Introductory
In the “Awakening to the Self” [Atma Bodha], and, still more, in the “Crest-Jewel of Wisdom”, Shankara the Teacher uses many words in a clear, precise, and consciously exact sense, which is not always to be gathered from the context of these two works. In the “Awakening to the Self”, this is hardly an impediment, as the expression of this excellent poem is so perfect and universal; nor is there any great impediment in the first part of the “Crest Jewel of Wisdom”, which has been translated under the title “First Steps on the Path”. But further on in the “Crest Jewel”, this is not the case. It becomes more strict and technical in meaning; and without precise definitions, much is hardly intelligible. But in the “Crest Jewel” itself these definitions are not always to be found. What is to be done then, if we really want to understand the Teacher precisely?
Happily Shankara has left us a Key in his own work, the “Awakening to Reality”, where nearly every special word of his philosophy is exactly defined. We have only to try to find the best English translation of his definitions, and we shall have a clear clue and outline to the larger work, the “Crest Jewel”, and, indeed, to the whole of Shankara’s philosophy.
One thing must be remembered. This “Awakening to Reality” is what we have called it—a catechism. And in a catechism we can hardly expect the perfect poetical form and splendid imagery of works like the “Awakening to the Self”. What we shall find, is lucidity, accuracy, grasp, coherence; but not poetical beauty. Thus is begun:
The Awakening to Reality
[Translation] I.
To the Master, the World-Soul, the Master of seekers for union, obeisance; to the teacher, the giver of wisdom. To fulfill love for those who would be free, this Awakening to Reality is addressed to them.
The Four Perfections
We shall tell of the way of discerning reality, the perfection of freedom, for those who are fitted by possessing the Four Perfections.
What are the Four Perfections?
—The Discerning between lasting and unlasting things; No Rage for enjoying the fruit of works, either here or there; the Six Graces that follow Peace; and then the Longing to be free.
What is the Discerning between lasting and unlasting things?
—The one lasting thing is the Eternal; all, apart from it, is unlasting.
What is No Rage?
— A lack of longing for enjoyments here and in the heaven-world.
What is possession of the Perfections that follow Peace?
Peace; Self-Control; Steadiness; Sturdiness; Confidence; Intentness.
What is Peace?
—A firm hold on emotion.
What is Self-Control?
— A firm hold on the lust of the eyes and the outward powers. What is Steadiness?
—A following out of one’s own genius.
What is Sturdiness?
—A readiness to bear opposing forces, like cold and heat, pleasure and pain.
What is Confidence?
— Confidence is a reliance on the Voice of the Teacher and Final Wisdom.
What is Intentness?
One-pointedness of the imagination.
What is the Longing to be free?
—It is the longing: “That Freedom may be mine”.
The Discerning of Reality
These are the Four Perfections. Through these, men are fitted to discern Reality.
What is the Discerning of Reality?
—It is this: the Self is real; other than it, all is fancy.
Self, Vestures, Veils, Modes
What is the Self?
—He who stands apart from the Physical, the Emotional, and the Causal Vestures; who is beyond the five Veils; who is witness of the three Modes; whose own nature is Being, Consciousness, Bliss—this is the Self.
The Three Vestures
What is the Physical Vesture?
—Being formed of the five creatures five-folded, born through works, it is the house where opposing forces like pleasure and pain are enjoyed; having these six accidents: it is, is born, grows, turns the corner, declines, perishes; such is the Physical Vesture.
What is the Emotional Vesture?
— Being formed of the five creatures not fivefolded, born through works, the perfection of the enjoyment of opposing forces like pleasure and pain, existing with its seventeen phases: the five powers of knowing; the five powers of doing; the five lives; emotion, one; the soul, one; this is the Emotional Vesture.
The five powers of knowing are: Hearing, Touch, Sight, Taste, Smell. Hearing’s radiation is Space; Touch’s, Air; Sight’s, the Sun; Smell’s, the Twin Physicians; these are the powers of knowing.
Hearing’s business is the seizing of sounds; Touch’s business, the seizing of contacts; Sight’s business, the seizing of forms; Taste’s business, the seizing of tastes; Smell’s business, the seizing of odors.
The five powers of doing are: Voice, Hands, Feet, Putting-forth, Generating. Voice’s radiation is the Tongue of Flame; Hands’, the Master; Feet’s, the Pervader; Putting-forth’s, Death; Generating’s, the Lord of Beings; thus the radiations of the powers of doing.
Voice’s business is speaking; Hands’ business is grasping things; Feet’s business is going; Putting-forth’s business is removing waste; Generating’s business is physical enjoying.
