On Individual Liberation(I, I Am, & I Am X):Pancadasi 7-1/18 According to Tejomayanada

Māyā’s creation is illusory: Māyā has three qualities – sattva (knowledge), rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia). Consciousness reflected in pure sattva of māyā is called God/Īśvara and reflected in rajas and tamas-dominated māyā is called the individual.

~T

The Self is the changeless substratum and of the nature of pure Consciousness. The intellect (in the body) is ever changing and inert. When the Self is reflected in the intellect (in the body), there arises an individual we call ‘I’, the pūruṣa or jīva. Therefore the reflection of Consciousness/Self in the intellect (in the body) gives rise to the individuality.

~T

Algebraically put, the individual (pūruṣa) = Consciousness/Self + intellect (in body) + reflection of Consciousness (cidābhāsa).

~T

The individual – a mix: In the individual we find a mutual superimposition of characteristics of the Self and the conditionings of the body-mind-intellect. Let us understand this through an example of a red hot iron ball (taptāya piṇḍavat). An iron ball is heavy, cold to touch, round in shape and black in colour. Fire is weightless, hot, shapeless and red. When heated, there is a mutual superimposition of qualities which gives rise to a red hot iron ball. The redness and heat belong to the fire and the weight and shape to the iron.

Similarly, in an individual who says, “I am a sane man”, the sanity and manliness are the characteristics of the mind and body, the ‘I’ ness is of the Self/Consciousness and the life is of the reflection of Consciousness. All put together makes the man say ‘I am xyz’.

~T

In the individual who says ‘I am xyz’, xyz are characteristics of the body-mind, I is the Self (pure consciousness/awareness), and am is the reflection of awareness (Self).

~transcreating T

Both bondage and Liberation are for the individual – neither for the pure Self nor the conditionings. The Self is infinite and ever free. The conditionings of the body-mind-intellect are by themselves lifeless and inert, incapable of feeling bound or liberated. It is only the individual reflected in the conditionings and supported by the Self that gets bound or liberated.

~T

To sum up, the pure Self has no thought or experience as ‘I am the pure Self’. Neither the reflection of Consciousness nor the intellect by themselves know or experience anything.

The reflection of Consciousness in the intellect associated totally with the body-mind-intellect is the ‘I’ of the ignorant man. When associated with the assumed individuality, it is the ‘I’ of the wise man whilst transacting in the world and when associated only with the Self, it is the ‘I’ of the wise man in meditation or whilst discussing the nature of the Self.

~T.

Question: The individuality is illusory. It is this individual who gains the knowledge, ‘I am the changeless Self! Then will not the knowledge gained by an illusory entity also be illusory? What then is the use of such illusory knowledge?

Answer: It is true that knowledge gained by the individual is unreal. But that does not make it useless. In fact it serves a very useful purpose of removing the sorrow of saṁsāra which is also unreal.

~T.

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to clarify,

the 'I' is atman is brahman, pure consciousness, awareness, reality,

the 'I am' is the reflection of pure consciousness in the subtle body, the reflection of awareness, individual consciousness, the jiva,

and the 'I am x' is the outer person, body-mind, samsari.

If you think that Buddha, Christ or Krishnamurti speak to the person, you are mistaken. They know well that the vyakti, the outer self, is but a shadow of the vyakta, the inner self, and they address and admonish the vyakta only.

~Nisargadatta

Isa Upanishad and Some Commentaries

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om pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṁ

pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate,

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya

pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate.

om śāntiḥ! śāntiḥ!! śāntiḥ!!!

That is Whole, this is Whole; from the Whole, the Whole becomes manifest. From the Whole, when the Whole is negated, what remains is again the Whole.

~Isa Upanishad Invocation (tr-Chinmayananda)

"The supreme Reality is a homogeneous, one, entire ‘Whole’ and since the apparent appearances of multiple plurality are nothing but superimpositions upon the Truth, they also constitute nothing but the ‘Whole’. Certainly, ‘this Whole’ rises from ‘that Whole’.

...in the emergence of the finite, the Infinite has come to suffer no change. Therefore, when the appearance of the finite world of plurality has, at the realisation of the Infinite, rolled away, the Infinite that remains is the Whole."

~C

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anejadekaṁ manaso javīyo

The Self is the motionless one, swifter than the mind.

~from Isa Upanishad 4 (tr-Chinmayananda)

Anejat, unmoving. The root ejr, implies shaking. Shaking is motion, deviation from one's own condition. It is devoid of this, i.e. It is ever of the same form. And It is ekam, one, in all beings. It is javiyah, faster; manasah, than the mind...

~Shankara (tr-Gambhirananda)

Reality in the form of ‘existence’ is already there, before the mind could reach the spot of its contemplation.

//

Since the Consciousness is all-pervading, It cannot move, and nothing that moves in the universe can ever move except in the medium of Consciousness.

~Chinmayananda

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tadejati tannaijati

taddūre tadvantike,

tadantarasya sarvasya

tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ.

That moves, That does not move;

That is far off, That is very near;

That is inside all this,

and That is also outside all this.

~Isa Upanisad 5 (tr-Gambhirananda)

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Kena 2.4 Pratibodha-viditam(Brahman is known through every cognition)

pratibodhaviditaṁ matam amṛtatvaṁ hi vindate, ātmanā vindate vīryaṁ vidyayā vindate’mṛtam. (2.4) 

pratibodha-viditam – known through every cognition; matam – known; amṛtatvam – immortality; hi – indeed; vindate – gains; ātmanā – by oneself; vindate – gains; vīryam – capacity; vidyayā – by knowledge; vindate – gains; amṛtam – immortality

~Kena 2.4 (tr-Dayananda

Brahman is known through every cognition. One, indeed, gains immortality (from that cognition). One gains the capacity (to know) by oneself. (Thereafter) one gains immortality by knowledge.

