Tattva Bodha - Post 29

TAT TWAM ASI

“Tat Twam Asi” iti mahaavaakyaat katham abheda-buddhih syaat ,

ubhayoh viruddha dharmaa-kraantatvaat? iti chet, na;

Sthoola sookshma, shareera abhimaani, “Twam” pada vaachyaarthah;

Upaadhi vinir-muktam, samaadhi- dashaa sampannam,

shuddham chaitanyam,”Twam”pada lakshyaarthah;

Evam sarvajnatva vishishtah aadi, Easwara,”Tat”pada vaachyaarthah;

Upaadhi shoonyam, shuddha chaitanyam,”Tat”pada lakshyaarthah;

Evam cha jeeva-eeshwarayoh, chaitanya roopena, abhede baadhaka abhaavah.

In the Mahavakya, “That Thou Art” – how can there be this equality between these two contradictory things having opposite characteristics?

If there is such a doubt, “No, it is not so!”

     

The gross and the subtle, one identified with these bodies– this is the literal meaning of “Thou”. 

Free from all conditionings, and being in the state of Samadhi, the Pure Consciousness – this is the implied meaning of “Thou”. 

So, too, who is endowed with Omniscience, and so on, and known as Iswara, this is the literal meaning of “Tat”. 

Free from all conditionings, the Pure Consciousness - this is the implied meaning of “Tat”. 

And so, between the Jiva and Iswara, from the standpoint of Consciousness, there is no contradiction in their identity.

In the previous section it was shown, using two models, that Jiva and Iswara are one when they are dissociated from their respective Upadhis or limiting factors. 

Here, the same truth is explained to the student of Vedanta when he is faced with the statement in the Upanishads, “Tat Twam Asi”. 

The student may be bewildered at first due to the opposite nature of the qualities exhibited by these two, Jiva and Iswara. The teacher thus carefully explains from another perspective – that of Logic – the same truth that we arrived at by looking at the two models. 

Literal Meaning: 

If Jiva and Iswara are looked at from their literal meanings, they are virtually opposite each other in nature, as described in this verse.

Sankara explains about Jiva and Iswara.

Jiva is the reflected consciousness on the intellect and identified himself with gross body. Jiva is limited / conditioned by this Avidya (identification with Gross body).

Jiva, because of his ignorance, thinks himself as different from Iswara, sees the world as real and gets bound to Samsara and travels from birth to birth. 

Iswara, on the other hand, has a positive conditioning, He is predominantly Sattvic, and is associated with omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. How can the two be identical? 

Implied meaning:

Due to faith in the teacher, his statement has to be taken seriously. And since the literal meanings do not make sense, the implied meanings have to be investigated. That is when the truth becomes clear to the intellect of the enquiring student. 

From the point of view of Pure Consciousness, they are both the same. The logic is undeniable. It becomes crystal clear that the two are identical when viewed independent of their Upadhis / limiting factor.

If the Avidya and Maya Upadhis are deleted from the equation, because they are both unreal in essence, then the equality between Jiva and Iswara is seen at once. 

The means to realize the above is called Jnana Yoga. This Jnana Yoga which is the means of getting this knowledge is presented in three stages. 

- Sravanam means listening

- Mananam means reflection

- Nididhyāsanam means contemplation.

From the four Vedas, our ancients have picked up four very special statements (Mahavakhyas) and taught their meaning to us. These four are Prajnanam Brahma, Ayam Atma Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi and Aham Brahmasmi. These statements imply that Brahman (Divine) is synonymous to Prajnana (Knowledge), and that the Atma (Soul) is Brahman, and that Brahman is yourself.

In these we will be able to see that in the dissolved state everything is one and the same. In this state of dissolution all bad and good, things that are attractive and things that are not attractive, appear as one and the same.

All things look as if they are one and the same. The difference between names and forms is not distinguishable. In this state one can only experience bliss.

Simply because one does not perceive light within, the individual should not say that there is no Brahman within. In everyone this capacity to shine is present as Prajnana.