What is the Causal Vesture?
—Being formed through ineffable, beginningless unwisdom, it is the Substance and Cause of the two Vestures; though unknowing as to its own nature, it is yet in nature unerring; this is the Causal Vesture.
The Three Modes
What are the Three Modes?
—The Modes of Waking, Dreaming, Dreamlessness.
What is the Mode Waking?
— It is where knowledge comes through Hearing and the other knowing powers, whose business is sound and the other perceptions; this is the Waking Mode.
When attributing itself to the Physical Vesture, the Self is called the Pervading.
Then what is the Mode, Dreaming?
—The world that presents itself in rest, generated by impressions of what has been seen and heard in the Mode, Waking, is the Mode, Dreaming.
When attributing itself to the Emotional Vesture, the Self is called the Radiant.
What then is the Mode, Dreamlessness?
—The sense that I perceive outwardly nothing at all, that rest is joyfully enjoyed by me, this is the Mode, Dreamlessness.
When attributing itself to the Causal Vesture, the Self is called the Intuitional.
The Five Veils
What are the Five Veils?
—The Food-formed; the Life-formed; the Emotion-formed; the Knowledge-formed; the Bliss-formed.
What is the Food-formed?
—Coming into being through the essence of food, getting its growth through the essence of food, in the food-formed world it is again dispersed, this is the Food-formed Veil,—the Physical Vesture.
What is the Life-formed?
—The Forward-life and the four other Lives, Voice and the four other powers of doing; these are the Life-formed.
What is the Emotion-formed Veil?
—Emotion, joining itself to the five powers of knowing,—this is the Emotion-formed Veil.
What is the Knowledge-formed?
The Soul, joining itself to the five powers of knowing,—this is the Knowledge-formed Veil.
What is the Bliss-formed?
—This verily is the Substance not quite pure because of the unwisdom that gives birth to the Causal Vesture; in it are founded all joys; this is the Bliss-formed Veil.
Thus the Five Veils.
By saying: “Mine are the lives; mine is emotion; mine is the soul; mine is the wisdom”; these are recognized as possessions. And just as a bracelet, a necklace, a house and such things separated from one’s self, are recognized as possessions, so the Five Veils and the Vestures, recognized as possessions, are not the Self [the Possessor].
What, then, is the Self?
— It is that whose own-nature is Being, Consciousness, Bliss.
What is Being?
—What stands through the Three Times [Present, Past, Future,]—this is Being.
What is Consciousness?
—The own-nature of Perceiving.
What is Bliss?
—The own-nature of Joy.
Thus let a man know that the own nature of his own Self is Being, Consciousness, Bliss.
Explanatory
This “Awakening to Reality”, is a summary of an intuition of the world, a solution of the universe. Only those who have certain mental and moral endowments are ripe for the understanding of such a solution of the world. Briefly, these endowments are: wisdom and will. The solution reached is—the real Self of every man is the Eternal. This Self is inwardly beginningless, endless, immortal. But outwardly it becomes manifest as three lesser selves, each with its own vesture, its own world.
Lowest of these is the physical self, the “Pervading”; with its physical Vesture, in the Waking world.
Next, the emotional self, the “Radiant”, with its emotional Vesture, in the Dreaming world.
Highest, the causal self, the “Intuitional”, with its causal Vesture, in the Dreamless world. It has existence apart from the Eternal, owing only to the thin veil of illusion, which hides the identity of the One with the All. Thus, as to its own nature, it is unknowing; for, while believing itself One, it is really All. But for all other things it is unerring, for its close proximity to, and real oneness with, the Eternal, give it the inner sense of the trueness of things that is all wisdom. This is “the Seer who ordained all fitly through the ages”.
In the Physical Vesture adheres one Veil; in the Emotional Vesture three—the vital, the emotional, the moral;—in the Causal, again one.
There is a great difficulty in finding a fit word for the term we have translated “radiation”. What is meant is the power—Personified, almost personal—conceived to be the “regent” or “deity” of the field in which each mode of perception and action finds its expansion. A closely analogous phrase would be, for instance, “the Prince of the Powers of the Air”, who would thus be the “regent” or “deity” of the powers of touch, and, in morals, the “lusts of the flesh”.
This is, of course, mythology: a mythical representation of an actual truth, very difficult to represent otherwise than mythologically.
But in the conclusion of the matter there is no difficulty. It is, that a man shall know the own nature of his own Self to be Being, Consciousness, Bliss; or, in other words, Eternal, Wisdom, Love.
[Translation] II.
We shall speak now of the way the four-and-twenty natures are developed.
