[Chaturamnaya] Tattvabodha of Adi Sankaracharya - 21

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 
 
2.7 Atman
 
So far, the Author elaborately analyzed what
Atman is not, through a series of negations.
He concludes that the Atman is neither the
five sheaths, nor the three bodies, nor the three
states. Now on he proceeds to discuss what
Atman is.
 
tarhi - Then,
 
AtmA kaH? - what is Atman?
 
sachchidaanandasvarUpaH | It is of the nature of
sat-chit-Ananda (existence-consciousness-bliss).
 
sat kim? - What is sat (Truth, Reality) ?
 
kAlatraye.api tiShThatIti sat - sat is that which
remains in all the three periods of time - the
past, the present and the future. For example,
the sat aspect of a ring is gold, which existed
before the ring was made, which is in the ring
and which will remain even after the destruc-
tion of the ring. Similarly, since the world
(jagat) can also perish (like the ring), it should
be the result of a fundamental substance (like
the gold), which is the Atman - which was,
which is and which will be (like the gold), re-
gardless of the existence of the jagat.
 
chitkim ? - What is cit or caitanyam ?
 
j~nAnasvarUpaH - It is of the nature of Knowledge
(Absolute) of Awareness, and is present
during all states of experience and during all
periods of time, the knowledge of which leads
to perfection. That which changes is unreal.
If one talks about change, there should be some
entity to witness that change (to distinguish
between the condition before change and af-
ter the change), which (with respect to that
change) is a changeless principle , called sat . If
that principle is changeless , then the question
arises as to whether that is inert or conscious.
It should be only conscious since it is aware
of the change and witnesses te change. So it
is described as j~nAnasvarUpaH or chit. Whatever
changes is asat.
 
AnandaH kaH ? - What is Ananda?
 
sukhasvarUpaH - It is of the nature of True
Happiness (Bliss).
 
Sorrow or duHkham is an outcome of change - for
example, birth, disease, old age etc, are respon-
sible for sorrow. But the Atman has no change
and so is free from sorrow or sukhasvarUpaH .
 
Also, in the wakeful state, there is association
with the gross body - sthUla-sharIra -> anAtmA) and
so there is sorrow. During dream, there is as-
sociation with the subtle body - sUkshma-sharIra ->
anAtmA), but during deep sleep, association with
the body is dropped and so there is no sorrow.
In sushupti, the association is with the
-and one has happiness, Ananda. So,
sat implies the changeless principle; cit implies
the awareness principle and Ananda implies
the nature of bliss.
 
 eva.n sachchidAnandasvarUpa.n svAtmAna.n vijAnIyAt .
 
Thus one should know oneself to be of the nature
of absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
 
 
(Continued in next post)