- Summer Showers in Brindavan 1974, Vol 1, Ch 5.

Love.

Tattva Bodha - Post 28

JIVA AND ISWARA

Sthoola shareera abhimaani jeeva-naamakam,

brahma pratibimbam bhavati;

Sah eva jeevah prakrityaa swasmaat eeshwaram bhinna- tvena jaanaati.

Avidyaa upaadhih san, aatmaa jeevah iti uchyate.

Maayaa upaadhih san, eeshwarah iti uchyate.

Evam upaadhi bhedaat Jeeva-eeshwara-bheda-drishtih, yaavat paryantam tishthati;

Taavat paryantam, janma-marana-aadi-roopa samsaarah,

na nivartate.

Tasmaat kaaranaat, jeeva- eeshwarayoh bheda-buddhih,

na sveekaaryaa.

Identifying himself with the gross body, and known as the Jiva, is the reflection of Brahman. 

This Jiva by its very nature considers itself to be different from Iswara the Creator. 

Conditioned by Ignorance, the Self is called the Jiva;

Conditioned by Maya, the same Self (Brahman) is called Iswara. 

In this way, due to different conditioning, seeing Jiva and Iswara as being different, as long as that continues... 

so long, this worldly existence of the form of repeated birth and death, can never be removed.         

For that reason, the mentality of seeing difference between Jiva and Iswara, should never be accepted. 

Nanu saahamkaarasya, kinchid-jnasya jeevasya;

Nir-ahamkaarasya, sarva-jnasya eeshwarasya.

     i.            endowed with ego, and

  ii.            having limited knowledge, is the Jiva;           

while 

i) without any ego, and

ii) having Omniscience, is Iswara.

When sunlight gets reflected in a river or in a bucket of water, 

1.    the pure sunlight is Bimba or Chid-Akasa or pure consciousness. 

2.  the reflected sunlight is Pratibimba or Chid-Abhasa or the reflected consciousness. (sunlight, after falling on the river surface or on the water in a bucket).

3.  the bucket stands for the individual body and.

4.  the river / ocean stands for the Cosmic Body. 

The reflections appear different due to the vast difference in the medium / limiting factor through which they are reflected. 

If the differences due to the medium / conditioning factor are ignored, it means the reflections are ignored. 

What is left is just the Pure Consciousness in both cases. 

It makes it very clear that the pure consciousness is unaffected by the size or shape of the Upadhis / limited medium through which it is reflected. 

In this manner the Jiva (the “sunlight from the bucket”) is seen to be identical to Iswara (the “sunlight from the ocean”) from the point of view of Consciousness. 

The above analogy could be aligned with the pure canvass talk given to few / written elaborately in Creation of Universe theme, with teachings from Panchadasi on the Drawing in pure canvass chapter.

While the pure canvass can be compared to the sunlight falling on the ocean and the drawings on the canvass related to the water in bucket, if the reflection on the water (drawings on the canvass is erased, as told by the author in a talk, then what remains is just the pure canvass).

A secondary deduction from the analogy is this: The reflection from a bucket of dirty water would be different in quality to that from a bucket of clean water. 

The Jiva has a large amount of impurity in it. The Sattva in the Jiva is sullied by impurity, which is why it is deluded by Avidya. It does not know its true nature. 

As far as Iswara is concerned, the comparison here is the ocean, which is always Sattvic and pure. This ties up with the fact that Iswara is predominantly Sattvic, and hence not deluded by Maya, but is the master of Maya, i.e. Maya-Pati. 

 

Let us take another example.

This is a famous example in Vedanta, of Pot space and Universal space. 

This model compares:

1.    the Pure Consciousness to unlimited space, 

2.  the Jiva to the limited space within a pot or ‘ghata’, and 

3.  Iswara to the limited space of the building or ‘mata’ in which the pot is kept. 

The ghata and mata are Upadhis or “that which conditions or limits”. 

The ghata is the individual body and the mata is the Prapancha of the Cosmic Body. 

The space within the pot is Ghata-Akasha or ‘ghata space’, and within the building it is Mata-Akasha or ‘mata space’. 

When the ghata is broken, the ghata space merges with the mata space, and when the mata is also demolished, the mata space merges with Maha-Akasha or the ‘universal space’. 

As the space within the pot was never different from the mata space, which in turn was never different from the universal space, so also, the Jiva in essence is not different from Iswara, and both are not different in essence from Brahman. 

When the Upadhis or conditionings are removed, the distinctions between Jiva and Isvara are destroyed and their identity is seen, in accordance with the Mahavakya statement “Tat Twam Asi”. However, whilst the Upadhis are present, they give an apparent unique identity to both Jiva and Isvara.

Avidya Visishtha Chaitanyam Jivah

“Limited by Avidya, Atman is called Jiva at the microcosmic level.” 

Maya Visishtha Chaitanyam Ishwara

“Limited by Maya, Brahman is called Iswara at the macrocosmic level.” 

Summary

i)                            Space is always one, even when the limitations exist.

ii)                         The limitations give the ‘appearance’ that they are different, but that is illusory. When the limitations are removed, the oneness is made clear. 

iii)                     Space is not affected by the shape of the ghata or the mata. 

It ever remains pure, like the Pure Consciousness, which ever remains unaffected and pure. 

Love.

Tattva Bodha - Post 27

Dear All,       

                                                 

Yesterday's post might not be clear to some of us. So, today, the entire process of creation as per Tattva Bodha, given by Sankara, has been given in a crisp format so that at least we are all able to understand it clearly.  

Creation of 5 elements in order:

Cause	Effect
Brahman + Maya	Space
Space	Air
Air	Fire
Fire	Water
Water	Earth

Maya has 3 qualities that of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and since 5 subtle elements have come from Maya these 5 elements also have these three qualities of sattva, Rajas and Tamas.  

                                                                         

Evolutes of Sattva                                                    

Element	Its Component
Space	Ears
Air	Skin
Fire	Eye
Water	Tongue
Earth	Nose

                                                                         

Each subsequent element gets the previous component along with it, as under:-              

From Satvic part of all the 5 elements together, the antahakarana - Manas, Buddhi, Chitta and Ahamkara is born.

Antahkarana	Presiding Deity
Manas	Moon
Buddhi	Brahma
Chitta	Vasudeva
Ahamkara	Rudra

Evolutes of Rajas

Element	Its Component
Space	Organ of speech
Air	Hand
Fire	Leg
Water	Genitals
Earth	Anus

Evolutes of Tamas

                                                                        

The scriptures point out that the Tamas component of the five elements alone get grossified to become the five gross elements – Pancha Sthūla Bhūtāni. The five gross elements are born out of or manifest from the Tamo Gunaha of the five subtle elements. 

The scriptures point out that, until grossification, each element was isolated and pure.

One element was not adulterated or mixed with others. But when grossification takes place, the Tamo Guna of these five elements get intermixed. This is just like eating a salad. Sūkshma Prapancha is like eating grapes separately, bananas separately etc.                                           

Pancheekaranam process                                                       

From the tamasic part of the five elements the gross body is formed. The gross body is formed through a process called Pancheekaranam.                                        

The process is as follows:                                            

1.      Every element is not a pure element like that of the subtle body but combination of all the other elements.    

2.     Each element is divided into two halves.    

3.     First half by the element and second by the other 4 elements.                   

	Space	Air	Fire	Water	Earth
Space	1/2	1/8	1/8	1/8	1/8
Air	1/8	1/2	1/8	1/8	1/8
Fire	1/8	1/8	1/2	1/8	1/8
Water	1/8	1/8	1/8	1/2	1/8
Earth	1/8	1/8	1/8	1/8	1/2

Thus the pancheerkaranam process and thus the gross body is formed. The individual gross body is called Pindanda, the gross world is called Brahmanda. There is identity between the individual physical body and the gross world as both are made of the five

It is sufficient to know this much in theoretical terms as there is nothing much for contemplation on the above aspects.

Love.