Just In
- 6 hrs ago Backless Dress: 7 Tips For Choosing Perfect Bra For Backless Outfits And Turn Heads Wherever You Go
- 15 hrs ago Summer Style: 6 Must-Try Colors To Stay Fashionably Cool Like B-Town Divas!
- 17 hrs ago Belgian Man Cleared Of Drunk Driving Because His Body Produces Alcohol Due To A Rare Condition
- 18 hrs ago Amitabh Bachchan's Youthful Avatar In Kalki 2898 AD Is Impressive, Check Actors Who Sported Digital De-Aging!
Don't Miss
- Education JEE Main Result 2024 Out, Telangana's 15 Toppers Shine, Check Statewise List of 56 Candidates with Perfect 100
- Sports Who Won Yesterday's IPL Match 40? DC vs GT, IPL 2024 on April 24: Delhi Capitals Clinch High-Scoring Thriller At Kotla
- News Mangalsutra Row: Did Indira Gandhi Donate Gold During The 1962 War? The Facts Behind Priyanka's Claim
- Movies Kota Factory 3 OTT Release Date, Platform: When Will Jitendra Kumar's Web Series Premiere On Netflix?
- Travel Escape to Kalimpong, Gangtok, and Darjeeling with IRCTC's Tour Package; Check Itinerary
- Finance DCB Bank Q4 Results: PAT Grew 9% To Rs 156 Cr, NII Jumps 4.5%; Dividend Declared
- Technology OPPO Find X7 Ultra Camera Deep-Dive: Pushing the Boundaries of Photography on a Smartphone
- Automobiles Aston Martin Vantage Launched In India At Rs 3.99 Crore
The Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Seer And The Seen-II
In our ignorance, however, we identify ourselves with the 'seen'. The Gita denounces our mistake as follows: 'All actions are only accomplished by the gunas, the qualities of Nature, Prakriti. He who is deceived by egotism thinks, "It is me who acts".' (Gita, 3.27) This initial error is developed in us as soon as we come into contact with the world and interpret this contact as 'ours'. In this way the 'I' arrogates all sensory and mental processes to itself.
The error of arrogating all sensory and mental processes to itself will be exposed by a serious analysis of the nature of an experience that we may have had, and of which I will give an example: I am in the Bay of Mont St. Michel and, one evening, I am walking along the immense beach, admiring the sun which is setting in the sea. At some distance the Mont St. Michel rises up before me, and my attention is successively going to the sound of the waves coming to die down at my feet, to the beauty of the sky, and to the mist gathering around the spire of the abbey. I'm afraid to venture on the quicksands, and I am experiencing a thousand other sensations. Of this 'seen' I am the 'seer'... until the moment when I wake up: Everything that I had thought to be real was only a dream!
What lesson can we draw from this experience? To the ego of the waking state it is clear that all beings and objects of the dream were unreal. However much the ego of the dream—the sailor that I then was—looked upon itself as the 'seer', in reality it was part of the 'seen' in the same quality as all the objects perceived and all the sensations experienced. The 'seen' and the 'seer' of the dream state are both simultaneously the 'seen' to the 'seer' of the waking state. Can we apply this conclusion to the objects and sensations of the waking state as well?
The Mandukya Karika (II, 4) assures us that, by the very fact that these objects and sensations are perceived in the sensate world, they are unreal. And, in fact, if the ego of the waking state would examine without bias what its nature would be, it would realize that its various states, its various aspects, belong to the 'seen'. It would realize its unity with the whole of beings and objects perceived.
In
this
respect
the
dream
experience
is
significant:
On
waking
up
the
dream
appears
as
a
non-dual
whole.
In
the
series
of
objects
of
consciousness—the
sound
of
the
waves,
the
sky
and
the
Mont
St.
Michel—the
consciousness
was
not
centred
in
me,
the
sailor,
for
nature
and
me
formed
but
one
integral
whole.
To
think
that
I,
the
sailor,
was
looking
at
the
Mont
St.
Michel,
would
be
as
inaccurate,
as
absurd,
as
to
think
that
the
Mont
St.
Michel
was
looking
at
the
sailor!
Nature,
prakriti,
is
one
undivided
whole.
It
is
through
ignorance,
ajnana,
that
the
consciousness
is
being
claimed
for
oneself,
thereby
opposing
oneself
to
the
'unconscious'
objects.
In fact, on waking up the 'I' of the dream appears to have had no more consistency than the objects which it believed to know. So with what right and with what logic would you attribute consciousness to this 'I'? As to the consciousness itself, neither the dream nor the waking state altered it; it does not become unreal on waking up, it only changes its expression. If the consciousness of Existence in the dream would prove to be unreal, then how could it reappear in the waking state? The consciousness of Being is Existence which never becomes non-existent.
About the author
Swami Siddheswarananda (1897-1957) was a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and for twenty years until his death, the spiritual head of the Centre Vedantique Ramakrichna at Gretz, France. This commentary of the learned Swami on the various themes of the Gita was orginally published in French in the 'Bulletin of the Centre Vedantique' during 1955-57. This article is the fifth instalment of a series of about a dozen articles, each independent in itself. English translation and editing was done by Mr. Andre van den Brink.
Chat With The Devotees Of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
- ramana maharshiHolistic Meditation-Part VII
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Seer And The Seen-III
- ramana maharshiNo One Bathes In The Same River Twice-Part I
- sri ramakrishnaThe Story of Prajapati And Its Meaning (Understanding the 'Three States)
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Seer And The Seen-V
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Seer And The Seen-IV
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Seer And The Seen
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Non-Manifested IV
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Non-Manifested III
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Non-Manifested II
- sri ramakrishnaThe Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Non-Manifested-I
- yoga spiritualityGita Jayanti 2023: Wishes, Greetings, Texts, Messages, WhatsApp And Facebook Status