Chapter 8 Merging of the mind
The chapter is meant for a seeker who has completed sravan and manan and is engaged in nidhidhyasana. He is convinced that his true nature is consciousness which is complete. Though he has contentment and peace, due to habits formed over many births, there is contrary thinking off and on. It is viprit bhavana. There is a tendency to make efforts to get over this because people are attached to the idea of cause and effect (8.5). The author says that he has composed a dialogue (chapter 8) between Self and mind to convince the seeker that viprit bhavana does not affect at all the true nature (consciousness) of the seeker. Let viprit bhavana which is due to prarabdha take its own course. The author has earlier (4.3) clarified that prarabdha has the capacity to overpower knowledge and it comes to end with death. In Naiskrama-Siddhi, Suresvaracharaya says that jnana removes avidya but not avidya vasana. However, when avidya vasana raises its head, jnana vasana also operates to neutralize it.
8.1 and 8.2 Self is of the nature of consciousness and is unattached. Happiness and sadness in the mind have no bearing on It. Any seeming connection is a superimposition due to ignorance. I (Self) am free from attributes. Any effort by the mind to remove the seeming attributes is of no use as far as Self is concerned. Instead, the mind should rest in Self (i.e., mind should recall the Self-knowledge and allow jnana vasana to operate and avoid vain efforts.
8.3 and 8.4 Brahman is the Self of all beings and is free from attributes. Self is all-pervading like space. It is untainted, imperishable, without parts and homogeneous. Mind is subject to change. It borrows existence from Self. Self is the substratum, and mind has no existence independent of Self. From the perspective of Self, mind has lower order of reality and is as good as non-existent. It is mithya. It is like unreality of dream state from the waking state perspective. Therefore, any effort by the mind has no meaning to Self. It can neither cause any addition to nor subtraction from Self. Therefore, Self reminds the mind: As I am the only reality, I am devoid of relationships. I do not belong to anything nor does anything belong to me.
8.5 and 8.6 People are attached to the idea of cause and effect which works in the realm of empirical world. Self, being changeless, is beyond cause and effect. There is no harm in making efforts (cause) to improve the results(effect). But efforts cannot improve Self which is already complete. Liberation is not by improving Self, but by knowing that I (Self) am complete and remain unaffected by the worldly activities. Therefore, in the imagined dialogue between Self and mind composed by the author, Self counsels the mind that the latter may engage in action as demanded by the situation (empirical level) but any effort to improve me (Self) is misdirected and fruitless.
The author assures that if a seeker ponders over this dialogue, he becomes free from the vicissitudes of mind, e.g., desire, grief, fear of mind which are borne of Self-ignorance. He is a jivanmukta.
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