Summary:

Introduction Teachings: The Self manifests through three bodies: the Sthula sharira (physical body made of 5 elements), Sukshma sharira (subtle body containing four functions), and Karana sharira (causal body storing samskaras and unseen results of past actions). The Sukshma sharira operates through Manas (emotions/doubting), Buddhi (decision making), Chitta (recall), and Ahamkara (I-sense). These components interact as upadhis (limiting adjuncts) to consciousness, while the Karana sharira manages three types of karma: Sanchita (accumulated), Prarabdha (allocated for this life), and Agami (newly generated). I (atma) have a special relationship with my body-mind complex, but it doesn't mean it is Me.

Chapter 2, Verse 25: Verse establishes Atma's nature as avyakta (unmanifest), acintya (beyond thought), and avikārya (unchangeable). It introduces satya-mithya relationship, where Awareness (Atma) is satya (independently existent) while all changing phenomena are mithya (dependently existent). Like wood is to table, Awareness is the substrate of all existence. The teaching addresses Arjuna's grief by showing even sorrow for anātmā (non-self) is pointless since all forms must be either eternal (nitya) or non-eternal (anitya). Since forms can't be eternal, they must be temporary and subject to change. Verse essence: The Self (Atma) is the unchanging, unmanifest reality behind all temporary manifestations, and therefore one should not grieve.

Revision:

Krishna said  we take Self good as:

Sthūla śarīra (Physical body):

Made of 5 elements, which offer a more comprehensive framework than the modern periodic table, encompassing not just matter (gases, liquids, solids) but also space (ākāśa) and time (kāla). Meaning body is subject to being dehydrated, burnt, drowned.

Sūkṣma śarīra (Subtle body):

Made of 5 subtle elements. Consists of 4 functions:

Mind (Manas)

• • This means the mind is of the nature of decision followed by doubt. It processes emotional responses, desires, and feelings. Manas is responsible for the initial perception and cognition of objects. It conglomerates input from the five sense organs (jñānendriyāṇi) into one holistic inner representation (vṛtti-jñānam).

Intellect (Buddhi)

• • Buddhi is “niścayātmikā buddhiḥ“, meaning it is of the nature of resolved ascertainment. Buddhi is responsible for determination, decision-making, and will. It discriminates between right and wrong (viveka), makes judgments and conclusions, and determines the course of action. Buddhi is the seat of understanding and knowledge, processing perceptions into recognitions and conclusions. It's also the repository of values and principles.

Memory (Citta)

• • Citta is defined as “cintanakartṛ cittam“, the thinking process in keeping with what has gone before. Its primary function is smaraṇa (recollection of past experiences). Citta stores and recalls experiences, housing both conscious (immediately available) and subconscious (learned behaviors) memories acquired in this lifetime. It maintains the continuity of personality and includes the unconscious (deeply buried memories and instincts not readily accessible to conscious awareness) aspects of the mind.

I-Sense (Ahaṃkāra)

• • Links consciousness to body-mind complex: Gives an impression that all pervasive Awareness is isolated to a single individual, “I” – thus creating a sense of individual experience from one standpoint. Thus makes it so everything revolves around this “I”. This “I” becomes the center in life.
  • Creates sense of doership (kartṛtva): Makes you feel “I am the one doing this action” during every activity.
  • Appropriates all experiences as “mine”: Converts all experiences into personal possessions – “my house,” “my thoughts,” “my achievements.”
  • Responsible for agency and ownership: Makes you feel like an independent doer and owner of actions and possessions.

Interaction Between Components

• • Manas receives sensory input and emotionally processes it
  • Buddhi analyzes and makes decisions based on this input
  • Citta provides past reference points for both manas and buddhi
  • Ahaṃkāra maintains individual identity throughout all experiences

Relationship to Consciousness

• • All four are illumined by consciousness (caitanya)
  • None have independent existence or consciousness
  • All are subtle matter (sūkṣma padārtha)
  • Function as upādhis (limiting adjuncts) to consciousness
  • Their clarity determines quality of self-knowledge, that's why most of Vedanta is cleaning up the mind.

