Note: Text in brown is English translation of a sloka in Sanskrit and text in
blue is notes and explanation of it.
Vedas (books of knowledge) are Hindu scriptures. They were revealed to the
masters during meditation. Vedant (Jnanakand of Veda, or Upanishad), meaning
the end part of Veda, is a section of Veda and discusses the knowledge of the
ultimate truth. Tattva-Bodha (Knowledge of the essence of life) is a Prakarana
Granth (book of introduction). It was written by Adi Shankaracharya to explain
the basic concepts of Vedant in a question-answer style for the seekers of
ultimate truth of life. One who gains this knowledge can attain liberation.
Vedant texts begin with a prayer to invoke the grace of the Lord and the Guru
(Teacher).
After saluting Sri Vasudevendra (Lord Krishna), the king of Yogis, the Guru
(Teacher) who is the bestower of knowledge, I expound 'Tattva-Bodha' for the
benefit of the seekers.
Vasudendra incarnated as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki due to the demands of
time and is known as Lord Krishna to his followers.
We shall explain to those who are endowed with the four-fold qualifications, the
type of discrimination which is the means of liberation.
The discrimination considered here is not of one object from another object but
of the real from the unreal and that can lead to the path of liberation.
What are the four-fold qualifications?
Discrimination between the permanent (eternal) and the impermanent (ephemeral);
dispassion to the enjoyment of the fruits of one's actions here and hereafter;
six (inner) wealths of shama, etc; and yearning for liberation.
What is meant by the discrimination between the permanent and the impermanent?
Reality alone is permanent; everything else is impermanent. This is the
discrimination between the permanent and the impermanent.
Everything in the world is changing with time and hence is unreal. Only one
thing does not change and that is the eternal, infinite factor known as
Reality, called Brahman in Hindu scriptures.
What is dispassion?
The lack of desire for the enjoyments in this world and in heaven.
Dispassion does not imply running away from the existing life and society. One
has to accept the joys and sorrows as they come resulting from his actions and
the environment. Usually a person runs after worldly things believing they can
bring him joy. But over time he realizes that they are not the source of joy.
To stop craving for these worldly things whose inherent nature is not permanent
joy is dispassion.
Which are the shama and other wealths?
Shama, dama, uparati or Uparama, titiksha, shraddha and samadhana.
What is shama?
Control of mind.
The mind is a source of incessant stream of thoughts. We are slaves to our
minds because they direct us to laugh or cry, to be elated or depressed, etc.
If we want to live with discrimination and dispassion, we have to discipline
our minds by intellectual practices so as to become masters of our minds.
What is dama?
Control of the external sense organs like eyes, etc.
The senses are extrovert by nature. They perceive and act and provide the mind
with situations and thoughts indiscriminately. There is no control over
unwanted thoughts. If the mind is controlled then discrimination automatically
comes in; otherwise the senses are to be disciplined by intellectual practices
and that will aid the control of mind also.
What is uparama?
Observance of one's own duties.
Everyone should perform his duties in life and to society with dedication and
enthusism. A person who has attained control over mind and senses will find his
ultimate duty to be in his true nature of existence-consciousness-bliss.
What is titiksha?
Endurance of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, etc.
Everyone experiences heat and cold, joys and sorrows, praises and censures,
etc. We have no choice in that and have to pass through the situations. But we
have the choice of attitude with which we can pass through the situations. That
attitude to bear the situation can absorb the shocks in life.
What is shraddha?
Faith in the words, etc of the teacher and Vedant.
When we know things, we believe in them. However when we deal with unknown
things, we believe in the words of our learned teachers and in the statements
of our religious books. Faith is this belief in the words. Faith, without the
control of mind and senses and without the attitude to bear, can be blind and
can make us fanatic or superstitious.
What is samadhan?
Concentration of mind
Samadhan is the state of mind in which we concentrate on one single goal in
life. If we have a single goal in life, our minds and efforts are concentrated
in one direction only and we move faster towards our goal.
What is mumukshutva?
The desire that 'let me attain liberation'.
