Mahavakyaviveka - 1964 Pancadasi Talks - Swami A

Tapovan Prasad 10 January 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 1
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
Inadequacy of Words
Every philosophy has to
discuss and expound the expe-
rience of the great mystics. The
language of the mystics is not
the language of the ordinary
man; the thoughts of the mystics
are not the thoughts of the
average man. Subtle mystical
experiences and pure philoso-
phy are difficult to understand.
Without special training and
preparation, not only is it
impossible to benefit from the
study of such philosophy, but
there is also the danger of being
confused. Language is made up
of words, and words are fami-
liar to us. When the mystic
teachers try to explain their spe-
cial Knowledge with ordinary
words, we are likely to under-
stand only the word meaning
and get the entire idea wrong.
Therefore Vednta stra in its
highest reaches can be taught
only to those students who have
undergone the special training
necessary for it. Now we are
going to approach one of the
highest peaks of Vednta, called
We have great pleasure in presenting this new series
of articles from Pujya Gurudevs talks on Panchadasi Ch. 5
in 1964. We acknowledge with gratitude the contribution of
Smt. Lakshmi Reddy, who procured and preserved the
recorded spools carefully, Dr. Suhasini, who got them
converted into CDs, Sri G.B. Bhatia, who replicated them
and brought them to our notice and Smt. Devna Nandakumar,
who transcribed them with loving care. Tapovan Prasad is
privileged to carry these articles in print for the first time.
The Editorial Team
the Mahvkyas. Swami Vidya-
ranya, the author of Panchadasi,
has not gone into the deeper
significance of the Mahvkyas
in the way it is discussed in the
Brahma Sutras. He has confined
himself to the definitions of the
words used in these great
declarations of the Vedas for the
sake of beginners. However,
even to understand these verses
and digest the meaning, a
certain amount of fundamental
knowledge is required. So we
have to prepare ourselves to
receive this Knowledge.
Swami Vidyaranya
Swami Vidyaranya, the
mighty diplomat-saint, who was
the prime minister of the
Vijayanagar empire, lived his
entire lifetime in activity in the
world outside, and achieved
what an ordinary man could not
even dream of in those days
in the political field, in the field
of military might, in the field of
administration and in the field
of writing. He was an ardent
student of literature; not only
did he write books, but also
mastered our philosophy, had
satsag every day, and with the
help of other Acharyas and
scholars, mastered the Vedas
and Vedntic literature, until at
last he could even write a
commentary on all the four
Vedas. This commentary is so
good that there is a traditional
story about how he went to
Benaras after his retirement, and
had the daran of Veda Vyasa
on the banks of the Ganga,
offered him the manuscript of
his commentary on the Vedas
and said, Sir! Glad that I met
you. Please go through this
work and tell me whether it is
worth publishing whether it
is blasphemous, whether I have
understood the Vedas properly,
because after all I have had a
lot of official duties continually,
and therefore did not have the
kind of single-pointed attention
necessary for the study of the
Upanishads or the Vedas. You are
Veda Vyasa himself, so please
have a look and tell me. It is
said that Veda Vyasa looked
into it and in one sitting read
through the entire commentary,
with probably a blue pencil in
hand to cut out a few pages, but
it seems that he did not change
even a comma or a full-stop.
Therefore it is said that Veda
Vyasa himself, out of sheer
admiration, called this mighty
master Vidyaranya a forest
of knowledge.
Later on, after his sanysa
dk, having been recognised as
one of the spiritual masters,
great thinkers and erudite
scholars in this country, he was
invited to be the Pontiff, the
Chief Acharya of the Sringeri
Math. Thus he remained the
Sringeri Sankaracharya for
many years, and his samdhi
sthna near the temple is avai-
lable even today in Sringeri.
This great master was not a
person who had studied only
the Vedas and closed his eyes to
the society; he was an adept in
political administration, was
one of the greatest diplomats of
his time, who had lots of duties
to discharge. Having exhausted
his vsans of rajogua in his
busy life, he turned to the sttvic
life of a sanys, and in his
maturity, wrote the book
Panchadasi.
Panchadasi
Panchadasi means fifteen,
paca is five, and daa ten. It is
a book containing fifteen chap-
ters. In Panchadasi, Swami
Vidyaranya is not discussing the
Vedas, nor is he discussing any
of the other topics he has
written on, like the duties of
man in society, the societys
duty towards man etc. Here he
has discussed only the great
prakriyas, the technical terms
used in the Upanishads. He has
expounded them in such a
beautiful fashion that it has
become in itself a textbook of
Vednta. There are many people
who study only the Panchadasi,
with the elaborate commentar-
ies available from later teachers,
in order to understand the
Upanishadic philosophy clearly
and appreciate the deeper
meanings of our Scriptures and
our culture. Panchadasi is
generally taught in the begin-
ning before the student starts
the study of the Upanishads.
After teaching all the eleven
Upanishads with the bhyas by
Shankaracharya, Ramanuja-
charya, or Madhvacharya, the
teacher takes up the Panchadasi
again as a concluding text. Then
the student finds that with the
first reading of the Panchadasi
he had understood only certain
technical terms, while the
deeper imports of the Upani-
shads become clear when it is
studied again at the end. It
throws a flood of light on all
the Upanishads studied earlier.
In this book we are going to
study the fifth chapter, called
Mahvkya Prakarana.
Mahvkyas
In the Vedas there are vkyas,
meaning sentences. Sentences
are made up of words express-
ing rounded ideas. So vkya is a
sentence expressing a clear
definite idea. A Mahvkya is
literally a great statement; it
holds an importance compa-
rable to what is called a com-
mandment in other religions.
There are four great command-
ments in Hinduism, and they
are explained by the four Vedas.
So all the Upanishads as well as
the Vedas, all the text books
available in our stras, are
explanations of this one mighty
Truth. The sentences that depict
this Truth directly in the form
of a mantra with minimum
words, indicating the Reality of
life, are called Mahvkyas.
These Mahvkyas are culled
from the four Vedas the
Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the
Samaveda, and the Atharvana-
veda. In each Veda there are
Upanishads, and these mighty
statements occur in the Upani-
shads. Each one is taken from
one Veda; thus from the four
Vedas four statements are taken.
These four statements explain
the great Reality behind this
pluralistic world that we find so
fascinatingly beautiful. Further,
when the teacher explains to us
what the Reality is, he also has
to explain what we are at this
moment.
The Non-dual Truth
Not only is the essential
Reality in us to be indicated, but
the mightier Reality behind the
whole universe is also to be
explained, and the relationship
between the two pointed out.
Vednta, as you all know,
preaches advaita, which means
dvaita na vidyate where there
is no dvaita (duality), no other-
ness, and no multiplicity. Adi
Sankaracharya championed the
idea of non-duality. The Truth
is non-dual, meaning infinite,
and therefore pra.
1
When we
say pra, we mean full, all-
pervading, subtle, and so on. It
is dea kla vastu aparicchinna
unconditioned by place, time,
and objects. That which is
conditioned or limited is not
pra. My happiness is not
pra, because there is one thing
I worry about; that worry is
conditioning my happiness, and
so my happiness is not pra.
The word pra is used only
when the given factor is not
conditioned by anything. Thus,
if there is a pra vastu, a Rea-
lity, as the Upanishadic Rishis in
their mystic experiences
discovered and expounded to
us, then the Reality in me
cannot be different from that
Infinite Reality, because there
cannot be two such Realities
that are non-dual!
Projections of the Mind
This great substratum upon
which the names and forms are
playing about is explained in
Chandogya Upanishad
2
vcram-
bhaa vikro nmadheya
mttiketyeva satyam all modi-
fications are only words and
labels, mud or clay alone is the
Reality. The Rishi is explaining
to Shvetaketu that there is only
one Self; the various names and
forms that are seen are nothing
but the one Brahman alone. They
are merely words and labels for
different functions. They are all
vikra modifications of one
1
pramada pramidam Ishavasya
Upanishad
2
Chandogya Upanishad, 6.1.4
and the same Truth. The pots
are of different shapes and sizes;
they have different names, like
a bowl, a jug, a jar, a pot, or a
plate. These names indicate only
the different forms and the
different usages of a thing, but
they are all essentially nothing
but mud, and mud alone. Simi-
larly, in the ocean, whether it is
a big wave, a mere ripple, froth,
or foam all of them are
nothing but the ocean, the one
Reality. This Reality is
expressed in different forms,
which are none other than the
names of those distinct forms.
The essential Reality is one and
the same. Using these examples,
all our great Acharyas of yore
tried to explain that you and I
in the names and forms are
nothing else but the Pure
Consciousness.
This is explained clearly in
the later portions of Vivekachoo-
damani where the Teacher says
that matter is not separate from
Reality. In the beginning of
Vivekachoodamani, as also in
Atma Bodha, it is said that we
have the equipments of the
body, mind and intellect,
through which, when the spirit
functions, there is the manifes-
tation of PFT (perceiver, feeler,
thinker) and OET (objects,
emotions, thoughts). The
Teacher says that the very PFT
and the OET that you see
because of the BMI (body, mind,
intellect) is only because of a
projection of the mind. Sakalpa
vikalptmik mana the func-
tion of the mind is sakalpa-
vikalpa. Kalpan means imagina-
tion and projection. When this
kalpan is very intense and
powerful, the thoughts you
imagine are projected and
grossified in the world outside
like the ghost that you see in
fear. It is a kalpan. This kalpan
can be removed easily if it is a
very thin kalpan I thought
that it was a ghost. No, it is
nothing after all. Here the
kalpan was not strong. But
some people have the kalpan so
powerfully that the object of
their imagination is conjured up
right in front of them. After the
sakalpa, when I have projected
some thought with the mind, I
perceive the object and identify
with it and, as a result, experi-
ence mental disturbances. These
are called vikalpa. Thus vikalpas
are subjective, while sakalpas
are objective. Sakalpas are the
objective projections of our
imagination, and the vikalpas are
our own imaginations rebound-
ing upon us, causing distur-
bance in the mind. Thus the
mind is of the nature of sakalpa
and vikalpa.
The mind projects not only
the objects of perception OET,
but also the very equipments of
projection, the BMI. If anyone
tells us that this body is only a
projection of the mind, we will
not believe it because we have
identified with it so much that
we do not know any existence
beyond the realm of the body.
Only those who identify with
the subtler realms in their
personality can ignore the body
like a great warrior in the
moment of action, a person in
the midst of organising a big
event, or one who is ready to
give up his life for some great
ideal. If you ask him, Arent
you taking a big risk? You may
even die in the process, he
would say, How does it mat-
ter? The ideal will remain. He
has identified with the ideal;
therefore the body is insignifi-
cant for him. Thus we see that
the very equipments of experi-
ence, the BMI, are also a projec-
tion of the mind. Therefore,
when you come face to face
with the Truth, when you
understand the post in the
ghost, none of the pieces of the
ghost can ever be there in the
post! The ghost does not run
away leaving its kerchief
behind! It is not possible. Not a
bit of the ghost can ever be there
once you recognise the post. The
post alone remains. Similarly,
when I understand the Eternal
Reality, all these projections will
end. All imaginations and
imagination-created distur-
bances will end, and nothing
but the Pure Consciousness will
remain. This is the vda, the
argument, or the conclusion of
the advaita philosophy.
Objections of the
Dvaitins
The dvaitins find it very
difficult to accept this. When the
teachers explain the prakriyas
and say that the jva or the indi-
viduality is created as a result
of the pure spirit functioning
through the BMI, the dvaitins
accept it easily. They say, O
Sankara! You are not saying
anything new. You are only
saying that matter cannot
function by itself. It is inert and
insentient and can function only
by the grace of the Lord, and
the Lord is in the heart of
everybody. You call that Lord
of ours by a new word tman.
We have no objection at all. And
that tman, functioning through
the equipments, identifying
with the body, mind and intel-
lect, is the manifestation of the
individuality and the world
around. Admitted! But O
Sankara! Are you not now
accepting two factors tman,
the Self that is the source of all
functions and all activity; and
the equipments constituted of
dead matter through which
there is the manifestation of the
world and the individuality?
How can you call it advaita
philosophy? It is actually dvaita,
because there are two things
the world of matter and the
Spirit that you call one without
a second. It cannot be one with-
out a second because matter
has to be there for the spirit to
function.
