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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
Spirituality is a pursuit of knowledge or wisdom. The question necessarily arises - What is wisdom or knowledge? Spirituality has this much to say, if you look at knowledge studiously with a view to understand the whole structure of knowledge and the treasure of knowledge, we find that knowledge is of two kinds or levels. One is the knowledge of the objects and everything related to the objective world. The entire area is first of all comprehended, apprehended and discovered by our senses. So our senses is the root cause of the object world. It is actually a discovery done by our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.
With our eyes, we can see any extent of a distance. Even at a farthest point, if a sizeable object exists, the naked eye can see it. Similarly, we can listen to sounds emanating from a great distance. When we come closer to the other organs like nose, it can smell only upto a certain level or distance. Then taste - only when you put something on the tongue, we can taste. What about touch? Something will have to come and touch your very skin.
So the widest apprehension or comprehension we have with the eyes, the still lesser dimension the ear has and progressively lesser and lesser. This is the object world and object knowledge that we have. So what shall I describe it as? Object knowledge is a knowledge gained by our outgoing senses.
But do we have only this object with us or is there anything inside the body but the senses cannot reach? Instantly we get an answer, ‘yes’, our body itself is felt by something within the body. We know that we have a mind. It is not the senses that tell us this. From the mind we have thoughts, feelings, memories. We have the intelligence to probe into unknown, there are enquiries, then findings. All these are within our body. Because they are within our body and senses cannot reach them, we call them subjective knowledge.
So the existence as well as knowledge can be divided into two categories. One is the object and object knowledge; another is the subject and subject knowledge. The object knowledge is bodily and outside. The subject knowledge is mind and inside. My dear children, will you understand this point? When you compare the two, the object knowledge and the subject knowledge, it is easy to find out that the entire object knowledge is actually provided by the subject factors, subject constituents - mind and intelligence. Intelligence is a higher faculty than the mind. Whatever the mind collects through the senses in the form of perceived data, it is the mind that employs the senses and gains objective data. These data are processed by the intelligence and it arrives at reason and rationality.
Understanding in this manner, our people have arrived at three categories of knowledge. One is called the Pratyaksha knowledge. The word ‘aksha’ means the eye. Anything that is opposite the eye or opposite the other senses, that comes within the prati aksha, evident before the senses. But the senses are not all in us. That we have a body and senses is itself a knowledge provided by the mind. So the sensory knowledge does not depend upon the senses alone. The senses have to be activated and employed by the mind. But the mind can work independently. It need not be always associated with the senses. Sit in a place, close your eyes, and you can handle your thoughts, produce many thoughts. And in thinking, the senses do not come to play their role.
So we have the object knowledge gained by the senses, then the subject knowledge provided by the mind and intelligence. The difference between the mind and intelligence is that the mind employs the senses and gains sensory knowledge or object knowledge. Such data as the mind collects, the intelligence processes, analyses, sifts, examines, and it develops its own reason and rationality.
So different from the sensory object knowledge, we have something called the Paroksha knowledge. Sensory knowledge is called the pratyaksha, in front of the senses, around the senses. The Paroksha knowledge is a knowledge we get about the factors within the body but not using aksha and other senses, eyes and other senses. So it is called paroksha knowledge. Paroksha means above the senses, above the sensory range. So in all forms of paroksha knowledge, the mind and intelligence will be at work and not the senses.
Is there any other knowledge? Yes! That is one where neither the mind nor the intelligence nor the senses work. Still you know, “yes, something happened”. What is the evidence for it? Your sleep and unconsciousness are the evidence for it. You leave everything and sleep. You are unconscious of your body and therefore you are unconscious of the world, you are unconscious of the mind, of the intelligence, of your ego. All these things are simply wiped off, still you sleep.
So sleep is an experience where neither the senses nor the body nor the mind nor the intelligence nor the ego functions. Yet when you wake up, you say, “I slept comfortably”. The word ‘I’ refers to oneself. And sleep is an intransitive work; it does not imply an object like ‘I walk’, ‘I walk’. ‘I did not know anything’, ‘I slept’. That ‘sleeping’ does not employ and involve an object. Now from there we get the clue, what is that clue? Besides the pratyaksha and paroksha knowledge, pratyaksha where senses work, paroksha where mind and intelligence work, there is another knowledge where when pratyaksha and paroksha factors are not employed, even then we have knowledge, directly. ‘I slept’, ‘I am’, ‘I slept’, ‘I am’, ‘I was’. That knowledge is called aparoksha knowledge. Meaning in pratyaksha, the senses work, in paroksha, the mind and intelligence work. In aparoksha, neither the senses nor the mind and intelligence work. Still you have the knowledge. So it is called direct perception, direct realization!
Naturally to get at this realization, what you have to do? Initially you employ your senses, look at the world and gain lessons like viveka, vairagya and other qualities. Then you take to meditation and introspection using the mind and intelligence. Until at last, like the senses you shut in meditation, you also shut your mind and intelligence. Then whatever experience you have will be about the ‘I’, of the ‘I’ , about the subject. The entire dream is a subject knowledge. You slept and you have a dream. In the dream, you have another body, another world, another God who created them.
So the stuff within your body which is an aparoksha product ‘I’ , its capacity is revealed from the dream and sleep. All alone it creates a parallel world, a parallel body. Then you travel to foreign countries. Whatever produces this dream, that becomes a mighty cause, a mighty karta, performer. Students, I particularly want you to understand that what is this ‘I’. Everything in your world is ‘my’, ‘my’, ‘my’ , ‘my body’, ‘my senses’, ‘my mind’, ‘my intelligence’, ‘my dress’, ‘my house’, ‘my father’, ‘my mother’. ‘My’ is a possessive case and with that you refer to something different from you. ‘I’ is of a nominative case; there no verb is there. ‘I’ , ‘I’ , ‘I’ , ‘I’. So the ‘I’ is clearly within the body, close to us. Only because of the ‘I’, we are able to live.
Without the ‘I’, you will be brain dead, something like brain dead. And this ‘I’ is closest to us, not even the mind, intelligence and ego. About the ‘I’, students, you have no doubt. You have been confidently saying this. Even when you are miserable, you say ‘I was miserable’, joyous, you say ‘I was joyous’. That ‘I’ is the subject in us. It is the subject, not merely in our individual personality, it is equally the subject of the entire universe.
All of you can take up the pursuit of the ‘I’ through meditation, absorption and other disciplines and you can become a great subject knower, the knower of the self, knower of God, knower of the supreme reality. Here there is no magic, there is no need for postponing the exercise or pursuit, it is as clear to you as the ‘I’ you use. It is as dear to you as the ‘I’ you refer to. If the ‘I’ is so very dear to us now, how much more it will be dear when you realize its infinitude and potential? How beautifully matters are analyzed in this manner?
So what did I say? I said knowledge is of two kinds, one is about the objects including your body, another is about the subject which expresses itself as mind, intelligence and ego. You try to turn inward and think about and find out about the mind, thoughts, feelings, etc. Equally you start probing into the intelligence and finally even beyond, to reach the level of the ‘I’. It is this ‘I’ level that our great Parikshit after listening to Suka Muni for 6 1/2 days absorbed himself into before the fateful Takshaka serpent came and bit him and the body was burnt into ashes. Understand that within your body is a very very great depth and vastness. It is that vastness where the world is reflected and experienced. It is unlike the body, not gross, it is unlike the circumscribed body. It is something very free, ecstatic, splendorous and liberational.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.