Vedanta - Atma & The puzzling Trio - ஓர் இரு உறவு - Isavasya Upanishad - Sloka 4 - Prelude
Preamble
In Vedanta the biggest challenge for a Seeker is to understand the intricate relationships between a trinity. The opening Dhyana Sloka gave us enough hints to this puzzling trios.
(Slide Courtesy: Global Festival of Oneness 2021)
In the first two Slokas, the upaniṣad introduced the destination of Īśvara- jñānam as a means for liberation. Understanding the Ultimate Reality, the Brahman is the goal for human beings blessed with the sixth sense. The goal is to attain Salvation/Liberation called Mukti.
In all the Hindu śāstrās, it is stated that God/Brahman/Ishwar/Paramatma known as the Ultimate Reality is the one and only cause of the Jagat/Matter/universe. He is the Creator, the Maintainer and the Destroyer.
அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம்
ஆதிபகவன் முதற்றே உலகு:
அவனின்றி ஓர் அணுவும் அசையாது. யார் அந்த “அவன் – ஆதி பகவன் ”? Who is this Ultimate Reality?
Mundaka Upanishad defines this Ultimate Reality as
यत्तदद्रेश्यमग्राह्यमगोत्रमवर्णंमचक्षुःश्रोत्रं तदपाणिपादम् |
नित्यं विभुं सर्वगतं सुसूक्ष्मं तदव्ययं यद्भूतयोनिं परिपश्यन्ति धीराः || 1.1.6 ||
That which is invisible, inconceivable, without lineage, without any classifications (Varṇa), without eyes and ears, without hands and feet, and that which is eternal, all-pervasive, omnipresent, extremely subtle and undecaying” – that is what the wise behold as the source of all beings. This essence is the first Sloka of Isavasya Upanishad too (isavasyam idam sarvam). This is THE CAUSE (karanam) for everything else.
From Sloka 3 to Sloka 8, the Isa upaniṣad focuses on the second of the trinity The Jiva or the SELF or JIVATMA or INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS. It describes the ātma-svarūpa-varṇanam. It brings out the features of the Atma. Here also, the upaniṣad doesn’t directly describe. It uses the language of contradictory predicates to describe the features of Atman, from which we have to extract the message. Hence before going into the Sloka, let us try to understand what this Atma is.
JIVA and JAGAT:
First let us take the two elements of the Trinity portrayed above in the preamble viz.m Jiva and Jagat.
For understanding the relationship between these two, we have to first compare our body where the Jiva is housed (by Brahman) and the external world. When we compare, we find five features common to both. What are those five features?
Dṛśyatvam - means, the external world as well as the body are objects of experience, which essentially means whatever we experience/perceive using our Body-Mind-Intellect Complex
Bhautikatvam – both of them are made up of matter. Pañca-bhūta-kāryam. Bhautikam means product of the five elements (earth, fire, water, air and space)
Saguṇatvam – both of them are endowed with different properties or attributes.
Savikāratvam – both are subject to continuous transformation, modifications, i.e., subject to change. World is also changing. Body is also changing. We will have to extend it to mind also later. So both of them are savikāram, subject to change.
Āgamāpāyitvam – available only in the jāgrat-avasthā, the waking state. The body is available for me in my jāgrat-avasthā. This world is also available for me only in jāgrat-avasthā. Jāgrat-avasthā means the waking state. The moment I go to dream or sleep, neither the world is available, nor is the body available. Others will see the body but for me, both are not available.
Therefore the body and the world are very very similar in all essential features. From this what is the conclusion we have to make? Both of them are jaḍa or insentient. World also: this wall, this floor, this fan, all of them are insentient. Body also, by nature must be insentient.
Later we have to extend the same for the mind also. Mind is also object of experience, dṛśya. According to śāstra, mind is also made out of pañca-bhūtāni. Only difference is pañca-sūkṣma- bhūtāni, subtle elements. Mind also, has got saguṇatvam, has attributes. And mind is subject or change. It has savikāratvam. And the fifth one is āgamāpāyitvam. Mind is available in jāgrat and svapna (dream-state) but in suṣupti (deep-sleep state), the mind is not available. Therefore that is also subject to āgamāpāyitvam. Āgama means available in a particular state. Apāyī means it goes when that state goes away. Therefore the conclusion that we arrive at is, both body and mind are insentient by nature.
Then the next step is, even though body and mind are naturally insentient, my experience is that both of them are sentient. Therefore they must have borrowed sentiency. This is the next step – both are naturally intrinsically insentient, therefore their sentiency must be borrowed. For example, the moon doesn’t have light of its own because it is not even a planet. It is only a satellite. It doesn’t have light of its own. But on a full moon night, I experience a bright moon. Brightness is not intrinsic to the moon. If it appears bright, the brightness must be borrowed from some other source, the Sun. Similarly body-mind-sense complex is like a moon. It has got borrowed sentiency. This is the next lesson.
And what is next ? If they have got borrowed sentiency, there must be someone to lend. That principle which lends sentiency, to the insentient body-mind complex, is called ātmā. Then the next lesson is, what is the nature of that ātmā? If the body mind complex has got borrowed sentiency, and ātmā is lending that, the nature of ātmā must be diagonally opposite to the nature of the body mind complex. Why? Because if ātmā also has the same five features like dṛśyatvam, saguṇatvam, savikāratvam, etc., then ātmā will also become jaḍa. If ātmā is also jaḍa, it will require some other thing. Since ātmā cannot afford to be jaḍa, it should have five features opposed to the other five features.
Adṛśyatvam – it is never an object of experience. Ever the experiencer, never the experienced. It is adṛśya or dṛk-svarūpa.
Abhautikatvam – it is not a material entity. That is why, material sciences cannot study the ātmā. They can study only matter and material. Ātmā being non- material, spirit, it is not available. It is abhautikatvam. Non-material or spiritual principle.
Aguṇatvam or nirguṇatvam – ātmā doesn’t have any attributes or properties which are natural to matter and material. All those properties are not there. It is nirguṇam.
Avikāratvam – ātmā is not subject to any type of modification. It is the non- changing witness of all the changes belonging to the external world including the body and the mind.
Anāgamāpāyitvam – never subject to arrival and departure.So adṛśyatvam, abhautikatvam, nirguṇatvam, avikāratvam, anāgamāpāyitvam is the nature of the ātmā.
The existence of the ātmā can never be doubted, because it happens to be ‘I’, the very experiencer. Adṛśya means the experiencer. Every experience proves the existence of the experiencer who is not an object of experience. Just as every picture is the proof of the camera which is not in the picture, every experience is the proof of the experiencer, who is not in the objective world.
This is the nature of the ātmā which is described in all the upaniṣads. Īśāvāsya is also going to talk about several features of this ātmā. In this particular Sloka 4, two features are going to be highlighted, by using contradictory predicates. We will see it in the next blog.