The knowledge of Nirguna Brahman

Gita essays – 15

Knowledge of Nirguna Brahman is called Para vidya in Mundakpopanishad, as this is the knowledge of unchanging eternal Reality and this knowledge is also glorified as one knowing which everything else becomes known. It is the teaching of this knowledge that Lord Krishna takes up as a means of Liberation here and now, Sadyo mukthi or Jivan mukthi, at the start of chapter 9 of Gita.  He introduces this knowledge by describing it glowingly to keep Arjuna interested in the teaching in verse 2.

This is the greatest knowledge, the greatest secret, the most sacred, directly experienceable, unopposed to dharma, very easy to pursue and imperishable. (9-2)

The glory of this knowledge is lited as:

1)    This is the greatest knowledge because it deals with the only absolute Reality, Nirguna Brahman and it also gives Liberation with its fruits of fulfilment and bliss even during one’s life time. 

2)    It is the greatest secret as this is the knowledge about the Self indwelling in the body and about the identity of the individual Self with the Supreme Self that is to be realized by oneself after learning sastras from a competent teacher.  

3)    It is the most sacred as it purifies destroying all the accumulated karmas on realization, like a lamp that destroys darkness immediately.

4)    The benefit can be immediately experienced

5)    It is in keeping with Vedic teaching as the teaching is taken from upanishads.. 

6)    Gaining through this knowledge, Liberation as Jivan mukthi, is much easier as compared to the process of gaining Liberation through krama mukthi. 

7)    The benefit of Liberation, obtained through this knowledge, is eternal. 

To acquire this knowledge and get out of samsara, the seeker should have shraddha in the scriptures and the teacher as well, warns Lord in the next verse.  Then he starts describing Nirguna Brahma swarupam as:

1)    He is avyaktha, formless i.e. not available for perception by any sense-organs.

2)    He is all-pervading, sarvagatha, and has no spatial limitation;

3)    He is Jagat aadharam or Jagat adhishtanam, the resting place of the entire universe.

4)    He is asangha, unattached. 

5)    He is the srishti, sthithi, laya karanam of this entire universe

6)    He is not a kartha or bhoktha but only a mere sakshi.

Let us see in detail each aspect of His Swarupam.   Firstly He is stated to be avyakthah, formless.  Mundakopanishad (1-1-5) describes Nirguna Brahman as “invisible, ungraspable, ----- without attributes; has neither eyes, nor ears, nor hands, nor feet”.  Kathopanishad (1-3-15) also describes Him as “soundless, touchless, colourless,--- tasteless, eternal, odourless” etc.,  Since He has no form, He has no space limitations and is all-pervading, Sarvagataha.  Just as the wind rests in space, the entire universe rests in Him.  But as the universe is mithya and not Satyam, He is not in the Universe though Universe is in Him.  We can see it through an example.  In the semi-darkness a rope is mistaken for a snake. Here the snake is mithya and rope is satyam. Here we can say that the mithya snake is in the Satyam rope but not the Satyam rope in the mithya snake.  So Nirguna Brahman is mithya Jagat adhishtanam.  He is asangha, unattached like the space, which is the resting place of the wind that is not attached to any of the odours, pleasant or unpleasant, the wind carries.  Further as space sustains the wind, He also supports the Universe. So He is the sthithi karanam.  As the night falls at the end of one day time of Brahmaji,, which is equal to one chathur yuga and called kalpa, the entire created world dissolves into unmanifested condition in His Prakrithi, Maya, and is thrown again into manifest condition as new creation when night, of another kalpa duration, ends and a new day dawns in Brahmaji’s life.  This process of creation and dissolution goes on eternally in a cyclic process. So He is also srishti, laya karanam.  Putting together this and the previous space and wind analogy, we can say He is the srishti, sthithi, laya karanam of the entire universe. Though we say He is the karanam of creation and dissolution of the universe, He has no karthruthvam or bhokthruthvam and is only a witness to this cyclic process. It is His inseparable power Maya that keeps the cycle of srishti and laya going in His presence.  So He is not a kartha or a bhoktha but a sakshi only.

