Tīrtha, one of the Sankaracharyas of the Sringeri Mutt in the 14th century is the author.  Drik-Drisya Viveka is a relatively smaller prakaraṇa grantha consisting of 46 verses.  The word ‘Drik’ in the title of this text means Seer or illuminator or experiencer; ‘Drisyam’ means Seen, illumined or experienced object; and ‘Viveka’ means discrimination i.e. resolving confusion in thinking leading to clear knowledge of both.  Confused thinking leading to deluded knowledge i.e. aviveka, also called moha or adhyasa which is the cause of samsara. To attain Moksha, this confusion has to be resolved and hence Drik-Drisya Viveka is necessary for Athma Jnanam.  This book is also called Vakya Sudha, which means “the nectar or essence of the Mahavakyas”.  With this brief introduction we will enter into the text proper.

Verse 1

Rupam drisyam lochanam drik taddrisyam driktu manasam ।

Drisya dheevrittayah sakshi drik eva na tu drisyate ॥ 1॥

Form is the Seen, the eye is the Seer; that eye is the Seen, and mind is its Seer; Athma (the Sakshi) the Seer of the thoughts in the mind is Seer alone and is never the Seen

In the first five verses the author is talking about the nature of the individual, Jiva, who is a composite entity consisting of three layers of Seer and Seen.  In Tattvabodha,  Jiva is presented as a composite entity consisting of three bodies, five sheaths, etc.  Here the author says that the individual consists of three types of Seers or experiencers.  Of these, two are relative Seers and the third one is the absolute one. The first Seer is the sense-organs, represented by the ‘eye’ and the Seen, the experienced object, is the external world represented by the ‘form’. Then the sense-organs themselves are seen or experienced and so they become the object, and from that standpoint the mind becomes the second Seer and the sense-organs the Seen.  The mind itself is experienced or illumined by Athma, the Sakshi Chaitanyam or Consciousness and so the mind becomes the object of experience, and Consciousness, the Athma, becomes the Seer. This Consciousness itself cannot be objectified or seen by anything else. Therefore consciousness is ever the Seer and never the Seen. Thus sense-organs are both the Seer and the Seen and therefore they are relative Seers. The mind also is both the Seer and Seen and therefore it is also a relative Seer.  But Athma, the Consciousness, is ever the Seer and never the Seen and therefore it is the absolute Seer. Thus two relative Seers plus one absolute Seer is the individual’s composition. The first verse is an introductory verse in which all the three Seers are introduced and also the three relationships:

1)    Eye - Object relationship

2)    Mind – Eye relationship

3)    Athma (Sakshi) – Mind relationship

These relationships are explained in the later verses

Verse 2

Nilapitasthulasukshmahrasvadirghadibhedatah।

nanavidhani rupani pasyellocanamekadha ॥ 2॥

The forms (objects of perception) are many and varied on account of the differences like blue, yellow, gross, subtle, short, long, etc.  The eye remaining the same sees them all.

The first Seer, eye, representing sense-organs, is explained in this second verse.  ‘Eye’ stands for all the five sense organs; eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin, and ‘Forms’ stands for all the 5 respective sense objects for each sense organ; sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Every sense-organ is a Seer and the relevant sense object is the Seen.  This verse takes eye for example and analyses Seer-Seen relationship,  Eye is one and the objects of perception are many and varied.  Without undergoing any change, remaining the same, the eye illumines all the varied sense objects. The forms, dimensions and colors of the sense objects are many and varied but the eye, remaining the same and single, observes all of them. Therefore while Dṛisyam is many, Drik is one only.

Verse 3

Andhyamandyapatutvesu netradharmesu caikadha ।

sankalpayenmanah sotratvagadau yojyatamidam ॥ 3॥

Blindness, dullness and sharpness are the many characteristics of the eye, but mind (being one) remaining the same knows (these differences).  The same thing applies to the ear, the skin, etc, (i.e. whatever is perceived through them).

The second Seer mind is discussed in this verse.  Though the eye, representing sense-organs is the perceiver (Seer) in respect of the various forms, yet it becomes the object of perception (Seen) in its relation to the mind. This is true of other sense-organs as well.  The mind is one, whereas there are five different sense organs which report to it. Each sense organ can receive only the signal that it is tuned to receive. The ear can only hear, the nose can only smell etc.  From the same sense object, all the five sense organs pick up the five signals concerning them and send it to the mind. The mind then integrates all these signals and forms the composite assessment of the particular object. The full information is obtained only by the mind and so the mind is the Seer and the sense-organs are the Seen.  The sense-organs are seen by virtue of their perceptual power in three different levels. Total perception, total non-perception and partial perception and partial non-perception are those three levels represented by sharpness of vision, blindness and dullness of vision in the case of eye.  The mind experiences or illumines these three conditions of the eye without undergoing any change itself.  Blindness of the eye does not make the mind non-functional, and the dull vision does not make the mind dull.  This principle can be extended to the other four sense-organs such as ear, skin, etc as well.   Here again we see the principle of the observed being many and the observer being one i,e Drisyam is many  and Drik is one. 

Verse 4

Kamah sankalpasandehau sraddha asraddhe dhrtitare ।

hrirdhirbhirityevamadin bhasayatyekadha chitih ॥ 4॥ 

Consciousness, remaining the same, illumines all the thoughts (mental states); thoughts of desire, willingness or doubt, belief or disbelief, fortitude or its lack, modesty, understanding, fear, and such others.

In the previous verse, the mind was introduced as Seer 2, the relative Seer. In this verse, the author says that the mind itself is ‘Seen’, experienced or clearly known. The mind goes through different emotional conditions like happiness, sorrow, jealousy, compassion, fear, etc., In addition, there are several cognition conditions of the mind like ignorance, knowledge, partial ignorance, partial knowledge, doubt, etc. These various conditions of the mind are known because they are experienced by something external to the mind. That is Consciousness, Seer 3 and mind is the Seen.  Consciousness was referred to earlier as Sakshi and it is also called Sakshi Chaitanyam or Athma as well and It is only a witness to the conditions of mind that It illumines without itself undergoing any change.  Sakshi's nature will be discussed in the next verse.  This Seer 3 is unlike the other two Seers. It is ever the Seer and never the Seen. It is ever the experiencer and never the experienced for Athma is never an object of experience.

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