Panchadasi Talks - Day 6

By Sowmya Ramkumar

Day 6 of the Panchadasi Talks



CHAPTER 07. THE LAMP OF PERFECT SATISFACTION

1. ‘Man realized the identity of his own Self with the Paramatman, desiring what and for whose sake should he allow himself to be afflicted ?’
2. In this chapter we exhaustively analyze the meaning of this Shruti. Thereby the perfect satisfaction of a man liberated in this life will be clearly known.
5. The substratum of illusion is Brahman, Brahman becomes associated with the intellect, an association which is phenomenal and not real, He is known as Jiva or Purusha.
6. Jiva, with Kutastha as his substratum, becomes an agent and seeks liberation or the pleasures of heaven and earth. Chidabhasa, the reflection of pure consciousness alone cannot be so, for superimposition is not possible without a substratum.
7. When Jiva, having the immutable Kutastha as his basis, wrongly identifies himself with the gross and subtle bodies, he comes to think of himself as bound by the pleasures and pains of this world.
8. When Jiva gives up his attachment to his illusory portion, the nature of the substratum becomes predominant and he realizes that he is association-less and of the nature of pure consciousness.
9. (Doubt): How can the idea of egoity arise in the detached Kutastha ? You have to attribute egoity to it. (Reply): ‘I’ is used in three senses, of which one is primary and the other two secondary.
10. Kutastha becomes identified with reflected intelligence, Chidabhasa, due to mutual superimposition. This is the primary meaning of ‘I’ in which the spiritually dull people use it.
11. ‘I’ in the two secondary senses refer to either Kutastha or Chidabhasa but one is differentiated from the other. The wise use the same word ‘I’ either in the worldly or in the philosophical sense, meaning Chidabhasa or Kutastha respectively.
12. From the conventional standpoint, the wise use the expression ‘I am going’, meaning Chidabhasa, differentiating it from Kutastha.
13. From the philosophical standpoint the wise mean by their ‘I’ the pure Kutastha. In this sense they say: ‘I am unattached. I am the Spirit Itself’.
14. (Doubt): Wise or ignorant are terms that can be applied to Chidabhasa and never to Kutastha. Then how can Chidabhasa who is different from Kutastha, say: ‘I am Brahman or Kutastha ?’
15. (Reply): There is no harm, for Chidabhasa has no real existence independent of Kutastha. An image in a mirror is not distinct from the object of which it is a reflection. When the adventitious factors are negated, only Kutastha remains.
16. (Doubt): Idea ‘I am Kutastha’ is also illusory. (Reply): Who denies it ? Any motion attributed to the snake superimposed on a rope is unreal and cannot be admitted.
17. The idea ‘I am Brahman’ leads to the cessation of pleasure and pain of the world.
18. The Shruti says that Chidabhasa, based on Kutastha and known as Purusha, should differentiate Kutastha from illusion and that he is then justified in saying ‘I am Kutastha (Brahman)’.
19. In speaking of himself the common man seems to be convinced of his identity with the body. A similar conviction about this Self as Brahman is necessary for liberation. This is the meaning of ‘this’ in ‘I am this’.
20. When a man is as firmly convinced of his identity with Brahman as an ordinary man is convinced of his identity with the body, he is liberated even if he does not wish for it.
THE 10TH MAN EXAMPLE
21. (Doubt): The term ‘this’ in ‘I am this’ refers to something knowable and that it cannot apply to Brahman, who is unknown. (Reply): All right. Brahman as the Self is self-luminous and can always be directly experienced.
22. The Self is ever cognized. We speak of Its being known directly or indirectly, being known or unknown, as in the illustration of the tenth man.
23. The tenth man counts the other nine, each of whom is visible to him, but forgets himself the tenth, though all the time seeing himself.
24. Being himself the tenth, he does not find him. ‘The tenth is not visible, he is absent’, so he says. Intelligent people say that this is due to his presence being obscured by ignorance or Maya.
25. He is grieved and cries, because he believes the tenth to have been drowned in the river. The act of weeping, a result of false superimposition, is due to illusion.
26. When told by a competent person that the tenth is not dead, he believes by indirect knowledge that he is alive, just as one believes in the existence of heaven on the authority of the Shruti.
27. When each man is told: ‘You are the tenth’ and he counts himself along with the others, he stops weeping and grieving owing to the direct knowledge of the tenth, that is, him.
THE 7 STAGES OF JIVA
28. Seven stages can be distinguished in respect of the Self: ignorance, obscuration, superimposition, indirect knowledge, direct knowledge, cessation of grief and the rise of perfect satisfaction.
29. Chidabhasa with his mind devoted to the worldly existence does not know that he is the self-evident Kutastha. (Stage -1 Ignorance)
30. ‘Kutastha is not manifest, there is no Kutastha’ are the ideas that characterize the obscuring stage( Stage -2) caused by ignorance. The Jiva further says ‘I am the doer and enjoyer’ and experiences pains and pleasures, result of superimposition.(Stage 3)
31. From the teacher he comes to know of the existence of Kutastha indirectly(stage 4). Then, by means of discrimination, he directly Stage – 5) realizes ‘I am Kutastha’.
32. Now he is free from the erroneous idea that he is a doer and an enjoyer of the fruit of his actions. With this conviction his grief (Stage 6) comes to an end. He feels that he has accomplished all that was to be accomplished and experiences perfect satisfaction.(Stage – 7)
33. These are the seven stages of Jiva: ignorance, obscuration, superimposition, indirect knowledge, direct knowledge, freedom from grief and unrestricted bliss.
34. The reflected consciousness, Chidabhasa, is affected by these seven stages. They are the cause of bondage and also of release. The first three of them are described as causing bondage.
35. Ignorance is the stage characterized by ‘I do not know’ and is the cause of the indifference about truth, lasting as long as discrimination does not mature.
36. The result of the obscuring of the spiritual truth caused by ignorance is such thoughts as ‘Kutastha does not exist’, ‘Kutastha is not known’, which is contrary to truth. This happens when discrimination is not conducted along scriptural lines.
37. The stage in which Chidabhasa identifies himself with the subtle and gross bodies is called superimposition. In it he is subject to bondage and suffers as a result of the idea of his being the doer and enjoyer.
38. Though ignorance and the obscuring of the Self precede superimposition and Chidabhasa himself is the result of this superimposition, still the first two stages belong not to Kutastha but to Chidabhasa.
39. Before the rise of superimposition the impressions or seeds of superimposition exist. Therefore, it is not inconsistent to say that the first two stages belong to Chidabhasa alone.
40. These two stages do not exist in Brahman, although they are superimposed on Him, as Brahman is the basis on which the superimposition stands.
41. (Doubt): ‘I am worldly’, ‘I am endowed with knowledge’, ‘I am griefless’, ‘I am happy’ and so forth are expressions which refer to states of the Jiva and they have no relation to Brahman.
42. (Reply): Then the two stages prior to superimposition also should be attributed to the Jiva, for he says: ‘I do not know’, ‘I do not see Brahman’, referring to ignorance and obscuring.
43. The ancient teachers said of Brahman as the support of ignorance as a substratum, but ignorance is attributable to Jiva because he identifies himself with it and feels ‘I am ignorant’.
44. By the two kinds of knowledge ignorance is negated and with it, its effects, and the ideas ‘Brahman does not exist’ and ‘Brahman is not manifest’ also perish.
45. a) By indirect knowledge the misconception that Kutastha does not exist is negated. b) Direct knowledge destroys the result of the obscuring of reality expressed in the idea that Brahman is not manifest or experienced.
46. When the obscuring principle is destroyed, both the idea of Jiva, a mere superimposition and the grief caused by the worldly idea of agent-ship are destroyed.
47. When the world of duality is destroyed by the experience of one’s being ever released, there arises, with the annihilation of all grief, an unrestricted and everlasting satisfaction.
48. The Shruti quoted at the beginning of this chapter refers to two of the stages, direct knowledge and the destruction of the grief from which Jiva suffers.
49. The direct knowledge of the reality referred to in the Shruti as ‘this’ (in ‘This is the Self’) is of two kinds: Atman is self-luminous and the intellect perceives it as self-evident.
50. In indirect knowledge this intellect is aware of the fact that Brahman is self-evident (and the self-evidence of Brahman is not the least affected in such intellectual comprehension).
51. Indirect knowledge, which is the cognition ‘Brahman exists’ and not the cognition ‘I am Brahman’, is not erroneous; because in the state of direct knowledge this indirect knowledge is not contradicted but confirmed.
INDIRECT AND DIRECT KNOWLEDGE
52. If it could be proved that Brahman does not exist, this indirect knowledge would be subject to refutation, but it is well known that there is no valid evidence to refute the fact that Brahman exists.
53. The indirect knowledge of Brahman cannot be called false simply because it does not give a definitive idea of Brahman. On that basis the existence of heaven should also be false.
54. Indirect knowledge of Brahman, that is an object of direct knowledge, is not necessarily false. For it does not aver that Brahman is an object of indirect knowledge only. (Why do we then call it indirect knowledge ? For it does not say 'This is Brahman' which is direct knowledge).
55. The argument that indirect knowledge is false because it does not give a full knowledge of Brahman does not hold good. We may know only a part of a pot, but this partial knowledge is not false on that account. Though Brahman has no real parts, It appears to have parts due to false superimposed adjuncts, which indirect knowledge removes.
56. Indirect knowledge removes our doubt that Brahman may not exist. Direct knowledge rebuts our poser that It is not manifest or experienced.
57. The statement ‘The tenth exists, is not lost’ is indirect knowledge and it is not false. Similarly, the indirect knowledge ‘Brahman exists’ is not false. In both cases the obscuring of the truth due to ignorance is the same.
58. By a thorough analysis of ‘Self is Brahman’ the direct knowledge ‘I am Brahman’ is achieved, just as the man after having been told that he is the tenth comes to realize it through reflection.
59. If one of the ten asks who is the tenth, the answer is that it is he himself. As he counts he comes to himself and then realizes that he himself is the tenth (which is direct knowledge).
60. His knowledge that he is the tenth is never negated. Whether he comes to himself at the beginning, the middle or the end of his counting, his knowledge that he is the tenth is never in doubt.
61. The Vedic texts, such as ‘Before the creation Brahman alone existed’, give indirect knowledge of Brahman; but the text ‘That thou art’ gives direct knowledge.
62. When a man knows himself to be Brahman, his knowledge does not vary whether in the beginning, middle or end. This is direct knowledge.
SAGE BRIGU GETS DIRECT KNOWLEDGE FROM 5 SHEATHS
63. The sage Bhrigu, in ancient times, acquired indirect knowledge of Brahman by reflecting on Brahman as the cause of the origin, sustenance and dissolution of the universe. He acquired direct knowledge by differentiating the Self from the five sheaths.
64. Though Varuna, father of Bhrigu, did not teach him by means of the text ‘That thou art’, he taught him the doctrine of the five sheaths and left him to his discriminative enquiry.
65. Bhrigu considered carefully the nature of the food-sheath, the vital-sheath and so forth. He saw in the bliss-sheath the indications of Brahman and concluded: ‘I am Brahman’.
66. The Shruti first speaks of the nature of Brahman as truth, knowledge and infinity. It then describes the Self hidden in the five sheaths.
67. Indra acquired indirect knowledge of Brahman by studying Its attributes. He then went to his teacher four times with a view to gaining direct knowledge of the Self.
68. In the Aitareya Upanishad an indirect knowledge of Brahman is imparted by such texts as ‘There was only Atman before creation’. The Upanishad then describes the process of superimposition and negating it shows that consciousness is Brahman.
DIRECT KNOWLEDGE FROM SHRUTI
69. An indirect knowledge of Brahman by the intellect can be gained from other Shruti passages also; but direct knowledge is achieved by meditating on the great Sayings of the Shruti.
70. In Vakyavritti it is said that the great Sayings are intended to give direct knowledge of Brahman. There is no doubt about this fact.
71. “In ‘That thou art’ ‘thou’ denotes the consciousness which is limited or circumscribed by the adjunct the inner organ and which is the object of the idea and word ‘I’.
72. “The (absolute) consciousness conditioned by the primeval ignorance, Maya, which is the cause of the universe, is all-knowing etc., and can be known indirectly and whose nature is truth, knowledge and infinity, is indicated by the word ‘That’.”
81. Everyman’s knowledge of himself is a direct experience. It is indeed a remarkable argument to suggest that in our attempt at identification of ourselves with Brahman this direct knowledge, already present, will be destroyed !

