LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE-11

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

[LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE]

 

SRAVANA CHAPTER IV: HEARING

 

1. In the foregoing chapter we had seen that yoga is suited to the

lower grade of seekers and enquiry to the higher. In this chapter we

shall consider the path of enquiry which effortlessly leads to

Knowledge of Brahman.

 

2-4. D.: What is this path of enquiry?

M.: From the shastras it is well known to consist of sravana,

manana, nidhidhyasana and samadhi i.e., hearing the Truth,

reflection, meditation and Blissful Peace. The Vedas themselves

declare it to be so. " My dear, the Self must be heard from the

master, reflected and meditated upon. " In another place it is said

that in Blissful Peace the Self must be realised. The same idea has

been repeated by Sri Sankaracharya in his Vakyavrtti, namely that

until the meaning of the sacred text " I am Brahman " is realised in

all its true significance, one must be practising sravana etc.

5-7. In Chitra Deepika, Sri Vidyaranyaswami has said that enquiry is

the means of knowledge and it consists in hearing the Truth,

reflection and meditation; only the state of blissful Peace of

awareness in which Brahman alone exists and nothing else, is the

true " nature " of Knowledge; the non-revival of the knot of the ego

parading as " I " which has been lost once for all, is its " effect " ;

always to remain fixed as `I am the Supreme Self ' just as strongly,

unequivocally and unerringly as the heretofore ignorant

identification " I am the body " is its end; liberation is its fruit.

From this it follows that only hearing etc. is the enquiry into the

Self.

8-10. To hear the Supreme Truth, reflect and meditate on it, and to

remain in Samadhi form together the enquiry into the Self. They have

for their cause (Hetu) the aforesaid four sadhanas, namely,

discernment, desirelessness, tranquillity and desire to be

liberated. Which of these is essential for which part of enquiry

will be mentioned in its appropriate place. Here we shall deal with

sravana.

M.: Sravana consists in ascertaining, by means of the six proofs

considered together, that the Vedas aim at the non-dual Brahman only.

11-12. To analyse sravana under the five categories:-Intense desire

to be liberated gives rise to it; always to be hearing of the non-

dual Brahman is its nature; the complete removal of that aspect of

the veiling power of Ignorance which says, " It (Brahman) does not

exist " is its effect; non recurrence of this veiling power is its

limit; a firm indirect knowledge is its fruit.

13. D.: How can the desire to be liberated be said to be its cause?

 

M.: In the sruti it is said: " In the state of dissolution before

creation there was only the non-dual Reality. " This Reality is the

same as the Self. Only he who is eager to be liberated will seek the

knowledge of the Self and take to hearing it. No other is interested

in It. Therefore eagerness to be liberated is the essential

requisite for this part of enquiry, viz. sravana.

 

14. D.: Just now you said that always to be hearing of the non-dual

Self is the nature of sravana. Who is this non-dual Self?

 

M.: He is famous in the srutis as the Consciousness beyond the

gross, subtle and causal bodies, apart from the five sheaths and

witness of the waking, dream and sleep states.

15-17. D.: What can be beyond the gross, subtle and causal bodies?

M.: Of these the gross body is composed of skin, blood, muscles,

fat, bones, nerve stuff and lymph; it is secreting and excreting; it

is born and it dies; like a wall it is insentient; like a pot it is

an object of the senses.

The subtle body is the internal organ (antahkarana) wellknown as the

mind, which functions as the `I' mode and `this' mode; together with

the five vital airs, the five senses and the five organs and limbs,

it transmigrates to other bodies or worlds; always remaining within

a gross body it experiences pleasures and pains.

The beginningless, neither real nor unreal, and indescribable

Ignorance manifests these subtle and gross bodies and is therefore

said to be the causal body.

18. These three bodies are contrary to the nature of the Self.

D.: How?

M.: The gross body is insentient; the subtle is pain ridden; the

causal is unreal. These are the opposites of the Being-Knowledge-

Bliss nature of the Self. Therefore the Self must be different from

these.