The ladder to success is endless. A person can get married, have children, get
wealth, power, status, fame, etc. However so long as he feels incomplete, he is
on the ladder and yearns for more. The remedy to this incompleteness is not to
seek more incomplete things, but to seek the permanent and complete. This
desire to seek the Reality is mumukshutva.
This is the four-fold qualification. Thereafter, they become fit for the enquiry
of truth.
Any one who has attained these qualities of discrimination, dispassion, inner
virtues and desire for Reality is considered qualified for the enquiry of
truth.
What is the enquiry into truth?
Conviction that self is real and everything else is unreal.
The words used here are satya and mithya. Satya means true, existing and not
changing and is referred to as real. Mithya means existing but subject to
change and is referred to as unreal. There is another word asatya which is the
negative of satya and means untrue and nonexisting and will be referred to as
nonexisting. Only self is suggested to be real and everything else that exists
in this world is considered unreal.
What is self?
That which is separate from gross, subtle and causal bodies, beyond five
sheaths, the witness of the three states of consciousness, and of the nature of
existence-consciousness-bliss is self.
Three bodies, five sheaths and three states of consciousness are explained
later.
What is the gross body ?
That which is made up of five great elements that have undergone the process of
grossification, born of good actions, the abode of experiences of joy, pain,
etc. and subject to six modifications namely to exist, to be born, to grow, to
mature, to decay, and to die, is the gross body.
Gross body houses the self, and is different from the self. Five elements and
the process of their grossification are explained later.
What is the subtle body?
That which is composed of the five great elements that have not undergone
grossification, born of the good actions, the instrument for the enjoyment of
pleasure, pain, etc. and constituted of seventeen items, namely, five sense
organs of perception, five sense organs of action, five vital airs, one mind
and one intellect, is the subtle body.
Subtle body perceives and acts through our gross body. It is different from the
self.
Five sense organs of perception are ears, skin, eyes, tongue, and nose. The
deities of the organs of perception are digdevta of the ears, air of the skin,
sun of the eyes, water of the tongue, and asvinikumars of the nose. The
functions of the sense organs of perception are cognition of sound for the
ears, cognition of touch for the skin, cognition of form for the eyes,
cognition of taste for the tongue and cognition of smell for the nose.
Five sense organs of perception have their deities namely dig-devta, air, sun,
water and Ashvinikumars respectively for the ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose.
In Hindu scriptures deities are assigned to direct and oversee various
activities.
Five sense organs of action are speech, hands, legs, anus and genitals. The
deities of the organs of action are Agni of the speech, Indra of the hands,
Vishnu of the legs, Yama of the anus, and Prajapati of the genitals. The
function of speech is to speak, that of the hands to grasp things, of the legs
to move, of the anus to eliminate waste, and of the genitals to procreate.
Five sense organs of action have their deities namely Agni, Indra, Vishnu, Yama
and Prajapati respectively for speech, hands, legs, anus and genitals. In Hindu
scriptures, deities oversee and direct various avtivities.
What is karana sharira (causal body)?
That which is unexplicable, beginningless, in the form of ignorance, the sole
cause of the two bodies, ignorant of one's own true nature, free from duality,
is causal body.
The causal body is not formed of the five elements. It is in the form of
ignorance about one's true self. If ignorance is removed, then self can be
realized.
What are the three states?
Waking, dream and deep sleep states.
What is the waking state?
The state in which the sense objects like sound, etc are perceived through the
sense organs like the ears, etc is the waking state. The atma (self)
identifying itself with the gross body, is then called vishva.
In the waking state we are conscious of our gross body and our mind and
intellect are continuously fed with the perceptions and actions of our sense
organs. We form attachments to objects around us. One who identifies himself
with the gross body is called the world.
If the question is 'What is the dream state?', then the explanation is : The
state in which the world that is projected during the period of sleep from the
impressions born out of what was seen and heard in the waking state is the
dream state. The self identified with the subtle body is called taijasa.
Whatever we have seen, heard, experienced, and imagined form the basis of our
experiences in the dream state. The dreamer has an entirely different identity
from the waker. The dream may seem non-existing to the waker but seems very
real to the dreamer. Dreams are thought related. So one who identifies himself
with the subtle body is called taijasa.
