Hari OM
Application - that is what
'Workings-days' are about!
For as long as it takes to complete
it, we are going to be using today as well as Text-days to fulfil study of the
SadaachaaraH. If you have not been following that text, then use the relevant
label to go back to the beginning. It is, as might be surmised from its title,
about how to go about saadhana, but also explores more of the Sanskrit
philosophy; it is therefore both a 'working' as well as a 'thinking' text.
In shloka 21 it was said, "I am Pure Knowledge". This is
the capital 'k' kind - not that which is normally understood or referred to.
That is to say, mostly we think of knowledge as consisting of information,
words and thoughts available from books, internet, other people. If it is not
this kind of knowledge, what is it?
s»Lpsai]
yJ}an< svRlaekEkjIvnm!,
tdevaSmIit
yae ved s mu´ae naÇ s<zy>.31.
Sankalpa-saakshi yajjnaanam sarvalokaika-jiivanam,
Tadevaasmiiti yo veda sa mukto naatra samshayaH ||31||
One who knows that Knowledge which is
the Witness of all thoughts and the One Life Principle of all beings as 'that
alone am I', he alone is liberated. There is no doubt about this matter.
Currently, we understand knowledge as the gaining of information that
was not previously there, through contact with external factors (objects of
knowledge). We are the 'knower', objects are to be 'known' through the process
of 'knowing'. However, this shloka clarifies that there is an awareness level,
a part of our being which understands that we understand - known as the saakshi
(witness). It is this which is called Pure Knowledge. This is the Awareness
which is actually experienced as the "I" which can never become an
object itself. Not in terms of ownership, i.e. the ego "I", but the
pure, experience and knowledge of beingness. That "I".
An example that is often used to help grasp this subtle concept is
the electricity and the bulb. The bulb is representative of 'me' the
individual. All the facility is contained in the physical form there to provide
light but yet it does not. This can only happen when electricity enters the
physical. Electricity can be called as the 'life' of the bulb.
Similarly, that which makes us 'glow' is Consciousness, the
Awareness of Pure Knowledge. Universal electricity, if you will.
We think of the pranas (all the biology) as the supporting of life
in our bodies. However, those things alone do not make us who we are; they are
mere matter. What makes the difference is the spark of power the causes the
matter to activate, just as the electric does in the bulb. Even the most basic
living organism, though it may have no level of intelligence, still has the
spark of life within it. Universal Electricity is essential to life. It is
in every blade of grass, in every stone, even. We are connected to each other,
to every living thing, through this incredible unifying factor of
Consciousness, the Ultimate Knowledge.
Only when the seeker can fully accept and integrate his or herself
with this understanding - a highly advanced level of awareness - can they be
called 'mukti' - an enlightened one. It is the Final Knowledge which, after
knowing, all else becomes known and no ignorance remains.
