End Of Knowledge

Tag: Advaita Vedanta

  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 22

    Read Part 21 / Ask a Question / Support End of Knowledge
    CHAPTER 15: Part 1
    Ashtavakra said:
    15:1 – One of pure intellect realizes the self even by instruction casually imparted.  One of impure intellect is bewildered in trying to realize the self even after enquiring throughout life.

    A pure intellect—meaning a clear, focused mind—is an essential component in self-inquiry. For some, this comes naturally.  For others a bit of work is required.  In that case, Vedanta recommends meditation and various spiritual practices.  But while meditation etc. are extremely helpful tools for improving the mind’s ability to inquire, they aren’t necessarily mandatory (as some teachers and texts make them out to be). I personally know several self-realized people who didn’t meditate or have a formal spiritual practice while they did self-inquiry (I am not one of them). 

    They key is not to assume you’re such a person right off the bat.  Be open to the idea that your mind may need work and save yourself the grief of inquiring—sometimes for years—to no avail (I know several people like this as well).  Inquire, and if it comes to you easily then it’s a sign that your mind is properly prepared.  If it doesn’t, then work is needed.  The practices for preparing the mind for inquiry don’t fall under the scope of an advanced text like the Ashtavakra Samhita, so I won’t go into them here.      

    15:2 – Non-attachment for sense-objects is liberation; love for sense-objects is bondage. This is knowledge.  Now do as you please.

    Being attached to sense-objects can certainly be unpleasant.  But it isn’t true bondage.  True bondage is to believe that you’re the body-mind.  Therefore liberation is to divest yourself of that notion.  Because anyone can rid themselves of desire for certain sense-objects and increase their peace of mind.  But being unattached to sense-objects doesn’t mean you know you’re really consciousness-existence, the self. That’s true liberation because it shows you that regardless of whether the mind is attached or non-attached to sense objects, you’re always the ever-free self, beyond both attachment and non-attachment. 

    15:3 – Knowledge of truth makes an eloquent, wise and hardworking person mute, inert and idle.  Therefore it is shunned by those who want to enjoy the world.

    Or it doesn’t you make mute, inert and idle.  Why?  Because since self-knowledge shows you that you’re not the body-mind then whether the body-mind is eloquent, wise and hardworking or mute, inert and idle is immaterial.  The action or inaction of the body-mind says absolutely nothing about you.  This is good because self-knowledge is about freedom, not about accepting another set of rules and regulations—from either family, society or scriptures—about how the body-mind should or should not be.  So if you know who you are and you want to do something, then do it.  Or don’t do it.  Just remember that as the self you’re not involved one way or the other.  Identifying with the actions of the body-mind is the problem self-knowledge aims to fix, not specifically what the body-mind does or does not do.  

    However, taken in a less literal sense this verse means that self-knowledge makes the normal aims of life seem less important or altogether unimportant. Because if you realize that you already are what you’re seeking, you don’t have to feel so compelled to accomplish things in life for the sake of feeling fulfilled.  As the self, you’re always full.    

    15:4 – You are not the body, nor is the body yours; you are not the doer nor the enjoyer. You are consciousness, the ever-free witness.  Go about your life happily.
    15:5 – Like and dislike belong to the mind.  But the mind does not belong to you.  You are consciousness, changeless and free of thought.  Go about your life happily.

    I have a dog.  While it’s clear that me and the dog are two different entities, I still feel like the she ‘belongs’ to me.  And because of that I sometimes take credit for her good behavior and feel responsible for her bad behavior.  But really, the actions of the dog—good or bad—have absolutely nothing to do with me. 

    In the same way, while Vedanta makes it clear that you’re not the body-mind you may still be tempted to identify with it thinking it somehow belongs to you.  But Ashtavakra is quick to point out that it doesn’t.  You aren’t the self that owns a body-mind.  You’re the self that appears as a body-mind.  But that appearance doesn’t affect you in the same way that the appearance of waves doesn’t affect water.  So you can relax.  Or not, as long as you remember that the state of the body-mind doesn’t have anything to do with you either way.   

