Commentary on the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

Vastrā bhāsa sthitān varṇān yadvadā dhāra vastra gān, vadantya jñāstathā jīva saṁsāraṁ cit gataṁ viduḥ (8). Ignorant children, when they look at a picture, think that the people are actually sticking to the cloth. The cloth itself has become the people appearing to be there, painted on the cloth. In a similar manner, ignorant people imagine that this world is actually sticking to God, or Pure Consciousness.

The cloth does not even know that there is ink on it; and it does not see the beauty. Perhaps if there was a mechanism which would enable our mind to enter into the screen in the cinema, we would not see the picture. We are outside it, at a particular distance. We must be outside, and at a particular distance. Both these conditions have to be fulfilled; otherwise, we cannot see what is happening there.

Suppose we are inside the screen itself, by some means; we will not see the dancing pictures. So is the futility of attributing the activity of the world to God, as it is futile to attribute the dancing pictures in a cinema to the screen which is behind them, though without it they cannot dance.

Citrastha parvatā dīnāṁ vastrā bhāso na likhyate, sṛṣṭistha mṛttikā dīnāṁ cidā bhāsas tathā na hi (9). In the picture, mountains are not dressed with saris, clothes, etc.; clothes are there only for human beings. In a similar manner, chidabhasa, the reflection of consciousness mentioned in the case of the jiva, is not to be seen manifest in inanimate things like stone, earth, etc. Consciousness is not reflected in stone, in inanimate objects. It is feebly felt as the breathing process in plants, instinct in animals, and actual intellect only in the human being; but the actual sattva guna is in the gods residing in heaven.

Saṁsāraḥ parmārtho’yaṁ saṁlagnaḥ svātma vastuni, iti bhrāntira vidyā syāt vidyayaiṣā nivar tate (10). This samsara is real; this world is exactly as it is visible to the eyes – these buildings, these colours, these phantasms, these varieties, these pictures of this world that attract our sense organs every day. The feeling that they are absolutely real is called bondage. This is the outcome of avidya, or ignorance of the nature of reality. This ignorance can be dispelled only by vidya, or true knowledge. This chapter is dedicated to elucidate the ways and means of acquiring the knowledge by which we can dispel this ignorance through which it is that we see the variety of creation, though really it is not there.

Ātmā bhāsasya jīvasya saṁsāro nātma vastunaḥ, iti bodho bhavet vidyā labhyate’sau vicāraṇāt (11). The belief in the variety of creation as it is presented to the sense organs is called avidya, or ignorance. But what is knowledge? Vidya, or knowledge, is the conviction that bondage is not attributable to Pure Consciousness, as the five sheaths do not stick to Pure Consciousness in the state of deep sleep. We exist independently of the five sheaths. In a similar manner, God is independent of the variety of creation and our soul, Atman, also is free from bondage. This knowledge is called vidya.

Sadā vicārayet tasmāt jagat jīva parāt manaḥ, jīva bhāva jagat bhāva bādhe svātmaiva śiṣyate (12). Every day we have to spend a lot of time in thinking deeply over this important matter that will enable us to know the distinction between God and creation, and their proper relationship. Cosmically, the relation between God and creation, and individually, the relation between the Atman and the five sheaths, is to be clear before our mind. The relation between consciousness and the five sheaths has been explained in the third chapter. Now, in this sixth chapter, we learn something about Ishvara.

Nāpratīti stayor bādhaḥ kintu mithyātva niścayaḥ, no cet suṣupti mūrcchādau mucyetā yatnato janaḥ (13). Another point driven into our mind again and again, as was done earlier, is that the non-perception of the world is not freedom from bondage. Freedom from bondage lies in the perception of the unreality of creation. There is no harm in seeing the mirage looking like water; but running after it as if it is water, is ignorance. Even when we know that it is a mirage and we do not run after it, it is still seen.

Even after we have seen that it is only a rope and not a snake, it will nevertheless look like a snake. The only difference will be that we have understood that it is not a snake. The water in the mirage will still appear even to the person who knows that it is not water.

Similarly, even for a wise person, the world may be visible. Even a jivanmukta will see the world, but he will know that it is not there; and, therefore, he will not be attached. If mere non-perception of a thing is freedom, we would be freed in deep sleep, in a coma, or in a swoon. We could get liberation without any effort if the mere non-perception of things could be regarded as freedom, as happens every day in deep sleep. But this is not so. Non-perception of the existent thing is not freedom. The recognition of the unreality of an existent thing is freedom. Let it be there; but we do not get attached to it on account of knowing what it is made of, really speaking. Perception itself is not bondage; the ignorance attached to the perception is bondage.

