Commentary on the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

Ghaṭā vacchinna khe nīraṁ yat tatra prati bimbhataḥ sābhra nakṣatra ākāśo jalākāśa udīryate (19). In a pot or a vessel, space appears to be limited to the area of the pot or the vessel. If water is poured on it, that space inside the pot gets reflected through the water. Also, the entire sky at the top – the stars and the entire firmament – gets reflected. This phase that is so reflected through the water in a pot is called jalakasha, or water ether. And in the context of its being reflected in water in a pot, it is an illustration of the nature of the jiva, or the individual, which also is a limited reflection of the all-pervading Kutastha Atman consciousness in the limited pot of the intellect, being reflected through all the impressions, vasanas, and potentials of desires and actions.

Thus, this jiva, this individual, is on the one hand limited in quantity due to its getting circumscribed to the location of this body and the intellect; and on the other hand, it is also a reflection. It has a dual defect. Qualitatively it is inferior to the original because it is a reflection; it is also quantitatively inferior to the original because it is located in one place – within the walls of the body – and it does not appear to be outside at all. Such a condition is jiva consciousness, jalakasha.

Mahākāśasya madhye yat megha maṇḍala mīkṣyate, prati biṁba tayā tatra meghākāśo jale sthitaḥ (20). In that universal space, the vast sky above, we see clouds. Through these thinly spread clouds, we also see the sky reflected. The sky in its purity is not seen, but it is seen as conditioned by the description of the clouds, both in quantity and quality. That space, that all-pervading sky, which is reflected through the spread-out clouds, is known as meghakasha, comparable to Ishvara, who is a reflection of Brahman consciousness through the universal sattva quality of prakriti.

Meghāṁ śarūpa mudakaṁ tuṣārā kāra saṁsthitam, tatra kha pratibiṁbo’yaṁ nīratvāt anumīyate (21). We can infer the reflection of the sky in the water particles of the clouds because of the fact that water particles in thinly spread-out clouds act as a kind of reflecting medium, like a mirror. When the clouds are very thick, the reflection is not there. They must be a very thin, faintly visible sheet through which the sky can be reflected. That is meghakasha, comparable to Ishvara.

Adhiṣṭhāna tayā deha dvayā vacchinna cetanaḥ, kūṭa vannir vikāreṇa sthitaḥ kūṭastha ucyate (22). That consciousness which is at the root of our personality, our very being, adhisthana, the very substratum of both the bodies, the gross and the subtle, that consciousness that is at the root of both the physical and subtle bodies – that is to say, the physical, the vital, mental and intellectual bodies – that consciousness which gives an appearance of intelligence and reality to these bodies, is independent of them; and that independent consciousness lying at the back of these two bodies is called Kutastha, immutable consciousness.

Kūtasthe kalpitā buddhiḥ tatra cit prati biṁbakaḥ, prāṇānāṁ dhāraṇāt jīvaḥ saṁsāreṇa sa yujyate (23). This intellect, which is the reasoning faculty in the individual, is the medium through which the Kutastha, the immutable consciousness of the Atman, is reflected; and this reflected consciousness gives life and vitality to the whole body. We feel we are alive. We are living, moving, and are conscious. This feeling arises in us on account of the vitality and the intelligence of the immutable consciousness inside getting reflected through the medium of our individuality, which is the intellect or reason. This reflected consciousness goes by the name of jiva, and it is this that entangles itself in samsara, worldly entanglement.

Jala vyomnā ghaṭākāśo yathā sarvas tirohitaḥ, tathā jīvena kūṭasthaḥ so’nyo nyādhyāsa ucyate (24). The pure ether that is inside a pot is obscured by the presence of a medium, such as water, that fills it. The water entirely covers the pure ether that is inside the pot. In a similar manner, this jiva that is the individuality, or the finitude of ours, obscures the innermost consciousness that is all-pervading. The space that is all-pervading appears to be located inside a pot. That was mentioned several times. Now it is said that even this little space in the pot cannot be seen properly. It gets obscured on account of the water in it, a material medium that prevents our perception of the pure ether. We have this kind of medium in our individuality – the intellect, the reasoning faculty, the individual consciousness. It obscures the awareness of the larger consciousness that is behind, as water obscures the presence of ether.

