Shloka:
viśvo hi sthūlabhuṅnityaṃ taijasaḥ praviviktabhuk
ānandabhuk tathā prājñastridhā bhogaṃ nibodhata
Mandukya Karika Shloka 3:
Only the same self, which is sakshi, experiences in all three states. In waking state, it experiences the gross objects. In dream state, it experiences the subtle objects. In deep sleep, it enjoys the bliss. The same self is called by 3 names: Vishwa, Taijasaḥ and Pragna.
In the waking state, there is an identification with the body. When there is an identification with the body, ‘I am the body’ feeling is there. This identification is the ego. The reality or the sakshi is same. The name is given to the sakshi and not for the ego. Ego is what we confused ourselves to be. There is no reality for the ego. It is only for sakshi that 3 different names are given. There is no change in sakshi at all.
In Vishwa state, it experiences the gross world. In Taijasaḥ state, it experiences the subtle world and in pragna state, it experiences Ananda or bliss. The Ananda which is experienced is not the same as atmananda or brahmananda. It is the reflected consciousness in the anandamaya kosha. It is different from the original.
Reflected consciousness changes but the original consciousness, the nature of the self which is bliss is not the one which is experienced. But it is the closest since the mind is silent. There is a reflection of Ananda in the mind.
So, with all these three states, we are explaining only for the sakshi by 3 different names. There is no other coming into picture. Atma alone is there. You are that Atma. The confusion is there that ‘I am the body’ is actually an illusion. It is not a reality.
Why is it an illusion? Because you don’t change at all. In dream state, deep sleep state, waking state, yesterday, day before yesterday, one month after, the ‘I’ never changes. The unchanging ‘I’ is you. The changing is the ego. The confusion is between changing and unchanging. If you see a little carefully, you are the only unchanging ‘I’ and not the changing ego. The unchanging ‘I’ being the same in all the states, the sakshi, which is brahman is you.
And if you re the under the impression that this unchanging ‘I’ will drop one day and ‘I’ will be there. Some magic will happen where this unchanging ‘I’ will go missing and ignorance will go. It is not that. The moment you recognize the unchanging ‘I’, the changing ‘I’ is gone. The attention shifted to unchanging ‘I’.
When you see the table, your attention is present on the table. The moment you look elsewhere, your attention shifts another object. The attention is here. The table is gone. The moment you shift your attention to unchanging ‘I’, the changing ‘I’ attention is gone. The ego is gone. So, the whole purpose of this Upanishad is to shift your attention to unchanging ‘I’. That is all there is.
Then you say some magic has to happen or you want to experience something. There is nothing you have to experience. Atma is not a new experience at all. If somebody says they have Atma Jnana experience, it is false. Atma is not an experience.
Then what is it? Atma Jnana or Brahma Jnana is a knowledge. It is cognitive shift. Atma is not an experience. If you say, “Oh! Someone had Brahma jnana and had some brilliant experience”. No! Brahma jnana is the clarity which is there. A cognitive shift is there that I am the unchanging ‘I’. The moment the cognitive shift is there, the attention goes from changing ‘I’ to unchanging ‘I’.
So, if you are waiting for a day for some wonderful experience called Brahma jnana will happen to you, this day will not come. Because Atma can never be an experience. Atma is the seer. So, your attention has to go from the seen to the seer. That’s all. It is a cognitive shift. It is not a new experience.
Q: Once it goes to the seer, will it come back, or will it not come back?
A: Example for this is: You see water, ocean and a wave. Wave has a name and form. So, to recognize that water is in the wave, what do you have to do? To recognize that the water is appearing as a wave, what do you have to do? Do you have to stop the wave? We just know that the water is appearing as a wave. The knowledge. The is no necessity to stop the wave. It is a knowing.
Now, if you again look at the wave, will you confuse it as wave or water? The wave is changing but the water is not changing right? The ‘I’ has never changed. Did ‘I’ ever change? 10 years back? 20 years back? This unchanging substance is ‘I’. The changing substance is called ego. The changing this is called ego. Anything that changes does not have substantial reality. Wave has only reality called water. Similarly, the changing ego has only reality called unchanging ‘I’. That is what is ‘I am’. This is my experience. This is my everyday experience. ‘I’ never changes. But the ego keeps changing.
When I divert my attention to the real ‘I’, the changing ‘I’ disappears. Again, you come back, the changing ‘I’ appears, when you see the world. Now, is there any substance in the changing ‘I’? Earlier you thought the changing ‘I’ is the only reality. Now there is no reality. The underlying reality is real ‘I’ only.
Q: So, you are there in both?
A: No! There is no both. The changing has no reality at all. Like when the fan starts rotating, it appears like a wheel or circle. Your problem is not what you see. Your problem is what you think you are. The problem is I think I am the body. This is because you never gave thought to the real ‘I’. Once you give a thought to the real ‘I’, and go back to that, your identity has shifted from the changing to unchanging.
The changing has no substance at all. The fan appears to be like a circle when rotating. There is no actual circle at all. Please understand, Atma Jnana, people are trying to get an experience of Atma Jnana. Atma Jnana is not an experience. Atma is present in all the states: Waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Recognition of what is there in all 3 states is Atma Jnana. It is jnana and not an Anubhava [experience]. It is knowing. It is not an experience like I ate sugar, and it was sweet. This experience is from the mind. Whatever experience you have can keep changing. It comes and goes.
Pranams
References:
Mandukya Karika_Eng_T3(Shloka 3- Sakshi Alone in all 3 states)_17Nov2018