Then what is the deep sleep state?
That state about which one says later, "I did not know anything. I enjoyed good
sleep." is the deep sleep state. The self identified with the causal body is
called pragnya.
Every one who experiences deep sleep says in the waking state that he had a good
sleep. In this state he does not recognize his gross body or subtle body. He
identifies himself with the causal body. Sleep is the experience of the true
self which is unknown due to ignorance. One who identifies himself with the
causal body is known as pragnya.
What are the five sheaths?
food sheath, vital air sheath, mental sheath, intellectual sheath and bliss
sheath.
What is the food sheath?
That which is born from the essence of food alone, grows by the essence of food
and merges into the earth which is of the nature of food is called the food
sheath or gross body.
From the earth we are born, to earth we shall return. Or we are born from food
and we shall go back to food. Gross body is born, grows and matures from food,
can decay by food and can get destroyed to food.
What is the vital air sheath?
Five airs such as prana, etc and five sense organs of action such as speech,
etc form the vital air sheath.
The vital air sheath pervades the food sheath. Five vital airs which control
physiological functions of our body are (1) prana which governs breathing, (2)
apana which governs evacuation of waste, (3) vyana which governs circulation,
(4) udana which governs reactions such as vomiting, sneezing, etc and (5)
samana which governs digestion and assimilation. They connect the subtle body
to the gross body.
What is the mental sheath?
The mind and the five organs of perception together form the mental sheath.
The mind perceives the objects of the world through the sense organs. If mind is
not linked, then the perception is absent.
What is the intellectual sheath?
The intellect and the five sense organs of perception together form the
intellectual sheath.
The mind carries the perception to the intellect which recognizes, understands
and decides the response.
What is the bliss sheath ?
That which is of impure nature, established in ignorance, which is of the form
of causal body, which is united with thoughts like priya, etc is the bliss
sheath.
These are the five sheaths.
Bliss sheath can be considered to be in the form of the causal body. It is of
the nature of ignorance. All joys whether dull, agitated or calm, are
reflections of the bliss. These sheaths form a cover and conceal the self.
Just as bangles, earrings, house, etc known as mine are different from myself,
so also the five sheaths, etc known as my body, my prana, my mind, my
intellect, my ignorance, are different from myself and therefore not self.
Just as my house, etc are mine but are not myself, so also my body, my sheaths,
etc are mine but are not myself. The knower of the things is not the same as
things. Self is different from all these things.
Then what is self?
It is of the form of existence-consciousness-bliss.
After knowing what is not self, one should know positively that
self is existence-consciousness-bliss.
What is existence?
That which remains unchanged in three periods of time (past, present, and
future) is existence.
Existence is changeless. It is one aspect of self.
What is consciousness?
It is of the form of absolute knowledge.
Consciousness is evershining knowledge principle of self.
What is bliss?
It is of the form of absolute happiness.
Bliss is absolute happiness.
Thus one should know oneself to be of the form of existence-consciousness-bliss.
Self is infinite and existence-consciousness-bliss are its three aspects or
indicators. It can be known by meditation.
Now we shall explain the evolution of twenty four factors.
Hindu scriptures describe the evolution of the world in terms of twenty four
factors.
Residing in the Reality exists Maya which has three qualities of sattva, rajasa
and tamasa.
Reality is considered changeless. To believe in the evolution of the changing
world from the changeless Reality alone would be difficult. So Vedant of the
Hindu scriptures postulated the concept of Maya which is not but appears to be.
When the rope appears as snake, snake is not existing but appears to exist.
Maya has similar existence and it resides in the Reality.
To suggest the creation of the world from Maya, it has been assigned two
powers:(1) veiling power that veils the Reality by its nature of ignorance, and
(2) the projecting power that projects the world by its creative nature. In the
example of the rope, first there is ignorance of rope and then the projection
as snake. The veiling power is thus necessary for the projecting power to work.
The Reality together with Maya is called Isvara, the creator. In Hindu
scriptures, the creative power of Maya in Isvara is worshipped as Shakti. Maya
has no separate existence but depends on the Reality for its existence.