85. The difference between Jiva and Brahman is due to the presence or absence of the conditioning medium of Antahkarana; otherwise they are identical.

91. In the perception of a jar the intellect and Chidabhasa are both concerned. There the nescience is negated by the intellect and the pot is revealed by Chidabhasa.
92. In the cognition of Brahman the modification of the intellect is necessary to remove ignorance; but, as Brahman is self-revealing the help of Chidabhasa is not needed to reveal It.
93. To perceive a pot two factors are necessary, the eye and the light of the lamp; but to perceive the light of the lamp only the eye is necessary.
94. When the intellect functions, it does so only in the presence of Chidabhasa, but in the cognition of Brahman Chidabhasa is merged in Brahman. In external perception of a pot, Chidabhasa reveals the pot by its light and yet remains distinct from it.
95. That Brahman cannot be cognized by Chidabhasa is corroborated by the Shruti: ‘Brahman is beginning less and beyond cognition’. But Its cognition by the intellects (in the sense of removing ignorance about It), is admitted by the Shruti ‘Brahman can be cognized by the intellect’.
96. In the first Shruti verse of this chapter, ‘When a man has realized the identity of his own Self with That (Paramatman)…’, it is the direct knowledge of Brahman (i.e., I am Brahman’) that is meant.
97. From the great Sayings a direct knowledge of Brahman is obtained, but it is not firmly established all at once. Therefore Sri Shankaracharya emphasizes the importance of repeated hearing, reflection and meditation.
98. “Until the right understanding of the meaning of the sentence ‘I am Brahman’ becomes quite firm, one should go on studying the Shruti and thinking deeply over its meaning as well as practicing the inner control and other virtues.”
101. ‘Hearing’ is the process by which one becomes convinced that the Vedas in their beginning, middle and end teach the identity of Jiva and Brahman and this is the gist of Vedanta.
102. This subject is well explained by Acharya Vyasa and Shankara in the Brahma Sutras in the section treating of the correct view of the Vedic texts. The second chapter of the same classic treats of ‘reflecting’ by which one is enabled to establish the doctrine of non-duality by reasoning which satisfies the intellect and refutes all possible objections.
103. The Jiva, as a result of the firm habit of many births repeatedly, moment by moment, thinks that the body is the Self and that the world is real.
104. This is called erroneous thinking. It is removed by the practice of one-pointed meditation. This concentration arises out of worship of Ishvara, even before the initiation regarding attributeless Brahman.
105. Therefore in the books of Vedanta many types of worship of Ishvara have been discussed. Those who have not done worship before the initiation into Brahman will have to acquire this power of concentration by the practice of meditation on Brahman.
106. ‘The practice of meditation on Brahman, the wise consider, means reflection on It, talking about It, mutually producing logical arguments about It – thus to be fully occupied with It alone’.
107. ‘The wise man, having known Brahman beyond doubt, ought to generate a flow of unbroken thought-current on It. He should not engage in much discussion, for that has but one effect – it tires the organ of speech’.
108. The Gita says: ‘Those who one-pointedly concentrate their mind on Me and meditate on Me as their own Self, I give what those ever-devoted ones need and protect what they have’.
109. Thus both Shruti and Smriti enjoin constant concentration of the mind on the Self to remove the erroneous conviction concerning the Self and the world.
118. The practice of thinking or talking of Brahman, etc., which helps to remove the erroneous conviction has already been described. In one-pointed devotion to the non-dual Brahman there is no fixed rule, as in meditation on a form of God.
119. Meditation means the constant thinking of the form of some deity without the intervention of any other thought.
120. In the Gita, Arjuna says: ‘O Krishna, the mind is fickle, impetuous, incurable and strongly attached. I consider it as difficult to control as the wind’.
121. In the Yoga-Vasistha it is said: ‘It is more difficult to curb the mind than to drink up the whole ocean or to dislodge Mount Meru or to eat fire’.
122. The mind cannot be chained like the body, so practice hearing about Brahman. The mind is entertained by many religious stories and other accounts, as by a dramatic performance.
123. The purpose of such account is to realize that the nature of the Self is pure consciousness and that the universe is illusory. So they are not a hindrance to the one-pointedness of meditation.
124. But when one is engaged in agriculture, commerce, service of others, study of unspiritual literature, dialectics and other branches of learning, there is no dwelling of the mind on the real entity.
125. The aspirant, engaged in keeping his mind on truth, however, is not disturbed by taking food and so forth, as there is not much disturbance in continuing the meditation. And even if forgotten for a moment the truth can be easily revived.
126. Merely momentary forgetfulness of the truth is not disastrous; but the erroneous conviction IS. As (in the former case) the recollection immediately returns, there is no time for intensification of the erroneous conviction.
127. A man who is excessively engaged in subjects other than Vedanta ceases to meditate on Brahman. Such an engagement compels him to neglect intense meditation on Brahman and a break in the practice is a great obstacle.
128. The Shruti says ‘Know that One alone and give up all vain talk’ and again ‘Arguments and talks only fatigue the faculty of speech’.
129. If you give up food, you will not live; but will you not be alive if you give up studies (other than scriptures) ? So why so much insistence on pursuing such studies ?
130. (Doubt): How then the ancient knowers like Janaka administered kingdoms ? (Reply): They were able because of their conviction about the truth. If you have that, then by all means engage yourself in logic or agriculture or do whatever you like.

