Select verses 50 to 56
Verse 50
jnanendriyani ca manasca manomayah syat,
koso mamahamiti vastuvikalpahetuh |
samjnadibhedakalanakalito baliyan,
tatpurvakosamabhipurya vijrmbhate yah ||167||
The organs of perception along
with the mind form the manomaya kosa which is the sole cause of the “I”
and “mine” sense and of the diversity of things. It is powerful and is endowed
with the essential faculty of creating differences of names etc. It pervades
the pranamaya, the kosa preceding it.
Verse 51
manomayo napi bhavet paratma,
hyadyantavatvat parinamibhavat |
duhkhatmakatvad visayatvahetoh,
drasta hi dṛsyatmataya na drstah ||183||
The mental-sheath cannot be the Supreme Self either, for it
has a beginning and an end. It is subject to modifications; pain and suffering
characterize it and it is an “object” of cognition. The “subject” can never be
the “object” of knowledge. [Or the seer (subject) can never become the seen
(object)].
Acharya
gives five reasons to prove that manomaya cannot be the Athma,
the Self. They are:
1) The
mind has a beginning and an end. When
one wakes up from the sleep, the mind begins to function. When in deep sleep it ceases to function. Athma
has neither beginning nor end. It is
eternal and infinite. So the ephemeral,
finite mind cannot be Athma.
2) Even
while it exists, the mind is fickle, ever-changing. At one moment sorrowful, at another it
becomes joyful, now peaceful, now agitated. So the changing mind cannot be
changeless Athma, whose nature is eternal bliss.
3) The
very fabric of the mind is joy and sorrow, while Athma’s nature is one
of eternal, infinite Bliss.
4) Manomaya is an
object of cognition. Whatever happens to one's mind is known to the one, is seen by the one. So it is only drisya, seen, while Athma is ever drik,
seer, and cannot be objectified at all.
5) The
mind is identified with the objects.
Through the world of objects mind looks at itself. Athma being the knowing principle does
not identify with objects.
Verse 52
buddhirbuddhindriyaih sardham, savrttih kartrlaksanah
|
vijnanamayakosah syat, pumsah samsarakaranam ||184||
The buddhi, intellect,
with its thought modifications and the organs of perception together form the
intellectual-sheath (vijnanamaya-kosa). It has the characteristics of the
doer and is the cause of samsara for the person.
The intellect, buddhi, together with the five Jnanendriyas
viz. eyes, ear, nose, tongue (sense of taste) and skin, constitute the vijnanamaya
kosa, the intellectual sheath. The Aham vritti, “I am”, is produced in the
intellect. This “I-thought” becomes a
component of every other thought that passes through the mind. Vijnanamaya being the locus of “I”
thought, becomes the subject - knower and doer. Everything else is idam-vritti
or object. Again vijnanamaya is kartha
and manomaya is karana and so vijnanamaya is interior to manomaya,
not physically, but with reference to a situation. Being the kartha, it becomes the cause
for samsara for the person. It is
the cause for both the perpetuation as well as the elimination of samsara,
which is rooted in Self-ignorance.
Verse
53
anuvrajaccitpratibimbasaktih,
vijnanasamjnah prakrtervikarah |
jnanakriyavan ahamityajasram,
dehendriyadisvabhimanyate bhrsam ||185||
Accompanied by a
reflection of the light of consciousness, the vijnanamaya kosa is a modified
form of Prakriti having the function of knowledge and action and is
always completely identified with the body, sense-organs, etc., as “I”
Verse 54
anadikalo’yamahaṃsvabhavah,
jivassamastavyavahravodha |
karoti karmanyapi purvavasanah,
punyanyapunyani ca tatphalani ||186||
It is without
beginning, is of the nature of the ego (I-sense), and is called the Jiva,
embodied self, which carries out the entire range of activities on the relative
plane. It performs good and evil actions according to its previous latent
tendencies, and experiences their results.
Verse 55
bhunkte vicitrasvapiyonisu vrajan,
ayati niryatyadha urdhvamesah |
asyaiva vijnanamayasya jagratsvapnadyavasthah
sukhaduhkhabhogah ||187||
It comes and goes, up
and down, taking birth in various bodies. The waking, dream and other states,
and the experiences of joy and sorrow, belong to this vijnanamaya kosa
Pure Consciousness is everywhere as the substratum of
everything that exists. Vijnanamaya has the capacity to reflect the Consciousness and the vijnanamaya
with reflected Consciousness becomes sentient and is conscious of everything. So it becomes a knower-doer, acting through
the body and sense-organs. When the vijnanamaya
uses the word ‘I’, it is not confined to the buddhi alone. But it extends to
the manomaya, which is its instrument and with which it identifies. It
identifies with pranamaya and annamaya also, which are also its instruments
only. The vijnanamaya alone identifies with other kosas and the
identification is total and complete, resulting in it being mistaken for Athma
until one gains the Athma jnanam.
And, vijnanamaya is a product of the samashti satvaguna of the 5 subtle elements, which themselves are products of Prakriti. It is beginningless like the Prakrithi,
that is Maya, of which it is a product.
As the essential Jiva – the “I-sense” – is produced in the intellect,
from where it spreads to all the other kosas, vijnanamaya kosa
itself is spoken of as being Jiva itself, who is undergoing the entire
human experience, birth after birth from beginningless time. The vijnanamaya does various karmas and
experiences the results in the form of sukha and dukkha and also carries the
baggage of karma from janma to janma as vasanas that influence fresh karmas. The vijnanamaya undergoes the waking
experience, dream experience and deep sleep experience as well that makes one
say on getting up “I slept well”. It is
vijnanamaya that owns up these states of experiences.
Verse
56
ato nayaṃ paratma syat, vijnanamayasabdathah |
vikaritvajjadatvacca, paricchinnatvahetutah |
dṛsyatvad vyabhicharitvad, nanityo nitya isyate
||206||
The intellectual sheath,
vijnanamaya kosa, cannot be supreme Self, because It is subject to change,
it is inert and insentient, it is limited, it is an object of perception and it
is not constant. The non-eternal, indeed, cannot be considered to be the
eternal.
Vijnanamaya kosa cannot be the Athma
for the following reasons:
1) Vinanamaya kosa is subject to change (vikaritvat). Its roles keep changing from seer to hearer,
thinker, doer, enjoyer etc. Athma is
changeless and ever the same
2) Vijnanamaya kosa is insentient, inert (jada). It becomes sentient only with borrowed
sentiency. Athma is sentient and self-effulgent
3) Vijnanamaya kosa is limited (paricchinna), in the
sense that it is not all-pervasive, being limited to one body. Athma is all-pervasive
and is not limited in terms of time, space and object.
4) Vijnanamaya kosa is drsya, seen, being the object
of the sakshi. Athma is the sakshi that illumines the intellect
and is the subject.
5) Vijnanamaya kosa is not
constantly present (vyabichari). In deep sleep intellect is not
available and also in conditions like swooning or under chloroform. Athma
is always present.
6) Vijnanamaya kosa, even
though anadhi, is anithya.
Athma is eternal.
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