Guest guest Posted October 19, 1999 Report Share Posted October 19, 1999 Verse No.6 rAhu-grasta-divAkarendu sadRSo mAyA-samAcchadanAt sanmAtraH-karaNopa-samharaNato yo'bhUt sushuptah pumAn / prAg-asvApsam-iti-prabodha-samaye yah-pratyabhijnAyate tasmai SrI-guru-mUrtaye nama idaM SrI-dakshiNA-mUrtaye // Translation: To The Self, who in sleep becomes Pure Existence, on the withdrawal of the veiling by mAyA, as in the case of the sun or the moon in eclipse, and on waking recognizes, 'I have slept till now' to Him of the form of the Guru, (of the animate and the inanimate) the blessed dakshinA-mUrti, is this prostration. Commentary: This is actually a rebuttal of the Buddhist theory that the absence of knowledge in sleep shows that the Ultimate is Emptiness. This verse is a very important one, because this brings in the punch line with respect to the debate with the nihilist point of view. When there is nothing presented to consciousness, as in the case of deep sleep, it is not as if consciousness is not there. The very fact that later one is able to say 'nothing was presented to my consciousness' shows that consciousness was aware of that nothingness. So consciousness is never absent. When the sun is under eclipse, the sun does not vanish. It is there all by itself. It is our view that is mutilated and distorted. It is this wrong perception that is removed by the Guru of all Gurus. In deep sleep consciousness is there all by itself. See also The Fundamental Urges of Man. It is not necessary to have another agency to show the presence of consciousness. It is self-luminous. In a dark room it is not necessary to have a torch to find a lighted lamp. The lighted lamp itself is self-luminous. The silent condition of the mind without thoughts of objects is the pure conscious condition of oneself. The bliss of sleep and the ignorance that characterises sleep are both experienced by Consciousness. This consciousness is brahman. The 'memory' of sleep as well as the happiness of sleep is technically called pratyabhijnA. It is knowing oneself by oneself. When it is used as a verb, as in this verse (pratyabhijnAyate), it is a peculiar grammatic usage called karma-kartari prayoga. It is like saying that a calf released itself from the knot which held it on to the pole. The verb means: 'to come to oneself, recover consciousness'. The statement 'I slept happily' has a factor of awareness in it, a factor of bliss, and a factor of existence. These three are the cit, Ananda and sat of the sac-cidAnanda that is the Ultimate. The happiness that was enjoyed was not the pleasure of the senses, because the senses had gone to sleep. It was not the happiness of the soul resting, because the soul was always what it was: cf. nAsato vidyate bhavo nAbhAvo vidyate sataH / What is not can never be, nor can what is, cease to exist (Here the meaning of 'is' and 'is not' should be taken in an absolute sense.) Also it is incorrect to say that the happiness enjoyed during sleep was just the absence of unhappiness, because there was no instrument of enjoyment present. The pratyabhijnA cannot recall what was not experienced. Again it is incorrect to say that each instant the knower is changing and so instant after instant different knowers are registering different pieces of knowledge and therefore there cannot be any pratyabhijnA. This is a view called kshaNika-vijnAna. The buddhist philosophy therefore explains away the pratyabhijnA as delusion. But it is not a delusion. A recalling always needs continuity of consciousness between the past event and the present event of recalling and this continuity for recalling is available because the Seer never loses His Sight in view of His immutability. cf. (bRhad-AraNyaka-Upanishad) na hi drashTur-dRshteh viparilopo vidyate avinASitvAt / Commentary and translation by Prof V Krishnamurthy The website is at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/63page11.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 19, 1999 Report Share Posted October 19, 1999 The link to 'The fundamental Urges of Man' referred to in the commentary is at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/22.html > > K Kathirasan ADM NCS > Tuesday, October 19, 1999 5:13 PM > 'advaitin '; 'Ramakrishna ' > DakshiNa-mUrti ashTakam Verse 6 > > Verse No.6 > > rAhu-grasta-divAkarendu sadRSo mAyA-samAcchadanAt > sanmAtraH-karaNopa-samharaNato yo'bhUt sushuptah pumAn / > prAg-asvApsam-iti-prabodha-samaye yah-pratyabhijnAyate > tasmai SrI-guru-mUrtaye nama idaM SrI-dakshiNA-mUrtaye // > > Translation: > > To The Self, who in sleep becomes Pure Existence, on the withdrawal of the > veiling by mAyA, as in the case of the sun or the moon in eclipse, and on > waking recognizes, 'I have slept till now' to Him of the form of the Guru, > (of the animate and the inanimate) the blessed dakshinA-mUrti, is this > prostration. > > Commentary: > > This is actually a rebuttal of the Buddhist theory that the absence of > knowledge in sleep shows that the Ultimate is Emptiness. This verse is a > very important one, because this brings in the punch line with respect to > the debate with the nihilist point of view. When there is nothing > presented to consciousness, as in the case of deep sleep, it is not as if > consciousness is not there. The very fact that later one is able to say > 'nothing was presented to my consciousness' shows that consciousness was > aware of that nothingness. So consciousness is never absent. When the sun > is under eclipse, the sun does not vanish. It is there all by itself. It > is our view that is mutilated and distorted. It is this wrong perception > that is removed by the Guru of all Gurus. In deep sleep consciousness is > there all by itself. See also The Fundamental Urges of Man. It is not > necessary to have another agency to show the presence of consciousness. It > is self-luminous. In a dark room it is not necessary to have a torch to > find a lighted lamp. The lighted lamp itself is self-luminous. The silent > condition of the mind without thoughts of objects is the pure conscious > condition of oneself. The bliss of sleep and the ignorance that > characterises sleep are both experienced by Consciousness. This > consciousness is brahman. The 'memory' of sleep as well as the happiness > of sleep is technically called pratyabhijnA. It is knowing oneself by > oneself. When it is used as a verb, as in this verse (pratyabhijnAyate), > it is a peculiar grammatic usage called karma-kartari prayoga. It is like > saying that a calf released itself from the knot which held it on to the > pole. The verb means: 'to come to oneself, recover consciousness'. The > statement 'I slept happily' has a factor of awareness in it, a factor of > bliss, and a factor of existence. These three are the cit, Ananda and sat > of the sac-cidAnanda that is the Ultimate. The happiness that was enjoyed > was not the pleasure of the senses, because the senses had gone to sleep. > It was not the happiness of the soul resting, because the soul was always > what it was: cf. > > nAsato vidyate bhavo nAbhAvo vidyate sataH / > What is not can never be, nor can what is, cease to exist > (Here the meaning of 'is' and 'is not' should be taken in an absolute > sense.) > > Also it is incorrect to say that the happiness enjoyed during sleep was > just the absence of unhappiness, because there was no instrument of > enjoyment present. The pratyabhijnA cannot recall what was not > experienced. Again it is incorrect to say that each instant the knower is > changing and so instant after instant different knowers are registering > different pieces of knowledge and therefore there cannot be any > pratyabhijnA. This is a view called kshaNika-vijnAna. The buddhist > philosophy therefore explains away the pratyabhijnA as delusion. But it > is not a delusion. A recalling always needs continuity of consciousness > between the past event and the present event of recalling and this > continuity for recalling is available because the Seer never loses His > Sight in view of His immutability. cf. (bRhad-AraNyaka-Upanishad) > > na hi drashTur-dRshteh viparilopo vidyate avinASitvAt / > > Commentary and translation by Prof V Krishnamurthy > The website is at: > http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/63page11.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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