Paramātmā vaśeṣo’pi tat satyatva viniścayaḥ, na jagat vismṛtir no ceñ jīvan muktirna saṁbhavet (14). The unreality of the world is, at the same time, an affirmation of the reality of God. When the forms and names are brushed aside as finally not valid in this process of creation, we will get awakened to the consciousness of that background. When we do not see the ink, we will then see the cloth. Even in a cinema we can see the screen behind the film if we concentrate our mind properly. We have to adjust our eyes in such a way that we refuse to focus on the dancing of pictures. We can see the cloth in spite of the movements.

In a similar manner, we can see the consciousness of the Absolute pervading all things, notwithstanding the fact that there is a variety of names and forms. This condition of seeing the variety and yet being conscious of the Universal Being at the same time is called jivanmukti.

Parokṣā cāparo kṣeti vidyā dvedhā vicārajā, tatra parokṣa vidyāptau vicāro’yaṁ samāpyate (15). Indirect knowledge and direct knowledge are two kinds of knowledge – two kinds of vidya, as the Mundaka Upanishad has already told us. The higher knowledge is called ‘direct knowledge’, or is sometimes known as ‘immediate knowledge’. The lower knowledge is called ‘indirect knowledge’ or ‘mediate knowledge’.

When direct knowledge is attained, all our suffering ceases, and our effort at investigation into the nature of things also ceases. There is nothing for us to do afterwards, once direct knowledge appears. Indirect knowledge is that knowledge we obtain of things in the world through the media of the instrument of perception. Eyes are necessary, ears are necessary, light is necessary; so many things are necessary to know that a thing is there outside. That is called ‘mediate knowledge’. There is a medium between the perceiver and the perceived. This is lower knowledge.

But when we actually become the object itself by entering into it, that is direct perception. Actually, it is not perception; it is actual being of the object itself. There we are really liberated.

Asti brahmeti ced veda parokṣa jñāna meva tat, ahaṁ brahmeti ced veda sākṣātkāraḥ sa ucyate (16). God exists. This is one kind of knowledge. But what does it matter to us if God exists? In what way are we different? Merely knowing and being convinced that God exists is one kind of knowledge, but it is indirect knowledge through the understanding, through the reason, through the intellect, through knowledge acquired by study. Liberating knowledge is not merely the conviction that Brahman exists, but that we are inseparable from it. Direct realisation is necessary, and not merely knowing that something exists there. Entry into the very substance of Brahman is freedom. Merely knowing that it exists is not sufficient, though the conviction that it exists is a help in the gradual movement of our mind towards actual realisation.

Tat sākṣāt kāra siddhyartham ātmatattvaṁ vivicyate, yenāyaṁ sarva saṁsārāt sadya eva vimucyate (17). For the purpose of the direct realisation of the Supreme Atman, we now engage ourselves in a study of this great subject of Ishvara, jiva and jagat – God, the individual and the world, which is the theme of this sixth chapter.

Yenāyaṁ sarva saṁsārāt sadya eva vimucyate. By a deep study of this subject, a profound contemplation on it and making this knowledge part and parcel of our very existence in life, we shall be liberated perhaps in this life itself.

Kūṭastho brahma jiveśau ityevaṁ cit catur vidhā, ghaṭākāśa mahākāśau jalākāśā bhrakhe yathā (18). Consciousness manifests itself as four different phases of experience. The consciousness that is independent of the five sheaths as the witness of the five sheaths – for instance, as we have it in the state of deep sleep – is Kutastha. Independently existing, immutable consciousness at the background of the five sheaths is atma tattva, kutastha chetanya; that is one phase. Brahman is the Universal Existence with no connection with any part of creation. Jiva is that very same immutable Kutastha consciousness getting identified with the five sheaths. Ishvara is the Brahman Universal appearing through the pure sattva guna property of prakriti.

As we have noted earlier, the pure sattva of prakriti is ubiquitous, all pervading. It is like a clean mirror spread out everywhere in space, and the whole sky is reflected there. That becomes Cosmic-conscious. Ishvara, therefore, is the Cosmic-conscious principle arising as a feature on account of Brahman Universal getting reflected through the pure sattva of prakriti. So there are four varieties of manifestation: Brahman and Ishvara cosmically, Kutastha and jiva individually.

Ghaṭākāśa mahākāśau jalākāśā bhrakhe yathā. The illustration to make this point clear is given here. The pure immutable Atman is like space in a pot. It looks limited, but it is not really limited. The vast space outside is Brahman. If there is water in a pot and space is reflected in that water, we would call it individual consciousness, jiva – not pure space, but reflected space in the water which we have filled in the pot. And Ishvara is something like the whole sky reflected in thin clouds that we see during rainy season.

The pure sky is Brahman. The sky inside the pot is Atman. The pure sky reflected in an all-pervading screen of thin cloud is Ishvara. And the Kutastha, the pot ether that is reflected through water filled in the pot, is jiva. This is a fourfold illustration to make clear as to what we mean by saying that there are four phases of the manifestation of consciousness as Brahman, Ishvara, Kutastha and jiva.