It is the ignorance of Nirguna Brahman, the higher nature of Brahman as Para prakriti, who is beyond time and space and attributeless, that is the cause of samsara, Lord Krishna points out in verse 11.  Not knowing His higher nature, Para prakrithi, people know of Him only through His lower nature, apara prakrithi, as Saguna Brahman only, with form and attributes. Apara prakrithi is subject to time and space and so cannot give eternal release from bondage and so these people cannot escape from samsara.  Then he talks of two sets of these people.  One set of people driven by their dominant rajasic and tamasic tendencies are possessed of the delusive nature of Rakshasas and Asuras, with wrong knowledge, vain desires and vain hopes and act without viveka.  Kathopanishad describes such people as “Living in the midst of ignorance and considering themselves intelligent and enlightened, the senseless people go round and round following crooked courses, just like the blind led by the blind”. (1-2-5)

The other set of people who are of satvic nature worship Him with a single-minded devotion.  Knowing He is the source of all things in creation, they see Him in all persons and objects of creation, as a knowledgeable person sees gold in all golden ornaments.  They constantly sing His glory and prostrate before The Lord with total detachment, surrendering all false identifications arising out of the ego-consciousness.  Lord calls these people with divine nature whose life is a continuous worship of Him as mahathmas.  There are yet other people with wisdom who engage in jnana yajna and offer worship in many ways knowing Him as one and as distinct.  Just as oblation is offered in fire in yajna, in jnana yajna, false knowledge and wrong knowledge is offered (destroyed), in the fire of correct knowledge.  Here Lord describes Himself as “Viswathomukham”, who has faces everywhere, as a  revealation of His Viswarupa.   To show He is everything and there is nothing apart from Him, He lists as a sample the following 36 items as Himself only in the next four verses.  They are:

kratu, the Vedic ritual; yajna, the sacrifice; svadha, offering to the departed; aushadham, herbage and food grains; mantrah, sacred chanting; ajyam, clarified butter; agni, fire; pitha, father (of the world); matha, mother (of the world); dhatha, sustainer (of the world); pithamaha, grandfather (of the world);vedhyam, the one to be known; pavithram, purifier; Omkara, the syllable Om; Rik, Sama, Yajur Vedas; gatih, supreme goal; bharta, supporter; Prabu, Lord; sakshi, witness; nivasah, abode; saranam, refuge; suhrit, well-wisher; prabhavah, origin; pralayah, dissolution; sthaanam, substratum; nidhanam, storehouse; avyayam beejam, imperishable seed; tapami, radiate heat (as the Sun); varsham, rainfall; amritha, immortality; mrityu, death, sat, being and asat, non-being.

----------------------------------

Moksha (Liberation)

Upadesa saar – verses 26 to 30

Maharishi has stated in verse 25 that knowledge of one’s Self as Sat-Chit Athma is also the knowledge of Iswara as Iswara and Jiva are one in their intrinsic nature and the difference between them is caused by their respective upadhis only. There is a difference between knowledge of one’s Self and knowledge of other objects.  In respect of the knowledge of other objects, there is a subject-object differentiation.  But in respect of knowledge of one’s Self there is no such differentiation as here Self itself is the subject and the object as well.  Further we are conscious of our own selves and so Self is not unknown to us. But we do not know the Self as Athma and we understand ourselves as body-mind complex only. So Self is not Unknown and also not known as well at the same time.  So what is meant by Self-knowledge needs to be further elucidated. Maharishi explains further the nature of Self-knowledge in the next two verses 26 & 27.

Verse 26:
आत्मसंस्थितिः स्वात्मदर्शनम् | (Atma Samsthithih Svaatma Darshanam)
आत्मनिर्द्वयादात्मनिष्ठता || (Atma nirdvayaat Aatmanisthathaa)

Abiding in one’s own Self or Consciousness is the vision of the Self.  As the Athma is non-dual or one without a second, there is natural or effortless establishing in the Self.

Verse 27:

ज्ञानवर्जिताज्ञानहीनचित् |  (Jnaana varjita ajnaana heena chit)
ज्ञानमस्ति किं ज्ञातुमंतरम्|| (Jnaanam asthi kim jnaatum antharam)

Consciousness is free of the thought or vritti of ignorance and of knowledge also. Is there any knowledge other than the Self to know the Self? There is not. (The Self is self-knowing and hence doesn’t require any special knowledge to be known).

Maharishi discusses the nature of Self-knowledge in the above two verses. He first clarifies that Self-knowledge means not mere knowing but abiding in the knowledge at all times. Abiding means shedding the notion “I am the body-mind complex with an Athma” and being firmly established in the conviction “ I am the Athma with a body-mind complex” at all times, For instance we do not forget our name, physical form, body problems, mental worries, intellectual accomplishments etc., and remember them always in our actions and this is abiding in the knowledge of our self as body-mind complex. A Jnani, in the same way, is established in the knowledge that he is not the limited body-mind complex but is the limitless Athma that lends sentiency to the body-mind complex and devoid of upadhis he is no different from Iswara. So though he interacts with the world, he does not react to the world taking the opposites of joy and grief, pain and pleasure, gain and loss, heat and cold, wealth and wants with equanimity. So he feels calm and secure always in this knowledge that he is not the perishable, vulnerable body-mind complex but the eternal, limitless, non-dual Sat-Chit Athma and the salient features of his attitude can be summed up as: 

1)    I am of the nature of eternal and all all-pervading Sat-Chit Athma

2)    I am not affected by any event happening in the material world or happening to the material body-mind complex.

