BHUMA-VIDYA 17

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Om Namah Sivaya

The Chhandogya Upanishad

SANATKUMARA'S INSTRUCTIONS ON BHUMA-VIDYA

 

Section 13

Memory

Smaro vava akasad-bhuyah, tasmad-yady-api bahava asiran-nasmarantah, naiva te kamcana srnuyuh, na manviran, na vijaniran, yada vava te smareyuh atha srnuyuh atha manviran, atha vijaniran, smarena vai putran vijanati, smarena pasun, smaram upasisveti.

 

Here, smara is a peculiar term which has been interpreted as the power of consciousness which is recognised as self-existence. Our consciousness of our own existence is prior to the operation of our consciousness of the recognition of space outside us. We must exist first, if space is to be there. So our consciousness of self-existence is prior to the determining factor of the consciousness of this vast expanse that we call space. So, smara does not merely mean a kind of memory which is the common meaning of the term. It is something superior to it. This self-existence which we feel as identical with our own consciousness, which is what is meant by the word smara, is no doubt superior to space. If we ourselves are not there, there is no question of space being there. Smara is therefore surely greater than akasa-smaro vava akasad-bhuyah. If any person is there who has lost consciousness of his or her own existence, there is no question of space, no question of

hearing or thinking, and no question of understanding. No function of any kind worthwhile will be possible, if there is no self-consciousness. If we are not aware of our own existence, what is the good of thinking about space or fire or anything? So, our self-consciousness, the self-consciousness of everyone, is superior to space, and it is that which determines the character of space. Wherever there is the manifestation of this self-consciousness, the presence of I-hood, there arises every kind of knowledge. There is thinking, there is understanding, there is hearing, and there desire operates in ever so many ways. All our activity in life, whatever be the nature of that activity, is an offshoot of consciousness of our own existence. Minus that, the whole world is naught.

Sa yah smaram brahmety-upaste, yavat smarasya gatam, tatrasya yatha kamacaro bhavati, yah smaram brahmety-upaste, asti, bhagavah, smarad-bhuya iti, smarad vava bhuyo'stiti; tan-me, bhagavan, bravitv-iti.

 

This itself is a very superior type of meditation where you regard self-consciousness as the object of meditation. Now, we are slowly turning from the objective to the subjective side. We have to rise further up yet, to still higher levels which are dealt with in the sections that follow in this chapter. A person who meditates in this manner on the supreme self-consciousness prior to the perception of every kind of object, of even space itself, such a person is superior to that extent, and he has freedom to the extent of the realm of self-consciousness.

This is a startling turning point in the process of meditation. Generally, we take all objects of meditation as being outside us and located in space. We never for a moment imagine that objects have something to do with our own self-existence. The relationship between the consciousness of objects and the objects of consciousness escapes the notice of consciousness, so that we always take it for granted that objects are independent, existing outside, as though hanging in space, unconnected with other things, including one's own self. This is not true. That objects are suspended in space independently, independent of even the consciousness of their existence, is not true. They have some connection. A correlativity of being is manifested by all objects, and their nature, their character, their reaction is entirely in relation to the nature, the location and the character of the subject perceiving or experiencing them.

This is a higher knowledge which is not available to the ordinary layman who always mistakes the objects for independent things outside, and depends on them, hangs on them, as if they are his support entirely, not knowing that he himself is the contributory factor to their very existence and operation. So, to come to the inside from the outside, to the subjective from the objective, is a great achievement indeed, which is not easily possible for ordinary people.

Now at this stage, there is sudden shift of emphasis from the external to the internal when Sanatkumara says that self-consciousness is superior to everything that he has told Narada up to this time, including space itself, which means to say the whole world of externality.

"But is there something superior to this smara, self-existence, and if so, may I know about it?" asks Narada. "Yes, there is something more than this also. This self-existence of yours of which you are conscious is not the ultimate reality. It is also an effect of something superior to it," is the reply of the great master Sanatkumara. "What is that? Kindly condescend to instruct me about it," prays Narada.

----Sri Swami Krishnananda

Sivaya Namah

 

 

 

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