I am pleased to share an article titled “Light of Lights” published by Dr. Sarvepalli Anantha Padmanabha Rao, M.S. who served for many years as a Professor of Surgery, and as the Director of Medical Education in the Government of Andhra Pradesh Medical and Health Services.
It is important to know the views shared by the traditional thinkers of India. In my analysis, the Indian Schools of Thought such as Advaita (Non-Dualism) have formulated their theories about the true or real identity of Self (Atman) without considering the physiological or biological basis for hosting a thought about “SELF”(ATMAN) that may have an independent existence while it is totally detached from the Body, and Mind of its thinker. While MYSTICISM is a part of various religious traditions, I am asking my readers to seek “WHOLE ILLUMINATION” by investigating and by exploring the basis for man’s existence in the natural world. Any such explanation, or clarification would come to a conclusion and will assert that the man needs association, partnership, relationship, bonding, cooperation, assistance, patronage, Yoking, or UNITY with a source of ENERGY that exists in the man’s external environment. The man cannot maintain the fact or the reality of his physical existence using introspection, meditation, or contemplative prayer which could be of use in illuminating man’s “Inner World” and provide him “Inner Vision”, a vision or illumination that describes the Identity of man’s true or real “SELF'(ATMAN) and its perfect, complete, and wholesome Divine Nature.
THE PHENOMENON OF ILLUMINATION – THE PHENOMENON OF KNOWING:
The term illumination describes lighting or light. It is often used as the act or process of making something clearer or brighter or as a device for doing so. The word ‘illuminating’ or ‘illuminated’ is often applied to a clarification or explanation that sheds light on a subject that needs careful interpretation of information. In Physics, illumination is about the intensity of light per unit of area; the luminous flux per unit area at any point on a surface exposed to incident light. It is also called ‘ILLUMINANCE’. However, in Biology, the phenomenon of Illumination requires the study of Optics, Photoreception, and Photochemistry. The biological processes that involve the response of a living thing to the Light stimulus need to be stated as Photochemical Reactions which could be energy dependent and involve the use of chemical energy provided by molecules of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The Phenomenon of ‘ILLUMINATION’ in Biology requires the operation of three conditions; 1. The Source of Light or Lighting, 2. The Object that is Illuminated, and 3. The Observer who has the Sensory Perception called Vision, or the ability called Photoreception to acknowledge the phenomenon that is observed. Using the nature of photochemical reaction that is observed, living things can be broadly classified into two kinds; 1. Plants that respond to Light stimulus to trap its radiant Energy but have no Sensory Perception called Vision, and 2. Animals (man included) that have the Sensory Perception called Vision but do not have the ability to trap the Light Energy. For human existence, we need all those three conditions, 1. The Sun as the Source of Light, 2. The Plants that trap the radiant energy of Sunlight using their ability called Photoreception, and 3. The man or Purusha who uses the ability called Sensory Perception or Vision and interprets that Light is God.
The above picture image of a verse from Brihadaranyak Upanishad 4:5:11 helps us to understand the nature of the vital function of Breathing and Respiration which is the physiological mechanism that man uses to oxidize food substances and derive energy which he further uses for his physical and mental work. If Vedas and Holy Scriptures are seen as the Source of knowledge, the transmission of that Knowledge involves the use of Breathing. If “Knowing” is compared to the phenomenon of ‘ILLUMINATION’, the act of Knowing will only be possible if there is Unity between God, the Source of Knowledge, Knower, the Individual called JEEVA who performs all his living functions because of the Knowledge implanted in his substance that makes him a Sentient or Sensible thing, or establishes him as the “Knowing-Self.” The natural phenomenon of Life and Living can be defined as ‘Knowledge in Action’. In Indian tradition the “SELF” or “ATMAN” is the source of Inner Light that illuminates the entire human body. I am suggesting that the Light called SELF or ATMAN illuminates by making it possible for a man to maintain his connection with an external source of energy present in the environment even while the man may find perfect Identity with God through the process called Inner Vision, Introspection, Meditation, or Contemplative Prayers with an attitude of “Whole Detachment” with all things present in the external world. I like the presentation “LIGHT OF LIGHTS” for it nicely explains the thoughts of Shankara. However, I have noticed that the author did not provide clarification, or explanation for the final sentence, “TAT ASMI PRABHO.” It simply describes the Unity (ASMI) between the man (TAT) and the LORD (PRABHU). The man’s ability of Sensory Perception called Vision, and the ability of Inner Vision are of secondary importance as Existence depends directly on the act of Breathing and the LORD provides Knowledge for performing that act of Breathing. The True Self or Atman illuminates me if it is connected to the Lord or Prabhu, the Original Source of Light.