Kāraṇa Śarīra (Causal Body)

Unlike the gross and subtle body, causal-body isn't made of 5 elements, but of three gunas.  It is the repository of all your latent impressions (saṃskāras) developed over lifetimes, and unseen results of past actions (sancita karma) that are yet to be experienced.

The Three Types of Karma

1. 1. Sañcita Karma:
      • The total accumulated pool of unseen results of past actions from past lives.
      • Your sancita is anadi (beginningless).
      • Your sancita is destroyed upon moksha, recognizing “I” (Awareness) have no connection to sancita.
   2. Prārabdha Karma:
      • One portion from sancita is allocated for this lifetime is called Prarabdha. It gets exhausted through various experiences over time.
      • Prarabdha Definition: 
        1. Literal: Pra (already) ārabdha (begun).
        2. Implied: Prakarṣeṇa ārabdha (carefully begun). Meaning it's punya-papa is released a little each day for you to experience. Just enough as to produce too intense joy nor suffering at once.
   3. Āgāmi Karma:
      • Karma gathered in the current life, both before and after self-knowledge.

Summary of how 3 karmas work together to sustain endless cycle of birth-death:

You have an account called sancita-karma (well collected). Portion of it is assigned for one life is called prarabdha-karma, meaning you'll go through a series of pleasant & unpleasant experiences in this life. When you receive the pleasant (punya) & unpleasant (papa) experience, you don’t passively witness it, but respond with another action to deal with it — which once again produces additional unseen results. The new unseen result is called agami-karma (coming/approaching). Some agami is experienced in this life, but most of it spills back into Sancita-karma (which is in your Causal Body).

Atma Has Special Relationship With Body-Mind:

Among different houses, you have one house. Can’t say “it’s not your house”. Meaning you have special relationship with house, but house doesn’t become “I”. Similarly you have special relationship with body-mind made of 5 elements, and programmed to last certain years. Problem is we take it as “I”, thus we take on body-mind limitations of mortality.

BHAGAVAD GITA, CHAPTER 2, VERSE 25

Continuing this verse from previous session…

अव्यक्तः अयम् अचिन्त्यः अयम् अविकार्यः अयम् उच्यते ।
तस्मात् एवम् विदित्वा एनम् न अनुशोचितुम् अर्हसि ॥ २-२५॥
avyaktaḥ ayam acintyaḥ ayam avikāryaḥ ayam ucyate ।
tasmāt evam viditvā enam na anuśocitum arhasi ॥ 2-25॥

This (self) is said to be unmanifest, not an object of thought, and not subject to change. Therefore, knowing this, you ought not to grieve.

Atma has no attributes. It is…

• Avyakta (unmanifest): Not an object of perception or sense organs.
• Acintya (not an object of thought): Cannot be inferred, as it is self-evident as your ever available conscious presence that never leaves in throughout presence and absence of thoughts. Even your name has to be summoned when someone asks it. The only principle that is available even when it's not summoned is your effortless Awareness. 
• Avikārya (not subject to change): Does not undergo any modification. Because doesn’t have attributes, and not born in time.

What is the relationship between world/thoughts and Awareness (Atma)? Satya-mithya.

• Intro: 

  • Satya and mithyā are not objects, but ontological categories. These terms describe the nature of reality and existence.

• Step 1: Define the terms

  • Satya: Enjoys independent existence. Self-existing. Does not rely on anything else for its being.
  • Mithya: Has a dependent existence. Its being-ness is contingent on the substance (satyam). It is neither completely real (sat) nor completely unreal (asat). Mithyā does not mean “unreal” or “non-existent” (tuccham) — but seemingly real. Mithya is experientially available but factually non-existent.

• Step 2: Explain with an example (table-wood).

