Terms and Definitions of Vedanta – 5

tat tvam asi

Definition - Dr. Ram Chandran

Before I provide the definition, it is quite essential to understand the fact that the statement, tat tvam asi is one of the four prominent mahAvAkya-s. Though there are many mahAvAkya-s in the Upanishads the following four are considered to be the prominent ones. They are: praj~nAnaM brahma (Consciousness is Brahman) in the Aitareya Upanishad of the Rig-Veda, aham brahmAsmi (I am Brahman) in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of the Yajur-Veda, tat tvam asi (That thou art) in the Chandogya Upanishad of the Sama Veda and ayam Atma brahma (this Atman is Brahman) in the Mandukya Upanishad of the Atharva Veda.
The first statement, Consciousness is Brahman, explains the true nature of Brahman. The second statement is the self assessment from the seeker when he/she recognizes his/her true divine nature. In the third statement, the realized teacher informs (asserts) – "You are that Supreme Brahman." The last is the statement of practice or formula for the seeker to discover the Oneness of Atman and the Brahman.
The mahAvAkya-s are considered the quintessence of the Vedas. The Vedic scriptures insist that these mahAvAkya-s can only be fully understood by those seekers who are qualified. To get the understanding beyond the literal meaning (dictionary meanings of the Sanskrit words) the seeker should have undergone the detailed sAdhana (practices) explained through sAdhana chatuShTaya. The four qualities are the following:
1. viveka (discrimination of Real from unreal).
2. vairAgya (detachment or dispassion from sense objects)
3. shamAdi ShaTka sampatti (a collective group of six behavior traits or virtues )
4. mumukShutva (intense desire to achieve permanent bliss).
The sAdhaka (seeker) after completing the mind purification process (sAdhana) becomes qualified to understand meaning of the mahAvAkya-s while engaging himself/herself the whole time in deep reflection and profound meditation. Only after contemplation, is the seeker able to grasp the implied meaning of the mahAvAkya.
tat tvam asi -That art thou: To grasp the true meaning of tat tvam asi, we should begin with the context of this statement in Chandogya Upanishad.
[The Chandogya is one of the twelve major Upanishads (Aitareya and the Kauhsitaki from RRig Veda; Chandogya and Kena from Samaveda; Taittiriya, Katha, Shvetashvatara, Brihadaranyaka and Isha from Yajur Veda; Prashna, Mundaka and Mandukya from Atharvaveda).]
Svetaketu was the grandson of Aruna, and the son of Uddalaka. It seems that the boy Svetaketu did not focus his mind on the study of Vedas. His father sent him to the Gurukula (an ashrama, situated in the forest, whose purpose was to teach the Vedas to children at a young age). His family had a long tradition of studying the Vedas and Shastras to get acquainted with the knowledge of the Scriptures). The Gurukula study is similar to the modern boarding-school arrangement, but the ancient one provided home- cooked meals with love and affection. Normally the student spent 12 to 14 years study Vedas with guidance from the Guru. During the Vedic times the entire study, including boarding and lodging, was free and the student pledged to become a teacher like his/her Guru. This is how the knowledge of the Vedas was passed on from one generation to the next.
Svetaketu went to the forest-retreat at the age of twelve, and studied the Vedas, scriptures, science, grammar, etc. at the feet of the Guru for twelve years, and then returned home. He was very proud of his knowledge and scholarship and thought that he had finished studying everything. On seeing this attitude of his son, his father called him and thoughtfully asked a question: "O my son! Have you studied that thing knowing which everything becomes known?" Svetaketu was shocked and he couldn't grasp this question clearly. He was eager to know `that by knowing by which everything else becomes known.' He also realized that he still had not learnt the most essential things of the universe and, with humility, he requested his father: "Father! May I request you please to teach me that most essential thing by which everything else becomes known?"
On hearing this reply from his son, the father (Uddalaka) slowly explained to him using simple examples: "Son! Have you not seen the clay in front of the potter's house? It becomes a pot in the hands of the potter. If the clay is known, then all things made of clay are known! Similarly if you know gold, things made of gold like ornaments are known. If you know iron, all things made of iron are known. In the same way, if you know "Brahman" then all the things (the entire universe) that cannot exist without Him are also known." He continued his teaching and concluded with the statement, tat tvam asi. In very simple terms, tat represents brahman and tvam identifies the divine soul (Atman) that resides ‘within’ the jIva. asi is an affirmation equating Brahman and Atman. In very subtle terms, Uddalaka tells us that by knowing the SELF (Self-realization) we will be able to recognize the entire Universe because of the fact that the Universe cannot exist without the presence of Brahman. It is just like saying there will not be a pot without clay and there will be no more golden ring without the gold!
Sri Adi Shankara interprets "tat tvam asi" to mean "The jIva and brahman are identical so that there is no difference between the Atman of jIva and Brahman. Sri Adi Shankara correctly assumes the "svarUpa aikyam" that is the absolute identity between the jIvAtman and the paramAtman (brahman).
More Explanations on tat tvam asi:
An interesting and enlightening discussion on this topic occurred during second week of December in the Advaitin list. These discussions are available in the list archives. The following are the message numbers 646, 649 to 652, 658, 661, 667 and 680). Profvk in his post on 652 provides a two-page essay on this topic. Swami Dayananda's notes on the Gita for Home-study also contain detailed explanations of tat tvam asi. Wikipedia provides an excellent essay with details of both Shankara's and Ramanuja's interpretations. A number of Advaita websites also provide explanations.
Example Links from the WEB: Encyclopedia Britannica; Wikipedia; SriPedia.