FRUCTIFYING KARMA
131. Once he is convinced of the unreality of the world, a knower, with mind undisturbed, allows his fructifying Karma to wear out and engages himself in worldly affairs accordingly.
132. Do not fear irregularity when the wise engage themselves in actions according to their Karma. Even if it happens, let it be; who can prevent the Karma ?
133. In the experience of their fructifying Karma the enlightened and the unenlightened alike have no choice; but the knower is patient and undisturbed, whereas an ignorant man is impatient and suffers pain and grief.
134. Two travelers on a journey may be equally fatigued, but the one who knows that his destination is not far off goes on quicker with patience, whereas the ignorant one feels discouraged and stays on longer on the way.
136. When the conviction of the unreality of the world has been reached, there is neither desire, nor the desirer. In their absence the pain caused by unfulfilled desires ceases like the flame of a lamp without oil.
137. When the visitor knows the magician’s city of Gandharvas and its objects as unreal, he desires nothing and laughs at its deceptive nature.
42. Even a man afflicted with great hunger does not wish to eat poison, much less one who is already satisfied with sweetmeats.
145. This sorrow is not due to the afflictions of the world but a dislike for it, for the worldly afflictions are caused by erroneous conviction about its reality.
156. If it were possible to avert the consequences of fructifying Karma, Nala, Rama and Yudhisthira would not have suffered the miseries to which they were subjected.
157. Ishvara Himself ordains that the fructifying Karma should be inexorable. So the fact that He is unable to prevent such Karma from fructifying is not inconsistent with His omnipotence.
. 163. (Doubt): Does it not contradict the text at the beginning of this chapter which describes the enlightened man as desire less ? (Reply): The text does not mean that desires are absent in the enlightened man, but that desires arising in him spontaneously without his will produce no pleasure or pain in him, just as the roasted grain has no potency.
164. Roasted grain though looking the same cannot germinate; similarly the desires of the knower, well aware of the unreality of objects of desire cannot produce merit and demerit.
165. Though it does not germinate, the roasted grain can be used as food. In the same way the desires of the knower yield him only a little experience, but cannot lead to varieties of enjoyment producing sorrow or abiding habits.
166. The fructifying Karma spends its force when its effects are experienced; it is only when, through ignorance, one believes its effects to be real that they cause lasting sorrow.
167. ‘Let not my enjoyment be cut short, let it go on increasing, let not obstacles stop it, I am blessed because of it’ – such is the nature of that delusion.
168. That which is not destined to happen as a result of our past Karma will not happen; that which is to happen must happen. Such knowledge is a sure antidote to the poison of anxiety; it removes the delusion of grief.
169. Both the illumined and the deluded suffer from their fructifying Karma; the deluded are subject to misery, the wise are not. As the deluded are full of desires, of impracticable unreal things, their sorrow is great.
170. The illumined man knows that the enjoyment of desires is unreal. He therefore controls his desires and prevents impossible or new ones from arising. Why should such a man be subject to misery ?
171. The wise man is convinced that worldly desires are like dream objects or magical creations. He knows further that the nature of the world is incomprehensible and that its objects are momentary. How can he then be attached to them ?
172. One should, when awake, first picture to him vividly what he has seen in a dream and then carefully and constantly think over the conditions of dreaming and wakefulness.
173. An aspirant must observe long and find out the essential similarity of the dream and waking worlds. He should then give up the notion of the reality of worldly objects and cease to be attached to them.
174. This world of duality is like a magical creation, with its cause incomprehensible. What matters it to the wise man who does not forget this, if the past actions produce their results in him ?
175. The function of knowledge is to show the illusory nature of the world and the function of fructifying Karma is to yield pleasure and pain to the Jiva.
176. Knowledge and fructifying Karma are not opposed to one another since they refer to different objects. The sight of a magical performance gives amusement to a spectator in spite of his knowledge of its unreality.
177. The fructification of Karma would be considered to be opposed to the knowledge of truth if it gave rise to the idea of the reality of the transitory world; but the mere enjoyment does not mean that the enjoyed thing is real.
178. Through the imaginary objects seen in a dream there is experience of joy and sorrow to no small extent; therefore you can infer that through the objects of the waking state also there can be the same experience (without making them real).
179. If the knowledge of truth would obliterate the enjoyable world, then it would be a destroyer of the fructifying Karma. But it only teaches its unreality and does not cause its disappearance.
180. People know a magical show to be unreal, but this knowledge does not involve the destruction of the show. So it is possible to know the unreality of external objects without causing their disappearance or the cessation of enjoyment from them.
181. (Doubt): The Shruti passages say that he who perceives his own Self to be all, ‘what can he hear or see, or smell or speak ?’
182. Therefore knowledge arises with the destruction of duality and in no other way. This being so, how can the knower of truth enjoy the objective world ?
183. (Reply): The Shruti upon which this objection is based applies to the states of deep sleep and final liberation. This has been amply cleared in aphorism 4-4-16 in the Brahma Sutras.
184. If this is not accepted, we cannot account for Yajnavalkya’s and other sages’ efforts to teach. Without a recognition of duality they could not teach and with it their knowledge is incomplete.

244. After a man has realized the nature of the rope, the trembling caused by the erroneous idea of the snake disappears gradually only and the idea of the snake still sometimes haunts him when he sees a rope in darkness.
245. Similarly the fructifying Karma does not end abruptly but dies down slowly. In the course of the enjoyment of its fruits, the knower is occasionally visited by such thoughts as ‘I am a mortal’.
246. Lapses like this do not nullify the realization of truth. Jivanmukti (liberation in life) is not a vow, but the establishment of the soul in the knowledge of Brahman.
247. In the example already cited, the tenth man, who may have been crying and beating his head in sorrow, stops lamenting on realizing that the tenth is not dead; but the wounds caused by beating his head take a month gradually to heal.
248. On realizing that the tenth is alive, he rejoices and forgets the pain of his wounds. In the same way liberation in life makes one forget any misery resulting from the fructifying Karma.
249. As it is not a vow and a break does not matter, one should reflect on the truth again and again to remove the delusion whenever it recurs, just as a man who takes mercury to cure a certain disease eats again and again during the day to satisfy the hunger caused by the mercury.
250. As the tenth man cures his wounds by applying medicines, so the knower wears out his fructifying Karma by enjoyment and is ultimately liberated.
251. In the first verse, the expression ‘Desiring what ?’ indicates the release from suffering. This is the sixth state of Chidabhasa. The seventh state, which is now described, is the achievement of perfect satisfaction.
THE 7TH STATE: PERFECT SATISFACTION
252. The satisfaction by external objects is limited, but the satisfaction of liberation in life is unlimited. The satisfaction of direct knowledge engenders the feeling that all that was to be achieved has been achieved and all that was to be enjoyed has been enjoyed.
253. Before realization one has duties to perform to acquire worldly and celestial advantages and also as an aid to ultimate release; but with the rise of knowledge of Brahman, they are as good as already done, for nothing further remains to be done.
254. The Jivanmukta always feels supreme self-satisfaction by constantly keeping in view his former state and present state of freedom from wants and duties.
255. Let the ignorant people of the world perform worldly actions and desire to possess wives, children and wealth. I am full of supreme bliss. For what purpose should I engage myself in worldly concerns ?
256. Let those desirous of joy in heaven perform the ordained rituals. I pervade all the worlds. How and wherefore should I undertake such actions ?
257. Let those who are entitled to it, explain the scriptures or teach the Vedas. I am not so entitled because all my actions have ceased.
258. I have no desire to sleep or beg for alms, nor do I do so; nor do I perform the acts of bathing or ablution. The onlookers imagine these things in me. What have I to do with their imaginations ?
259. Seeing a bush of red gunja berries from a distance one may suppose that there is a fire, but such as imaginary fire does not affect the bush. So the worldly duties and qualities attributed to me by others do not affect me.
260. Let those ignorant of the nature of Brahman listen to the teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. I have Self-knowledge. Why again should I listen to them ? Those who are in doubt reflect on the nature of Brahman. I have no doubts, so I do not do so.
261. He who is subject to erroneous conviction may practice meditation. I do not confuse the Self for the body. So in the absence of such a delusion why should I meditate ?
262. Even without being subject to this delusion, I behave like a human being through the impressions and habits gathered over a long period.
263. All worldly dealings will end when the fructifying Karma wears out. If it does not wear out, thousands of meditational bouts will not stop the dealings.
264. To end your worldly dealings, you may practice contemplation as much as you like, but I know the worldly dealings to be perfectly harmless. Why should I then meditate ?
265. There is no distraction for me, so for me there is no need of Samadhi too. Both distraction and absorption are states of the changeable mind.
266. I am the sum of all the experiences in the universe; where is the separate experience for me ? I have obtained all that was to be obtained and have done all that was to be done. This is my unshakable conviction.
267. I am association-less, neither the doer nor the enjoyer. I am not concerned with what the past actions make me do, whether in accordance with or against the social or scriptural codes.
268. Or, there is no harm if I engage myself in doing good to the world following the scriptural injunctions even though I have obtained all that was to be obtained.
269. Let my body worship God, take bath, preserve cleanliness or beg for alms. Let my mind recite ‘Aum’ or study the Upanishads.
270. Let my intellect meditate on Vishnu or be merged in the bliss of Brahman, I am the witness of all. I do nothing nor cause anything to be done.
271. How can there be any conflict between the actor and myself ? Our functions are as apart from each other as the eastern from the western ocean ?
272. An advocate of action is mainly concerned with the body, the organs of speech, the intellect and with Karma; he is not concerned with the witness-consciousness, whereas the illumined one is concerned with the association-less witness, not with other things.
273. If the advocates of Karma and Jnana, without understanding the difference of their topics, enter into a dispute, they are like two deaf persons quarrelling ! The illumined ones only laugh at seeing them.
274. Let the knower of truth know the witness-consciousness whom the Karmi does not recognize, as Brahman. What does the Karmic lose by this ?
275. The illumined man has rejected the body, speech and mind as unreal. What does he lose if a believer in action makes use of them ?
276. (Doubt): The knower of truth has no use for getting engaged in action. (Reply): What use has actionlessness ? (Doubt): Absence of action is a help to the acquisition of knowledge. (Reply): Action too is helpful in the search after knowledge.
277. (Doubt): Once the truth is known, there is no further desire to know it (and so he has no need for action). (Reply): He has not to know again (and so he has no need for inaction).Knowledge of truth remains unobstructed &needs nothing further to revive it.
278. Nescience (Avidya), its effects (the realm of duality) cannot negate the truth. Dawn of truth has already destroyed them for ever in the case of the knower.
279. Realm of duality, destroyed by knowledge, may still be perceived by the senses, but such perception does not affect illumination. A living rat cannot kill a cat; then how can it do so when dead ?
280. When a man is so invulnerable that even the mighty weapon Pasupata cannot kill him, how can you say that he will be killed by an edgeless weapon ?
281. The knowledge of truth has fought and overcome ignorance even when it was at the height of its power being helped by a variety of wrong notions produced by it. How can that knowledge, firmer now, be obstructed ?
282. Let the corpses of ignorance and its effects, destroyed by knowledge, remain; the Emperor, the conqueror, has no fear of them; on the contrary they only proclaim his glory.
283. To one who is not separated from this all-powerful knowledge, neither engagement in action nor actionlessness does any injury. They relate only to the body.
284. He who is without knowledge of truth must always be enthusiastic about action, for it is the duty of men to make efforts for heaven or for liberation.
285. If the knower of truth is among people who are performing actions, he too performs all actions required of him with his body, mind and speech, so as to be in accord with them.
286. If on the other hand he happens to be among people who are aspirants to spiritual knowledge, he should show defects in all actions and himself give them up.
287. It is proper that the wise man when with the ignorant should act in accord with their actions, just as a loving father acts according to the wishes of his little children.
288. When his infant children show him disrespect or beat him, he neither gets angry with them nor feels sorry, but, on the contrary, fondles them with affection.
289. The enlightened man when praised or blamed by the ignorant does not praise or blame them in return. He behaves in such a way as to awaken a knowledge of the real entity in them.
290. With the ignorant a wise man should behave in such a way as will enable them to have realization. In this world he has no other duty except awakening the ignorant.
BLESSED ONE, ENLIGHTENED ONE
291. As he has achieved all that was to be achieved and nothing else remains for him to do, he feels satisfied and always things thus:
292. Blessed am I, blessed, for I have the constant vision of my Self ! Blessed am I, blessed, for the bliss of Brahman shines clearly to me !
293. Blessed am I, blessed, for I am free from the sufferings of the world. Blessed am I, blessed, for my ignorance has fled away, I know not where.
294. Blessed am I, blessed, for I have no further duty to perform. Blessed am I, blessed, for I have now achieved the highest that one can aspire to.
295. Blessed am I, blessed, for there is nothing to compare with my great bliss ! Blessed am I, blessed, blessed, blessed, again and again blessed !
296. O my merits, my merits, how enduringly they have borne fruit ! Wonderful are we, the possessors of this great merit, wonderful !
297. O how grand and true are the scriptures, the scriptures, O how grand and great is my teacher, my teacher ! O how grand is this illumination, this illumination, O how grand is this bliss, this bliss !
298. The wise who study repeatedly this chapter called the ‘Lamp of perfect Satisfaction’ will dive in the bliss of Brahman and remain in perfect bliss

