Swami discussed more from the 13th chapter, 2nd shloka. This part has an extensive commentary by Sri Shankaracharya. The shloka is; ‘know Me to be the knower in all fields, Arjuna! That knowledge which is of the field and the knower of the field I consider true knowledge.’

Here, the purva paksha asks, ‘so is there ‘samsaritvam’ (subjection to samsara) for the jiva (the knower of the field)?’

Shankara replies, ‘no. This is because the nature of Avidya, or ignorance, is of tamas, darkness. Because of that Avidya, comes the three-fold defects of ignorance, wrong perception, and doubts. When the light of discrimination comes, all these dissapear.

For example, when the instrument of the eye cannot see properly because of darkness, that is not a quality of the knower, but of the eye. There, a person may not know something, may mistake something for something else, or may have a doubt as to what something is. If these defects were a quality of the knower, then they should continue at all times. However, when the darkness is removed, the defect of improper seeing is also removed. So, that defect of seeing incorrectly belongs to the eye, not the knower.

In the same way, the defects of ignorance, wrong perception, and doubt all belong to the instruments, such as the mind and intellect, and not to the knower. Because these are an object of knowledge, they are separate from the knower.

For these to be a ‘quality,’ or ‘dharma’ of the knower, they should never be separate from the knower, like fire and heat. It isn’t possible to think of fire without its heat. These two are inseparable, therefore, heat is a quality of fire. However, all philosophies (darshanas) agree that Liberation is a state separate from the instruments of body, mind, and intellect. Therefore, the ignorance that causes samsara doesn’t belong to the knower, the inner Self.

Then the purva paksha asks, ‘then if there is no samsara for the jiva, won’t the scriptures become meaningless?’

Shankara says, ‘that is not a subject, because the meaningless of the scriptures is a defect that doesn’t just affect Advaita. That is a problem of your philosophy also, so that is not any special point. (Actually, Shankara says that the scriptures and Guru are meaningful, but to show that the questioner’s question is meaningless, this is said). In other darshanas, bondage and liberation are accepted as real. However, due your accept these two states of the soul as happening in progression, or at once? If it is in progression, then Liberation will be something produced. The logic is that anything produced will be destroyed; ‘yat kritakam tat anityam.’

On the other hand, if you accept that they happen at once, then that would be a contradiction, like saying a person walks and sits at the same time. Therefore, Advaita accepts that bondage and Liberation are ultimately not real, and super-imposed on the pure Self. Therefore, in truth, the jiva, or individual soul, has neither bondage nor Liberation.

Piyush,
July 21, 2007