Definition - Madathil Nair

The Sanskrit word tattva, which means the truth or principle of something, is regarded as made up of tad (that) and tvam (you) (Ref: Monier Williams) and, thus, has a direct relation to the "tattvamasi' mahAvAkya.
Everything in this universe has a tattva (principle) of its own. That is the general meaning, just as electricity is the principle that works a bulb. But, in a meta-language like Sanskrit, where words and meanings are logically built on roots, we necessarily have to look in the direction of the Absolute. According to Vedanta, the Absolute tattva of everything is Brahman. Thus, Brahman is everything or all this is verily Brahman. If this understanding is related to the mahAvAkya "praj~nAnaM brahma", then that Consciousness (that shines forth in me and you and in all that shine after) becomes Brahman and this takes us directly to "tattvamasi" ("that thou art").
Thus, tattva has a great meaning suggestive of that by which the identity of the whole world with the one eternal Brahman is expressed as you yourself or I myself. That is the whole of Vedanta is effectively impregnated in just one very simple Sanskrit word! Every time we utter the word tattva, which appears in many Indian languages including my mother-tongue Malayalam, we are unconsciously or subconsciously reinforcing a great mahAvAkya!

shamAdi ShaTka sampatti

Definition - Dr. Ram Chandran

In the past week, we have started with the discussion on the four step preparatory process known as the sAdhana chatuShTaya. To recapture our thoughts, they are the following:
1. viveka (discrimination of Real from unreal)
2. vairAgya (detachment or dispassion from sense objects)
3. shamAdi ShaTka sampatti (a collective group of six behavior traits)
4. mumukShutva (intense desire to achieve permanent bliss)
 
