Fourth Cliché – vakhyam: Bhashyam contd…
The fourth Cliché –Vakhyam goes like this:
There is no point in pursuing knowledge; “you are”
Before I get to this, let me digress a bit and recall what Naresh and Arun had commented on my article “Finery in narration- latent pitfalls” (page 381- 384 of the book) which was quoted by me as references in the bhashyams of the earlier pieces. I feel that they are relevant. These are excerpts of what they said:
Naresh :
The way to understand a simple message is to realize that we are in a complicated state of mind, which we need to un-complicate.
Arun:
The Bharadwaja, and Dhurvasa anecdotes are interesting and drive home a nice point. Book knowledge by itself cannot take you so far, and must be supplemented with real action – regular practice of nitya karma, or contemplation, or chanting or whatever else.
I have re-christened the Collage of clichés as Vakhyams, as my brother Narasimhan sees them as being far ahead of clichés, and I am too flattered to ignore his suggestion.
The need to (a) un-complicate our complicated state of mind , and (b) supplement book knowledge etc, both seem to suggest that these Vakhyams, followed by these bhashyams have taken off from those comments. The fact however, is that, the apparent co-relation is merely a coincidence. This makes me happy & content as I am increasingly getting convinced that Vakhyam/Bhashyam are indeed inspired by Providence.
Now let me come to the fourth Vakhyam: Once again I feel a need /urge to get back to the third as it is not only important to say what is triggered in my mind, but I feel that this will then provide a seamless link to the fourth Vakhyam/Bhashyam. Just bear with me for a few more minutes. I promise that the relevance will be revealing.
In my Bhashyam of the third, when I say “delve within”, ridding scholarship, desires etc (which are “without”) there is this emphasis on the following theme:
“When I delve within, I will soon realize that me (the seeker in that dharma/brahma jignyaasaa), the “self” rid of both my ego (scholarship), & my desires (samkalpams), as also the object that is being “sought” namely the “Universal self”, are all but “One”.
This “realization” is “Brahmn”. (I am taking a huge liberty and terming realization as “pragyaanam”, though in a way, I can argue that the yoga roodah part could stretch to mean “consciously being in realization” which to my mind is closest to Pragyaanam). One who is in such “realization” is verily the “brahmn ”.
Even as I interpret thus, I suddenly realize that three “mahavakyaas” of Upanishads are finding a resonance here. Let me elaborate:
Maha vakhyam: Aham brahmaasmi : (I am verily the Brahmn)
My implied vakhyam: I “the seeker” and the sought, are One, namely the Brahmn.
Maha vakhyam: Pragyaanam brahma : (consciousness is Brahmn)
My implied vakhyam : Consciouly being in Realization is Brahmn.
Maha vakhyam: Ayam aathma brahma. (The self in me is Brahmn)
My implied vakhyam : Rid of both my scholarship(ego) & my desires (samkalpams) my “self” is verily the Brahmn.
Now it is ripe time to get to the fourth which says:
“There is no need to pursue Knowledge; you are”.
Chidaananda roopah, shivoham shivoham is a part of a set of shlokams : the concluding lines of 6 odd shlokas going by the title “Nirvana Shatakam”, by Adi Shankara:
Translated it says: I am pure knowledge and Bliss, I am Shiva Himself. Preceding lines in every one of the six verses describe what “I” am not. To cite a few:
I am neither mind, nor intelligence, nor ego, nor greed nor delusion neither freedom nor bound etc etc….”I am” or “self” is pure knowledge and “brahmn”.
Though not very apt, what the vakhyam is implying when it says “there is no need to pursue Knowledge” is that it is akin to chasing one’s own shadow. Likewise, a dog can never chase its own tail.
Now is there a connect with the fourth mahavakhya? Let us see;
The fourth mahavakhya is “Thath Thwam Asi” (“That Thou Art”)
My implied vakhyam is : Knowledge is innate in you. “You are verily the brahmn”
I hope I am not sounding too romantic when I say that I am more than amazed to realize that a random jotting down of a few clichés as I called them could have such an uncanny resemblance to the 4 maha vakhyaas. It started as a belief, and then it was faith, now I trust that without Providence playing a role, neither the vakhyams nor the bhashyams would have come to be written in this fashion.
That is also a reason I guess, that I see a kind of un-complication of my complicated mind, in these vakhyams/Bhashyams. As to Arun’s observation regarding going further from just book knowledge, I would wait with patience and see what the next two vakhyams have to offer, before I take any view.
To be continued……..
Love
Vichu
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