ATMA BODHAM “KNOWLEDGE of the SELF” : 26 - Swami Sri Adi Sankaracharya

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Monday, August  03, 2020.2:10. AM.

ATMA BODHAM “KNOWLEDGE of the SELF”
(68 Slokam-s in  9 Chapters)
Chapter 5 - “An Error of MISAPPREHENSION” - Sloka-s 15-26 (12 no.)
Slokam 26: The Deluded Ego Claims to Act and Know
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Slokam-26.

"1 Aatmanah vikriyaa na asti  2 buddheh bodhah na jaatu iti; 

3 jeevah sarvamalam jnaatvaa  4 jnaataa drishtaa iti muhyati." 

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Translation :

1 Aatmanah vikriyaa na asti       = There is no action for the Self,

2 buddheh bodhah na jaatu iti;  =  and the intellect itself has no capacity to know;

3 jeevah sarvamalam jnaatvaa    =  Yet the individuality, experiencing them, thinks

4 jnaataa drishtaa iti muhyati.     =   “I am the knower and the seer”, and is thus deluded

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Discourse :

Three important facts are presented in this verse which we would need to keep in mind when engaging our intellect to the task of probing the Truth :

1 i) Atman does not act : Atman has no modification, hence it cannot be attributed the responsibility of acting; it does not act.

2 ii) The inner instrument is inert : The Buddhi is Jada as it is a product of Maya and thus ‘unreal’ by its nature. It is composed of ‘matter’, subtle matter but still insentient. The

components of Antahkarana are simply subtle body instruments, and cannot “know”.

3-4 iii) Intellect reflects the light of Atman : This makes it appear to be a conscious entity, but that is the delusion. This consciousness “takes over” by a pure assumption the

function of knowing the Self. This is a false self, not the real Self. But it does not know that.

These are the items which our discrimination or intellect has to apply itself to in order to assist us in obtaining Self-knowledge. The particular role of the intellect in this

regard is going to be identified in the next few slokas.

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Analogy of a Light Bulb :

There is no example or simile given in this verse, but Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, author of our commentary, ventures an illustration: that of an electric bulb. All three of the above points are illustrated by it :

i) In itself the bulb cannot give light without electricity flowing through it. When electricity (symbolizing the Self) flows, then the inert bulb lights up, as that is what it is

designed to do; it cannot do anything else.

ii) The bulb becomes the means by which we are able to “perceive” electricity. In the same way, the intellect plays its role of making us “aware of” the existence of the Self,

although on its own it has no power to know it.

iii) The point about the ego-sense is also illustrated by this analogy. If the bulb had an ego-sense, it would feel that it itself were producing the light, although it is only an

instrument that is used by the electricity to give light. By its association with the electricity it is seen to be an instrument of light.

The bulb represents the intellect. Due to its inherent quality of ignorance which is due to its own origin as part of Maya’s creation, the intellect erroneously develops the egosense

of possessing intelligence. This accounts for the onset of the whole entourage of Avidya manifesting in the human individual or Jiva.

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Next : Slokam - 27: As Mistaking the Rope for a Snake.

To be continued ...

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