CH 08: THE LAMP OF KUTASTHA


1. Just as a wall illumined by the rays of the sun is more illumined when the light of the sun reflected in a mirror falls on it, so the body illumined by Kutastha is more illumined by the light of Kutastha reflected in the intellect (Chidabhasa).
2. When many mirrors reflect the light of the sun on to a wall which is already illumined by the sun, spaces between the various reflections are illumined by the light of the sun alone; and even if the reflections are not there, the wall still remains illumined.
3. Similarly, both in the intervals between the modifications of the intellect (Vrittis), in which Chidabhasa is reflected and during their absence (in deep sleep) Kutastha abides self-illumined; and Kutastha is therefore to be known as different from Chidabhasa.
4. An external object, such as a pot, is cognised through the Vrittis (modifications of the intellect) assuming its form, but the knowledge 'I know the pot’ comes (directly) through pure consciousness, Brahman.
5. Before the rise of the Vritti (i.e., before the intellectual operation) my experience was ‘I do not know that there is a pot over there’; after the rise, the experience is ‘I know that there is a pot over there’. This is the difference the intellectual operation or Vritti brings about. But both the above experiences of knowledge or non-knowledge of the pot are due to Brahman.
6. Cognition or knowledge (of external thing) is the action (thereon) of the intellectual modification tipped with Chidabhasa like the steel-head of a spear. And non-cognition is the (beginningless but not endless) dullness (of an external thing) covering its revelation. Thus an external thing is spoken of in two ways, as a thing (pot) known or unknown as the intellectual modification spear-headed by Chidabhasa pierces its cover of dullness or not.
7. If the cognition of an unknown pot can be had through Brahman why not that of a known pot ? It does produce the cognition, for the Chidabhasa ceases functioning, as soon as the pot is made known.
8. If the intellect is without Chidabhasa, the cognition of an object cannot take place. For how does intellect in such a case differ from a lump of clay which is unconscious and insentient ?
9. Nowhere is a pot said to be known when it is besmeared with clay. Similarly when a pot is besmeared or covered by a Vritti only (not along with Chidabhasa) it cannot be said to be known (for both the clay and the Vritti are themselves unconscious and insentient).
10. Hence cognition (of a pot) is that reflection of consciousness (on the pot) which is produced as a result of the enveloping operation of the Vritti-cum-Chidabhasa. Brahman or pure consciousness cannot be this resultant reflection of consciousness inasmuch as it (being the eternal and immutable existence) exists prior to cognition.
11. (But will it not go against Sureshvaracharya’s opinion expressed in the following Vartika ?) ‘According to the authoritative books on Vedanta an object of cognition, in matters of external objects, is that Samvit or consciousness which is the result of the act of cognition.’
12. Here by ‘Samvit’ or consciousness what Sureshvaracharya means is the resultant reflected consciousness, for the great Sankaracharya himself (Sureshvara’s guru) in his Upadeshasahasri has made the distinction between Brahman-Chaitanya and the ‘resultant’-Chaitanya amply clear.
13. Therefore the reflection of consciousness produced on the pot is the cause of its cognition; and the knownness or knowledge of this cognition, exactly as its ignorance, is the work of the Brahman-Chaitanya.
14. The Vritti of intellect, the reflection of Chit on the pot and the (object) pot – all three are made known by Brahman-Chaitanya; whereas the (object) pot’s existence (at a particular place) is known by the reflection of Chit on the pot, inasmuch as it is the ‘resultant’ consciousness.
15. So the knowledge of a pot involves a double consciousness, viz., Brahman-consciousness and Vritti-cum-Chidabhasa-consciousness (covering the pot). Brahman-consciousness corresponds to the consciousness which accompanies what the Naiyayikas call ‘knowledge of knowledge’ (Anuvyavasaya), the knowledge which follows the cognition of objects (that I know my knowledge or existence of objects).
16. The cognition ‘This is a pot’ is due to Chidabhasa, but the knowledge ‘I know the pot’ is derived from Brahman-consciousness.
17. Just as in objects outside the body, Chidabhasa has thus been differentiated from Brahman, so within the body too Chidabhasa is to be differentiated from the immutable Kutastha.
18. As fire pervades a red-hot piece of iron, so Chidabhasa pervades I-consciousness as well as lust, anger and other emotions.
19. Even as a red-hot piece of iron manifests itself only and not other objects, similarly the modifications of the intellect (Vrittis), aided by Chidabhasa, manifest themselves only, i.e., the things which they cover and not others.
20. All modifications are produced one after another (i.e., with gaps in between); and they all become latent during deep sleep and in the states of swoon and Samadhi.
21. That consciousness which witnesses the interval between the disappearance and the rise of successive Vrittis and the period when they do not exist and which is itself unmodifiable and immutable, is called Kutastha.
22. As in the (cognition of an) external pot, there is the play of double consciousness, so also in that of all internal Vrittis. This is evident from the fact that there is more consciousness in the Vrittis than in their intervals.
23. Unlike a pot, the intellect is neither an object of cognition nor of non-cognition. For it cannot grasp itself – no object can do so – so it cannot be cognised; since, again, it removes ignorance settled on objects it cannot be said to be non-cognised (for if you know what is produced you know what produced it as well).
24. Since Chidabhasa is a double consciousness we see it manifested and unmanifested, therefore, it cannot be called immutable, Kutastha; whereas the other is Kutastha, for it undergoes no such change.
25. The earlier teachers have made it clear that Kutastha is the witness in passages like ‘(It is) the witness of the intellect (Antahkarana) and its operations (Vrittis)’.
26. They have also declared that Kutastha, Chidabhasa and the mind are related in the same way as the face, its reflection and the mirror. This relationship is proved through scriptures and reasoning. Thus Chidabhasa also has been described.
27. (Objection): Kutastha conditioned by the intellect can pass to and return from the other worlds, like the Akasa enclosed in a pot. Then what is the necessity of postulating Chidabhasa ?
28. (Reply): Being merely conditioned by an object (such as the intellect), Kutastha does not become a Jiva. Otherwise, even a wall or a pot which is also pervaded by Kutastha would become a Jiva.
29. (Objection): The intellect is different from the wall, for it is transparent. (Reply): It may be so, but why do you bother about the opaqueness or transparency of the conditioner ? (For your concern is with the condition, not with the conditioner).
30. In measuring out rice and other grains, it makes no difference to their quantity whether the measure be made of wood or metal.
31. If you say, though it makes no difference in measuring, the metallic measure does give reflection, we reply that such is the property of the inner organ (Antahkarana), in that it can reflect consciousness as Chidabhasa.
32. ‘Abhasa’ means slight or partial manifestation, ‘Pratibimba’ is also like that i.e., partial manifestation. It does not have the properties of the real entity but resembles it in having some of them.
33. As the Chidabhasa is associated and variable, it is devoid of the characteristics of Kutastha. But as it renders objects capable of being cognised, it resembles Kutastha. Such is the opinion of the wise.
34. (Objection): Chidabhasa is not different from the intellect because its existence depends on the existence of the intellect. (Reply): You say little, for the intellect itself might also be similarly regarded as not different from the body.
35. (Objection): The scriptures declare the survival of the intellect after the body falls (and therefore the intellect is the same as Chidabhasa). (Reply): According to the Shruti passages which declare the entry of the Atman or the Self into the body, Chidabhasa is distinct from the intellect.
36. (Objection): Chidabhasa and the intellect enter the body together. (Reply): This is not so, for in the Aitareya Upanishad it is said that the Self enters the body by its own will apart from the intellect.
37. The Upanishad says that the Self (Atman) thought: ‘This body with the organs cannot live without me’, and so cleaving the centre of the skull it entered into the body and started experiencing the changeable states (e.g., wakeful, dreaming etc.,).
38. (Objection): How can the associationless Kutastha be said to animate the body by entering it ? (Reply): Then how did It create the universe ? (Objection): Both the acts of creation and entering the body are caused by Maya. (Reply): Then they vanish too when Maya is destroyed.
39. The Self becomes the ego identifying itself with the body composed of the five elements and when the body perishes (once for all) the ego too perishes with it. Thus said Yajnavalkya to Maitreyi.
40. ‘This Self is not perishable’ – thus the Shruti differentiates the Kutastha from everything else. ‘The Self is associationless’ – such statements sing the ever-detached state of Kutastha.
41. The passage which says that the body only dies and not the Jiva does not mean that he is released but only that he transmigrates.
42. (Objection): How can the changeable Jiva say ‘I am Brahman’ since Brahman is immutable ? (Reply): He can, because, in spite of apparent discrepancy between Jiva and Brahman, the identity is established by giving up the false notion about the Jiva. (What appeared, under the influence of Maya, as Jiva is really none other than Brahman).
43. A man may be mistaken for the stump of a tree; but the notion of the stump is destroyed when the man is known to be a man. Similarly, when the Jiva knows ‘I am Brahman’, his notion ‘I am Buddhi (the ego-consciousness in the mind)’ is destroyed.
44. Acharya Sureshvara in his Naishkarmya Siddhi describes clearly how Jiva and Brahman are found to be identical when the false notion about the Jiva (viz., its identity with the Buddhi) is destroyed. Therefore, the text ‘I am Brahman’ is to be understood in this sense.
45. In another Shruti text: ‘Everything is Brahman’, Brahman and the universe are shown to be identical; it also is to be interpreted in the above sense, viz., what appears to be ‘all this’, i.e., the universe, is really Brahman. Similarly, in the text ‘I am Brahman’ the same identity of Jiva and Brahman is indicated.
46. It is true that the author of the Vivarana gloss has denied the Badha-Samanadhikaranya interpretation (and has accepted the Mukhya-Samanadhikaranya interpretation) of ‘I am Brahman’. It is because he has taken the ‘I’ in the sense of Kutastha-Chaitanya and not in the sense of Chidabhasa.
47. In the text ‘That thou art’ the word ‘thou’, freed from all adjuncts, is Kutastha; and in Vivarana and other (advanced) works attempts are made to establish its identity with Brahman.
48. The consciousness, the substratum on which the illusion of Chidabhasa together with the body and the sense organs is superimposed, is known as Kutastha in Vedanta.
49. The substratum, on which stands the illusion of the whole world, is described in the Vedanta by the word Brahman.
50. When the whole world of Maya is recognised as a superimposition on this one consciousness, Brahman, what to speak of Jiva who is only a part of this world.
51. The difference between the entities indicated by ‘that’ and ‘thou’ is due to that of the superposed world and Jiva, which is only a part of it; in reality they are one consciousness.
52. (That it is a genuine case of superposition is proved by the fact that) Chidabhasa, the reflected consciousness, partakes of the characteristics of both, the superposing intellect, such as agentship, enjoyership, etc., and the superposed Atman, which is consciousness. So the whole Chidabhasa is a creation of illusion.
53. ‘What is the intellect ?’ ‘What is the reflected consciousness ?’ ‘And what is the Self ?’ ‘How is the world here ?’ – Because of indecision about these questions ignorance has arisen. This illusion is also called Samsara.
54. He is the knower of truth, the liberated, who knows the true nature of the intellect, etc., mentioned above. Thus the Vedanta has decided.
55. The piece of sophistry advanced by the logicians and others, viz., ‘Whose is the bondage ?’ must be met by adopting the method of Khandana-Khanda-Khadya by Sri Harsa Mishra.
56. It is said in the Shiva Purana that pure consciousness (Kutastha) exists as a witness to (the rise and fall of) the mental modifications (Vrittis), their prior (and posterior) non-existence and the state of ignorance prior to inquiry about truth.
57-58. As the support of the unreal world, its nature is existence; as it cognises all insentient objects, its nature is consciousness; and as it is always the object of love, its nature is bliss. It is called Shiva, the infinite, being the means of revelation of all objects and being related to them as their substratum.
59. Thus in the Saiva-Puranas Kutastha has been described as having no particular characteristics of Jiva and Ishvara and as being non-dual, self-luminous and the highest good.
60. The Shruti declares that Jiva and Ishvara are both reflections of Brahman in Maya. They are, however, different from material things in that they are transparent (i.e., revealing) just as a glass jar is different from earthen ones.
61. Though both are products of food, the mind is subtler and purer than the body. Similarly, Jiva and Ishvara are more transparent than the grosser products of Maya.
62. Jiva and Ishvara, because they manifest the power of revealing, must be considered to be endowed with consciousness. For, nothing is difficult for Maya, that is endowed with the power to create all things.
63. When we sleep, our dreams create even Jiva and Ishvara. What wonder is there then that the Great Maya creates them in the waking state ?
64. The Maya creates omniscience and other qualities too in Ishvara. When it can create Ishvara, the receptacle of these qualities, is it difficult to conceive that it can also create these qualities in Him ?
65. If you raise the improper doubt about Kutastha, we say: do not imagine that Kutastha is also a creation of Maya. There is no evidence for that assumption.
66. All the classics of Vedanta proclaim the reality of Kutastha and they do not admit the existence of any entity other than It.

