Ekātmapratyayasāram - That which is traceable through the unbroken Self-awareness

[dwai]

Quote

 

Mantra 7

 

nantahprajnam na bahishprajnam nobhayatahprajnam na prajnanaghanam

na prajnam naprajnam | adrishtamavyavaharyamagrahyamalakshanam

acintyamavyapadeshyamekatmapratyayasaram prapancopashamam

shantam shivamadvaitam caturtham manyante sa atma sa vijneyah || 7||

 

 

ekātma-pratyaya-sāram is significant because it gives us the methodology to comprehend Turīyaṃ.Turīyaṃ will have to be comprehended in a unique manner because it is not available for regular means of knowledge. Turīyaṃ is not an object of knowledge but it is the very “you” who wants to know. So it cannot be observed externally or internally in deep meditation. To understand Turīyaṃ, a clue, eka-ātma- pratyaya-sāram, is given. ātma-pratyaya means Self-Knowledge or “I” awareness. Whenever you say, “I am”, you are aware of yourself. This self-awareness, whenever you say, “I am” is called ātma- pratyaya (pratyaya = awareness). eka means continuous. ekātma-pratyaya means continuous self- awareness. This continuous self-awareness is the sāram, an indicator or a pointer. We have to capture theTurīyaṃ by holding on to self-awareness. Normally when I say, “I am” in the waking state, I am available as a waker. Imagine in the waking state, I say, ‘I slept well last night and I dreamt in between and now I am a waker’. I say, “I slept, I dreamt, I am now awake” indicating that the sleeper, dreamer and waker are not separate entities but all these three are one and the same. I do not say that somebody slept, someone else dreamt. I say, “I slept, I dreamt, and I am awake”. This is called pratyabhijñā, meaning the recognition of all the three as one and the same. This pratyabhijñā is a very important clue for Self-Knowledge. In the sixth verse of the Dakṣiṇāmūrtistotram also, the phrase ‘pratyabhijñāyate’ occurs. When I equate waker to dreamer and sleeper, superficially seeing, this statement is wrong because waker can never be dreamer, and dreamer can never be sleeper. These three are mutually exclusive and they have contradictory adjectives. In spite of the superficial contradiction, we are deliberately, clearly and instinctively equating them, which is possible only under one condition. When I am equating an elderly person with grey hair with my classmate sixty years ago and say that this man is that man, I am temporarily forgetting the contradictory features and understanding that behind the contradictory features, the person is one and the same. The features are widely different, but my understanding is that behind those features the person is essentially one and the same. At the time of equation, I am dropping the adjectives. At the time of pratyabhijñā, the contradictory features are renounced intellectually. Similarly when I say, “I slept, I dreamt and I am awake”, I am equating all the three ‘I’ with ‘I myself’ (soham). In that recognition, all the contradictory features, waker status, dreamer status, and sleeper status are unknowingly, instinctively dropped. Since I am instinctively dropping the three statuses, I am neither Viśva nor Taijasa nor Prājña. During that fleeting moment I am remaining as awareness principle without these three statuses. During that fleeting moment, unknowingly and instinctively I am referring to myself as the consciousness principle without these three statuses. Thus, I am Turīyaṃ at that time without knowing that I am Turīyaṃ. At that time I am very close to the teaching of the Upaniṣad. Once I understand that I am the consciousness principle and that these three statuses are not mine, then the teaching of the Upaniṣad will help me reinforce. How does the Upaniṣad do that? Really speaking, the waker, dreamer and sleeper are not the statuses of me, the consciousness principle. These three statuses belong to the mind alone and not I, the consciousness principle. How? When the mind is extrovert, that condition of the extrovert mind is called the waking state. When the mind is not extrovert, but is turned inward towards its own memories, vāsanās, it is called the dreamer mind. It can happen in the night or daytime. The resolved mind, when it is neither extrovert nor introvert, is in the sleeper status. The Upaniṣad says that these three statuses belong to the mind. But who am I? I am the witness who reveals the extrovert mind and the introvert mind. I am also aware of the passive mind in sleep because after waking up, I say that I did not know anything. I reveal that non-knowing status of the mind. I am ever free from the waker status, dreamer status and sleeper status. Therefore, I am Viśva-Taijasa- Prājña-vilakṣaṇa. I am Turīyaṃ always. I need not go tonirvikalpa samādhi to know this. I should learn to claim here and now that the three statuses belong to the mind and I am Turīyaṃ. For that eka-ātma-pratyaya is useful. This is the 7th mantra. Gauḍapāda will say more about this mantra later. With the 7th mantra, the Upaniṣad completes the description of the fourth quarter of ātmā and the ātma-vicāra. Now Gauḍapāda begins his commentary on the fourth quarter.