Sankara and the Vedntins
concede the existence of matter,
but say that matter is nothing
but an imaginary projection of
the mind, and therefore
transcending the mind, when
one reaches the level of the
spirit, matter is no more. When
the dream is ended, not only
does the dreamer become the
waker, but the entire world of
OET is also understood to be
nothing but the waker. Here the
dvaitins ask whether the
advaitins deny the existence of
Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh-
wara. You say that there is no
matter at all in Brahman. But
isnt there a God? The Vedn-
tins say that God is also that
same Supreme Reality function-
ing through the total equip-
ments of the body, mind and
intellect the samai. When the
Supreme functions through the
total physical equipments, the
gross body (sthla arrbhimn),
it is called Vir. When the
Supreme functions through the
total mind and intellect, the
subtle body, it is called
Hirayagarbha. When the total
infinite Consciousness functions
through the total causal body,
the expression is called vara.
Thus vara, Hirayagarbha and
Vir are all expressions of the
same infinite Consciousness
through the total equipment.
When the samai and the vyai,
the macrocosmic and the
microcosmic equipments, are
removed, what remains is the
Infinite Reality, One without a
second the Infinite Oneness
alone. Even vara or the concept
of God is the conditioned Brah-
man alone, facilitating the mind
to conceive the possibility of
these infinite, mighty powers.
Thus, when the Infinite is
perceived through the limited
equipments of the body, mind
and intellect, it can be conceived
only as Brahma, Vishnu and
Maheshwara the mighty
Creator, Sustainer and De-
stroyer of the world of plura-
lity. However, once I under-
stand that the plurality is
nothing but the Pure Conscious-
ness, there is no question of a
Sustainer any more, nor a
Creator or a Destroyer. What
can the Creator create, the
Sustainer sustain, or the
Destroyer destroy when all is
but the Pure Consciousness?
This one Infinite Reality alone
remains. This is the advaita
conclusion.
Preparation for the Study
Naturally, therefore, the
experience of the mystic is
totally opposed to our experi-
ences of the pluralistic world.
His experience of life as pure,
blissful, serene, and tranquil is
quite opposed to our experience
of life as a field of strife and
competition, a world of pains
and pangs. Naturally, when
these great Acharyas express
their infinite experience in the
language of the common man,
people understand only the
ordinary meaning of the words;
they are unable to comprehend
the indicative meaning of the
words pointing out the Supreme
Reality. So the Mahvkyas need
the commentary of the Upani-
shads, and they in turn need the
elaborate bhyas (commenta-
ries) by Sankaracharya, Rama-
nujacharya, Madhvacharya and
other Acharyas. People find it
difficult to understand these
commentaries also; so there are
notes on the commentaries, and
people like us move about in the
world to explain those notes.
We merely explain the foot-
notes! Footnotes are to explain
the commentaries of Sankara,
Ramanuja and Madhvacharya;
commentaries are to explain the
Upanishads, which themselves
are only expounding the ideas
in the Mahvkyas, and it is
those Mahvkyas that we are
going to study now. Naturally,
therefore, we will have to skip
over the footnotes as well as the
commentary and go into the
Upanishads and jump over the
mantras and try to understand
what is the significance of the
Mahvkyas. If the Mahvkyas
are to be studied properly, you
should have mastered all the
Upanishads. Their statements
must be on the tip of your
tongue. You can understand the
full import of the Mahvkyas
only if you know fully and
remember perfectly all the
Upanishads and the great state-
ments the way the Rishis have
expounded them in the
Upanishads. If you dont under-
stand the Mahvkyas fully, I
would not hold you at fault,
because having understood the
Mahvkyas there is nothing
more for you to understand.
Since we have not reached that
far, we may not understand all
the significances, but we will try
to understand a little at least,
assuming that we have studied
the Upanishads sufficiently.
G
Tapovan Prasad 11 October 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 10
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
I
n this chapter on Mahvkya
Viveka in the Panchadasi, the
first six verses were devoted to
the Mahvkyas from the Rig-
veda, Yajurveda and Samaveda
respectively (two verses each).
In the last two verses, the
Mahvkya aya tm brahma
from the Mandukya Upanishad
in Atharvanaveda is explained.
This is called the mukti-vkya,
the three words clearly de-
lineating Liberation: ayam this,
tm tman, brahma (is)
Brahman.
This is a moment when the
individual becomes mukta
liberated. The individual per-
sonality discovers its identity
with the universal Conscious-
ness. Such a person is no more
a victim of the passions of the
body, the anxieties of the mind,
or the agitations of the intellect.
At present, the individuality in
me, conditioned by the BMI
(body-mind-intellect), is func-
tioning as an ego-centric entity,
tossed about by the endless
demands of the body, mind and
the intellect. When the indivi-
duals identification with these
equipments comes to an end, he
is naturally released from the
demands and the imperfections
of these equipments. This un-
conditioned pure Consciousness
in an individual is Brahman:
aya tm brahma This tman
is Brahman.
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 7
F49TlHl9l t4 H4|Pt4 |6l P6
HrTll|7 7 rl-6l6
9t4ltP |6 l46 +
svaprakparokatvam
ayamityuktito mata,
ahakrdi dehntt
pratyagtmeti gyate.
The word this (ayam) refers to
the self-effulgent and subjective
nature of the Self. That which is the
innermost from the individual ego
up to the body is known as the Self.
Svapraka means self-
effulgent. The self-effulgent
pure Consciousness is the light
that illumines all our experi-
ences within and outside our
body. It is not the physical light
which is an object of our
Consciousness. In fact, it is the
Consciousness which illumines
even this external light per-
ceived by us. The famous mantra
that occurs both in Katho-
panishad (2.5.15) and Mundako-
panishad (2.2.10) explains this
point clearly:
+ 6 B 4l l|6 + -6lT
+ Pl |4H 6l l|-6 T 6l 54P|P-
6P 4 l-6P+ l|6 B4
6F4 lBl B4 |P7 |4l|6+
na tatra sryo bhti na candra-traka
nem vidyuto bhnti kutoyamagni,
tameva bhntam-anubhti sarva
tasya bhs sarvamida vibhti.
Neither the sun nor the moon
shines there, neither the stars nor
the lightning shine, how then can
this fire? Everything shines after
that Light (of the Self) alone;
illumined by that Light all this shines.
The sun cannot shine in the
overpowering light of the Self
(tman), just as the flame of a
candle cannot shine in the bri-
lliance of sunlight. So also, the
moon, the stars and lightning
cannot shine in the presence of
the self-effulgent Consciousness.
Electricity cannot show its
wonders there. How then can
this small fire the lamp or
burning camphor with which
we worship the Lord illumine
Him?
The sunlight can only
illumine the surface of objects;
it cannot illumine the insides of
the objects, leave alone the
Consciousness within us that
illumines everything else. We
become aware of the sunlight
only because of the light of
Consciousness in us. That which
illumines even the sun must be
much more powerful than the
sun.
Further, our five senses that
illumine the objects of the world
outside cannot illumine the
Consciousness within. In fact,
our experiences gathered
through the senses are made
vividly clear only by the light
of Consciousness. All the expe-
riences good, bad or indiffer-
ent are illumined only by the
supreme Awareness in each one
of us. Whenever I say that I
have an experience of joy or
sorrow, of good or bad, I am
conscious of that joy or sorrow,
that goodness or badness. Thus,
where there is Consciousness,
there alone experience is
possible; in the absence of
Consciousness, experience is not
possible.
This Awareness or Con-
sciousness that illumines all
experiences is the pure Self. It
is generally indicated by words
like praka (Light) and caitanya
(Consciousness). People often
misunderstand this as physical
light and say that they see a
brilliant light in their medita-
tion! This is what happens when
one studies the Shastras without
the help of a Guru.
The Puranas use poetic ex-
pressions like a thousand suns
to explain this subtle idea of
supreme Consciousness to the
ordinary person. This is how
the glory of Vishnu is described
when he appeared in front of
Dhruva. With such a back-
ground, when you meditate,
naturally you see a blinding
light! Someone told me that the
light came from the right and
floated away to the left! How
can the all-pervading Brahman
come from the right and go
away to the left? Think! Who
saw the light that came float-
ing? It was the light of Con-
sciousness that lit up the whole
scene.
In the Quran also the Lord is
described as Light. However, it
is not the light of the sun or the
moon or the star or the crescent.
It is the Light of lights
jyotimapitajjyoti tamasa
paramucyate (Gita, 13.7). This
Light illumines all light as well
as darkness. Worldly light
cannot illumine darkness; it just
removes darkness. Conscious-
ness or Awareness is the light
by which I come to know that
in this room there is light and
in that room there is darkness.
Both light and darkness are the
objects of my Consciousness.
Consciousness is the subtle
light which can illumine dark-
ness without removing or
adding anything. A torch cannot
illumine the lights in the hall
where we are sitting, and to see
the darkness a torch is not
necessary. In fact, where a torch
is lit, there is no darkness.
Darkness cannot be seen by any
light. The sunlight cannot
illumine darkness. It is the limi-
tation of sunlight! It has never
seen darkness, because wher-
ever the sun is present, there can
be no darkness. But our Con-
sciousness is so subtle that it can
see both light and darkness.
I am conscious of the sun-
light. Therefore the Conscious-
ness in me must be much more
brilliant than the sunlight. The
Upanishads often use the word
praka (Light) to describe the
tman, and we must understand
the full import of this word.
Modern science explains light
energy, its frequency etc. in the
context of sunlight, lightning,
fire and other such phenomena.
For all other lights, there is a
cause. But Consciousness is self-
effulgent; it is not caused by
anything. By its very nature it
is the illuminator of everything
svapraka. It is not created,
but is the very cause from which
everything else has emerged.
Everything else in the universe
is an effect; this is the first cause,
the uncaused cause!
How can we see the self-
effulgent Consciousness, the
svapraka paramtm? That
which is an effect can be
recognised. We can make it an
object of our awareness.
Paramtm is not an object of
awareness, but Awareness itself.
If I were to go searching for
Swami Chinmayananda, with
the sole ambition to prostrate to
him, then wherever I go, what-
ever I do, I will certainly be
disappointed. I can never meet
Swami Chinmayananda, be-
cause he is not an object other
than me. It is I myself! So, even
when I am dejected and dis-
appointed at not having met
him, Swami Chinmayananda is
never far away from me. So
also, we desperately seek this
self-effulgent Consciousness
everywhere; we search for the
svapraka paramtm in Kashi,
Badrinath, Mecca, Madina or
Jerusalem, without realising that
He is our very own Self!
The svapraka paramtm is
aparoka we can only realise
Him subjectively as our own
Self. Akam means eyes, and para
means others; so parokam is
knowledge through others
eyes; it is second-hand informa-
tion or objective knowledge.
Aparokam means subjective
realisation. When all the excite-
ments of the body, mind and
intellect are quietened, in the
hushed silence of contempla-
tion, this pure Consciousness
becomes self-evident. We wake
into It. A dreamer can never
be taken to the waker; even if
the dreamer sees the waker, he
is not awakened because he still
believes that he is the dreamer,
and the dream conditions of
sorrow are his. If at all he
realises the waker, he becomes
the waker, and the dreamer is
no more. The dreamer awakes
to another plane of conscious-
ness, discovering himself to be
the waker.
Similarly, this svapraka
paramtm can be known only
through a subjective, direct
experience, because it is the
very subject in you, and not an
object. It can never be the object
of your sense organs, or of the
mind, or of the intellect. It is not
a thing that can be perceived by
the eyes or the ears or the nose
or the tongue or the skin. It is
not something that we can feel
with our heart or the mind. It is
not something that we can
intellectually understand and
comprehend.
When the BMI (body-mind-
intellect) drops its entangle-
ments, its attachment and pre-
occupation with the OET
(objects-emotions-thoughts),
then the PFT (perceiver-feeler-
thinker) ends; the individuality
ends. And that is the moment
when we float into the ethereal
climbs of this inner sense of
tranquillity. It is a direct appre-
hension, direct becoming. That
is why the word ayam (this) is
used: aya tm brahma this
tm is Brahman, the Reality. It
is indicated as this because it
is aparoka, it is the nearest to
you, not a far off thing.
God is not in a heaven far
away, ruling the world like a
tyrant. He is democratic, avai-
lable to every one of us as our
very Self. In fact, He is so near
to us that we ignore Him. We
do not recognise Him. Gene-
rally, we use the word that to
indicate something far away,
and this to refer to something
relatively nearer. The absolute
this, with reference to which
everything else is that, is the
Self aya tm.
This svapraka paramtm is
the antartm, the innermost Self
in us. It is closer than the body,
the mind, the intellect and the
innermost vsans. The body,
the five sense organs, the
emotions and thoughts cannot
fathom the very subject, the
Consciousness that enlivens
them all. Hence it is called
pratyagtm the inner Self.
