Tuesday, October 29, 2013

13.6 The Second Step (Paada) Of The Self : Hiranyagarbha

We are not the body, we are not the microcosm, we are the viraata. This was the first step towards attainment of the supreme self. Now let us take the second step : leaving the gross and entering the subtle (Maandookya Upanishad 4).
 
If there is no gross microcosm, then there is subtle microcosm. This point has concluded automatically. The greater possibility of difference exists in the gross alone. The basis of the gross is the subtle. The basis of the gross space is the subtle mind, since space with length and breadth appears only when the internal organ remains. In deep sleep, when the mind is resolved (leena), space does not appear, and in dream, the mind creates a new space altogether. Like in dream, the creation of space happens similarly in the waking state as well. Therefore, space is in the mind, the mind is not in space.
 
In this manner, this gross body is in the mind, the mind is not in the gross body. This is because the gross body resides in one part of space, and when space is in the mind, the gross body is also in the mind. In a dream, we see our entire body and the entire world in our mind. In the same manner, the body of the waking state and the entire world is in the mind. The mind which appears (prateeta) in this body is an appearance (aabhaasa) of the internal organ. The individual soul appearing in this body is an appearance of the individual soul (jeevaabhaasa). The second step needed to go towards the supreme self is this : We should know that the entire macrocosmic subtle world is my subtle body, and its arrogator, the taijasa-hiranyagarbha, is me.
 
The residence of the taijasa is dream, like the residence of the vishva is the waking state. Taijasa is internalized knowledge, just like vishva is externalized knowledge. In the waking state, the intellect (prajnyaa) is seen to create objects out of external substances, whereas in dream, the intellect creates external objects out of internal substances. The waking is gross and appears stable, the dream is subtle and does not appear stable. These are the only differences in their nature, otherwise, from a standpoint of experiences, both are the same.
 
The prajnyaa or intellect of the waking state has many means of experiencing, like senses etc, by which external objects are experienced. But these external objects are not substances (padaartha), they are mere pulsations of the mind. This externalized knowledge alone creates impressions in the mind. And the mind takes the shape of a coloured painting. In the dream, these very mental impressions, without the need for external means, appear as a scene, in the same manner as did those impressions during their time of input (aaharana kaala) in the waking state. The mind does not contain impressions of just this birth. It also contains impressions of prior births. That is why, things are seen in this dream that were not seen in this birth. Also, there is illogical relationship of impressions in a dream, like the head of a horse seen on a man.
 
Followers of the karma kaanda school consider dream to be that state which has the power to dispense results of those actions that were not able to dispense results in the waking state. The followers of the Prakritiguna school accept dream as an effect of rajo guna. The Ayuerveda school can estimate the proportion of vaata-pitta-kafa based on the objects seen in a dream. The Shakuna school analyzes the results of a dream. But in Vedanta, the analysis of dream is nothing like any of these. Vedanta says that the space-time-object available in dream is not available in the waking state. Dream does not require external means. The pot of a dream is not made from the clay of the waking state, and the fire of a dream cannot be extinguished by water of the waking state. Ignorance, desire and action - all three of these are called the wheel of the world, which moves equally in both dream and waking states. Ignorance is sitting at the root of everything.
 
Accepting something other than one's inherent nature as oneself is ignorance. If there is something other than oneself, there will be a thought of accepting and rejecting it, and I want this, I don't want that, such a thought will arise. Action will happen as per the desire, and the impression of that action will be created in the internal organ. Therefore, until there is ignorance, the world cannot be dropped. Prompted by these - ignorance, desire and action - alone does the dream world appear like the waking world.
 
Both waking and dream states are created through impressions, therefore they are the reverse cognition (anyathaa prateeti, vivarta) of praajnya or knowledge. Externalized knowledge is the cause in the waking state, and internalized knowledge in dream. The shruti says that this self lord (aatma deva) experiences his greatness in his inherent nature by inclusion of sound and other objects of the waking state in the senses, and the senses in the mind (Prashna Upanishad 4.5). In other words, even in the absence of space, time, object there, he creates the world and then sees it himself.
 
The containers of the senses (indreeya golaka) do not remain in the dream state. There, only desire (vaasanaa) remains. The seer sees his desires alone. There is a veiling of desire on the vision of the seer. When we contemplate from the view of the one soul school (eka jeeva vaada), the veiling (aavarana) of the world comes in between the "that" (Isvhara) and the "you". This veiling, due to lack of thinking, is present on the vision, not on the seer. There is cognition of the snake on a rope (prateeti). How can we see the snake? We need to remove that cognition of the snake, which is coming between the rope and the eyes, through vichaara or thought. There is no real veiling upon the rope.
 
If we need to see the awareness which is adjuncted by the rope, how can we do so? If it is seen then it will become a scene, inert. The realiztion of the awareness does not happen in the form of some other. It only happens in the form of "I". Therefore, the desire-filled prajnyaa in a dream is my own prajnyaa, hence I am taijasa.
 
That which remains in the form of a subject in its illumined nature (prakaash roopa me vishayee roop se), is called taijasa. In reality, the illumined nature of prajnyaa without any object is called teja. That which stays in it in the form of a subject (vishayee), who stays in the desire-filled prajnyaa in the form of a suject, is called taijasa.
 
Vishva is the enjoyment of prajnyaa, so is taijasa. So long as there is an arrogator of knowledge (knower) and an object of knowledge (known) in knowledge, the name of knowledge is prajnyaa. Prajnyaa is the same in waking and same in dream state. Otherwise there will be no recollection of dream or waking states. Even then, the cause of difference between vishva and taijasa is externalized vs. internalized knowledge. They have the similarity of 7 limbs and 19 mouths. Vishva (in waking) recollects the experience of the taijasa (dream), but the taijasa (in dream) does not recall the experience of the vishva (in waking). Vishva is the arrogator of the effect, taijasa is the arrogator of the subtle cause. The enjoyment of vishva is the gross objects of the waking state, the enjoyment of taijasa are the subtle objects of the dream states. In reality, prajnyaa alone is gross and subtle, not objects. Thought-flow alone is enjoyed because without thought flow, there is no knowledge of the object. The form, colour etc. of an object is not enjoyed, but the form-shaped (roopaakaar), smell-shaped thought-flows alone are enjoyed.
 
When prajnyaa alone is enjoyed, then what is the difference between vishva and taijasa? In dream, desire alone is prajnyaa, there is no gross object. therefore it is distinct from the waking enjoyment. The enjoyer of these distinct enjoyments is me, the taijasa-hiranyagarbha. This enjoyer is a praajnya alone just like vishva. In the same body, even due to differences in state, there cannot be two true enjoyers. And the doer is one alone, at all times.
 
Waking and dream are both perception-thought-flows (darshan vritti) and that self-awareness which is adjuncted by them is respectively called vishva and taijasa. In reality, they are in the form of the macrocosm alone. Due to ignorance, their microcosm-ness is an appearance alone. Therefore vishva is viraata, taijasa is hiranyagarbha.

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