Dakshinamurthy Stotram - Post 26

 Verse 8

 

He who sees / witnesses the World of cause and effect, related as

i) possessions and possessor, 

ii) taught and teacher,

iii) father and son,

in Himself as Atman; these being further differentiated into the dream and waking states,

He who is the Purusha (Brahman), (seeing / witnessing these) when whirled in Maya,

to that “Ultimate Seer”, the Revered Form of the Guru, do I offer my salutation;

He is the Revered Form of Sri Dakshinamurti!

The main topics discussed here are Jagat, Atman, Brahman and Maya. Brahman is experiencing the Jagat as Atman under the influence of Maya. Whatever and whenever He experiences, He remains unaffected by them all. For in the ‘Seen-seer’ chain, Brahman or Purusha is the ultimate Seer. There is no Seer higher than Him. All else is seen by Him.

Initially, these lines may not mean very much unless we introduce two concepts well-known in Vedanta philosophy. These are 2 different outlooks on life. They are: 

A. The Srishti – Drishti Model “As is the world, so is our vision.”

B. The Drishti – Srishti Model “As is the vision, so is our (own) world.”

 

The Srishti – Drishti Model:

In this verse all the varieties mentioned are from this view of life. This is the conventional view of the world. The world is transactional reality (Vyavaharic). 

Relative to it, on one side we have our dream world which is unreal (Pratibhasic) in comparison.

On the other side we have Absolute Reality (Paramarthic) or Brahman, which is transcendental.

This is the model most of us are used to and which we find ourselves quite comfortable with. 

Here, the essential feature is that Creation is posited first, and our Drishti follows to suit what is created. There is one Creation and many individual Drishtis.

It is a world of relationships, with people and things, all being related to each other by the law of cause and effect. What is spoken of in these two lines – the possessor and the possessed, the teacher and the taught, father and son, etc., are all experienced from this view of life.

The Drishti – Srishti Model

Now we look at the alternate view, and one might say that philosophers favour this view. Being uncommon, there is not much written about this view, except in Vedantic literature. Hence, it remains a realm within philosophy that is of little interest to the common man. 

In this model, no creation is posited. Everything originates with knowledge, in the world of thought, in the MIND. This is in accordance with one’s own Drishti or vision. Everything is happening in the mind. There is no world out there.

The immediate result is that the Vyavaharic world is cut out. Only two planes of reality exist: the Absolute Reality and the Mental (or dream) reality. The waking state is incorporated into the dream state, which has Pratibhasic reality. 

In this model, knowledge is creation, and thoughts are the main objects of reality. By now, the student will already be noting that there is a huge shift in the vision of such a reality.

What else is there that is mind-boggling?

If “Mind is World”, there is no need to have any cause-and-effect relationship. There is no need for any transactional relationships of the previous model. This means no possessor or possessed, no teacher and taught, no father and son, no husband and wife – in other words no cause/effect relationship. 

There are two key principles in this model:

i) One’s experience is considered as a ‘Dream’. Like any dream, this Dream, too, exists only whilst one is dreaming. It ends as soon as the dreamer awakes! Beware, this is a huge shift in thinking.

ii) Knowledge and the object of knowledge arise together. One sees a thing as soon as the thought of it arises. In fact, thought has replaced the physical object. No action is needed; thoughts are the action!

These are two powerful principles which radically alter the way we look at life. 

 

Continued......

 

Love.

 

 

Dakshinamurthy Stotram - Post 25

Verse 7 

 

In all stages such as childhood, etc; in all states such as waking, etc; and in all other conditions also;

Through all these constantly changing manifestations the feeling of “I am” persists,

Remaining ever as the illuminating Presence within, 

To that “Silent Teacher”, the Revered Form of the Guru, do I offer my salutation; He is the Revered Form of Sri Dakshinamurti!

 

This verse focuses attention on the Atman, the Pure Consciousness within the individual, whose Presence is there within us under all the varying conditions through which we pass. It is present within from birth till death, and is there even beyond them.