 

 

 

Review

ekātmapratyayasāram (traceable through the unbroken self-awareness): this is a technical and profound word. What is the method that I should use to understand that I am Turīyaṃ? I am always associated with one of the three states. I am either Waker-I, the dreamer-I, or the sleeper-I. Even though I continuously shift through these three, I do not look upon these three as three different entities. I never say that there was a dreamer-I and now there is a Waker-I, etc. I say that I was sleeping, I had a good dream or bad dream and now I am awake. This means that I am seeing the Waker-I, the dreamer-I, and the sleeper-I as one constantly continuing I. Not that the Waker-I comes and goes and that the dreamer-I comes and goes. It is one constant non-variable I. That means that in our vision the Waker-I = dreamer-I = sleeper-I because we understand that the ‘I’ is continuous. This is technically called pratyabhijñā, recognizing all the three “I” as one and the same. That is why I say that I slept, I dreamt and I am awake. The question is when I equate Waker-I, and dreamer-I, what is happening in my understanding? This is a vey subtle point. Superficially seeing, the equation is wrong because the dreamer can never be the waker and the waker can never be the dreamer. Waker and dreamer being mutually exclusive adjectives, they can never be equal. But we are still seeing them as one and the same. How are we doing this? Whenever we are equating the Waker-I, and the dreamer-I, we are temporarily keeping aside the different adjectives (bhāga-tyāga-lakṣaṇa). We are keeping aside the two different statuses. If the statuses are retained, the two states cannot be equated. The fact that we are equating indicates that we are temporarily separating the different statuses and referring to consciousness, which is free from the waker and the dreamer statuses. When you are equating a younger person who had black hair with the person who has become older now with white hair, you are temporarily giving up the different hair colors. Whenever we are equating the dreamer, the sleeper, and the waker we are giving up the different statuses and referring to the Turīyaṃ. When I say that I dreamt and now I am awake, the dreamer-I, am now the Waker-I, and the word “I” is referring to the Turīyaṃ without the opposite statuses. The pratyabhijñā, i.e., the recognition of the Waker-I, the dreamer-I, and the sleeper-I, as one and the same is an indication for the Turīyaṃ persisting in all the three states. The Upaniṣad uses the word ekātma pratyaya, ‘one common self-awareness’, equating the waker, the dreamer and the sleeper. This self- awareness reveals the Turīyaṃ, which is free from all the three statuses. Therefore through that sāram, the trail of the common I, the Turīyaṃ can be recognized. This Turīyaṃ has to be known for liberation.

 

 

http://www.shiningworld.com/site/files/pdfs/publications/transcriptions/Mandukya_Upanishad_and_Karika.pdf

 

some technical details --

 

Visva - Waker in the waking state

Taijasa - Dreamer in the dream state

Prājña - Deep sleeper in deep sleep state

Turiyam - That which underlies the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by dwai
more context

[3bob]

true, also one might ask if nothing is gained and nothing is lost then why a process to gain the loss of nothing?

[dwai]

28 minutes ago, 3bob said:

true, also one might ask if nothing is gained and nothing is lost then why a process to gain the loss of nothing?

Loss is illusory. Gain is also illusory. The process is also illusory  

[3bob]

2 minutes ago, dwai said:

Loss is illusory. Gain is also illusory. The process is also illusory  

umm, the dance of Shiva/Shakti and Om is illusory - says who?

Edited November 8, 2018 by 3bob

[dwai]

1 hour ago, 3bob said:

umm, the dance of Shiva/Shakti and Om is illusory - says who?

Says the one who has woken up to this reality

[Jonesboy]

13 minutes ago, dwai said:

Says the one who has woken up to this reality

 

Is that you?

 

Care to elaborate?

[dwai]

Just now, Jonesboy said:

 

Is that you?

And you too

Just now, Jonesboy said:

Care to elaborate?

It isn't understood, until it is...

[Jonesboy]

13 minutes ago, dwai said:

And you too

It isn't understood, until it is...

 

Thank you dwai but I would not say I am a realized being, a Buddha.

 

Still a little ways to go

[dwai]

1 minute ago, Jonesboy said:

 

Thank you dwai but I would not say I am a realized being, a Buddha.

That too is an illusion

1 minute ago, Jonesboy said:

Still a little ways to go

 

[Jonesboy]

1 minute ago, dwai said:

That too is an illusion

 

 

I agree, but realizing it is the key, much more than a mental understanding.