    15:6 – Realizing the self in all and that all is in the self, free from egoism and free from the sense of ‘mine,’ be happy.

    Understanding that everything is you helps you to shift from a very particular, personal perspective of yourself—the perspective of the “I” e.g. the ego—to a universal, impersonal perspective.  At first this can be daunting because of the habitual conditioning to value one’s personal sense of self.  But what does identifying with this personal self, the ego, have to offer?  Nothing, other than the feeling that you’re disconnected from everything around you and that you’re completely defined by the ideas of “I am this” and “I am not that.”  If you can see the value in that, then seeking self-knowledge is for you.        

    15:7 – You are indeed that in which the universe manifests itself like waves on the ocean. You are consciousness; be free from the fever of the mind.

    Like waves in the ocean, the world arises and resolves in you.  And just as the fundamental nature of water is unchanged by the appearance of waves, your fundamental nature as consciousness-existence is unaffected by the appearance of the world. 

    15:8 – Have faith child, have faith. Never confuse yourself in this. You are knowledge itself, you are the lord.  You are the self and you are beyond the material world.

    No faith is actually required in Vedanta because it gives you the tools to investigate its claims for yourself, allowing you to validate them with reason and personal experience. You can see firsthand that you’re knowledge itself—consciousness-existence.  As consciousness-existence you’re the ‘lord’ insofar as the appearance of the world depends on you to exist and not the other way around.  But because you have no location in time or space—and furthermore because there’s nothing other than you that exists—you can’t literally be ‘beyond’ the appearance of the world as if it were something separate from you existing in a different place.  So in this context, ‘beyond’ means that you’re always unaffected by the appearance of the world.         

    15:9 – The body, composed of matter, comes, stays for a while and goes. The self neither comes nor goes. Why, then, do you mourn it?
    15:10 – Let the body last to the end of the universe or let it go even today. Where is there any increase or decrease in you who are pure consciousness?

    The body is a temporary collection of matter. This is plain to see whether or not you know you’re the self.  But when you do know that you’re the self that never comes and goes, you can take the transient nature of the body in stride knowing that its presence, absence or current state neither adds nor takes anything away from you. 

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 21

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    CHAPTER 14
    Janaka said:
    14:1 – One who is void of mind, whose thoughts of sense objects are spontaneous and who remains awake while sleeping has their recollections of worldly life exhausted. 

    In Swami Nityaswarupananda’s excellent translation of the Ashtavakra Samhita he interprets “void of mind” to mean that the mind of one with self-knowledge is devoid of desires, habitual mental tendencies and knowledge of objects.  Unless I’m misunderstanding his words, I politely but heartily disagree.  Because how could a self-realized person write, teach—or do anything else for that matter—without the desire to do so?  How could they have a personality without habitual mental tendencies?  How could they function in the world without knowledge of objects?  Either self-realized people do have desires, habitual tendencies and knowledge of objects or those with the desire to teach self-knowledge, using their personality and knowledge of objects to do so, aren’t actually self-realized. 

    The latter scenario is problematic, seeing as there would be no living proof that enlightenment is possible.  So I contend—and I think Vedanta supports this contention—that “void of mind” means despite the fact that self-realized people have desire etc. in their minds, they are void of the belief that the contents of their minds either belong to them or affect them.  

    The idea that a self-realized person’s thoughts of sense objects are “spontaneous,” meaning they simply come to that person’s mind rather than being the product of a deliberate desire-based thought process is rooted in the theory that a self-realized person is free from the karmic cycle of cause and effect.  In other words, once they give up the notion of being the doer, the body-mind, they’re passively reaping the effects of past karma created by the doer rather than actively creating new karma. 

    If the theory of karma is true, then perhaps this is correct.  But if self-knowledge clearly demonstrates that you’re not the body-mind—and therefore never involved in the cycle of karma in the first place—what does it matter?  The fact is that regardless of self-knowledge, the body-mind is going to keep functioning as it always has until it dies.  The key is to know it has nothing to do with you either way. 

