Atma Bodha - Post 65

Verse 55

यद्दृष्ट्वा नापरं दृश्यं यद्भूत्वा न पुनर्भवः ।

यज्ज्ञात्वा नापरं ज्ञेयं तद्ब्रह्मेत्यवधारयेत् ॥ ५५॥

YAD DRISHTVAA NA APARAM DRISHYAM

YAT BHOOTVAA NA PUNAR-BHAVAH

YAJ JNAATVAA NA APARAM JNEYAM

TAT BRAHMA ITI AVA-DHAARAYET

(Having seen which nothing more remains to be seen; having become which, one is not born again in this world; and having known which nothing remains to be known. Realize That to be Brahman)

The essence of this verse is the beginning as well as the essence of Mundaka Upanishad.

In this Upanishad, Saunaka, the great sacrificer, approaches Angiras duly and with respect and asks: “What is that, O Bhagavan, through the knowledge of which everything becomes known?”

The knowledge of everything through the knowledge of one thing means that everything is made up of that same thing.

Ordinarily the knowledge of one thing does not imply the knowledge of another thing.

But Brahma-Vidya is not a knowledge which excludes other kinds of knowledge, but that which transmutes into itself all kinds of knowledge.

Spiritual knowledge means the direct experience arrived at through the fusion of the essence of the object of knowledge into the essence of the subject of knowledge. Hence spiritual knowledge is indivisible experience, not divisible like intellectual knowledge.

The first three points listed below addresses the purpose; the second three points addresses the object or the means.

i)   Attainment: achievement and success are the prime motivations or purposes for most people in this world. Addressing such people, Sri Shankaracharya makes the first point: his aim is to make them think of higher purposes than the usual worldly ones.

ii)   Blessedness: However, there are those who may not be interested in attaining some gain, but who are drawn by their nature towards feelings of happiness. For these people, the second point is made to indicate to them there is something much higher than worldly happiness and joy.

iii)    Knowledge: And thirdly, there is a small minority that is driven by the quest for knowledge. They may have no desire for fame and glory and possession, but have an intense desire to possess knowledge. For them the third point is made to tell them that even in the field of knowledge there is nothing greater to be known than the Self.

The above were covered in the previous verse 54.

Now, for the Objects, which are covered in the present verse:

iv)   Seeing: This is the ego’s yardstick to measure itself by possessing that which it beholds and make them extensions of itself.

v)    Becoming: This is the ego’s yardstick by which it wants to become something because it is not content with what it already is.

vi) Knowing: This is the ego’s yardstick by which it measures itself by the amount of knowledge it possesses, because it is not content with what it already knows.

In this verse, these yardsticks are called into question. 

There is no yardstick to gauge the state of the Jnani. He has crossed all yardsticks that can measure only limited objects. He is now in the realm of the Infinite. Infinity alone answers these needs satisfactorily, and Infinity is only experienced by the sage of Realization and none else. Only to a man of Realization do the six statements become an actual fact.

The Man of Realization: We may well understand Sat Chit Ananda but it is very difficult to understand the man of Realization.

It is not that the Jnani becomes Brahman; the Jnani at the moment of realization comes to understand that he always IS Brahman.

Why is there no further desire for one who becomes one with Brahman? The key to understanding the Jnani lies in the fact that he has transcended the mind. The entire human pursuit is brought into the spotlight by these two verses.

Our experience of the world is entirely a mental one. We see the world through our mind. Because the mind is an instrument bound to the realm of “Ignorance”, its conception of the world is always like that of one craving to have and want more. It can never be contented.

In every worldly pursuit, when we gain anything, we are never satisfied because we always want more. These two verses ridicule such narrow vision as possessed by one’s mind. They contrast it with the majesty of the Self. They are the perfect answer to a Sadhaka’s search.

They bring stability to his mind by arresting its tendency to reach outwards for fulfillment. All fulfillments are obtained by realizing the Self. 

Hence, for a sincere sadhaka, these two verses need to be memorized, contemplated and experienced subjectively. They are his anchor in spiritual life.

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 64

Verse 54

यल्लाभान्नापरो लाभो यत्सुखान्नापरं सुखम् ।

यज्ज्ञानान्नापरं ज्ञानं तद्ब्रह्मेत्यवधारयेत् ॥ ५४॥

YAL LAABHAAN NA APAROH LAABHOH

YAT SUKHAAN NA APARAM SUKHAM

YAJ JNAANAAN NA APARAM JNAANAM

TAT BRAHMA ITI AVA DHAARAYET

[Apart from this attainment there is no other, apart from this blessedness there is no other, apart from this knowledge there is no other. Realize That (Attainment, Blessedness or Bliss, existence as that knowledge) to be Brahman.]

The realization of Self is explained here as the greatest gain, the greatest knowledge having gained which, there is no more a sense of incompleteness.

Having enjoyed the bliss of Self, none will strive for a greater bliss, having known which, there will be never any thirst to know anything more.

Something new is sought out for gained only when there is imperfection or incompleteness. It is only when there is a sense of dissatisfaction that one tries to gain more happiness or more knowledge or something higher.

A Jiva, once born, fails to know / realize that he is absolute SELF and he takes himself to be this little body, mind and intellect.

With this mistaken identity, he runs hither and thither, from pillar to post, from one relationship to another, from one attainment to another attainment, from one knowledge to another knowledge, from one source of happiness to another source of happiness.

Imperfection thus is only for the limited egoistic Jiva. When the jiva rediscovers itself to be the absolute Self or Brahman, all imperfections are understood or known to be mere illusions and all struggles are ended.

  

The great sage Yajnavalkya instructs the same import to Janaka in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV-iii-32 thus:-

“It becomes (transparent) like water, one, the witness, and without a second. This is the sphere (state) of Brahman, O Emperor”

Thus did Yajnavalkya instruct Janaka:-

“This is its supreme attainment, this is its supreme glory, this is its highest world, this is its supreme bliss. On a particle of this very bliss other beings live.”

Lord also explains such a liberated one in Gita second chapter as:

PRAJAHAATI YADAA KAAMAANSARVAANPAARTHA MANOGATAAN.H

AATMANYEVAATMANAA TUSHHTAH STHITAPRAGYASTADOCHYATE...

“When a man, satisfied in the Self alone by himself, completely casts off all the desires of the mind, then is he said to be one of steady knowledge”.

DUHKHESHHVANUDVIGNAMANAAH

SUKHESHHU VIGATASPRIHAH.

VIITARAAGABHAYAKRODHAH STHITADHIIRMUNIRUCHYATE.

“He, whose heart is not distressed in calamities, from whom all longing for pleasures has departed, who is free from attachment, fear and wrath, he is called a sage, a man of steady knowledge.”

When the absolute is realized as Self, nothing else remains to be sought after. That absoluteness or perfection or completeness, knowing which everything becomes known, is indicated here by Acharya as Brahman.

There is no greater knowledge than this knowledge of the Brahman, (or, can we say, as the knowledge as Brahman, because SELF is Pure Knowledge itself and knowledge of anything external)

There is no greater sukham (Supreme Ananda or Bliss) than the sukham realized from Atma Jnanam.

There is no greater gain in life than Brahma Jnanam.

Thus, the highest goal of any one’s life is to strive for such Atma Jnanam.

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 63

Verse 53

उपाधिविलयाद्विष्णौ निर्विशेषं विशेन्मुनिः ।

जले जलं वियद्व्योम्नि तेजस्तेजसि वा यथा ॥ ५३॥

UPAADHI VILAYAAT VISHNAU

NIR-VISHESHAM VISHEN MUNIH

JALE JALAM VIYAT VYOMNI

TEJAH TEJASI VAA YATHAA

(On the dissolution of the Upadhis, in the Spirit, the contemplative sage is absorbed in the all pervading and attribute-less One, like water into water, space into space and light into light)

The state of Jivanmukti is being described below:

1.    The Upadhis of body, mind and intellect are dissolved by withdrawing all identification with them. 

2.  When the seeker does succeed in dissolving them, i.e. dis-identifying with them, then the naturally occurring state of Self-realization blossoms forth by itself. 

The blossoming takes the form of a total absorption of the individual self (ego) with the universal Self.

At this point, come the three similes which illustrate such a state of absorption of the little self into the universal Self. 

Like Water, Space and Light, we have another 3 similes, as we did in the previous verse. Here, too, let us first see the inter-relationship between them before going into the details.

The three similes describe the merging process at three different levels:

§  Water represents the merging at the gross level; 

§  Space represents it at the subtle level; and,

§  Light represents it at the causal level, the level of ignorance or darkness.

Jale Jalam: At the gross level, merging can best be observed when water unites with water. There is complete mergence, which is irreversible. 

This is not so when solids unite, for they can again be separated. Air masses too can unite perfectly, but then they are not visible.

At the physical level the sage breaks through the barriers set up by the many different types of bodies creatures have. He sees the common Self in all of them.

  

Viyat Vyomni: At the subtle level of the mind and intellect, Space becomes the perfect simile to illustrate mergence, not only because it is subtle, but because it is all pervading. Everything physical is pervaded by space.

A Jivanmukhta has transcended the individual mind and become one with the universal mind. This is the purpose of the Space simile.

Tejah Tejasi: At the causal level, ignorance or cosmic delusion is the factor that is being addressed. Light represents the Truth (Reality); darkness stands for Falsity (unreality). 

There is no such thing as darkness merging with darkness for it is unreal. However, light can merge with light as they are real entities.

Similarly, the Atman (Light of the Self) merges with Brahman (Universal Light) when ignorance is destroyed by knowledge. In all three cases above, the Upadhis are overcome, and Infinity is realized.

Mundaka Upanishad explains the same import in 3.2.5 and 3.2.8 as:

SAMPRAAPYAINAMR SHHAYO JNAANATRPTAAH

KRITAATMAANO VIITARAAGAAH PRASHAANTAAH

TE SARVAGAM SARVATAH PRAAPYA DHIIRAA

YUKTAATMAANAH SARVAMEVAAVISHANTI

Having attained this, the seers become contented with their knowledge, established in the Self, freed from attachment, and composed. Having realized the all-pervasive One everywhere, these discriminating people, ever merged in contemplation, enter into the All.

YATHAA NADYAH SYANDAMAANAAH SAMUDRE.A

STAM GACHCHHANTI NAAMARUUPE VIHAAYA

TATHAA VIDVAAN.H NAAMARUUPAADVIMUKTAH

PARAATPARAM PURUSHHAMUPAITI DIVYAM.H

As rivers, flowing down, become indistinguishable on reaching the sea by giving up their names and forms, so also the illumined soul, having become freed from name and form, reaches the self-effulgent Purusha that is higher than the higher (Maya).

Love.