Category Archives: Bimal

Upadesa Sahasri ( Part 31)

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Part 30 

18.72–75 are omitted, as they primarily deal with the Buddhist doctrine of momentary consciousness.
Who is the Hearer? Who Says, “I am Brahman”?
The teaching of Tat Tvam Asi (TTA) can serve its purpose only if there is a hearer to whom it is addressed (18.111). Accordingly, verses 18.76–77 raise the question: Who is the hearer of the teaching?
Two possible answers are examined: the Self and the ego. The Self cannot be the hearer being actionless and beyond all empirical transactions. Nor can the ego, who is a sufferer, be the hearer in the ultimate sense and truthfully declare, “I am free.” Does it imply that scripture is not a valid means of knowledge and the teaching is purposeless? To remove this confusion, verse 18.78 introduces the concept of reflected consciousness.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 30)

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Part 29

Part 31

18.44–46
The opponent raises the question: Who experiences transmigratory existence (saṃsara)? Who is the saṃsari? The Self cannot be the experiencer of saṃsara because It is changeless. Nor can the reflection be the experiencer, since it is not ultimately real. The intellect too cannot be the experiencer because it is inert.
Sri Shankara agrees that saṃsara is indeed experienced, but he maintains that it is not real. It appears to belong to the Self, which serves as its substratum. The classic analogy is that of the rope and the snake. The snake exists only as a mental projection and is therefore unreal. Nevertheless, it is experienced because of the rope, the substratum upon which it is superimposed. Similarly, saṃsara is experienced because it is superimposed upon the Self.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 29)

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Part 28

Part 30

Use of words for Brahman
Brahman is not an object of knowledge. Being free from attributes, It is beyond words and ideas. Up Sah 18.24 states that word or idea can refer to objects of knowledge and not to non-objects. Brahman is known and realized as the innermost self and the ultimate subject and is therefore not an object of cognition. The Self is known as that remains after negating all objects by the process of neti, neti (18.25). The same idea is reiterated in 18.28 which says that word can apply to ego which is possessed of species and not to Self which has no classification, i.e., swagata, sajatatiya and vijatiya. Self is devoid of any differentiation.                                                                                               Then the question is why are words used to describe It?

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 28)

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Part 27

In Part 27, the arguments of a Prasamkhyavadi who maintains that repetition is necessary was introduced. Sri Shankara responds.
1 TTA is taught on the authority of scriptures and reasoning (18.04). The formerly ignorant student becomes wise and claims ‘I am Brahman’ (18.05) and the notion of agentship is given up (18.06).
2 The Sruti talks about the method of ‘not this’, ‘not this’, and on such negation, Self is revealed by the scriptures as Existence, Consciousness (18.26). Action and its results are enshrined in earlier portion of Veda and not in the latter portion (18.19).

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 27)

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Part 26

Part 28

Chapter 18 That Thou Art (TTA)
This is the biggest chapter containing 233 verses. The title of the chapter is derived from one of the Great Upanishadic Statements which proclaims that the essential nature of Jiva (individual soul) is the essential nature of the God. The Jiva is essentially Self whose nature is Consciousness and the God is essentially Existence and that ultimately Consciousness and Existence are the same. In the opening two verses, Sri Shankara offers salutations to the Self which witnesses the modifications of the intellect. The modifications arise from and subside in consciousness. He pays obeisance to his Grand preceptor (Teacher of his Teacher) who established the authority of the Upanishadic teaching by refuting the opposite doctrines. The verse 3 reasons that the Sruti, out of compassion and affection akin to a mother’s love, teaches that an individual soul is eternally free. The chapter discusses many concepts related to TTA. This post and those to follow discuss verses serially but also includes other verses with similar concepts.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 26)