The sAdhana chatuShTaya is described by Shankara in the vivekachUDAmaNi as follows:
Adau nityAnityavastuvivekaH parigaNyate |
ihAmutraphalabhOgavirAgasttadanantaram ||
shamAdiShaTkasampattiH mumukShutvamiti sphuTam || - Verse 19.
The first discipline is the discrimination between the Real and unreal. The next discipline is the detachment or dispassion from the enjoyments of the world here and after death (heaven). The third discipline is the practice of the six behavior traits - shama, dama, uparati, samAdhAna, shraddhA and titikShA; the fourth discipline is the intense desire for escape from this saMsAra or realization of the divinity in her or him.
In the coming months, the definition for the topics, viveka, vairAgya, and mumukShutva will be taken up. At this time, let us focus on shamAdi ShaTka sampatti which include shama, dama, uparati, samAdhAna, shraddhA and titikShA.
1.shama
shama means mind-control. This is very hard to achieve. The mind can cause bondage; it can also confer liberation. It is an amalgam of rAjasika and tAmasika modes, the passionate and dull attitudes. It can be easily polluted. Mind takes every opportunity to run helplessly behind the senses. When there is a single hole in a pot of water it becomes empty within a short time. Similarly even if a single sense is out of control, we will likely be thrown into bondage. Therefore, every sense has to be mastered. The potency and purity of the mind can be maintained by good practices like DhyAna (meditation and contemplation), japa (mental prayer), bhajana (group recitation) and pUjA (worship). With the strength and skill thus reinforced, the mind gets fine tuned. manas or mind is but a bundle of thoughts, a collection one's wants and wishes. As soon as a desire arises from the mind, the buddhi (intellect) should evaluate its value and validity - is it good or bad, will it help or hinder, where will this lead or end? If the mind does not submit to this probe, it will land itself in the path of ruin. If it does and obeys the intelligence, it can move along the right path. We have three chief instruments for uplifting ourselves - Intelligence, Mind and the Senses. When the mind gets enslaved by the senses, we get entangled and bound. The same mind, when it is regulated by the intellect, can make us aware of our true identity – the Atman. Thus, the act of ignoring the stream of thoughts which come on account of the past tendencies (vAsanA-s) and diverting our attention towards what has to be done in this life constitutes shama. Strong willed people can achieve this by mere will power. Others will have to strive for it with the help of dama.
2. dama
dama means keeping the body and the senses under control. This can be achieved only by sAdhana or spiritual exercise and not by any other means. One has to avoid spending precious time in useless pursuits. One has to be ever vigilant. One has to engage the senses of perception and of action and the body in congenial but noble tasks which would keep them busy. There should be no chance for tamas or sloth to creep in. And, every act must also promote the good of others. While confining oneself to activities which reflect one's natural duties (svadharma), it is possible to sublimate them into sAdhana for the body and the senses. dama means controlling the external indriya-s. External indriya-s are ten in number. They are: five j~nAnendriya-s (instruments of perception) and five karmendriya-s (instruments of action). When, on account of the tendencies of the past lives, desires arise in the mind, these external indriya-s will set out to fulfill them. Even though the mind encourages the person to perform a wicked act, there is a technique that can be employed to overcome the temptation. This is called dama and it comes from the wisdom got from studying the scriptures. Even here, one has to utilize the mental power to achieve the goal. It is interesting to note that the external indriya-s are easier to control than the mind. If dama is practiced properly, the will power will also increase and therefore shama can be achieved with relative ease. On the other hand, if one tries to practice it ostentatiously, it will do more harm because, the desires which are dormant in the mind will flare up and will completely spoil whatever shama one has achieved and, at the same time will destroy dama too. Therefore it is important to practice dama honestly.
3. uparati
The third qualification with which one has to be equipped is uparati. This implies a state of mind which is above and beyond all dualities such as joy and grief, liking and disliking, good and bad, praise and blame, which agitate and affect the common man. These universal experiences can be overcome or negated by means of spiritual exercises or intellectual inquiry. Man can escape from these opposites and dualities and attain balance and stability. uparati can be achieved, if one is careful, while engaged in day-to- day living, to avoid entanglement with, and bondage to, differences and distinctions. One should free oneself from identification with castes like Brahmin, kShatriya, vaishya and shUdra, or clans like gotra-s, or conditions like boyhood, youth, adult and old age, or genders like masculine and feminine. When he succeeds in discarding these and is firmly established in the Atmika Reality alone, he has really achieved uparati. uparati literally means 'to rest'. Stimuli such as form, sound, touch, smell, etc., attract the mind and cause bondage. We become attracted to an object we see because we think that there is something very special in it. When discrimination dawns on us and when we realize that they are not permanent and that indulging in such attraction will only bring misery, we will no more be attracted by them. Consequently, the sense organs will stop running after them. Such a recess of the sense organs is called uparati. Do not look at the world as the world with a worldly eye. Look upon it with the eye of Atma, as the projection of paramAtman. That can make one cross the horizon of dualities into the region of the One. The One is experienced as many, because of the forms and names man has imposed on it. That is the result of the mind playing its game.
uparati promotes inner exploration, nivRRitti, not outer enquiry and activity, pravRRitti. Along nivRRitti lies the path of j~nAna (Intellectual Inquiry); along pravRRitti lies the Path of Karma (Dedicated Activity). The sacred activities like rituals and sacrifices (karma) laid down in the Vedas cannot confer liberation from bondage to birth and death, mokSha. They help only to cleanse the Consciousness. It is said that they raise man to Heaven; but Heaven too is but a bond. It does not promise eternal freedom. The freedom which makes one aware of the Truth, of his own Truth, can be gained only through shravaNa (listening to the guru), manana (ruminating over what has been so listened to) and nididhyAsana (meditating on its validity and significance). Only those who have detached their minds from desire can benefit from the guru. Others cannot profit from the guidance. Those who expect and look forward to the fruits of their actions can engage in them until their consciousness is cleansed. After that, their actions are of no value. So, one must be ever conscious of the Atma, as pervading and penetrating everything, so that attraction and repulsion, the duality complex, cannot affect him. When dama is practiced with the help of uparati achieved by the power of discrimination, it leads us to shama. On the other hand, if dama is practiced either out of fear or for the sake of acquiring some supernatural power, it will cause more harm than good. Therefore, only when dama is practiced with the help of uparati, it will yield favorable results.
4. titikShA
The fourth qualification is titikShA. This is the attitude of forbearance, which refuses to be affected or pained when afflicted with sorrow and loss, and the ingratitude and wickedness of others. In fact, one is happy and calm, for one knows that these are the results of one's own actions now recoiling on him, and one looks upon those who caused the misery as friends and well-wishers. One does not retaliate nor does he wish ill for them. One bears all the blows patiently, and gladly. The natural reactions of a person, whoever he may be, when someone injures him is to injure in return; when someone causes harm to do harm and when someone insults him to insult back by some means or other. But, this is the characteristic of the pravRRitti path - the path of objective involvement. Those who seek the inner path of sublimation and purification, the nivRRitti path have to avoid such reaction. Returning injury for injury, harm for harm or insult for insult only adds to the karmic burden, which has to be endured and eliminated in future lives. This burden is termed AgAmin or lineal. One cannot escape the task of undergoing the consequences of one's thought, word and deed in due course. Paying evil for evil can never lighten the weight of karma; it will only become heavier. It might confer immediate relief and contentment, but it cannot but make the person suffer later. titikShA, therefore, instructs man to do good to the person who injures him. titikShA makes way for uparati.
5. shraddhA
The fifth among the virtues to be cultivated is shraddhA. shraddhA means unwavering faith in the sacred scriptures or shAstra-s and in the moral codes they contain as well as in the Atma and the guru. Faith is the sign of shraddhA. Gurus are worth worshipping. They show us the path of fulfillment, the shreyomarga. The shAstra-s are designed to ensure the peace and prosperity of the world and the spiritual perfection of mankind. They have before them this great aim. They show the way to its realization. So, one must place faith in such holy shAstra-s, gurus, and elders. The gurus, on their part, must instruct people only in the knowledge of the Atman that is immanent in all Beings, [sarva jIvAt maikya j~nAna]. He who has shraddhA will achieve this j~nAna. They must themselves have full faith in it and live according to that faith without the slightest deviation. shraddhA means conviction or faith. It is now clear that the first four aspects are achieved with the help of discrimination. Discrimination in turn, comes from the knowledge of scriptures. Those who teach us the scriptures are gurus. Only when we have unflinching faith, can we understand those aspects properly. We will be able to experience them too. Therefore, shraddhA or faith is the basis of the above four aspects.
6. samAdhAna
samAdhAna means single pointed concentration. Normally, one concentrates hard when one is subjected to fear, desire etc. For example, examination fear makes the student concentrate on his studies. This cannot be called samAdhAna. By constantly asking ourselves - 'What is our real nature or True Being?', 'What is the real nature of creation that we perceive?' etc., we will gradually lose attachments in worldly affairs. We will then naturally develop concentration on the ultimate Truth. This is called samAdhAna. samAdhAna comes from the past tendencies which have been carried by us during this birth. samAdhAna will increase the power of discrimination. Increased power of discrimination will further foster samAdhAna. shraddhA and samAdhAna will help achieve titikShA. titikShA bestows uparati and uparati in turn will cause dama, which ultimately bring about shama.
The collection of these six virtues is called shamAdi ShaTka sampatti (a treasure of six virtues). Acquiring these constitutes the third step in sAdhana.
The entire discussion of sAdhana chatuShTaya including shamAdi ShaTka sampatti is also available in the tattva bodha (Shankara’s other famous work). Detailed lessons of tattva bodha (lessons 1 to 12) by Swami Atmandaji (a former member of this list) are available

