- As has been mentioned - and you have surely experienced - in the deep sleep state, the world is absent from our mind. Generally, when we remember in our waking state that there was this world-free state, we refer to it as bliss. The purpose of working towards samaadhi is so that we might experience this very state even as we are awake. This is the state of Realisation - knowing a condition of existence/ consciousness; the condition of sahaja samaadhi is to have this Knowledge yet still be in a state of perception of this world of objects. When we have jnaana, we know of the facts that there is a seer and the seen, but we have yet to combine these two things within ourselves. Vijnaana is the advanced state of Knowledge where we as the seer understand that we are also the seen - or that all which is seen is nothing but this seer. This mergence results in a wiping away of all multiplicity.
- To engage with experience there must be one of the triads of the philosophy; the experiencer, the experiencing and the experienced. The body is to be experienced and the individual (jiiva) is the experiencer. What the two encounters together is experiencing. However, not only the body but the entire world of objects and situations is available for the experiencer to gain experience. This is jnaanam. When the jiiva takes on the understanding that it is but a reflection and actually belongs to One Homogenous Self, it becomes apparent that field of experiences and the experiencer are nothing but one and the same - a play within the Supreme Reality.
- As we read here, we are gaining the level of knowledge which is categorised as jnaanam. It is that knowledge which brings an intellectual curiosity, inquiry and then conviction of given facts under study, in this case, Vedanta. All worldly knowledge falls under this grouping. Everyone can attain jnaanam. However, it is not until we can integrate knowledge of Truth with the experience of Truth in a state of Realisation that we can be said to have attained vijnaanam. In jnaanam we can be aware of Truth and develop a longing for it; in vijnaanam, we are The Truth.
- One of the four mahaavaakyas (great statements) of Advaita Vedanta is "Tattvam asi" - That thou art. When we are in the jnaanam stage of understanding, we have a very clear grasp of the 'thou' because we are all the time self-aware in the ego-condition. It is in this place that the question "Who am I?" arises and generally starts us on the path of research to gain understanding. In that search, almost every philosophy will point to there being a level of understanding which is not about the individual at all. This will likely prompt the question most related to this, "Who is God?" In Vedanta, the search will lead to the That portion of the equation and the understanding of the thou having all the time been That.
Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the
words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
Picking up from yesterday's presentation of the seven shlokas, let us explore them a little more. We will take the first four today and the remaining three next week.
...tbc...
