Chapter 1 General Introduction
1-2 PramAna VedAnta accepts six sources of knowledge called PramAna. Direct perception: Sense organs directly perceive and give information. Inference: It is an indirect knowledge of something not in the range of direct perception. There is knowledge of fire when smoke is seen. Presumption: Knowledge about something in the past by directly perceiving something different in the present. On seeing a wet street in the morning, there is knowledge of rain in the night. Comparison: It is knowledge of something derived by comparison. There is knowledge of a wild buffalo in the forest because it resembles the buffalo seen in the village. Non-cognition: Knowledge of the absence of something by non-cognition. Seeing a chair in a room gives the knowledge of the absence of an elephant in the room. Testimony: It is knowledge derived from written or spoken words. I read a Physics book Physics to get the knowledge of laws of motion.
A pramAna must give valid knowledge. Appropriate pramAna should be used to obtain a specific type of knowledge. Every sense organ has the exclusive domain of knowledge. Eyes alone can see the colour; ears alone can hear. Knowledge about myself is knowledge about a subject and is distinct from the knowledge of other things which are objects. Appropriate pramAna is to be applied to know myself. The five sources, i.e., other than testimony, deal with objects and are not useful. Testimony is the appropriate pramAna. It is of two types: laukik and alaukika. The former is given by worldly people and the latter is given by God. The sages discovered the alaukika pramAna. They constitute the Vedas. Vedas have two parts: Veda purva bhAga called karma kAnda and Veda anta bhAga called jnAna kAnda or vedAnta. Though VedAnta is one of the six Indian philosophies, it is considered a teaching dealing with human goals. Karma KAnda deals with worldly objects and is ruled out for the purpose. VedAnta deals with self and is the relevant source.
There are many Upanishads of which 10 are considered major. It does not mean that others contain different teachings and are inferior. The 10 are considered major because Brahm Sutra refers mainly to them and ShankarAchArya has written commentaries on them. The Upanishad is like a mirror that reveals the face, in this case I. The Upanishad does not stop at revealing I (Self), the real me. It also makes a big claim that the reality behind the world called Brahman is the same as the Self. ‘I am Brahman’ is one of the great Vedantic sayings called MahAvAkyas. It means that my hitherto view about my true nature is wrong. Upanishads are generally in the form of dialogues between a teacher and a student. Dialogue is considered an effective method to impart the teachings which also indicates that self-study is discouraged.
1-3 Three Topics
A philosophy must declare three topics and their justifications: (1) PramAna- sources of knowledge (2) Prameya- subject (3) Benefits or purpose
In the case of vedAnta, Upanishads are the source of knowledge. The student learns vedAnta based on the teaching given by a Guru who interprets the Upanishads. It is an independent source of knowledge which means the knowledge cannot be learnt from other sources. The attitude of approaching Upanishad as an independent source and that other sources have supportive roles is ShraddhA. VedAnta says that the teaching extracted from Upanishads should be in such a manner that it does not contradict direct perception called experience (Anubhava) and Inference (arrived by reason) called yukti.
Veda is called sruti (revealed or heard). Sruti, yukti, and anubhava should work in tandem. If the teaching contradicts yukti or anubhava, there should be reconsideration and one should not conclude that Upanishad is not an authentic source of knowledge. Instead, one is called to question one’s way of understanding the teaching. Eyes are valid sources of knowledge only when proper conditions are present. Likewise, there is an error in the way teaching is extracted. Extracting the teachings in such a way as not to contradict other sources of knowledge is called mimAnsa.
VedAnta is not a completely rational system as it is not derived from reasoning alone. It is not irrational because it is extracted from the Upanishads in such a manner that it does not contradict reason. A qualified teacher extracts the teaching according to what he has learnt from his teacher. He does not impart any independent teaching. He belongs to a lineage, called SampradyAya, of teachers.
