The properties listed below are rather abstract and may initially appear strange. Hopefully, with the help of some meditation and by browsing through various articles in Who Am I?, understanding of these properties may become clear.
Property 1: Nothingness: This property summarizes the boundary between 'I' and 'The Universe'. Conception of 'I am nothing' is difficult. Similarly, the conception of 'The Universe is Everything' is also difficult. Another way to understand the same concepts: 'I am nothing; The Universe is everything; I am pure consciousness who gets to witness The Universe as it unfolds itself in its myriad forms'. The key to grasping these concepts is to develop the ability to 'see' / 'witness' / 'experience' all phenomena (all 'forms', everything 'tangible') in our day-to-day experience in third person. Meditation helps.
Property 2: Change or Impermanence: Everything in 'The Universe' is changing. 'I' (the witness who gets to experience 'The Universe') is unchanging. This concept is relatively easy to grasp from direct, first hand experience.
Property 3: Non-duality or Oneness: 'The Universe' does not have its own independent existence. 'I' and 'The Universe' are conjoined / inseparable. This is a super-tricky concept to explain or to even conceptualize. It is very confusing. But unless this concept is understood, it is difficult to make sense of some strange sounding / ostensibly meaningless 'sutras' or statements in Eastern spiritual texts.
In the sections below, we study each property in more detail.
The first property refers to the concepts of 'Nothing vs Everything'. This property can be stated in various ways:
- unmanifest vs manifest: 'The Experience' consists of everything that is 'manifest'; it is full of forms (physical phenomena, bodily phenomena and mental phenomena). These can be witnessed / 'seen' / experienced. In contrast, 'The Experiencer' is unmanifest; it witnesses whatever is manifest.
- nirguna vs saguna: 'The Experience' consists of forms which have qualities (properties / attributes) for which we have descriptive names in language. In contrast, 'The Experiencer' has no qualities (attributes or properties) except that it witnesses / sees / experiences. The words 'saguna' and 'nirguna' mean 'with qualities' and 'without qualities'.
- nothing vs everything: Another way of saying 'all that is manifest' is 'everything. The unmanifest is 'nothing'.
The word 'everything' reminds me of the '*' symbol used in regular expressions in computer science :)
- zero (bindu or void or shunya) vs infinity: These are synonyms for 'nothing' and 'everything'.
The second fascinating property related to 'The Experiencer' and 'The Experience' pertains to change. Turns out that everything in 'The Experience' keeps changing. The beings & objects experienced via the five senses keep changing, body sensations keep changing and mental phenomena keep changing. However, 'The Experiencer' is unchanging.
'The Story of King Janak', as narrated in Swami Sarvapriyananda's lecture, is helpful in fortifying the concept of change. It also paves the way to understanding the third property about 'The Experiencer' and 'The Experience' which we will soon discuss.
Let us now study a non-trivial property of The Experiencer and The Experience. This property is quite difficult to comprehend. It pertains to existence.
We intuitively know that forms (the beings and the objects) in our dream did not have their own independence existence; they occurred in us. The same intuitive knowledge can be developed for the waking state as well. In other words, forms (the beings and the objects) occurring in the waking state don't have their own independence existence either; they occur in us. In this sense, the experiencer and the experience are conjoined; they go together; they are inseparable. Thus the waking state experience is 'dream-like'; it is not a dream; it is like a dream; the likeness refers to the lack of independent existence of forms (the beings and the objects) that arise in our experience. This is the principle of non-duality or Oneness which is taught in many traditions:
Kasturi: Some traditions remind us of the musk deer (kasturi). According to folklore, when the sensitive nose of the musk deer catches wind of its own smell, it roams the forest day and night searching for the source of that smell. Thus the musk deer exhausts itself, not realizing that the source of the smell lies within.
The Tenth Man: The story of The Tenth Man has the same message.
Hymns: The bhajan Moko Kaha Dhoondhe Re Bande by Kabir.
Gurbani: Some lines:
Zen Koans: See the Zen Koan: Buddha Statue.
The Vedas: The Four Mahavakyas ('The Great Sayings' of the Upanishads) express non-duality:
- Prajñānam Brahma (प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म) in Rig Veda, which means "Prajñāna (wisdom) is Brahman" or "Brahman is Prajñāna (wisdom)".
- Ayam ātmā Brahma (अहम् ब्रह्म अस्मि) in Atharva Veda, which means "This (Self) is Brahman".
- Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) in Sama Veda, which means "Thou art That" or "You are It".
- Aham Brahmāsmi (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म) in Yajur Veda, which means "I am Brahman" or "I am Divine".
Maya: Maya is a word related to non-duality. It refers to the illusion of separation between The Experiencer and The Experience.
Tripurari: When The Experience is broken down into waking state, dream state and deep sleep, then the word Tripurari refers to 'one who destroys the illusion that these three states (which together constitute 'The Experience') are separate from the Experiencer'. The word 'Tripura' means 'the three cities', a reference to the three states. The word 'Ari' means 'enemy / destroyer'. Thus Tripurari means 'one who destroys Maya (the illusion that the Experience has its own independent existence, separate from The Experiencer').
Three important characteristics of 'I' (the experiencer) and the 'Universe' (the experience) were outlined above: nothingness, change and non-duality. Different traditions teach exactly the same concepts by using a variety of words.
- The overall relationship between 'I' and the Universe goes by many names: 'Siva and Sakti', 'dhyata - dhyeya', 'bimba - pratibimba', 'atma - paramatma', 'I and God', 'soul and God', 'Purusha - Prakriti', 'I and You', and so on.
- Word pairs that highlight the idea of 'nothing' vs 'everything' are: unmanifest vs manifest, nirguna vs saguna, zero (bindu, void, shunya) vs infinity.
- Word pairs that highlight durability are 'permanent' vs 'impermanent' (ephemeral), 'static' vs 'dynamic', 'nishkriya' vs 'sakriya', 'arising and passing' vs 'immortal' (timeless, akaal).
- Word pairs that highlight non-duality or Oneness are 'bimba' and 'pratibimba', 'ocean' and 'wave', 'gold-ness' and 'gold'.
An awesome word for referring to 'The Universe' is 'God'. Some people try to imagine God as some special light or some special experience or something 'out there, hidden from view'. However, once the concepts of 'I', 'the Universe' and their relationship is understood, it becomes clear that you're experiencing God at all times, or that God is with you at all times, or that God is manifesting in your life at all times, or that you're experiencing 'bhagwan ke darshan' at all times. It's happening right now!
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