Commentary on the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

The awareness does not actually become the object, as the rod does not become the fire. But in the same way as the rod is identified with the fire, consciousness is identified with the conditions of the sheaths. Then the consciousness feels, "I am sleeping"; the consciousness feels, "I am studying and logically understanding things"; the consciousness feels, "I am thinking and doubting"; the consciousness feels, "I am hungry and thirsty." Consciousness feels, "I am feeling heat and cold"; consciousness feels, "One day I will die." Because the body is going to die, consciousness also feels that it is dying, so we all feel one day that we will die. This happens due to the mutual superimposition of qualities.

The fragility and the finitude and the problems of the sheaths are superimposed on the Atman. Then we say that we are hungry, we are thirsty, we are sorry, we are short; we are this, we are that; we are from the East, we are from the West, and so on. But conversely, we are conscious in all these levels. This mutual superimposition of characters between consciousness and the sheaths is called tadatmya adhyasa, or the visualisation of the character of one in the existence of the other.

Syāt pañcī kṛta bhūtottho dehaḥ sthūlo’nnasaṁ jñākaḥ, liṅge tu rājasai prāṅaiḥ prāṅaḥ karmen indriyaiḥ saha (34). In the beginning of the commentary on the Brahma Sutra, Acharya Sankara makes a statement. In the first sentence of his commentary on the Brahma Sutra he uses the words tadatmya adhyasa, mutual superimposition, in the context of the explanation of there being no possibility of consciousness becoming matter or matter becoming consciousness. The knower cannot become the known, and the known cannot become the knower; but somehow or other we mix up these two aspects.

The known appears to be somehow or other moving in a direction of something in space and time and locating it outside, so that consciousness appears to be object consciousness, while it cannot become an object. And conversely, we become attached to the object, as if we are the object itself. The more we are attached to an object, the more we become the object. The consciousness has lost its Self consciousness. It has moved into the object and become the object, so more is the attachment, more is the objectivity of ours, and more is the Self consciousness lost.

This physical body, which is made of the quintuplicated physical elements known as annamaya kosha, physical sheath, gross in its nature, is the outermost sheath. In the internal sheath, which is subtler, constituted of the rajasic principles of prana together with the karmendriyas enumerated yesterday, we have another body altogether. Pure physicality is in the outermost body.

The rajasic element is predominating in the subtle body which consists of the five senses of knowledge, the five senses or organs of action, together with the mind and the intellect. This is called lingasarira. It is called linga because it indicates what kind of person we are. The sense organs, ten in number, the mind and the intellect will indicate what kind of person we are. They are mostly shining through our face. The face is the index of personality. This is the subtle body, linga.

Sātvi kair dhīr indriyaiḥ sākaṁ vimar śātmā mano mayaḥ, taireva sākaṁ vijñāna mayo dhīr niścayā tmikā (35). The mental body is inside the physical and the vital bodies, and it consists of the mind and the five senses of knowledge. The five senses of knowledge and the mind constitute the mental body. The intellectual body also is constituted of the five senses of knowledge, plus the mind; and whatever is in the mind is also in the intellect, together with the five senses of knowledge. That is, there is an intimate connection between the mental sheath and the intellectual sheath. They are like elder brother and younger brother. Internal to the subtle body is the causal body, as we have noted already.

Kāraṇe sattvamānanda mayo modādi vṛttibhiḥ, tattat kośaistu tādāt myād ātmā tat tanmayo bhavet (36). It is called anandamaya kosha because we feel bliss there when we enter into it. We have seen the joy of sleep. The bliss of sleep is superior to the bliss of a meal that we take, or a position that we occupy in society, or wealth that we may possess, etc. No joy of the world, food, land and property, money or social position can equal the happiness of sleep. If we do not sleep for days, we will see what happens. All our lunch and all the wealth, etc.. will vanish, and we would like to sleep rather than have anything else. The reason is that it is only in the state of deep sleep that the consciousness is totally dissociated from the sheaths. That is why we are so happy. In all other conditions, we are associated with the sheaths. Therefore, we cannot have so much happiness either in dream or waking.

In this karana-sarira we experience joy when we are fast asleep. This ananda, or the bliss of the Atman, manifests itself faintly in the outer sheaths also when we feel happiness in the presence of a desirable object. When that desired object is seen with the eyes we feel a happiness, called priya. When the object that is desired is coming near us, we feel a more intense happiness – more intense than the earlier happiness – which is called moda. And when the object is completely in our possession, we have the most intense form of happiness, and that is called pramoda. These are the three degrees of happiness that we experience in this world – priya, moda, pramoda – when the desired object is seen, or moving near, or is under possession. This is how the anandamaya kosha works even in dream and waking. But otherwise, in deep sleep, it is total dissociation of consciousness. Therefore, the fastest sleep is the greatest happiness.

When the consciousness of the Atman is identified with the causal body, it looks like it is asleep. When it is identified with the intellect, it looks as if it is arguing, understanding, studying, etc. When it is identified with the mind, it is thinking. When it is identified with the vital body, it is breathing and living. When it is identified with the physical body, it is having all the problems of the outer world.

Anvaya vyati rekā bhyāṁ pañcakośa vivekatah, svāt mānaṁ tata uddhṛtya paraṁ brahma prapa dyate (37). We have to carefully analyse this state of affairs in order to know that the Atman consciousness is not any of these bodies. None of these five sheaths is to be identified with Pure Consciousness, which is Universal.