vairAgya

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy:

VairAgya is dispassion, absence of passion and attachment (rAga). Though this sometimes is a result of disappointment and depression -- which is the type that we hear about in most stories of mythology as well as in our worldly experience, the Vedantic dispassion has to come out of a correct assessment of what place each issue in life is to be placed in.
As a child toys and sweets are most attractive and important. The loss of even a little of these upsets the child totally
As a youth, the attraction and importance shifts from toys and sweets to many other 'more substantial' things! -- we know what! Now at this stage of life we also realise that the attraction we had for toys and sweets and the importance we attached to them are 'childish' and we are not any more bothered about them. In other words we have learnt, at this stage, what place in life toys and sweets have and we learn to put them in their place.
Vedanta says, each issue in life has a place. Put it in its place.No more, no less. Spiritual upliftment and progress has a supreme place. Give it its due. If we learn to do this, that is vairAgya.

Sunder Hattangadi:

Sri Shankara defines vairAgya in Gita 6:35 -

"...'Indifference' means freedom from desire for any pleasures seen or unseen, attained through a constant perception of evil in them...."

["dRRiShta-adRRiShTa-bhogeShu doSha-darshana-abhyAsAt vaitRRiShNyam"]

Richard Clarke:

My teacher says that VairAgya, dispassion, really comes when one knows that the source of happiness is within. As long as the seeker looks for happiness in objects (whether gross or subtle), the seeker will hold to the reality of those objects. And spiritual progress will be limited

Dhyanasaraswati:

Bhagavad Gita (II.59):
viShayA vinivartante nirAhArasya dehinaH |
rasavarjaM raso'pyasya paraM dRRiShTvA nivartate ||

Poojya Gurudev translates this verse thus:

The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man leaving the longing (behind) ; but his longing also leaves him on seeing the Supreme.
THE FIRST STEP IS TO TRANSCEND THE 'EGO'- you don't need to go to an ashram to do that! For a bhakta, this comes naturally and to a vedantin this comes by using the sword of discrimination
between what is 'real' and 'unreal'.

