Summary:

The process of gaining self-knowledge involves Drg-Drsya-Viveka (Seer-Seen discrimination). Just as eyes see bottle without becoming the bottle, and mind sees eyes without taking on eye conditions, Awareness is the ultimate Seer of the mind without becoming the mind. The mind includes manas (emotions), buddhi (decisions), citta (memory), and ahaṃkāra (I-sense). Knowledge takes place through two processes: vrtti-vyapti (creation of thought/mental-image) and phala-vyapti (cognition for the fist time). For knowledge to be valid, the mind's vrttis must accurately align with what's being taught, otherwise attribution errors occur (like wanting the mind to be limitless instead of recognizing Awareness as limitless).

Verse 5: Knowledge purifies the jīva

अज्ञानकलुषम् जीवम् ज्ञानाभ्यासात् विनिर्मलम् ।
कृत्वा ज्ञानम् स्वयम् नश्येत् जलम् कतकरेणुवत् ॥
ajñānakaluṣam jīvam jñānābhyāsāt vinirmalam |
kṛtvā jñānam svayam naśyet jalam katakarẹṇuvat ||

Polluted due to ignorance, jīva, the limited self is purified by constant practice of knowledge. Once knowledge is gained, it (vṛtti jñānaṃ) itself is destroyed like the soapnut powder settles with the dirt at the bottom of water.

SEER-SEEN DISCRIMINATIVE ENQUIRY:

How to use mind to come to it’s own truth?

You have mind and senses to know the world. But if want to understand truth of mind, this process doesn’t help. Thus need pramana to show Atma to the mind. Once get it, mind has done it’s job.

Drg-Drsya-Viveka Prakriya:  (Discrimination between Seer and What-is-seen)

Eyes/bottle: Your eyes see a bottle. Seer is eyes. Seen is bottle. If bottle is blue, does eye become blue? No. Thus whatever characteristics of seen, the seer doesn’t take on. Instead, if bottle changes to blue then green, the Seer remains independent of the Seen.

Mind/eyes: Eyes themselves can’t do job without intervention of mind. Mind becomes Seen. And senses becomes Seen. Eye itself can close/open or vision diminishes, mind sees it’s conditions without becoming affected. Mind doesn’t take on cataract.

Mind/You: Mind itself is series of thoughts. And many thoughts are not thought of. So you are here, and thoughts yet to come are not here. Thus mind becomes seen. EG: Suppose you get thought of lunch, is the thought YOU or thought is seen by YOU? Seen by You. Mistake we make is take mind as final Seer.  In reality: Before thought came, are you present or not? Yes. While thought comes, I’m present. Some thoughts are yet to come, are you present or not? Yes.  Thus seer is Atma (whose nature is Awareness).

Who is doing this enquiry? And mind isn’t thinking this on it’s own, but using Pramana to figure something out about itself, that it’s not the final Seer.

What is relationship between Awareness and Mind? Seen-Seer. Logic applies from eye/bottle, to mind/eyes, to mind/awareness.

Caution:

1. 1. Because person is so accustomed to the Mind, whatever Vedanta says, you want it to apply to level of Mind. EG: Atma is limitless, so I want mind to feel limitless.  Whereas, when shastra uses word “Awareness”, it’s not using characteristic of mind, but reality which isn’t connected to mind. Awareness enables the mind to experience, know and observe.
   2. We’re not manipulating mind to feel limitless, but using Mind to figure out relationship between Mind and Awareness (which is independent of the mind).

About Mind (to help refine distinction between Mind and Atma):

Suppose you see a crying child. What is involved?

1. Manas (emotions): Feel empathy and doubt whether to help or not.
2. Buddhi: Decide what to do, asses whether it’s safe to help.
3. Citta: What happened last time I helped?
   • Conscious memory: Things you can remember.
   • Unconscious memory: Forgotten childhood conditioning guiding responses.
4. Ahamkara: I-sense gets loaded with empathy/decision/memory.
   • Common mistake: I am observer, I am experiencer, and all these (Manas/Buddhi/Citta) are experienced. So a distance gets created between Ahamkara (observer/knower/pramata) and Manas/Buddhi/Citta.
   • Before Vedanta: We say “I am sad”.
   • After Vedanta (with WRONG understanding):
     • We say, “I (ahamkara) am observing/objectifying sadness (manas)”. Or the the commonly heard question in the spiritual world, “Whose observing the thought?”. This language shows one’s “I” is still in the ahamkara. It’s only a provisional technique (often employed in psychology like ACT, DBT, Power of Now) to create space between Ahamkara and Painful thoughts.
     • Fact is, you need the ahamkara (kartā) to function: Using ahamkara (“I am doing”) doesn’t reinforce ignorance. Because ahamkara is necessary to recognize what makes it objectify thoughts/sensations/memories is Awareness. You’re not eliminating ahamkara (kartā), only understanding that it’s in the mind. While akartā (Awareness) is lighting up the kartā, enabling it to objectify thoughts.
   • Correction: We’re not trying to create distance. Distance is job of psychologist, and in some guided meditations. If stay in psychological framework, and think Ahamkara/Subject/Doer is the limitless Atma, you’re still at level of mind.

