Atma Bodha - Post 35

Verse 25

                     

आत्मनः सच्चिदंशश्च बुद्धेर्वृत्तिरिति द्वयम् ।

संयोज्य चाविवेकेन जानामीति प्रवर्तते ॥ २५॥

AATMANAH SAT-CHID-AMSHAH CHA

BUDDHEH VRITTIH ITI DVAYAM

SAMYOJYA CHA AVIVEKENA

JAANAAMI ITI PRAVARTATE

(The Existence-Consciousness aspect of the Self and the thought wave of the intellect by the indiscriminate blending of these two, there arises the notion of “I know”.)

                                      

Here, Sankara turns again to pure reasoning to present his point, without resorting to any analogy or simile. The verse aims to help us explain at the level of the mind, that is, to our own intellect, how the Self has come to get identified with the mind.

From the standpoint of creation or duality, this explanation gets to the very root of the entire problem of Ignorance and all its ramifications. 

We cannot explain this to our mind, because the mind is not where reasoning, analysis and decisions are taken.

Reasoning belongs to the realm of the intellect. This verse explains at the intellectual level how this false identification takes place. 

It is quite a fundamental misperception, and any light thrown on this will be of value to dis-identify ourselves from the mind, using the intellect as our tool.

Though Sankara has not given any Simile for this verse, a classic example is given in a treatise “Drik Drsya Viveka” of a red hot iron ball. We have two things in this example:

     i.            Firstly, there is fire, which is red hot but has no solid form.

  ii.            Secondly, we have an iron ball which has form but no heat.  

When the two are brought together, the iron ball begins to glow with the heat from the fire.

In an earlier post, we have dealt with "How Consciousness illumines intellect (or, How Intellect by itself absorbs Consciousness).

Thus, the intellect has absorbed consciousness and the first reflected consciousness has emerged in the intellect.

Exactly similar to the iron ball and furnace example given above, the reflected consciousness and the Ego of a human come into contact with each other. Till this point of contact, the Ego is Pure "Aham".

Imagine once the iron ball has assumed the entire quality of furnace, as if the iron ball begins to think that it is verily the furnace itself.

Exactly, after the coming together of Ego (aham) and the reflected consciousness, the Ego gets a mistaken notion that it is verily the reflected consciousness, i.e. the reality.

This is how, the pure Aham, with the illusion caused, becomes ahamkara, the lower ego.

The Ahamkara then begins to think and assert, "I know"!!

This is how a human being starts believing that whatever he thinks, whatever his likes and whatever his dislikes are, to be TRUE and REAL, though they  are not his real identity.

The verse tells us that such an association has brought about a misplacing of identity, or a shift in our identity from the Self to a pseudo-Self identified with thoughts. 

Love.