    To “remain awake while sleeping” can mean two things: 1) A self-realized person is ‘awake’ to the knowledge of their true nature even while appearing to still be ‘asleep,’ meaning while appearing to still be a regular person ignorant of who they really are and 2) A self-realized person knows that they’re always ‘awake’ as consciousness-existence, even though the body-mind may be asleep. 

    To have your “recollections of worldly life exhausted” is not to develop amnesia upon gaining self-knowledge.  Rather, it’s to no longer identify with the sum of your past actions, thinking they somehow define or affect you.   

    14:2 – When desire has melted away, where are my riches, where are my friends, where are the robbers in the form of sense-objects, where are the scriptures and where is knowledge?

    Self-knowledge puts things in perspective.  It demonstrates that money, relationships and sense objects—while they all have relative value in the everyday world—don’t offer any lasting happiness, owing to their transient nature.  For those who eschew such mundane pleasures and instead seek peace in so-called spiritual things such as scriptures, Janaka is quick to point out that they too have no lasting value.  Even though the scriptures can be useful guideposts on the path to self-knowledge, once you’ve ‘arrived’ at the goal, they no longer serve a purpose, the same way a map is useless once you’ve reached your destination.     

    “Knowledge” here can be taken in two ways.  The first is as worldly knowledge, which suffers the same drawback as money etc.  The second is as indirect knowledge of the self obtained from either the scriptures or a teacher.  “Indirect” means you’re told about the self.  But once you understand that you are the self, these indirect statements are no longer useful.      

    14:3 – Realizing I am the self, the witness and the lord, I have become indifferent to both bondage and liberation and I no longer think of my own emancipation.

    Bondage and liberation are dualistic concepts that only apply when you think you’re the body-mind.  But when you know you’re consciousness-existence you understand that the desire for liberation—although a necessary component in the process of self-inquiry—is ultimately irrelevant seeing as you were always the self, the witness of the body-mind seeking liberation, and therefore never bound in the first place.   

    14:4 – The state of one inwardly free of doubts but who outwardly moves about at their own pleasure like a deluded person can only be understood by others like them. 

    Self-knowledge doesn’t dictate certain behavior precisely for the fact that it demonstrates you’re not the doer in the first place.  So just because someone’s body-mind goes about their life in a completely normal way, just like those without self-knowledge, doesn’t mean they don’t know who they really are.  Although this fact can be used by unscrupulous individuals to justify their bad behavior, it’s nonetheless true.  So if you know who you are, your body-mind can still act like an asshole.  But I certainly don’t recommend it.  Because if you truly know that everyone is actually yourself and that you’ve got nothing to gain or lose, what’s to be accomplished by abusing or taking advantage of ‘others’? 

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 20

    Read Part 19 / Ask a Question / Support End of Knowledge
    CHAPTER 13
    Janaka said:
    13:1 – The tranquility born of the knowledge that there is nothing but the self is rare even for one who wears but a loin-cloth. Therefore giving up renunciation and acceptance, I live happily.

    Gaining self-knowledge is no easy task, even for hardcore monks who renounce everything (except, thankfully, their underwear). But the good new is it’s not as difficult as it’s often made out to be.  With a clear mind and a bit of persistence, self-knowledge is attainable for anyone whether they’re an average Joe with a family, a day job and a proper pair of pants or a half-naked monk who meditates in the woods all day.  One of the greatest obstacles to self-knowledge is simply believing that it isn’t possible for you.  Guess what?  It is. 

    To give up renunciation and acceptance is to 1) Understand you’re not the one who accepts or rejects e.g. the body-mind and 2) Know that acceptance and rejection are ultimately irrelevant seeing as everything is actually yourself. 

    13:2 – There is trouble of the body here, trouble of the tongue there, and trouble of the mind elsewhere. Having renounced the idea of being the body-mind, I live happily.

    Trouble belongs to the body-mind alone.  So by giving up the idea that you’re the body-mind, you relinquish ownership of the problems associated with it.  Then, when problems arise, you’re able to take whatever steps are necessary to deal with them, all the while keeping in mind that they never actually affect you.     

