Knowledge alone delivers liberation, this statement conveys that ignorance is the cause for bondage, because ignorance is opposed to knowledge. Why is ignorance of my true nature can cause bondage to me? Next verse is the answer.
paricchinna ivājñānāt tannāse sati kevalaḥ |
svayaṁ prakāśate hyātmā meghāpāyem‘ śumāniva || 4 ||
Ātmā is as though limited because of ignorance. When there is removal of ignorance, then non-dual limitless becomes evident. Just as the sun is revealed when the clouds go away.
paricchinna ivājñānāt - ātmā appears as though limited because of ignorance, but in reality limitation does not belong to ātmā. Appearance is there because of superimposition with the limited upādhi. Upādhi means that which transfers its attributes to others which is close to it. Just like a pot is the upādhi for pot-space, it transfers its quality like shape and volume to the limitless space, then a limited pot-space is said to be there. Pot-space is only an appearance of the space, seen from the viewpoint of the pot. In reality there is no entity called pot-space which is distinct from total space. Since the limitation is caused by ignorance, therefore tannāse sati - when there is destruction of ignorance, kevalaḥ svayam prakāśate - then non-dual ātmā shines on its own.
There is an incidental topic here about how different the process of taking place between self-knowledge and other given knowledge, because of the word svayam prakāśate - shines on its own on the part of self-knowledge. To know any given object, two operations are required. First is vrtti-vyāpti, when the pramāna - means of knowledge is operating, pervasion of the object in the mind happens, which removes āvarana - veiling. In the same time there is a simultaneous pervasion of the object by cid-abhāsa - reflected consciousness, which makes the object evident, which is called phala-vyāpti, the second operation here. Just like revealing any object which is covered by a pot in a pitch dark room. First we need to remove the pot cover, but that is not enough, since the object is not self illumined, we need to throw the light on to it to reveal the object.
But in the case of self-knowledge, only vrtti-vyāpti is required for ātmā to shine. Just like a self-illumine light is kept inside a pot in the dark room. To reveal that light, we only need to uncover the pot, and the light itself doing its own job to reveal itself. In the same way for self-illumined ātmā, only by removing the ignorant about myself in the form of superimposition, the limitless nature is evident by itself.
meghāpāye‘ śumāniva - just like the sun is revealed when the clouds go away, in the same manner when there is removal of clouds of ignorance by vrtti-jñānam, the self-illumine ātmā shines by itself. The luster of the sun is never reduced, only because the vision of the on-looker is covered by cloud, the sun appears dimmed. In the same way I appears to be limited just from my point of an ignorance jīva.
Some people say that duality is caused by ātmā plus ignorance. But now, after ignorance is removed by vrtti-jñānam - knowledge, there are still two things, ātma plus ātmā-jñānam. How can you say it is kevalaḥ - non-dual after ātmā-jñānam takes place?
ajñānakaluṣaṁ jīvaṁ jñānābhyāsādvinirmalam |
kṛtvā jñānaṁ svayaṁ naśyet jalaṁ katakareṇuvat || 5 || Jīva who was polluted by ignorance becomes completely pure because of repeated jñānam. After that the same jñānam goes away by itself just like the katakarenu powder.
ajñānakaluṣaṁ jīvaṁ - individual jīva who was polluted by ignorance (as it were), is made completely pure - vinirmalam kṛtvā, by repeated jñānam (means for jñānam which is sravana-manana-nididhyāsana) - jñānābhyāsād.
jñānābhyāsa is defined as:
tat cintanam tat kaṭhānam anyoyam tat prabodhanam |
tat eka paratvam ca jñānābhyasam / brahmābhyasam vidurbudhaḥ ||
Thinking about that (jñānam), teaching about that (to who don’t know), and mutual sharing about that (between fellow seeker). Exclusive commitment to that ātmā-jñānam is called jñānābhyāsa.
For how long jñānābhyāsa should be done? It should be done till vinirmalam kṛtvā - one is made pure by abidance in this knowledge which is free from doubt, vagueness and error. Just like the powder of kataka nuts in the water - jalaṁ katakareṇuvat, having brought the dust settled down on the bottom of the container, itself also settled down after the job of cleansing is done. Similarly after knowledge has done its job, the sense of limitation about myself is gone, that vrtti-jnanam - knowledge about oneself goes away by itself - jñānaṁ svayaṁ naśyet. It will not create duality for the jīva. There is no identification with the wisdom itself. Therefore jñānī - the wise person never identifies himself as jñānī, he thinks he is kevalaḥ - non-dual consciousness.
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