JIVA
Who is this Jivi calling himself 'I'?
Reflecting on this problem, he will see that the 'I' is the immutable
permanent-witness, the Atma, which forgetful of its real nature considers
itself affected by change, through sheer ignorance.
Caught up in the coils of change, it is very
hard to realize one is just the witness of all this passing show.
SAKSHI
The Sakshi has no Ajnana and so has no need
to get rid of it! The ignorant alone need to take steps to remove it. Qualities
like ignorance or knowledge attach themselves only to the Jivi, not to the Sakshi.
This is proven by actual experience. Because the Sakshi who is the apparent
basis for Jnana and Ajnana, is devoid of both, while the Jivi is actively bound
to these two.
Some may doubt, how this distinction came to
be. "Does the Sakshi know the Jivi, the I, which changes and gets modified
and agitated? And who is this witness? We are not aware of it", they may
ask.
JIVA BECOMING SAKSHI
When a Jiva deliberately spends thought on
his identity, he will know, "I am not a Vikari, I am the witness of the
ego," the ego that suffers continuous modification; then, from this step,
he will proceed to identify the immutable Seer or Witness (or Sakshi) with
himself.
Undergoing the sorrows of Ajnana and seeking
solace in the study of Vedanta, one infers that there must be
a Witness, unaffected by the passing clouds.
Getting a glimpse of the king inside the fort
does not help the beggar acquire wealth or power; so too, the Jivi must not
only know the Sakshi, (the Sakshi, more ethereal than the sky,
beyond the three-fold category of knower, known, and knowledge, eternal, pure,
conscious, free, blissful) but must become the Sakshi. Till
then, the Jivi continues as Jivi, it cannot become Brahman.
Later, the Sakshi or Atma, which one knew by
reasonings, is realized in actual experience, when the superimposition of the illusion of the world is removed by Sadhana.
The Sakshi is the inner core of everything,
the 'immanent', the embodiment of Sat, Chit and Ananda. There is nothing beyond
it or outside it.
The Akasa in the pot is the Akasa that has
filled everything everywhere. The Akasa in the pot is the ever-full immanent
Akasa.
The wind in one place is the wind in all
places; the sunlight in one place is the sunlight everywhere; the God in one
image is the God in all images. This type of identity has to be grasped.
Love.