[dwai]

11 minutes ago, Jonesboy said:

 

I agree, but realizing it is the key, much more than a mental understanding.

there's always that "but" that gets in the way. The realization is as simple as identifying who you are in a fraction of a second, without thinking

We tend to complicate it because we're used to doing this and that. If you have the time, please do read the OP. It has everything you need for realization. 

[Jonesboy]

2 minutes ago, dwai said:

there's always that "but" that gets in the way. The realization is as simple as identifying who you are in a fraction of a second, without thinking

We tend to complicate it because we're used to doing this and that. If you have the time, please do read the OP. It has everything you need for realization. 

 

I did and didn't care for it

 

You see to me to say a thing is an illusion is to mean it is not real. That veil is something, something creates that illusion, that transmission. It isn't that the veil goes away, you realize it, you are part of it and realize it's true nature.

 

An example is to say the world is an illusion, a veil.. hinting that is truly nothing like a mirage that you see but with the correct view was just a trick of the mind.

 

To me it is more than an illusion. One can be one with that illusion, that transmission, can feel the clouds as you, the texture the shape, be one with the wind dancing about and at the same time realize it is all just energy of which it's true nature is emptiness.

 

That is my experience anyways and it is much different than thinking about "I" this or that. No question I have ever asked has helped me realize anything as to my state of being.

 

To each his own and if it helps you and you feel you have arrived.. Awesome.

[dwai]

 

35 minutes ago, Jonesboy said:

To each his own and if it helps you and you feel you have arrived.. Awesome.

There IS no Arriving....you are already there! 

 

[3bob]

3 hours ago, dwai said:

Says the one who has woken up to this reality

 

Om Tat Sat does not negate the process or dance of Lord Nataraja, or the ways of Sanatana Dharma which it sees, realizes and is connected to.

 

we can trade abstractions about the transcendent all day with short and  absolute summations, but those will never equal the connected and overwhelming Grace.

Edited November 8, 2018 by 3bob

[dwai]

34 minutes ago, 3bob said:

 

Om Tat Sat does not negate the process or dance of Lord Nataraja, or the ways of Sanatana Dharma which it sees, realizes and is connected to.

 

we can trade abstractions about the transcendent all day with short and  absolute summations, but those will never equal the connected and overwhelming Grace.

Yes...that is very profound. Bhakti is a great path. Different yogas exist because of different predilections of individuals (apparently).

 

[3bob]

1 hour ago, dwai said:

Yes...that is very profound. Bhakti is a great path. Different yogas exist because of different predilections of individuals (apparently).

 

Btw. I did not mean just Bhakti yoga if that is what you meant?  More like Raja Yoga and lots of additional help meets. 

[s1va]

3 hours ago, dwai said:

 

There IS no Arriving....you are already there! 

 

 

So, everything is good if I think or tell myself I am already there?

 

Assuming everyone is already there in some ways.  What is the point of even saying that?  Does it mean no effort is needed henceforth?  What practical value does it add to -- if it adds any without deluding the person and sending them in a negative spiral thinking they have arrived?

[s1va]

I think full ignorance and getting caught up in the world/maya is way better than some partial knowledge thinking I am liberated, done or arrived when there is still ways to go.  I am just talking about myself here and what I would prefer.

 

Edit: Actually I read Abhinavagupta talking about this partial knowledge/wisdom and how dangerous it is in misleading seekers.

[dwai]

20 minutes ago, s1va said:

 

So, everything is good if I think or tell myself I am already there?

That's the first step - intellectually knowing that you are already there. Then you have to grasp it in a flash (pratyabhijñā). 

20 minutes ago, s1va said:

Assuming everyone is already there in some ways.  What is the point of even saying that?  Does it mean no effort is needed henceforth?  What practical value does it add to -- if it adds any without deluding the person and sending them in a negative spiral thinking they have arrived?

When effort is needed, it will happen. When effort is not required, it will fall away. Remember that all efforts are only to reveal that which is always there. 

[dwai]

30 minutes ago, 3bob said:

Btw. I did not mean just Bhakti yoga if that is what you meant?  More like Raja Yoga and lots of additional help meets. 

Each Yoga is great in its own way and useful for people of different natures (some need one, others some combination of the four, while some don't need any). 

[s1va]

Just now, dwai said:

That's the first step - intellectually knowing that you are already there. Then you have to grasp it in a flash (pratyabhijñā). 

When effort is needed, it will happen. When effort is not required, it will fall away. Remember that all efforts are only to reveal that which is always there. 