One may ask why it is called
the inner Self when it is actu-
ally the all-pervading Con-
sciousness. The Teacher, in his
compassion, knows that the
student thinks of himself as the
BMI (body-mind-intellect), a
separate individual entity at this
moment, and in order to make
him understand, refers to the
all-pervading Consciousness as
the antartm or pratyagtm
the innermost Self. Inner and
outer are only in relation to the
equipment of BMI with which
the student is identifying him-
self. Though the tm is all-
pervading, immutable, one
without a second (advaita vastu),
with reference to the students
own projections, his own
familiar realm of experiences
and equipments of experience,
the Teacher calls the Self the
innermost, meaning the core,
the very essential pivot around
which the pacakoas
1
(the five
sheaths) function.
The student may still be
doubtful how he can know this
Consciousness when all the
objects and equipments he is
familiar with are removed.
Consciousness is self-effulgent,
and no other light is necessary
to illumine it. To know the sun
no other sun is necessary. To see
a burning lamp, no other light
is necessary na dpasya anya
dpecch.
2
To know other objects,
to read a book, to see a table or
a chair, a light is necessary.
But the light continues to shine
even when all of them and all
of us are gone. Similarly, the
supreme self-effulgent tm
continues to shine. It can be
experienced only subjectively,
by becoming the very Self -
aya tm brahma.
1
annamaya, pramaya, manomaya,
vijnamaya and nandamaya koa.
2
Atma Bodha, verse 29 G
Tapovan Prasad 8 February 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 2
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
T
he Mahvkyas that point
out the Great Reality, the
Supreme Truth, are discussed in
eight verses in the fifth chapter
of the Panchadasi. Titled Maha-
vakya Viveka, it is the smallest
chapter in the Panchadasi. The
Mahvkyas are listed below in
the order of the Upanishads in
which they occur:
l Prajna brahma from
Aitareya Upanishad in the
Rigveda. It is known as
abhysa vkya.
l Aha brahmsmi from
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in
the Yajurveda. This is called
anubhava vkya.
l Tat-tvam-asi from Chandogya
Upanishad in the Samaveda. It
is called upadea vkya.
l Aya tm brahma from
Mandukya Upanishad in the
Atharvanaveda. It is called the
mukti vkya.
These four Mahvkyas are
explained in the Panchadasi in
eight verses that are very
simple, but carry deep implica-
tions on serious study. Students
will understand them to the
extent they have developed the
contemplative faculties.
The commentaries upon the
Upanishads are called bhyas.
There are some editions of these
Upanishads where we find notes
on these commentaries, like
those of Anandagiri. His notes
contain such terse logic that
others have had to provide
further notes on them! To make
us understand these, Mahtms
give discourses. Now our effort
is to understand not the dis-
courses, not the commentaries,
not the notes, not even the
Upanishadic mantras, but the
salient corner-stone of Hindu-
ism, the very fundamental
declarations common in all the
Vedas the Mahvkyas.
Prajna Brahma
Prajna brahma from the
Rigveda defines Truth as
prajna Consciousness. The
two words prajna brahma
constitute a Mahvkya, and the
entire Upanishad is an exposition
of this Mahvkya. The teacher
gives this Mahvkya to the
student, who has to think about
it and do the abhysa (practice
of contemplation), constantly
keeping in mind this statement
that the great Truth is the
Consciousness in me and the
Consciousness in you. Hence it
is called an abhysa vkya.
Aha Brahmsmi
The second Mahvkya aha
brahmsmi I am Brahman
occurs in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad in Yajurveda. This
again is a very brief statement
consisting only of two words,
and we are likely to get
confused by it. If someone tells
me that I am the King of India,
I will wonder if something is
wrong with that person! I cant
accept the statement because
there is a huge disparity
between what it says and what
I am at this moment. If you tell
me that I am human, I am a
noble soul, that I have great
potential, I can accept it,
because I know it, and it is
possible to bring out the hidden
potential with training. But all
of a sudden if you say that I am
the Supreme, is not acceptable;
the student finds it very difficult
to understand.
In this chapter of the
Panchadasi, Swami Vidyaranya
is trying to explain to us what
exactly these words connote.
Unless we understand the basic
meaning of these Mahvkyas,
we cannot use them in medita-
tion as a boat to cross over the
confusions of our mind. When
we have withdrawn ourselves
from the sensuous appetites of
the flesh and mastered the mind
in preparation, we can contem-
plate upon these Mahvkyas.
They help us in our higher
flights into the realms of Con-
sciousness. In order to meditate
upon the Mahvkyas, I must
know the deep significance of
the words which are expounded
in this short chapter. Aha
brahmsmi is an anubhava vkya,
to be practically experienced.
Tat Tva Asi
In the Chandogya Upanishad
from Sama Veda, the upadea
vkya tat tva asi That you
are, is revealed. This is the
profound instruction given by
the teacher to the student to
meditate upon.
Aya tm Brahma
The Mahvkya aya tm
brahma This Self is Brahman,
is from the Mandukya Upanishad
in Atharvanaveda. This is the
mukti vkya or the final declara-
tion, the thunderous roar of
experience.
The Logical Progression
The link between the Mah-
vkyas can be understood better
when we visualise a situation.
The student comes to the
Teacher in confusion, and the
Teacher says that this great
Truth you are seeking is nothing
but prajna Consciousness
is Brahman. The student goes to
the banks of the Ganga,
contemplates deeply upon it
and negates everything known
the Sun, the Moon, Indra,
Varuna, Vayu, Siva, Krishna,
Vishnu they are not the
Infinite Reality, the Supreme
Consciousness. In his mind the
question arises, Where is this
Consciousness? So he comes
back to the Teacher. The Tea-
cher says that Consciousness is
not in Kashi or Rameshwar
where he can go on a pilgrim-
age and find it. It is right within
him, and so the second great
statement, the upadea vkya tat
tva asi That thou art, is
given out. The Teacher says that
the Supreme Truth, already
explained to him, is to be found
in the students own innermost
Self. The Consciousness in him
is the Consciousness present
everywhere.
After this the student goes
away and once again contem-
plates on the statement I am the
Pure Consciousness. He realises
that he cannot be the mind, or
the body, or the intellect, or the
vsans. He cannot be the gross
(sthla) or the subtle (skma) or
the causal body (kraa arra).
Slowly he goes beyond the three
bodies, the five koas and
meditates on the fact that he is
nothing but Pure Conscious-
ness. Then the Truth dawns on
him, and he cries out in the
ecstatic personal experience of
the Self, aya tm brahma
this Atman in me is Brahman, the
Supreme Reality. This is the
anubhava. When you have libe-
rated yourself from all other
equipments of matter the BMI
(body, mind, intellect), the PFT
(perceiver, feeler, thinker), and
the OET (objects, emotions,
thoughts), at that moment aya
tm brahma is the experience
in the seat of meditation.
After that, when he goes to
the Teacher, the Teacher asks,
Have you got any more
doubts? What is Truth? The
student does not know how to
express it, and he says: aha
brahmsmi. That I which I
thought to be the PFT, is no
more the PFT, because once the
equipments have been tran-
scended, I have no more attach-
ment or identification with the
equipments. At that moment I
came to realise that this Brah-
man, the Infinite Consciousness,
the substratum of the whole, is
I myself, whom I earlier thought
to be the PFT or the individua-
lity in my confusion.
Savikalpa and
Nirvikalpa Vision
Thus, due to sakalpa-vikalpa,
the projection, imagination and
identification with what was
imagined, and the consequent
agitations in my mind, I mis-
understood myself to be a
limited creature in the world.
Now the sakalpa-vikalpa has
ended because the mind has
been transcended. I have rea-
lised that I am none other than
the Pure Infinite Consciousness,
where there is no otherness at
all. This is the experience of
nirvikalpa samdhi. In savikalpa
samdhi the experience is aya
tm brahma. In nirvikalpa
samdhi, it is aha brahmsmi,
without any sense of otherness
ananyatay. Not that I realised
the Truth and it is an object
other than me, but it is I myself;
nothing other than the Truth
exists, including me. I dont
exist separately. This is the
crucial or final experience of all
great mystic scholars. They had
the courage to put to test the
conclusions they arrived at
as a result of endless observa-
tions, discussions, and logical
thinking. These first-hand
experiences of philosophical
truths resulted in the transcen-
dental declarations called the
Mahvkyas.
Vcyrtha and Lakyrtha
The Mahvkyas are words
arising from the shimmering
heat of experience of the masters
at the seat of meditation, when
they have transcended their
equipments, burnt down their
limited identity as individuals
and risen to the heights of
Supreme Infinitude. In these
few words the mighty masters
tried to express what they had
experienced as the Infinite Truth
behind the world of meaning-
less quarrels and endless
sorrows. Naturally these words
contain not only the vcyrtha,
but also the lakyrtha. Vcyrtha
means the word meaning or the
dictionary meaning; lakyrtha is
the indicative meaning, pointing
out the Supreme Truth.
Anyone with a dictionary in
hand and a little knowledge of
Sanskrit can know the literal
meaning or the vcyartha. Even
a dictionary is not necessary to
understand the superficial
meaning of simple words like
tat tva asi That thou art. I
am not me, but I am That and
That is God! Not only does one
fail to understand the full
import of the simple words, but
one can also become utterly
confused. Aha brahma asmi I
am Brahman. So simple! But the
questions come up: What is
Brahman? Who is this I? And asi
both of them are one. How?
How can two things be one? If
there are two things, they are
each limiting and conditioning
the other. How can Rama Reddy
be Krishna Reddy? It is not
possible. How can I be Brah-
man? But suppose I am now
sitting in my home, and an old
friend of my father comes on a
visit. All of us talk for some-
time, and at the end of it he asks
my father, Menon, where is
that son of yours who went to
Lucknow for studies? Where is
he nowadays? What will my
father say? That son, O friend
of mine, whom you used to play
with, that son is this Swami
sitting in front of you! That
son, the little boy, a terrible,
mischievous monster around
the year 1922, is now in 1964,
this holy saint talking holy
things, doing no apparent
mischief! Where there was
childish ignorance, now there is
wisdom. He, who was a child,
is now a grown up man. Then
he was my son, now it is His
Holiness. Thus, there is a
change in various ways, but it
is undeniably the same person.
That child had a squint; this
Swami also has a squint eye.
Certain things dont change,
and they are both one and the
same person. So the difference
is only in the conditioning.
When the conditionings the
small frame and the childish-
ness of the little boy, the beard
and wisdom of the Swami are
removed, the entity who was
the child is the Swami now. Thus
we must try to understand the
lakyrtha, the indicative mean-
ing suggested by the words in
the Mahvkyas.
In tat tva asi That you
are, tat is that Infinite Con-
sciousness which is functioning
in all equipments in the world
outside, and you refers not to
this complex of body, mind and
intellect, but the tma caitanya,
the Consciousness that is
functioning in you. The life
functioning in you is the life
functioning in everyone present.
Thus, the Mahvkyas are very
brief and terse, and each word
is loaded with deep significance.
These deeper indicative mean-
ings (lakyrtha) are pointed out
in the eight verses of this
chapter in the Panchadasi, with
two verses allocated for each
Mahvkya. Once we understand
the meaning, we will be able to
float into meditation upon these
four Mahvkyas.
G
Tapovan Prasad 11 March 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 3
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
Three Streams of
Vednta
As a result of the study of
the Mahvkyas, when we accept
that there is one Infinite Truth
behind this entire universe, like
the ocean in which the waves
play, and that the waves have
no separate existence from the
ocean, further questions rise in
the students mind: If that
Brahman alone is, then what are
these various things that I see?
In the Vedntic school itself there
are three main Acharyas, each
one championing one theory or
the other to answer the various
types of students. Remember
that among the Acharyas there
is no quarrel in spite of the
differences, just as in a political
party there may be a leftist and
a rightist, but between them
there is no quarrel and they stay
united for the purpose of form-
ing the government. They are
merely different viewpoints of
the Truth, to suit the angle of
vision of the student and make
him understand the relationship
of the individual to the Supreme
Reality.
All Vedntins accept the one
Infinite Reality. All of them say
that it is the final goal. All of
them agree that the Mahvkyas
are the pointers to the Supreme
Truth. However, in order to
help the students, they try to
expound the relationship of this
world of plurality with the
Infinite Oneness.
Pramrthika Satta
For the benefit of the highest
type of students, the Rishis and
Vedntic Masters who have
realised this Infinitude proclaim
ajta vda that never was the
world born at all! This is the
pramrthika satta. Paramrtha
(the Highest) alone is the one
Reality satt. The universe is
never born. It is only a play, a
trick of the mind, mere imagi-
nation. They speak from the
highest standpoint, without
coming down to the level of our
ignorance. Never ever was the
world born, because matter
itself is only our sakalpa there
is nothing apart from our own
imagination! In a quiet drawing
room, if a mad man were to say
that the others are beating him
up, one can only tell him that
there is no one other than them
in that room. From his stand-
point, his sakalpa or kalpan
(imagination) that people are
beating him is very real. But
from our standpoint and that of
the others in the drawing room,
he is talking nonsense; his
world of persecutors is ajta
never born. Sri Gaudapada in
the Mandukya Karika, or Sage
Vasishtha in Yoga Vasishtha, or
Ashtavakra in the Ashtavakra
Gita, or the great Avadhoota in
the Avadhoota Gita all of them
speak from the highest pinnacle
of Truth and cry out, Cant you
understand, you are the
Reality!
