Vivekachoodaamani

[Guest guest]

The pancha kosha contd.

 

184. The fourth sheath is the buddhi and the organs of feeling with

their actions and the idea of "I am the doer and seer". This is the

sheath of intellect (vijnaanamaya kosha) and it is the cause of the

world for the purusha.

 

185. The intellect is the reflection of consciousness but it is the

transformation of praakriti; so it cannot be the atman. It works

as "I". It feels "I do, see and hear". There are all the works of the

intellect; it feels in the body and in the senses.

 

187. The three states which you see – jaagrat, svapna and sushupti –

all belong to this sheath of intellect, as also pleasure and pain.

 

188. The reflection of the atman is here more than anywhere else

because it is very near to the atman, because it is very near to the

atman. And it is the upaadhi (superimposed adjunct) of the atman. In

this sheath, the atman manifests itself as the doer though it is the

anvil that gives shape to all but takes no shape – being all the time

the same.

 

197. As long as ignorance remains so long does the state of being "I"

exist, which rises from false knowledge. You see the snake in the

rope only when you are in ignorance. When the ignorance is gone, the

snake is not there.

 

204. There is water mixed with mud; and when the mud subsides the

water remains clear or when the mud is separated from water you see

the clear water. But the water when mixed with its upaadhi (the mud)

does not appear clear. So also when you separate the Atman from its

upaadhi, the non-self, the atman shines in its own glory. (A Taoist

advice in line with the Advaitic path : How do you clear up muddied

water? Don't do anything - just let it be and the mud will sink down).

 

206. This ego which is the result of the fourth sheath cannot be the

atman because it is transformed, insentient, limited and it can be

seen. It undergoes change and therefore it is impermanent.