Dr. K. Sadananda:

True vairAgya comes with viveka - some incidences can trigger the intellect to think deeply. Otherwise it is called smaShANmAsya vairAgya - dispassion until funeral is over. The statement of the Upanishad is 'parIksha lokAn karma chitAn ..... tat vij~nAnArtham sa gurum eva abhigachchet...' ‘when one realizes after examining his whole life of experiences that he cannot achieve the ever-lasting happiness through result of any action or karma, he is advised to approach a teacher for proper knowledge’.
Hence the emphasis is vairAgya that is well founded by the thought process of discrimination. It is recognition that yje normal ‘rat-race’ will not give the happiness that I am longing for - it can come with heavy suffering or even light suffering- what is needed is discriminative intellect. Buddha just saw once the suffering of the individuals and Ramana witnessed the death of a relative. Their minds took off, while we see these everyday and nothing happens. There is saMskAra that is required for the mind to withdraw. In Mahabharata, Dhramaraja says to yaksha in response to the question 'what is the wonder of all wonders': 'we see people being born every day and people dying every day; yet everybody operates as though they are going to live here permanently and that is the greatest wonder'. Dispassion can be triggered by sorrowful events in life but sorrowful events need not be precursors for vairAgya.

vAsanA

A behavioural tendency is called a vAsanA in Sanskrit, literally meaning wishing or desiring but used in Advaita in the sense of the sub-conscious or latent tendencies in one’s nature that will have their way eventually, like it or not. Edward de Bono, of ‘lateral thinking’ fame describes a model that is helpful in thinking about this (Mechanism of Mind. Edward de Bono, Viking, 1969, ISBN 0-140-21445-3). If you take a jelly, solidified and turned out onto a plate, and you trickle very hot water onto the top, it will run off onto the plate and leave behind a faint channel where the hot water melted the jelly. If you now pour more hot water, it will tend to run into the same channels as before, since these offer the line of least resistance, and deepen the channels. If this is done repeatedly, very deep channels will form and it will become difficult, if not impossible, to get the water to run anywhere else. The equivalent of an entrenched habit has been formed.
This tendency to act in a certain way, in a given situation, is called a vAsanA. The less aware we are at the moment of action, the more likely it is that we will act in that way. If we are alert in the moment, with our intellect able to discriminate between alternative courses of action, then it is possible that the innate tendency may be overcome. Just as the channels in the jelly have been formed by the earlier pouring on of water, so our vAsanA -s are formed by our past actions.
The terms vAsanA and saMskAra are, to a large degree, used almost interchangeably. Correctly speaking, vAsanA refers to unconscious impressions, knowledge derived from memory, desires and longing, mistaken inclinations and so on, i.e. there is a generally negative interpretation to the term. In the case of saMskAra, there is a sense of cleansing or purification – the root saM means ‘auspicious’ – and their operation and resolution enable us to cleanse ourselves of sin in preparation for enlightenment.

paramArtha - vyavahAra - pratibhAsa
Part 1

Definition by Rishi Lamichhane:
The Ultimate Reality (pAramArthika satya) does not depend upon mental activity for its existence in any way. Illusions and hallucinations (which are prAtibhAsika satya) have no existence apart from the mind that imagines them. Relative reality (vyAvahArika satya) also depends upon mind for its existence, but the functioning of the mind is not enough in itself.
It might help to take an example of each.
pAramArthika: My existence is not dependent upon the mind in any way.
prAtibhAsika: The dream-tiger has absolutely no existence apart from the dreamer's mind, the dream-tiger is mental activity alone. Wherever the mind sees the dream-tiger, if it saw a dream-goat instead, the perception would be just as valid.
vyAvahArika: A pot does not exist unless there is mental activity superimposing it upon its material cause (i.e. clay). However, the pot's existence is not dependent upon any one mind and the same pot could be superimposed on the same clay by any mind. This means that it is possible to superimpose the pot on the clay because it has been designed that way for all minds, and not just for any one mind. It is only because the pot exists as a potential in awareness for all beings that it can be superimposed on clay by any being. Unlike prAtibhAsika satya, this superimposition is not arbitrary (i.e. you cannot superimpose a wallet on the clay instead of the pot, and if you do, it is no longer vyAvahArika, it is prAtibhAsika).
[Note that the word ‘satya’ should be understood in this context as ‘level of reality’; its usual meaning is ‘true or real’; e.g. brahman is spoken of as satyam, whereas the world is mithyA.]
Definition by Sampath:
Let us consider the following story,
“Once a young lioness, going about in search of prey, saw a flock of sheep and jumped upon them. She died in the effort; and a little baby lion was born, motherless. It was taken care of by the sheep and the sheep brought it up. It grew up with them, ate grass, and bleated like the sheep. And although in time it became a big, full-grown lion, it thought it was a sheep.
“ One day another lion came in search of prey and was astonished to find that in the midst of this flock of sheep was a lion, fleeing like the sheep at the approach of danger. He tried to get near the sheep-lion, to tell it that it was not a sheep but a lion; but the poor animal fled at his approach. However, he watched for his opportunity and one day found the sheep-lion sleeping. He approached it and said, ‘You are a lion.’
“’I am a sheep,’ cried the other lion and could not believe the contrary but bleated. The lion dragged him towards a lake and said, "Look here! Here is my reflection and yours." Then came the comparison. It looked at the lion and then at its own reflection, and in a moment came the idea that it was a lion. "I do not look like a sheep - it is true, I am a lion!" and with that he roared a roar that shook the hills to their depths! “
The following conclusions can be drawn from the above story:

• The lion has realized that it has always been a lion even when it thought that it was a sheep. Thus the false knowledge that it had has been annihilated.*
• The essential nature of the lion is unaffected at all times. It is pAramArthika. It is eternally unsublatable. It is in the play of vyAvahArika where we see the "becoming" and "unbecoming".
• At the vyAvahArika level we may say that the sheep has "become" a lion. But the truth is that the lion was always the same like an infinite sky. The "Sheep" nature is like a cloud which comes over it, plays for a moment, then vanishes. But the sky is ever the same eternal blue.
• The Sheep existed only in the mind of the lion! So is the vyAvahArika state unreal from the absolute standpoint. We see the world as we are! There is a tree in the dark. A thief would imagine it to be a police man. A boy would imagine it to be a ghost and so on. But the tree remains unchanged.

* A question may be asked: What benefit has the lion obtained by realizing that it is not a sheep? It could have spent its life happily thinking itself to be a sheep.
Reply: It has got rid of "FEAR" by realizing that there is nothing which could destroy it. This is surely a benefit in whatever way you may consider it! Fear is bondage. Fearlessness is liberation. Because fear arises out of duality alone! The Katha Upanishad says,
yadidam kincha jagat sarvaM praaNa ejati niHsRitam mahadbhayaM vajramudyataM ya etadviduramRitaaste bhavanti || 2 ||
Whatever there is-the whole universe-vibrates because it has gone forth from Brahman, which exists as its Ground. That Brahman is a great terror, like a poised thunderbolt. Those who know It become immortal.
bhayaadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suuryaH bhayaadindrashcha vaayushcha mRityurdhaavati paJNchamaH || 3 ||
From terror of Brahman, fire burns; from terror of It, the sun shines; from terror of It, Indra and Vayu and Death, the fifth, run.
This fear alone has kept the sun, air and death in their respective places and functions, allowing none to escape from their bounds. When the gods Indra, Chandra, Vayu, Varuna will attain to fearlessness, then will they be one with Brahman, and all this phantasm of the world will vanish.

paramArtha - vyavahAra - pratibhAsa
Part 2

Definition by Ram Chandran:
In Vedanta literature there are some discussions related to the three notions of reality: prAtibhAsika satya, vyAvahArika satya and pAramArthika satya. Before the discussions, let us make sure that we understand that Truth is only one and it is never threefold. These narrations are just reflections of our own perceptions at different situations.
prAtibhAsika satya has neither basis, nor any existence. It is our illusion and a good example is the reality during dream. When there is twilight, a little light and a little darkness, we come by a rope and mistake it to be a snake. Really speaking, there is no snake there. The snake is only in our mind and the thing that is really there is only the rope. This is also referred as prAtibhAsika satya.
When we stand in front of a mirror, we see our reflection in it. When we move away, the reflection vanishes. Therefore, the reflection depends on the original object and only when it is there, will we see the reflection. Here, there is one basis, namely, the original thing. Without the original, there is no reflection. This is an illustration of vyAvahArika satya.
On the other hand, pAramArthika satya is an entity which is present everywhere and at all times. This is the true and eternal reality. A number of examples can be provided to illustrate the pAramArthika satya:

• Gold and golden ornaments - here the form and names such as bangle, ring, necklace have changed but the gold remains without any change.
• Clay and pots of different shapes and sizes.
• There are many bulbs with many different voltages and different colors.
• Even though we see many forms, many names, many races, many creeds and many castes in this world, we must know that the God that is present in all of them, the inner being, is in reality only one. Those with sama dRRiShTi and sama bhAva [unbiased, impartial perception and interpretation] will be able to see "Only God" with different names and forms.

Everything that we do is at the vyAvahArika level only and even the description and explanation of pAramArthika are also at the vyAvahArika level. No one except Brahman knows what the pAramArthika level is and even this assertion is only at the vyAvahArika level. The sages and saints are always careful and they have avoided making any false claims. Our problem is the lack of understanding of what they say and, most of the time, we attribute our mistakes to them.
They employ a `reference point' to illustrate the Truth at the vyAvahArika level and they are aware of our limitations. It seems that we overextend their assertions and try to go beyond! In the rope and snake example - the reference point (rope) is the Truth at the vyAvahArika level. Due to darkness (ignorance) the rope appears as the non-existent snake. But with the correct understanding (torch light) the truth is revealed.
Now reasoning is employed to illustrate the Truth at the pAramArthika level - the rope of vyAvahArika became the Brahman of pAramArthika and the non-existent snake of vyAvahArika became the non-existent World of pAramArthika. We do need to recognize that that this illustration with additional explanation is only at the vyAvahArika level! This example or analogy does not provide any clue about pAramArthika or Brahman to those who determine not to accept any analogy. The `dream' analogy is another example that is used to point to pAramArthika reality using a vyAvahArika framework.
The Truth at the pAramArthika level does require us to extend our understanding beyond the vyAvahArika level. Any of our claims about the TRUTH at the pAramArthika level are just further speculation. TRUTH can't be understood analytically by any `brilliant mind (intellect)' and that is the bottom line. This may explain why scripture becomes relevant for us to accept or reject a `speculated truth.'
For Hindus, the `Vedas or shruti - the revealed truth' became the authority for resolving issues related to the establishment of the Truth. The `shruti' is the experience of the `SELF' by the jIvanmukta. Any documentation of Vedas will not qualify for the term - `shruti.' All documented versions of Vedas become `smRRiti - a diluted form of Truth.' Consequently TRUTH (Self-Realization) can never be described in words. Everything that is written, spoken or remembered will fall into the vyAvahArika level.

