Atma Bodha - Post 31

Verse 23

रागेच्छासुखदुःखादि बुद्धौ सत्यां प्रवर्तते ।

सुषुप्तौ नास्ति तन्नाशे तस्माद्बुद्धेस्तु नात्मनः ॥ २३॥

RAAGA-ICCHHAA-SUKHA-DUKHA-AADI

BUDDHAU SATYAAM PRA-VARTATE

SUSHUPTAU NA ASTI TAT NAASHE

TASMAAT BUDDHEH TU NA AATMANAH

(Attachment, desire, pleasure, pain, etc, are perceived only when the intellect functions. In deep sleep, when the intellect is absent, they too are absent. Therefore, they belong to the mind alone and not the Atman. )

Placing himself in the shoes of an objector, suppose, someone asks, “You are asking me to take all my attention away from the things I like. What kind of life are you asking me to live? Whatever you may say about desires, I feel very much that I am those desires. Is there any proof you can give of your statements apart from all these examples. I am tired of your similes. They are only similes, where is the proof that this is so?”

  

These objections are to be expected, but the Vedantin is rooted in sound logic and observation of life without any bias. Here, in this verse, Sankara resists the temptation of giving a simile, in order to answer the above doubt.

Where Do Attachments, Desires and Pleasures Reside?

We experience all these only as long as the intellect or mind functions. As soon as the mind is not available, as in deep sleep, these tendencies, desires, attachments, and so on, also cease. Is that not proof enough that they exist only in the mind and not the Atman? Hence, they cannot be the Self.  

The logic of this verse is undeniable. It is simple and clear. The conclusion Sri Sankaracharya expects us to draw from it is that these are mental conditionings and we should not identify ourselves with them, unless we don’t mind being kicked about whichever way the mind blows.

One of the monks from Chinmaya mission gives some excellent examples for this verse, though Sankara has not given any simile for this verse.

1. A buffalo is walking past as you cross the road. Buffalos are always a nuisance to traffic, but you have no need to make that your problem unless, of course, you somehow feel that you are that buffalo! That is what we are doing to the thought-buffalos of our mind. They are not “me”; we should just observe them and ignore them. But when we make them “me”, that is when we are asking for trouble.

2. We see a boat rocking in the water at the river bank. After watching it for some time, we ‘take over’ the rocking movement and feel as if we are rocking with it. Why? – Because we identify with it.

3. A Mahatma was trying to teach a student how to handle the mind. He took two stones and kept rubbing them against each other. His student, watching this, asked why this was being done. The Mahatma said, “I am trying to make these stones white.”

 

The student said it was not possible to do that; the stones will never become white. Then the Mahatma smiled at him and said, “It is the same with this mind. We can never change it; we have only to learn to be indifferent to it. However much we try, we will never make it Brahman.

4. And the last example: Suppose we have just completed a long 2-day journey to Sidhbari in the Himalayas. When we get off the train, for quite a while we find ourselves still swaying like we were doing in the train. It is hard to keep balance, until we adjust slowly to being motionless again.

There is a Self within us that is steady and unflickering. It does not follow the vagaries of the mind. It is stable and steady, silent and peaceful, desireless and unattached.

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 30

Verse 22

अज्ञानान्मानसोपाधेः कर्तृत्वादीनि चात्मनि ।

कल्प्यन्तेऽम्बुगते चन्द्रे चलनादि यथाम्भसः । २२॥

AJNAANAAN MAANASA UPAADHEH

KARTRITVA-AADINI CHA AATMANI

KALPYANTE AMBUGATE CHANDRE

CHALANA-AADI YATHAA AMBHASAH

(Due to ignorance, that which belongs to the mind; the agency of actions, etc, is attributed to the Self;  just as attributed to the moon reflected in water  are the trembling, etc, which belong to water.)

If we get a little deeper, then the translation comes to our contemplative mind thus:-

(They, the spiritually ignorant) will superimpose, those of the category of 'doer-ship', into which merges the delimiting adjunct that is(!) the mind, in(/upon) the Self, on account of the delusion that is the 'absence of (Self-)Knowledge', the way (the worldly ignorant) superimpose in (/upon) the sky-moon (moon in the sky) appearing in water, the movement of water (itself).

Acharya Shankara in this shloka talks about the ignorance of mind (which is an equipment or Upaadi). The mind expresses ignorance by mixing the Absolute with the relative and the relative with the Absolute. So ignorance of the mind is expressed as “mixing”. In a deeper sense, we take the Absolute (existence, awareness and joy), and we feel that it is actually relative - for example we think that our nature is to be depressed. We take that which is relative (such as the body, mind and intellect) and make that Absolute.

The greatest expression of vanity is the feeling of “I do” or “Kartrutva” that this is happening because of me. Where there is doer-ship there is deserver-ship. I project that the self is the doer and deserver. But we also just studied that the self does not have a purpose, self is complete and self is “being”. It is the mind and intellect (equipments) that express this “I do” and “I deserve”.