Hey Maharaj! What about
my body?
There is no body.
From our standpoint they
seem to be mad! According to
them none of this was ever
born, ever existed, nor ever
merged being non-existent,
there is no question of merging.
This is ajta vda. Only an uttama
adhikri can understand or even
intellectually sympathise with
the Teacher, without accusing
him or condemning him as a
mad creature, whose very
existence is a danger to the
world. To an ajta vd there is
no matter, there is nothing; you
are Awareness itself. And if at
all you see anything, be aware
of it totally, and it will all dis-
appear. If you stand apart and
watch the mind, the mind will
end and you remain as the Pure
Awareness. There is no path,
because who is to move and
towards what? You are already.
Just be!
Prtibhsika Satt
Some Teachers, for the pur-
pose of benefiting and blessing
certain lesser type of students,
accept not only pramrthika
satt, but also prtibhsika satt
(reflection of the Reality). They
accept the One Reality, but
explain that whatever we see
around us is nothing but that
Reality conditioned, reflected
upon the mind. In order to
accommodate our stupidity, the
teacher concedes a relative
Reality, just as the dream has a
relative reality. To the dreamer,
while he is dreaming, the dream
objects have a dream reality. No
doubt, on waking up, he finds
it is not there. In the dream, the
dream tiger can kill you, the
dream car can take you places,
and the dream wife can feed
you. The dream food can
remove your dream hunger. But
on waking up, suddenly you
find that you have no wife, no
children, no car, and to top it
all you are very hungry, even
though you had a great lunch
in the dream! Thus the food in
the dream can be useful to the
dreamer; it has a relative reality.
It is real so long as the dreamer
exists. On waking up, one finds
that the dreamer and the dream
world are in the realm of false-
hood. All the things in the
dream merge and become one
with the waker.
Thus these Acharyas not only
accepted pramrthika satt, but
also prtibhsika satt, the
reflected Reality. The Supreme
Reality is manifested in the
world around us in various
forms. In and through the world
of forms, of matter, the Teacher
is trying to make the student
concentrate and see the play of
the Spirit. And when you
apprehend the play of the Spirit
in the world of matter, the mat-
ter drops off, because in that
experience there is nothing but
Absolute Infinitude alone. This
is also called si di vda.
Your mind projects the si;
then you see it and suffer the
joys and sorrows of sasra.
Si di vda is for the
madhyama adhikr.
Vyvahrika Satt
The third category is for the
adhamdhama adhikrs, the
dullest type of students. Here
the Teachers accept not only the
pramrthika satt and the
prtibhsika satt, but also a
vyvahrika satt, where there is
a Narayana, and a hierarchy of
gods. When you are in trouble,
cry out to Him! If a direct
approach is not possible, then
go through proper channels,
choosing the deity in charge of
that department. Narayana will
send you all the protection and
help, nurture and nourishment.
Thus the lowest type of students
with a strong attachment to the
world are also given some spiri-
tual support. If you tell a grossly
sensuous and materialistic
person that neither he nor the
world outside exists, that they
are all mere reflections of the
One Existence, he will just give
you a stunned look, thinking
that you are off your mind. He
cannot understand. So one has
to come down to his level and
say, Narayana is the final
Reality. You may continue to
live as before, keeping Nara-
yana smti in one corner of the
mind. Then you will be
successful in your work, and
avoid failures and sorrow. The
children will grow to be healthy,
the wife will continue to love
you, there will always be money
in the bank. Income-tax people
will not give you any trouble.
These are his fears. Playing
upon them, tell him that with
Narayana kp he can do any-
thing in the world. He will
accept it because Narayana kp
will help him to live his won-
derful life in the world! This is
how Ravana and other rkass
were great bhakts of Siva. A
mind that would have other-
wise been cent per cent sensual,
will then accept some mighty
unknown power beyond, a
power that is all love, kindness,
purity and serenity. Thus the
G
Teacher introduces a spiritual
idea into that mind crowded
with animal passions. Such a
person, in the hurry-burry of
living, feels sometimes that
Narayana alone must have
helped him in his troubles
because he was in such a situa-
tion that nobody in the world
could have helped him. He
cried out with a burning heart
to Narayana, and help came.
When this happens once or
twice, his faith in Narayana
increases. He depends more on
Narayana than on the objects of
the world. No doubt he will still
want the objects, but will
depend more on Narayana.
Slowly we tell that person that
everything in the world is a
reflection of that wonderful
Narayana, and he is able to
comprehend the idea.
Then the glory of Narayana
is explained further. When you
are in the lap of Narayana and
look at the world outside, you
will see that this world outside
is only Narayanas creation.
When you turn towards
Narayana, these are no more
nryaamaya jagat. Then that
person will be able to under-
stand that there are three view-
points. Remember, it is not that
these Acharyas disagree in their
viewpoints or fight with each
other; it is just that they got
different types of disciples. If all
of them had mighty disciples
like Sankara, then none of them
would have needed any other
method. The direct method
would have been sufficient. But
since the students are of
different calibre, the Teachers
have to sink or dilute their
philosophy to reach out to the
mental level of the students,
explain everything gradually,
and slowly lift them to the
Highest. We will see these
varying approaches as we study
the four Mahvkyas.
Tapovan Prasad 8 April 2008
I
n the Upanishads, the essen-
tial Truth is indicated in the
brief statements known as
Mahvkyas. Mahad vkya
literally means big word.
Mahad means big or glorious,
and vkya means word or state-
ment the great statement. It is
called a great statement because
the Vedas themselves are great,
and the Mahvkya is the essen-
tial seed, or the nucleus of the
Vedas. Secondly, when we medi-
tate upon a Mahvkya, it can
take us to the Highest and so it
is called great. Thirdly, on
realising the meaning of a
Mahvkya, we will see that
there is nothing but Brahman;
since Infinitude is introduced
through these statements, they
are called great. It is one know-
ledge that cannot be got from
any other place, in any other
way. All scientific investigations
are objective, whereas this is the
Subjective Reality. This Infinite
Substratum is indicated through
these statements and hence they
are called great. The essence of
all spiritual literature is
crystallised into these terse
statements, and all the scriptural
literature we have are only com-
mentaries upon these four great
statements.
The first of these four state-
ments, prajna brahma, is
taken from Aitareya Upanishad in
the Rigveda. It is known as
abhysa vkya, meaning a state-
ment for repeated study and
contemplation.
The Students Question
Having observed the perish-
able nature of the world around,
the student comes to the
Teacher in a state of mental
confusion. He asks, O Teacher!
Isnt there anything permanent
in this world? Everything seems
perishable. The body, mind,
intellect, and all things in the
world around us keep changing.
What is the use of acquiring
anything? My love for my wife,
my wifes adoration for me, my
affection for my children, the
Mahavakya
Viveka 4
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
childrens respect and reverence
for me all are subject to
change. The equipments of
experience in me also keep
changing. This world is ever
changing and consequently ever
agitated.
I have no more fascination
for objects, since the very things
that seemed to give me joy
yesterday, give me suffering
and pain today. In such a chang-
ing and impermanent world, no
intelligent person would strive
to achieve anything, since all is
subject to decay. The very word
jagat indicates an ever-changing
flux. This flood of change must
have a substratum, or else it is
meaningless.
All the changes are
recognised by me as a continu-
ous process. What is that Rea-
lity behind, the substratum
upon which all these changes
are taking place, giving me the
apparent illusion that it is all a
continuous process? I was a
child once, then grew into a
youth, am now a middle-aged
person and will soon become an
old man. The child is not the
youth, the youth is not the
middle-aged person, and the
middle-aged person is not the
old man.
Everything has changed,
but there is a continuity,
because I seem to be constantly
there. What is this constant
factor? Generations after gen-
erations come into the world,
play on the stage of the world
and die away, and other gen-
erations take up the work and
do it. There is continuity in the
midst of the change. What is it
that gives the continuity? Each
wave is different from the other
waves and yet there is the
substratum of the ocean that
holds them all together. If each
wave were independent of other
waves, rising, falling, and dying
away, then the homogeneous
experience of one ocean storm-
ing, surging and ceasing would
not have been with us. So what
is it that is holding them all to-
gether? A few buckets of water,
each bucketful flowing for a
yard or so does not make a
river. A river is a continuous
flow of water. Each bucket of
water, each unit, is moving, but
it is all moving together. What
is it that holds it together? A
changeless substratum must
support all changes; else there
will be no sense of continuity.
What is this changeless factor?
Thus the thinking student
approaches the Teacher and
questions him, after having
analysed his own experiences in
the world around.
The Teachers Answer
The Teacher replies quietly,
prajna brahma. This
changeless substratum call it
God, Paramtm, the
Supreme Reality, or Brahman
is prajna, Consciousness.
At that time, probably, it was
sufficient for the student to hear
this. He goes out to contemplate
on this statement. He had ear-
lier conceived the fire or air as
God. Now, all of a sudden, the
Teacher says, prajna brahma
Consciousness is Truth. This
statement tells the student to
deny and negate everything he
conceived as Truth or Reality.
He now seeks that Conscious-
ness indicated by the Teacher as
the only Pure Reality. As he
contemplates, he comes to
understand that the Truth is not
merely in the church, the
mosque, or the temple. It is not
in the Bible, the Koran, or the
Vedas. It is not in the sacred
statements. It is not just the
Guru or the individual student.
It is prajna, Consciousness,
which envelops all this.
The student thus draws his
mind away from all the objects
of perceptions, all the emotions
and thoughts; he holds the mind
in abeyance and turns towards
the Pure Consciousness.
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 1
Swami Vidyaranya, the com-
passionate Teacher, dedicates
two verses to each of the
Mahvkyas, explaining what the
words stand for. Prajna
brahma, the Mahvkya from
Rigveda, is taken up first because
it is the definition of Truth:
ye ne ]te z& [ae tId< ijit
Vyakrae it c,
SvaSva ivjanait
tT}anmu dIirtm! .
yenekate otda
jighrati vykaroti ca,
svdvasvdu vijnti
tatprajnam-udritam.
That by which one sees, hears,
smells, describes (expresses or
speaks), knows the tasty and the
tastel ess, i s decl ared to be
Consciousness.
The Teacher explains that
prajna means Conscious-
ness. Physiologists, psycholo-
gists and philosophers also talk
about Consciousness, but if you
ask them what is Conscious-
ness, they will tell you to refer
to a dictionary! Here Swami
Vidyaranya presents a rare
specimen of a definition of
Consciousness that is not avai-
lable even in the Upanishads. It
is not a direct statement, but it
indicates the meaning very
clearly.
Tad prajna udritam that
is called prajna or Con-
sciousness, yena by which,
kate one sees the objects of
the world outside. Conscious-
nesss is that by which one
experiences the outer world of
perceptions.
All of us know that we see
the things in the outside world
with our eyes. Does the Teacher
mean to say that the eyes are
the Consciousness? Eyes are
merely the external instruments
through which we perceive the
outer world of objects. When
the outer perceptions reach our
nervous system, how do we
gain the knowledge about the
object? It is the Seer who sees
through the eyes. It is said in
the Kenopanishad,
y]u ;a n pZyit
ye n c]U i; pZyit,
tde v Tv< ivi
ne d< yiddmu paste .
yaccaku na payati
yena caki payati,
tadeva brahma tva viddhi
neda yadidam-upsate.
That which the eyes do not see,
but because of which the eyes are
able to see, understand that alone
to be Brahman, and not this that
people worship here.
So it is clear that the Seer
in me is Brahman.
Prakriya granthas or introduc-
tory textbooks like the Pancha-
dasi discuss only what is said in
the Upanishads. Though these
ideas are indicated in the
Upanishads, all of them are not
clearly stated in one single place
for the student to have a cogent
ready-made answer. Here
Swami Vidyaranya explains:
yena kate that by which you
see, that in you which illumines
all the sense stimuli, oti ida
that by which you are hearing
what I am saying now, is
prajna Consciousness.
At this moment, when I hear
external sounds, I feel disturbed
because my attention is on the
meaning of the sounds, not on
that which illumines the sounds.
