Sat-darshana Bhashya (translation)

NOTE

The subject of the ’individual soul’ jivavyakti has been given here quite an unconventional treatment. In some places, the jiva is mentioned as the ego; in others, it refers to a fixed form of consciousness and action; in still others it is taken as signifying individuality. In the commentary on the second half of the 26th verse it is stated that terms ahamkara ego, granthi knot, vibandha bondage, suksma sarira subtle body, cetas mind, bhava or samsara the cycle of birth and death and jiva living being, though referring in a way to the same thing, are not synonymous and interchangeable but signify the different functions of the something that is formed between spirit and matter, between the self and the body. It is also stated that with the destruction of the ego there is no dissolution of individuality.

In order that these terms might be understood in their right senses and true relation to one another, and not confounded one with another, reasoned explanations are adduced in the Bhashya as well as in the Bhoomika to elucidate them then and there, helping the earnest mind in search of truth to find harmony amidst the differing conclusion of the different philosophic systems. To set all doubts at rest, it is proposed to recapitulate here briefly the essence of the discussion on the individual soul, jiva-vyakti.

In the Upadesha Sara of Shri Maharshi, mind-stuff and lifebreath are mentioned together as a twin branch growing out of the same root, the conscious force, suggesting that this is the jiva or the living being, with the ego formed in it for its centre of activity. And this stuff of mind and life is termed the subtle body in this Shastra. As long as there is this subtle body there is individuality, as the latter requires a form of some kind, subtle or gross, for its manifestation. Since this subtle body is a formation, and as such subject to space and time, it is dissoluble. But the dissolution of individuality into the unmanifest, like its emergence (manifestation) from it, is not determined by its own choice but is absolutely dependent on the Unmanifest Infinite, avyakta akhanda.

This subtle body, called upadhi by some, is the basis for mental and vital activity in the mundane life of the man in bondage as well as of the liberated soul. When this suksma sarira is not sufficiently developed, it remains a factor of bondage, a knot between matter and spirit, a prison-house of the self in the body. By the force of the inconscient, which is the preponderant element in it, the subtle body is partly absorbed or submerged in matter jada, directed of course by a distorted reflection of the self, a posing figure, formed in it as the ego ahamkara. In an advanced state of development, this individual living being gets freed from the bondage of the body, by the preponderance of the element of conscious force which relcases it from the hold of matter.

Thus, as the subtle body develops, it absorbs in a larger measure the conscious force which eliminates or transforms the element of the inconscient jada in the subtle body, and the ego yields to the pressure of the force of Self-consciousness. As the ego thus dissolves, being but the apparent self, the immediate sense of ’l’ it is reborn as it were into the Real ’I’ that has been all along signified by it. What really happens in this process of liberation is this. When through the development of the subtle body in which it is firmly rooted posing as the Real self this ego is stung by a sense of its own weakness and falsity, the wide-awake self-awareness of the Purusha, the spirit seated in the Heart, finds a true reflection in the subtle body, thus displacing the ego or transforming it into the pure ’I’, suddha ahambhava. And in consequence of the birth of the pure ’I’, the real soul, the subtle body undergoes a remarkable change making it a true vehicle of the soul so formed. Thus freed from the hold of the material body, this subtle stuff becomes a true expression of individuality faithful to the Original Self, and an individual centre to its supreme consciousness. Hence we find such statements as:

“Then flashes forth another ’l’, ego that is not; perfect is that, the Supreme itself.”

“The Supreme is not different from the Heart, from the Self in the Heart".

“He shines having devoured the ego ... Whatever he sees, he sees not separate from his self.”

Therefore the person liberated alive from bodily bondage does not fall into the separative movement nor yields to the allurement of the apparent diversity, but perceives diversity in unity and experiences unity in diversity. And though he is well aware of the divergent way taken by the intelligence of others living in ignorance, his own individual life on earth is guided by the Supreme Lord of all, by the Self, all-controlling and independent, eternal and ever unmanifest, and thus it is an effulgent manifestation of the Heart, the secret centre of the Spirit in man. Such a liberated soul, whether here or there, and regardless of the possession of the material body, is firmly settled in the Infinite Self.