The first chapter of Brahma Sutra is titled Samanvaya which establishes that the knowledge of Brahman is the core topic of Upanishads. The first sutra says “Hence (is to be undertaken) thereafter a deliberation on Brahman”. According to vedAnta, Brahman is the Self. What is the purpose of Upanishadic (VedAntic) teaching? VedAnta claims that human suffering is due to ignorance about ourselves because we have been conditioned to think that we are limited entities. Contrary to this, it claims that we are infinite and not limited. Brahman means big. Once we know that we are infinite and not the limited Body and Mind System (BMS), we become free. We have always been free but do not know. Upanishad only shows what we truly are. It is an awakening.
A student desirous of Self-knowledge is a seeker and should possess four-fold qualifications. In the Vedic tradition, Veda purva bhAga is for acquiring the qualifications by pursuing three human goals: dharma (moral values), artha (wealth), and kAma (desire). It is clear that in Vedic tradition, wealth and desire are not outright rejected. They should be within the fold of dharma. Eventually, a time comes when the person feels fed up with the three goals and looks for a higher goal, moksha. He is a seeker now and moves to Veda anta bhAga, i.e., jnAna kAnda or vedAnta.
1-4 Six marks There are six marks (ṣaḍ-liṅga) which constitute the theme of Upanishads, namely, upkrama (beginning) and upsamahAra (end), abhyAsa (repetition), apUrvatA(originality), phala (fruit), arthavAda (glorification), and upapatti (reasonableness). They are the guides by which a seeker knows that Brahman is the main subject of Upanishads.
1-5 Three states of experience One of the important features of Upanishads is that unlike science they deal with all the three states of human experience, namely, waking, dream, and sleep and that the Brahman, the absolute is beyond the three states of experience. Brahman is not an object of experience.
1-6 Three levels of reality The uncompromising position of advaita vedAnta is that reality is non-dual. It is called Brahman. It is the Absolute Reality called paramArathika. Reality always exists and is changeless. The waking empirical world is subject to change and is a lower-order reality called vyAvahArika (Transactional). A dream happens under special conditions. It is a reality of order lower than the waking state. It is called pratibhAsika.
1-7 AdhyAropa and ApavAda Though waking empirical world and dream are lower orders of reality, Vedanta uses them to reach the Absolute by the method of AdhyAropa and ApavAda to take a seeker in stages to Brahman. AdhyAropa means introducing an interim concept and ApavAda means negating it later. For example, the gross body is taken as Brahman and later it is negated and said that the subtle body is Brahman and so on. Teaching is in stages which is necessary because the mind is not attuned to understand the formless Brahman in one go.
1-8 Three types of differences Vedanta claims that Brahman is of the nature of consciousness. It is undifferentiated. It is free from three divisions, namely, sajAtiya, vijAtiya, and swagata. The word tree is sajAtiya which includes different types of trees. A tree is different from an animal. It is vijAtiya. In a tree, there are different parts. It is swagata. There are no parts in consciousness. Consciousness is free from all three differentiations. There is only one homogeneous consciousness.
1-9 MahAvAkya The following are the four Great Sayings in Upanishads, one each from the four Vedas. 1 Consciousness is Brahman: It is in Aitareya Upanishad of Rig Veda 2 I am Brahman: It is in BrihadaranyAka Upanishad of Yajur Veda 3 Thou That Art: It is in Chandogya Upanishad of Sama Veda 4 The Self is Brahman: It is in MAndukya Upanishad of Atharva Veda
1-10 Metaphor Advaita uses metaphors to explain certain concepts, for example, metaphors of the rope and the snake; the sun and its reflection. It is not correct to assume that the illustration and the thing illustrated should be similar in all aspects for otherwise the very relation between the illustration and the thing illustrated is vitiated.
1-11 Three types of body A human being has three types of body, namely, gross body (sthula Sariira), subtle body (sukshma sariira), and causal body (kArana sariira). The gross body is the physical body, subtle body is the invisible part, e.g., the mind and vital forces. There are five sense organs. Their physical parts form part of the gross body. There are invisible parts of the sense organs which form part of the subtle body. Deep sleep is called the causal body because from deep sleep one comes back to the waking state or may go to the dream state. VedAnta also shows that the causal body is the kArmic balance due to which a jiva takes birth.
