Atma Bodha - Post 38

Verse 28

आत्मावभासयत्येको बुद्ध्यादीनीन्द्रियाण्यपि ।

दीपो घटादिवत्स्वात्मा जडैस्तैर्नावभास्यते ॥ २८॥

AATMAA AVA-BHAASAYATI EKOH

BUDDHI-AADINI INDRIYAANI API HI

DEEPAH GHAT-AADI-VAT SWAATMAA

JADAIH TAIH NA AVA-BHAASYATE

(The Self alone illuminates   the intellect, etc, and also verily the senses, just as a lamp itself illuminates pots, etc.  Inert themselves, they cannot illumine themselves)

We return here to the light bulb analogy made in verse 26, this time it is coming directly in the text itself, as a lamp illumining a jar.

There it was used to illustrate the false origin of the ego. Here it is used to emphasize the inherent inertness of the intellect equipment.

Can Atma be an object that can be known by some other Knower, as subject? Is it someone other than Atma? Other than Atma, whatever is – is Anaatma. In Anaatma, which part can know Aatma? These are troubling questions.

Anaatma, the whole of it, is INERT / JADAM principle – and has no chance of ever knowing the CHAITANYA which is Consciousness principle.

Only the Consciousness principle of Atma can know the inert, Anaatma principle. It is the Anaatma principle which is Avidya or Ignorance and needs removal. If avidya is removed, instantly, the Aatma will shine forth in its true splendor.

Atma is all pervading, original consciousness principle and advayam, one without a second.

That being so – it is Anaathma which shines, exists and transacts in presence of the Atma Chaitanyam.

What is meant by inertness of the intellect? The intellect is recognized to be the most subtle part of the creation of the human being. The supremacy of the intellect was brought out in verse 17. In spite of that supremacy, why is it still described as being inert? Its supremacy lies only in the fact that it is the “light bulb” of the human being.

No other part of the human being has this capacity to express the Self so clearly as the intellect, although in their functioning they all express to some extent the ‘intelligence’ of the Self.

The king of the human equipment is the intellect; it enlightens all other functions. Nevertheless, it still cannot illumine itself. This limitation of the intellect is the point being made in this verse. Intellect, although the highest instrument we have, cannot be equated to the Self. By nature, it is still part of “material” creation, and in that sense inert.

Deepa & Ghata Simile

“Deepa” means light and “Ghata” means pot (like a lamp illuminates a pot). There is one light and in front of that light there could be lots of pots — such as a pot of honey, a pot of butter, a pot of yogurt — we need to keep relating this back to ourselves! 

Taking this in a Puranic sense, we have always read about Bhagawan Krishna going into people’s homes and stealing butter, but how was he able to see in the dark room (because the butter was probably kept in a cellar)? Bhagawan’s nature is illumination, so when He went into a dark room he would shine and be glowing in spite of his dark skin! Have you ever thought about black glowing in the dark?

That’s what has been shared here — that “Swaatma” or the nature of one’s self illumines all that is in front of it because one’s nature is illumination, like Bhagavan Krishna. There is no difference between Atman/Brahman and Bhagawan Krishna or Any incarnation.

“Jadaihi” means that which is inert. All is inert other than you. That which is inert does not have illumination and it needs to be illumined. If you know that something is inert, then what else has to be there? There has to be awareness, consciousness. If consciousness is not the nature of that which is inert, then it means it is “your” nature.

Lamp is self luminous. All the objects kept near and around the lamp are non-luminous. All these objects which are near the lamp are illumined by the Lamp. We see them in the light of the lamp. But, the non-luminous objects have no chance of illumining the lamp. Always, luminous can only illumine the non-luminous.

In the same way, the self Luminous Atma can only illumine the non luminous Anaatma. Non luminous Anaatma can never illumine the luminous Atma. Atma is ever the knower principle and never the known principle. Atma is also ever the experiencer and never an object of experience.

Being Clear of the Role of Intellect

The great value of the intellect lies in its power to analyze and reflect. The intellect alone can grasp our real state of bondage: that we are trapped in a prison. To understand the nature of the imprisonment and to help us see the way out of it is the great function of the intellect. 

Once it has done that, its job is over, and the Self is revealed by itself, by its own self-luminous nature. This idea is developed further in the verses to follow. Thus, the intellect only has to uncover the veil of ignorance. It is not tasked to reveal the Self.

The Self will do that of its own accord, as it is self-revealing. It does not need the intellect to illumine It. Indeed, there is no such need to illumine it as it is self-luminous. 

Dear Readers,

The process of Intellect absorbing Consciousness / Atman and then the further process of how the absorbed / reflected consciousness of intellect goes on to illumine body, mind, senses, has been explained in detail in an earlier verse.

The Kena Upanishad explains this beautifully as “Atman is that which is the Ear of the ear, which is the Mind of mind, the Speech of speech etc. 

This is also covered in an earlier verse while elaborating on "Atman is Chit", wherein Sat Chit Ananda was brought in a verse by Sankara.

It is that by which the mind is thought and that by which the man sees the activities through the eye.” Thus as the Mahavakya says, this Consciousness is the Self or “Pragjyanam Brahma”. Self thus is the illuminator of all the modifications of the intellect.

Love.