Conclusion: Can’t stop any of the mind functions, only improve their functions such as reducing stories and biases, so it can relate to this knowledge.

HOW KNOWLEDGE TAKES PLACE IN THE MIND:

You have to use your mind to get to the final building block of everything which is Awareness (which is independent of the mind). Mind gets to Awareness through a means of knowledge. Meaning the teachings that point to Awareness, have to be accurately recreated in mind for the mind to “capture” Awareness as it is.

Intro:

• • Process of Knowing Is Called: vrtti-jnanam (meaning thoughts are keeping with the object). EG: When you see a pen, your eyes receive the signal and send it to the mind. The mind then creates a vṛtti (thought) that takes the form of the pen. If you then see a flower, the mind destroys the pen-vṛtti and replaces it with a flower-vṛtti.

Detailed: Understanding Anything (including Vedanta) Takes Place Through 2 Processes:

1. 1. Vrtti-vyapti (the creation of the thought/mental-image representing the object):
      1. Definition: When we perceive an object, the mind creates a vṛtti (mental modification) that represents it.
      2. Mechanism: While listening to a topic, mind is creating corresponding thoughts. Leads to growing clarity as thoughts are more aligned with what is intended to be communicated.
      3. Growing clarity lead to:
         • Wrong attributions reduced.
         • Thought-process put in order (EG: I’m away from Ishvara > I’m one of manifestations of Ishvara).
         • Alignment with Intended Meaning: The vṛttis in the mind become more aligned with what is intended to be conveyed.
         • Example Showing Growing Clarity Culminating to Total Knowledge: A person sees a snake in place of a rope, due to never having seen the rope in it’s true light before. Then uses correct knowledge (vrittis) to recognize it's actually a rope, and once the rope is clearly seen, not only does the snake go, but even that corrective knowledge is no longer needed.
      4. If Don’t Capture Correctly, then Attribution Error:
         1. Reference to World:
            • While listening to Math class, everyone feels they’ve learned. Until exam comes. Then knowledge of math is truly revealed.
            • Remember, definition of “knowledge” is Vastu-tantra. For example knowledge of pen depends on pen, and not my preferences what I want “pen” to mean for me.
         2. Reference to Atma:
            • Atma is free from sorrow. But you attribute Atma to mind, thus want mind to be free from sorrow.
            • BG CH4.16: Kim karma kim akarma iti [“What is action? What is inaction? Even wise are deluded”]: Shows even those we consider wise, interpret wrongly owning to incomplete vrtti-jnanam. They say, “By doing less action, you get closer to actionless-ness”. Correction: No matter how active you are, Atma always remains actionless.  At same time, need action to be in world to recognize mind’s distortions which prevent recognizing there’s something pervading the mind that’s actionless.
   2. Phala-vyapti (understanding or first time cognition of object’s nature takes place / It becomes “mine”):
      • Moment we go “Aha!”, as in “Aha! For the first time, this object is known to me”.
      • As result of image created (vrtti-vyapti), it gives recognition/understanding of pen, thus removes ignorance of “pen”.
      • Understanding takes place in degrees. It’s not all at once.

Vrtti-Vyapti and Phala-Vyapti Relationship:

1. 1. World Object:
      • When you see a pen, your eyes send the signal to the mind, which creates a pen-vṛtti. This is vṛtti-vyāpti. As a result, you recognize the pen and understand its nature, removing any ignorance about the pen. This is phala-vyāpti.
        1. Vṛtti-Vyāpti: Your eyes perceive the pen, and the mind creates a pen-vṛtti.
        2. Phala-Vyāpti: “This is a pen” cognition occurs. Thereby removing any ignorance about the pen.
   2. Moksha (Liberation):
      • Only vṛtti-vyāpti is involved, not phala-vyāpti. Because Awareness is not created or cognized for the first time ever. It was always present, except you mistook it as states of mind.
      • Mind creates a thought (vṛtti) that represents the true nature of Self. Essentially it removes ignorance about Self.
      • Phala-vyapti is not required, because Awareness is not something to be recognized for the first time, as in case of pen. It’s already available.
      • More in next session…

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Recorded 9 Jan, 2025