What is it because of which I
am able to know that the sounds
have reached me? I am not in-
terested in the meaning of the
sounds now. At this moment I
am fascinated by the fact that
the sound reaches me and I am
able to cognise it. I will not
dwell on the sound of a bus, and
wonder if it is a private bus or
a state-owned bus or think that
state-owned buses never gener-
ally run on time. It is enough
that some sound has reached
my tympanum. After all, the
tympanum is made up of
matter. What is it that converts
the message into confirmed
knowledge? What is that Know-
ing Principle which illumines it,
gives me the awareness or idea
that there is a sound?
When we chant Om Om
Om we know that Om
stands for that by which we
know the sound. Yena jighrati
that which illumines all the
smells through my nose,
vykaroti v or that by which I
am able to speak and interact
with the world, svdvasvdu
vijnti that by which I know
the taste, is verily prajna
Consciousness. Svdu means
tasty and asvdu means bitter-
ness, sourness, or a taste that
you dont like. Whether it is
ghee, laddoo, or castor oil, when
I put it on the tongue, the object
and the tongue meet, and the
taste buds react. What is it that
illumines the experience and
makes me know if it is good or
bad? We are not talking of the
object whether the taste is
good or bad, why it is so, etc.
We are not talking of the physi-
ology, the structure and
function of the taste buds in the
tongue. We are talking of the
factor that brings the experience
to me, that illumines it for me.
That is called prajna
Consciousness.
So prajna is not the eyes,
the ears, the nose, the tongue or
the power of speech. By thus
pointing out three of the instru-
ments of perception jnen-
driyas, and speech that stands
for the karmendriyas, the verse
indicates all the sense organs.
Consciousness is that by which
I know what I am lifting, that
by which I know that I am
moving, that by which I know
all the experiences inside and
outside. The emotions in the
mind and the thoughts in the
intellect are all illumined and
brought within the pool of light
of my knowledge by Conscious-
ness. That is called prajna
tad prajna udritam. It is
declared to be the Pure Con-
sciousness which is Brahman
prajna brahma. The entire
text of Kenopanishad focuses on
this; the Teacher there tries to
explain this prajna to the
student.
Once this light of Conscious-
ness is withdrawn from us,
when it does not illumine these
equipments any more, they can
have no experiences at all. Once
the body is dead, when this
Consciousness is no more in us,
then whatever happens to the
body, it is not experienced. It
may be covered by the national
flag and flowers, put on a
funeral pyre made up of
sandalwood, or carried in the
municipal van like a dog,
dragged along the road or
dumped in a pit it is immate-
rial. The body is disposed off
not for our sake, but for the sake
of the society! Whether the ash
is sprinkled on all the rivers of
the country, or showered upon
the earth, it does not matter; the
ash will not recognise it. So
Consciousness is not the
perceived world of objects,
emotions and thoughts, nor the
instruments of projection the
body, mind and intellect. It is
that by which we cognise all the
experiences of the body, mind
and intellect. That Pure Self, that
Light of understanding, that
Awareness or Consciousness is
called prajna.
The definition given in the
Upanishad was prajna
brahma Consciousness is Brah-
man, the Supreme Reality.
Swami Vidyaranya has
explained in this verse the
meaning of the word prajna.
In the next verse he will explain
the meaning of Brahman and
show that the Consciousness in
me is the Supreme Reality
behind the whole universe.
G
Tapovan Prasad 11 May 2008
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 2
ctu mu R oe Nde ve ;u mnu :yagvaid;u ,
cE tNyme k< at> }an< mYyip.
caturmukhendradeveu
manuyvagavdiu,
caitanyameka brahmta
prajna brahma mayyapi.
The one Consciousness (found)
in the four-faced Brahma, Indra and
other gods, and in human beings,
horses, cows, etc. is Brahman;
hence the Consciousness in me is
also Brahman.
Caturmukha means one who
has four faces. In the Puranas,
Brahma, the Creator, is depicted
with four faces. During the time
of Swami Vidyaranya, the
Puranas had become very popu-
lar. Hence, instead of saying
Hirayagarbha, which is the style
and language of the Upanishads,
he uses the pauric concept of
Brahma, the Creator. This is
because Swami Vidyaranya was
addressing his own generation
of students who were familiar
with the word picture of the
four-faced Brahma given by
Vyasa Bhagavan in the Puranas.
It is to be noted that Brahma,
the Creator, is the name of a
deity, in the masculine gender,
not to be confused with the
word Brahman (the Supreme
Truth) in the neuter gender.
Lord Brahma has Saraswati, the
Goddess of Learning, as his
spouse. He is depicted with four
faces because he creates all the
four directions. The four faces
also indicate the four Vedas, or
all knowledge. The reference to
Brahmaji includes Lord Vishnu
with four arms and Lord Siva
with three eyes also.
Indra did a lot of penance
and yajas, and as a result,
acquired plenty of puya
(merits). He wished to become
the king of gods, and that expe-
rience was given to him. The
Consciousness in Lord Brahma,
Mahavakya
Viveka 5
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
in Indra, and all the other gods
(deveu), the denizens of heaven,
is one and the same.
In the same way, Conscious-
ness remains the same in all
human beings (manuya), horses
(ava), cows (gava), etc. The
word diu, meaning etc.,
indicates all living creatures,
jaryuja born from a womb,
aaja born of eggs, svedaja
born of sweat, and udbhijja
born from the soil, sprouted or
germinated. It includes the most
insignificant worms in the
world, the minutest unicellular
organisms with minimal deve-
lopment, where the intellect and
emotions do not find expres-
sion.
Thus Swami Vidyaranya
indicates three categories of
beings. The highest of these
comprises Brahma the
Creator, Indra, and the denizens
of the heaven. These are the
uttama jv, the highest forms of
life. Then comes the middle
category, the madhyama jv, the
human beings. Man is posi-
tioned in the middle because he
can feel the inspiration and pull
of the Higher, as well as the
lower tendencies of the animal
kingdom. The lowest, adhama,
are the animals, plants and so
on.
In all the three categories of
beings, Consciousness is one
and the same caitanya ekam.
The spark of existence, the
dynamic light of Consciousness
with which they experience
their different experiences, is the
same in all of them. The light
that illumines the presidents
bedroom (uttama), your draw-
ing room (madhyama), and my
bathroom (adhama), is one and
the same. It may be illumining
different things, and the
intensity of the light may be
different, but the electricity in
the bulbs is the same.
Whether Mohammed, Christ
or Krishna, whether the best of
yogs, the best of saints and
sages, or the criminal who loots
gold and ornaments or kills his
own wife and children, the
lowest of the low, the silly fools,
or the mute animals in all of
them Consciousness is one and
the same. The actions may be
good or bad according to the
vsans they have acquired in
the past and the lower tenden-
cies they have cultivated by
wrong thinking. As the vsans,
so the thoughts, and as the
thoughts, so the actions. How-
ever, whether the actions are
good or bad, noble and glori-
ous or ignoble and unrighteous,
in all of them Consciousness is
one and the same.
A very daring statement
indeed! Only mystic scholars
who have experienced this
Truth can say it with such
conviction. We can be proud
that historically it was first
stated in the scriptures in India,
though other spiritual masters
have endorsed it in the course
of time.
In the first loka, prajnam
was described as the Pure Con-
sciousness that illumines all my
experiences. Now the Teacher
says that it is this same Con-
sciousness that illumines the
experiences of all living crea-
tures, and this is called Brahman.
People go all the way to
Tirupati for brahma-daran on a
Friday, when the deity takes a
bath. It is also called viva
daranam, seeing the vir rpa
of the Lord, without His orna-
ments and attire, which are
merely updhis. When the
updhis are removed, pure
Brahman is recognised. You have
to pay a hefty sum for that
daran; it shows that you have
to make a lot of sacrifices,
renounce the BMI (body-mind-
intellect) in order to see His
viva rpa, His pure nature.
The caitanya (Consciousness)
in the Lord and the caitanya in
me are one and the same. But
at this moment, since I cannot
conceive the caitanya alone, I am
told to hold on to the idol, an
external symbol. The idol helps
me to withdraw my mind from
other dissipating thoughts.
When I concentrate on the idol
and surrender myself, the
equipments of BMI vanish, and
the OET (objects-emotions-
thoughts) also disappear. In that
still moment of utter bhakti, the
highest devotion, everything,
including the idol, melts into the
one Pure Consciousness. Thus
the Siva-tattva or the Vishnu-
tattva is realised, experienced.
The Upanishads tell us to
leave the equipments of body
and mind, and enter deep
within ourselves abhyantara
to discover the tman. In
Vedanta, within means more
pervasive the pramaya koa
(vital air sheath) is within the
annamaya koa (food sheath),
meaning it is more pervasive,
being subtler. So also, the
manomaya koa (mental sheath)
is within the pramaya koa, the
vijnamaya koa (intellectual
sheath) is subtler still and more
pervasive, avidy pervades all of
them and, finally, the tman
that is at the core pervades
everything else, while nothing
else pervades it: vsyam-ida
sarva yatkica jagaty jagat
1

all this that moves in this
universe is pervaded by God.
This Consciousness is called
Brahman. Hence the Conscious-
ness in me is also Brahman
According to the first verse, that
which illumines every experi-
ence in my bosom is prajna.
The second verse states that the
illumining factor in every living
creature is one and the same,
and it is known as Brahman. As
a living human being, I am
conscious of the things inside
me and outside me; the objects
I perceive are not Brahman; my
instruments of experience (BMI)
are not Brahman, but the
Consciousness in me is Brahman.
So if I realise this Conscious-
ness, I shall realise Brahman.
Though Brahman is all perva-
ding, only by becoming aware
of the Consciousness in me can
I realise Brahman.
Everything else changes, but
in all changes there is a Knower
of the change. This Knowing
Principle that makes us aware
of the changes is something
other than the change.
Kathopanishad explains that the
changeless in the midst of all
change, the sentient in the midst
of insentient things, is this Con-
sciousness which knows all
changes. Consciousness alone is
the subject, while all the chang-
ing phenomena are perceived,
and hence remain the objects.
This one Consciousness that is
the same everywhere is called
Brahman, the ultimate Reality.
This Consciousness, the
centre of the universe, the pivot
around which all things happen,
the axle around which the
whole universe revolves, this
changeless entity is the same in
each one of us. It is the fulcrum
around which all my physical,
mental, and intellectual activi-
ties take place, all the paca koas
function, all the three states
(avasths) of waking (jgrat),
dream (svapna), and deep sleep
(suupti) alternate, all joys and
sorrows are experienced. All of
1
Ishavasya Upanishad, 1
them are known by, illumined
by, one changeless entity, the
Light of Consciousness, and that
is known as Brahman.
This Light of Consciousness
by which I know what I know,
is the Light of Consciousness by
which you know what you
know it is the same in you
and me. Our instruments of
experiences may be different;
the objects in front of us may
be different. You may be wear-
ing green glasses, and so all that
you see appears green. What
you see will depend on the type
of instrument with which you
are seeing. But the light in
which we are seeing is one and
the same the sunlight. The
arrangement of furniture in each
house may be different, the
objects that we see may be
different, but all of them are
illumined by the one sunlight.
In the same way, my mind may
be tuned to philosophy, your
intellect may delight in
medicine and yet another in
law. Thus our instruments of
experience may be different, but
the Consciousness behind them
remains one and the same
caitanya ekam.
In a blind man the instru-
ments of eyes do not function.
So there are no colours or light
in his world. But he comes to
know the shape of things by
feeling them, touching them.
When he touches an object and
thus sends a stimulus to the
mind, a form is conceived in the
intellect. Who illumines that
touch? The same Consciousness
that lit up the colour and form
for me illumines the form alone
for him.
Consciousness is the same
and present everywhere, whe-
ther in deities or human beings,
whether criminal or divine,
whether in the Guru whom you
revere or in you yourself. This
one Infinite Consciousness is
called Brahman. In all the seven
seas of the world the water is
the same. If I take a few drops
of water from the Arabian Sea,
put it in a test tube, and learn
the composition of that water, I
would have understood the
composition of all oceanic
water. Similarly there is one
Infinite Consciousness present
in all forms in the world, every-
where, at all times. It is present
in me too. By learning to see it
in myself, I can learn to see it
everywhere.
Thus, in the first two verses,
the Mahvkya from the Aitareya
Upanishad in Rigveda - prajna
brahma is explained clearly.
G
Tapovan Prasad 9 June 2008
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 3
pirpU [R > praTma=iSmn!
de he iv*aixkairi[,
bu e > sai]tya iSwTva
S ) rhimtIyR te .
paripra partmsmin
dehe vidydhikrii,
buddhe skitay sthitv
sphurannahamitryate.
The all-full Supreme Self that
shines as the witness of the intellect
in this body fit for Knowledge is
called I.
