From the two facts that
(i) no percept (a perceivable object) can be known unless it is illumined by Knowingness; and,
(ii) all percepts are contained within Knowingness;
it follows that the known depends on Knowing and not the other way round. The seen depends upon the seer. The witnessing seer alone is the evidence for the existence of any object. Without a perceiver, there would be no experienced world. This is the meaning behind the Vedāntic statement that the world is mAyA or mithyA. Its appearance is called AbhAsa—a fallacious appearance.
The individual (jIva) too is of the same essential nature as Knowingness. The difference is only that the individual appears limited, whereas Knowingness is unlimited. The knower and the known, the individual and the world, are both appearances within the one Infinite Knowingness.
Why then do we fear the world?
Fear arises only when something is considered to be “other” than oneself. We are never afraid of our own Self. Even the body becomes a source of anxiety only because we take it to be something separate from us—something that can become ill, fail, or perish. The body, senses, mind, vital force, and the external world are all objects known to us. We fear them because we mistake them to be independently real.
Knowingness, however, is our own nature. It can never abandon us. When everything is seen from the standpoint of Knowingness, the distinction between “self” and “other” disappears. What was taken to be known is recognized as a manifestation of Knowing itself.
How do we understand this?
A real snake superimposed on a rope can never disappear. But the imagined snake disappears when the rope is properly illuminated. The snake was never an independent reality; only the rope existed. In the same way, the world is not an independently existing entity separate from the Self. It is the Supreme Self appearing as the world.
This truth is assimilated through listening to the scriptures (śhravaNa), reflecting upon their meaning (manana), and deeply contemplating them (nididhyAsana).
The aitareya Upaniṣhad reveals that both the individual and the world are manifestations of the Supreme Self, prajñAna. To understand this fully, two mistaken notions have to be corrected: first, that we are merely a limited individual; and second, that the world is only inert matter existing apart from Consciousness.
The world should not be regarded merely as the “known.” It has to be recognized as Knowingness itself appearing through names and forms.
A mirror provides a simple illustration. When we look into a mirror, we do not see our actual face inside it. Our actual face has not left our body and entered the mirror. The substance remains with us. What appears in the mirror is only a reflection, an AbhAsa.
In the same way, within the mirror of Knowingness appear all the forms that we call spouse, family, friends, possessions, and the world. The substance is Knowingness; the perceived forms are its appearances.
The Upaniṣad declares:
आत्मा वा इदमेक एवाग्र आसीत् । नान्यत्किञ्चन मिषत् । — 1.1.1, aitareya upa.
Meaning: In the beginning this was but the absolute Self alone. There was nothing else active (whatsoever that winked). (Translation: Swami Gambhirananda).
Our perception, therefore, has to undergo a transformation. Everything perceived—including family, relationships, possessions, and the entire world—has to be contemplated as a reflection within the mirror of Knowingness. As this vision becomes firm, the apparent independence of these forms gradually disappears.
Śhaṅkara explains in his commentary:
प्रागुत्पत्तेः अव्याकृतनामरूपभेदमात्मभूतमात्मैकशब्दप्रत्ययगोचरं जगत् इदानीं व्याकृतनामरूपभेदत्वादनेकशब्दप्रत्ययगोचरमात्मैकशब्दप्रत्ययगोचरं चेति विशेषः । यथा सलिलात्पृथक् फेननामरूपव्याकरणात्प्राक्सलिलैकशब्दप्रत्ययगोचरमेव फेनम् , यदा सलिलात्पृथङ् नामरूपभेदेन व्याकृतं भवति, तदा सलिलं फेनं चेति अनेकशब्दप्रत्ययभाक् सलिलमेवेति चैकशब्दप्रत्ययभाक्च फेनं भवति, तद्वत् । — Shankara in his commentary at mantra 1.1.1, aitareya upa.
Meaning: Before the creation, the universe, with no manifested difference of name and form, and one with the AtmA, was denoted by the word AtmA alone. But now, owing to the manifestation of the difference of name and form, it is denoted by many words and also by the one word AtmA. (Translation: Shri S. Sitarama Satri, 1923).
Where was the world before it came into existence?
The Upaniṣhad teaches that it existed in an unmanifest state, without distinct names and forms. Consider a wave before it rises. What was it? It was only water. There is no separate wave with its own identity. Once a form appears, we give it the name “wave” and distinguish it from the ocean. Yet its substance remains water alone.
The same is true of creation. Before names and forms appeared, there was only the Self. With the manifestation of names and forms, the one Reality appears as the many. The appearance of difference does not alter the underlying substance.
Our mistake is not in seeing the forms; it is in forgetting the Reality that appears through them. We notice the reflections in a mirror but overlook the mirror itself. We become absorbed in a movie and forget the screen on which it is projected. The forms are seen, but the underlying Consciousness that makes their appearance possible is ignored.
The Upanishadic vision is therefore not a change of the world but a change in our understanding of it. The world is no longer seen as something separate from Consciousness; it is recognized as Consciousness appearing as the world.
A traditional story illustrates this truth.
A magician throws a rope into the air, and it appears to stand upright like a solid pillar. He climbs up the rope and, after reaching the top, falls down in pieces before the astonished audience. Moments later, the broken body parts re-assemble themselves, and the magician rises unharmed. Smiling, he bows and asks for a reward.
When questioned about the strange event, he points toward another person as the cause of the spectacle. As the audience turns to look, both the rope and the magician disappear. The other person then reveals the truth: there was no separate performer. He himself was the rope, the climber, the fall, and the entire display.
Such is the nature of appearance.
The individual, the world, and all the experiences of birth and death are like the magician’s performance. They appear, change, and disappear, but the underlying Reality remains one.
The aitareya Upaniṣhad points us to this recognition: the individual (jIva) and the universe (jagat) are not separate from the Supreme Self (prajñAna). They are appearances of that one Infinite Knowingness.
Shankara writes at 1.1.2, aitareya Upanishad:
Having thought over, He, the Atman, created these worlds. Just as an intelligent carpenter etc., constructs palaces etc., after having thought over within himself, “I shall make thus and thus.” Or else, it may be more properly said, that just as an intelligent magician, without any other material cause creates himself in another form as traveling in air, so the omniscient and omnipotent Atman, the great illusionist, creates himself as other than himself in the form of the universe. (Translation by S. Sitarama Sastri, 1923).
When this truth is understood, the division between knower and the known dissolves. What remains is the Self alone—limitless, self-evident, and appearing as all.
(To Continue … Part 32 (aita 3))