    13:3 – Fully realizing that nothing whatsoever is really done by the self, I do whatever presents itself to be done and live happily.

    I once knew a very intelligent computer programmer who was apprehensive about gaining self-knowledge because he thought it meant he’d have to quit his day job—which he really enjoyed—and become a Vedanta teacher.  His fear was based on the all too common idea that gaining self-knowledge means you have to only do so-called spiritual actions while minimizing or entirely avoiding everyday activities. But since self-knowledge shows that you’re never actually involved in the actions of the body-mind, you can let the body-mind do whatever it needs to do—whether spiritual or mundane—and rest easy.      

    13:4 – The yogis who are attached to the body insist upon action or inaction.  Owing to the absence of association and dissociation, I live happily.

    Yoga—meaning spiritual discipline—can be an exceptionally useful supporting practice when doing self-inquiry.  How so?  Yoga leads to increased mental concentration, an essential ingredient in the recipe for self-knowledge.  But since yoga is based on purification and control of the body-mind, it comes with the perpetually burdensome notion of doership.  This means when the yoga practice goes well, you associate with that state and feel good.  But when it doesn’t, you associate with that state instead and feel frustrated. But when self-inquiry yields the knowledge that you’re not associated with the body-mind at all, you can find peace regardless of its state.    

    Classical yoga, based on the philosophy of Samkhya, posits two eternal realities, purusha and prakriti, which can be loosely translated as spirit (your true nature) and matter (the fundamental building blocks of the body-mind and world).  It says you, the spirit, are suffering because of your association with matter.  But if you can disassociate with prakriti by permanently ceasing the functioning of the mind through meditation, prakriti and its tribulations will disappear forever and you’ll be able to rest happily as an isolated spirit. 

    The rub here is twofold:  One, it’s entirely hypothetical that you can meditate enough that your mind completely stops and never restarts.  Two, a non-functioning mind isn’t necessarily desirable.  Because in that case, the joys of life disappear right alongside the problems. 

    Luckily, Vedanta is non-dual.  It asserts that instead of there being two realities, there’s only one reality (yourself, consciousness-existence) appearing as two.  That means there’s no body-mind or world to literally disassociate with.  You only have to ‘disassociate’ from the body-mind and world by understanding that they’re merely appearances that don’t affect you.  Essentially, you get to have your cake and eat it to, meaning the body-mind and world can stay as they are and you can appreciate them for whatever they’re worth without the feeling that they’re real entities that define or restrict you in any way.       

    13:5 – No good or evil accrues to me by staying, going or sleeping. So, whether I stay, go or sleep, I live happily.

    As the self you’re untouched by the actions of the body.  So while good and evil may accrue to the body, it never accrues to you. 

    13:6 – I do not lose by sleeping or gain by striving. So giving up thoughts of loss and elation, I live happily.

    Whether the body sleeps or strives, you, the self, remain the same.  In other words, you’re always okay no matter what the body gains or loses. 

    13:7 – Observing again and again the inconstancy of pleasure and pain under different circumstances, I have renounced good and evil, and I live happily.

    Pleasure and pain come and go.  So what’s the point of being excessively concerned about gaining pleasure or avoiding pain, especially seeing as you’re the self, unaffected by both?  Granted, keeping this perspective in mind is no easy task and it’s certain that the minds of those with self-knowledge can still be overwhelmed by joy, saddened by loss and frustrated by adversity.  But by continually bringing the mind back to knowledge that you’re really the unaffected self, these reactions will lessen in intensity over time.  This illustrates a critically important point:  self-knowledge isn’t about having a perpetually pacified mind.  Peace is only a secondary byproduct while the primary goal is to see you aren’t the mind in the first place.  

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 17

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    CHAPTER 10
    Ashtavakra said:
    10:1 – Be indifferent to everything:  Give up the enemy of desire (kama), the pursuit of gain (artha) which is inevitably mixed with loss, and their cause, the performance of good works (dharma).   

