Advaita for the Novice - Who is the doer-experiencer? - 7

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Series on Advaita for the Novice

 

"I am neither the Doer nor the Experiencer" - 7

 

(For #6 go to post #35145)

 

Five Tenets of Practical advaita

 

[A reference, say, to Ch.2, Shloka 7 of the Bhagavad-Gita would simply be

given as

"(2 - 7)" without mentioning the Bhagavad-Gita.

You may want to to keep a copy of the Gita ready on hand.]

 

 

The five tenets of practical advaita are:

 

.. 'I am not this BMI' - attitude.

.. 'I am not the doer' - attitude.

.. 'I am not the experiencer'-attitude

.. Efficiency in Action.

.. Equanimous view.

 

Krishna emphasizes these throughout the Gita and cites himself as model for

every one of these. He mentions how He is Himself a practitioner of these.

 

1. 'I am not this BMI' - attitude.

 

All the troubles for the soul are because of its identification with the

BMI. The Lord has no such identification. A classical statement of His in

this connection is (9-11). "Fools understand me as one in this human body.

They do not comprehend my Absolute Form as the Lord of all the living".

 

In His teaching to us, right in the beginning of the 2nd chapter He begins

to wean us away from this BMI, which seems to possess us instead of our

possessing them. (2-14): "What gives us happiness and misery, cold and heat,

are just those that touch us on the surface; they come and go, they are

impermanent. Just bear with them". (2-58): "When one withdraws all the

sense-organs from the sense-objects, just like a tortoise withdraws all of

its own limbs, such a one is declared to be a man of stabilized intellect."

(12 - 15): " He by whom the world is not agitated and who cannot be agitated

by the world, and who is free from joy, anger, fear and anxiety - he is dear

to Me". (14 - 23): " (The one who has transcended the three strands of

qualities is) the one sitting like one indifferent, undistracted by the

three qualities and who knows the qualities alone act and remains firm and

surely does not waver."

 

And in the very last words spoken by Him the Lord brings His parting message

and incorporates the idea "eradication of 'I am this body' - attitude" in

the carama-shloka of the Gita, namely 18-66. And this pleads for our

renunciation of all the dharmas that accrue as a consequence of

'I-am-this-body'-attitude. He makes this as the climax teaching of the Gita.

 

2. 'I am not the doer' - attitude.

 

Krishna tells us that none of his actions touch him. (9-9). "Know Me as the

doer of it as well as the non-doer of it" (4-13). "Even though He is

resident in the body, He is not doing anything" (13-31/32). And He exhorts

us to have the same 'I-am-not-the-doer'-attitude.

(3-17): "There is nothing to be done by such a person".

(3-27) "He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks 'I am the doer''".

(4-20) "Even though he is engaged in action he is not doing anything".

(4-22): "Having done, even then, he is not bound".

(5-8): "That I am not doing anything ."

(14-19): "When the seer beholds no doer other than the GuNas".

(18-17): " He who has the I-am-not-the-doer attitude, whose intelligence is

not tainted, though he slays these people he slays not nor is he bound by

any action".

 

3.'I am not the experiencer' - attitude.

 

The Lord hints of this attitude of his in (4-14): "There is no desire of

mine for the fruits of actions"; also in (4-14): "Actions do not contaminate

Me". (13-31/32): "Even though He is resident in the body he is not

experiencing anything"; (13-32/33): "The self seated everywhere in the body

is not tainted".

The following are some of the places where it is enjoined on us:

 

(2-47): "never in the fruits (of action)"

(3-19): "By performing action without attachment Man reaches the Supreme".

(4-21): "Rid of all desires, having controlled mind and the associated outer

self, having thrown off all thought of possession, by doing only bodily

actions, one does not acquire any fault"

(4-41): "Him who has renounced actions by yoga, whose doubts are rent

asunder by knowledge and who is self-possessed - him the actions

do not bind."

(5-7): "Even by doing, he is not contaminated".

(5-10): "He is not touched by sin, just as the lotus leaf is untouched by

water".

(5-12): "having abandoned the fruit of action"

(18-11): "he who relinquishes the rewards of actions".

 

4. Efficiency in action.

 

Just because one is not the doer, nor the experiencer, it does not mean

action can be messed up nor can it be avoided nor can one be indifferent to

it. "I have nothing yet to accomplish" says the Lord, in (3-22): "There is

nothing in the three worlds, that should be done by Me, nor is there

anything unattained that should be attained. Still I engage in action".

