[Advaita-l] धीः and चैतन्यम्

[Ravi Kiran]

Namaste Sri Subrahmanianji

Thanks for the explanation.

On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 4:14 PM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
>
>>
>>> 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,
>

This is the Atma svarUpa jnAna  (knowledge that the Kutastha is the
nitya-Brahma-vastu)


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

and this is our experience

In this sentence,

the body illumined by Kutastha is *more* illumined by the light of Kutastha
reflected in the intellect (Chidabhasa)

Any thoughts, why the *more* is used here (body is more illumined by the
light of chidabhasa) ? Is it only in the sense that it is a more common
experience of all beings ?

ps: understand the "more" usage in the wall example as being much brighter
when compared to direct Sun rays



> 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.
>

Thanks


>
> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>