[Advaita-l] धीः and चैतन्यम्

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 11:30 AM, Ravi Kiran <ravikiranm108 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste
>
>
>
>> 1. Just as a wall illumined by the rays of the sun is more illumined when
>> the light of the sun reflected in a mirror falls on it, so the body
>> illumined by Kutastha is more illumined *by the light of Kutastha
>> reflected
>> in the intellect (Chidabhasa).*
>>
>
> Here,  "body illumined by Kutastha" - how can one understand this ?
>
> as our experience is always,  "body illumined by the light of Kutastha
> reflected in the intellect (Chidabhasa)" ?
>

The Panchadashi gives the example of a wall being illumined by the Sun,
which is a general illumination of the wall. Supposing a mirror (many
different mirrors) is placed in front of the wall so as to capture the
Sun's reflection and at the same time to direct the mirror-sun on to the
wall. Now, apart from the general sun-illumination there is another
mirror-illumination, a bright patch on the wall.

The general illumination (on the wall) is the Kutastha illumining the body.

The mirror-illumination (on the wall) is the chidābhāsa illumining the
body.

While the former is always there, the latter keeps fluctuating, in deep
sleep it is not there (the I-experience is not there).

When one reads the entire chapter one can appreciate a lot of vedantic
points.  The English translation is available here:

http://www.shankaracharya.org/panchadasi_trans_8.php#1

However it is best to learn it under an Acharya who will have a commentary
too to explain from.

regards
vs

This brighter patch is the chidābhāsa.

>
> Thanks
>
>
>
>> Here 'dhīḥ' means 'mind/manas/buddhi. The chaitanyam reflected in the
>> buddhi (dhīḥ) is called chidābhāsa, jīva.
>>
>> regards
>> vs
>>
>>
>>
>