~Kena 2.4 (tr-Dayananda)

Indeed, he convincingly attains immortality, who intuits It in and through every modification of the mind. Through the Ᾱtman he obtains real strength, and through knowledge, immortality.

~Kena 2.4 (tr-Chinmayananda)

Pratibodha-viditam, known with reference to each state of intelligence. By the word bodha are meant the cognitions acquired through the intellect. The Self, that encompasses all ideas as Its objects, is known in relation to all these ideas. Being the witness of all cognitions, and by nature nothing but the power of Consciousness, the Self is indicated by the cognitions themselves, in the midst of cognitions, as pervading (all of) them. There is no other door to Its awareness. Therefore when Brahman is known as the innermost Self (i.e. witness) of cognitions, then is It matam, known, that is to say, then there is Its complete realization. Only by accepting Brahman as the witness of all cognitions can it be established that It is by nature a witness that is not subject to growth and decay, and is eternal, pure in essence, the Self, unconditioned, and one in all beings...

~Shankara's commentary on Kena 2.4 (tr-Gambhirananda)

How, again, is immortality attained through the aforesaid knowledge of the Self? This is being answered. Atmanā, through one's own Self; vindate, (one) attains; vīryam, strength, capacity. The strength got from wealth, friend, incantation, medicine, asuterity, or Yoga cannot conquer death, for it is produced by impermanent things. But the strength, consequent on the knowledge of the Self, is acquired through the Self alone and not through anything else. Thus, since the strength resulting from the knowledge of the Self is independent of any means of acquisition, that strength alone is able to conquer death. Since the strength produced by the knowledge of the Self is thus attained through the Self, therefore, vidyayā, through knowledge about the Self; (one) vindate, attains; amṛtam, immortality.

~Shankara's commentary on Kena 2.4 continued (tr-Gambhirananda)

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In other words, the witness (pure consciousness) is intuited within ordinary cognition, and it is that witness (aka atman) which alone provides the strength for knowledge (brahmavidya) and thus self-realization (immortality).

The Capital of Consciousness

The reflection of consciousness in the subtle body

of functional compounds and organic chemicals

is nothing but pure consciousness—as white water is

nothing but water disturbed by a bed of beliefs

(a belief is like a glacial boulder of thought).

Atman's Prayer

I am brahman.

Aham brahmasmi.

Christ, Krishna, Consciousness.

Materialism is another name for duality. Duality is the ground for all religion. Some kind of god is always on the other side of the great divide.

Some pray to the god of everything.

Some pray to the god of nothing.

Sometimes I get a great notion to pray to myself.

The Powers of Maya

The power, the sakti, of maya is binary. One power projects, creates. This is called viksepa sakti.

And the zero counterpart is veiling. This is called avarana sakti. Dayananda calls this duality the maya code.

But in maya, there's a third power: jnanam sakti. Jnanam is opposed to the veiling power of avarana.

Believing one is a person (I am a samsari) is the veiling of knowledge and projection of ignorance.

The ‘I am’ may be there, but ‘I am brahman’ is the mahavakya of jnanam, the true power of knowledge.

Dream Duet

The mind dreams at night. And consciousness, as the reflection of awareness benighted by conceptual avidya, is dreaming during the day.

But the dreams of consciousness feel real because of the real substrate (satcitananda) upon which they are projected.

Maya feels real and always will feel real. Seeing through avidya is another thing. It’s like waking after a bad dream. You’re still in a dream but no longer of a dream.

Song of Mithya

Vivarta is apparent change, illusory change. Vivarta-vada is the theory of apparent change. See snake and rope. See desert mirage. See maya. See avidya. See seer. See seen. See Vidyaranya.

There are two orders of creation (srsti): parinama and vivarta. Parinama is modification, becoming. In vivarta, there is no becoming. Brahman is immutable, changeless. There may be a golden namarupa, but the gold remains gold.

Satyam is real. Mithya is neither real nor unreal, square circles being unreal. Mithya is satyam but satyam is not mithya. Wave is water but water is not wave. The causal power is maya. Its effect is srsti. Isvara is creator. All of this is mithya. 

Ode to Satcitananda

I is another name for pure existence (sat). Revelation is another name for pure awareness (cit). Beyond is another name for holistic bliss infinity (ananda). Satcitananda is another name for brahman which is another name for the big beyond the bang.

Life is the manifestation of being. Evolution is the manifestation of intelligence. Self-awareness is the manifestation of holistic bliss infinity. With being and existence, presence is sat. With awareness and intelligence, consciousness is cit. With holistic bliss, infinity is ananda.

Satcitananda is brahman, nirguna brahman, the absolute. The manifestation of satcitananda is isvara, saguna brahman, universal consciousness. Isvara minus maya is brahman. Ego minus avidya is atman. Atman is brahman, the end.

Moby Samsara

The reflection of awareness in the subtle body spontaneously activates the intellect, ego, mind, and vital breath. This is called the immaculate conception.

In the beginning, the mind receives and organizes incoming data, the intellect reviews it and makes a decision, the inner-breath / outer-body executes.

But the more Aham identifies with the body-mind the less Aham identifies with consciousness. As body-mind usurps intelligent awareness absolutely—

Aham's body-mind becomes the absolute reality. Believing the true you will die has got to be a real bummer.