Maya has three qualities, sattva of the nature of knowledge, rajas of the
nature of activity and tamas of the nature of inertia.
From that (maya) space was born. From space, air. From air, fire. From fire,
water. From water, earth.
Five elements were created one from another, as space from Maya, air from space,
fire from air, water from fire and earth from water. These elements are the
material cause of the world.
Among these five elements, the organ of hearing, the ear, was evolved from the
sattvic aspect of space; the organ of touch, skin, from the sattvic aspect of
air; the organ of sight, eye, from the sattvic aspect of fire; the organ of
taste, tongue, from the sattvic aspect of water; the organ of smell, nose, from
the sattvic aspect of earth.
From the sattva aspect of these elements derived from Maya were formed the sense
organs of perception.
From the total sattvic aspect these five elements were evolved the mind,
intellect, ego and memory. The mind is of the nature of indecision, options.
The intellect is of the nature of decision. The ego is of the nature of
doership. Memory is of the nature of recollection. The deity of mind is moon,
of the intellect is Brahma, of the ego is Rudra, and of the memory is Vasudeva.
The mind acquires impressions from the sense organs of perceptions and carries
to intellect which takes decisions. The ego is the notion of doership and is
linked to all thoughts. The deities moon, Brahma, Rudra and Vasudeva are
assigned to these elements.
Among these five elements, from the rajas aspect of space was evolved the organ
of speech; from the rajas aspect of air, the organ of grasping, hand; from the
rajas aspect of fire the organ of locomotion, leg; from the rajas aspect of
water the organ of procreation; from the rajas aspect of earth the anus. From
the total rajas aspect of these five elements the five vital airs, pranas, were
formed.
From the rajas aspect of the five elements derived from Maya were formed the
five sense organs of action and from the total rajas aspect of those five
elements were formed the five vital airs.
From the tamas aspect of these five elements the grossified five elements were
evolved.
If it is asked as to how panchikarana took place, it is as follows:
The tamas aspect of each of the five elements divides into two equal parts. One
half of each remains intact. The other half of each gets divided into four
equal parts. Then to the intact half of one element one eighth portion of each
of the other four elements gets joined. Then panchikarana is complete. From
these five grossified elements the gross body is formed.
From the tamas aspect of those five elements derived from Maya were formed the
grossified elements by the process of grossification.
Thus there is identity between the microcosm and the macrocosm.
Twenty four elements were thus formed in the world from Maya residing in
Reality. Individual elements formed from total elements are therefore parts of
the total. Thus individual gross body is part of the total gross body. and can
be considered to be identical with the Reality from which they are created. So
it is suggested that the microcosm has identity with the macrocosm.
Jiva which identifies itself with gross body is the reflection of the Reality.
This jiva by nature takes Ishvara to be different from himself.The self
conditioned by ignorance is called jiva. One conditioned by maya is called
ishvara. One sees the diffrence between jiva and ishvara because of the
difference of conditioning. So long as this exists, till then there is no
removal from this sansara which is of the form of birth, death, etc. Due to
that reason the notion of difference between jiva and ishvara should not be
accepted.
Concepts of Jiva and Ishvara are now introduced. Jiva is the self conditioned by
ignorance and Ishvara is the Reality conditioned by Maya. So long as one
believes in different conditioning of Jiva and Ishvara, one has to undergo the
cycle of birth and death in this world. So one desirous of liberation should
not believe in the difference of Jiva and Ishvara.
But jiva is endowed with ego and limited knowledge, whereas ishvara is without
ego and omniscient. Then how can there be identity, as stated in the great
statement "Thou art that", between these two which have opposite
characteristics?
One may like to believe in the identity of Jiva and Ishvara but Jiva has ego and
limited knowledge and Ishvara has no ego and is omniscient. How can the two
having opposite characteristics be accepted to have identity?