1-12 Three types of Karma
A human being is engaged in action. Every action produces two types of results, visible and invisible according to Laws of Karma (LOK). If I push somebody he falls. It is the visible result. There is an invisible result in the form of punya and pApa which depends on my motive. If I have pushed to cause physical injury, pApa accrues in my account. If I have pushed to save him from a possible accident due to a speeding vehicle, punya accrues in my account. If I have pushed unintentionally, there is neither punya nor papa. The word karma is used both for actual action and the punya and papa depending on the context. There are three types of karma. Sanchit karma is the karmic balance at the end of the present birth. This is carried forward to the next birth. A portion of Sanchit that is ready to fructify and give results is called prArabdha. It is responsible for the next birth. The person exhausts prarAbdha by experiencing the results of prArabdha during his life period. Additionally, he earns fresh karmas called agamA by engaging in action. A portion of agamA is spent by experiencing its result in the current life and the balance is added to Sanchit. On exhaustion of prArabdha, there is death and there is karmic balance in the form of Sanchit karma that is carried forward to the next birth. The cycle of birth and death which is the other name of worldly life (samsAra) continues until the karmic balance is nil at the time of death. Who administers the LOK? It is reasonable to assume that an intelligent principle who is omniscient must be that entity. He is Isvara.
1-13 SAdhanA ChatusthyAya Self-knowledge is the human goal. A person desirous of Self-knowledge should possess some qualifications before he undertakes the path of knowledge (jnAna yoga) There are fourfold qualifications called sAdhanA chatusthyAy, 4Ds: Discrimination, Dispassion, (Six) Disciplines, and Desire. Details are below.
1 Viveka: Discrimination between the permanent and temporary. 2 Vairagya: Dispassion for sense objects and fruit of one’s actions. 3 Shatka Sampatthi (Six Qualities)
3.1 Sama: Mind control
3.2 Dama: Control of senses
3.3 Uparama or Uparati: Equipoised in situation of pairs of opposites
3.4 Titiksha: Forbearance, Endurance
3.5 ShraddhA: Faith in Scriptures and Guru
3.6 SamAdhAna: One pointedness of mind
4 Mumukshutwa: Intense desire for liberation
1-14 Action and knowledge Action and knowledge have different features.
1 The process of action is determined by the subject whereas, the process of knowledge is determined by the object. Take the example of reading a newspaper. The reader chooses the news that he wants to read and turns to the relevant page. This is action based on the reader’s decision which is under his control. After turning to the relevant page and using the eyes to read, the reader gets the knowledge (from the news reported on the page) over which he has no control.
2 Knowledge reveals its object as it is. Action brings about a change in the object.
3 Vedanta holds that their roles and results are different. In the higher stage of vedAntic teaching, it is said that the two are mutually exclusive because an action is borne of ignorance, whereas knowledge is the antidote for ignorance.
1-15 Knowledge and experience
1 An experience can be described by the experiencer but not transmitted. A possessor of knowledge can describe it and also transmit it as such.
2 Experience is fundamentally personal even if it is made public. Knowledge ceases to be personal when it is made public.
3 An experience is by nature temporary and time-specific and immediately lapses into memory. Experience and memory do not co-exist. Knowledge is not time-specific and is permanent. 4 Conclusion drawn from experience may not be reliable, e.g., the sun does not set but sunset is experienced. Knowledge is trustworthy.
1-16 The Mind
The Indian tradition holds that the mind is the cause of both bondage and freedom. Patanjali yoga sutras extensively deal with the mind. The five conditions or modifications of the mind called Vritti are pramAna, vipraya, vikalpa, nidrA, and smriti. pramAna means right knowledge, vipraya means error or wrong knowledge, vikalpa is imagination, nidra is sleep and smriti means memory. Vipraya is different from vikalpa. When I see a snake instead of the rope in partial darkness, it is vipraya. When I think about a hare with horns, it is imagination, i.e., vikalpa. vikalpa is about a non-existent thing. Sutra 2 of Chapter 1 says- yoga vritti-nirodha- meaning yoga is the cessation of modifications (vritti) of mind. It is the stage of yogic samadhi. The Vedantic goal is akhanda vritti of Self-knowledge.
Contd Part 3