Summary:

Atma Bodha, Verse 17: Though all-pervading, Atma manifests clearly only in a purified buddhi (intellect), which serves as upalabdhi-sthanam (place of recognition). Atma is self-evident (svataḥ-siddha) and directly known (aparoksha-jnanam), but gets mixed up with objects evident to it. Vedanta helps separate the self-evident “I am” from what is merely evident to it.

Atma Bodha, Verse 18-19: Atma is distinct from body, senses, mind, and intellect, witnessing their functions while remaining uninvolved. Awareness and thoughts have a satya-mithya relationship – Awareness pervades every thought while remaining free from it. The “I-sense” (sakshi/knower) is also a thought whose content is Awareness. For the non-discriminating, Atma appears active when sense organs function, like the moon seems to move with passing clouds.

Atma Bodha, Verse 20: Body, senses, mind, and intellect depend on Atma (Consciousness) for their functioning, just as people depend on sunlight for activity. While initially the world (drsya) seems to depend on body-mind (drk), ultimately both world and body-mind are seen as drsya (objects) known to Awareness (Drk), which remains uninvolved yet essential for all activity.

Verse 17: Atma manifests in the buddhi  ^{(pratibimba-vada prakriya)}

सदा सर्वगतः अपि आत्मा न सर्वत्र अवभासते ।
बुद्धौ एव अवभासेत स्वच्छेषु प्रतिबिम्बवत् ॥
sadā sarvagataḥ api ātmā na sarvatra avabhāsate |
buddhau eva avabhāseta svaccheṣu pratibimbavat ||

Even though the self is always all-pervading, it does not shine everywhere; it manifests in the buddhi only just as the reflection (manifests) in a clear surface of mirror.

Atma reveals itself as-is in the buddhi (intellect)

Atma is all pervading, but it only reveals itself exactly as it is in a purified intellect, also called Upalabdhi-sthanam (place of cognition/recognition). Just how government operates throughout, but is most directly encountered at headquarters.

Meaning Awareness always obtains in the buddhi, and that buddhi has to figure out “That which lights up these thoughts is Awareness which will remains after this inquiry is finished”.

Metaphor of space compared to Atma:

For a while, seems like bottle space is inside the bottle, and enclosed by it, and affected by the contents of the water. Space has to figure out it’s never confined by bottle, nor affected by water. So “within the bottle” is upalabdhi-sthanam. Finally, space inside the bottle has to figure out it’s actually all pervasive space and accommodates every bottle.

Similarly, after figure out Awareness isn’t confined to the intellect, next step is to recognize it’s an all-pervasive Awareness.

How is Awareness all pervasive? Because Intelligence is all pervasive, and truth of Intelligence (Ishvara) is Awareness.

Atma is self-evident (svataḥ-siddha):

All pervasive Atma is always known as self-evident I, in whom objects (both external and internal states of mind) become evident.

Problem: That which is self-evident (which is always aparoksha-jnanam; directly known) becomes mixed up with what is evident to Self.

Solution: Vedanta takes away what is not “I am”, from “I am” – using Pramana. Furthermore if “I am” wasn’t already available, then Vedanta would become a belief.   

Verse 18: Atman is distinct from body, senses, mind

देह इन्द्रिय मनः बुद्धि प्रकृतिभ्यः विलक्षणम् ।
तद्वृत्ति साक्षिणम् विद्यात् आत्मानम् राजवत् सदा ॥
deha indriya manaḥ buddhi prakṛtibhyaḥ vilakṣaṇam |
tadvṛtti sākṣiṇam vidyāt ātmānam rājavat sadā ||

May you know the self to be distinct from the body, senses, mind and intellect instruments; (may you know the self to be) the witness ^{[ahamkara whose content/truth is Awareness]} of their function, always, like the king (is the witness of the functions of all people around him).

Introduction:

King, like Awareness, isn’t doing anything, while in his presence everything is accomplished. Limitation of example is that king is an object and distinct from everyone else. While Awareness is satya-mithya with everything.

