Atma bodha
Verses 14,15 & 16

 
anAdyavidyA anirvAchya kAraNopAdhiruchyate

upAdhitritayAdanyam Atmanamavadharayet---14

anAdi – beginingless; avidya – mAyA; anirvAchya-inexplicable (mithyA); kAraNopAdhiH – causal body; uchyate- is said; upAdhitritayAt anyam – different from the three bodies; AtmAnam – Atma; avadharayet- should understand;

 
mAyA which is beginingless and inexplicable is called the causal body. One should understand that Atma is different from the three bodies.

 
The causal body is as the name suggests (cause) causal in nature. It is the seed which gives rise to the subtle and gross bodies. The gross body is gross and can be identified and perceived. The subtle body is known to oneself, it being of the nature of different mental modifications. The causal body is unknown totally. It is unmanifest. It cannot be perceived. It has many other names like mAyA, prakRRiti, mAyA shakti, avidyA etc. Sometimes, avidyA (based on the context) indicates ignorance that the jIva (individual) has. Here, it should not be taken in that sense. It is the cause of the very mind that has ignorance. In that sense it is root avidyA.

This mAyA is beginingless and indescribable. It is something that can be experienced (through the effects it creates) but on enquiry it disappears. For e.g. I have Chinese ignorance, I can never say since when I have it. It is beginingless. This beginingless Chinese ignorance goes in the wake of learning it. Also, as a dreamer, I can never know the beginning of my dream. I need to wake up for the dream to be destroyed. Similarly, this beginingless mAyA is destroyed on gaining self knowledge.

This mAyA (causal body) serves as a resolution ground for everything when it dissolves during dissolution (pralayam). The whole creation becomes unmanifest but it has to be resolved somewhere, because it manifests again, and this cycle repeats. The resolution house for this creation is the causal matter. From this the next creation is manifest. Based on the previous karmas physical and subtle bodies are created. Hence, it is understood that causal body is not destroyed even during dissolution. The subtle body is destroyed during dissolution, but its seed is still there. The seed (causal matter) gives rise to a subtle body in the next creation. If the jIva attains self knowledge, then the causal body is destroyed along with the physical body and subtle at the time of death.

 
pa~nchakoshAdiyogena tattanmayA iva stithaH

shuddhAtma nIlavastrAdi yogena sphatiko yathA---15

pa~nchakoshAdiyogena – due to identification with the five koShA-s; tattanmAyA iva stithaH - that (Atma) appears to be endowed with the attributes of the koShA-s; shuddhAtma – pure self; nIlavastrAdi yogena – due to the association with blue cloth etc; sphatiko- crystal ; yathA- just as 

Due to the identification with the five koShA-s the Atma appears to be endowed with the attributes of the koShA-s; just as a crystal appears blue due to its association with a blue cloth, so also, the pure self appears to be endowed with those attributes.

 
The five koShA-s are as follows:

annamaya koShA: the physical, gross body;

prANamaya koShA : the energy body;

manomaya koShA : psychological personality;

vij~nAnamaya koShA: intellectual personality;

Anandmaya koShA: unmanifest, dormant personality, causal body.

One tends to identify with these five koShA-s and considers oneself to be limited and changing. One can know infinitude by knowing that, what they are searching for is identical to their own self. Not knowing this, is the seed of misery.

 
The self seemingly appears to be endowed with attributes of anAtma (nonreal) also. In fact, Atma is, ever pure (nitya shuddha), unsullied (nirmala). This all pervading self cannot be limited by the properties and forms of the five koShA-s. Also, self being eternal, it cannot be limited by these five koShA-s which have an arrival time and departure time. Atma is limitless space-wise and time-wise.

 
The identification with the koShA-s is apparent and the attributes that Atma seems to have acquired is apparent. The very koShA-s enjoy dependent existence having borrowed it from the self, which is existence.

 
shrI shaMkara takes the example of a crystal in proximity of a blue cloth. Crystal will always be pure, no matter what. The proximity gives it the color blue, but in actuality there is no color change in the crystal. The blue on the crystal is seemingly real. The author uses the word ‘etc’ (Adi) to indicate that if we remove blue, and keep a green cloth or a series of other colors, the crystal appears in those particular colors. It seems to go through a series of color changes based on the cloth upAdhi. The color attribute belongs to the cloth (upAdhi) not the crystal and can never change the color of the crystal.