Consciousness is everywhere. We have studied it already. It cannot be located in one place. It has no divisions or fractions. It is infinite by itself. But each of the five bodies is limited and is the opposite or the contrary of the consciousness, which is all-pervading.

We have to lift this Atman out, free this Atman from involvement in the five sheaths, and attain to that infinity of ourselves which is the same as attainment of Brahman. Brahman sakshatkara takes place. We have to argue within our own self: “How is it possible for me that I should be the body?” This analysis is called anvaya and vyatireka, positive and negative analysis of a particular situation.

When something is there, something else is also there. When something is not there, something else is also not there. This kind of argument is called anvaya and vyatireka. Here is an example of how such kind of positive and negative analysis can be carried on for the purpose of separating the consciousness from material involvements in the form of this body.

Abhāne sthūla dehasya svapne yadbhāna mātmanaḥ, so’nvayo vyatirekas tad bhāne’nyā nava bhāsanam (38). Even when the physical body is not there in dream, there is consciousness in dream. That means to say, consciousness exists even independent of the physical body. This is anvaya. Because the physical body is not necessary for being conscious, because we are conscious in dream even without the physical body being there, it is now clear that consciousness is not the physical body. This is one argument. This is called anvaya, or the positive statement that we make, the understanding that we arrive at to conclude that consciousness can exist even when the body does not exist.

Vyatirekas tad bhāne’nyā nava bhāsanam. Vyatireka is the negating of the physical body – the absence of it, when the consciousness exists. The existence of consciousness when the body does not exist is anvaya. The non-existence of the body when the consciousness exists is called vyatireka. These are two ways of arguing the same position. By both ways we conclude that consciousness is different from the body. There is another argumentto prove that consciousness is not the body. It is here mentioned in the thirty-ninth verse.

Liṅga bhāne suṣuptau syād ātmano bhāna manvayaḥ, vyati rekastu tadbhāne liṅgasyā bhāna mucyate (39). In the deep sleep state, consciousness exists, but the dream world does not exist. That is to say, as the physical body was not necessary in dream, the subtle body is not necessary in sleep. So we can exist not only without the physical body, but we can also exist without the subtle body. This is seen in our sleep condition. The consciousness in the state of sleep has no consciousness of the subtle body or the physical body.

What do we prove by this? That we can exist minus the physical body and minus the subtle body also. So the consciousness existing independent of the subtle body is the anvaya aspect. The non-existence of the subtle body when the consciousness exists in sleep is called vyatireka. These are two ways of arguing the same position. Now comes further argument.

Tad vivekād viviktā syuḥ kośāḥ prāṇa mano dhiyah, te hi tatra guṇā vasthā bheda mātrāt pṛthak kṛtāḥ (40). When we have separated consciousness from the physical and the subtle bodies, we have automatically separated consciousness from the pranamaya kosha, the manomaya kosha, and the vijnanamaya kosha also, because they are included in the subtle body. The elimination of the physical and the subtle bodies is also automatically an elimination of the vital, mental, and intellectual bodies, which differ only in their functioning, location and specific characteristics. So we have now proof that consciousness, which is our real nature, can exist minus the physical body and minus the subtle body also. Now there is something more.

Suṣuptya bhāne bhānantu samādhā vātmāno’nvayaḥ, vyati rekas tvātma bhāne suṣuptya nava bhāsanam (41). In the state of samadhi, consciousness exists, but the causal body does not exist. So we have gotten rid of even the causal body now. Consciousness is there in samadhi, but the causal body is not there. This is anvaya. The abolition of the causal body, the negation of the causal body while the consciousness persists in samadhi, is vyatireka.

So what has happened now? We have proven that consciousness, which is our real nature, can exist independently of the physical body, independently of the subtle body, and independently of the causal body also. So what is our real nature? It is not the physical body, not the vital body, not the mental body, not the intellectual body, not the causal body.

Foolishly we identify ourselves with all these, and cry every day, "This is like this, this is like that." We are not really connected with any of these bodies. It is a foolishness, a kind of internal adhyasa, a superimposition that has taken place by some internal error. This nature of error has also to be analysed. How have we got into this muddle, while we have now actually come to the conclusion that we are Pure Consciousness and can exist independent of all the sheaths? So consciousness existing in samadhi, and the causal body not existing there, is anvaya. And the abolition of the causal body in the state of samadhi while consciousness is there is the vyatireka aspect.

Hence, all the koshas are revelated now, as the pith of a blade of munja grass is taken out from the stalk in which it is embedded. The stalk of the munja grass has a sheath, and inside there is a pith. The grass is used to tie the waistband during the Upanayana (sacred thread) ceremony of boys, and is also used during fasting, especially long fasts. The pinch of hunger is eliminated by eating this pith. Anyway, this is an illustration: The pith of the munja grass is separated gradually by the elimination of the covering; so too by the method adopted through anvaya and vyatireka we have noted just now, the Atman consciousness has to be gradually eliminated from involvement in the koshas, as the pith of the grass is removed completely from its involvement in the outer covering.

Yathā muñjā diṣī kaivam ātmā yuktyā samud dhṛtaḥ, śarīra tritayād dhīraiḥ paraṁ brahmaiva jāyate (42). Parā parāt mano revaṁ yuktyā saṁbhā vitai katā, tattva masyā divākyais sā bhāga tyāgena lakṣyate (43). The moment this is achieved – when we are successful in the elimination of consciousness by dissociating it from all the five koshas – we will realise that our consciousness inside is Universal Existence, Brahman Itself. This will lead us to the realisation of the Absolute Brahman.