    Desire is a helpful tool for achieving your goals but it’s the enemy of happiness because no one is truly happy when they want something.  Even when desire helps you get what you want, the happiness you feel won’t last because you’ll inevitably lose what you’ve gained.  And in the meantime you still won’t be happy because desires for other things will most likely pop up.  The takeaway here is that happiness isn’t maximized by wanting more.  Rather, it’s by wanting less. 

    Since getting what you want is usually accomplished by dharma—here meaning skillful right actions—Ashtavakra recommends giving those up as well since they’ll just lead to more accomplishments which lead to more desire.  But take note that in this verse the dharma Ashtavakra is imploring you to give up is not proper everyday conduct.  That should never be given up, especially if you’re interested in happiness.  If you act like a jerk and break the accepted rules of society, you’ll have so much conflict in your life that happiness will be very difficult to come by.            

    10:2 – Rightly understand that friends, spouses, land, houses, wealth, gifts and such other marks of good fortune are like Indra’s Net, a dream that does not last.

    The symbol of Indra’s Net is employed by certain schools of Buddhism to represent the interdependent and inherently empty nature of all things.  But that isn’t the case here.  Contrary to Buddhism, Vedanta says that the inherent nature of everything is the fullness of consciousness-existence i.e. yourself.  So in this verse, Indra’s Net is used in the Vedic, pre-Buddhist sense of illusion or magic.  Ashtavakra is pointing out that friends etc. (meaning objects in general) are like a dream—they’re transient and unreal.  This means they’re an unreliable—and therefore unsuitable—source of satisfaction.  Being aware of this allows you to appreciate objects for what they’re worth while not depending on them for contentment, the true source of which is your own self, consciousness-existence.  That’s why self-knowledge should be sought above all else.           

    10:3 – Know that wherever there is desire there is samsara (the world). To become content and free of desire, seek recourse in a mature dispassion.

    Desire isn’t pleasant.  And reducing desire through mature dispassion—meaning a cultivated sense of objectivity—undoubtedly improves your mental state.  But seeing as 1) desire never truly ends and 2) the true definition of samsara is identifying with the contents of the mind (such as desire), the real solution to samsara is to break identification with the mind altogether through self-knowledge.        

    10:4 – Bondage consists of desire itself.  Liberation is said to be the destruction of desire. Only by non-attachment to the world does one attain constant joy.

    On the relative level, being a slave to the pursuit of desired objects is bondage and breaking that cycle is liberation.  But truly speaking, bondage consists of self-ignorance alone.  And liberation is either the destruction of that ignorance or the gain of self-knowledge, however you want to think of it.  As pointed out above, gaining self-knowledge is the only solution to desire—it’s the true liberation. 

    All the same, non-attachment to the world of objects is a crucial step on the path to self-knowledge.  Why?  Because if you haven’t truly seen that attaining objects won’t solve the problem of desire then you’ll most likely keep seeking them compulsively.  And when that’s the case, you won’t see the value of seeking the real solution: self-knowledge. 

    10:5 – You are the one pure consciousness.  The universe is non-conscious and unreal.  Ignorance itself is nothing (unreal / non-existent).  What can you yet desire to know?

    Pure consciousness is one—there’s nothing but consciousness.  So from the absolute viewpoint, when you know that you’re consciousness there’s nothing left to know.  At that point, it’s still necessary to learn relative knowledge about the universe since it pertains to your day-to-day life but on the issue of your true nature, the case is closed.  And since you know that the universe is unreal, you don’t take the pursuit of relative knowledge too seriously. 

    10:6 – Kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies and pleasures have been lost to you birth after birth—being attached to them has never stopped this from happening. 

    Whether reincarnation is real or not, the point of this verse remains true:  holding on to something doesn’t keep you from losing it and grieving for its loss doesn’t bring it back.  Hence, other than pain, there is nothing to be gained from attachment.  For peace of mind, enjoy things while they last.  And when the time comes, let them go.      

    10:7 – Enough of wealth, desire and good deeds—they are part of the forest of samsara.  The mind will not find peace in them. 