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Part 25

17.51-55                                                                                                                            A man desirous of knowing the truth should cultivate dispassion and refrain from loving the worldly objects for such a love is risky. It is mixed with pain because any worldly object is impermanent and its absence causes pain. The love causes bondage as desires are plenty and impossible to fully satisfy. He should approach a skilled teacher who has Self-knowledge, who is tranquil and established in Brahman- meaning he is anchored in Self while transacting in the world. In this sense, he is free from bondage of action. Such a teacher interprets the scriptures and impart knowledge (Ch Up 6.14.2 and BG 4.34). When a qualified student approaches a skilled teacher with humility in the prescribed manner, the teacher should accept him into his fold and impart knowledge of Brahman thereby enabling him cross Samsara which is like ocean of darkness.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 25)

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Part 24

Part 26

17.32 to 17.35                                                                                                    Yajnavalkya explains (Br Up 3.4.1 and 3.4.2) that Brahman is not an object. It is the ultimate subject and is the Self. Ke U 1.5 says that Brahman is not an object and not perceived by the senses. The Self-knowledge is immediate whereby all knots of the heart are cut asunder (Mu. Up 2.2.8). Egoic attachments, emotional baggage which cause sufferings dissipate. etc. It is liberation. There could be an objection.  As Brahman is not perceived by senses and is not perceived by the intellect as emotions like pleasure, etc., It does not exist. The author explains with the help of the phenomenon of eclipse. The lunar and solar eclipses are caused due to shadows of the earth on the moon and of the moon on the earth respectively. The shadows are seen during eclipses. On non-eclipse days shadows are not seen. However, it does not mean that the shadows are not formed. Likewise, if consciousness is not experienced, it does not mean that It does not exist.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part24)

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Part 23

Part 25

17.17 and 17.18                                                                                                         During dream, one mind is divided into subject (knower), object (known) and instrument of knowledge. The divisions are unreal. Likewise, in the waking state, one consciousness appears differently when desires in the intellect causes action. The desires arise because the jiva thinks that it is incomplete though it is essentially complete. The desires and actions are revealed by consciousness. The waking state is a superimposition on consciousness, the substratum. The divisions in the waking state are as unreal as the divisions in the dream. The ideas of interior and exterior in the waking state are unreal like reading and writing which are interdependent. Reading depends on a written page without which nothing can be read and writing also depends on reading as we first read and then write. So, both of them are unreal as the sounds represented by written letters are all-pervasive and have no forms. Hence, they can neither be really written nor read.

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‘Difference’ is not real

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The post ‘Duality is mithyA’ (see here) is based on the verses 19.20 -22 of Upadesa Sahasri (US). Swami Parmarthananda has discussed (transcripts of his talks on Chapter 16 of US) the same topic with a different reasoning which according to him has scriptural support though he has not cited it. 
Advaita Vedanta acknowledges six means (Pramana) of knowledge of which direct perception and inference are important. I see red colour and green colour and say that the two colours are different which is my experience too. If asked whether I see the ‘difference’ as an object, my answer is in negative. That is to say, there is no direct perception of the ‘difference’. It also means that the ‘difference’ cannot be inferred, because for inference, there should be a previous direct perception. Other means of knowledge, namely, comparison, postulation, non-cognition also do not prove difference. Sabda Pramana i.e., scriptures, affirm that ‘difference’ is not real though it is experienced. QED

Upadesa Sahasri (Part 23)

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Part 22

Chapter 17   Right Knowledge

17.01 to 17.03 The author pays obeisance to Self and the teachers. Self is non-dual as It alone exists. It is of the nature of existence, consciousness and bliss. Other things depend on Self for their existence. It is witnessing consciousness and therefore omniscient. It is not an object. It is the ultimate subject and is to be known as such. Though supporting everything It is unattched, untainted and pure.  The author bows down to Self. He bows down to all the teachers who are conversant with words, sentences of the scriptures and have transmitted the knowledge of Self since ancient time. The author bows down to his own teacher whose words have sparked knowledge in him and destroyed ignorance as sunrays destroy darkness.

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