LIGHT OF LIGHTS
http://advaita-academy.org/blogs/sarvepalli.ashx#
Light illumines manifold objects in varying degrees of darkness; that is its property. Sources of such light may be external or internal to us. Examples of the former class are well-known, such as Sun, moon, fire, various kinds of lamps etc; The latter class, the internal, would be the psychic apparatus of man, comprising the sense organs, intelligence, intuition and above all the transcendental ‘Oversoul’ of R W Emerson the American philosopher. Vedanta too subscribes to such a transcendental super-conscious entity, illumining all, comprehending all and all-encompassing supreme Brahman. Flashes of intuition reveal discoveries which remain obscure prior to such overpowering experiences. Archimedes, crying out ‘eureka – eureka’ and Newton, when the apple fell and the law of gravitation revealed are instances of such intuitions . A deeper mental cloud prevents one from knowing who one exactly is in the ultimate analysis.
There is, in Greek mythology, a river named ‘Lethe’ whose waters, when drunk, would make the drinker profoundly forgetful.. One would forget, who one was, the ‘whence and wherefore’ of one’s own very self. A great philosopher likened our human predicament, to such a state of congenital amnesia, in which we lost our moorings, our “original innocence” as it were. Nescience is the technical term used for this state of primordial ignorance, which is said to cover one’s wisdom, ‘like smoke shrouds the fire or as dust sullies a mirror or as the womb envelops an embryo’ as th bhagavadgiitaa puts it. This is the ultimate darkness which needs for its dispelling, no less a light than that of the ‘Lord’, quoted in the GITA chapterXI-12 ever so stunningly – “if the light of a thousand suns were to blaze forth in the sky all at once, that might resemble the splendour of that exalted Being” – nothing short of an ‘apocalypse’, as it were, a revelation, of something not previously known or realized. Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist, whose name is associated with the first atom bomb and who was a witness to its detonation.was so awe-struck at the sight that this line of the gItA chapter XI-32 flamed in his mind ” I am the full-blown, the all-destroying Time “. It was an indubitable intimation from the depths of his being and not much later, his intuitive insight was proved right, by the nuclear holocaust, the mayhem and the destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was cataclysmic in proportion
To Sankara, that transcendental spiritual genius, is ascribed a one-stanza poem, by name, ‘ekashlokI’. In it, is encapsulated the pith, the quintessence of the celebrated “mahAvAkya’s or the four great Vedic statements, called as such in the Advaita Vedanta. They are culled one from each of the four Vedas those statements or rather ‘truths’ are
a) ” praGYAnam Brahma, (Rigveda) pristine consciousness is Brahman.
b) ayam aatmaa Brahma (Atharva veda) – consciousness in all its apparent transformations is Brahman,
c) “tat tvam asi” (Samaveda)- You are, in essence, that consciousness, the eternal nitya, the unsullied shuddha, the fully awakened buddha, and unfettered – mukta ; the corollary follows that you are not the ignorant embodied jiiva, which you imagine you are.
d) (“aham Brahma asmi ” (Yajurveda) I am indeed that all-encompassing consciousness
It is with considerable trepidation that I have dared to translate the ‘mahaavaakya’s for fear that they may suffer the ‘noble transmutation from gold to lead’, in the process.
The order in which they are recounted here is not the temporal order in which they occur in the veda but they seem, to me, to be the order adopted by Sankara in this small ‘upadesha’ work, namely, the ekashlokii ’ As will become clear in the sequel, what is attempted here is not a word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit texts, not even a paraphrase but rather an unfolding of the traditional thought couched in the highly compressed poem
Before reproducing the Sanskrit verse, a short anecdotal account of the poignant scenario in which it is set, would be well in order, One might be tempted to ask ‘why only one verse-an ‘ekashlokI? Had not Sankara composed his shatashlokI of hundred verses and his upadesha sAhasrI of thousand teachings ? After all, what were the extenuating circumstances? As though in answer to such questions, a story is recounted thus: Sankara, on one of his peregrinations, chanced upon a spiritual aspirant who was in the throes of death. bemoaning his fate of his having ro die before he could get his ‘beatitude’. The compassionate master had empathy with the man’s plight and knowing well the shruti declaration that “he who departs from this world without realising the ‘axara‘, the Imperishable entity, is a veritable wretch a ‘kRRipaNa“, the master devised for him the shortest discourse and the ‘ekashlokI was the result. The verse was composed in a frisky meter named ‘shArdUla vikrIditam’ which has four quarters of 19 syllables each, to enable him to pack all the punch at his command, in a single stanza. This imaginative story illustrates the truth that, when an exceptional master and a pupil desperately thirsting for the ‘saving wisdom’ come together, spiritual enlightenment can not be far behind.
The poem runs as follows :-
kiMjyotistavabhAnumAnahanimeraatraupradiipAdikaM.
syAdevaMravidIpadarshanavidhaukiMjyotirAkhyaahi me.
cakShustasyanimiilanAdisamayekiMdhiirdhiyodarshane.
kiMtatrAhamatobhavAnparamakamjyotistadasmiprabho.