If asked thus, then no. That literal meaning of thou is one identified with the
gross and subtle bodies. The implied meaning of the word thou is pure awareness
which is free from all conditioning and which is appreciated in the state of
samadhi. So also the literal meaning of the word 'that' is ishvara having
omniscience, etc. The implied meaning of the word 'that' is the pure awareness,
free from all conditionings. Thus there is no contradiction regarding the
identity between jiva and ishvara from the standpoint of awareness.
To understand the identity, consider the implied meaning and not the literal
meaning of the words. Then Jiva is pure awareness free of conditioning and
Ishvara is also pure awareness free of all conditioning. So from the standpoint
of awareness the two have identity.
Thus by the words of Vedant and by the teachings of satguru those in whom the
vision of the Reality is born in all beings are the liberated ones.
Any one who is well established in Reality and knows that the self in him is the
self in all is liberated while living.
Then who is the liberated one?
Just as one has a firm belief that "I am the body", "I am the man", "I am a
brahmin", "I am a shudra", in the same way one who has firmly ascertained and
has immediate knowledge that "I am not a brahmin", "I am not a shudra", "I am
not a man", but "I am unattached" and of the form of
existence-consciousness-bliss, of the form of light, the indweller of all, of
the formless awareness is the liberated one while living.
The words brahmin and shudra used here refer to different castes of the Hindu
society. Any one who knows and realizes that he is that (Reality) and is aware
of of that in all is the liberated one.
By immediate knowledge that I am the Reality alone, one becomes free from
bondage of all karmas (actions).
Knowledgr cannot be direct or indirect but can be immediate. If one gains the
knowledge that he is the Reality one gets free from the bondage of all actions.
If asked how many kinds of karmas are there, then there are three types namely
agami, accumulated and destined.
The actions, good or bad, performed by the body of the realised soul after the
dawn of knowledge are known as agami.
Actions, good or bad, performed by one has the knowledge of the Reality are
agami actions.
What is accumulated action?
That which is born out of actions of previous births and which form the seed
for endless crores of births is called accumulated karma.
The actions performed in the previous births can get acculated and are called
accumulated actions. That is the capital with which the person starts his life,
from which he exhausts some and to which he adds some.
If asked what is destined action, then having given birth to this body, those
actions which are to be experienced in this world in the form of happiness,
misery, etc , which get destroyed by enjoying or suffering and which get
exhaused through usage are destined actions.
Destined actions are those accumulated actions which have fructified to give us
the present life and the experiences in this life in this world. What I get now
is the result of what I have done in the past. I may not have choice in what I
get but I have a choice in what I should do with what I have got.
Accumulated action is destroyed by the firm knowledge that "I am Reality alone."
Jiva experiences actions. If Jiva identifies with Ishvara, then he realizes the
Reality, becomes liberated from actions and his accumulated actions get
nullified..
The agami action is also destroyed by the knowledge and the man with realization
is not affected by it as a lotus leaf is not affected by water on it.
The lotus leaf grows in water but does not get wet by water. Similarly a person
who knows the Reality has no notion of doership and hence remains untouched by
the actions. For him the agami actions are also nullified.
Further, to those who praise, serve and worship the wise man, go the results of
good actions done by the wise man. To those who criticise, hate or cause pain
to the wise man, go the results of unpraiseworthy and sinful actions of the
wise man. Friends receive the results of meritorious actions and enemies
receive the results of unmeritorious actions.
A person who has known the Reality does act. But he has no notion of doership
and the action is nullified for him. But the action is not destroyed. Such
actions get transferred to his friends, followers, enemies, etc as directed by
the Reality.
Thus the knower of the self, having crossed sansara, attains supreme bliss here
itself. The shruti affirms that the knower of the self swims over all sorrow.
Let the wise man cast off his body in Kasi or in the house of a dog-eater
because at the time of gaining knowledge he is liberated from all actions. So
assert smrutis, too.
Sansara is the life in this world. Kasi is the city in India. It is a desire of
a Hindu to have his ashes taken to Kasi. Shruti is what was heard by the
masters during meditation and smruti represents the knowlege passed on from the
teacher to the taught as coming from the memory. Both shruti and smruti confirm
that one who gains this knowledge of the Reality, attains bliss and gets
liberated from all actions.
Thus ends the introductory book Tattva-Bodha.