Commentary on the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

In the previous session we realised how it is possible for us to dissociate this consciousness from the three states, from the five koshas, and ascertain the true indivisibility of our essential Self. Tvam which is individuality, or ‘thou’, is the basic consciousness appearing to be limited in one place on account of the action of segregating rajas, from which we have to dissociate consciousness carefully, as we tried to do yesterday. Then we will find that it is the same as the universal Brahman. Therefore, if we avoid association with sattva, rajas, tamas, we will find that we are identical with the cosmic existence.

So’ya mityā divākyeṣu virodhāt tadi dantayoḥ, tyāgena bhāgayo reka āśrayo lakṣyate yathā (47) means that Devadatta of Bombay is this Devadatta in Rishikesh. We have avoided the association of Bombay and Rishikesh and identified the person as one single individual. In a similar manner, the identity of Brahman in the individuality of the jiva should be affirmed by the dissociation of factors which are secondary and not essential.

Māyā’vidye vihā yaivam upādhī para jīvayoḥ, akhaṇḍaṁ saccidā nandaṁ para brahmaiva lakṣyate (48): As mentioned, by dissociating consciousness from its apparent connection with maya in the cosmic sense and avidya in the individual sense, we will feel that, freed from these adjuncts or upadhis of cosmicality and individuality, what remains would be indivisible Sat-Chit-Ananda Parabrahma only.

We must free the consciousness from the association of the definitions of omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, etc. These definitions have meaning only so long as there is space and time and externality. Due to space, time and the objectivity visible to our eyes, we associate Brahman with such factors as omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, etc. God by Himself is more than omnipotence, and also more than omniscience and omnipresence. Also, He is not a particular individual.

Thus, the particularity of the individuality of a person and the universality of omnipresence, etc., of God are only factors arisen on account of perception through space and time. If these screens of space, time and objectivity are lifted, the individual merges into Brahman in one instant.

Savi kalpasya lakṣyavte lakṣyasya syāda vastutā, nirvi kalpasya kalṣyatvaṁ na dṛṣṭaṁ na ca sambhavi (49). The Supreme Brahman – this is a kind of logical cliché that the author introduces here by saying that Brahman is either savikalpa or nirvikalpa. Savikalpa is associated with name and form, conceivable through the mind. And if we say that Brahman is associated with nama-rupa – that is, name and form – we will also be associating Brahman with space and time. In that case, this lakshya, or the supreme target of our concentration, will become a finite individual. Brahman also will become a personality like ourselves – maybe a large personality, yet nevertheless a personality only – because we have limited this concept of Brahman to perceptibility, cognisability, in terms of finitude created by space, time and objectivity.

Therefore, Brahman should not be considered as cognisable through the mind, and also not definable in terms of name and form. Else, He will become non-existent, avastu, a non-entity, because He has become a finite entity like any other finite individual. But – nirvi kalpasya kalṣyatvaṁ na dṛṣṭaṁ na ca sambhavi – can we say that He has no qualities at all? We cannot conceive of anything that has no attributes at all. All things that we can conceive in the mind have some character. So a quandary is being raised here, that we cannot conceive Brahman either with attributes or without attributes. If it is with attributes, it becomes finite. If it is without attributes, it becomes inconceivable. Here is the difficulty in conceiving Brahman through human intellect or understanding.

Vikalpo nirvi kalpasya savilpkasya vā bhavet, ādye vyāhati ranyatrā navasthā’tmā śrayā dayaḥ (50). Concept is possible either of the finite or of the infinite. But, the infinite cannot be conceived; and if we start conceiving the finite, we will enter into some peculiar logical quandaries in argument. That is, a finite thing is that which is associated with certain conceptual categories. That is to say, there cannot be a finite object or anything that is finite unless it has already been cast into the mould of conceptual categories. Now, to conceive a finite object which is already cast into the mould of a conceptualisation would be to argue in a regressus ad infinitum, as they call it; and many other logical fallacies will follow, such as circular reasoning, called chakraka, or anavastha dosha, regressus ad infinitum, or atmashraya which means begging the question. We start assuming something which is yet to be proved – and so on are the difficulties that will arise if we start conceiving a thing that is already conceived to be finite. So God cannot be conceived as finite. Nor is it possible to conceive the infinite. This is a peculiar diversion that he has introduced here to make us feel how difficult it is for us to contact Brahman, in any way whatsoever, with our finite faculties. No contact with Brahman is possible, ordinarily.

Idaṁ guṇakriyā jāti dravya sambandha vastuṣu, samaṁ tena svarūpasya sarva meta ditīṣyatām (51). These problems that we raised just now of vikalpatva or nirvikalpatva, that is finitude or infinitude as associated with Brahman, may also be considered as futile arguments in the case of anything whatsoever, such as quality, action, species, genus, objectivity, relation, and anything whatsoever. Guna is quality, kriya is action, jati is species, dravya is object, sambandha is relation, vastu is anything whatsoever. Hence, in any one of these categories that we find in this world, the same difficulty will arise if we start envisaging these things either as finite or as infinite.

