Brahmanubhuti – Talk 9
(State of Brahmanubhuti)
Let us contemplate on the experience of Brahmanubhuti or realization of Brahman. As we discussed earlier, Brahman is Consciousness. Brahman is bliss, Brahman is existence. Brahman is Sat Chit Ananda. All that is there is Brahman only. There is nothing separate from Brahman. Because there is nothing separate from Brahman, nobody can experience Brahman. Neither Brahman can experience anything because Brahman is all that is there. It is Consciousness, it is Bliss. When you say experience of Brahman, there is no experiencer. Because the subject, object and knowledge merge in Brahman, as everything is Brahman. Now, the question comes, is it possible to have such knowledge? Is it not emptiness, void? And, also, there is no experiencer. Is it possible to have such an experience at all?
For that Sri Shankaracharya gives an example. In deep sleep, there is no experience. The subject, object, experience vanishes in deep sleep. But there is awareness that there is nothing in deep sleep. The awareness continues in deep sleep also. If the awareness was not there, the absence of subject, object, knowledge would not have been known. That means, in deep sleep also awareness continues.
But the problem is, in deep sleep, there is ignorance. Objects are there, but objects have gone into a subtle state. In Samadhi, or Turiya, which is a state similar to deep sleep, but there is no subject or object. It is pure awareness. What is the difference between deep sleep and Turiya or Samadhi? In deep sleep, the subject and object were there, but have gone back to subtle condition, causal condition, or Sukshma Roopa.
Whereas in Samadhi state, subject and object, both are absent. The mind, sense organs and the world disappear. They are not gone to a causal state, because ignorance is removed, they have disappeared. The world is nothing but appearance in Consciousness. The body is nothing but appearance in Consciousness. In Samadhi, the body and the world disappear, not because of ignorance, but because of removal of ignorance. As such you become aware that there is nothing, but this nothing is real. Whereas in deep sleep also there is nothing, but that nothing is out of ignorance. Now, do you understand the difference between Samadhi or Turiya state and deep sleep?
In Turiya also there are no objects, no world, no knowledge, no mind, no sense organs, which is the same thing in deep sleep state also. But, in deep sleep, the world was there, the body was there, the mind was there, but all of them have gone to seed state. In Turiya all of them have disappeared because they were never there at all, it was only Maya, an appearance. So, Turiya is a state of real knowledge and there is awareness. In deep sleep also, you come back and say, there was nothing. In Turiya also, you come and say, there was nothing. But, what is the difference now? In Turiya, you know that there was nothing at all really. All is just appearance. Whereas, in deep sleep, if we come back and say there was nothing, there was nothing during deep sleep, but the world is there, everything is there. Ignorance has not gone. This is the difference. In Turiya, it is not a state of void or emptiness. There is awareness of absence of the world, body and mind, in Turiya.
So, that is the state of Jnana, the state of Brahmanubhuti. Now, can Self know itself? Self doesn’t know itself. Because, if Self knows itself, again it becomes an object and the Subject – Object comes into picture. To give an example: eyes can see everything in the world, it can see all the colors in the world. But, eyes cannot see itself. Eye is the subject. Similarly, the Self can see, become aware, witness all the things in the world, but the Self cannot see itself. Because if the Self sees itself, it becomes an object. It is a state of pure knowledge, pure awareness which you reach in Samadhi. Samadhi and deep sleep, both are similar. Except that, in Samadhi when you wake up, you know that the world was absent, the world was not really there. It is an appearance. Whereas, in deep sleep, when you wake up, the world is still solid and real. In Samadhi, the ignorance is gone.
(How to Attain Turiya State)
Now the question arises, how to attain that state of Turiya? By scriptures you know that all this is Brahman. I see my body, I see the world, and from scriptures I know that Self is nothing but Witness, Sakshi. Within me Self is there as Sakshi. Now I have to understand the world in the right knowledge. World includes the physical world, or the body/mind, which both belong to the world. The Self is nothing but the Consciousness, which is my own Self, Atma.
Can we reduce the world which we see, the body into Sat Chit Ananda, one of these? Sat means existence. Does the chair exist? So, any object in the world, you have to go back to this original form, which is existence. Then you are reducing the object to its essence which is called existence. What is the essence of a chair? Atoms, molecules, energy or existence. The ultimate is existence.
(Sat – Existence – The basis of every object)
The chair has a form, but the basic of anything in the world is existence. The basic of me is “I am”ness, which is nothing but Consciousness. Sat means existence, what is there everywhere. Whatever you see, there is existence. Can you see anything that is non-existent? Existence is the foundation of everything. So, any object you see, you should go back to the basis of that, which is existence. Your body also, you have to go back to its basis, which is existence.
As you meditate, and your mind becomes subtle and subtle, you will experience the body as vibration, which is energy. You will experience the body as the light particles. Or you will experience the body as the sound. These are the 3 basic roots of existence of your body. When you experience the body like that, you will experience the world also like that, which is vibration, the energy, as light and as subtle sound which is Omkara.
(Watch everything in its basic form)
You have to start looking at the world in basic form. The most basic form of the world is existence. The most manifest form of the world is light, which is light particles, vibration and sound. So, as you do that, your experience of all this is God, all this is Consciousness, all this is Brahman becomes more and more deeper.
Now what you have to do is to learn to reduce yourself into Consciousness which is Sakshi. Your body, mind and the world, you have to learn to reduce to the basic form which is called existence. The chair exists, the table exists, the fan exists. Existence in the most subtle form, the light, sound and vibration. So, the entire process of meditation is to go back from the gross form to the subtle form, to the subtlest form, to the basic, which is existence. In me existence is Consciousness, Sakshi. In the world, the existence is Sat or the presence. So, in meditation, you have to reduce everything to the basic form. When you reduce to the basic form, the entire world goes back to Sat Chit Ananda. Then you will attain the Turiya state.
Pranams