What does it mean it to say “Awareness is satya-mithya with everything”?

Thoughts:

Your mind is constantly creating corresponding images or thought-forms. Mind is shaping itself like plasticine. 

Awareness is as-though enveloped in a thought-form. EG: Clay is as-though enveloped in pot-form. So relationship between Awareness and thought-form is like of pot and clay. The clay (awareness) is always true and known to you as non-negatable Awareness.

Meaning, Awareness pervades every thought, and is free from every thought. Thus when thought moves from pot to tree, Awareness is freshly available in each thought, without carrying over past thought-form onto next thought-form. Because Awareness is free from each thought, each moment Awareness can as-though assume shape of the next thought.

I-sense (I-related-thoughts):

In the mind, there is a an I-sense that says “I understand/know this thought”.

Awareness is also the content of any though related to “I” (sakshi / knower of pot or concerns). So even saying “I am the sakshi (witness)” — Awareness is also the content of that thought.

Recap of Awareness and Sakshi / Thoughts:

When see external pot, two operations are going on in mind:

1. 1. One vrtti says “This is pot”. Awareness is the content of the external pot, but also the pot-vrtti.
   2. Another vrtti (called sakshi / knower / pramata / ahamkara / reflected consciousness / cidabhasa) says, “I am seeing the pot / I am eating / I am knowing”. Awareness is the content of the sakshi also.

Thus don’t say “Awareness is the seer (sakshi) of the mind”, as often heard. Rather:

Awareness and sakshi enjoy a satya-mithya relationship. Awareness is the content of the seer (sakshi). Without presence of Awareness – neither pot-vrtti nor knower-vrtti can take place.

Don’t  attribute act of seeing onto Awareness because seeing/hearing/knowing/witnessing belong to functions of the mind.

Verse 19: Ātmā appears active due to senses

व्यापृतेषु इन्द्रियेषु आत्मा व्यापारी इव अविवेकिनाम् ।
दृश्यते अभ्रेषु धावत्सु धावन् इव यथा शशी ॥
vyāpṛteṣu indriyeṣu ātmā vyāpārī iva avivekinām |
dṛśyate abhreṣu dhāvatsu dhāvan iva yathā śaśī ||

When the sense organs are active, ātma appears to be active for the non-discriminating people; just like when the clouds move in the sky, it seems as though the moon is moving.

Moon appears to move when clouds pass infront of it. Similarly, what’s moving is I-related thoughts, senses and body, and we erroneously accept that as “I am moving”. Akin to the illusion experienced when one train appears to move while another remains stationary, or when we say a city like Melbourne “comes” to us as we travel towards it.

Limitation of example: Moon/clouds are two different things and they’re objects. Whereas relationship with sakshi (witness/knower) and Atma is satya-mithya.

Verse 20: Body, mind, and senses depend on Atma

आत्म चैतन्यम् आश्रित्य देह इन्द्रिय मनः धियः ।
स्व क्रिया अर्थेषु वर्तन्ते सूर्य आलोकम् यथा जनाः ॥
ātma caitanyam āśritya deha indriya manaḥ dhiyaḥ |
sva kriyā artheṣu vartante sūrya ālokam yathā janāḥ ||

Depending upon (the presence of) the self, whose nature is consciousness (and existence) – the body, mind, senses and intellect remain engaged in their respective activities, just as light of the sun (gives life and support the activity of all) people.

Before and After:

• Before: Entire jagat (Tree/sun/etc) = drsya. And body-mind is Drk. Thus some erroneously claim, “World depends upon Me [body-mind]”.
• After: Body-mind, condition of senses – is also drsya. And Drk is Awareness.

Without sun, plant growth is impossible, while sun doesn’t get involved in any activity. Similarly, none of body-mind activities are possible without Awareness, while Awareness is unaffected by what it awares, and uninvolved. Or electricity powers the appliance. What appliance does and how it does it, depends on nature of the appliance and not electricity.

Limitation of example: There is distance between sun and objects. While no distance between Awareness and everything else.

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Recorded 11 Jan, 2025