70. Kutastha is ever associationless, it does not change. Thus one should always meditate and reflect.
71. ‘(For Kutastha) there is no death and no birth, none in bondage and none engaged in working out release (Sadhaka), no aspirant for release (Mumukshu) and none liberated (Mukta). That is the supreme truth’.
72. The Shruti tries to indicate the reality which is beyond the body and the mind by using the conceptions of Jiva, Ishvara and Jagat.
73. Acharya Sureshvara has said that whatever method helps one to understand clearly the indwelling Atman is approved by the Vedantic classics.
74. The dull-witted, ignorant of the real meaning of the Shruti, wanders here and there, whereas the wise, understanding its purport, ever abides in the ocean of bliss.
75. Like a cloud which pours out streams of rain, Maya creates the world (Jagat). As the ether is not affected by the rain, so pure consciousness (that I am) suffers neither gain nor loss from anything in the phenomenal world. That is the conviction of the wise.
76. He who always reflects on this ‘Lamp of Kutastha’ ever abides as the self-revealing Kutastha

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Panchadasi Talks - Day 5

By Sowmya Ramkumar

Day 5 of the Panchadasi Talks



CH 05 FIXING THE MEANING OF THE GREAT SAYINGS

1. That by which a man sees, hears, smells, speaks and distinguishes sweet and bitter tastes etc, is called consciousness.(‘Prajnanam Brahma’ Aitareya Upanishad III-i-1)

2. . The one consciousness which is in Brahma, Indra and other gods, as well as in human beings, horses, cows, etc., is Brahman. So the consciousness in me also is Brahman
3. The infinite, supreme Self remains manifested in this world as the witness of the functions of the intellect in the body, fit for Self-knowledge and is designated as ‘I’.
4. By nature infinite, the supreme Self is described here by the word Brahman. The word ‘Asmi’ (am) denotes the identity of ‘Aham’ (I) and ‘Brahman’. Therefore ‘I am Brahman’ (is the meaning of the text). [‘Aham Brahmasmi’ - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I-iv-10]
5. Before the creation there existed the Reality, one only, without a second and without name and form. That is even now (after creation) exists in a similar condition is indicated by the word ‘That’. [‘Tattvamasi’ - Chandogya Upanishad VI-viii-15]
6. The principle of consciousness which transcends the body, senses and mind of the enquirer is here denoted by the word ‘thou’. The word ‘Asi’ (art) shows their identity. That identity has to be experienced.
7. By (pronouncing) the word ‘this’ it is meant that the Atman is self-luminous and directly experienced. That is known as Pratyagatman which is the indwelling principle covering everything between egoity and the body. [‘Ayamatma Brahma’ - Madukya Upanishad 2]
8. The essence of the entire visible universe is denoted by the word Brahman. That Brahman is of the nature of the self-luminous Atman.

CH 06 THE LAMP OF THE PICTURE


PAINTING AND PURE CONSCIOUSNESS 1-9

1. four stages in the painting of a picture, 4 modification of the supreme Self.
2. clean canvas, starch, outlines, color. pure consciousness(C ), in-dwelling con, one identified w/ all subtle bodies, w/ all physical bodies.
3. canvas basis, apply starch, outlines drawn; color it, the picture is complete.

4. Brahman, pure C; w/ Maya He is in-dwelling spirit; in relation to subtle bodies, He is totality of souls, relation to gross bodies identifying w/ totality.
5. on a canvas there are superior and inferior objects, there are grades of beings from Brahma down to the animate and inanimate objects.
6. men painted wearing different clothes they appear as real as the canvas.
7. On C are superimposed forms. In each there is reflection, i.e., a special function of consciousness. They are Jivas, are subject to birth and death.
8. Ignorant people imagine that the colors real clothes, as real as the canvas on which the picture is superimposed. Ignorant imagine, transmigrations of Jivas are by supreme Spirit, the substratum, on which the Jivas are superimposed.
9. Just as the hills in picture not painted as dressed, so the inert objects like earth, are not endowed with the reflection of consciousness.
10. This confusion as real and as affecting the supreme Self is called nescience. It is removed by the knowledge of Reality.

KNOWLEDGE OF JIVA, SUPREME SELF

11. Jiva, a ‘reflection’ of Self, which is affected by pain and pleasure of Tran migratory life, but not the real Self. This understanding is called knowledge. It is achieved through discrimination.
12. Enquire into nature of world, individual Self and Supreme Self. When the ideas of Jiva and Jagat (world) are negated, the pure Atman alone remains.
13. By negation it does not mean that world and Jiva cease to be perceptible to the senses, it means the conviction of their illusory character. Otherwise people would be automatically liberated in deep sleep or in a faint.
14. ‘The supreme Self alone remains’ also means a conviction about Its reality and not non-perceiving of the world. Otherwise there would be no such thing as liberation in life.
15. The knowledge arising from discrimination is of two kinds, indirect and direct. This process of discrimination ends in the achievement of the direct knowledge.
16. Knowledge that ‘Brahman is’ is indirect, the knowledge that ‘I am Brahman’ is direct.
17. Consider Self w/ a view to having its direct experience, through which the Jiva is immediately liberated from all worldly fetters.