 

19-25. D.: How is it so from the five sheaths also?

M.: The five sheaths are the material, the vital, the mental, the

intellectual and the blissful ones. Of these the material sheath is

born of food and grows with food; it is thus food modified.

Therefore it is material. Like a sheath to a sword, the body covers

the Self and obstructs its knowledge. Therefore it is the material

sheath. Moreover it has a beginning and an end. Therefore it is not

the Self who is eternal. Together the vital, the mental and the

intellectual sheaths form the subtle body. Through the five passages

in the body functioning in five different ways according to its

modes, the vital air together with the five organs and limbs

obstructs the Self from being known; therefore this is the vital

sheath. Being insentient it cannot be the Self.

Joined with desire, anger etc., thinking this and that, the " this "

mode of mind manifests the latencies. Together with the five senses

this " this " mode forms the mental sheath. Being insentient, it

cannot be the Self.

Definitely to make out the " this " and " that " ideas of the mind to be

a pot, a cloth etc., to have the false notion of `I' in the body

etc., and that of " mind " , in home, wealth, lands etc., is the nature

of the `I' mode. United with the five senses, this I-mode forms the

intellectual sheath. Arising in the waking and dream states, joined

with the body, permeating it from head to foot, it is resolved in

swoons or in the deep sleep state; therefore it cannot be the

eternal Self.

After waking from deep sleep every one feels, " I did not know

anything — I slept happily. " Here ignorance and bliss are the

experiences. This blissful ignorance is the blissful sheath. Being

ignorant, it must be insentient and non self.

So far all the five sheaths have been shown to be non self. The

experiencer in them must be different from them like the seer of a

pot remaining different from it. There can be no doubt on this point.

26. D.: How is the Self said to be witnessing the three states?

M.: The three states are the waking, dream and deep sleep through

which the Jiva or the `false-I' or the ego passes, identifying

itself with the gross, subtle and causal bodies respectively. The

Self must therefore be the Consciousness witnessing these three

states; " It " is not identical with any or all of them.

27. D.: If these three states are not of the Self, of whom else can

they be?

M.: They can be only of the ego which assumes them whereas the Self

is unconcerned. Affecting the waking state, the ego in the guise of

visva enjoys the gross sense experiences; similarly in dream as

taijasa he enjoys the subtle experiences; and in deep sleep as

prajna he experiences ignorance. Therefore the ego must be the

experiencer in these states and not the witnessing Self.

28-29. D.: What makes you say that the ego and not the Self is the

experiencer of the three states?

M.: In deep sleep, the ego becoming dormant, no experience or

experiencer is seen; only on the rise of the ego are they found. He

must therefore be the experiencer. His are the two states of waking

and dream; they cannot be those of the Self.

D.: Whose is deep sleep then?

M.: It is also of the ego, because just as it arrogates to itself

the waking and dream states saying " I woke up — I dreamt " , so it

does the deep sleep state also saying " I slept " . It cannot be of the

Self since It remains unconcerned as the witness of the three states

and of their experiencer who remains conceited with the ideas " I

woke up — I dreamt — I slept. " Therefore none of the three states is

of the Self.

30-31. D.: The ego cannot be the experiencer in deep sleep also. It

is not there and how can it be said to be the experiencer? In the

waking and dream states, the ego is rightly said to be the

experiencer; in deep sleep the Self must be the experiencer.

M.: You are not right. The Jiva i.e., the ego, who in the waking and

dream states appears as the intellectual sheath to enjoy gross and

subtle things, sinks in deep sleep to remain dormant as the blissful

sheath, experiencing ignorance and bliss as " I did not know

anything — I slept happily. " Had the ego not been present in deep

sleep, on waking there could not be the recollection " I did not know

anything — I slept happily. " Only the experiencer can recollect his

experiences and not another. Even the recollection can only be of

what was actually experienced and not of what was not. On waking, it

is the ego which says " I did not know anything — I slept happily " .

From this it is clear that the experiencer in the deep sleep was the

ego and not the Self.