Atma Bodha - Post 28

Verse 20 

आत्मचैतन्यमाश्रित्य देहेन्द्रियमनोधियः ।

स्वक्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्ते सूर्यालोकं यथा जनाः । २०॥

AATMA CHAITANYAM AASHRITYA

DEHA INDRIYA MANAH DHIYAH

SWA-KREEYAARTHESHU VARTANTE

SOORYAA-LOKAM YATHAA JANAAH

(Depending on Self, of the nature of consciousness,   the body, senses, mind and intellect engage in their respective activities just as sunlight heralds activity amongst people.)

In the previous sloka, we learnt that all the activities done are attributed only to the mind and the senses whereas the Self remains untainted by all actions and their results. Then one may get a doubt that do these senses act in their own accord?

And if so are they not sentient and hence the Self? To answer this, Acharya explains in this sloka that just as how people work depending on the daylight of the sun, the senses, mind and intellect seem to act only due to the Consciousness. 

The Witness-ship, seen in the above two verses as a figure of authority that inspires action and as the contractor himself of all activities, is here seen in a third perspective, as the energizer that sets everything in motion.

Aashritya: “depending on”; the Self is first defined as of the nature of Consciousness, to indicate that it is actually just a witness of all the activities taking place.

The body, senses, mind and intellect depend on the Self to do their work. What are they depending upon Him for? – For the power that energizes them or galvanizes them into action.

The analogy of the relationship between the workers and their boss is the best to describe this dependency.

“Sooryalokam Yatha Jana”: The Energizing Sun

The sun has the power of getting things moving. The word Surya itself literally means “that which moves others”. When the sun rises, people ‘move’ – out of their beds!

When the sun rises, the birds start chirping. Everything in nature awaits the signal from the sun before engaging with their work for the day. This beautifully compares with the situation of the Self, who has simply to give consent and all things get done thereafter.

The sun rises up. Its first rays place its signature on the pay cheques of the workers here on earth, and they are happy to plunge into their work thereafter!

Dear All,

In one of the previous verses, we went through a detailed explanation on How consciousness illumines the intellect.

Once the Consciousness illumines intellect, then the EGO of a being goes on to absorb the reflected Consciousness in the intellect and then passes the same to body, mind, senses.

The process of Ego absorbing the reflected consciousness is explained in Drik Drsya Viveka and few other texts with an example of a furnace and an iron ball.

When an Iron ball is brought in connection with furnace, then with the heating process, the iron ball assumes the nature and quality of furnace and glows like the furnace itself.

Exactly in the same way, the ego (iron ball), gets in touch with the reflected consciousness in intellect (Furnace) and then, the ego itself gets conscious / sentient and then from the ego, the reflected consciousness is passed on to body and senses so that the body and senses become conscious!!!

Thus without this consciousness, there is no activity possible. But the Self by itself is ever pure and is not affected by the actions of the senses. 

Senses seem to work only due to consciousness but consciousness is never affected by their actions.

We have to never forget that the illusory duality can never affect the Self. It is only due to ignorance that one perceives the senses, world of duality and hence all the actions. 

Like the sun that illumines any object that comes in front of it without itself being affected, the Self illuminates the physical and the subtle bodies. 

           

Love.