  

“Chandre Chalanadi Yathambhasa”

Acharyaji here quoted an example from Ramayana, where Bhagavan Rama as a little boy is playing with the pots of water reflecting the moon. Bhagavan Rama sees that the moon is shaking or not still and He gets upset. Then Bhagavan Rama’s mother explains to Him that when the pot is not shaking and the water is still, the moon does not look broken.

Both the direct moonlight as well as the reflected moonlight are unaffected by the turbulences in the puddle of water. Yet, to the child they seem to have “broken the moon”, and he takes immediate steps to run and fix it. Nor is the moonlight affected by any dirt or mud in the puddle. The moonbeams remain pristinely pure.

Moon

The moon referred to in this simile is the SELF, Pure consciousness that we are. The reflection of the moon on the water is the reflected consciousness on our Ego.

Water

Water referred in the simile is our mind. As long as our mind remains as pure ego with reflected consciousness without coming down to the ego that is ahamkara, our mind remains as stilled, serene and pure like the river without any movement of water, still, transparent, like the manasarover near Kailasa.

Leaf

The leaf that is thrown on the water are the various situations / events, good or bad, that happen to us / that comes to us for fetching experience to us.

Broken Moon

The disturbance in the water and the apparent  broken moon on the water is the disturbance of our mind caused due to the doer-ship / due to the ego that such and such things have happened to me, I am affected by such and such things, I am disturbed, I am tensed, I am in a hopeless situation etc.

A realized seer is the one who sees the reflection as it is and stands unruffled by the events that happen in his life, the one who is explained as a Raja or a King in a earlier verse,  who ever remains peaceful, in spite of various things that go on in the court / in his kingdom.

Thus, the consciousness that is borrowed from the intellect by our ego (Aham), is utilized only for carrying out our responsibilities in our life depending upon the asrama or the varna in which we are - Brahmacharya or Grahastha or Sanyasi or Vanaprastha, then our mind is never disturbed.

All the disturbance happens when the mind mistakes the reflected consciousness on its ego and believes that the mind or the physical entity of the human being itself is real and ignores that the body mind has borrowed the reflected consciousness only to discharge the responsibilities, to clear the karma and to retrace the lord.

When such disturbance happens due to ignorance of the truth, then the aham ego or the bigger I  is colored with smaller i and the Aham is mistaken and identified as Ahamkara!!!

This is how we are often affected by little disturbances in our life. Every movement disturbs our balance, and we react thoughtlessly to rectify it. If we developed a little of the witness-consciousness which is being taught here, we would not react in haste.

Calm observation may be the best way to resolve a disturbing situation. By observation, we come in touch with a part of our being that is truer than the superficial self (ego).

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 29

Verse 21

देहेन्द्रियगुणान्कर्माण्यमले सच्चिदात्मनि ।

अध्यस्यन्त्यविवेकेन गगने नीलतादिवत् ॥ २१॥

DEHA INDRIYA GUNAAN KARMAANI

AMALE SAT CHIT AATMANI;

ADHYASYANTI AVIVEKENA

GAGANE NEELAT-AADI-VAT.

(Qualities and functions of the body and senses, are, upon the pure Self, whose nature is Existence and Consciousness, superimposed due to lack of discrimination (by fools) just as colors like blue, etc, are superimposed on the sky.)

This verse is indirectly a tribute to the intellect in man which has the capacity to distinguish and resolve the situation of superimposition described here.

The actions and functions of the body and senses are ascribed to the Self. That is the error which is the subject of this verse. Anyone with a sharp intellect can see without much difficulty that the Self cannot be blamed for the actions performed by the body and senses, as  It is beyond them and is unaffected by them.

Hence, to ascribe this activity to the Self can only be the work of fools, who do not have their reasoning power awakened. That is the view of Sri Shankaracharya in this verse.

“Gagane Neelatadivat” Nyaya:

The sky is not actually blue. It may appear in varied colours, depending on the time of the day. At sunrise and sunset it is of quite a different hue altogether. Blueness is a quality that is superimposed upon it.

Not only its blueness, but also various other qualities such as misty haze, fogginess, air pollution, dustiness, have their origins in things which are not the sky. Yet, it is the sky that is described as misty, foggy, etc. although it has nothing to do with those conditions.

Thus it is only due to the lack of discrimination that the qualities of ever changing mind and the intellect and their limitations are superimposed on the Atman. Acharya here says that the foolish one’s i.e. those who do not know the true nature of Atman, attribute the qualities of the gross and subtle bodies to the Atman.

Just like how the sky remains the same even when different colors are attributed to it due to our vision, the Atman remains pure and unaffected.

Another beautiful example given by our Acharyas to explain this is, just as how the sands of the desert can never become moist from the water of a mirage, likewise, the Self is not affected by the traits of the body and the senses.

This is the superimposition of the conditions which occurs in relation to the Self. Only when we use our discriminative reason to look into the truth of things can we correct this erroneous superimposition of such qualities upon on the ever Pure Consciousness.

Love.