Now the Teacher takes up
the next Mahvkya from Briha-
daranyaka Upanishad in Yajur-
veda: aha brahmsmi I am
Brahman. This is called anubhava
vkya. It is the final thunderous
roar of experience when the stu-
dent cries out, I considered
myself till now this conditioned
entity, conditioned by the de-
mands of my body, mind and
intellect, and was not aware of
my true Self as the Pure
Consciousness. I was aware of
only the body, the mind, the in-
tellect and their functions. Thus,
conditioned by them all, I
thought of myself as the PFT
(perceiver-feeler-thinker). Con-
ditioned by the BMI (body-
mind-intellect), I played the part
of the PFT, in the world of OET
(objects-emotions-thoughts).
From this individual known to
me all my life and probably for
millions and trillions of past
lives, this arrogant physical ego
that I considered myself to be, I
have now woken up to find
myself the Infinite Brahman.
There are three words in this
statement: aham I, Brahma,
asmi- am. In this verse, the
word I is being defined. When
the seeker flows and glides into
the mystic experience of infin-
ity and cries out in wonder thus,
what does he mean by aham?
He has hatched out of his
limited equipments and realised
the Highest. Does he use the I
to mean the limited individual
Mahavakya
Viveka 6
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
entity, the son of his father, the
wife/husband of so and so, the
worker/boss in the factory or
office?
At this moment, when we
say I we mean this limited
individuality, limited by the
body, the mind, the intellect,
conditioned by the various
relationships. This I (aham) can
never be the all-pervading
infinite Reality. This is very
clear. Hence, when the Teacher
says aha brahmsmi I am
Brahman, we feel that either he
is mad or we have not under-
stood him in the right sense. We
know that we are born, we are
ever-changing, ever-dying. We
are sad and miserable with one
agitation or the other. The
Upanishads declare that this
infinite Consciousness is un-
born, undying, changeless, all-
pervading, unconditioned One
without a second. How can the
imperfect, the limited, the finite,
the sorrowful, the changing, the
perishable, the miserable dying
thing be the infinite, the eter-
nal, the perfect, the all-full? It is
a day and night difference. They
are poles apart. Therefore, if the
Teacher says aha brahmsmi
or the mystic sages come to this
conclusion in their anubhava
(experience), they mean some-
thing different from what we
mean by the term aham I.
What exactly they mean is indi-
cated in this verse.
Paripra means the all-full,
unconditioned (aparicchinna) by
place (dea), time (kla), or
objects (vastu). So this Supreme
Truth does not belong to the
Einsteinian world of time and
space where an object cannot
exist without time and space. It
is paripra, full at all times. At
this moment we feel that The
tman, that is me, is conditioned
by my body, mind and intellect.
In order to show that it is never
conditioned, the word paripra
is used.
Partm, meaning the Supre-
me Self, resides in this body
(asmin dehe), which is capable of
the highest Knowledge (vidy-
dhikrii). Only a human being,
the most highly evolved crea-
ture, the roof and crown of
creation, is fit for this Know-
ledge tma vidy. Among
human beings also, not many
are capable of this experience of
the Self. An individual becomes
fit for the highest experience
only when he has withdrawn
and given up the passion for the
world of objects, and when he
has brought his sense organs
and the organs of action under
control. Further, he has to pu-
rify his mind (antakaraa
uddhi) through worship (up-
san). A pure mind has fewer
agitations and remains calm.
Calmness of mind is generally
disturbed by thoughts, and
thoughts are created from
vsans. Therefore a calm mind
means that the vsans are
exhausted. Vsans can be
exhausted through devotion
and action. Thus, when we have
purified the mind through bhakti
yoga and karma yoga, making it
calm and quiet, the intellect
becomes clear and capable of
contemplation.
Animals cannot do this. They
do not have the intellect to dis-
criminate the good from the
bad. Only a human being is
capable of evolving to a state
where the mind can receive the
highest Knowledge that will end
all avidy, the non-apprehension
of Reality.
One may wonder where in
this body resides the Self, the
tman, the Supreme Reality
whether behind the heart, above
the head, under the pancreas,
near the kidneys, or any other
An individual becomes
fit for the highest experi-
ence only when he has
withdrawn and given up
the passion for the world
of objects, and when he has
brought his sense organs
and the organs of action
under control.
2
This Light of Awareness is not to be
confused with physical light.
part of the body. Consciousness
is not gross; it is very subtle and
pervasive. It remains as the
witness of all the activities in
this physical body, a witness of
even the intellect, the subtlest.
The intellect is subtler than the
mind, the mind is subtler than
the sense organs. Consciousness
is a witness of the sense objects,
the activities of the sense
organs, the emotions in the
mind, and the thoughts in the
intellect. By its very presence it
illumines them all svasnni-
dhya mtrea. It does not get
involved in the activities of the
body, mind and intellect. All the
worlds of matter draw their
nurture and nourishment from
this Infinite Consciousness.
Each one acts according to the
allotted function, and the
quality of the activities depends
on the types of vsans that rule
over them. The Consciousness,
the Supreme Self, the paripra
partm, remains merely a
witness sk mtra.
Kenopanishad says that
Consciousness, the Light that
illumines our thoughts, can be
known with each thought it
illumines pratibodha vidita
matam
1
. The thoughts them-
selves are not Consciousness.
This plate you see is not only
the plate, but something else
also. Had I shown this plate to
you in utter darkness, you
would not have been able to
identify it. So what you are
seeing now is not only the ma-
terial of the plate or the form of
the plate, but also the light that
is illumining it. What you are
seeing is the plate plus light. So
what is light? Light is what you
are seeing, minus the object.
Let us go a step further in
place of the plate, keep your
thoughts. Thoughts keep
moving: I am happy, I am
unhappy; I am restless or
miserable. The principle of
Consciousness is not affected by
these thoughts in your mind,
but all your thoughts are illu-
mined by the Consciousness. It
is not involved in your joys or
sorrows, just as the sun is not
involved in the tragedy or
comedy that is played out on
the earth in its presence. The
witness of an accident is not
involved in the accident. The
witness or the sk remains
apart from the thing that is
witnessed. Similarly, this Light
2
of Consciousness, this paripra
1
Kenopanishad, 2.4
partm, remains the uninvolved
witness of all our activities
physical, mental or intellectual.
This point is explained beau-
tifully by Sri Sankaracharya in
Atma Bodha. Sunlight is avai-
lable to every individual to
carry out his actions in the
world outside, but it is not
involved in the individuals
activities. Whether we know it
or not, we draw energy from the
sun. If the sun were not there,
all our activities would come to
a standstill. The sun shines from
far away. It does not come indi-
vidually to each person with a
packet of energy! Sunlight is
equally available for all to draw
upon. As we wake up in the
morning, it has already spread
out its light and energy lavishly.
Also, we need not sit in one
place to receive it. We move
around engrossed in our activi-
ties only because of its presence.
We are not even aware of it as
the source of all our energy, and
the sun does not want us to
acknowledge it either. With the
energy that we get from it, we
may even try to destroy the sun
itself! The sun doesnt care.
Drawing our energy uncon-
sciously from the sun, each
one of us acts according to
ones own free will, ones own
vsans. The sun does not inter-
fere. Similarly, the tman, the
Self in us, the Consciousness in
us, says neither yes nor no.
The intellect can dance accord-
ing to its vsans. The mind can
dance according to the intellect.
The physical actions may be
good, bad, or indifferent accord-
ing to the vsans. But all
through this, the tman shines
as the witness skitay sthitv
sphuran. If that illumination is
gone from the individual, he is
inert like stone or mud.
We become fit to perceive the
Consciousness, the Supreme
Self, by training the sense
organs, the mind, and the intel-
lect asmindehe vidydhikrii.
When these equipments of
experience are tuned up
properly, we apprehend the
The mind can dance
according to the intellect.
The physical actions may
be good, bad, or indiffer-
ent according to the
vsans. But all through
this, the tman shines as
the witness...
Infinite, the Witness behind the
intellect (buddhe sk) not the
thoughts, but the Knower of the
thoughts, the Illuminator of the
thoughts, the Light of Con-
sciousness, the paripra partm
that illumines each thought-
wave in us.
Thus this great Reality, this
Truth in you, this partm which
is all-pervading, pra, uncon-
ditioned by anything, which
remains as a witness in this
physical body, illumining
even your thoughts this
principle of Consciousness in
you known as the tman is what
is referred to as I ahamitryate.
This is the meaning of aham
in the Mahvkya aha
brahmsmi.
Generally we use the word
I (aham) to indicate the physi-
cal, mental, or intellectual entity
in us. We say I am hungry, I
am tired with reference to the
physical body. We denote the
mental entity by saying I am
angry or I am in love. We refer
to our intellectual convictions
when we say, I am a commu-
nist, a socialist or a religious
person. The Consciousness
conditioned by the convictions
cries out that I am this or that.
But, in fact, this tman, the Self,
is unconditioned by anything. It
is pra all-full.
This pra tman within me
that illumines my thoughts
must be the Brahman even in me
Thus the Mahvkya uses the
familiar word I to refer to the
Supreme Consciousness in me.
In the context of this Mahvkya,
I is not the ordinary limited
individual mortal, finite and
ever sorrowful. It is the very
Consciousness, in the presence
of which all our activities take
place. That paripra partman,
the Self in me, is called aham
in the grand statement aha
brahmsmi.
G
Tapovan Prasad 10 July 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 7
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 4
Svt> pU [R > praTma=
zBde n vi[R t>,
ASmITyE KypramzR >
te n vaMyhm! .
svata pra partmtra
brahmaabdena varita,
asmtyaikya-parmara tena
brahma bhavmyaham.
Here (in the Mahvkya aham
brahmasmi), the Supreme Self that
is all-full in itself is represented by
the word Brahman; the word asmi
indicates the oneness of I and
Brahman; hence I am Brahman.
There is a famous statement
in Vedanta: jpakameva stra,
na tu krakam Scriptural texts
give only information about the
Reality, they do not create
(enlightenment). Brahmavidy
cannot create a brhmaa one
who knows, or is striving to
know Brahman. The Upanishads
and the Gita tell us about the
goal, how to reach the goal, and
what would be our experience
after realising it. A person may
have studied all this, yet that
knowledge may not be reflected
in his behaviour. One does not
improve automatically just by
becoming a Mission member or
going to a Guru.
Take the example of a
doctors prescription. Reading
the prescription daily will not
cure the disease. A health maga-
zine contains no health. It
merely gives information about
good health, how it can be
maintained and improved.
Unless the reader regulates his
activities according to the
instructions, he cannot see any
improvement. Similarly, stra
is only vedanya; it gives the
Veda knowledge. It makes you
aware of your wrong way of
living because of which you are
getting minimum happiness in
life. Then it indicates the Truth,
shows the path to reach it and
the pitfalls on the way. Such
information is necessary, but we
have to make the effort, knock
at the gates of Truth and enter
to be one with it.
The individual has to make
the effort to prepare himself to
receive the knowledge. The
previous verse mentioned: dehe
vidydhikrii
1
in this body
that is fit to receive the know-
ledge. Though one has been
gifted with a human body, this
preparation has to be the indi-
viduals contribution. Vednta
Sstra explains that by tuning
up our personality, we can live
a dynamic, full life which will
take us to greater heights of
glory, peace and perfection,
ultimately making us realise
aha brahmsmi.
In this Mahvkya, the word
aham (I) does not refer to the
limited, conditioned entity of
the body-mind-intellect which is
the literal meaning or vcyrtha.
The lakyrtha or the indicated
meaning is the Pure Conscious-
ness in me that illumines even
the thoughts of the intellect.
Thoughts are only the objects
illumined. I the light that
illumines them is not connect-
ed with the objects at all. The
light that falls on a plate and
illumines it is not conditioned
by the plate. If the plate is
moved away, the light continues
to shine by itself svata. Hence
the word aham here indicates
the light of Consciousness that
illumines everything in this
world for us even our own
thoughts and emotions.
The Pure Consciousness in
me is a witness to my dancing
thoughts (skitay sthitv
2
). This
is explained in the naka dpa
prakaraa
3
with the metaphor of
the dance hall. Consciousness is
described as the light in the
theatre that illumines the
audience, the prabhu (patron,
generally the king in those
days), the dancing girl and the
accompanists. The accompanists
are the sense organs, the danc-
ing girl is the intellect, the
prabhu is the ego, the audience
is the sense objects. The light
that is illumining them all at
once is the Pure Consciousness,
the tman. The intellect dances
in a thousand ways to the tune
of the sense organs for the
enjoyment of the prabhu, the
ego. However, if the light fails,
the show comes to an end. In
the olden days there was only
one light illumining everything
in the hall. So if the light fails,
1
Mahavakya Viveka, Verse 3
2
Ibid
3
Panchadasi, Ch. 10
the girl cannot dance, nor can
anyone enjoy it. This light of
Consciousness, in the presence
of which the intellect dances,
which illumines at once the
intellect, the mind, its vsans,
the ego and the world of objects
this Light is called aham here.
