Panchadasi of
Sri
Vidyaranya Svami A
Summary Chapter
1 Tattvaviveka--
The discriminative knowledge of the ultimate Reality In
the first verse of the first chapter Sri Vidyaranya
salutes his Guru, Sri Sankarananda, who "dedicated his life
to the task of destruction of the monster of primal ignorance together with its
manifestation, the phenomenal universe". This verse serves also as a prayer
to the Supreme Being for the successful completion of the work, since the name 'Sankarananda'
also means the Supreme Brahman who is Bliss itself.
In the second verse the author says that the discriminative knowledge of
the ultimate Reality (Tattva) is being presented in this work for the easy
understanding of those whose minds have been purified by service to the lotus
feet of their Guru.
These two verses also bring out, by implication, the four topics that are
required by tradition to be indicated at the commencement of any work (sambandha-chatushtaya),
namely, the vishaya
or subject-matter of the work, the prayojana
or purpose of the work, the adhikari or
person for whom it is intended, and the sambandha
or the connection of this work with Vedanta. ‘Sankara’
means Paramatma,
and ‘ananda’
stands for the jivatma
or individual soul. So the term Sankarananda
indicates the identity of the jivatma
and Paramatma,
which is the subject-matter of this work. The purpose of this work is the
destruction of primal ignorance, which leads to the attainment of the supreme
bliss of liberation. The person who has attained purity of mind is the adhikari
or the person for whom this work is
intended. The sambandha is the fact that this work elucidates the teachings of
the Upanishads for the easy understanding of the adhikari.
The actual subject-matter of the work starts from verse 3. We experience
innumerable objects in this world through our sense-organs in the waking state.
The objects are different from one another, but the consciousness behind the
senses, which is different from the objects experienced, is only one. The
consciousness of A is not different from that of B or C. Since consciousness by
itself has no distinguishing features, it cannot vary from person to person.
The same is the case with the dream state. The objects experienced in
dream are transient and disappear when the dreamer wakes up, but the objects
experienced in the waking state are relatively permanent. But the consciousness
in both the states is the same.
When a person wakes up from deep sleep he remembers that he slept happily
and did not know anything during his sleep. Remembrance is possible only of
objects experienced earlier. It is therefore clear that in deep sleep absence of
knowledge and happiness are experienced.
The same consciousness is present in all the three states, as is proved
by the fact that a person identifies himself as the same in all the states. This
consciousness is thus the same in all persons and at all times. It is therefore
only one and is eternal, without any beginning or end. It is self-revealing and
does not need another consciousness to reveal itself or its objects.
This consciousness alone remains unchanged in all the three states. The
sense-organs are not present in the dream state and the mind itself is not
experienced in deep sleep. Therefore this consciousness is the unchanging
essence of every living being and it is therefore called the self. This self, or
essence of all living beings, is of the nature of supreme bliss, for it is the
object of unconditional love. All other objects and persons are loved only if
they are conducive to one's own happiness. Even one's own body may be disliked
when it causes suffering. But the self is never disliked; on the other hand it
alone is the perennial object of love. Sometimes a person may say that he hates
himself and wants to put an end to his life, but that is because he identifies
himself with his body which is the cause of suffering due to disease, poverty or
other reasons. From the fact that the Self is the object of the highest love it
follows that it is of the nature of the highest bliss, since what every human
being wants always is happiness. All other things, such as money, house,
children and the like are desired only because they are expected to make the
person happier; but happiness is desired for its own sake.
It has thus been established by reasoning that the individual self is of
the nature of existence, consciousness and bliss. The Upanishads
declare that the supreme Brahman is also of the same nature and that the
individual self and Supreme Brahman are the same.
If an object exists at a particular place but is not actually seen, it
must be due to some obstruction such as darkness or a wall in between. Similarly
there must be some obstruction because of which the self, though existing, is
not revealed to us. This obstruction is avidya. This
avidya
is
beginningless in the sense that we cannot know how and when it originated,
because it is logically prior to time.
Prakriti is
composed of the three gunas,
namely, sattva, rajas and tamas and has in it the reflection of Brahman which is
pure consciousness and bliss. This Prakriti is
of two kinds. When the element of sattva is pure, it is known as Maya;
when impure, due to the admixture of rajas and tamas, it is called avidya.
Brahman reflected in Maya is the omniscient Isvara,
who controls Maya.
Brahman reflected in avidya (impure Prakriti) is
the jiva
who is under the control of Maya. Jivas are
innumerable in number and are of different grades due to the different degrees
of admixture of rajas and tamas. Avidya is the causal body or kaaranasarira
of the jiva.
