Journey towards atma gnana
or Inner Realization starts with questions such as “Who am I?” (Ramana
Maharishi), “Vignatharam kena
vijaniyat?” (Through what should one know the knower?), “yenedam sarvam
vijanathitam kena vijaniyat?” (Through what should one know That by which
all this is known?) (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) and statements such as “tat
brhmanishkalam aham na butha sangha” (I am that blemishless Brahman and not
this aggregate of elements) (Adi Sankara).
Do these questions suggest that there is a transcendental
state of Awareness (with a capital A) beyond the state of wakefulness in which
there is awareness of division of knower, knowledge and the known? In other
words, for me to know something and be aware of it, for me to know my three
states of wakefulness, dream, and sleep, for me to know that I know somethings
and do not know about some other things, for me to know that I know something
now but not before, does a different state of reference exist? Is it necessary
to suggest or imagine that there is a
state other than what we know and experience?
If so, how is it that pigeons are known to remember their
original home and will take the same path to get there even after 3 or 4 years?
Obviously, the bird remembered the home and the path. This was imbedded into
that specific bird so that it knew the path and the home as its own knowledge.
It was (is capable of) awareness of this meta-awareness, in which it knew its
own knowledge, meaning “I”, the home and the memory of knowledge of the path. The
pigeon had a “patterned memory” and awareness of that memory which it could
access. The only difference is that the pigeon does not have “language memory”
and ability to express it. We, humans, have ability to store “verbal memory”
and ability to express.
That language ability and our ability to imagine can also
trick us into believing that there is (must be) a different state, beyond this
state of awareness and motivate us to reach that state. Is this not what we are
asked to do in meditation?
If we conclude that there is a state different from our
current awareness which is above and beyond our meta-awareness ( which is
awareness of awareness), are we not perpetuating the concepts of dualities and
multiplicities? Are we not trying to reach that Unity through duality which we
say is not true and that it is maya? In addition, if we take the
position of the transcendentalist, even at this level of knower of the knower
of the knower ad infinitum, how can there be a knower without the known?
Is it not possible that an alternate answer is available? That
is to say that meditation is not about the One which is beyond all dualities
and multiplicities but realizing that everything we see, and experience are
interconnected and inter-dependent. In this universe we live in, the knower,
the known and the knowledge make just One Unit. One cannot be without the
others. When one of them is, the other two are. Even birds and animals
intuitively experience this reality but do not have the ability to express it.
This is what Buddha said, I think.
Put it differently, in the macro world (stula sarira)
which is visible to us, we are made of elements such as earth, water, fire, air
and space or basic elements such as hydrogen, oxygen etc., depending on one’s
point of view. In Sanskrit these elements are called bhutas. Therefore,
the universe is considered to be made of panca (five) bhutas. Interestingly,
the word for the universe is prapancam. In Tamizh, the word moolam stands
for the elements. Therefore, the Primordial Force, the root of all these roots is
called adimoolam.
In the micro world or subtle world (sukshma sarira)
(with our current knowledge base, we should call this the quantum world), the
primordial elements are matter, energy, information, space and time. This is my
personal view, as I have written earlier.
This approach is compatible with modern scientific
viewpoint. I have always thought that matter, energy, information, space, and
time are inter-dependent fundamental units of nature. When we go back to the
origins of the universe, whether it is the matter of which we are composed or
the awareness of awareness of awareness ad infinitum, it appears that
the original, Primordial Force has to be a composite of more than one of
the five units of nature listed above and not something separate and apart from
these units.
In addition, this point of view (darshana) takes me
away from reflecting on a transcendental state, different and overarching this
reality state, but on this current state of immanent reality, focusing on the
here and the now. I can see clearly that I (me) the knower, object of awareness
and the process of knowing are ONE. That composite is the Atman and the
Brahman, the Primordial One. It makes me see the transcendent in the immanent
and gets me engaged in this world. It makes me see the interconnections between
all subjects and objects and makes me more open-minded, tolerant, and
compassionate. This point of view makes me spiritual.
This approach is easily available to everyone. We do not
have to chase dualities and multiplicities as different and above and beyond
the One. This composite One is the single intertwined, inter-dependent,
immanent reality. It is here and available now. It is atma gnana, the kingdom
of heaven on earth, moksha while alive (jivan mukti).
As Rev. Thich Naht
Hanh used to say, the knower, the knowledge and the known “Inter-are”. Body,
Mind, and Awareness “inter-are”. Matter, energy, information, space, and time
“inter-are”. When one of them is there, so are the others. There is nothing
else different and separate from this composite one.
Whatever method we use to understand the origin of this
cosmos and by whatever name we call it – “all-in-one”, “transcendent”, “immanent”,
“illusory”, “sunyata” , the Primordial Force - it is still a mystery.
