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Upadesa Sara

Sloka 22

Who am I?

It was said in verse nineteen that the ego is destroyed when one enquires into its birthplace. The following verse describes how such an inquiry is to be conducted.

vigrahendriya-pranadhitamah,
naham-ekasat-tajjadam hyasat.

 

vigrahendriya-pranadhitamah – the body, senses, vital air, intellect and ignorance (as); na – not; aham – I (am); ekasat – the one Existence (and); tajjadam – it is inert; hy– indeed; asat – non-existent

I am the one Existence and not the body, senses, vital airs, intellect, and ignorance, as they are inert and indeed non-existent.

 

The instruction in Vedanta is, first to think over the notions we maintain about the Self and then see if it is true or false. The same system of inquiry is followed here.

When asked to introduce ourselves, we first say our name. The name surely cannot be me. It only indicates me. It is given to me to distinguish me from other beings and things. Taking myself to be the body, I introduce myself as the son of so-and-so, father of so-and-so, aged ‘x’ years and weighing ‘y’ pounds.

Is this belief that ‘I am the body’ true? If I am the body, then which body am I? Since childhood, I have changed many bodies. Every single cell of my body has perished and has been replaced several times. The childhood body is unrecognizably different from the youth body and indescribably different from the old dilapidated me. With the continuous perishing of the body, I do not perish. If I am the body, I would have perished many times over and I would, therefore, not be presently available or remember the different changes in the body. The knower of the changes in the body is clearly different from the body. I am ever present, in and through the changes of the body.

Secondly, the body is made up of the five great elements (space, air, fire, water, and earth) and is, therefore, inert. Being inert it cannot know itself or anything else. But ‘I’ know objects and am therefore sentient. The body has no sentiency of its own. Strange that I think of myself as this gross inert body!

For objects outside my body, I have the discrimination that I am the knower of the objects and therefore different from the objects. I know that I am not the book I perceive. The same discrimination deserts me, when it comes to the body which I perceive, just like I perceive the book. This lack of thinking is the cause of our sorrow. When I identify with the body, it is natural that the modifications of the body like growth or decay are thought to be my modifications. The pain of the head is my headache.

The same logic applies in the case of the sense organs of perception and action (jnanendriya and karmendriya), the vital air (prana), the mind-intellect (dhi), and ignorance (tamah). When the eye cannot see, I say, ‘I am blind’. Hunger and thirst are the characteristics of the vital airs, but I say, ‘I am hungry’. When the mind is peaceful or agitated, I say, ‘I am peaceful or agitated’. When the intellect gains knowledge of medicine, I say, ‘I am a doctor’. Even before I gained the knowledge of medicine ‘I’ was present. At that time, I said, ‘I know that I am ignorant of medicine.’

Now, is it possible for me to be a son, father, old man, glad, sad, doctor, and ignorant all at one and the same time? If I feel I am all these, it is clearly due to my identification with various conditionings. I superimpose the nature of the conditionings – body, mind, and intellect, upon myself. A person cannot be a king, beggar, and minister all at one and the same time. But an actor can assume various roles at different times. The actor, however, always remains free from the roles he plays.

The knower is sentient, whereas the known is inert and ephemeral. The body, senses, vital air, intellect, and ignorance are known and therefore inert and ephemeral. ‘I’ the knower is sentient Consciousness and of eternal Existence. The ego is not the assemblage of inert objects nor is it the pure sentient Self. Then from where does the ego arise? The body and mind appear sentient despite being inert. This appearance of sentiency is due to its association with the sentient Self. In other words, the notion ‘I am the body’ arises when the Self is in association with the body. This is the source or birthplace of the ego. But can the sentient and the insentient have any association or relationship? Can light and darkness co-exist? Being of opposing nature they can have no possible relationship. Yet the ego, ‘!’-notion, seems to connect them. By itself, the ego is neither sentient nor inert. In fact, it cannot exist. Yet it does, as it is experienced. We have seen that the inert conditioning or the pure Self alone is not the ego, and there cannot be any relationship between the two. It is a wonder that a thing which is proved impossible to exist seems to exist and is the cause of all our sorrow! What is the reason for this strange phenomenon?

The answer is ignorance of the Truth. A thing that is born due to ignorance can have no reality. If someone sees a snake in a rope, then it must be due to ignorance of the rope alone. Similarly, the ego too arises due to ignorance of the Self and since it is an effect of ignorance, it is an illusion. That is to say that it does not really exist. The ego is annihilated only by the knowledge of the Self.

For gaining Self-knowledge, the valid means of Knowledge is Vedanta. To understand the teaching of Vedanta, it is necessary to have a pure mind and to approach a true teacher, a Guru, who is well versed in the knowledge of the scriptures.

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Upadesa Sara

Sloka 21

The True Self

In order to grasp the meaning of the following verse, it is necessary to comprehend an important fact. Till now we saw two meanings of the word ‘I’ – the pure Self and the ego. This sense of I-ness is felt only in our body and not in objects or beings outside the body. When this ‘!’-notion is in the body alone, man becomes extremely selfish. When his identification expands to include his family, clan, society, state, and nation then, to that extent, his selfishness reduces. The joys and sorrows of the family and successes or failures of the country become his joys, sorrows, successes, or failures. However, much one’s field of identification may expand, it is impossible for a limited ego to identify with the entire cosmos. The being that identifies with the Totality has the ‘I’ -notion in the entire cosmos. This is the third ‘I’ called lsvara – the Lord. Identifying with the Total, He has no selfishness and is, therefore, impartial. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi shows us the interrelation of these three ‘I’ -s.

idam-aham pada’bhikhyamanvaham,
ahami linake’pyalaya sattaya.

idam-aham pada – this (Self) (which is) indicated by the word ‘aham’ (I); bhikhya – following; manvaham – the merger of individual ‘I’; ahami linake’pya – when the total ‘I’ also merges; alaya sattaya – (shines) due to the indestructible nature of It (of the Self)

Following the merger of the individual ‘I’ (in pure Consciousness), the total ‘I’ also merges. This (Self) which is known as the (true) ‘I’ shines due to its indestructible nature.

 

The pure Self when identified with an individual body is called the jiva – the individual ego and when identified with the total conditioning is called Isvara – the Totality. The same water is called a wave and the ocean due to individual and total conditioning. The concept of Totality exists only with reference to the individual. That is to say that the jiva and Isvara enjoy the same degree of reality. With the destruction of the individual ego, the concept of Totality too merges into the pure Self, free from all conditionings (individual and total). This pure Self even though called ‘aham’, is really nameless, formless, and indestructible. The Self is ever-existent and never becomes non-existent. Only with the thought ‘I am the body’- the notion of an individual – the world of objects, emotions, and thoughts and the concept of totality arises. The pure Self remains indestructible even when the notions of individual ego and Totality merge. The water remains when the wave and ocean notions perish. That is, the wave and ocean are known to be the only names and forms superimposed on water.

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