3)    By my mere presence, I lend sentiency to the inert body-mind complex and through the body-mind complex thus made sentient I experience the material world

4)    When I forget my real nature, life becomes a struggle; while remembering it the life remains a lila

5)    I am the only source of permanent peace, happiness and security for myself

In verse 27, he describes Chit, as Jnanavarjitha, free from objective knowledge and Ajnanahina, free from ignorance as well. Athma as Chitswarupa, and Satswarupa, he has so far described.  Now he adds another dimension in the next verse where he describes Athma as Aananadaswarupa as well, thus completing Athma’s description as Sat-Chit-Aananda.
Verse 28:

किं स्वरूपमित्यात्मदर्शने |   (Kim svaroopam ithi Atma darshane)
अव्ययाभावापूर्नाचित्सुखम् || (Avaya abhava aapurna chit sukham)

What is the nature of the Athma?  Thus enquiring, one realizes the Athma as indestructible, unborn, perfect (ever fulfilled), Consciousness and happiness (Bliss).

Earlier in verse 20 Maharishi described Athma as Satswarupa (Paramapurnasat), Existence and in verse 27 as Chitswarupa (Ajnanahina chit), Consciousness.  Here he reveals it as Aanandaswarupa (Avaya, abhava, aapurna, sukham) as well.  In deep sleep you are  unknowingly under the spell of Sat-Chit Athma only and this is a state of perfect Bliss, with no cares, no worries etc., in short with no samsara. You do not recognise it at that time as your faculties are temporarily resolved at that time. Further whenever your mind is calm and satvic, your mind is not agitated and reflects Sat-Chit Athma without any distortion and you feel peaceful and happy.  This is what happens when you feel happy with objects or in relations, for happiness is not intrinsic to them.  You are only enjoying the natural happiness of your Self reflected in the calm mind taking it to be from the object or relationship. It is like the dog enjoying the blood flowing from its jaw, imagining it to be from the bone it is trying to chew, while the bone is really hurting the jaw and causing the flow of blood.   Athma being one without a second has no wants and so is described as fulfilled.  Further being eternal it has no birth or death nor does it undergo any change. Having explained Athma in detail, now Maharishi discusses Moksha in the next verse 29.

बन्धमुक्त्यातीतं परं सुखं | (Bandha Muktyatheetham param sukham)
विन्दतीह जीवस्तु दैविकः || (Vindhathi iha jeevah thu daivikah)

The Individual Jiva (who has acquired the knowledge of the Self) realizes the divine state (his own real nature) which is supreme, blissful and beyond bondage and liberation here in this world itself.

Jiva before Self-realisation thinks he is a limited bound samsari.  So he seeks freedom from all wants and bondage.  Self-realisation removes this limited bound feeling through the knowledge that his true nature is Sat-Chit,Aananda Athma, which is a free, eternal, changeless, fulfilled, blissful non-dual one.  Being firmly established in this knowledge he is aware that he was never bound and always liberated and the feeling of bondage and limitedness has arisen due to wrong identification with body-mind complex. So he feels “I am bound is a misconception and therefore there is no question of getting liberation.”  So Liberation is dropping through Self-knowledge the idea that one is bound.  Such a person who has attained Self-realisation is called Jivanmuktha, a liberated person, while living and his state is called Jivanmukthi.  And in the state of Jivanmukthi, he enjoys Athmananda here  and now. This verse is like a phala sthuthi for the discussion on Jnana Yoga, giving the supreme benefit of Self-knowledge. He concludes the discussion with a declaration in the next and last verse 30.

अहमपेतकं निजविभानकम्| (Aham apethakam nija vibhaanakam)
महदिदंतपो रमणवागियम् || (Mahad idam tapo ramana Vaageyam)

The destruction of ahamkara (as a result of Self-enquiry) leading to the shining of the Self (Self-knowledge) is the greatest penance. So says Ramana. 

Self-knowledge is a penance as one has to make sacrifices to cultivate the four-fold qualifications of Sadhana Chathushtayam that renders the mind and intellect subtle to receive the knowledge and that too greatest form of penance since this knowledge removes ignorance that one is bound and limited, leading to Liberation here and now.  Tapas is the word used by Maharishi and Tapas means ‘to burn”.  Here ignorance is burnt in the fire of knowledge and In that process Real ‘I’ is revealed resulting in the destruction of the imposter, ahamkara.  With this declaration, based on his experience, Ramana Maharishi  concludes not only the discussion on Jnana Yoga but also the entire work “Upadesa Saar”

----------------------------