[Chaturamnaya] Tattvabodha of Adi Sankaracharya - 7

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)


PART 2

Analysis of the Individual (jIva vichAraH)

Having given a precise answer about the
Absolute Knowledge, the author presents further
dialogue between the student and the teacher
about the nature of Atman. Tattva Viveka gives
the knowledge of identifying the Self. Due to
misconception or ignorance, Self is identified
with the body or the mind or the intellect which
prevents from understanding the true nature.
This is the reason for all problems. In this section,
the author first identifies and explains what
Atman is not through a series of negations. All
those aspects are identified as 'anAtmA' Finally,
the nature of Atman is pointed out. This type of
presentation enables one not to develop incorrect
notions in understanding. This section can also
be called Atma-anAtma vichAraH : Atma-Anatma
vicAara: Now we will continue with the
discussion as the author presents it.

AtmA kaH ? What is AtmA ?

 sthUlasUkShmakAraNasharIrAdvyatiriktaH pa~nchakoshAtItaH
 san avasthAtrayasAkShI sachchidAnandasvarUpaH san
 yastiShThati sa AtmA .

The One that is different from the (three) bodies;
(sharIrAdvyatiriktaH) - the gross (sthUla) , subtle
(sUkshma) and causal (kAraNa); that
is beyond the five sheaths (pa~nchakoshAtItaH); which is
the witness (sAkShI) of the three states of awareness
(avasthAtraM) and which is of the nature of sat-cit-
Ananda (sachchidAnandasvarUpaH) is AtmA. This passage
have fourteen unknown words which has to be
explained by the author in subsequent
development!

First, let us try to understand the
approach of the author. In the view of the
common individual, the term "I" generally refers
to the "body"; Body is made of mere matter (just
a matter bundle); the only difference from other
matter like wood etc. is, a living body represents
a conscious matter versus an inert body or dead
matter. Hence, Consciousness is only a property
of the body; in other words, what is a live body
now will become a dead body later. So, according
to the materialistic - chArvAka - philosophy,
matter is fundamental - body is matter - life is
temporary phenomenon. If a study of life is made
by human instruments, we will then end up only
with a materialistic outlook, since in such a
study, only symptoms in matter alone are studied
with the premise that body is fundamental and
Consciosness is an incidental property.
However according to the scriptural
view, Consciousness is neither matter nor a
property of matter; it is only an expression of
some other entity, a different entity altogether,
and can be manifest in matter and not a property
of the matter. For example, light (electricity) is
not the property of the bulb, is different from
the bulb and can manifest in the bulb. Hence,
the Consciousness or chit or chaitanyam, is
different from JaDam or matter bundle.
So, according the scriptures, "I" am chit , the
Consciousness, different from matter, the body.

For the sake of convenience , the term
"body" is viewed from two angles - as made up
of 1) sharIratrayam (the three bodies),
and 2) etatkoshapa~nchakam (the five
sheaths); and declared that the AtmA is different
from these, but manifests in these; The author
will give subsequently, the definition of each of
these bodies or koshas.

Then, the AtmA is stated as the witness of
the three states of awareness - avasthA trayam
namely, the wakeful state (jAgrat.h), dream
state (svapna) and the deep sleep state (suShupti); again,
the AtmA is different from each of these states
(the term witness implies that it is different from
what is witnessed) of experiences which are
properties of the body and not of Consciousness.
Having given what is not AtmA, the
author then defines what AtmA is, as sat-cit-
Ananda or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss and
enumerates the affirmation given earlier - AtmA
satyam tadanyat sarvam mithyA.

The basic concept utilized in the analysis
is that, the subject is different from the object. In
other words, "I", the knower is different from
"this", the known or "I" am always present and
am different from my body - i.e the AtmA-anAtmA
viveka: To summarize, based on materialism,
matter is fundamental; any instrument of human
perception can give only materialistic attributes.
Based on spirituality, the spirit is fundamental
and is understood through the vedic scriptures
only, which give apourusheya jnAnam. Any of the
pratyaksha pramANa, anumAna pramANa etc. can
study only the expression of life and not life itself .
The teacher proceeds to explain what each one
of these anAtmA aspects means, its components
and attributes, which will be discussed in
subsequent articles of the series.

References / Source of Material
1.    Tattvabodha of Sankaracharya, Central
Chinmaya Mission Trust, Bombay. 1995.
2.    Tattvabodha - Lectures by Swami
Paramarthananda, Madras.


(Continued in next post)