KUTASTHA(BRHAMAN)

18. The Self as consciousness absolute is spoken of as Kutastha, Brahman, Jiva and Ishvara, just as, for instance, Akasa (ether) is called ‘pot-Akasa’, ‘all embracing Akasa, Akasa conditioned by water’ and ‘Akasa conditioned by a cloud’.
19. The sky with clouds and stars reflected in water contained in a pot which encloses space, is known as ‘Akasa in water’.
20. The sky reflected in water particles forming a cloud suspended in space is known as ‘Akasa in a cloud’.
21. As a cloud is composed of a water in a particular state, it is therefore reasonable to assume the existence of the reflection of Akasa in a cloud.
22. The consciousness which is conditioned by the gross and subtle bodies, on which they are superimposed and which knows no change, is known as Kutastha.
23. On the Kutastha is superimposed by imagination the intellect (buddhi). The reflection of Kutastha in the intellect is animated by vitality and is called the Jiva. It is subject to transmigration.
24. As the Akasa in a pot is concealed by the Akasa reflected in the water with which the pot is filled, so Kutastha is obscured by Jiva. This principle is called mutual obscuring or superimposition.

AVARANA(POWER TO CONCEAL) & VIKSHEPA (POWER TO PROJECT)

25. Under the delusion of mutual superimposition the Jiva cannot discriminate and realize that he is not Jiva but Kutastha. This non-discrimination is beginning less and is known as the primal nescience.
26. Nescience or Avidya has two functions: Avarana or the power to conceal and Viksepa or the power to project. The power of Avarana creates such ideas as ‘Kutastha shines not nor exists’
27. If a wise man asks an ignorant man about Kutastha, he replies: ‘There is no such thing as Kutastha. It does not manifest nor exist’. Thus he feels and says..
33. On Kutastha, covered over by (the concealing power of) ignorance, are projected or superimposed the subtle and gross bodies, thus producing the Chidabhasas or Jivas. It is like the superimposition of silver on a mother of pearl. This is called projection or Viksepa.
34. In the illusion ‘This is silver’, the pearl oyster shell is the thing perceived and is real, but by an error these notions, viz., ‘this-ness’ and its ‘reality’, are transferred to the imaginary silver. In the same way the ideas of ‘Self’ and ‘existence’ which belong to Kutastha are transferred to the Jiva through the error caused by nescience.

MAYA

128. All people admit in their experience existence of Maya. From the logical point of view Maya is inexplicable. Shruti too declares it to be neither existence nor non-existence.
129. Since the effects of Maya are undeniably manifest, its existence cannot be denied. Being stultified by knowledge, it cannot really be said to exist. From the point of view of (absolute) knowledge (of the Atman) it is always inoperative and hence negligible.
130. Maya is looked upon in three ways. From the point of view of knowledge and Shruti it is negligible; for empirical reason it is indefinable and for the ordinary people it is real.
131. Maya exhibits the appearance and disappearance (in waking or sleeping state) of the world, just as by rolling and unrolling a picture on a canvas it is exhibited or withdrawn.
132. Maya is dependent, for in the absence of the cognizing faculty the effects of Maya cannot be experienced. Again in one sense it is independent too, for it can make the non-attached Atman appear to be attached.
133. Maya transforms the immutable Kutastha, the ever association-less Atman, phenomenally into the form of the universe. Casting the reflection of Atman on itself, Maya Creates Jiva and Ishvara.
134. Without in any way affecting the real nature of Atman, Maya creates the world. It makes the impossible look possible. How astonishingly powerful Maya is !
135. As fluidity is the nature of water, heat of fire and hardness of stone, so the making of the impossible possible is the nature of Maya. It is unique in this respect.
136. The magic show looks wonderful and inexplicable as long as the magician is not directly known, but when the magician is so known, the magic show is known as such and is no longer wonderful.
137. Those who believe in the reality of the world regard the effects of Maya as wonderful. But since the nature of Maya itself is astonishing, one need not wonder at its power.
138. By raising objections to the wonderfulness of Maya we do not solve the mystery. Besides, we also can raise serious counter objections. What is essential is that we should eradicate Maya by systematic enquiry. Further arguments are useless, so do not indulge in them.
139. Maya is an embodiment of marvel and doubt; the wise must carefully find out means and make effort to remove it.
146. In the end you will have to say, ‘I do not know’. Therefore the wise declare this world to be like a magic show.
150. Things that are inconceivable should not be subjected to canons of logic; and this world is one such, for the mind cannot conceive of the very mode of its creation.
152. As the tree is latent in the seed, so the waking and dreaming worlds are implicit in deep sleep. Similarly, the impressions of the entire universe are latent in Maya.
153. On the impressions of the whole world, thus latent in the intellect (during sleep) is reflected the immutable consciousness. Though it is not experienced owing to vagueness it can be inferred to exist, in the same way as the reflection of the sky is inferred to exist in the water-particles of a cloud.
154. This seed, the Maya, in association with the reflection of consciousness, which is not fully grasped, develops into the intellect; and in this intellect, the reflection of consciousness becomes plainly visible as the ego.
155. It is said by the Shruti that Jiva and Ishvara are creations of Maya, being reflections of Atman in it. Ishvara is like the reflection of the sky in the cloud; Jiva is like the reflection of the sky in water.
156. Maya is comparable to a cloud and the mental impressions in the Buddhi are like the water-particles which make up the cloud. The reflected consciousness in Maya is like the sky reflected in the water-particles of the cloud.
157. Shruti says that this (pure universal) consciousness reflected in Maya is Ishvara which controls Maya as well. The great Ishvara is the inner ruler, omniscient and cause of the universe.
158. The Shruti, in the passage beginning with ‘the consciousness in the deep sleep’ and ending in ‘He is the Lord of all’ describes this ‘sheath of bliss’ as the Ishvara. [Mandukya Upanishad: 5-6; Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: IV-iv-22]
159. The omniscience and other properties of the bliss sheath are not to be questioned, because the assertions of the Shruti are beyond dispute and because everything is possible in Maya.
160. Since nobody has the power to alter the world of waking and dream states which are projected from the bliss-sheath, it is proper to call it the Lord of all.
161. In the bliss-sheath inhere all the desires and mental impressions of all living beings. In as much as it knows them (impressions) all, it is called omniscient.
162. (Doubt): The omniscience, alleged to be the nature of the bliss-sheath, is not evident because the impressions are not known directly. (Reply): Its knowledge of the impressions (though not directly felt) is inferred from observation of its presence in all mentations.
163. Since Ishvara (the consciousness in the bliss-sheath) abides in and activates and controls all the functions of all other sheaths beginning with that of the intellect and elsewhere also in creation, it is called the inner controller.
164. The Shruti says that the Lord abides in the intellect and has the intellect as His body (instrument); but the intellect does not know Him; it is itself controlled by Him.
165. As threads pervade a piece of cloth and constitute its material cause, so the Inner Ruler, pervading the whole universe, is the material cause of the universe.
166. Just as the threads are subtler than the cloth and the fibers of the threads subtler than the threads themselves, even so, where this progress from the subtle to the subtler stops, there do we confront the Inner Ruler.
167. Being minuter than the minute of the second and third degree, the inmost Being is not subject to perception; but by reasoning and by Shruti His existence is ascertained.
168. As a piece of cloth is said to be the body of the threads which become the cloth, so when He has become the universe it is described as His body.
169. When threads are contracted or expanded, or any motion is imparted to them, the cloth similarly behaves – it has no independence at all.
170. Similarly the worldly objects assume the forms in the manner He transforms them according to their past desires and impressions. There is no doubt about it.
171. In the Gita Sri Krishna says: ‘O Arjuna, the Lord abides in the hearts of all beings and makes them revolve by His Maya as if mounted on a wheel’. [Gita: XVIII-61]
172. ‘All beings’ in the above passage means the Jivas or the sheaths of intellect which abide in the hearts of all beings. Being their material cause, the Lord appears to undergo changes with them.
173. By the word ‘wheel’ is meant the cage of the body with sheaths etc. By saying that all beings are ‘mounted on the wheel’ is meant that they have come to consider the body as the ego. By the word ‘revolve’ is meant the performance of good and bad deeds.
174. The meaning of the expression ‘The Lord makes them revolve by His Maya’, is that the Lord by his power of Maya becomes involved in the intellect-sheath and seems to change with the operations of the intellect.
175. The same meaning is expressed by the Shruti saying that the Lord is called the inner controller. By applying this reason one can come to the same conclusion with regard to the physical elements and all other objects.
176. ‘I know what is virtue, but my inclination is not mine to practice it; I know what is vice, but my desisting from it is not mine but His. I do as I am prompted by some god seated in my heart.’
177. From the above verse do not think that individual efforts are not necessary, for the Lord transforms Himself as those efforts.
178. This theory does not contradict the idea of the Lord prompting every thing, for one who has known Ishvara to be the controller of things knows his Self as non-attached.
179. Both the Shruti and the tradition declare this knowledge of the non-attachment of the Self to be the cause of release. It is also stated in Varaha-Purana that both the scriptural and the traditional truths are from the Lord.
180. The Shruti declares that in fear of Him the forces of nature operate, showing that His commandments engender fear. So His lordship over all beings is different from His inner Rulership of them.
181. One Shruti passage says that the suns and planets move at the command of the Lord. Another Shruti passage says that the Lord entering the human body controls it from within.
182. The Lord is said to be the source of the universe, for He causes the creation and dissolution of the world. By creation and dissolution are meant the manifestation and demanifestation of the world.
183. The world remains potential as impressions in the Lord and He causes its manifestation in accordance with the past deeds of beings. Creation is like the unrolling of a painted canvas.
184. If the painted canvas is rolled up, the picture is no longer visible. In the same way, when the Karma of beings is exhausted, the Lord withdraws into Himself the universe with all that it contains (i.e., all remain in a latent form).
185. The creation and destruction of the world are comparable to day and night, to the waking and sleeping states, to the opening and closing of the eyes and the activity and quiescence of the mind.
186. Ishvara is endowed with the power of Maya which is the power of manifesting and demanifesting, so the objections to the theory that creation has a beginning or that it is evolutionary or that things are naturally endowed with certain special qualities do not apply to it.
187. Ishvara through the Tamas of Maya is the cause of the inanimate objects and through the reflection of the supreme intelligence Ishvara is the cause of the Jivas.
188. It is objected that the cause of the bodies is that aspect of Paramatman in which Tamas predominates and that of the Jivas is that aspect where intelligence predominates. So Paramatman alone is their cause in accordance with their inner impressions, moral and spiritual actions.
189. Thus Sureshvaracharya, the author of Vartika, has attributed the cause of the animate and inanimate creation to Paramatman and not to Ishvara.
190. Our reply is that Acharya Sureshvara holds Brahman to be the cause of the world, but he has taken for granted the mutual superimposition of Ishvara and Brahman even as that of Jiva and Kutastha.
191. The Shruti explains clearly that from Brahman, who is truth, knowledge and infinity, arose Akasa, air, fire, water, earth, herbs, food, bodies and so forth.
192. Superficially it looks as if Brahman were the cause of the world and that Ishvara were a real entity. This cannot be explained except by the mutual superimposition of the true nature of Brahman on Ishvara and the creativity of Ishvara on Brahman.
193. In a piece of cloth stiffened with starch, the starch becomes one with the cloth; so by the process of mutual superimposition the ignorant conceive Ishvara to be one with Paramatman.
194. As the dull-witted imagine that the Akasa reflected in a cloud is the Akasa absolute, so the undiscriminating do not see the distinction between Brahman and Ishvara.
195. By deep enquiry and by the application of the rules of interpretation to the Vedic text we come to know that Brahman is association less and unconditioned by Maya, whereas Ishvara is the creator conditioned by Maya.
196. The Vedas declare Brahman to be truth, knowledge and infinity and also that speech and the other organs cannot grasp it. Thus it is determined that Brahman is association less.
197. Another Shruti says that Ishvara, the Lord of Maya, creates the universe, whereas the Jiva is controlled by Maya. So Ishvara, associated with Maya, is the creator.
198. As the deep sleep state passes into dream state, so Ishvara who is known as the sheath of bliss, transforms Himself into Hiranyagarbha, when He, the one, wills to be many.
199. There are two types of Shruti text describing the creation of the world either as a gradual evolution or as instantaneous. There is no contradiction, for the dream world sometimes arises gradually out of deep sleep, but at other times it arises instantaneously.
200. Hiranyagarbha or Sutratman, otherwise called the subtle-body, is the totality of the subtle bodies of all Jivas. He conceives Himself as the totality of all egos or ‘I’ - consciousnesses, like the threads of a piece of cloth; and He is said to be endowed with the powers of volition, conation and cognition.
201. The world in its course of evolution comes to rest in Hiranyagarbha, but at this stage it is indistinct, just as an object seen in partial darkness, at dawn or dusk.
202. As the outlines of a picture are drawn in black pencil on a stiffened piece of canvas, so also the subtle bodies indistinctly appear in Hiranyagarbha.
203. Like a tender offshoot of a germinated corn or like a tender plant sprouting, Hiranyagarbha is the tender bud of the world which is still indistinct.
204. In Virat the world appears distinct and shining, like objects in broad day-light or like the figures of a fully painted picture or the fruit of a fully matured tree. In Virat all the gross bodies are plainly seen.
205. In the Vishvarupa chapter and in the Purusha Sukta there is a description of Virat. From the creator Brahma to a blade of grass, all objects in the world form part of Virat.
206. The forms of Virat, such as Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha, Virat, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Agni, Ganesha, Bhairava, Mairala, Marika, Yakshas, demons.
207. Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, cows, horses and other beasts, birds, fig, banyan and mango trees, wheat, rice and other cereals and grasses;
208. Water, stone, earth, chisels, axes and other implements are manifestations of Ishvara. Worshipped as Ishvara they grant fulfillment of desires.
209. In whatever form Ishvara is worshipped, the worshipper obtains the appropriate reward through that form. If the method of worship and the conception of the attributes of the deity worshipped are of a high order, the reward also is of a high order; but if otherwise, it is not.
210. The Liberation, however, can be obtained through the knowledge of reality and not otherwise. The dreaming does not end until the dreamer awakes.
211. In the second less principle, Brahman, the whole universe, in the form of Ishvara and Jiva and all animate and inanimate objects, appears like a dream.
212. Maya has created Ishvara and Jiva, represented by the sheath of bliss and the sheath of intellect respectively. The whole perceptible world is a creation of Ishvara and Jiva.
213. From the determination of Ishvara to create, down to His entrance into the created objects, is the creation of Ishvara. From the waking state to ultimate release, the cause of all pleasures and pains, is the creation of Jiva.
214. Those who do not know the nature of Brahman, who is second less and association less, fruitlessly quarrel over Jiva and Ishvara, which are creations of Maya. 230. Just as it is impossible to establish the eternal existence of pleasure derived from flowers and sandalwood, so it is impossible to establish the non-association of Atman as long as the world and Ishvara are believed to be realities and ever-existing.

