16.16 The cause pervades the effect, e.g., gold pervades the ornament. There has to be an uncaused cause for otherwise, there is infinite regress. Therefore, the theory of nihilism is not tenable. According to Advaita, the uncaused cause is the Self. It exists prior to anything, e.g., intellect. Even a total blankness, e.g. deep sleep has to be revealed by self-luminous entity, viz, Self which is of the nature of consciousness. The intellect which is dormant during sleep comes into being in the waking state. The Self exists prior to the intellect.
16.17 If an ordinary human experience is analysed carefully, a fundamental principle is revealed. There is a statement, ‘I am tall’. The letter ‘I’ represents consciousness, ‘am’ represents existence, and tallness is the property of the body. ‘I’ and ‘am’ are the aspects of Self whereas tallness is the attribute of non-Self. The Self is the constant factor of the personality and is self-evident and non-Self is the varying factor, e.g., tall, healthy. The Self and non-Self are of opposite natures but are physically inseparable causing superimposition of non-Self on the Self and resulting in ignorance, i.e., non-discrimination between the unchanging Self and the changing non-Self. The non-Self performs action and earns karma but due to non-discrimination it is attributed to the Self. This leads to transmigratory life. To get rid of transmigration and the attendant sufferings, one should remove ignorance by Self-knowledge.
16.18 The Self which is self-evident is the common factor across all the three states of experience, waking, dream and sleep because any experience presupposes consciousness. They are mutually exclusive and are mithya. They are impermanent and constitute the transmigratory life. One can transcend all experiences by identifying with the Self and not with the three states.
16.19 to 16.21 The author explains common mistakes of non-discrimination. Opening and closing of the eyelids are due to vital forces but are attributed to the eyes. Motion is attributed to mind and intellect though they are instruments of knowledge. In the same way, actions are attributed to the Self whereas they are properties of the mind and body. The mind is subtle in which there is reflection of consciousness thereby making it conscious. When it collects information without making any decision, it is called mind and when it makes a decision, it is called intellect. These are two distinct functions but are attributed to the mind alone. In the same way actions of the mind and body are attributed to the Self. As the mistake is very common, it is unnoticed.
16.22 The Self being of the nature of consciousness and existence is all-pervading. It is within the body and outside as well. The organs are inside the body. The Self illumines and subtle body, e.g., intellect. The intellect illumines the physical body which has golakam, the physical part of sense organ. As a result, it is wrongly considered that the Self is limited to the body and there are different Selves for different bodies. The truth is that there is only a unique Self.
16.23 to 16.29 Shankaracharya intends to refute the Buddhist view that there is no permanent Self. According to this view, the consciousness principle is not absolute. It keeps changing from moment to moment. There is only an illusion of permanency. It is like a flame which looks same but in actuality it is changing from moment to moment. The consciousness and the object revealed by it are momentary. Naturally there will be a question. Why is there a feeling of unchanging ‘I’? Buddhist says that it is not the same ‘I’, but it appears to be continuous because the previous one and the present one are very similar. Similarity creates a misconception of continuity. There is no permanent ‘I’. There is no permanent Self.
Shankaracharya refutes the Buddhist philosophy. One Buddhist group says that the observer and the observed world exist separately. Matter has existence separate from consciousness. Yogacharya says that there is an observer and there is an external world and both are momentary. The feeling of continuity is an illusion. According to Sunyavad, there is neither subject nor is there any object. The first group is refuted on the ground that existence of an objective world cannot be proved in the absence of an observer for there would be no knower-known relationship. On the same ground Sunyavad falls. According to Yogacharya, both subject and object are momentary. The question is who decides the momentariness? Only a permanent entity can decide. If there is no permanent consciousness, memory cannot be explained. Memory is recollection of the past which does not exist if momentariness is accepted.
The theory of momentariness is not valid on the ground that it does not explain the cause-and-effect principle which requires existence of essential ingredient of the cause in the effect and coming together of contributing factors (e.g., water and earth for seed to grow) simultaneously.
There is a practical reason to refute the theory of momentariness. According to this theory, nirvana (end of sufferings) is the end of the flow of consciousness and objects which flow is made of momentary consciousness and the momentary objects of knowledge. If everything is momentary, where is need of any spiritual discipline and efforts to remove the momentary consciousness and the flow? The ideas of continuity and non-discrimination being momentary, no effort is required to remove them as the end would be automatic, not depending on anything.
Contd Part 21