The Primitive Seven
Dwelling together with the Evolver in glamor, who is the very self of the three potencies: substance, force, and space.
From this glamor, shining ether came forth.
From shining ether, breath came forth.
From breath, fire came forth.
From fire, the waters came forth.
From the waters, earth came forth.
Their Substantial Parts
Now, among these five natures:
From the substantial part of shining ether, the power of hearing come forth.
From the substantial part of breath, the power of touch came forth.
From the substantial part of fire, the power of seeing came forth.
From the substantial part of the waters, the power of taste came forth.
From the substantial part of earth, the power of smelling came forth.
From the united substantial parts of these five natures, the inner powers,—mind, soul, self-assertion, imagination,—came forth.
Mind is the very self of intending and doubting.
Soul is the very self of affirmation.
Self-assertion is the very self of attributing selfhood.
Imagination is the very self of image-making.
The regent of mind is the Moon.
The regent of soul is the Evolver.
The regent of self-assertion is the Transformer.
The regent of imagination is the Pervader.
Their Forceful Parts
Now, among these five natures:
From the forceful part of shining ether, the power of voice came forth.
From the forceful part of breath, the power of handling came forth.
From the forceful part of fire, the power of moving came forth.
From the forceful part of the waters, the power of engendering came forth.
From the forceful part of earth, the power of extruding came forth.
From the united forceful parts of these natures, the five lives,—the upward-life, the forward-life, the uniting-life, the distributing-life, the downward-life,—came forth.
Their Spatial Parts
Of these five natures, from their spatial parts, the five-folded five elements come forth.
What is this five-folding?
It is this: taking the spatial parts of the five primitive natures,—one part of each,—these parts are each first divided in two; then one half of each part is left alone, on one side, while the other halves of each are each divided into four. Then to the half of each nature, is joined the fourth of the half [the eighth] of each of the other natures. And thus five-folding is made.
From these five primitive natures, thus five-folded, the physical vesture is formed. Hence the essential unity between the clod and the Evolving Egg.
The Life and the Lord
There is an image of the Eternal, which attributes itself to the vestures, and is called the Life. And this Life, through the power of Nature, regards the Lord as separate from itself.
When wearing the disguise of Unwisdom, the Self is called the Life.
When wearing the disguise of Glamor, the Self is called the Lord.
Thus, through the difference of their disguises, there is an appearance of difference between the Life and the Lord. And as long as this appearance of difference continues, so long will the revolving world of birth and death continue. For this reason the idea of the difference between the Life and the Lord is not to be admitted.
But how can the idea of unity between the self-assertive, little-knowing Life, and the selfless, all knowing Lord, be accepted, according to the famous words, That thou art; since the genius of these two, the Life and the Lord, is so opposite?
This is not really so; for ‘Life attributing itself to the physical and emotional vestures’ is only the verbal meaning of thou; while the real meaning of thou is ‘pure Consciousness, bare of all disguises, in dreamless life’.
And so ‘the Lord full of omniscience and power’ is but the verbal meaning of that; while the real meaning of that is ‘pure Consciousness stripped of disguises’.
Thus there is no contradiction in the unity of the Life and the Lord, since both are pure Consciousness.
The Free-in-Life
And thus all beings in whom the idea of the eternal has been developed, through the words of wisdom and the true Teacher, are Free-in-life.
Who is Free-in-life?
Just as there is the firm belief that ‘I am the body’, ‘I am a man’, ‘I am a priest’, ‘I am a serf’, so he who possesses the firm conviction that ‘I am neither priest nor serf nor man, but stain-less Being, Consciousness, Bliss, the Shining, the inner Master, Shining Wisdom’, and knows this by dire perception, he is Free-in-life.
The Three Modes of Deeds
Thus by the direct knowledge that ‘I am the Eternal’, he is freed from all the bonds of his deeds.
How many modes of these ‘deeds’ are there? If counted as ‘deeds to come’, ‘deeds accumulated’, and ‘deeds entered on’, there are three modes.
The pure and impure deeds that are done by the body of the wise, after wisdom is won, are called ‘deeds to come’.
And what of ‘deeds accumulated’? The deeds that are waiting to be done, sprung from seeds sown in endless myriads of births, are ‘deeds accumulated’.
And what are ‘deeds entered on’? The deeds that give joy and sorrow here in the world, in this vesture, are ‘deeds entered on’. Through experiencing them they reach cessation; for the using-up of deeds entered on comes through experiencing them.
And ‘deeds accumulated’ reach cessation through wisdom, the very self of certainty that ‘I am the Eternal’. ‘Deeds to come’ also reach cessation through wisdom. For, as water is not bound to the lotus-leaf, so ‘deeds to come’ are not bound to the wise.