(3-23): "If I do not engage myself in action, unwearied men would in every

way follow my path". Thus, showing Himself as the model, He urges humanity

to action, the right action:

 

(2-47): "Your obligation is only to do your action"

(3-20): "Verily, Janaka and others attained perfection only by action. Even

with the purpose of world-welfare, you should perform action"

 

Not only that. The action has to be efficient:

(2-48): 'Established in Yoga, do your actions, leaving off all attachment".

(2-50): "Yoga means effiiency in action."

(3-25): "As the ignorant man does action out of attachment, so should the

wise act without attachment, wishing the welfare of the world."

(18-48): "The action born of your nature shall not be renounced, even if it

is faulty".

(18-56): "Resorting to Me, doing all your actions always"

 

5. Equanimous view

 

The Lord mentions His own equanimous attitude in (9-29): "The same am I to

all beings". He declares this, in several places, as a must for all

spiritual seekers :

 

(5-18): "Sages view with the same light a brahmin endowed with learning and

humility, a cow, an elephant, and even a dog and a dog-eater."

(11-55): "He who bears enmity towards no creature".

(12-18): " He who is the same to foe and friend".

(13-27/28): "He sees, who sees the Supreme Lord existing equally in all

beings, the unperishing within the perishing."

(13-28/29): "He is seeing the same Lord equally dwelling everywhere".

(14-25): "the same to friend and foe".

(18-20): "That by which one sees the one indestructible reality in all

beings, not separate in all the separate beings, know thou that knowledge to

be sAtvika (divine)".

 

 

 

In fact (9-27) focusses on the same five tenets through the medium of

Devotion and Dedication. "Whatever you do, whatever you consume or

experience, whatever you offer to deities (through Fire or otherwise),

whatever you give away or renounce, whatever you perform (with or without an

end in view) -- do all this in dedication to Me" - says the Lord.

 

WHATEVER YOU DO, - 'yat karoShi' - DO IT IN DEDICATION TO HIM. In other

words all your engagement in actions must be in dedication to Him. This is

karma yoga, the most-often-talked-about part of the Gita. This is Efficiency

in action. In the crucial verse (11-55) which Acharya Shankara marks as the

whole Gita in a single capsule, this corresponds to the words

*matkarma-kRt* (Doing all actions only for Me)

 

WHATEVER YOU CONSUME OR EXPERIENCE, - 'yad-ashnAsi' - DEDICATE IT TO HIM. In

other words there is nothing that you experience for yourself. Whether it is

joy or sorrow, pleasure or pain, it is all His. It is not only His will but

also His experience, not yours, because He is in you and there is nothing

else in you. This is the "Being my devotee" (*mad-bhaktaH*) in (11-55). This

is the meaning of being devoted wholly to Him and still living a life. This

is the life of bhakti. This is bhakti yoga; and more, it is advaita-bhakti.

This is what leads us on to the ideal 'I am not the experiencer'-attitude.

When pleasant things happen to us we would not like to say 'I am not the

enjoyer'. When unpleasant things happen to us, we would very much like to

say 'I am not the enjoyer', but our body-mind-intellect does not allow us to

say so. In one case we like to say so and in the other case we do not like

to say so. Gita says in both cases we should be able to say so and feel that

way. This is the meaning of the Gita's insistence on discarding both likes

and dislikes. Here the first step is to start with the pleasant happenings.

With a little will power and effort, at least in small things, we should be

able to try it. That is the starting point. And in due course of this

practice, one should be able to carry the attitude of 'I-am-not-the-enjoyer'

to even unpleasant experiences.

 

Whatever you offer to deities - 'yaj-juhoShi' - through Fire or otherwise,

dedicate it to Him. This implies, there is no other object for your worship,

reverence or care. He is the goal; He is the refuge. "Keeping me as your

only destination" (*mat-paramaH*) says the Lord in (11-55). It is for Him

you do everything; more, You are not the doer. You have renounced all

'doership' in His favour! When we do something blameworthy, it is

convenient to say 'I am not the doer'. But that is not to be the starting

point here. What we should start with is the situation when we do something

which is creditworthy. We should not take the credit ourselves. This is the

rock bottom first step. Even when others give us the credit, we should be

able to tune our mind to say (and also feel so!) that it is due to somebody

else; if we cannot find an acceptable 'somebody else' we should be able to

say (and feel) that it is the will and work of God. To follow Krishna

according to the path of His Gita-teaching, this is the step next to the

rock bottom first step. The entire concept of yajna (dedicated selfless

action) is for training us along this

path. This is the one that ultimately leads us to the state of complete

surrender envisaged in 18 - 66.

