Verse
19
अहमयं कुतो भवति चिन्वतः |
अयि
पतत्यहं
निजविचारणम्
||
ahamayaṁ
kuto bhavati cinvataḥ |
ayi
patatyahaṁ nijavicāraṇam
||
From where does this “I” come to be?
From one who knows,
Oh! The “I” falls.
This is Self-inquiry
Having
decided to converge on the ‘I-thought’ with our enquiry, we are asked by the
Maharshi to inquire, “Where does it arise from?”
In
ordinary life, we take it for granted that we are the doer (Karta), the enjoyer
(Bhokta) and the knower (Jnata).
A
spiritual seeker in the path of Jnana, with a proper guidance from his Guru,
goes deeper into this assumption. He asks the following questions and
contemplates on the same.
Who is
this ‘I’ that acts, enjoys and knows?
From
where the mind arises?
Am I the
one with this body, mind, intellect, the one who is the one from whom the
thoughts arise?
If not,
then, who am I really and how that Real I who I am, is different from my mind,
the thoughts, the doer, the enjoyer etc.?
There is
an analogy of Chariot and Charioteer in Kathopanishad. Let us see this analogy
and then try and relate the same with the charioteer Krishna in Bhagavad Gita.
In one of
the chapters in Kathopanishad, there is an analogy of a chariot which is
compared with a human being as under:-
CHARIOT
|
HUMAN
BEING
|
The chariot
|
The Human body
|
5 horses running the
chariot
|
5 organs of perception in
a human being
|
Rein tied to the horse
|
Mind and the intellect,
controlling the senses
|
Master of the chariot
|
Ahamkara or the Ego which
rules over the mind / intellect which dictates / rules the senses.
|
When we
take the above analogy to the Kurukshetra scene in Bhagawad Gita, then, Arjuna is
the master, the Ahamkara and Krishna,
the Lord, has stopped the horse and made the horses stand still and is holding
the reins of the horses.
Thus,
now, the intellect of the disciple is in the control of his master and not in
the control of his Ahamkara.
Thus,
standing apart from his Ahamkara, the student is able to conduct an enquiry of
his Ahamkara, the "I" thought, from an independent standpoint, the wisdom of
his teacher.
This is
very much required, because, the disciple is Ahamkara by himself (the master of
the horse in the above example) and as Ahamkara, how can he enquire into his
own "Ahamkara"??
This is
what is explained in Avidya-Kama-Karma exposition in an earlier verse in
the blog by the author.
When an
object of enquiry is considered, the means of knowing it becomes evident.
The end
determines the means of Knowledge.
You can
at best conduct an enquiry up to the "I thought" and from there, the
teacher / God takes over.
It is
either the Lord who reveals the truth of the real "I" or a Teacher.
The
knowledge born out of such a teaching is opposed to Self-Ignorance as the Ahamkara (Arjuna) is already taken over by the God (Krishna) or a Realized Master.
Therefore,
the ignorance goes.
When the
"I thought" falls, what happens? It resolves into the very thing out of which
it is born. The snake, whose appearance was due to the real existence Rope,
resolves and retraces to the real existence, THE ROPE.
We must
make Sri Ramana Maharishi’s question our question. Then alone would
we have the intensity of enquiry to get the answer He obtained. It has to be a
life and death enquiry for us as it was for the Maharishi.
Love.
PS- While
teaching to few devotees, the author went a step further and asked the
seekers to inquire into WHO IS THINKING?
This is a
step further to Maharishi's instruction to introspect on "Where
this I thought arises?"
When one
really inquires into "WHO IN ME IS THINKING, WHO IN ME IS THINKING /
REACHING TO OBJECTS?" the Ahamkara which is the "I thought"
falls away quickly and one exists as "AHAM" without the "I
thought".
Love.
