Summary:

Lecture 19 concludes our 5 day retreat, giving structure to the whole text.

Source: Drg Drsya Viveka

ABOUT: Drk Drsya Viveka is written by Bharati Tirtha (or Swami Vidyaranya). Below summary is by help of Swami Paramarthananda. Text of 46 verses is divided into 5 portions…

Verse 1-5: Enumeration of 3 Types of Seer (drk)

• From standpoint of world, sense organs are seer. From standpoint of sense organs, mind is seer. Mind experienced because of consciousness.
• 3 Seen: World, sense organs, mind.
• 3 Seers: Sense organs, mind, consciousness.
• CONCLUSION:
  • World is only in Seen list, thus absolute seen. And consciousness is in only in Seer list, thus absolute seer.
  • The sense organs & mind are both in included in Drsya title of text. And Drk in title of text refers to Consciousness.

Verse 6-12: Formation and Function of the 3 Seers

• How is consciousness formed? It’s never formed. It eternally is.
• CONSCIOUSNESS: What is function of consciousness?
  • Illumines the mind (by it’s mere presence, like the sun). Function of consciousness is not to illumine the sense organs, as they are object of the mind. Neither the world, as they are objects of sense organs.
  • Since illumining is eternal, there’s no beginning or end to the illumination, as it’s not an action. Action alone has beginning/end. An eternal illuminator.
• MIND: What is function of mind?
  • It’s seen/objectified by Consciousness, and illuminator of sense-organs.
  • How does mind become an illuminator? It can’t become illuminator by itself. It borrows light of consciousness. Thus mind is a dependent seer. And undergoes change in form of thoughts. Mind is changing/temporary illuminator. For example, during sleep, it can’t illumine.
• SENSE ORGANS: What is function of sense organs?
  • It’s seen from standpoint of mind. And seer from standpoint of world. Sense organs borrow the borrowed light of consciousness from the mind.
  • EG: When mind directs it’s light of consciousness to some imagination, then it no longer sends that light to sense organs, thus you don’t hear sounds (world), as world is no longer illumined by senses.

Verse 13-21: Cause of Samsara & Remedy

• Ahamkara vs Sakshi:
  1. Ahamakara (ego):
     • Made up of Sense organs + mind (Drshya in text). Karta/bhokta/samsari. Travels between lokas. Subject to punya/papa. Even jnani’s ahamkara goes through ups-and-downs. Ahamkara is never free, always troubled. Even Rama/Krishna’s ahamkara is troubled.
  2. Sakshi:
     • Absolute seer (Drk in text). Doesn’t travel, as all-pervading. Because it’s everywhere, it’s need not be a karta/bhokta.
• No distance between the two, they are inseparable. Even in nirvikalpa-samadhi, ahamkara is in dormant state within Sakshi. Thus when say “I”, it’s always a mixture of ahamkara & sakshi. Mere sakshi can’t say “I”. Neither can mere ahamkara, as it’s borrowing existence from sakshi.
• Why do we suffer samsara?
  1. IGNORANT OF THE MIXTURE:
     • In reference to “I”:
       • Haven’t separated ahamkara and sakshi. Haven’t understood intellectually, that there is a mixture. Don’t know what makes up “I”. Ignorance about this.
       • Why ignorant? Due to maya’s avarana-shakti.
     • In reference to world:
       • Don’t know it’s mixture of sat-cit and name-form, therefore gives name-form absolute reality.
  2. IDENTIFIED WITH AHAMKARA ONLY:
     • Identified with only ahamkara, as though it’s the real “I”. Constantly subject to punya/papa, and things don’t go per expectations, thus suffering.
• Remedy to Samsara:
  • Knowledge that’s keeping with the reality:
    1. In reference to “I”:
       • Knowledge that word “I” has 2 components (ahamkara/sakshi).
    2. In reference to “world”:
       • World is made up of sat-cit and name-from.
  • Right-identification:
    1. In reference to “I”:
       • Having gained knowledge of “I”, train mind to identify with sakshi more, while know ahamkara is incidental functionary while alive.
       • When put “I” in consciousness, do you get moksha? The struggle for moksha (freedom) ends. Relative samsara problems continue.
    2. In reference to world:
       • Focus goes from name-form, to truth of the name-form, being Ishvara, whose truth is existence.

Verse 22-31: Vedantic Meditation & Its Benefit

• 6 types of meditation. 3 inside/3 outside.
• 3 Internal Meditations:
  • Thought meditation: Observe thoughts, and pay attention to the unchanging presence throughout them.
  • Consciousness Meditation: Meditation upon features of consciousness: Contemplating on it’s features, such as: all-pervading, asanga, ekam, nirvikalpa, akhanda, anantam, etc.
  • Absorption in the 2nd.
• 3 External Meditations (Meditations which use the external world):
  • Object meditation: Observe any object in world, and pay attention to it’s existence aspect. Object-IS, man-IS.
  • Existence Meditation: Dwelling upon features of existence (sat): It’s all pervading, unchanging, nitya, etc.
  • Absorption in the 2nd, “Dwelling upon…”.

Verse 32-46: Summary of whole teaching:

• 3 Jivas:
  • Drshya/Mithya:
    • Ahamkara (Sense organs and mind) obtaining in Dream: Pratibhasika jiva. Compared to bubble.
    • Ahamkara (sense organs and mind) obtaining in Waking: Vyavaharika jiva. Compared to wave.
  • Drk/Satyam:
    • Sakshi: Paramathika-jiva. Compared to water.
• Author says to know pratibhasika & vyavaharika are mithya. Identify with Paramarthika-jiva.
• Bubble/wave depend on water.

Keywords:  

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Course was based on [1] Drig Drishya Viveka book by Swami Tejomayananda [2] Book by Swami Nikhilananda [3] Neema Majmudar.

Recorded 20 Jan, 2024