ATMA BODHAM “KNOWLEDGE of the SELF” : Mantram 47. - Swami Sri Adi Sankaracharya.

=========================================================================

Friday, March 10,  2023. 06:00.

(68 Mantras in 9 Chapters)

C. THE UNIVERSAL ATTITUDE: (47-50)

Slokam 47: The Vision of the “Eye of Wisdom”

========================================================================

Slokam-47. with translation :

1 Samyak vijnaana-vaan yogee   =  The perfect Yogi of Realisation and Enlightenment,

2 svaatmani eva akhilam sthitam;   =  sees “The entire world residing in his own Self”,

3 ekam cha sarvam aatmaanam   =  and regards “The entire world as his own Self” –

4 eekshate jnaana-chakshushaa.  =   thus does he behold with his “eye of wisdom”.

========================================================================

Bhashyam (Vyakyanam) :

1 The Yogi here stands for one who is united with his Self. The identity of Jiva and 

Paramatman is declared to be Yoga. The Yogi, having attained that state, sees with the “Eye 

of Wisdom”. What is this eye? Does it make him see differently from the rest of us?

“Eekshate Jnana Chakshusha”: The Eye of Wisdom Simile

=========================================================================

4 Yes, the Yogi’s enlightened vision is so different from the vision of ignorant souls

like us that it is here even said that he has a third eye to behold this unique vision. It is very 

symbolic. There is no physical eye called the ‘third eye’. It is another of Shankaracharyaji’s 

similes to convey to us the idea of an entirely new way of seeing the same world. In the 

Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna bestows this ‘third eye’ to Arjuna to behold the Cosmic Vision.

The Jnani is said to have a special eye using which he looks upon the same world as 

you and I, but sees it in an entirely different manner. How does he behold it?

Eekshate: which means “sees” also carries with it the sense of seeing effortlessly, 

implying that he does not behold this world with any sense of strain, anxiety, worry, fear, 

etc, as we do.

What does he behold differently? – Everything. The Eye of Wisdom does not just 

refer to our vision. It includes all that we perceive through our senses. [We have seen this used 

many times; it is called an Upa-Lakshana, where one item is used to represent a whole family of items.]

 All five sense organs of perception are bringing in their reports to the mind. In the case of the 

enlightened person’s senses, the reports are very straightforward. They are not twisted or 

slanted according to one’s likes and dislikes. No personal whims influence or bias their 

reporting. So a Jnani perceives the whole world as it really is from the standpoint of Truth.

=======================================================================

What Does the Yogi See? :

2-3 The Jnani sees the world residing in himself. This is called Sarvatma Bhava. He 

also sees his own Self as the Self of all. These two statements appear to be contradictory, 

but they are not so. When we understand that they are spoken from two different 

standpoints then we can reconcile the apparent contradiction.

In Samskrit there is a term used for such opposite statements. It is Daardyam, 

meaning “a thing is said in its opposite way to mean the same thing, for the sake of adding 

emphasis.” The example here is, “The Jnani see all as his Self, and the Self as all.”

i) The first statement is from the macrocosmic viewpoint. The Yogi has expanded his 

consciousness to include everything. Thus the whole world appears to him as Himself. He 

becomes the common substratum of the whole world and all beings in it.

ii) The second statement is from the microcosmic viewpoint. The Yogi realizes that 

he is just one individual like every other individual. Just as God dwells in him, so does He in 

all others, too. He recognizes that his individuality, as that of all other beings, is a superimposition on the common Reality within all beings.

In English, there is a term called an extended metaphor. Firstly, a metaphor is a 

simile that is applied directly to what it is being compared with, eg. “He is a jackal”. The 

extended metaphor expands on that by adding a quality to it directly, eg. “He is a jackal; 

beware of his cunning.” 

Here the ‘third eye’, which is used as a metaphor for the unique vision that the Jnani 

has, is extended by saying, “The Jnani sees all as his Self, and the Self as all.” The implied 

message is quite clear: “I am no longer just one wave, I am all the waves. Not only that, but I 

am also the water itself.” There is no longer any trace of the limited ‘I’ and ‘mine’.

In our case, when our mind goes everywhere, that is described as a ‘wandering 

mind’; it is considered to be a defect of the mind. In the case of the Jnani, when his mind 

goes everywhere, it is described as ‘a mind in Samadhi’; it is considered to be a virtue or 

perfection of the mind. That is another novel way of helping us to understand the 

significance of the Sarvatma Bhava.

The Sarvatma Bhava, as we will come to know from other Vedantic texts, is the 

touchstone of perfection. It is the one quality which is verifies one’s realisation. It is also the 

hallmark of Vedanta, differentiating Vedantic realisation from other attainments.

*****

Next
Slokam - 48: The Universal Vision of Self
To be continued

=========================================================================