Upadesa Saram - Post 25

Verse 22

विग्रहेन्द्रियप्राणधीतमः |

नाहमेकसत्तज्जडं ह्यसत् || २२ ||

vigrahendriyaprāṇadhītamaḥ |

nāhamekasattajjaḍaṁ hyasat || 22 ||

The body, the senses, the prana, the intellect and ignorance

Are not I, the one Being. That is inert, for it is unreal.

We may call it a coincidence or a miracle or an intuition. Just in the last week, the essence of this very same verse was given to few devotees through recorded talk by the author in two parts.  

The basis of the talk was the verses from Taittreya Upanishad. The essence of the talk is given today as the explanation to this verse. 

  

In this Upanishad, all the 5 Koshas are referred in the verse, viz.,

The Acharya in that Upanishad takes the disciple through all these Koshas one by one and proves the falsity of each one of them, through three tests as follows:-

Gross body

   

Gross body, as even explained by the author in a small talk, is to be considered as a temple in which God is to be installed forever. It has been bestowed on all human beings by the Creator / God, to use it for spiritual sadhana, to retrace to Him, God, which is the very purpose of our birth.

However, if the gross body is taken through the three tests as mentioned above, then we can understand the following.

We are the knower/seer/experiencer of the body and the body is known/experienced.

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the body is jada/inert/insentient.

We are changeless whereas our body has undergone so many changes in this birth and we are also assuming a new body in every birth.

Prana is life force, which is very important and is subtler than the gross body. It gives us energy, it prompts hunger / thirst for us, it fills our body with our life.

However,

We are the knower / seer / experiencer of our prana and the prana is known / experienced (We know when we are thirsty, we know when we are hungry, we know when we fall sick, we know when we are active on a particular day and when we are very dull on another day).

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the prana is jada / inert / insentient.

We are changeless whereas our prana is subject to change, only due to the changes within, we are sick / we are active / we are tired etc.

Mind is subtler than our Prana and mind is the most powerful equipment granted to us by God. 

However,

We are the knower / seer / experiencer of our mind and the mind is known / experienced. 

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the mind is jada / inert / insentient.

We are changeless whereas our mind is jumping from one thought to another and is ever changing.

Subtler than our mind is our Buddhi, our intellect, because intellect discriminates whereas the mind, devoid of intellect, cannot discriminate.

However,

We are the knower / seer / experiencer of our intellect and the intellect, our reasoning, is known/experienced. 

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the intellect is jada / inert / insentient.

We are changeless whereas our intellect, our reasoning, our discriminative power has been changing as we grow, as we evolve. 

In our deep sleep, body, mind and intellect are not active. However, there is someone beyond still existing.

Next day, when we get up, there is someone who is the knower, who gives us the knowledge that we had a deep sleep yesterday. So, someone within is the knower and the state of peace, the tranquility experienced in deep sleep is still known.

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the deep sleep state is jada / inert / insentient.

Someone within us is still changeless whereas the extent of peace / tranquility changes from night to night.

So, we are able to conclude from the above factors that there is someone beyond all these 5 Koshas who has all the three qualities - The Knower, The Sentient or Chaitanya and The One who is changeless, Nirvikara.

Maharishi claims about the One who is all the three mentioned above and says, “I am not these (the 5 Koshas) but Supreme existence".

Sri Ramana systematically distances the Self from the gross, subtle and the causal bodies, on the basis that they are inert and, in His view, Asat or non-existent. [In earlier texts we have been using the word Mithya for these bodies, not Asat. Mithya is a milder word than Asat].

The spiritual implication of this verse is very significant to the seeker. The verse tells us that we are really free; that our bondage is a mere illusion. This will give great impetus to the seeker to forge ahead in his Sadhana to drop the illusion. 

When one takes the essence of this verse and the exposition given for the verse seriously and meditates on the same, one can actually experience the discarding of all the 5 sheaths / Koshas one by one and can reach to the pure, changeless, conscious existence that One is - THE ATMAN or THE SELF.  

Love.