233. (Doubt): To account for the idea of individual bondage and release, the plurality of Selves must be accepted. (Reply): This is unnecessary because Maya is responsible for bondage and release.
234. Don’t you see that Maya can make the impossible appear possible ? In fact, the Shruti can tolerate neither bondage nor release as real.
235. The Shruti declares that in fact there is no destruction and no origination; none in bondage and none engaged in practice for liberation; no aspirant for liberation and none liberated. This is the transcendental truth.
236. Maya is said to be the desire-fulfilling cow. Jiva and Ishvara are its two calves. Drink of its milk of duality as much as you like, but the truth is non-duality.
237. The difference between Kutastha and Brahman is only in name; in reality there is no difference. The Akasa in the pot and the unlimited Akasa are not distinct from one another.
238. The non-dual reality, as declared in the Shruti, existed before creation, exists now and will continue to exist in dissolution; and after liberation Maya deludes the people in vain.
246. The whole world is a product of the inscrutable Maya; be convinced of this and know that the fundamental real principle is non-duality.
247. (Doubt): If the idea that duality is real occurs again and again in daily life ? (Reply): Repeatedly practice negating this erroneous idea of duality. What is the difficulty in doing so ?
248. (Doubt): How long should one continue this practice ? (Reply): It is a trouble to continue the pursuit of unreal duality, not so is that of non-duality. For by the practice of non-duality all miseries are destroyed.
249. (Doubt): But even after realization I suffer from hunger and thirst. (Reply): Who denies it? This suffering is in your egoity (a product of duality) expressed in your use of ‘I’.
250. (Doubt): The sufferings may come to the immutable Self, because of identification with the body. (Reply): Do not subject yourself to this identification which is due to mutual superimposition, but practice discrimination for its removal.
251. (Doubt): The superimposition, which is due to the first impressions, suddenly may occur, because of the beginning less association of Jiva and Avidya. (Reply): Then begin new impressions of non-duality by means of repeated discrimination of the truth.
254. Consciousness is eternal, for its non-existence can never be experienced. But the non-existence of duality is experienced by consciousness before the duality assumes manifestation.
255. That duality of the phenomenal world is like the pot which is non-existent before it comes into being. Still, its creation is inexplicable. So it is unreal like a product of magic.
256. Now you see that both consciousness and the unreality of the world are immediately experienced, so you cannot still maintain that non-duality is not experienced.
THE THREE VIRTUES
(KNOWLEDGE OF REALITY, DETACHMENT, WITHDRAWAL)

259. The Shruti says that he who has banished from his heart all indwelling desires attains immortality. This is not merely a statement; a knower’s actual experience proves it.
260. In another passage it is stated that all the knots of the heart are loosened at the rise of true knowledge. The term ‘knots of the heart’ has been explained in the commentary to mean the desires of the heart.
265. (Doubt): But it is well known that the immutable Self is ever unaffected by desires even before illumination. (Reply): Do not forget this truth. The realization that Kutastha is ever dissociated from desires is called the ‘snapping of the knot of ignorance’. It is this knowledge which leads to the attainment of the purpose of life.
266. (Doubt): The dull-witted are ignorant of this truth. (Reply): This is what we mean by the ‘knot of ignorance’, nothing else. The difference between the ignorant and the wise, is the existence of doubt in the former group and its destruction in the latter.

272. (Doubt): Why, the Puranas speak about Jadabharata and others who were completely withdrawn and performed no action. (Reply): But have you not heard also the Vedas speaking of other knowers who ate, played and enjoyed pleasures ?

274. The man who is attached to objects is troubled by the world; happiness is enjoyed by the unattached. Therefore give up attachment if you desire to be happy.

276. Absence of desires, knowledge of reality and withdrawal from action mutually assist one another. Generally all three of them are found together, but sometimes separately too, without the third.
277. The origin, the nature and the result of these virtues differ. The real distinctions between them will be clear to a keen student of scriptures.
278. The origin of detachment is an understanding that the joys derived from objects are impermanent; its nature is a distaste for the enjoyment of those objects; and its result is the feeling of being independent of them. These three are peculiar to detachment.
279. The origin of the knowledge of reality is hearing, reflecting and meditating on the reality; its nature is discrimination between the real and the unreal; and its result is the restraint of fresh doubts from arising. These three are peculiar to knowledge.
280. The origin of withdrawal from action is the cultivation of inner and outer control and so forth; its nature is the control of the mind; and its result is the cessation of worldly activities. Thus their differences are described.
281. Of all the three virtues the most essential is the knowledge of the Reality as it is the direct cause of liberation. The other two, detachment and withdrawal, are necessary auxiliaries to knowledge.
282. The existence of the three virtues highly developed in a man is the result of vast store of merit acquired in innumerable past lives. The absence of any one of them is the result of some demerit acquired in the past.