    Samsara is identifying with the body-mind.  And when you identify with the body-mind, it seems like acquiring wealth, fulfilling your desires and doing good deeds will lead to satisfaction.  But unfortunately this isn’t possible because no accomplishment in samsara lasts. It makes sense, therefore, to seek what does last—consciousness-existence.  When you realize that you are consciousness-existence the mind has a reliable source of satisfaction to draw on at all times.    

    10:8 – For how many births have you done hard and painful work with body, mind and speech? Therefore cease today.

    Striving with the body-mind for even a single lifetime is an arduous task, one that never leads to lasting satisfaction.  Knowing this, it makes sense to ‘cease’ doing work with the body-mind (which includes speech).  But does that mean you should literally stop the mental and physical activity of the body-mind?  No, because refraining from activity is just another activity that continues to presuppose you’re the body-mind.  So to ‘cease’ here means to give up the idea that you’re the body-mind in the first place.   

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 15

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    CHAPTER 8

    In Vedanta, the definition of bondage is self-ignorance i.e. believing that you’re the body-mind when you’re actually consciousness-existence.  Liberation, therefore, is 1) The clear understanding that you’re consciousness-existence and 2) The subsequent dis-identification with the body-mind and its various states.  This means from the absolute viewpoint that liberation has absolutely nothing to do with the state of your mind.  Whether it’s angry, desirous, attached and full of egoism or happy, unattached and free of desire and egoism is inconsequential because as consciousness-existence you’re always untouched by the mind.

    But on a relative level, a mind burdened with excessive desire, attachment, egoism and negative emotions can be conditionally defined as ‘bondage’ insofar as it’s uncomfortable and generally detrimental to conducting your day-to-day affairs.  In that regard, it’s sensible to be aware of those states of mind in order to manage them for maximum efficiency and mental peace. 

    Of course, it could be argued that the mind doesn’t need to be managed because it doesn’t affect you, consciousness-existence.  And that would be completely true.  But if you extend that logic, it could also be argued that if you fall down the stairs and break your leg there’s no need to seek treatment because the body doesn’t affect you either.  Or that there’s no need to go to work or tend to the welfare of your family and friends because it doesn’t matter to you, consciousness-existence.  And that would also be completely true. 

    But in the same way that you’d prefer to have a healthy body, keep your job and maintain good relationships with your family and friends, it’s preferable to take care of your mind to ensure that it too remains healthy and happy.  You just do it because it makes sense to do it.  And you do it knowing that you’re always okay, whether or not your efforts bear fruit. 

    If, however, you’re satisfied with your mind being miserable, then so be it—it’s your choice.  It doesn’t affect the fact that you’re unchanging consciousness-existence one single bit. 

    In this chapter, Ashtavakra discusses what bondage and liberation are from the relative level.  Those interested in mental well-being take note.  For all of you hardcore enlightened beings out there who don’t care, feel free to skip to the next chapter 🙂        

    Ashtavakra said:
    8:1 – Bondage is when the mind desires anything or grieves at anything, rejects or accepts anything, feels happy or angry at anything.
    8:2 – Liberation is when the mind does not desire or grieve or reject or feel happy or angry.
    8:3 – It is bondage when the mind is attached to any sense experience. It is liberation when the mind is unattached to all sense experiences.
    8:4 – When there is “I,” there is bondage.  But when there is no “I,” there is liberation.  Knowing this, easily refrain from accepting or rejecting anything.

    The gist of what he’s saying is that it pays to be objective and dispassionate about your everyday life.  Desire never solved anyone’s problems because it always leads to more desire.  Grief over loss, at least excessive grief, isn’t warranted because it’s the nature of things to be impermanent—losing them is inevitable.  Acceptance and happiness or anger and rejection aren’t necessary because the value assigned to objects to determine whether they should be accepted, rejected etc. is completely relative.  What one person deems worthy of rejection might just as soon be accepted by someone else.  Furthermore, all objects are unreal, and nothing unreal deserves to be the source of real desire, grief, acceptance, rejection, happiness or anger.     

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