Here, the five koShA-s are being indicated by the blue cloth and the crystal ball indicates the Atma.

 
VapusthuShAdibhiH koShAiH yuktam yuktyAvaghAtataH

Atmanamantaram shuddham vivichyAttanDulam yathA---16

 
VapusthuShAdibhiH koShAiH- the gross body etc (the 5 koShA-s); yuktam- endowed with; yuktyAvaghAtataH – intellectual analysis; Atmanam- the self; antaram- within; shuddham- pure; vivichyAt- should separate; tanDulam- rice; yathA- just as.

 
By intellectual analysis one should separate the pure self from the five koShA-s; just as one separates rice from husk (the sheath over rice).

 
The Atma appears to be covered by the five koShA-s. One has to go through the process of vedAntik enquiry to know the self as separate from all these. shrI shaMkara gives the example of how husk is separated from paddy. The paddy is beaten and the husk gets separated. Here, the rice has to be likened to Atma and the husk to the five koShA-s. The beating or pounding is the repeated vedAntik enquiry that one goes through.

How can one know the self? This is possible only through vedAntik enquiry. vedAntik enquiry is in the form of shravaNa (listening to a competent vedAntik guru), manana (reflection on what has been learnt, raising doubts and getting them cleared and hence gaining conviction), nididhyAsana (contemplating and removing the negative tendencies which are obstructing the knowledge from taking place). Here, the pounding that shrI shaMkara refers to is the intellectual pounding (through vedAnta) that one needs to identify oneself as the self.

So, on one fine day will I be able to separate the Atma from the five koShA-s just as I separate rice from husk? No. Atma is not an object at all to be able to separate it from anything. Everything in this creation enjoys existence because of the Atma, in other words, their appearance in creation is made possible by the very Atma; so, there is no question of separating the Atma. Also, self being all pervading and formless, trying to separate it physically is absurd and meaningless.

We need to understand and cognitively appreciate the Atma as being association-less. This is indicated by the term separate here. The upAdhi-s exist due to the existence lent by Atma. These upAdhi-s are mithyA. The Atma is modification-less and cannot be limited to the boundaries of the upAdhi. Knowing this Atma as oneself with conviction is itself the separation. Till that happens ignorance continues. In other words, knowledge is nothing but the destruction of the ignorance one has about his own self as being limited. Once the ignorance is gone, the Atma is known to be separate all the time, it is always free.

Till this knowledge is firm, one needs to continue vedAntik enquiry under the guidance of a vedAntik guru who knows how to handle the words in the scriptures and who himself is always abiding in the self.

Once this knowledge is gained from a guru, the ignorance is destroyed for good. So, one has to learn to claim his own true nature as Atma which is free from the time wise and space wise constraints of the five koShA-s.

The five koShA-s are non eternal. Self is eternal. The koShA-s have a form. Self is formless. koShA-s are constantly changing. Self is changeless. koShA-s have attributes and properties. Self has no properties and attributes. The bodies undertake various actions and functions. Self is akartA abhoktA (non doer, non enjoyer). The bodies are a product of mAyA. The self is ever existent, has an independent existence and provides mAyA with existence.

Out of ignorance we identify with the bodies as our own self. The self is actually the self within. It is an ever accomplished fact. Only the ignorance of our true nature is the problem. When and why did one get ignorance?

This question is answered by two words in the 14 the verse- anAdi and anirvAchyA. The ignorance that an individual has is due to mAyA which is beginingless (anAdi). We cannot give it a date and time. It is also indescribable (anirvAchyA). Why do I see a snake instead of a rope in a semi dark room? Darkness (ignorance) is the cause. The snake is experienced and yet at the same time there is no snake. There is only a rope appearing to be a snake. Can we categorize the snake as either real or unreal? I experience it, so it is real in that sense, but it is found to be not there at all, in the wake of rope knowledge. This snake which cannot be called either existent or non-existent, comes under the category named mithyA or anRRitam in vedAnta. So, instead of concentrating on ‘when’ and ‘why’ of ignorance, one should strive to remove it through proper vedAntik enquiry.

Part 1, Part 7, Part 9 Coming Soon...