Vivekachudamani – 8

 

Select verses 36 to 39

Verse 36

yo vijanati sakalam, jagratsvapnasusuptisu |

buddhitadvrttisadbhavam, abhavamahamityayam ||126॥

That which knows everything that happens in the waking, dream, and deep-sleep states; That which is aware of the presence or absence of the mind and its thoughts; That which is the essence behind the ego; That is “This”, the Athma.

Verse 37

yah pasyati svayam sarvaṃ, yam na pasyati kaschana |

yaschetayati buddhyadi, na tadyam chetayatyayam ||127||

That which sees all but which no one can see; That which illumines the intellect etc., but which they cannot illumine; That is the “Athma”.

Verse 38

prakrtivikrtibhinnah suddhabodhasvabhavah,

sadasadidamasesham bhasayannirvisesah |

vilasati paramatma jagradadhisvavasthasu,

ahamahamiti saksat saksirupena buddheh ||135||

The Paramathma shines directly as “I”, “I” in all the three states of experience like waking etc., as the witness of the mind, illumining without exception all this –elements and elementals- with forms and the formless, itself remaining changeless.

In the previous verse no 35, Acharya explained partly the svabhava of Athma.  In these verses unfolding further he states first in verse 36, “Athma is the one that lights up the three states of experience – waking, dreaming, deep sleep and the distinct experiences in all of them”.  In all the three states of experience the Athma is invariable.  That invariable presence of Athma is said as sakshi.  As sakshi, it is a passive knower contributing consciousness to every knowing act. It is a knower of the presence of mind and its thoughts in the waking and dream state and also the absence of mind in the deep sleep state through its mere presence. Kenopanishad(I.6) describing Brahman, that is Athma, the Real Self, says: “That which cannot be apprehended by the mind, but by which, they say, the mind is apprehended—That alone know as Brahman----“.  Again Brihadharanyaka Upanishad (3.4.2) says: “You cannot see the seer of seeing; you cannot hear the hearer of hearing; you cannot think of the thinker of thinking; you cannot know the knower of knowing. This is your Self (Athma)that is within all----“.   Athma, the Self, which is same as Brahman, the Paramathma, is the Pure Consciousness, the five features of which is summarised by Swami Paramarthananda as below:

1)    It is not a part, product or part of the body.

2)    It is an independent entity which pervades and enlivens the body

3)    It is not limited by the boundaries of the body

4)    It continues to exist/survive even after the death of the body

5)    It is not accessible after the death of the body because of the absence of the body-medium.

Athma is different from prakrithi, the cause and vikrithi, the effect, but prakrithi and vikrithi are not separate from Athma.  Maya is prakrithi and the universe made of five elements is the vikrithi. Of the five elements, three have form viz. fire, water and earth; and two elements viz. air and space are formless. Athma, as Paramathma illumines all these elements and elementals without itself undergoing any change. Athma is the aham “I”, which does not undergo any change and remains the same always and not the ego, ahamkara that is subject to change.  Even though Athma seems to play the role of seer, hearer etc., and that involves some kind of a change, that change is with reference to the ego and not the Athma.   Athma illumines the ego as well just as it illumines all the three states of experience as sakshi aham.

Verse 39

atranatmanyahamiti matih, bandha eso’sya puṃsah

prapto’jnanajjananamarana-klesasampatahetuh |

yenaivayaṃ vapuridamasat, satyamityatmabuddhya

pushyatyuksatyavati visayaih, tantubhih kosakrdvat ||137||

Due to ignorance, a person identifies Athma, the Self with the anathma, not-Self.  This is the bondage and brings in its wake the miseries of birth and death. Through this, one considers the unreal body as Real, identifies with it and nourishes, bathes and preserves it with the help of sense-objects. Thereby, one becomes bound like the silk-worm in its cocoon woven by its own threads.

    Acharya answers the first question of sishya in this verse, after talking about Athma and anathma.  The first question was – What is the nature of bondage?  The eternal, unchanging Athma, the pure Consciousness is the Real Self. The mortal, changing body-mind complex i.e. the three-fold body is the anathma, not-Self.  One in ignorance identifying one’s Self with anathma instead of with Athma is bondage. Body by itself is not bondage, only the mistaken identification of one’s Self with the body is the bondage.  Athma and anathma are not two parallel entities.  Anathma is mithya depending entirely on Athma.  The ‘I’ sense in anathma, the gross, subtle and causal bodies, is the mistake which is the cause of all problems, and is the bondage.  The bondage which is in the form of Self-confusion is the cause for samsara, the afflictions in the form of birth, death etc.  Looking upon the body as Self, ‘I’, one nourishes it, anoints it and protects it, but in spite of one’s care and attention, body falls ill, ages and grows old; making one sad.  The one who thinks that he is protecting the body with the objects is only setting a trap for himself like the silkworm.  The silkworm spins a cocoon around itself for safety, but the very cocoon becomes the cause of its death. Human beings weave a cocoon of objects for their protection and get trapped into the cycle of birth and death.  The Athma-buddhi in the anathma is the bondage. 

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