  • At first glance, “table” and “wood” seem like two separate things. Upon analysis, we see the reality of the table is wood.
  • If you ask “What is MORE right — the table or the wood?”. Wood is MORE right, because if you take out the wood there’s no table. But if you take out the table (legs cut off) — the substance (wood) remains. Meaning we don’t discard the table, only understand it to be mithya. It’s mithya because the entirety of table is pervaded by it's substance (wood). There’s no place where wood is not throughout the table. The table isn’t on or besides the wood. Table IS the wood taking the shape of a “table”.
  • In the final conclusion, there's only wood. Take away wood, there's no “table”. They enjoy a satya-mithya relationship.

• Step 3: Clarify the distinction

  • We call it a “table” because it has a distinct form. The substance for any form (which is given a name) is wood. The table (mithya) borrows its existence from the wood (satya).

• Step 4: Apply this understanding to the entire universe:

  • Awareness is the only reality (satya). Everything else, including time, space, and objects, is dependent on it (mithya).
  • Let's take a wooden table as our starting point. Upon analysis, we find that we cannot actually find a “table” — it's just wood appearing in a particular form. The table depends on wood, but wood doesn't depend on the table-form. Going deeper, we can't actually find “wood” either — it resolves into lignin and cellulose molecules. These molecules further resolve into atoms. Following the scientific analysis, atoms resolve into subatomic particles (protons, neutrons, electrons), which further resolve into quarks. This is where modern science currently stops, unable to explain the cause of quarks or what they reduce to. This is where Vedanta provides the crucial bridge: at every level of this analysis, we find intelligent arrangement. The table is intelligently assembled wood, atoms are intelligently structured particles, quarks are intelligently organized energy. We cannot have such complex organization without underlying intelligence. Therefore, intelligence must be the fundamental building block of reality. All forms, from the grossest to the subtlest, are thus intelligent assemblies. Everything resolves into intelligence/concepts, and these concepts themselves depend on Awareness. Awareness alone stands as independently existent (satya), while everything else is dependent appearance (mithyā).
  • This analysis shows that the entire universe is reducible to concepts. And concepts have their being in Awareness. So Awareness becomes the final Satyam on which everything else depends.
  • Furthermore, Awareness remains free of attributes of everything else that depends on it. Just like wood free of table attribute. Atom free of wood attribute. Concepts free of atom attribute. Etc. That’s why verse 25 started by showing Atma is attributeless.

• Step 5: Apply to daily life

  • Recognize that wherever there is mithya, that's where satyam is. Mithya is never away from satyam. For example, a wave can't transcend (go beyond) itself to see water, as wave is water only.

• Step 6: Understand the implications

  • To know yourself, you don't need to remove your thoughts.
  • If thoughts pushed aside the “I” (Awareness), then what would be Aware of the thought?

Implications for Grief

• Knowing Ātmā as it is corrects our thinking about ourselves and encourages more objective stance towards life. The knowledge softens the blows of life. One honors the impermanent, without losing sight of the permanent. Knowing this, you don't negate human experience, but it makes your life easier. Because Śocituṁ na arhasi. “Na arhasi” means “you don’t qualify [to be sad]” — because there is only one Atma, not many. Whereas Body-mind is mortal, doer/enjoyer, subject to happiness/unhappiness.
• Arjuna's Argument:
  • Arjuna's Potential Argument:
    • Arjuna could argue that he's not grieving for Ātmā, but for the physical presence of loved ones like Bhīṣma. He might say, “I cannot shake hands with Ātmā or enjoy a talk with sat-cit-ānanda-ātmā.”
  • Krishna’s Counter-Argument:
    • Even grief for anātmā (another name for mithya) is pointless.
    • Anātmā must be either nitya (eternal) or anitya (non-eternal). Anatma can't be nitya as that'll give forms qualities of Atma which are: unthinkable, unchanging, unmanifest. Only other choice is that anatma is anitya (impermanent), meaning it's supposed to through birth and death.

NEXT VERSE: Suppose you haven’t understood atma, and think you/other is this gross/subtle-body, then still there’s no reason to grieve…

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Course was based on Neema Majmudar's Bhagavad Gita & Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya) home study course.

Recorded 27 Oct, 2024