Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
We now explore the Sri Adi Shankara text, "SadaachaaraH". To obtain your own copy, click here.
Having diverted into morning prayers from shloka three of the text, it now continues thus;
ANvyVyitreka_ya< ja¢Tsvßsu;uiÝ;u,
Yadek< kevl< }an< tdevaiSm pr< b&ht!.4.
Anvayavyatireka-abhyaam jaagrat-svapna-sushuptishu,
Yadekam kevalam jnaanam tadevaasmi param bRhat ||4||
I am verily that supreme, infinite, homogenous One Knowledge, which is established by the logic of invariable concomitance with regard to the waking, dream and deep-sleep states.
'Anvaya' means that which is continuing. In Sanskrit grammar, it is used in the context of sorting out the order of things. In philosophical application, it pertains to the order of nature, that it is everywhere and ever-present. Vyatireka means that which is totally absent. Anvaya-vyatireka is a method in Vedanta to prove the presence or cause of a thing.
Waking, dream and deep-sleep are mutually absent to each other (vyatireka) as we through our day. For example, the apple we ate in our dream has no effect upon our digestive system in the morning. Likewise, we cannot carry the water by our bedside into our dream state. Neither of the things of the waking or the dream states exists at all when we enter deep-sleep. The experience of one state is totally negated in the other two states.
There is, however, One who Knows of these three states together. "I" the Pure Self, the illuminator of the states is always present (anvaya), otherwise we would be ignorant of them altogether. "I" am aware of being awake, this is clear, but "I" also know when a dream has taken place - even for those who say they do not! Equally, "I" am the Pure Consciousness which knows its absence in deep-sleep. This is the saakshi - the Witness. It is the consistent Existence of Pure Self which holds all the states together. The pages of a book are all separate things to each other, but the reader makes of them one whole.
Kevalam - One Alone. The Self, Non-Dual and without any difference in its existence. Param bRhat - the Supreme Being(ness). The Self is bigger than any measurable thing, is formless, substanceless, all-pervading and infinite. This is the key meditation for any serious saadhak…
"I Am That".
