[Advaita-l] Swarupa Ashtakam - 6

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 
 
http://svbf.org/newsletters/year-2015/swarupa-ashtakam-2/
 
Verse 5
निषेधे कृते नेति नेतीति वाक्यैः समाधिस्थितानां यदाभाति पूर्णम् ।
अवस्थात्रयातीतमद्वैतमेकं परं ब्रह्म नित्यं तदेवाहमस्मि ॥
 
When the whole universe is negated as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, the Poorna ‘Atma’ that remains as non-dual, one, beyond the three states,
I am that supreme, eternal Brahman.
 
The Upanishads declare ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ which means ‘That thou art’. But here one should analyze carefully what ‘Thou’ means. Even though
the student uses body & mind to receive the message of the Maha Vakya, the Tvam or ‘Thou’ here implies neither the body nor the mind of
the receiver, but the consciousness principle. According to the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, by negating everything in the whole Universe as
‘not this’, ‘not this’ (Na Iti) including the body and the mind, we arrive at and are left only with the consciousness principle.
This Brahman is not an object of experience or a destination to reach. It is only a matter of claiming. In line number two, Samadhi means Atma.
One who negates thus, realizes the Poorna Atma.
 
‘Avastha Trayam’, mentioned in line 3, refer to the three states of existence – being awake (Jagrat), dreaming (Swapna) and in
deep sleep (Shushupti). While being awake and in dream state, all my samsaric limitations manifest since I still am associating myself
with mind and body. But when deep asleep, I shed my body-mind complex and revert to my intrinsic, original nature – that of pure Ananda.
However, this state is shortlived and I am awake and back to Samsaraagain.
 
Let us understand this better by studying two associated principles.
 
Principle 1:
I experience a variety of objects. While they are subject to arrival and departure, I remain. Therefore, I am different from what I experience.
When I ‘see’ or experience an object in front of me, I – the experiencer, am different from what I am experiencing. Every experienced object
invariably has attributes. These experienced attributes belong to and only to the experienced object and not to the experiencer.
E.g. Shabda, Sparsha, Roopa, Rasa, Gandham are all attributes of the experienced object and the experiencer is free from them.
 
Extending this further, body and mind too are merely objects, but experienced more intimately. In deep sleep state, both body and mind are absent
(not experienced) by me, but on waking up they are the first objects I experience. Thus, while I am the experiencer, they are merely experienced
objects – instruments of transaction. Realizing the fact that I am the observer and user of body-mind and not body-mind itself is called
‘Atma-anatma vichara’ or ‘Drk-drshya’
 
Principle 2:
All attributes belong to the experienced objects – the world, the body or the mind. I am attributeless.
The three states of Jagrat, Swapna and Shushupti are experienced by me. Hence, by this principle, they are attributes belonging to an object –
in this case that object being the mind. According to Viveka Chudamani, the three states are comparable to the Rajas, Tamas and Sattva Gunas
respectively. When I transfer them onto myself, it is called ‘Tadatmya Bhava’. Only an ignorant person permanently identifies himself with
these attributes, while a Jnani is beyond the three states and also referred to as ‘Turiyam’ – the fourth one (refer back to verse 3, line 3)
 
 
(To be Continued)