paramArtha - vyavahAra - pratibhAsa
Part 3

                                                                                                              

Definition by S. N. Sastri:
We have to make a distinction between 'vyAvahArika plane' and 'vyAvahArika standpoint'. We are all in the vyAvahArika plane. The upaniShad-s, which speak about brahman, are also in the vyAvahArika plane. All teachings, all discussions, all relationships such as teacher and disciple, are also only in the vyAvahArika plane. Not only this world, but all the higher worlds, including brahma loka are within the vyAvahArika plane. ShrI Shankara says in his bhAShya on gItA 8.16 that brahma loka is also limited by time. [brahma loka – the abode of Brahma, the creator, is the term for ‘heaven’.]
In the pAramArthika plane there is no shAstra, no guru, no shiShya. There is only brahman and there is no one even to say that there is nothing other than brahman.
But even though we are in the vyAvahArika plane, we can speak from the vyAvahArika standpoint as well as the pAramArthika standpoint. When we accept the existence of the world and when we speak of brahman as the cause of the universe or as the witness of the actions of the jIva-s we are speaking from the vyAvahArika standpoint. From the pAramArthika standpoint brahman is pure consciousness without any attributes. It is not a cause nor a witness because we can speak of a cause only in relation to an effect and we can speak of a witness only when there is some thing to be witnessed. When there is nothing other than brahman there is neither effect nor cause and neither witness nor any thing to be witnessed. From this standpoint we cannot even say that it is all-pervading because there is nothing else for it to pervade. brahman is described as omniscient, omnipotent, etc., only when it is associated with mAyA and so that is only from the vyAvahArika standpoint.
The upaniShad-s speak about brahman from both the standpoints. When they speaks of brahman with attributes, i.e. brahman associated with mAyA, they are speaking from the vyAvahArika standpoint. When the upaniShad speaks about brahman without attributes, it is speaking from the pAramArthika standpoint.
As far as nirguNa brahman is concerned, the taittirIya upaniShad says that "words as well as the mind recede from it without reaching it". This is because words can, by their primary meaning, denote only substances which have either a quality, or an activity, or a relationship with some other known substance. brahman has no such quality, etc. and so it cannot be denoted by the primary meaning of any word. It is because of this that lakShyArtha or implied meaning has to be resorted to for getting the meaning of the mahAvAkya-s such as 'tat tvam asi'.
brahman is described as satyam, j~nAnam, anantam – existence, consciousness, infinite – in the Taitt. U. but it has been explained by ShrI Shankara in his bhAShya that these words do not describe brahman in a positive manner; they only say that brahman is different from all that is unreal, all that is insentient, and all that is finite. Thus brahman can be spoken of from the pAramArthika standpoint only in a negative manner. Another instance of such a description is the words "neti, neti", which mean that brahman is different from everything that we experience in the universe. Here brahman is described by the method of adhyAropa and apavAda---superimposition and negation. ShrI Shankara says in his bhAShya on Br. U. 2.3.6.:
How is it sought to describe brahman, the Truth of truth? By the elimination of all differences due to limiting adjuncts, the words "Neti, neti" refer to something that has no distinguishing mark, such as name, form, action, heterogeneity, species or qualities. Words refer to things through one or more of these marks. But brahman has none of these distinguishing marks.
Therefore it cannot be described as, "It is such and such ", as we can describe a cow by saying, "There moves a white cow with horns". brahman can be described only by the superimposition of name, form and action. When, however, we wish to describe its true nature, free from all differences due to limiting adjuncts, the only way is to describe it as – not this, not this.
It must be said that even the mahAvAkya 'tat tvam asi" and the other mahAvAkya-s are also from the vyAvahArika standpoint. From the pAramArthika standpoint there is no 'tvam' or jIva different from brahman and so there can be no such statement where the identity of two entities is postulated

'sAkShin' or the 'witness'

Definition - Ananda Wood

In Advaita philosophy, our perceptions of the world are considered objectively, as part of an objective world which is perceived through them.

This world is taken to include our bodies, our senses and our minds -- as changing instruments which act in the world. These instruments make up our personalities. And, as they act in their containing world, they produce a succession of perceived and thought and felt appearances, which come and go in each of our minds.

