Doer-ship as the product of identification is the cause for the life of samsāra. If identification is the cause, can it be negated?
Next verse ācārya employs continuity-discontinuity-analysis to convince us not to hold on to the wrong identification which is unreal.
rāgecchāsukhaduḥkhādi buddhau satyām pravartate |
suṣuptau nāsti tannāśe tasmādbudhestu nātmanaḥ || 23 ||
Likes, dislikes, happiness, sorrow, etc. are real while present in the mind. When the mind dissolves in the deep sleep, they become unreal. Therefore they do not belong to ātmā.
All the likes, dislikes, happiness and sorrow, etc appear to be in the self, but really they are not. Since in the waking state, I identify with my waking mind as a waker, then all the likes, dislikes, happiness, sorrow etc. are real to me. But when I fall asleep and I identify with the dream mind, then only the dream world is real at that time, and the waking world is no more real to me. When I don’t identify with anything in the deep sleep, then only ignorance is there. These three identities come and go together with their respective mind’s attributes, therefore none of them is my true self as they are not always there. So what is my true self?
prakāso’ rkasya toyasya śaityamagneryathoṣṇatā |
svabhāvaḥ saccidānandanityanirmalatā’ tmanaḥ || 24 ||
Just like light of the sun, coldness of the water, heat of the fire, similarly existence, consciousness, happiness, timeless, untainted is the intrinsic nature of ātmā.
svabhāvaḥ - intrinsic nature, without which one is not. Just as prakāso’ rkasya - light is the nature of the sun. As it’s nature, light never leaves the sun. Similarly toyasya śaityam - coldness is the nature of water and agneryathoṣṇatā - heat is the nature of fire.
Essential nature of ātmā is saccidānandanityanirmalatā - existence, consciousness, happiness, timeless, un-tainted. sat, which exists in three periods of time, can’t be negated. To exist is the nature of ātmā. Existence of the waker, dreamer, and sleeper depends on me. cit, consciousness, having the nature of self evident and because of which everything becomes evident. All the attributes of body-mind-senses depend on me to illuminate them, and I am not dependent on them or any entity.
ānanda, happiness is the experiential expression of limitlessness. When there are limitations on the part of body-mind-senses, they do not belong to me. Therefore my happiness does not depend on them. nityatā, being not subject to time, doesn’t have beginning or end, thereby free from any modification in between (growth, transformation, decaying), in another word - changeless. Thus all modifications of the mind and body do not belong to me. nirmalatā, being pure is the nature of ātmā. In vedānta we do emphasise karma-yoga for purification, it is a purification for the mind, not for ātmā. Ātmā is ever pure, never tainted by any impurity of body and mind.
Kommentit