 

The Different Passing States

Baalya Aadishu: “in childhood, etc”. The states referred to here, occur over the whole life cycle. As we move on in age, we pass certain identifiable stages. 

The Charvakas, specialists as they are on the body, identify these as babyhood (0-3 years), childhood (4-15 years), youth (16-30 years), adulthood (31-45 years), middle age (46-60 years), seniors (61- 75 years) and old age (76+ years). All these modifications are included under this category.

In each of these we feel that we are the same person who has experienced all the stages. It does not change. Through all changes in life, the Atman remains changeless.

Jaagrat Aadishu: “in waking, etc”. The three states mentioned here – waking, dream and deep sleep – occur over a daily time-cycle. There are some other states which we pass through as well. Moorcha (unconsciousness or coma) is one of them.

Then we have sub-states for each of these three states. In the waking state, there are walking, talking, eating, drinking, working, playing, etc. In dream we can include day-dreaming and ruminating. All these states are falsified because they come and go – i.e. they are subject to Vyavrittan. As one state passes, the next one is ushered in automatically.

Vyaavrittan: This is the constant change from one state to another that has just been described so thoroughly above. In the midst of all this change, there is something that remains ever constant. That is now described.

Aham Iti: “I am”. The sense of “I am” was mentioned in the last Pada under deep sleep to prove a point. However, it is there in the other two states as well. This Pada cuts across the trend of the previous verse by introducing the constant element in all our experiences, the “I”-sense in us.

Life gives us a clue as to who we are in reality; the clue is available at every moment in life. If we only pause and ponder over our past we will pick up the clue: No matter what has changed in our life, no matter how old we have grown, no matter whether we are waking, dreaming or fast asleep, it is the same person who is experiencing all this.

And we can safely say that it was the same person even in the previous life and the life before that; and it will be the same person for the rest of this life and in all future lives, too. There is no change in the real “I”; everything else may change, but the sense of “I-ness” never changes at all, birth after birth.

This is the Truth being held out in this verse. The Atman is birthless and deathless.

Here is another aspect of Vyaavrittan. The mind can hold one thing only at a time. As we call the name of one object, all others recede from our conscious mind and only that one object comes forward. 

Similarly, the three states are also mutually exclusive; we can experience them only one at a time. It is the same with childhood, youth, etc; again, we experience them in the right sequence one at a time. So, they all fall into the same category – as temporary states. However, the “I” is the same in them all.

This “I” is not the ego. It is referring to the true self – Consciousness. It refers to the conscious being.

The one who knows your mind, your experiences now and the one who knew when you were one month old is same. However, there seems to be discontinuity in life.

Your picture at the time of one month old and now are quite different. Not just the body, but your mind, emotions are all different. Yet you say that was you at the time of one month old.

Body is not the same. Mind is not the same. But you are the same person. What is it that persists between one month old and who you are today?

The Consciousness by which your one-month-old experience was known and the Consciousness by which today’s experience is known, is the same.

There is experience even in pre-natal state. It is still the same Consciousness due to which you know the experience before and after the birth. Your memory would not recollect your experience. But experience is present and because of Consciousness it is known to you.

Therefore, Sri Sankara says in all these states childhood etc., there is something shining within that is always present thus known as “I”, the true Self (Consciousness). That Consciousness, which is real “you”, persists throughout all the states.

The three states of consciousness and then the turiya, the fourth state or in fact, the one state which illumines all the other three states, is the core subject of Mandukya Upanishad.

A sage makes it crystal clear when He says about the three states of consciousness in simple equation

Waking state = waker + Aham (Turiya)

Dream state  = dreamer + Aham (Turiya)

Deep sleep state = Deep sleeper + Aham (Turiya)

Turiya = Transcendental state upon transcending the earlier 3 states. 

Waker can never be a dreamer or a sleeper at the same time, dreamer can never be a waker and/or a deep sleeper at the same time, Deep sleeper can never be a waker and/or a dreamer at the same time. But the one witness of all the three states exists in all the three states.