The word 'sarira'
means, by derivation, 'what is perishable'. Avidya is
called sarira
or body because it will cease to exist on the dawn of self-realization. It is
called 'kaarana'
or causal because it is the cause of the subtle and gross bodies. When the jiva
identifies himself with the causal body he is called praajna.
This happens in the state of deep sleep when the senses as well as the mind
cease to function and there is only avidya.
At the command of Isvara
the five subtle elements, namely, ether, air, fire, water and earth, arose from
the part of Prakriti
in which tamas predominates, in order that every jiva
may have experiences in accordance with its karma. The five subtle organs of sense, namely, those of hearing,
touch, sight, taste and smell, respectively arose from the sattva part of the
five subtle elements, ether, air, fire, water and earth. From a combination of
the sattva parts of all the five subtle elements arose the antahkarana or the
mind. Though only one, the mind is given different names according to the
different functions performed by it. When the mind cogitates it is known as the manas
or mind. When it comes to a decision it is called buddhi
or intellect. The function of storing information and experiences is called
cittam. The notion of 'I-ness' which is behind all these functions is called
ahankara or
ego.
From the rajas part of the subtle elements arose the subtle organs of
action--- the organ of speech arose from the rajas part of ether, the hands from
the rajas part of air, the feet from the rajas part of fire, the organ of
excretion from the rajas part of water and the genital organ from the rajas part
of earth. (Note--These, it should be noted, are not the physical organs bearing
those names, but their subtle counterparts in the subtle body. The presiding
deities of these organs are, in order,
Agni, Indra, Vishnu, Yama and Prajapati.)
From a combination of the rajas parts of all the five subtle elements
arose prana
or the vital air. This prana
is given five different names according to the five different functions
performed by it-- prana,
apana, samana, udana and vyana.
[Note-- These functions are described in Sri Sankara's Bhashya on Prasnopanishad 3.5,
thus:--- He (prana)
places apana, a division of himself, in the two lower apertures, as engaged in
the work of ejecting the excreta. Prana
himself, who occupies the position of
the sovereign, resides in the eyes and the ears and issues out through the mouth
and nostrils. In the navel is samana, which is so called because it
assimilates all that is eaten or drunk, distributes them equally in all parts of
the body and effects digestion. Udana,
another division of prana, moves
throughout the body and functions upwards. It leads the soul out of the body at
the time of death and takes it to other worlds according to one's punya
and papa.
Vyana
regulates prana and apana
and is the cause of actions requiring strength. According to Sankhya, there are five more
subsidiary vital forces known as naaga,
koorma, krikara, devadatta and dhananjaya). Their
functions are, respectively, causing vomiting, winking, creating hunger,
producing yawning and nourishing the body).
The five organs of sense, the five organs of action, the five vital airs
(prana, apana,
samana,
udana
and vyana),
mind and intellect--- all these seventeen together constitute the subtle body,
which is known as sukshma
sarira or linga sarira.
(Though the cittam and ahankara, which
are also names of the antahkarana as stated earlier, are not
specifically mentioned here, they should also be taken as included in mind and
intellect).
When the jiva
identifies himself with the subtle body, he is known as Taijasa. This happens in the state of dream. Isvara
identified with the totality of subtle bodies is known as Hiranyagarbha.
The difference between the two is the same as the difference between the
individual and the collective. Hiranyagarbha
is called 'samashti'
or 'totality' because of his identification with all the subtle bodies of the
universe. Taijasa identifies himself only with his own subtle body and so he is
called 'vyashti' or
'individual'.
After the five subtle elements came into existence, a process of
combination of the elements took place. This process is known as 'quintuplication'
or 'pańcikaranam'. What
happened was that each subtle element was first divided into two equal halves.
One of the halves of each element was then divided into four equal parts,
resulting in four one-eighth parts of each element. The other half of each
element then combined with one-eighth part of each of the other elements. Thus,
one half of the element 'earth' combined with one-eighth of each of the other
four elements, to become the gross element 'earth'. The same thing happened with
the other elements. As a result, each gross element has half of itself and
one-eighth of each of the other four elements. All the gross objects of
experience in the universe and all the gross bodies of all living creatures were
created out of these five gross elements.
It has been said above that Isvara
identified with all the subtle bodies is called Hiranyagarbha.
The same Isvara
identified with the totality of gross bodies is known as Vaisvanara.
When the jiva
identifies himself with his own gross body he is known as Visva. The
jivas
go helplessly from one birth to another, just as worms that have fallen into a
river are swept from one whirlpool into another. As a result of good deeds
performed in many births, a particular jiva may be
fortunate to receive initiation from a Guru who has himself realised Brahman.
