Saddarsanam -3

(Verses 11 to 15)

Verse 11

Dvandvani sarvanyakhilas-triputyah kincit-samasritya vibhanti vastu।
Tanmargane syad-galitam samastam na pasyatam sac-chalanam kadapi ॥

All pairs of opposites and all triads shine, taking the support of some entity,  When that is traced all will get dropped.  For them who see the Truth, there is no wavering ever (at any time).

The world we experience is a combination of opposites, positive and negative i.e. Joy and sorrow; heat and cold; success and failure etc.  Also in every experience, there is a triad – the seer, seen and seeing; knower, known and knowing etc. On enquiry we find that all opposites are interdependent i.e. each is understood with reference to the other, like joy and sorrow and without the experience of ‘I’ there is no joy or sorrow.  Also without ‘I’, the seer there is no seeing or seen.  Going to the root of the ‘I’, the pairs and triads disappear in the vision of Truth, Brahma Jnanam.   Having this Jnanam, one is no more disturbed by them, even when they reappear. For all these differences are an unreal appearance and they always cling to or depend upon the ego for their seeming existence. Therefore, when through Self-enquiry the ego is found to be non-existent, all these differences are also found to be non-existent, and that which will remain shining is only Self, the ever-existing and ever-undifferentiated Reality, which is the absolute base upon which the unreal ego and all its products, the dvantvas and triads, seemed to exist.

Verse 12

Vidya katham bhati na ced-avidya vidyam vina kim pravibhaty-avidya।
Dvayam ca kasyeti vicarya mula - svarupa-nishha paramartha-vidya ॥

How can knowledge shine if there is no ignorance? Without knowledge, does ignorance shine? And “Whose are the two?”  Thus. Inquiring into the source (root), abidance in one’s own (true) nature is the Knowledge of the Supreme Truth.

Without the concept of knowledge, we would not know of ignorance and vice versa. So knowledge and ignorance constitute interdependent pair of opposites. Further they are related to the object and knowledge about objects, and ignorance about objects depends upon the other for their seeming existence.  And only when the knowledge of that thing dawns, do we come to know that an ignorance of it existed previously. Thus without our present knowledge of that thing, our prior ignorance would not be known and hence would not exist.  Since knowledge and ignorance about objects are both mere thoughts, they can rise only after the rising of the first thought, the ego.  But when one enquires ‘who am I’, the individual to whom both knowledge and ignorance arise?’, one will realize that the ego or individual who experiences knowledge and ignorance about objects is truly non-existent, and that Self alone truly exists.  Only that Knowledge which thus knows the non-existence of the ego and the sole existence of Self, is true Knowledge. Effortless accessibility of the knowledge is called Jnana nishta.  “I am the Self that is beyond knowledge and ignorance” is the Real knowledge, Paramartha vidya.

Verse 13

Boddharam-atmanam-ajanato yo bodhah sa kim syat-paramartha-bodhah।
Bodhasya bodhyasya ca samsrayam svam vijanatas-tad-dvitayam vinasyet ॥

Can that be true knowledge when the knower does not know himself?  To one who knows oneself, the support of knowledge and the object of knowledge, the two will vanish.

Knowledge of one’s Self, Athma vidya, is called para vidya and all other knowledge is classified as apara vidya. Maharishi states in this verse that only para vidya, Self-knowledge is true knowledge and all apara vidya comes under ignorance only.  For para vidya is knowledge of anathma, which is mithya, not real. Further para vidya, the knowledge of anathma does not free one from limitations.  In other words, the mind, which knows other things without knowing the truth of itself, is wallowing in ignorance only.  However, when the mind gives up knowing other things and tries instead to know itself by scrutinizing ‘Who am I?’, it will be found to be truly non-existent, and hence all its knowledge and ignorance about other things will automatically cease to exist. The resulting state, in which all knowledge and ignorance about objects has ceased to exist due to the destruction of their base, the knowing mind, alone is the state of True knowledge, Sat Darshan, where Consciousness alone remains.

Verse 14

Nidra na vidya grahanam na vidya gṛhnati kincin-na yathartha-bodhe।
Nidra-padartha-grahanetara syat cideva vidya vilasanty-asunya ॥

Sleep is not knowledge. Perception of objects is not knowledge.  One does not grasp anything in true Knowledge.  The knowledge is other than sleep and perception of objects.   It is Consciousness alone, shining, not a void.

In deep sleep state there is no perception of objects.  In waking, dream state there is perception of objects. But in true knowledge i.e. Brahma vidya there is neither perception nor absence of perception for Self, that is Brahman, which is completely devoid of knowledge and ignorance about objects.  Nature of Self, which is Brahma vidya is not to know anything but, only to be, for Self exists and shines as the sole, non-dual Reality and there does not exist anything other than it either for it to know or to make it known.  It is only the mind or ego that which knows objects and their absence and that is not true knowledge but only ignorance.  Self i.e Consciousness is not a void as it is self- effulgent and shines by its own light as the true knowledge.

Verse 15

Satyas-cidatma vividhakrtis-cit sidhyet-prthak-satya-cito na bhinna।
Bhusa-vikarah kimu santi satyam vina suvarnam prthag-atra loke ॥

The Truth is the Consciousness-Self.  The knowledge which is of various forms is neither different nor can it exist without Consciousness,   Here, in the world, can the various gold ornaments exist without gold?

One Consciousness alone appears as different types of knowledge just as one gold appears as different ornaments in association with nama-rupa.  When Consciousness is associated with a particular thought, it appears as a particular knowledge.  Every knowledge is Consciousness itself associated with a particular thought.  The one Consciousness itself appears as manifold cognitions and these cognitions cannot exist separate from Consciousness just as ornaments cannot  exist independently without gold. But Consciousness exists independent of thoughts just as gold without ornaments.

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