Kanthar Anubhuthi - verse 42

October 4, 2009

Transliteration:

kuRiyai— kuRiyaathu kuRitth— aRiyum, neRiyai— thanivElai nikazhtthidalum cheRiv— atRu ulakOdu urai sinThaiyum atRu, aRiv— atR— aRiyaamaiyum atRathuvE. 42

Meaning:

To know the Object Supreme by thinking without thinking, That State, — the Vel incomparable, — no sooner is it granted, Than, lo, world's relations ceased, speech and mind too ceased, Ceased the intellect and, lo, ignorance also ceased! "No sooner is the Vel Incomparable, (or) that Supreme State (Mukthi) of knowing (realizing) the Object (of meditation) by thinking without thinking, granted (to me), that all (my) relations with the world ceased, speech and mind also ceased, intellect ceased and ignorance, too, ceased!"

Detailed Commentary:

The "Kuri" or Lakshya or the Supreme Object of attainment is the Lord. It is Brahman or the Absolute. It is Satchidananda — Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It is the Self or the Vel, as seen in verse 40. The Goal is attained when the Lord, out of His grace, chooses to bless us and reveals Himself as the Incomparable Vel, as the Self, as super consciousness. This is Samadhi — the culmination of Dhyana (meditation) — wherein the knower, the known, and the process of knowing become one, and Self-consciousness supervenes. This is Vel-consciousness or "the state of knowing the Object by 'thinking-without-thinking'."

The 2 kinds of knowledge — Sensory-knowledge and Self-knowledge

There are two kinds of knowledge; knowledge-by-process and knowledge-by-being; sensory knowledge and pure self-consciousness (intuition); mediate knowledge and immediate or non-mediate knowledge.

Sensory-knowledge

Knowledge obtained through perception, sensation, etc., i.e., obtained through the operation of the senses, mind, and intellect, is sensory knowledge. This knowledge comes by a process of knowing, in which the intellect, mind, and senses act as instruments or media to the knowing principle which is the Self or Consciousness. When the Consciousness, which is universal gets associated, as it were, with these instruments, it gets involved in them and is limited to them. Then it begins to see things other than itself and knows them in a process. When the consciousness, thus, limited, objectifies itself through the individual mind, thinking takes place. When it further moves out and activates the senses and the organs (body), which are the means of contact, it establishes a relation with the world, through speech and action. Thus, the consciousness moves out and has knowledge of the world outside through the mind and senses, and establishes a contact with it through the body. This is the kind of knowledge that is known to us. The highest type of knowledge in this kind is intellectual knowledge, which is finally based on the report of the senses of the outside world. This is objectified knowledge; knowing by thinking; mediate knowledge.

Self-knowledge

But, there is another kind of knowledge, a novel kind altogether. It is known as Self-consciousness or Intuition, which supervenes in the state of Samadhi or Realization. This is non-objectified awareness. This is the Vel-consciousness or "knowing the object by `thinking-without-thinking'", says Arunagirinathar.

These expressions carry mystic meanings, far beyond our intellectual grasp. Thinking without thinking, sleepless sleep, Vel-consciousness, etc., are very mystic. They all connote the state of Samadhi or Mukthi, for which Arunagirinathar uses the term "Neri". Though it is impossible to explain what this state of Self-consciousness is, because it is an experience (i.e., to be had for Oneself) — it can be made clear by proceeding on the lines of a simple analogy of our day-to-day experience.

As we know, there is a difference between our knowing the existence of an object and our own existence (as a bodily entity). How do we know that an object exists? By the process of perception and thinking, because the object known and the knowing subject (we) are not the same, i.e., they are two different entities standing apart. In other words, the existence of the object is separated for our consciousness of it.

But, how do we know that we exist? Now by perception, not by thinking; we need not see ourselves to know that we exist, nor do we need to think or ratiocinate. We know ourselves by a kind of intuition or self-consciousness! What is this? The consciousness or the knowing principle in us gets so much identified with the body that it regards itself as the body and feels "I m", in the sense "I am the body". Here, for all practical purposes "I" means the body.

In the perception of objects, the consciousness objectifies itself further, i.e., goes outside the body, and knows them. In our knowing of ourselves, the consciousness which has, thus, identified itself does nothing but to return to itself (i.e., the body) and be itself, and know itself as such, as "I am", without involving perception or thinking. The consciousness coming back to itself, being itself, and knowing itself — this is intuition or self-consciousness — this is knowing by "thinking without thinking". This is knowing by being, wherein both knowing and being are one, i.e., being itself is knowing.

This, of course, is the crudest form of intuition or self-consciousness because, here, there are still two things — the inert body and the knowing consciousness — which are superimposed on each other. The Jiva-consciousness to regard itself as the body is the lowest degree of self-consciousness and there are higher degrees of self-consciousness — the consciousness identified with the mind, with the intellect, and with the ego or Avidya — when it feels, respectively, "I am happy, I am dejected"; "I know, I am baffled"; and "I exist or I am" with the feeling that it (the Jiva-consciousness) has an independent existence of its own isolated form the cosmic existence of Isvara. This Jivatva or pure Jiva-consciousness is the highest degree of self-consciousness of the Jiva, wherein the universal consciousness gets reflected in the Avidya or individuality, and forgets its universal nature asserts its limited existence as "I am." Thus, the feeling "I am body, I am mind, etc.," are the different degrees of self-consciousness of the Jiva-consciousness. But, in Self-consciousness (Intuition) proper, there is a return of this identified or Jiva-consciousness to its Source — the universal condition of Isvaratva — and Consciousness, bereft of any associations, knows Itself by being Itself. It is difficult to say what knows what, which is the knower and which the is the known, because the universal is both the subject and the object, the knower and the known. It is the universal knowing itself. Something is, and That knows itself as "I am" — Ahamasmi. It is Self-consciousness of Universal Being — It is Being-consciousness.

The return of the objectified Jiva-consciousness to itself is, in a limited sense, self-consciousness. And the return of the pure Jiva-consciousness to Isvara or God is real Self-consciousness — in both the cases, there is no extroverted knowing, but Knowing by Being.

Jiva is Siva

The Jiva is a mysterious thing. It is Isvara itself falsely identifying itself with the different Upadhis (limiting factors). The peculiarity of the Jiva-consciousness is that it feels itself to be that with which it is, for the time being, identified. Hence, when the Jiva discovers itself to be different form the sheaths, with which it identified itself, it realizes itself to be Isvara; because it is Isvara that goes by the name of Jiva when limited to Upadhis. The Skanda-Upanishad says: "Jiva is Siva; Siva is Jiva. Jiva is verily Siva alone! So long as the husk encases it, the grain is known as paddy; with the disappearance of the husk, it is called rice. Similarly, when in bondage, it is Jiva; and when Karma is destroyed it is Sadasiva. Bound by Paasam, it is Jiva; freed from Paasam, is Sadasiva."

Thus, when the meditative principle (Jiva-consciousness), which is ultimately universal awareness, frees itself from its Upadhis, through any process of meditation, Self-consciousness ensues as "I am" — Ahamasmi. In Self-consciousness, being is knowing; Sat is Chit, which was referred to as "Knowledge called Serenity" (Poraiyaam Arivu), in verse 37, which the Sadhaka was instructed to attain by meditation on "Aham Brahma Asmi" [(Naan) Iraiyon Parivaaram], and with which to destroy the ego to its root (i.e., Avidya), which is now categorically declared to be destroyed in this verse (Ariyaamai Attradhu).

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Courtesy: skandagurunatha.org