For those who praise and love and honor the wise, to them come the pure ‘deeds to come’ of the wise. And those who blame and hate and attack the wise, to them come all the unspeakable deeds, whose very self is impurity, of the wise man’s ‘deeds to come’.
The End
Then the Knower of the Self, crossing over the circling world, even here enjoys the bliss of the Eternal. As the sacred books say: The Knower of the Self crosses over sorrow.
And the sacred traditions say: Whether he leave his mortal form in Benares or in a dog-keeper’s hut, if he has gained wisdom, he is free, his limitations laid aside.
Thus the Awakening to Reality is completed.
Explanatory
In the first part of Shankara’s Catechism, previously translated, the most valuable thing is the teaching of the sevenfold man, who is really a modified unity appearing in seven modes. The only real and eternal element in the sevenfold man—for real and eternal are, for Shankara, synonymous terms—is the perfect Self, which is one with the Eternal. In manifestation this Self appears in three degrees: the intuitional self, the emotional self, the physical self; and, for each of these there is a vesture suited to its nature. Thus the divine Self, with its three degrees, and their three vestures, make up the perfect seven.
The three lesser degrees of the Self are its representatives in the three manifest worlds: the spiritual world, the middle world, the physical world. And, very naturally, the middle world partakes in some degree of the nature of the other two; so that its highest layer is touched with the nature of the spiritual world, while its lowest layer is touched with the nature of the physical world.
This threefold nature of the middle world finds its counterpart in the three veils which make up the vesture of the middle self, which we have called the emotional self as, perhaps, the best description of its total nature.
The three veils of the middle self are the vital veil, the sensuous veil, and the intellectual veil; and the regents of the last two are ‘mind’ and ‘soul’, as we have translated the original terms—Manas and Buddhi.
Development takes place, therefore, by the gradually raising of the self through these vestures and veils; so that, having begun as the physical self in pure animal life, it gradually becomes the emotional and intellectual self of human life, then the intuitional self of life that is something more than human, and at last realizes itself as the eternal Self which is one with the Eternal.
To this, the first part of the Catechism, is then added the outline of Shankara’s Idealistic physics, the doctrine of the three potencies of substance, force, space; or, as one might call it, from a different point of view, the three modes of subject, predicate, object: of the knower, the knowing, the known. And as perception is of five types, the subject, predicate, and object are divided into the five types of sensuous perception. But as the objects of sensuous perception are not simple, but each respond to several different sensations, a description is found for this fact in the ‘process of five-folding’ of the object. As an example, a piece of camphor responds not only to the sense of sight but to other senses, touch, taste, smell; it is therefore conceived as made up of the five natures that are objects of sensuous perception, so mingled that one nature is dominant. The three potencies and the five natures are the three vestures and the five veils, from another point of view.
Very important are the definitions: ‘mind’ is the power of intending and doubting; ‘soul’ is the power of affirmation; the latter approaching the intuitional self which is the ‘enlightened spiritual will’. To express in terms of morals this psychological analysis, we may say that, at first, through the power of self-assertion, the idea of selfhood is falsely attributed to the physical body and its animal nature, and then to the mental picture of the physical body, which is the emotional self or lower personality. The task of regeneration, of initiating true life, consists in first checking this false self-assertion,—selfishness and sensuality,—and then through the stages of ‘intending and doubting’ and strong ‘affirmation’ substituting for the lower personality the enlightened spiritual will, which is the direct expression of the real Self, re-becoming the Eternal.
Then this chapter of physics and psychology is followed by one of metaphysics. There is the real Self, which is the Eternal. But we do not realize our life as that real Self. Why do we not realize it? Because of two errors, or illusions, which make up the double ‘heresy of separateness’. The first error is the error of our apartness from the Eternal. The second error is the error of our apartness from each other. The removal of these two errors constitutes ‘our duty towards God’ and ‘our duty towards our neighbor’; in both cases the real gain is our own, is the gain of our real Self.
Shankara calls the first error glamor; the second, unwisdom. The picture of the self formed through the first is the Lord; the picture of the self formed through the second is the Life. And the real nature of both is the same—pure consciousness,—though there is a verbal difference, a difference of definition, between them.
Then, in conclusion, the three forms of ‘deeds’ or Karma. We may compare ‘accumulated deeds’ to capital; ‘deeds entered on’, to interest; and ‘deeds to come’, to the earnings of an unselfish man for the good of others. And we must remember that each of these has a debit as well as a credit side.
The real value of this little treatise is as a key and outline of longer and more complicated works; yet it has a high excellence of its own.