Brahmanubhuti – Talk 13
(Empirical Experience & Self Experience)
Let us contemplate on the nature of the experience of Brahman.
As I told earlier, there are two types of experiences – experience of the world, or empirical experience, and second is experience of Self realization or Brahman. How are they different? Any experience of the world requires mind, body and intellect. In the experience of the world, there are always three – the experiencer, the experienced, and the process of experiencing; the known, the knower and the knowledge. This means that the experience in the world is indirect, not direct, because there is an intermediary – a filtering mechanism. The eyes, the senses, the mind, and the intellect filter out the information. Our senses are limited – they filter out some information; our mind is limited – it filters out some information; our intellect is limited – it filters out some information.
Any empirical experience in the world is not direct. It is indirect, through sense organs. When I say indirect, it is like somebody wearing glasses. Instead of seeing through the eyes, he has worn glasses. That means there is an intermediate agency, which is called glasses. In the empirical experience or the experience of the world, the mind, body, and intellect become the intermediate. That is not direct. It is indirect. And there is Triputi – the knower, the known and the knowledge.
But for the experience of Brahman or Self realization, there is no Triputi; there is no knower, known or the knowledge. The knower, known and knowledge become knowledge – pure knowledge. In the experience of Brahman, or experience of Self realization, there is no intermediary. That means, it is immediate; and it is direct. There is no mind, no intellect, and no body.
Except for the experience of Brahman which is a direct experience, every other experience in the empirical world is indirect, and also, it is not immediate – there is a gap. When I hear a sound, the sound takes some time to reach my ears. When I see some light, there is a gap between the seeing and understanding. You might have seen thunder and lightning. First, you see the lightning and then hear the thunder; because lightning comes first and thunder comes later. There is a gap in the experience; there is a time delay in the experience. There is an intermediary in the experience of the empirical world.
In Contrast, in Brahmanubhava or Brahmanubhuti or Self realization, there is no intermediary. There is no mediating in this. There is no delay, it is immediate. And there is no effort. For everything else, effort is required.
For everything in the material world, effort is required. If I have to see something, I have to turn my neck. If I have to see a mountain, I have to go near the mountain. There is an effort involved, there is an intermediary involved, and there is time or delay involved. In Brahmanubhuti, there is no effort, because you cannot put an effort. There is no intermediary like mind, body or intellect. And it is immediate; there is no delay.
I will give an example for empirical experience and experience of the Self. You go into a room, a dark room. When I ask ‘Is there a chair in the room?’ You might say, ‘I don’t know, I have to switch on the light.’ You switch on the light and see that there is a chair. There is an effort involved. Only then you can say that the chair is there. In the same dark room, I will ask you another question, ‘Are you there?’ You won’t say, ‘I have to think whether I am there or not,’ or, ‘I have to switch on the light to find out whether I am there or not.’ Your experience of yourself is direct. It is immediate. It doesn’t require any light or any intermediate means, whereas everything else requires effort and an intermediary.
Brahmanubhava or Self realization is direct, without intermediary or anything, and it is effortless. I will give another example. There are ten people trying to cross a river. And, there was a flood in the river. Once they crossed the river, they counted themselves. They found only nine people. Suddenly, the person who was counting starts crying, saying that one person has drowned. Then, he recollects his senses and counts again. This time, he counts himself also. So, Brahmanubhava is recognizing what you already are. Recognizing what you are is recollection of what you are. It is not an effort.
Then the question comes about scriptural teachings and teachings from the Guru. Brahman cannot be known without teachings of Guru and teachings of scriptures. But these teachings are still for the mind and intellect. They are not realizations. They are there to help you understand Brahman in an indirect way, not in a direct way. That is why these are called Paroksha, not Aparoksha, indirect. Indirectly you will know Brahman, but that is not Self realization. If somebody has studied some 100 scriptures and he is well versed in that, does not mean that he is Brahman realized. He has knowledge. This is called Jnana. Brahman realization is not Jnana, it is Prajnana.
What is the difference between Jnana and Prajnana? Jnana, there is a mental understanding. Prajnana is what you are. It is a direct experience. There is no intermediary involved. Prajnana is pure Awareness. So, in the pure Awareness, is there knowledge of the Self? No. The knowledge of the Self can be obtained only when the intellect or Buddhi is there. That is indirectly through books, and that indirect information is there for the Buddhi. But that is ok when Self is associated with the Buddhi because the Self is in the ignorance. To remove ignorance, you need indirect knowledge. But the moment Self dissociates with the intellect, Self doesn’t identify with the intellect, the mind merges with the Self. Then it is a non-dual experience, there is no duality. Is it real experience? It is real experience, there is no duality, it is direct and that is why it is called Aparokshanubhuti. It is immediate, it is effortless. And there is no mind, body, and intellect involved.
Pranams