Chapter 15 Impossibility of one being another
15.1 The essential nature of a jiva is not different from Brahman for otherwise the jiva will be essentially finite. Any amount spiritual practice can bring about only superficial changes and not changes in the essential nature. Finite cannot become infinite. If at all it becomes infinite, it will lose its essential nature which means destruction. In that case, liberation is ruled out. The conclusion is that jiva is essentially Brahman. A doubt may arise. If a jiva is already Brahman, what is the need of a teacher and scriptures? The answer is that they are needed to remove the ignorance about our true identity.
15.2 That I am different from the gross body is easy to accept. There is resistance to the view that I am different from the mind. To get over the resistance, scriptures use the dream state in which gross body and external world are not perceived. Dream world is a projection of the mind. Thoughts are the objects. There is no perception of external world. But there are impressions on the mind created by waking state experiences. I experience the thoughts in the dream. Shankara explains by an illustration. Mind is the canvas and thoughts are like paintings on the mind. I experience both the canvas and the paintings. Therefore, I am not only different from the thoughts but also different from the mind.
15.3 A transaction requires subject, object, instrument, etc. World is full of transactions in which subject is important. The use of verb depends on the subject. A transaction produces a result like pain or pleasure which is experienced in the waking state. What happens in the dream? The dream world is like a waking state which is retrieved from memory. The vehicle of memory is the mind. That vehicle (the mind) must also have been an object of consciousness originally (i.e. at the time of the original experience now remembered). The dream world is world of thoughts recollected from the memory of waking state experiences.
Both the gross and subtle bodies function in the waking state. ross body functions. We see the external world and the seeing is translated into thoughts in the mind. What we experience are the thoughts only. It is a world of thoughts so to say. In the waking state we experience the thoughts which are produced from the external world. Thoughts are generated by perception. In the dream state, we experience the thoughts which are retrieved from memory.
15.4 The verse propounds an axiom. A subject (seer) is always different from the object (seen) otherwise, seer ceases to be of the nature of witness. The Self (seer) is different from the intellect (seen). The proximity of the intellect (which is subtle) with the Self causes the common mistake of failing to distinguish the Self from the intellect. It is not uncommon to (mistakenly) consider the spectacles as an extension of eyes.
15.5 to 15.8 In these verses the author says that action is not compatible with knowledge and therefore they should be given up. Knowledge is the only direct means to realize liberation. Liberation is eternal and is a fact but due to ignorance there is non-realization of this fact. In such a situation, knowledge is the solution. No action is required. Action is at the most an accessory to purify the mind. It cannot lead to Self-realization. Once the mind is purified, action should be gradually reduced because action is born of ignorance. When Shankara mentions action, he refers to varna and ashram specific Vaidik karmas. Varna and ashrama are linked to the body and the performer of karmas has body-centric ego. The Self is beyond varna and ashram. Ignorance causes varna and ashrama ego.
The dead body (inert) of father does not ask the son to do the rituals associated with death. The son performs the rituals because he has got father-centric ego. Similarly, this body is inert like the dead father’s body and does not tell to perform action. It is due to body-centric ego that a person engages in action.
Ch Up 8.12.1 says that pleasure and pain do not touch who realizes liberation. Action does not cause the realization because liberation is eternal. Rather it perpetuates bondage, i.e., identification with body. Therefore, an aspirant of Self- knowledge should renounce actions. A jiva chooses to perform action to fulfil desires. In the same way, he can choose not to do action if he has no desires. As a seeker of liberation does not hanker after worldly desires, he need not engage in action the result of which is different from liberation. A seeker should give up varna and ashrama (which are properties of the body) because Self-knowledge is incompatible with duties enjoined on varna and ashrama.
Contd Part 17