It refers to the tman, the Self,
the Consciousness.
Now, let us see how the
word Brahman is described in
this verse: svata pra partm
the Supreme Reality (partm),
by itself (svata), complete
(pra), that is, unconditioned
by space, time and objects (dea
kla vastu aparicchinna). It is
svata, exists by itself, meaning
without the help of anything
else itara sahya anapekya. It
is complete by itself. It is
unconditioned and all-perva-
ding like space. Everything
exists in it. Nothing can condi-
tion (limit) it. This is how the
word Brahman is used here
atra that is in the Mahvkya
aha brahmsmi.
Brahman is the one Infinite
Consciousness present every-
where, which by its own nature
is unconditioned by time, space
and causality. It is beyond the
intellect. The Pure Conscious-
ness in me, in the light of which
all my thoughts become evident
and clear for me, is the Con-
sciousness present everywhere.
The third word is asmi (am).
It indicates the oneness (aikya
parmara) of aham (I) and Brah-
man, the Supreme Reality I
am Brahman. Aham is the light
of Consciousness in me lighting
up the limited world of my
thoughts, my emotions, and the
objects around me. Brahman is
the total Consciousness present
everywhere. So the light of
Consciousness functioning in
me is nothing other than, is one
and the same with, Brahman
the Supreme Consciousness, the
eternal and infinite Reality
behind the whole universe.
Thus, by this knowledge
(tena anena jnena) presented
in the Mahvkya, the man of
wisdom understands that I am
Brahman brahma bhavmi aham.
I does not refer to the indi-
vidual entity that we think
ourselves to be at present. At
this moment I am identified
with the physical body and as-
sociate myself with adjectives
like lean, tall, fat, Swami etc.
Identifying with the physical
body, I have fever, pain, etc.
Identifying with the mind and
its condition, I am agitated,
anxious and so on. Identifying
with the intellect, I say that I
dont know, I am doubtful, I
will do it, etc.
I in this case refers to the
ego awakened to the higher
plane of Consciousness. A
dreamer who is suffering in the
dream with his dream wife,
dream children and the sorrows
in the dream, also says I. How-
ever, when he says I after
waking up from the dream, he
does not refer to his dream self;
it is the awakened I.
The Infinite Consciousness,
conditioned by the body, mind
and intellect, plays the part of
the physical, emotional, and
intellectual entities in us. This
Pure Awareness or Conscious-
ness in me (aham) is the Pure
Infinite Consciousness in the
bosom of everybody else.
Thus, in the ultimate
analysis, aha brahmsmi is a
further explanation of prajna
brahma the Mahvkya from the
Rigveda explained in the first
two verses. There it was said
that if prajnam, the Conscious-
ness present everywhere, is
Brahman, then the Conscious-
ness present in me is also
Brahman prajna brahma
mayyapi. This logical conviction
is followed up with the
direct experience that I am
Brahman.
This experience at the time
of meditation is called anubhava
vkya. Jpakameva stra, na tu
krakam the scriptures can only
give information, they cannot
make you Brahman. By study-
ing the stra, we may get the
assurance that we are divine,
yet continue to be unhappy,
worried, agitated, bound to the
world outside with our attach-
ments. The more we struggle to
come out of it, the more the
knots tighten. This is due to
our identification with the body,
mind and intellect. By merely
reading, or listening to
discourses, one may feel that
one has understood the Mah-
vkyas. One may even agree
intellectually with the writer or
the speaker. That does not
remove our sorrows.
We can redeem ourselves
only through self-effort. It can
be done only in this body (asmin
arre) and not after death. The
body and mind have to be
tuned up (vidydhikrii), ready
to receive the supreme know-
ledge. The tuning is done by
cultivating viveka (discrimina-
tion), vairgya (dispassion), a-
sampatti (the six treasures or
qualities) and mumukutvam
(desire for Liberation) that we
have studied earlier.
Those who have cultivated
these qualities and turned the
mind inward may continue to
interact in the world outside,
while remaining aware of the
greater Reality all the time. The
mind cannot be tuned unless the
existing vsans are exhausted;
the vsans cannot get exhausted
unless we act in the world out-
side. But if we act in the world
outside driven by the vsans,
more and more vsans are cre-
ated. According to the third
chapter of the Gita, when the
ego and ego-centric desires are
eliminated from us as a result
of acting in a spirit of dedica-
tion and surrender in the world
outside, the vsans get
exhausted. No new vsans are
created. The mind becomes
purer. Thus through bhakti
devotion, and through karma
yoga acting and fulfilling our
duties in the world in a spirit of
dedication, the vsans get
exhausted; the mind becomes
purer, making this a vidydhi-
krii arra, a body ready to
receive the Brahma Vidya.
Thus tuned up, you see not
just the thoughts, but that which
illumines the thoughts. When
we try to focus on the light of
Consciousness that illumines
the thoughts, our attention is
not on the thoughts. We become
aware of the light of Conscious-
ness to the exclusion of all
thoughts, emotions and percep-
tions. In that hushed moment
of contact with the Pure
Consciousness, the Awareness
in me will be recognised as the
Awareness present everywhere.
Tapovan Prasad 7 August 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 8
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
A
fter explaining the
Mahvkyas from Rigveda
and Yajurveda, Swami Vidya-
ranya takes up for discussion
the Mahvkya tat tvam asi from
the Chandogya Upanishad in
Samaveda. There the Mahvkya
is embedded in a story. Aaruni
had sent his son Shvetaketu to
the Gurukula to be educated.
When the boy returned, he went
around with a bloated head
thinking that he had understood
everything. The father asked
casually one day, Son! You
must have studied everything
there. The son replied proudly,
Yes. The fourteen Sastras, the
Upapuranas, the Puranas I have
learnt everything. Gently the
father asked, Did your teacher
tell you about that Knowledge
by knowing which all that is
unheard becomes heard, all
things unfelt become felt, all
that is not known becomes
known?
The sons attention was
caught immediately. He regret-
ted that it was not taught and
requested his father to give him
that Knowledge. The father
started from the beginning:
sadeva saumya idam-agra st
1

in the beginning, before all
creation, Existence alone was
there. Later the names and
1
Chandogya Upanishad, 6.2.1
forms (nma-rpa) were created.
So I exist, you exist, he exists,
the tree exists, the animal exists,
the stone exists, the sun,
the moon and the stars exist.
Existence is the common
denominator.
The shape of the wave,
bubble, foam and ripple rose
only from the ocean. The ocean
existed before all these forms
came up. The ocean will exist
even if they are not there, but
they can exist only in the ocean.
Similarly, before creation, Exist-
ence alone was there.
Then the father explains it in
nine different ways with differ-
ent examples. At each point the
teacher drives home the essen-
tial truth tat tvam asi That
thou art. Shvetaketu is told to
put some salt in the kamadalu
filled with water and check it
the next day. He finds no salt
there, but only water. The water
tastes salty whether from the
top or the bottom portion.
Through this the father teaches
him the lesson that Existence
permeates everything, though it
is not seen as such. That thou
art. You are not the water, but
the salt that has gone into the
water, into its inter-molecular
spaces.
Next he explains it with the
example of the tiny seed of a
banyan tree. He asks the student
to open it up layer after layer,
the cotyledons, till there is noth-
ing more to peel. That nothing
he says is the banyan tree. That
is the primary shoot, the plume
and the radical. That insignifi-
cant imperceptible thing is the
source of the mighty banyan
tree. Thus nine different
examples are given. And the
teacher says: O Shvetaketu,
dear son, tat tvam asi That thou
art! You are not my son; you
are not the body, the mind or
the intellect. You are that Reality
alone. Realise it.
Sastra is only jpakam, not
krakam; it gives only the infor-
mation, it cannot transform you.
Therefore each time the teacher
gave an example, the student
went back and contemplated on
it. But his mind was not pure
enough; therefore he could not
fathom that subtle Conscious-
ness, the essence of his own Self.
And therefore he came back to
the teacher nine times. The
teacher explained patiently until
he realised the Truth.
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 5
9TP 4l|6l4 B6 +lP-9|44|= 6P
B 7 - 9 l5 +l5-4F4 6lc4
6|76l4 6 +
ekamevdvitya sat
nmarpavivarjitam,
se purdhunpyasya
tdktva taditryate.
One alone, without a second,
pure Existence, without names and
forms, sat was there before
creation, and it is so even now. It is
called tad or that.
The first part of this verse is
a direct echo of the mantra in
the Chandogya Upanishad, where
Aaruni begins to teach his son
Shvetaketu: sadeva saumya
idamagra st, ekameva advityam
In the beginning there was
Existence alone, one without a
second. There was nothing
either like it or different from it
or other than it sajtya vijtya
svagata bheda rahita vastu. This
implication of advitya (one
without a second) should
always be remembered. Sajtya
means the distinction within a
species, as between man and
man; vijtya is the distinction
between two species like man
and buffalo; svagata bheda is the
distinction within oneself like
the head and the legs, the eyes
and the hands etc.
Limited things will have
these distinctions. We can com-
pare and contrast them with
other things. But sat Pure
Existence that was there before
all creation was one without a
second. In order to elucidate the
idea further, the teacher here
explains it as nmarpa vivarji-
tam without any distinction of
names and forms. The forms
come into being only after
creation. And when the forms
come, we can give them names.
I cannot enquire the name of a
child that is yet unborn. Only
after the birth of the child, the
name is given. A name is neces-
sary only when the object is
already there. Before creation,
language was not necessary
because names were not there;
there was no other to commu-
nicate with. Thus nmarpa
vivarjitam means that the world
of names and forms was not
there, not yet created.
This Consciousness, this
pra vastu, this sat, Pure
Existence, was one without a
second before creation (se
pur), and even now (adhun api)
it is the same. This is because
the world of names and forms
is only a hallucination or a
projection (sakalpa-vikalpa) of
the mind. Even while you are
seeing the ghost and getting
frightened, the reality behind it,
the post, remains changeless
the post alone. But alas! the post
is not recognised. Therefore the
mind construes (sakalpa) a
ghost and suffers its sorrows
(vikalpa). Even while I am
dreaming that I am the greatest
man in the world, I am nothing
but the unemployed person
starving by the roadside. I have
not changed. What I am in the
waking condition will not
change by the dream condition.
While the dream lasts, to the
dreamer, the dream is real, and
nothing else is real.
The entire world of names
and forms (nmarpa jagat) is
only an adhysa a superimpo-
sition. Superimposition means
projecting something on another
thing. Thereafter, the Reality is
not recognised because the
projection veils it. This trick of
the mind is called adhysa.
When the intellect is clouded
and cannot understand a thing
in its real nature, the mind
projects something else there,
and we recognise only that
which we have projected, and
not things as they are in reality.
Thus, by not recognising, not
being aware of the pure
Consciousness in ourselves, the
mind, in its confusion, projects
a world of names and forms
the BMI (body-mind-intellect),
the PFT (perceiver-feeler-
thinker) and OET (objects-
emotions-thoughts). And this
jagat (world) which is ever
changing gives all kinds of
sorrows to individuals. The
individual who is thus the
author of the sakalpa and the
sufferer of the vikalpa is called
the individualised ego you
and I.
Even now (adhun api), if the
sakalpa-vikalpa of the mind are
quietened, we can recognise the
Truth in the hushed state. Pure
Existence remains the same
tdk-eva. Even now, if the
causes for the projection of the
world of plurality the mind
and the intellect in us are
controlled, regulated, quietened
completely, and transcended,
we can experience Pure Exist-
ence as it was before creation.
Its nature (asya tdktvam)
remains the same as it was
before creation, without names
and forms, one alone without a
second. This is called tad
taditryate.
Let us see it from another
angle. Even before creation,
there must have been something
out of which creation came into
being. It is impossible to create
something out of nothing. If
creation is there, it implies
something that existed before;
without a cause an effect is
Even now, if the causes
for the projection of the
world of plurality the
mind and the intellect in
us are controlled, regu-
lated, quietened completely,
and transcended, we can
experience Pure Existence
as it was before creation.
impossible. This world is made
up of names and forms. So if
we remove the names and
forms, what is left? An unscien-
tific thinker would say that
nothing is left. If nothingness
alone was there earlier, how did
the names and forms come into
being? All of us say that things
are. The plate is there. The
table is here. We experience the
existence of things. This isness
or areness this Existence
must have been there before
anything was created, before
names and forms were differ-
entiated. When the name and
the form of the plate are gone,
the existence or isness alone
remains.