 

Then there is no point to the teachings, the discussions we do.  When it happens it will happen, we all can sit, relax and let it happen, right?  That may be your philosophy, I don't think any major belief systems support such an attitude.

 

Buddhists tell us to seek liberation with the urgency as if one's hair/head is on fire and how diligently we would act to extinguish that fire.  Many Hindu scriptures advise exactly the same, to seek Moksha with utmost urgency in this life.  Shankara stresses this urgency in so many of his works including Vivekachoodamani.

[dwai]

15 minutes ago, s1va said:

 

Then there is no point to the teachings, the discussions we do.  When it happens it will happen, we all can sit, relax and let it happen, right?  That may be your philosophy, I don't think any major belief systems support such an attitude.

But even the teachings and discussions happen as a course of happening. Do you think you have any control over what happens? Or how your life turns out?

Quote

Buddhists tell us to seek liberation with the urgency as if one's hair/head is on fire and how diligently we would act to extinguish that fire.  Many Hindu scriptures advise exactly the same, to seek Moksha with utmost urgency in this life.  Shankara stresses this urgency in so many of his works including Vivekachoodamani.

Yes. One should seek when it is time to seek. Different instructions apply at different levels. 

 

There was once a great sage who took on a dedicated and serious student. The student went to live in the sage's hermitage. The student had heard that the sage was a jivanamukta and would surely lead the student to moksha.  So, he dutifully served the sage and tended to all the business of the ashram.  After a few years, the student, taking stock of his condition mentally rued "My master has not shown me the way to liberation yet! And it has been so many years already! I ask him every day for the secret but he doesn't share it. What more do I need to do in order to earn this greatest of great secrets?!?"

 

So finally, in a fit of anger, he confronts his master and tells him "i've been coming to you for so many years...why haven't you shown me the secret to liberation? I meditate every day, I pray every day, I serve you every day. When will you show me this secret?!? WHEN!??!!"

 

The sage paused a moment and then told him -- "Come tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn to the banyan tree where I meditate and I'll tell you the secret!"

 

The student was so excited, that he couldn't sleep all night. He quickly ran to the banyan tree at the break of dawn, and saw his master holding on to the banyan tree and screaming..."Let me go...set me free!!!!". Really concerned, the student ran closer and asked the master, "What happened?!? Did some evil being take hold of you? Dear Master, tell me what I can do?" 

The Master kept screaming "let me go...set me free..."

Eventually the student said "there's nothing that seems to be binding you the tree...why aren't you just letting go of the tree?" 

 

The sage immediately let go and turned and told the student "Exactly...why aren't you?"

 

The student realized in a flash, what was being said and was immediately free from the bondages of samsara. 

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by dwai

[s1va]

9 minutes ago, dwai said:

That's the first step - intellectually knowing that you are already there. Then you have to grasp it in a flash (pratyabhijñā). 

 

Pratyabhijñā will happen in a flash when a person is ready and when they get the anugrahA or divine grace.

 

The Bauddha Jnana or intellectual comprehension has nothing to do with the Paurusa Jnana that cannot be aquired by any intellectual means.  This is explained by Abhinavagupta in TantralokA.

[s1va]

2 minutes ago, dwai said:

But even the teachings and discussions happen as a course of happening. Do you think you have any control over what happens? Or how your life turns out?

 

Things don't just happen. Individual effort (also) is a MUST every step of the way.  It is a combination of both individual effort and divine grace.

 

3 minutes ago, dwai said:

Yes. One should seek when it is time to seek. Different instructions apply at different levels. 

 

When is it not the time to seek? 🙂

 

A mumukshu is one who will look and seek every moment.

[Rishi Das]

40 minutes ago, s1va said:

So, everything is good if I think or tell myself I am already there?...

 

Everything is good whether I think or tell myself I am already there...

 

I think there is value in saying it depending on where the recipient falls on the spectrum of 'absolute' understanding. 

I think relationship over time allows two individuals to come together and form an agreed upon understanding of where each other falls on that spectrum of 'absolute' understanding. Is that perfect? No. Does it work, practically speaking? Some of the time. The clearer the communication and cultural similarity, the greater the chance it does work. 

I think in this context (dao bums) and with these participants (seasoned bums), saying it could lead to a greater depth of understanding and lived experience on the part of the recipient. In that regard, saying it is a blessing and teaching/reminder. 

Practically speaking,  I think the added value comes from the change in perspective and lived experience one might experience upon hearing it. 

 

I think urgency is important but I also think that urgency is the vehicle. I see Bhakti and urgency as being very similar in that regard

Edited November 8, 2018 by Rishi Das