Nothing finally can be looked upon as either finite or infinite. So what is the position of the thing at all? If we think that it is neither finite nor infinite, it is inconceivable. Such is the nature of this world. It is a relative world which is impossible to conceive in any manner whatsoever. Anything that is relative cannot be conceived. The modern science of relativity also takes us to the same conclusion that it is not as it appears to us. It is an unthinkable, peculiar mystery. That is why it is called maya – a jugglery-like thing that is appearing before us. If we try to probe into it, we will find it is not there at all, as night vanishes when the sun rises or darkness vanishes when the flash of a torch is thrown on it. It is because our knowledge is not operating that the whole thing looks very solid, so three-dimensional, so real. If we throw the flashlight on our understanding, we will find it vanishes. It cannot be conceived at all as either existent in this manner or existent in that manner – neither finite, not infinite, which means to say that it is not there at all. Such is this world.

Vikalpa tada bhāvā bhyām asaṁ spṛṣṭāt ma vastuni, vikalpi tatva lakṣyatva sambandhā dyāstu kalpitāḥ (52). In this case where it is a question of ascertaining the nature of a reality which is uncontaminated either with the concept of finitude or infinitude, all these categories that we have been discussing are only foisted upon it. We say so many things about God. He does this, He does that, He did this, He is like this, He is like that. None of these statements that we make can apply to Him. Neither He did this, nor did He do that. He neither looks like this, nor does He look like that. All our intellectual categories are foisted upon God.

The category of finitude and the category of infinitude, and the category of relation of one thing with the other are all imagined by the conditioning factors of the mind. Brahman is above all that we can imagine in our mind. This kind of study that we have made is called sravana. We have heard a lot about the nature of the world, the nature of the individual, the nature of Brahman. We have studied Ishvara, jagat and jiva in some measure. What is the nature of these great principles God, world and individual?

Itthaṁ vākyais tadar thānu sandhā naṁ śravaṇaṁ bhaveta, yuktyā sambhā vita tvānu saṅdhānaṁ mana nantu tat (53). This kind of thing that you have heard and studied now is equal to hearing. You have studied by actual hearing. But mere hearing is not sufficient. When you return home, you must ponder over this deeply. The ideas that have been made to enter into your mind through the medium of your hearing should enter your heart. They should become objects of deep investigation, Self-investigation. The mind withdraws into itself all the ideas that it has collected by hearing and deeply bestows these considerations. That is called manana.

Sravana is hearing, learning, studying. Manana is deep thinking. If you merely hear and go away and again hear tomorrow, it will be what is humorously called ‘Eustachian philosophy’, which means that what you hear through one ear goes out though the other ear. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say there are Eustachian philosophers. They understand nothing. It does not go inside.

It has to go inside. Unless we bestow deep thought on what we have heard, that knowledge which we have gained by hearing will not be part of our nature. We will be sitting independently as we were earlier, and knowledge will be outside in space, or it will sit on top of the tree. So it has to be brought into the depths of our understanding by deep reflection. That process is called manana. Even that is not sufficient. We have to become that knowledge itself.

Tābhyāṁ nirvicikitse’rthe cetasaḥ sthāpi tasya yat, eka tānatva metaddhi nidi dhyāsana mucyate (54). The deep association of ourselves with this knowledge is nididhyasana. Firstly, we hear and study. Secondly, we bestow deep thought and investigate into the substance and essentiality of what we have heard and studied, and make it a part and parcel of our daily thought and understanding. But when this process goes on continuously day in and day out, it becomes the very spirit of our nature. We do not merely know, we actually become the existence of it. Knowledge is not merely a property that we have gained by hearing or studying. It is not a quality of our intellect, as an academic qualification. It is our very substance. Knowledge is Being. Chit is Sat. So when knowledge that we have gained by sravana and manana becomes our very substance itself, we move like God Himself in the world. That is jivanmukta lakshana. That condition is nididhyasana tattva, a continuous flow of knowledge without break, which becomes the essence of our person. This is called nididhyasana.

Dhyātṛ dhyāne pari tyajya kramād dhyeyaika gocaram, nivāta dīpa vaccittaṁ samādhi rabhi dhīyate (55). Deep meditation, which is nididhyasana is, in the beginning, involved in three processes – the meditating consciousness, the object on which meditation is carried on, and the process of meditation. Therefore, three things are involved – triputi. There is someone who is meditating, there is something on which meditation is being carried on, and some process of knowledge is linking the subject with the object, connecting the meditator with the object meditated upon. So when we meditate, in the beginning we will have a consciousness of three things. We will feel that we are there contemplating, meditating. We will feel that there is something on which we are concentrating. And we will also know that there is a relation between us.

When by deep concentration – going further, deeper – the consciousness of our being there and the consciousness of a process going on also are dropped, our consciousness merges into that object, and we become the very object itself. The very artha, the very target, the very ideal, the very aim becomes us. We are not contemplating something; we have become that. That becoming of the identity of our consciousness with the very object which we are concentrating upon, losing the consciousness of an individuality and the process of concentration – the identity of the subject with the object, the merger of the consciousness perceiving with the object concentrated upon – is called samadhi.