Then he differentiates the self from the five sheaths which make up his gross
and subtle bodies and attains the supreme bliss of liberation. The five sheaths
are those of food, vital air, mind, intellect and bliss, known respectively in Vedanta as annamayakosa, pranamayakosa, manomayakosa, vijnanamayakosa and
anandamayakosa. The jiva,
being enveloped in these five sheaths, identifies himself with them and forgets
his real nature. This is the cause of repeated births and deaths, known as
transmigration. The
five sheaths
The gross (or physical) body, which is the product of the gross elements,
i.e., the elements after quintuplication, is known as the food sheath or annamayakosa. The five vital airs and the five
organs of action, which are the products of the rajas aspect of Prakriti,
together constitute the vital sheath or
pranamayakosa. The cogitating mind (manas) and the five organs of
perception, which are the product of the sattva aspect of Prakriti make up the
mind sheath or manomayakosa. The
buddhi or deciding intellect, together with the five organs of perception, forms
the intellect sheath or vijnanamayakosa. The
causal body (avidya or kaaranasarira) is the bliss sheath or anandamayakosa.
The self, which is identical with the supreme Brahman, should be realised
by distinguishing it from the five sheaths in the following manner. The physical
body, which is present in the waking state, is not experienced in the dream
state, since the organs of sense and of action do not function then. In the
state of deep sleep neither the physical body nor the subtle body is
experienced, since the mind is also dormant then. The witnessing self, which is
pure consciousness, is however, present in all the three states. Though the
causal body, (avidya or nescience) is present in the state of
deep sleep, it is negated in the state of deep meditation, but the self is
present in that state also. Thus all the five sheaths are seen to be impermanent
and only the self is permanent. The self can thus be distinguished from the five
sheaths (or the three bodies) through reasoning, just as the slender, internal
pith of the munja grass is detached from its coarse external covering. The
identity of the individual self and Brahman is taught in sentences such as 'That
thou art' in the Upanishads. Brahman
associated with the tamasic aspect of Maya is the material cause (upadana-kaaranam)
of the universe. Brahman associated with the sattvic aspect of Maya is the
efficient cause (nimitta-kaaranam) of the universe. Brahman associated with (or
reflected in) Maya, is Isvara and he is thus the material as
well as the efficient cause of the universe.
It is Isvara that is primarily denoted by the
word 'That' in the sentence (mahavakya) 'That thou art'. Brahman reflected in
avidya is the jiva. The
primary meaning of the term 'thou' in the above sentence is the 'jiva'.
The difference between Maya and avidya has
already been pointed out earlier.
In the sentence 'This is that Devadatta', the word 'that' refers to a
person named Devadatta associated with a former time and place, whereas the word
'this' refers to the person seen at the present time and place. The sentence
brings out the identity of the person seen at the two different times and places
by ignoring the particular connotations of 'this' and 'that'. Similarly, the
sentence 'That thou art' brings out the identity of Brahman and the jiva by negating Maya and
avidya, which
are both ‘mithya’
(i.e, which cannot be characterised
as either real or unreal). The truth of both jiva and Isvara
is thus the indivisible supreme Brahman, who is pure existence, consciousness
and bliss.
{This is further elaborated below, based on the Commentary of Sri
Jagadguru Chandrasekhara Bharati on verses 243 to 251—of Vivekachudamani
of Sri Sankara. The
word tat stands for Brahman as
qualified by the functions of creation, sustenance and dissolution (i.e. Isvara).
The word tvam stands for the Atma
as qualified by the mental states of waking, dream and deep sleep (i.e. jiva).
These two are of mutually opposed qualities, like the glow-worm and the sun,
like the servant and the king, like the well and the ocean and like the atom and
the earth (verse 244). There can be no identity between these two, which are the
literal meanings (vacyartha) of
the words tat and tvam.
The identity is only between their implied meanings (lakshyartha).
The opposition between the literal
meanings is due to the upadhi,
since the literal meaning of tat is
Brahman with the upadhi or
limiting adjunct of Maya and the
literal meaning of tvam is Atma
with the limiting adjunct of the five sheaths. When these limiting adjuncts,
which are not real from the absolute standpoint, are negated, there is neither Isvara
nor jiva.
The two terms tat and tvam (That and
Thou) are to be understood properly by their implied meanings in order to grasp
the import of the absolute identity between them. This is to be done neither by
total rejection of their literal meaning nor by total non-rejection, but by a
combination of both.
Implied
meanings are of three kinds:--—jahal-lakshana, ajahal-lakshana
and jahadajahal-lakshana. Jahal-lakshana--
The literal meaning is to be rejected and some other meaning consistent with it
is to be adopted. An example is—Gangayam ghoshah, the
literal meaning of which is—'a hamlet on the river Ganga'.
Since there cannot be a hamlet on the river itself, it is the bank of the river
that is meant. Here the literal meaning of the word ‘Ganga’
has to be given up completely and the implied meaning 'bank' has to be adopted.
Ajahal-lakshana-- Without
giving up the literal meaning of the word, what is implied by it is also adopted
to get the meaning intended to be conveyed. An example is—the sentence, 'The
red is running', which is intended to convey that the red horse is running. Here
the literal meaning of the word ‘red’ is retained and the implied word
‘’horse’’ is added to get the correct sense of the sentence. Jahadajahal-lakshana--
Here a part of the literal meaning is retained and the other part discarded. The
sentence 'This is that Devadatta' is interpreted by using this lakshana.
The meaning intended to be conveyed by this sentence is that Devadatta who is
seen at the present time in the present place is the same as the person who was
seen earlier in another place. The literal meaning of the word ‘'this'’ is
Devadatta associated with the present time and place. The literal meaning of the
word ‘'that'’ is Devadatta associated with the past time and some other
place. Since this sentence purports to convey the identity of the person seen in
different places at different times, we get this meaning by discarding the
reference to the place and time conveyed by the words ‘'this' and 'that' and
retaining the reference to Devadatta. This is also known as bhagatyaga-lakshana. The
meaning of the sentence tat tvam asi is
obtained by using this method. Just as in the sentence 'This is that Devadatta'”
the identity is stated by rejecting the contradictory qualities, so also in the
sentence 'That thou art' the contradictory qualities (namely, the limiting
adjuncts) are rejected. Thus it follows that the jiva
and Brahman are in essence one when the limiting adjuncts, Maya
and the five sheaths, are rejected}.
The realization of the identity of the individual self (jivatma) and Brahman (paramatma) is
liberation. This is not some state to be attained after death in some other
world, but it is what is to be realised during one's lifetime itself. This is
known as liberation-in-life or jivanmukti.
The means for this realization are three -- hearing (sravana),
reflection (manana) and unbroken meditation (nididhyasana).
'Hearing' is not merely listening to the teacher who expounds the upanishads, but arriving at the
conviction that the purport of all the upanishads is the identity of the
individual self and Brahman. 'Reflection'
is churning in the mind what has been heard from the teacher, by making use of
arguments in a constructive manner, to arrive at the conviction of its
correctness. 'Meditation' is keeping the mind fixed on the thought of Brahman,
uninterrupted by any other thought.
The result achieved by ‘hearing,’
etc.
‘Hearing’ removes the doubt whether the upanishadic
text which is the pramana
(source of knowledge) expounds
Brahman or some thing else. This doubt is known as pramana
asambhavana,
or the doubt about the pramana itself.
‘Reflection’
removes the doubt whether Brahman and the jiva are the
same or not. This doubt is called prameya asambhavana. ‘Meditation’
is intended to remove wrong notions such as 'The universe is real; the
difference between Brahman and jiva is
real', which are contrary to the teachings of the upanishads, by
developing concentration of the mind. Such wrong notions are known as viparitabhavana.
Thus
the purpose of hearing, reflection and meditation is the removal of obstacles in
the form of doubts and wrong notions that stand in the way of Self-realization. When
the mind gradually leaves off the ideas of the meditator and the act of
meditation and gets merged in the Self which is the object of meditation, it is
called the state of samadhi. In this state the mind is steady like the flame of
a lamp kept in a place where there is no breeze at all. This has been mentioned
in Bhagavadgita, ch. 6, verse 19. Though in this state there is no subjective
cognition of the mental function having the Self as object, its continued
existence in this state is inferred from the recollection after emergence from
samadhi. This shows that only the modifications of the mind cease in samadhi,
but the mind itself is not dissolved. By such a samadhi, known as nirvikalpa
samadhi, all the accumulated karma and all desires, which are the seeds of
transmigratory existence, are destroyed. Then the mahavakya 'That thou art'
gives rise to the direct realization of Brahman. The indirect knowledge of
Brahman, received from the Guru, burns up all sins committed upto the attainment
of that knowledge. The direct realization of Brahman totally destroys nescience
which is the root cause of the cycle of repeated births and deaths. Thus
the Self should be distinguished from the five sheaths and the mind should be
concentrated on the Self in order to attain liberation from bondage. End of chapter 1 |