Ayaṁ jīvo na kūṭasthaṁ vivinakti kadācana, anādira viveko’yaṁ mūlā’vidyeti gamyatām (25). This jiva can never know that there is a Kutastha. We are jivas; we are psychophysical individuals, as it is called. We can never know that we have an Atman inside us. A hundred times, a thousand times it is being told to us that we have a Universal Atman in the root of our being, but we can never apprehend it.
In our daily life, there are no indications in us that the Atman exists. The identity of this consciousness of the Kutastha with the limiting adjuncts is so intense that the one is mistaken for the other. This limitation is identified with the consciousness, and we feel only the limitation consciousness as identical with ourselves. The other Universal Consciousness is obliterated completely from our perception and experience. The Atman, for all practical purposes, does not exist in our life. It is as good as not existing because we are wholly occupied with the identification of consciousness with the reason, the mind, the functions of the inner organ with all its impressions of past karmas, unfulfilled desires, and so on – umpteen things. Thus, we are completely handicapped from knowing that there is anything above us or beyond us.

Anādira viveko’yaṁ mūlā’vidyeti gamyatām. This inability on our part to know that there is an Atman inside us is called anadi avidya, the original ignorance. Mula avidya, the root ignorance – the power of distraction by which we are pulled in the direction of outside things – prevents the inwardness of consciousness. We are always outwardly conscious – conscious of this body and the world outside –and are never for a moment conscious of anything that is inside us. This is the work of avidya.

Vikṣepā vṛtti rūpābhyāṁ dividhā’vidyā vyavasthitā, na bhāti nāsti kūṭastha ityā pādan māvṛtiḥ (26). Ignorance, or avidya, works in two ways: obscuration and distraction. Avrtih, or avarana, is the Sanskrit word for obscuration, veiling. A curtain is hung, as it were, just on the face of this Universal Consciousness. That is avarana, or the covering of consciousness by a veil of ignorance. What happens is, we do not feel that anything exists at all. It is a feeling that nothing exists. That is avarana, or a veiling of consciousness.

But this ‘nothingness consciousness’ becomes an objective consciousness when the Universal Consciousness passes through the aperture of the manifestations of this very avidya known as intellect, etc. Just as a potential disease can become an actual disease and a passive person can become a violent person, this nothingness consciousness may become an active objective consciousness – which it does. That is called vikshepa, or distraction, by which we are given a double blow by avidya.

It is a blow on the one cheek by not allowing us to know that anything exists at all; the reality is obscured. And there is another blow on the other cheek which makes us feel that what is not there is really there. The unconsciousness of what is there is the veil; the consciousness of what is not there is the distraction. So we can imagine our predicament, where we stand.

Ajñānī viduṣā pṛṣṭaḥ kūṭasthaṁ na prabudhyate, na bhāti nāsti kūṭastha iti buddhvā vadatyapi (27). The ignorant man says, “Do you know the Atman?” He says, “I do not know anything about the Atman. I have never seen the Atman. I do not know the Kutastha. Neither is it known to me, nor can I even recognise its existence.” The existence and consciousness aspects of the Kutastha are obliterated by the action of avidya, which functions dually as avarana and vikshepa, veil and distraction.

Svaprakāśe kuto’vidyā tām vinā katha māvṛtiḥ, ityādi tarka jālāni svānu bhūtir grasatya sau (28). This avidya is a very peculiar and notorious principle whose nature cannot be easily ascertained. If avidya or ignorance is self-conscious, there cannot be a covering. The covering or veiling of the reality by avidya is possible only when it is not self-conscious. The veil itself is not conscious; it is not intelligence. So we cannot attribute self-consciousness or self-luminosity to avidya, which acts as a veil.

But without this avidya, there cannot be a veil. How do we know that there is a veil? We say that there is a veil over consciousness. The knowledge that there is a veil over consciousness implies some connection of consciousness with this veil. If it is a total aberration of consciousness, an entire negation of it, just darkness per se, there cannot be an idea that there is such a thing called darkness.

“I knew nothing in sleep.” Now, this statement implies that avidya, which is the so-called darkness or nothingness that covers the consciousness in sleep, can become the object of some sort of awareness, on account of which it is that we have a memory later on of having slept soundly earlier in the day. It has a peculiar eluding, chameleon-like quality. It has no consciousness of its own; therefore, it covers. It is not totally disconnected from consciousness; therefore, it enables us to have a memory of having slept, and enables us to know that there is such a thing called ignorance. It enables us to make a statement that we do not know anything. So here again avidya is a peculiar trickster. It plays a trick and will not allow us to catch it, just as we cannot know the true colour of a chameleon. Only direct realisation can enable us ascertain what this avidya is.