Tuesday 27 July 2021

Shankara and The Witness (Saksin)

 

The ego which is pervaded by the reflection of Consciousness is called the knower or the agent of the action of knowing.  One who knows oneself, the Witness, to be distinct from all these three is a (real) knower of the Self.

The modifications of the intellect, called ‘right knowledge’, ‘doubtful knowledge’, and ‘false knowledge’, deviate from their existence.  There is one and the same Consciousness in all of them.  The differences are due to the modifications. (paras 118- 120 Upadesa Sahasri)

The Witness?  Who let him in?  The three that it is distinct from are/is the agent, the object and the means of valid knowledge (pramana) ie. perception, inference etc.  How is the Witness distinct from them if it is non-different as Consciousness from Subject and Object?  Can this be an example of the adiropa apavada move or an interim realisation that what remains unchanged is Consciousness as such.  Its self-luminous nature does not change.  Taking that stance towards the deliverances of ‘the three’ i.e. ‘right knowledge’ etc. brings the seeker into the sphere of the Witness.

“Being the witness of all cognitions, and by nature nothing but the power of consciousness, the Self is indicated by the cognitions themselves, in the midst of cognitions, as non-different from them.  There is no other door to its awareness......

As for the explanation, “The expression, pratibodha videtam (known with every state of awareness) means that the Self is known to oneself”, it is possible in a context where the Self appears as a conditioned thing through identification with the limiting adjunct, intellect, so as to have such apparent activities as knowing the Self by the self (jiva).  This is referred to by the texts. “Sees the Self in his own self” Brh.Up. IV.iv.23 - “ O Purushottama, (lit Supreme Purusha, i.e. Being) you yourself know your Self through the self”. B.G. X.15. (from Kena Up. commentary II.4)

 

 

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