Unless the composition is split up at the right places, it would seem baffling at the first sight, to a beginner. The piece is in the form of a catechism or what in modern pedagogy would be called a ‘one on one’ interactive session. There are five question-answer pairs, one affirmation and one authoritative live-wire exhortation of the teacher and a final total concurrence, by the disciple, after his instant transformation. We shall now proceed with what may, euphemistically, be termed an exegesis of the verse. As will be seen in the sequel, what is attempted here is not a word-to-word rendering in to English, nor even a mere paraphrasing of the work; it is rather an attempt to enter to, and to bring out the traditional import of this Vedantic composition, to the extent my limited faculties permit. Much pertinent digression from the text has been indulged in, in the exposition.
The break up of the verse, is as follows :-
Q 1 :kim jyotih tava ? – what is your illuminator? By this question, the teacher is trying to ascertain a ‘baseline’, as it were, of the pupil’s understanding so as to lead him thence to higher levels. This was a well established methodology of spiritual instruction in the days of yore. It may be noted here that the question is a general one with no adjuncts of time or place specified. The student however thinks the question pertains to daytime and to things within his visual range.
A: bhhaanumaan ahani me – The daylight of the Sun sir. This answer establishes that the seeker has his vision riveted on the external objects – the out-going vision, the so-called ‘paraak pasyati’ concept of the KaThopaniShad.
Q 2 : raatrau ? what after Sun-down ? what illumines then ?
A: pradiipa aadikam– light of the various kinds of lamps which includes illumination from the moonlight, bonfires, lighted torches et cetera; it may be noted that the field being covered is still the outer world.
Affirmation : syaad evam. rightly so my dear; here the guru seems to be saying to himself “ Oh my! your answers are correct as far as they go; but they do not go very far. Here is the next question:
Q 3 Ravi diipa darshana vidhau kim jyotih ? Akhyaahi me – Now tell me what enables you to visualize the objects so illumined by the Sun, the lamps etc.Here the preceptor is shifting focus from the outer to the inner world of the mind. Even the sun, the lamps etc. stand in the relation of visible objects to the perceiving eye.
A: caxuH– “My eye, sir, is the perceiving light in this context” Now the student is made to understand the eye as the window to his inner cognitive apparatus – the mind.
Q4 : tasya nimiilana adi samaye ? If your eyes are shut, what then? The reasons for the shut-down may be many; one may choose to turn a blind eye like Nelson or to give a more noble example, one may actually be blind like Helen Keller. ‘ The word aadi’ in the Sanskrit original in the above question may include a legion instances The guru is taking the student in to deeper waters here, to turning his mind’s eye inward and enable him to watch the gyrations of his own mind
A: dhiiH, sir, it is my intellect that provides me the illumination necessary for my purposes, I can think thoughts that would navigate the scenes for me
Q 5: dhiyaH darshane (kim) ? you are right again my son! But thought is like a spring or a fountain. There must be some faculty to get to its mainspring its source as it were What ultimate light is it that stands as a ‘witness’ or ‘sAxI’ as it is technically termed, to your cognitive equipment?
A: ‘tatra aham ’ sir, Shorn of the baggage of all acquired accretions, appurtenances and appearances – in short, of all objective super-impositions I stand in all my majestic aloofness, and isolation (kaivalya). as ‘Myself’.
The great spiritual warrior in Sankara has finally drawn the bitterest foe of his pupil -‘the beginning-less spiritual ignorance’ to the edge of the precipice. with a view to pushing it over to its final annihilation. With a solemn and apocalyptic, coup de maître – a masterstroke, he is going to deliver the final push the student would be led to his beatitude meaning perfect blessedness or happiness. In devising this stepwise instruction Sankara has trodden the path of the ancient sages, established for ages. The famous dialogue between the sage YaaGYavalkya and Janaka the king in the BRRihadaaranyaka Upanishad chapter iv-3, the kaTha Upanishad III-10 as also the Bhavadgiitaa chapter III-42 have laid down the same rising hierarchical levels of consciousness viz – sense objects, sense organs, intelligence, intellect and the highest of all the PuruSha- the non plus ultra, higher than Which there can be nothing. To use the those very Sanskrit words pregnant with proven meaning – proven to mystic seers of all creeds and climes in their deepest visions down the millennia – saa kaashThaa, saa paraa gatiH. THAT is the summum bonum the last post
And what may that stupendous, staggering declaration be ? Let us see that in the next line:-
THE FINAL PUSH : ataH bhavaan paramakam jyotiH Therefore my child, you are verily that Light of lights, which the Vedanta asserts in stentorian voice and peremptory tone- tat tvam asi – THAT THOU ART. It is not the denoted dictionary meanings of the words of the scriptural testimony that will bring the peace that passes understanding but the inner experience of the truth which is transforming in nature.
The finish : tat asmi prabho !!! Oh my master I am indeed that Light of Lights because I have just experienced that ecstatic mystic state, by your bounteous grace. It is another matter that the experience of that state can communicated in words only after descending somewhat from those Olympian heights. But at all events he has been raised to that dizzy altitude of sage-hood, the memory of which shall stamp its hallmark on every thought word and deed ever-after.
Whole Dude - Whole Spirituality 