 

WHATEVER YOU PERFORM - 'yat tapasyasi' - WITH OR WITHOUT AN END IN VIEW,

DEDICATE IT TO HIM. This performance is tapas; meaning, enduring the

'shrama' (effort or 'pain') while performing and having no attachment to

anything (cf. *sanga-varjitaH* in 11-55 and several other places in the

Gita). Doing something for the sake of some noble cause or someone whom you

revere, is tapas. Even ordinary acts of a difficult daily commuting is also

a tapas, if you adopt the attitude of dedication to the cause that motivates

you to undertake the journey. All this has to be dedicated to Him, because

if you have no end in view, that is already a dedication, and if you have an

end in view, dedication to Him means you are not attached to that end in

view. Thus the whole process is a sAdhanA (practice) for detachment,

culminating in the ideal 'I am not the BMI'.

 

WHATEVER YOU GIVE AWAY OR RENOUNCE, - 'yad-dadAsi' - DEDICATE IT AS WELL AS

THE ACTION, TO HIM. Because nothing belongs to you, really. Everything

belongs to Him. Even when you are giving or renouncing, you are renouncing

what you think you have, but in reality you do not have. Nothing belongs to

you or to anybody. This is the combination of the fundamental idea of

equanimity and also of the idea that everything is transient, i.e., mAyA.

Therefore there is no reason to bear even an iota of ill-will to anybody,

even when you feel, in the worldly sense, that the other person is

possessing what you think must be, or should have been, in your

possession. Love every one; and more importantly, "hate no being" --

*nirvairaH sarva-bhUteShu* in (11-55). This is the attitude of equanimity -

'samadR^iShTi' - that is the hallmark-teaching of the Gita.

-------------------------------

 

A few words about the non-accumulation of 'VAsanAs' and exhaustion of

'karma'. There are three kinds of karma. First, the one that has already

begun to sprout its effects from the beginning of this life. These have

only to be exhausted by experiencing them. In experiencing them it is the

attitude of 'I am not the experiencer' that saves us from building into our

system any reactionary tendencies.

 

The second kind of karma is the one that we do in this life and a consequent

build-up of future consequences. The 'I am not the doer'-attitude, saves us,

according to the theory of karma yoga of the Gita, from binding us to any

future consequences.

 

The third kind is what is in storage, for possible exhaustion in future

lives. This can be erased only by God's Grace and that is why the verse

9-27 which focusses everything through devotion and dedication is important.

 

The VAsanAs (tendencies) on the other hand do not split themselves into

three kinds like those of 'karma'. All our vAsanAs keep on influencing our

minds in all our lives, because we are only hugging a shadow, namely, the

PP, which is made up of our entire past aggregate of tendencies and

attitudes. They can be erased only by replacing the vAsanAs by good

vAsanAs. So again 9-27 is the only remedy. But as we journey through our

present life, we keep on accumulating further vAsanAs; to avoid these, the

proper attitude to life's journey is the two attitudes of 'I am not the

doer' and 'I am not the experiencer'.

 

Thus the five tenets of practical advaita are:

 

1. Attitude of 'I am not the body, mind or intellect' (na-aham deho

nendriyANy-antarango na-ahamkAraH prANavargo na buddhiH)

2. Attitude of 'I am not the doer' (na-ahaM kartA)

3. Attitude of 'I am not the experiencer' (na aham bhoktA)

4. Efficiency in action (karmasu kaushalaM)

5. Equanimous view (sama-buddhiH)

 

No.1 is fundamental. No.2 rids you of further accumulation of vasanAs

(tendencies) through present action . No.3 takes care of the exhaustion of

consequences of past action, without leaving any trace for future tendencies

to sprout. No.4 is action, even though in the mAyic world! But one has to

live in that world. It has inbuilt into it the concept of dedication of all

actions to the Supreme and therefore the Devotion that forms the basis of

that dedication. It is this Devotion to the Supreme that finally disposes

off all the accumulated 'karmas' and 'vAsanAs' of past lives so that the

sprouting of further births to exhaust the consequences of those 'karmas'

does not happen. Thus #s1, 2, 3 and 4 release you from bondage and seal

all future births.

 

The fifth is what becomes the Ultimate Stage of Oneness in Brahman. What

then is 'Jivan-mukti' if not the ideal state of #5? Together all the five

constitute advaita in practice. And it is (9-27) that marks for us the

highway - the only highway - to follow advaita in practice.

 

Om ShAntiH ShAntiH ShAntiH.

 

(Series concluded)

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

 

 

For a pdf version of the complete series of 7 posts, go to

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/Doer-Experiencer.html

[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

 

I am sorry for giving a wrong URL for the pdf version of the complete

series. The correct URL is

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/Doer-Experiencer.pdf

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk