Perception of the Self

iha ced aśakad boddhum prᾱk śarīrasya visrasaḥ,
tataḥ sargeṣu lokeṣu śarīratvᾱya kalpate. (4)

This is a highly controversial mantra, because the translation as it is seems to be incorrect. Shankara adds some words to give it a proper meaning, while Madhava changes the word ‘sarge’ into ‘svarge’.

Literally and grammatically translated it reads: “If a person is in a position to know this before casting off his body, he becomes fit for rebirth in some world.” This way, the latter part contradicts the earlier one, and because it does not make sense, Shankara says: “If one is not in a position to know... .” Max Mueller agrees in his translation. This is a possible meaning, but not suggested by the words. Other interpreters translate with: “If one has the strength to realise this truth before the shedding of this body, he becomes endowed with the power to enter into everything in the universe.” This seems to be correct, because it is corroborated through a mantra of the Chhandogya Upanishad which says that if one realises God he has free access to everything and nobody can restrict him. His freedom is unlimited like that of the gods, if only he reaches the goal before he sheds this body.

So, if we compare the three meanings; Shankara: “If one can realise this truth before he sheds this body, then, of course, he is not reborn.” Madhava: “If you cannot realise this truth before the shedding of this body, you will be reborn in such realms as heaven.” And lastly: “If one realises this truth before shedding this body, he becomes possessed of such power that he enters into everything.” This agrees with the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, too: “A person who knows the Truth, he knows the world and the world is his.”

yathᾱdarśe tathᾱtmani, yathᾱ svapne tathᾱ pitṛ-loke,
yathᾱpsu parīva dadṛśe, tathᾱ gandharva-loka chᾱyᾱ-tapayor iva brahma-loke. (5)

“As in a mirror, so in the intellect; as in a dream, so in the World of the Fathers; as in water, so in the World of the gandharvas; and as in light and shade in the World of Brahma.” This mantra illustrates the experiences of souls in the different realms of creation. What is your experience in this world? What is your experience in the world of the forefathers, in the world of the gandharvas, and in brahma-loka? They differ greatly, says the Upanishad. Here, in this world of mortals, we are not able to see the distinction between the atman and objects, including our own body. They seem to be mingled. The latter one is superimposed on the former, and this super-imposition is brought about mutually by subject and object. You see your Self in the object, and that is why you love it.

As a face reflected in a mirror is not the original, so does the subject project its own psychic impurities onto the object and creates a tension of love and hatred between them. One does not become the other. One cannot become the other. But the characteristics of one get transferred to the other so much that you do not know which is the subject and which the object. Thus, in our world, there is a mix-up of the seer and the seen. This is samsara. You are mentally connected with so many things. This psychic connection has to be snapped. When the mirror is clean, you see the atman. But this is not so easy, because you have become one with the object, and when you see the object instead of the atman, there is ignorance and aviveka; there are raga-dvesha, attachment and suffering.

In pitri-loka, consciousness is only involved as in dream. There, the souls have a hazy notion of the Reality behind subject and object, just as when we wake up, we know that the dream selves and objects were not real. So there are occasional breaks on that level of consciousness, and an awakening into the nature of the atman.

In the world of the gandharvas, the atman is visible in the same way as our body is seen reflected through shaky water. The object and subject are not so egoistically involved with each other as to cause attraction and repulsion. Therefore, awakening is more easily possible than in other realms, the transiency of experience being indicated by the symbol of the shaky water surface. And so now and then they awaken to the consciousness of the atman, though they are also subject to attraction and repulsion because these are present everywhere, though in higher realms to lesser degrees.

In brahma-loka, there is a clear-cut distinction between the divine light of the Self and the darkness of objects, just as light is seen different from shadow, because souls stand free from sensations and desires. While there is objective experience even there, Brahma sees Himself in creation clearly, devoid of the darkness of superimpositions.

The perception of objects in this world is a play of colours. By manipulating light and shade, objects can be perceived differently. It is colour that gives perceptibility to them, and how they really are can never be seen, because the moment you put light on them, they change. Likewise, our mental light colours them according to our own psyche, and this is jiva-srishti. The existence of an object, light, a particular distance, a particular mental condition, senses, emotional relation—all are necessary to create a perceptional process. But in brahma-loka, things are as they are in themselves.

In ordinary perception, there is a mixing-up of shabda, artha and jnana, says Patanjali. The utterance of a name creates a sensation and produces an idea and a picture in the mind. Therefore, we do not perceive the objects as they are in themselves, but the idea we have of them. But spiritual intuition is independent of all these. In brahma-loka, we do not need the mind in order to perceive. The Spirit beholds in a peculiar manner which is all luminosity. There, the anandamaya-kosha functions, and the psychical body which we need in this world is not necessary.

There are infinite degrees of difference between subject and object. The instances described here are only a few. We can have as many types of experiences as there can be numbers of worlds. The Yoga Vasishtha goes into great details of all this. In some worlds, all material is made of gold; in others, of copper. Some are filled with trees or reptiles. There is an infinite variety in this creation of God. The highest perception, all luminous and free of particularisation, is Brahma’s. For this, we have to purify ourselves of all mental and psychic layers. We must be able to withdraw in the manner prescribed in the earlier mantras: by pranayama, by not getting attached to things, by standing as a witness. The process is described in mantra six.

indriyᾱṇᾱm pṛthag-bhᾱvam udayᾱstamayau ca yat,
pṛthag utpadyamᾱnᾱnam matvᾱ dhīro na śocati. (6)

“The indriyas are different from the Self; their rise and fall belongs to them alone, thus, the wise man does not grieve.” These ideas have already been expressed earlier. The instruction is that our senses should be controlled. All our difficulties are of the senses, brought about by their mischievous unintelligibility. It is like employing an untrained, devious servant. But worse even, they are impetuous, often compared to bulls, mad horses etc. In the beginning, a wild bull will rise against the one who tries to tame it. There is a series of very interesting pictures on this in Tibetan literature. The bull can be brought round by various means: sometimes with a cajolery, sometimes by a threat, etc., but there is always the danger or the threat to the life of the tamer himself. Similarly, if the sadhaka is not careful in his way of self-control, or if he resorts to wrong practices, there is a chance of his suffering aberration. He may even bring about his own destruction. It is thus very difficult to control the senses. They cannot be controlled by force, because they, too, have force, and force meeting force is not a safe method. One brahmastra meeting another brahmastra brought about great destruction in the Mahabharata war.

So it is necessary to approach the senses carefully. Sama, dana, bheda and danda methods are necessary. When you act like a friend, with great understanding, you use sama. Dana is the second method. You cannot starve them forever; so you have to give them a little something at times so that they get not too bewildered, but you cannot agree with everything they want. Then there is the third method of bheda: the mind must be told and made to understand, ‘if you control yourself, you will get the joy of Brahman’, because it is foolish and it thinks it is being tormented for nothing, and so it does not go to yoga with joy. But when it is told through svadhyaya, satsanga etc., that there is a great goal awaiting it, that if it undergoes a little pain it will get a vast treasure, it will understand. Sometimes, you have to starve the mind by vak-danda, mano-danda and kaya-danda. The punishment of speech is not to utter any word, and the punishment of the body is not to give any food to it. The punishment of the mind is concentration, ekagrata, to think of one thing only. If the mind thinks of a second thing, shout that second thing loudly so that it will be prevented from going after it.

“Don’t be friendly with the senses,” says this mantra. “They are not your friends, and you have nothing in common. They try to run outward, while you want to go within. They tell you that there are many things, while you seek the One Thing.”

The five senses give us five types of reports. These are consolidated by a single consciousness, and the knower of them is not the senses. They are inert, they belong to prakriti; and chaitanya is of the purusha. The senses rise and fall at the bid of consciousness that brought them forth, and the knowledge which they try to give is not theirs. You have to bring it together. The eyes can only report colour, the ears, sound etc., and yet you seem to think that there is one unified experience. What is the secret? The secret is the intelligence, and so you should resort to that.

indriyebhyaḥ param mano manasaṣ sattvam uttamam,
sattvᾱd adhi mahᾱn ᾱtmᾱ, mahato’vyaktam uttamam. (7)

Why do you go to the senses as if they were everything? “The mind is superior to, and controls the, senses. The intelligence controls the mind; superior to the intellect is the mahat-tattva beyond which is mulaprakriti, of which hiranyagarbha is the manifestation. Beyond everything is the purusha.” Why don’t you go to the Supreme Being? Why to the senses which are the lowest manifestation? This purusha is all-pervading, and nothing is greater than He.

avyaktᾱt tu paraḥ puruso vyᾱpako’liṅga eva ca,
yaṁ jñᾱtvᾱ mucyate jantur amṛtatvaṁ ca gacchati. (8)

Unfortunately for us, we cannot define this purusha. The mind and the senses can be defined; hiranyagarbha and virat can be symbolically explained, but not the purusha. We cannot define anything without reference to its qualities and attributes, but He is devoid of these, and He is therefore undefinable. “He is alinga—but if you have the blessedness to realise Him by some means or other, titiksha is attained.” The purusha without any mark cannot be meditated upon. So different Upanishads give us definitions and qualities of Him to be meditated on, like satyam, jnanam, anantam, vijnanam, tat tvam asi, etad vai tat, etc. These are symbols; not definitions of God. There are various symbols, including the idols in temples. Any one will do, provided it is taken as the final one. By this, the purusha can be realised.

na saṁdṛśe tiṣṭhati rῡpam asya, na cakṣuṣᾱ paśyati kaścanainam,
hṛdᾱ maṇīṣᾱ manasᾱbhikḷpto ya etad vidur amṛtᾱs te bhavanti. (9)

“With open eyes this great Being cannot be seen; nobody has seen Him with his eyes. He has to be felt in the heart. Those who know Him in this manner, they become realised.” He is not seen by the senses, but felt in the mind as sattva. The senses cannot give us this feeling; they are too dissipated. So try to meditate in the deepest recesses of your heart. This meditation is yoga.

yadᾱ pañcᾱvatiṣṭhante jñᾱnᾱni manasᾱ saha,
buddhiś ca na viceṣṭati, tᾱm ᾱhuḥ paramᾱṃ gatim. (10)

Yoga is meditation, finally, and every other technique is an accessory to it. What is meditation? It is a joint activity of the senses, mind and intellect. Three conditions are stated: “When the five senses stand together with the mind, the mind is still and the intellect is also still—which means to say that the senses, the mind and intellect should come together—that state is yoga, the highest state.” A steady repose of the senses is yoga; steadfastness of the senses is yoga. This is a simple definition. It may appear to be simple, but one should be very careful here because you may be in yoga or you may not be in yoga. You may fall if your balance is not maintained.

The five senses are to stand together with the mind and intellect, because generally they do not. The mind and senses work independently though the mind depends on them. It is like the photographic film which receives the impressions from outside. The function of the intellect is to judge. It does not directly move to the objects. It judges them through the mind in terms of the reports given by the senses. The objects are in immediate proximity to them, and remotely connected to the mind and intellect. But an experience and judgment is so rapid that all these processes take place almost simultaneously. For instance, when the eyes see a snake on the road, the report is given to the mind and at once the intellect not merely judges, but also gives orders to the prana, and you run away.

But in yoga these different activities are integrated, brought together for a single purpose. All five senses should be engaged in the same activity. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, pratyahara is defined as non-difference of the sense-power from the mental-power. It is like the prodigal son coming back home. In meditation or yoga, the senses who, in daily life, have never been one with the mind, come back, having realised the futility of wandering in the world. They have nothing more to do with it. You open your eyes and look because you want information from outside, but they do not want anything now. They feel they had enough and they return to their source. Thus, when they come, it is like a river entering an ocean—the mind gets flooded with all the energy you have wasted in sensation; in seeing, hearing, tasting etc. This conserved energy of pratyahara has a tremendous power, and here, whatever you think takes place. If you say anything, it happens immediately.

When the senses come together with the mind, the work of the intellect is reduced. Before, it had to pass different judgments because of the variegated activities of the senses, but now it has only one judgement to pass. The whole universe stands as a single object, and if you know it, you know all objects. When the senses, mind and intellect stand together, there is a fusion of forces. This is called the union of shakti and shakta: all the powers of the mind and intellect merge into the intelligence.

More, you enter the highest form of meditation where a steady flame of consciousness is burning, self-consciousness in the universal sense. The seer resting in himself is called kaivalya-mukti. When the Seer is busy shedding light on the intellect, the intellect busy in judging the report of the senses presented by the mind and when the senses are busy with the objects, it is not yoga. But when the senses have ceased from their function and return to the mind and the mind stands with the intellect, and the intellect merges itself into the Seer, it is yoga.

tᾱm yogam iti manyante sthirᾱm indriya-dhᾱraṇᾱm
apramattas tadᾱ bhavati, yogo hi prabhavᾱpyayau. (11)

“The steady control of the senses is yoga.” Don’t worry about the mind. Control the senses. That is yoga. But the senses are not the organs of perception. They are called jnanendriyas, senses of knowledge. So in every activity of sensation, there is a type of knowledge involved: the cars, trees, etc., are not the senses, and they are not to be controlled. The senses are the different types of sensation; an understanding, knowledge, consciousness or appreciation in respect of the world outside. Looking is mere indeterminate perception, which is harmless. But seeing is appreciation of values. This is called bondage; this is jiva-srishti. Mere sensation in an indeterminate, general psychological sense is not what binds. Selfish concern it is that binds. Do you have such an interest in a thing? Then you should be careful.

You may see or touch an object without being attached to it, because sensation not related to emotion is different from emotional sensation. You feel a joy in touching a thing; by seeing a thing, you are either pleased or displeased. But by looking at something, if there is no such emotional reaction, you will not be bound. So tying a piece of cloth over the mouth and such other austerities is not control. If there is a steadfastness of the internal senses, it is yoga.

In short: ishvara-drishti, or the sight of God, is to be developed in yoga. He also sees, but the way in which He sees is different from our way. His perception is yoga and ours is bhoga. We are to develop God’s vision towards things and not a personal attitude. I-ness and mine-ness have to be given up. Try to develop ishvara-drishti for one day and see what a difference it makes. When you practice it, you will see how difficult it is! Vigilance is necessary, because the senses will din on you again and again that there are many objects, that they are desirable or undesirable, etc. So be vigilant!

You cannot be in yoga always. Be careful. “Just because you concentrated well one day does not mean that you have risen to the highest. Yoga comes and goes.” Never think you are well-off in yoga. Spiritual pride is the worst thing. No one should have the hardihood to say that he has achieved the pinnacle of yoga. Great people are always humble. Swami Sivananda used to say: “I try to be good; I do not know anything more.” Studying the life of yogins, we should learn to be careful on the path. Unless one becomes cautious at all times there might be a fall which will bring him to the lowest state. The repetition of mantras ten and eleven is therefore very beneficial.