But how is this succession known? It's known through passing states of mind, whose limited attention keeps on turning from one changing appearance to another. Here, in the mind, each passing state brings an appearance which replaces past appearances and which is then replaced in turn.

To know that change has taken place, what knows the change must carry on. As mind's appearances get changed, a continued knower must stay present through the coming and the going of these changing appearances.

That knower must stay present silently. It is completely uninvolved with the distraction of noisy appearances, which clamor to replace each other in the mind's attention.

That silent knower is called 'sAkShin' or the 'witness'. It is an impartial witness that remains invariably the same, beyond all change and difference. For it is never in the least affected by any of the differing appearances which come and go before its disinterested witnessing.

That witness is not a changing doer. It does not do anything which changes it in any way. It is just that pure knower whose continued presence is shared in common by us all, beneath all changes and all variety of personality and world.

From there, the world is rightly known, with a complete and impartial objectivity.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.8.11, Yajnyavalkya describes the witness briefly -- as an unchanged observer, beneath all continuity of space and time in changing world. The relevant passage is appended below, with a somewhat free translation.

tad vA etad akSharam gArgI
adRRiShTam draShTRRi, ashrutam shrotRRi,
amatam mantRRi, avij~nAtaM vij~nAtRRi;
nAnyad ato 'sti draShTRRi, nAnyad ato 'sti shrotRRi,
nAnyad ato 'sti mantRRi, nAnyad ato 'sti vij~nAtRRi;
etasmin nu khalv akShare gArgI
AkAsha otash cha protash ca.

[This, Gargi, is just that which is not changed.
It is not seen, but is the see-er.
It is not heard, but is the hearer.
It is not thought, but is the thinker.
It is not known, but is the knower.
Apart from it, there is no see-er.
Apart from it, there is no hearer.
Apart from it, there is no thinker.
Apart from it, there is no knower.
Gargi, in this alone which is not changed,
all space and time are woven, warp and woof.]

The witness is of course not truth itself, but a concept that is used to point towards truth. If a sAdhaka follows where this concept points, the concept is left behind and finally disappears.

Viewed by reflecting back from mind, the witness is conceived as a changeless knower, which knows a succession of changing states that come and go. But when the mind reflects completely back to this changeless knower, it turns out that the knower is itself the true reality of each passing state. So, in knowing these states, the knower only knows itself.

What was approached as the 'witness' is thus realized to be a self-illuminating reality whose very being shines with knowing light. In that realization, the 'witness' concept is completely dissolved in a non-dual self.

What the witness concept does is to provoke the mind into asking questions that reflect it back into its truly knowing self. But when the mind gets reflected all the way back, it completely disappears along with all the objects it has conceived.

Accordingly, the witness is a conceptual limit that the mind approaches, by removing what is found to change from this mind's idea of itself. As more and more of the changing mind is removed from its idea of itself, the mind approaches closer and closer to its true self.

So long as anything that changes remains, the mind must look questioningly back to a changeless witness at the final limit of the changing mind. On getting closer and closer to that witness, the mind gets closer to changelessness and to the absence of all changing things.

In that borderland near to the final limit, the mind may get stuck in a sense of listless and hopeless nothingness. Tennyson describes this somewhat mythically, but rather beautifully, in his poem "Tithonus":

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality
Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,
Here at the quiet limit of the world,
A white-haired shadow roaming like a dream
The ever-silent spaces of the East,
Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn....

Tithonus is here speaking to the Goddess of Dawn, with whom he has had a love affair. As a result of that affair, she has granted him a boon of immortality, but not of the eternal youth that he forgot to ask for. I take the whole poem as describing an unpleasant aftermath of visionary or mystic exaltation, leaving poor Tithonus badly stuck and wasting away "here at the quiet limit of the world". He's stuck of course because he hasn't actually reached that limit, but stays teetering a little distance still away from it. That distance is an immeasurable gulf which still remains to be leapt across.

When the leap is made and the witness is finally reached, all world and mind and witnessing are found dissolved in knowing truth.

Advaita reasoning is thus directed back paradoxically, to a supporting truth from which no supported mind or world can truly be recovered

Note from Dhyanasaraswati

Swami Ranganathanada speaks of the sAkShin in reference to the Bhagavad Gita , 2-29:
'When Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that the true Self of man is unborn, immortal, and eternal, he is referring to this sAkShin (vide Gita 2- 16, 13-22, 15-10, 18-17).
The Gita conceives Reality as that which never changes. The ego, being subject to change, is unreal; so also are all its objects. Hence Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to transcend the dualities of experience like heat and cold, pain and pleasure, and identify himself with the permanent and unchanging Being, the sAkShin (witness).
The sAkShin being the ultimate subject or observer, the difficulty of comprehending it truly is well expressed by Sri Krishna thus:
"Some look upon this Self as marvelous; others speak about It as wonderful; others again hear of It as a wonder. And still others, though hearing, do not understand It at all." '

 

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

 

_{(My humble salutations to  above mentioned Philosophers and  Advaita org   for the collection)}