Verse
41
ज्ञातृज्ञानज्ञेयभेदः परे नात्मनि विद्यते ।
JNAATRU-JNAANA-JNEYA
BHEDAH
[Distinctions like
knower, knowledge and known do not exist in the Supreme Self. Since its
nature is homogenous consciousness and bliss, It verily shines by Itself.]
The knowledge referred to here is the intellectual knowledge.
Our intellect is capable of perceiving objects other than itself. Hence all our
knowledge is constituted by the knowledge of things other than ourselves. But
for the Brahman which is verily knowledge as the Taittriya Upanishad says
“Satyam Jnanam Anantham Brahma”, there is no duality of knower
nor the object to know or the knowledge.
Also for any action or specifically for knowledge, there should
be an ignorant subject, a means of getting knowledge and the object of
knowledge and knowledge itself. Thus for the Self which is verily knowledge and
self luminous, there can be no action of knowledge. Being non-dual and eternal,
it cannot have any distinction such as the subject and the object. Like the sun
that shines by itself and needs no other torch to illumine it, Atman is self
luminous.
As we have learnt in the previous slokas, when the ignorance of
the nature of Self has been destroyed by knowledge of Brahman, there is nothing
but Self. To such a knower of Brahman for whom everything such as names and
forms are merged in Self and has become Self, how can there be the difference
of knower, known and knowledge?
Just as how a fire does not burn itself, similarly the Self
cannot know itself. When the knower of Brahman who has discriminated the real
from the unreal, there exists only the subject, one without second.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, second chapter speaks in detail about
this as:
“When the object of understanding is not there, what is there
to understand? When there is no more of such an object then how can there be
knowing of anything? And because that object of knowledge has become knowledge
itself, so there is no such thing as knowing ‘anything’. Where everything is
Self of knowledge, there can be nothing that the Self can know except its own
Self and through what instrument should one know the knower? Everything hence
is known by the knower of Brahman.”
Dear
Readers,
Are
we getting a feeling that what is explained above is very abstract, as we are
not able to relate to the above explanation about SELF as Self Illuminous or
That which is Knowledge itself??
Let
us take the knowledge which we speak of, which we can relate to in this world. It
could be any knowledge, knowledge of science, knowledge of arts, knowledge
of Business, knowledge about religion etc. All
these knowledge is received / pursued and attained by our intellect.
But
how does this intellect get the awareness, the illumination by which it is able
to pursue and get knowledge of everything in this creation??
Science may
explain it by the presence of neurons etc in the Brain. But they can only help
the intellect (brain) to know about objects. How about the one to one
experience which a human being gets??? The subjective experience, the inner
most feelings, the experience when he visits a place of worship and gets
immersed there??
This
source that gives the power / illumination to the intellect first and then,
through intellect to the body, mind, senses, is dealt with in the Srutis or the
Upanishads and its related treatise and commentaries.
And,
a sincere spiritual seeker, endowed with the knowledge as given in the Srutis,
when he absorbs them and sits in deep meditation, then, if he is fortunate, if
his craving to experience SELF is sincere and above all, if God showers His
grace on him, then he gets glimpse of the TRUTH given in Srutis as a subjective
experience within.
This
subjective experience is the KNOWLEDGE itself.
When
he gets such a subjective experience, then at that moment, he, the knower, the
known or the knowledge which is known by him externally, the knowing or the
process which he is able to relate externally are all gone and only that TRUTH,
which is his subjective experience, remains.
Let
us take an example.
We
are seated in Sai centre or in SK Hall. We are singing a bhajan. Here, we
are the knower or more precisely, the experiencer of our singing, the process
of singing is the Knowing or the experiencing process and Sai / God is the
known or the object of experience.
But
when we are deeply immersed in our singing / any other’s singing, a moment
might come when we forget that we are singing, we forget the place, the
process, the percussion’s sound, the environment etc, we also forget or
transcend the thought of God with form.
However,
upon transcending all these things, there is an experience beyond our intellect,
our mind, deep inside, where there are no thoughts at all. Call it Bliss or
Pure Awareness or Jnana or Sathyam or Pure existence!!!
This
experience is what is given in this verse.
Hope,
with this bhajan example, at least we are easily able to relate to what this
verse says!!!
Love.