WHAT CANNOT GIVE LIBERATION

283. Without the knowledge of Reality even perfect detachment and complete withdrawal from worldly actions cannot lead to liberation. A man endowed with detachment and withdrawal, but failing to obtain illumination, is reborn in the superior worlds because of great merit.
284. On the other hand by the by the complete knowledge of Reality a man is sure to have liberation, even though his detachment and withdrawal are wanting. But then his visible sufferings will not come to an end owing to his fructifying Karma.
285. The height of detachment is such a conviction of the futility of all desires that one considers like straw even the highest pleasures of the world of Brahma; and the height of spiritual knowledge is reached when one feels one’s identity with the supreme Self as firmly as an ordinary man instinctively feels his identity with the physical body.
286. The height of withdrawal from action is the complete forgetfulness of all worldly affairs in the waking state as in the state of deep sleep. There are several intermediate grades which can be known by actual observation.
287. Enlightened men may differ in their behavior because of the nature of their fructifying Karma. This should not make the learned think otherwise about the truth of knowledge resulting in liberation.
288. Let the enlightened people behave in any way according to their fructifying Karma, but their knowledge is the same and their liberation is the same.
289. On the supreme consciousness the world is drawn like a picture on canvas; thus is Maya superimposed on consciousness. When we forget the adventitious distinctions, consciousness alone remains.

REGULAR STUDY OF LAMP OF THE PICTURE

290. This chapter called the ‘Lamp of the Picture’, when regularly studied, gives an intelligent aspirant freedom from the delusion due to illusive appearances, even though he may see them as before


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Panchadasi Talks - Day 4

By Sowmya Ramkumar

Day 4 of the Panchadasi Talks



PANCHADASI CH 4:
THE DIFFERENTIATION OF DUALITY

GOAL FOR JIVA
1. discuss duality created by Ishvara and Jiva. limit of duality causing bondage which the Jiva has to renounce will be clear.

WHAT THE UPANISHADS SAY
2. Svetasvatara Up: ‘Know Maya as Prakriti and Brahman w/ Maya as Ishvara
3. Aitareya Up: before creation, Atman only, ‘Let me create the world’,
4. Taittiriya Up: from Brahman alone Akasa, air, fire, water, earth,
5. Taittiriya Up: desiring ‘I shall be many, so I shall create’
6. Chandogya Up: Self alone existed, and that His nature was pure existence.
7. Mundaka Up as sparks, from Brahman arose animate and inanimate things.
8. Before manifestation world existed in Brahman & came into being as Virat.
9. From Virat came human beings, cattle, says the Brihadaranyaka Up.
10. Shrutis: Atman, entered in bodies. Jiva upholds vitality.
11. Pure consciousness, subtle body, reflection of pure consciousness on subtle body – these three together constitute a Jiva.
12. Maya of Ishvara its power of creation, deludes all. It deludes the Jiva.
13. Jiva, believes himself powerless, identified w/ body, subjects to grief. Thus is described in brief the duality created by Ishvara.

JIVA CREATES 7 KINDS OF FOOD
14. Saptanna Brahmana: there is duality created by the Jiva. By action and reflection the Jiva creates seven kinds of food (objects on experience).
15. One kind for men, 2 for celestials, 4th for animals, & 3 for Self.
16. Grains such as wheat (men), ingredients of sacrifices (are for the Devas), milk (lower animals); & mind, speech, vital airs (are for Self).
17. Though all are created by Ishvara, by action, reflection Jiva converted them into his objects of enjoyment, hence they are said to be his creation.
18. they are created by Ishvara and become objects of experience and enjoyment for the Jiva, so they are related to both, like a woman to parents & to her husband.
19. In the actual creation of the objects, the modifications or functions of Maya, the power of the Lord are the cause; whereas for the actual enjoyment of those objects it is the modifications or functions of the inner organs of the Jivas that are responsible.

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JIVA CREATES THESE FEELINGS
20. Objects by Ishvara (gems) do not alter.gems affect different people differently
21. One feels happy, another feel disappointed. And a man uninterested
22. Jiva creates 3 feelings. Gem created by Ishvara remains same throughout.
23. same woman appears as a wife, daughter-in-law, a mother; but she is unchanged.

MIND’S MODIFICATION
24. (Obj): but no changes in woman’s appearance result from people’s ideas of her.
25. (Rpl): Not so. The woman has subtle body they can change her mental state.
26. (Obj): mind cannot affect objects perceived thru the senses in the waking state.
27. (Rpl): mind assumes form of object which it comes into contact
28. Melted like melted copper assumes the form of the mould.
29. Or just as sunlight assumes the forms of the objects which it illumines.
30. Mind’s modification proceeds to object of cognition it assumes the form.
31. Two kinds: ‘material’(cognized by mind being modified) ‘mental’ by the witness-consciousness

MENTAL CREATION (CONTD)
32. ‘mental’ creation which causes bondage to the Jiva, for when these ‘mental’ objects are there, pleasure and pain are also there.
33. In dream, man is bound by the intellect to pleasure and pain, In deep sleep, in a faint and in the lower Samadhi (when the mental functions are temporarily suspended), no pleasure or pain is felt in spite of the proximity of outer objects.
34. Liar told boy was dead;. he was still alive; father believed, and was aggrieved.
35. His son had really died, no news reached him, he would have felt no grief. This shows that the real cause of a man’s bondage is his own mental world.
36. Because external objects give shape to the mind (which create the mental world).
37. cognition is concerned with the existence of objects and not with their utility.
38. (Obj):Yoga needs to be practiced; what is the necessity of knowledge of Brahman

NEED TO DESTROY MENTAL CREATION
39. (Reply): final destruction of the mental creation is not possible without a direct knowledge of Brahman. This is proclaimed by the Vedanta.
40. The duality of Ishvara’s creation may continue, but the non-dualist, when convinced of its illusoriness, can nonetheless know the secondless Brahman.
41. When all duality disappears at dissolution of universe, secondless Atman still remains unknown, because then, as in deep sleep, there is no teacher and no scripture, though there may be absence of duality.
42. The world of duality created by Ishvara is rather a help than an obstacle to a direct knowledge of the non-duality. Moreover, we cannot destroy the creation, so let it be. Why are you so much opposed to it ?

JIVA’S CREATION OF DUALITY
43. The world of duality created by Jiva is of two kinds: that which conforms and that which does not conform with the scriptural injunctions. The former should be kept in mind until Brahman is realized.
44. Reflection on the nature of the Self as Brahman is the mental world that conforms with the scriptural injunctions. Even this duality in conformity with the scripture is to be renounced after Brahman is realized. This is the direction of the Shruti.

RENOUNCING SCRIPTURES
45. ‘Who studied scriptures, repeatedly practiced what they enjoin, should renounce them after knowing the supreme Brahman, [Amritanada Up]
46. after experiencing Brahman as his Self, discard husk, finding grain’.[AB Up]
47. ‘Wise having experienced Brahman as Self, should keep his higher intuitive faculty (prajna) united with Brahman. He should not oppress his mind with many words, for they are a mere waste of energy’. [Brihadaranyaka Up]
48. Shruti: ‘Know that One and give up other talks’ [Mundaka Up] and ‘A wise man should restrain his speech and keep it within the mind’. [Katha Up]

REJECT WHAT IS NOT IN CONFORMITY
49. The duality of the mental creation of man which is not in conformity with the scripture is of two kinds, violent and dull. That which gives rise to lust, anger and other passions is called violent and that which gives rise to day-dreams is called dull.
50. Before studying nature of Brahman, necessary to give up both; for, mental poise and concentration are the prerequisites for study of Brahman, says the Sruthi.
51. In order to achieve and to be established in, the state of liberation these two must be given up. One who is subject to the urges of lust and other passions is unfit for liberation in life.
52. (if the desires remain), you will have births also. So be satisfied with heaven.
53. pleasures of heaven are defective, renounce; give up source of evils, passions ?
54. If cherishing the false idea that you have attained liberation, you do not completely give up passions, you transgress laws of scriptures and are self-willed.

KNOWER OF BRAHMAN REAL AND FALSE
55. Sri Sureshvara says, who pretends to be knower of Brahman and yet lives without moral restraint is like a dog that eats unclean things. [Naiskarmyasiddhi-IV-62]
56. Before knowledge, you suffered only from pain of your own mental imperfections now, suffer censure of world as well.How glorious is effect of your knowledge ?
57. O ! Knower of Truth, do not sink to level of pigs in sty ! Freeing yourself from all the defects arising from your mind, be worshipped by the world like a god.

CONQUESTS
58. The scriptures dealing with liberation proclaim that these urges of passions can be overcome by (constantly) thinking over the fettering nature of the objects of desire. Adopt these means, conquer the passions and be happy.
59. (Obj)What is harm in letting imagination play on the objects of desire ?
(Rpl): Such mental preoccupation with objects of desire is very seed of all evils, so says Lord Sri Krishna.
60. ‘If a man dwells mentally, gets attached, longs, angry, ruination [Gita-II.62]
61. This tendency of thinking on objects may be overcome by meditation on the attributeless Brahman. This can gradually be done at ease by first meditating on Ishvara.
62. One who has understood intellectually the nature of the secondless Brahman and who is free from the defects of intellect, should live in solitude and over a long period practice Japa of Aum and thus control the vagaries of the mind.
63. When the ‘mental world’ is thus conquered, (other) modifications of the mind (gradually) cease – the mind keeps mum like a dumb person. This method was variously explained by Vasistha to Rama.
64. With the direct knowledge of the unsubstantiality of the phenomenal world arises the profound bliss of Nirvana.
65. A steady and concentrated study of the scriptures and discussion on the truth with the teacher and other learned persons lead to the conviction that the calm of deep reflection born of the disappearance of the last vestiges of desires and passions is the highest state.
66. If sometimes owing to actions performed in previous births the mind of a reflective man is distracted by desire, then it may be brought back to a peaceful state by the constant practice of spiritual meditations.

LIBERATED ONE
67. That man whose mind is not subject to distraction is not merely a knower of Brahman but Brahman Itself – so declare the sages versed in the scriptures of Vedanta.
68. One whose mind does no longer dwell on whether he knows Brahman or not but who remains identified with pure consciousness or knowledge is not merely a knower of Brahman but Brahman Itself.
69. This liberation in life is the final step attained (projected on the world of Ishvara). So in this chapter we have described how the duality created by the Jiva differs from that created by Ishvara.

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