Aham or Atman is the eternal witness in all three states of consciousness, the one which is changeless, which is pure Chaitanya even when all the three states of consciousness keep changing in a day/in all days. 

Love.

 

Dakshinamurthy Stotram - Post 24

Verse 6 (contd..) 

(That state (i.e. Pure Consciousness) is experienced during Spiritual Awakening whereby one clearly Perceives that "Before I was Sleeping" (by being eclipsed by Maya),

Salutations to Him, the Personification of Our Inner Guru Who Awakens This Knowledge through His Profound Silence; Salutation to Sri Dakshinamurthy.)

“Upon waking up, we remember we have slept well.” In this recollection lies the clue as to who was present when we slept peacefully. 

We remember the moment just before going to sleep. Then we lose all awareness. The next link in our awareness is the moment when we just get up. Pratyabhijna is the technical word which explains this step by step.

When we see someone for the first time, that perception is called ‘Pratyaksha’. 

Then we see the person again some days later. At this second meeting, the ‘Pratyaksha’ is of course there, but in addition there is an instant recollection of the previous meeting. 

That memory together with the Pratyaksha of the second meeting is called by the technical term ‘Pratyabhijna’. It is a Pratyaksha that is bolstered by a memory.

In the case we are analyzing, the two events referred to are the moment of going to sleep and the moment we get up. The recognition that it is the same person who slept and has woken up is ‘Pratyabhijna’. What does that tell us?

It tells us that the Consciousness must have been present throughout the duration of our peaceful sleep without our knowledge of It. That is the Light in us which is eclipsed by Ignorance. Although we did not see the eclipse taking place because we had no awareness, we can deduce it from the fact of the ‘Pratyabhijna’.

This is the answer to the Shunya Vadins – “Yes, there is light behind this darkness”; it is certainly not a Void (or total darkness) behind this universe.

In waking state you are plus body, mind, senses, plus all these experiences in your mind, plus ignorance.

In dream state, you are without body, mind, senses, but with dream experiences in your mind, plus ignorance.

In deep sleep, you are without body, mind, senses, without any experiences in your mind, plus ignorance. But Consciousness remains through all these states.

Vedantins have a ‘living’ proof of this argument – the realized sage. The sage dwells in the Light at all times. He is in touch with the Self at all times, even while he is in deep sleep. 

We must remember that to him the three states of waking, dream and sleep are all in the realm of unreality. He is in the state of consciousness that underlies all three.

Ashtavakra goes beyond what is stated in this verse, transcends all the states and roars,

 

(Where is the dream, where is the deep sleep, where is wakefulness, and where is the fourth state of consciousness, where is even fear for me, who abide in my own grandeur)

Dream and waking state fall under the same category, where there is the waker and dreamer on one side and the events / experiences which are happening to the waker / dreamer in an apparent creation, with apparent jivas, with he himself involved in the events / experiences, whereas, at the highest reality, there is no creation, no jivas at all.

Creation is like the dream world and all that is apparent in creation are like various happening in dream are unreal, all experiences in creation in unreal.

Deep sleep is also not an experience for a seer, as per an earlier verse. It is consciousness just prior to deep sleep and it is consciousness the moment he gets up, with no time space gap between the moment he gets up and he exists as consciousness.

Turiya is with reference to the other 3 states of consciousness. Turiya is upon transcending the three states of consciousness. 

When three states of consciousness are not relevant for a sage, then he is not aware that he has transcended the three states and is in 4th state.

Turiya or the 4th state of consciousness is relevant only with respect to the 3 states of consciousness - Waking, Dream and Deep sleep.

When a sage transcends the three states of consciousness, the relevance of 4th state is also not there for him.

Liberation is relevant only with respect to bondage.

When one has freed himself from all bondage, then there is no one in him to even say, “I am liberated”.

The one who remains as pure Consciousness in deep sleep unto that, this salutation, who is in the form of my guru as well as in the form of Sri Dakshinamurthy.

Love.