Verse
41
ज्ञातृज्ञानज्ञेयभेदः परे नात्मनि विद्यते ।
चिदानन्दैकरूपत्वाद्दीप्यते स्वयमेव तत् ॥ ४१॥
JNAATRU-JNAANA-JNEYA
BHEDAH
PARE NA AATMANI VIDYATE
CHIDAANANDA EKA
ROOPATVAAT
DEEPYATE SWAYAM EVA TAT
[Distinctions like
knower, knowledge and known do not exist in the Supreme Self. Since its
nature is homogenous consciousness and bliss, It verily shines by Itself.]
The knowledge referred to here is the intellectual knowledge.
Our intellect is capable of perceiving objects other than itself. Hence all our
knowledge is constituted by the knowledge of things other than ourselves. But
for the Brahman which is verily knowledge as the Taittriya Upanishad says
“Satyam Jnanam Anantham Brahma”, there is no duality of knower
nor the object to know or the knowledge.
Also for any action or specifically for knowledge, there should
be an ignorant subject, a means of getting knowledge and the object of
knowledge and knowledge itself. Thus for the Self which is verily knowledge and
self luminous, there can be no action of knowledge. Being non-dual and eternal,
it cannot have any distinction such as the subject and the object. Like the sun
that shines by itself and needs no other torch to illumine it, Atman is self
luminous.
As we have learnt in the previous slokas, when the ignorance of
the nature of Self has been destroyed by knowledge of Brahman, there is nothing
but Self. To such a knower of Brahman for whom everything such as names and
forms are merged in Self and has become Self, how can there be the difference
of knower, known and knowledge?
Just as how a fire does not burn itself, similarly the Self
cannot know itself. When the knower of Brahman who has discriminated the real
from the unreal, there exists only the subject, one without second.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, second chapter speaks in detail about
this as:
“When the object of understanding is not there, what is there
to understand? When there is no more of such an object then how can there be
knowing of anything? And because that object of knowledge has become knowledge
itself, so there is no such thing as knowing ‘anything’. Where everything is
Self of knowledge, there can be nothing that the Self can know except its own
Self and through what instrument should one know the knower? Everything hence
is known by the knower of Brahman.”
Dear
Readers,
Are
we getting a feeling that what is explained above is very abstract, as we are
not able to relate to the above explanation about SELF as Self Illuminous or
That which is Knowledge itself??
Let
us take the knowledge which we speak of, which we can relate to in this world. It
could be any knowledge, knowledge of science, knowledge of arts, knowledge
of Business, knowledge about religion etc. All
these knowledge is received / pursued and attained by our intellect.
But
how does this intellect get the awareness, the illumination by which it is able
to pursue and get knowledge of everything in this creation??
Science may
explain it by the presence of neurons etc in the Brain. But they can only help
the intellect (brain) to know about objects. How about the one to one
experience which a human being gets??? The subjective experience, the inner
most feelings, the experience when he visits a place of worship and gets
immersed there??
This
source that gives the power / illumination to the intellect first and then,
through intellect to the body, mind, senses, is dealt with in the Srutis or the
Upanishads and its related treatise and commentaries.
And,
a sincere spiritual seeker, endowed with the knowledge as given in the Srutis,
when he absorbs them and sits in deep meditation, then, if he is fortunate, if
his craving to experience SELF is sincere and above all, if God showers His
grace on him, then he gets glimpse of the TRUTH given in Srutis as a subjective
experience within.
This
subjective experience is the KNOWLEDGE itself.
When
he gets such a subjective experience, then at that moment, he, the knower, the
known or the knowledge which is known by him externally, the knowing or the
process which he is able to relate externally are all gone and only that TRUTH,
which is his subjective experience, remains.
Let
us take an example.
We
are seated in Sai centre or in SK Hall. We are singing a bhajan. Here, we
are the knower or more precisely, the experiencer of our singing, the process
of singing is the Knowing or the experiencing process and Sai / God is the
known or the object of experience.
But
when we are deeply immersed in our singing / any other’s singing, a moment
might come when we forget that we are singing, we forget the place, the
process, the percussion’s sound, the environment etc, we also forget or
transcend the thought of God with form.
However,
upon transcending all these things, there is an experience beyond our intellect,
our mind, deep inside, where there are no thoughts at all. Call it Bliss or
Pure Awareness or Jnana or Sathyam or Pure existence!!!
This
experience is what is given in this verse.
Hope,
with this bhajan example, at least we are easily able to relate to what this
verse says!!!
Love.