For example, there was only
space where this hall exists now.
Then, in that space, the build-
ing was made. The building and
the hall in the building exist in
space. We say that there is no
space inside the hall; outside
there is space. This outer or
inner space was not there before
the building was made; there
was only space. And that space
was not eliminated when the
building was made. Because of
the building, the space which
was one is now recognised as
inner and outer space. Similarly,
before creation, there must have
been Pure Existence, and that
Existence is there even today,
though I, you and other
things also exist. If all these I,
you, it etc. are removed, Pure
Existence alone will be there.
This Pure Existence which was
there before creation, which
now expresses through creation,
is indicated by the word tad.
The teacher, Aaruni, started
the discourse by saying that
there was nothing but Sat or
Existence before names and
forms were projected. Therefore
in the conclusion, when the
teacher says tat tvam asi That
thou art, the word That refers
to the Pure Existence with
which the discussion started.
G
Tapovan Prasad 6 September 2008
Mahavakya
Viveka 9
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 6
ae tu de R he iNyatIt< vSTv Tv< pde irtm! ,
@kta ate =sIit tdE Kymnu U ytam! .
roturdehendriytta
vastvatra tva paderitam,
ekat grhyatesti
tadaikyam-anubhyatm.
That essence in the listener
which transcends his body and the
sense organs is referred to by the
word you (tvam), and the word
are (asi) points out the oneness.
So the oneness (of the individual
Consciousness and the Supreme
Consciousness) is to be experi-
enced.
rotu means the individual
who is listening, the disciple in
this case. The Teacher points out
that the word you in the
Mahvkya tat-tvam-asi That
you are, refers to the Pure Con-
sciousness in the disciple who
is listening to him; it is that
which transcends (atta) his
body (deha) and sense organs
(indriya). Here the sense organs
include the outer (bhyendriya or
bhyakaraa) and the inner
(antarendriya or antakaraa)
equipments. The essential
element in the listener without
which he cannot exist, and
which transcends the BMI
(body-mind-intellect) of the
listener, is the Reality, the
Supreme Truth, Pure Con-
sciousness.
When the Consciousness
functions through the body, we
become aware of the outer
world of objects, when it func-
tions through our mind, we
become aware of our emotions
and when it functions through
the intellect, we become aware
of our thoughts. When we tran-
scend our own body, mind and
intellect, we can apprehend the
Pure Consciousness that func-
tions through our equipments.
In the first Mahvkya, this
enlivening spirit in the indivi-
dual has already been explained
as the Pure Consciousness
prajna brahma mayyapi. In
aha brahmsmi, aham or I
was defined as the witness, the
light of Consciousness that illu-
mines all our thoughts. Now the
Teacher clarifies further that the
word you does not refer to the
social identity, or the physical
equipment. In this context, the
word you (tva pada) means
that vastu or Reality in the stu-
dent which transcends all his
outer instruments of perception
and the inner instruments of
experiences.
In the statement tat-tvam-
asi, the word asi or are means
that tat (That) and tvam (you)
are one and the same. In the
previous verse, tat was
explained as that Pure Existence
which was before all Creation,
and remains the same even
now. All the created things and
beings are merely expressions of
that Pure Existence. These cre-
ations do not at all condition the
Consciousness that plays in and
through them. This Infinite Con-
sciousness, the Reality, the God
from whom all creations arose,
is indicated by the word tat or
That. That Pure Existence, the
Pure Consciousness, and the
Consciousness in you are one
and the same.
When we indicate someone
and say his name, we dont
mean two different entities; they
are the same. Similarly, the
individual and the social iden-
tity are not different in a per-
son. Mr. X will also be a father,
husband, son etc. An army
officer, newly married, was
posted in the warfront. For one
and half years, he and his wife
communicated with each other
only through letters. Finally, he
was granted leave. The captain
took the train for the return
journey with great joy and
enthusiasm. His eagerness was
so great that he could not even
sleep at night. When the train
steamed into the station, he was
leaning out to spot his kith and
kin. His old classmate, who
enjoyed playing pranks at the
expense of others, was there to
receive him. Seeing him, the
captain picked up his luggage,
jumped out of the train, and ran
to meet him. The friend looked
very morose. Though the
captain noticed this, in his joy
and eagerness, he burst forth,
How is Sulochana? The friend
did not respond immediately.
With a serious look, he merely
asked him to take the luggage
and proceed. Then slowly he
remarked, Ah! Poor girl! The
captain was really concerned
now, What happened to her?
The friend said sadly, After all,
who would have imagined this
to happen to her when she is so
young! The captain could
barely control himself, What
happened? The friend said
sorrowfully, She has become a
widow. Listening to this, the
captain started crying aloud in
grief. This attracted the atten-
tion of others at the railway
station, and soon a crowd began
to gather around them.
Realising that things were likely
to get out of hand, the friend
decided to call off the show.
Smile a little! How can your
wife be a widow when you, the
husband, are still alive? He had
thoroughly enjoyed the prank
and the captains lack of
common sense. Mental halluci-
nation because of the lack of
correct thinking was the cause
of the captains grief.
Similarly, not knowing our
true nature as the infinite Self,
we are also weeping. When we
realise that the reality in us is
the Reality which was there
even before creation, and that
we are not contaminated in
spite of the creation of the world
of plurality, all sorrows come to
an end. In the above story, the
captain and the husband of
Sulochana are one and the same,
but the captain forgot this fact
momentarily and thought she
had become a widow. When the
dvaita bhvan (sense of duality)
came, he started weeping for
her. The remedy lay in the
removal of his misunderstand-
ing and the knowledge of
oneness tattvamasi!
In the same way, I think of
myself as the individual ego,
cognise the world of plurality
outside me and suffer. I find
everything to be ephemeral
(anitya), impure (auddha) and
inauspicious (aiva). I pray to
God, beg of Him to remove my
sufferings. The moment I under-
stand the advaita concept that
this Consciousness in me is
nothing but His grace, and that
God and His grace are not
separate, the world becomes
nitya uddha mukta (eternal,
pure and free) here and now.
Hence understand that the
essence in you is the essence
everywhere.
With the word anubhyatm
may you come to experience,
the Teacher indicates that all
that has been explained so far
is just information. The role of
the Sastra and the Teacher has
ended with the explanation of
the meaning of tattvamasi.
Now it is for the student to
experience it.
In Kenopanishad, the Teacher
says, If you say you have
understood, you have under-
stood nothing.
1
Understanding
is only an intellectual apprecia-
tion, just another thought added
to create more agitations in the
intellect. That which illumines
the thoughts is the Reality.
Hence the Teacher here exhorts
the student to experience the
oneness of the Truth in him with
the Truth behind the whole
universe.
1
Kenopanishad, 2. 1
Tapovan Prasad 6 November 2008
Mahavakya Viveka 11
SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
I
n the Mahvkya aya tm
brahma, we have already
examined the meaning of the
terms ayam and tm in detail.
The next verse defines the word
brahma.
Mahvkya Viveka
Verse 8
ZymanSy svR Sy jgtStvmIyR te ,
zBde n td
SvkazaTmpkm! .
dyamnasya sarvasya
jagatastattvamryate,
brahmaabdena tad brahma
svapraktmarpakam.
The essence of the entire visible
world is denoted by the word
Brahman. That Brahman is of the
nature of the self-shining Self.
Dyamnasya sarvasya means
all that is seen or perceived. In
the larger sense of the term, it
means not only the objects
perceived through the sense
organs, but also all that is
apprehended by the mind and
intellect. Through the sense
organs, the names and forms are
perceived at the physical level
the sound, smell, touch, taste and
form. With the mind, we
perceive various emotions and
feelings. The intellect compre-
hends various thoughts, ideas,
ideals and abstract concepts.
The world (jagat) that we
know is made up of all these
perceptions.
The word jagat means ever-
changing. No experience in the
world is permanent. Mountains,
the sun, the earth and the ocean
may seem relatively permanent,
but actually the ocean is also
ever changing, and so are the
mountains and other natural
phenomena. Thus everything in
the world is constantly chang-
ing, including our own percep-
tions, emotions and thoughts.
The friend today becomes the
enemy tomorrow. A staunch
socialist today may become a
power crazy person tomorrow.
Ideals change, ideas change,
thoughts change, emotions
change, the perceived world
changes. Even our instruments
of perception change. The world
is but a welter of changes and
this realm of change is called
jagat. Generally the word jagat
is merely translated as world,
but as students of Vedanta, we
must remember the definition
given by the Rishis: jagati iti
jagat that which is ever chang-
ing is jagat.
This world is constituted of
things that we perceive the
total world of objects, the total
world of emotions, and the total
world of thoughts. This totality
is called jagat. Note that it is the
totality. No individual sees all
the things in the world. I see
only a limited number of
objects, I have limited emotions,
and limited thoughts. Together
they become my limited world.
You see different things, have
different thoughts and emo-
tions, and they form your tiny
little quarter plate of the uni-
verse Another person has a
third idea of the universe. The
total universe is the totality of
all the perceptions, emotions
and thoughts of all living
creatures. And this totality is
called jagat.
The tattva or reality behind
this entire universe is denoted by
the word brahma. In other
words, the changeless factor in
the midst of all changes is
Brahman. It is the presence of this
changeless factor that makes all
experiences possible; in its
absence no experience is ever
possible for anyone. It is the nitya
vastu (eternal thing) in the midst
of the changing phenomena, the
one factor of Consciousness in
the midst of inert, insentient
matter.
1
Seek it within yourself.
That is meditation.
It is very difficult to pinpoint
this changeless factor in oneself
though each one of us is so sure
of the existence of me. I know
that I was a child once, then
became a young man, and have
grown old now. Who is the I
that knows all these changes?
When we analyse, we find that
in our childhood we were aware
of the childhood joys and
sorrows, in our young age we
were aware of the experiences
of youth, and in old age we are
aware of the experiences of old
age. In joy, we are aware of
joy; in sorrow, we are aware of
it; in disappointment we are
aware of it this awareness
is the common factor every-
where.
It is Consciousness that
illumines the revelry of child-
hood, the vivacity of youth, the
disappointments of middle-age,
and the tragedies of old age. The
one constant factor among all
these changes is the Light of
Consciousness. That alone could
be me, logically. Childhood,
youth, old age, happiness and
unhappiness are all merely the
objects of my Consciousness.
This common denominator is
the fulcrum that is constant in
every one, in every experience,
at all times and conditions, in
all places and historical periods.
It is this that is indicated by the
word Brahman (brahmaabdena
rita). This is the tattvam, the
Reality, the substratum, behind
the entire world of change
perceived by all the living
creatures.
This Brahman, the Reality
that we have been discussing,
is self-effulgent, the very nature
of our own Self (svapraka-tma-
rpakam). It is also the essential
and real nature of all living
creatures. Aya tm brahma
This tman in me is the Brahman
everywhere.
1
Kathopanishad, 2. 2. 13
Conclusion
Thus, in these four Mah-
vkyas, the cream of the Upani-
shads, the essence of the advaita
experience of all mystics, is
summarised. The order of
presentation in the Panchadasi is
according to the sequence of the
Vedas Rigveda, Yajurveda, Sa-
maveda and Atharvanaveda. From
the standpoint of a seeker, the
arrangement is slightly differ-
ent. The first Mahvkya: praj-
nam brahma Consciousness is
Brahman is the definition of the
Truth. The student is told that
the Consciousness by which he
becomes aware of everything is
God. He goes away to think and
meditate about this because his
idea of God and religion was
very different. Then he comes
back and asks the Teacher
where and how he can contact
God. The Teacher says, tat-
tvam-asi That you are. That
God you are talking of now, as
if He is far away, is none other
than you. The student is under-
standably bewildered, and
again goes back to meditate.
How can I, a limited creature,
be God? Slowly he puts the two
Mahvkyas together. Brahman is
Consciousness (prajnam), and
the teacher says that I am God.
So the Consciousness in me that
illumines all my experiences
must be God. If I eliminate all
the objects from my mind, pure
Consciousness alone will
remain. Thus, when the mind is
quietened in the seat of medita-
tion, the student understands
that this tm is Brahman aya
tm brahma. This is his experi-
ence (anubhava). The Conscious-
ness in me is the Consciousness
everywhere. After this he goes
to the Teacher again. The
Teacher wants to confirm if he
has truly understood. The
student is dumbstruck. How
can he say that he is God? And
yet, the words tumble out:
aha brahmsmi - I am Brah-
man! The Teacher understands
that this is the thunderous roar
of Realisation.
(Concluded)

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Tapovan Prasad 10 January 2008

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