If you are a\nstudent of Vedanta, you are taught that SatChitAnanada or Brahman is the only\nReality. It is explained that SatChitAnanda is our innermost core and the\nBrahman is the underlying reality of the universe. With the powerful Mahavakya\n(Major Sentence) \u2018Tat Tvam Asi \u2013 That You Are\u2019, Vedanta makes a connection\nbetween our inner core SatChitAnandaand Brahman. That (Brahman) You\n(SatChitAnanada) Are. This way Vedanta explains that Brahman and SatChitAnanada\nare the same, there exists no dichotomy between the two and they are identical.\nYour innermost core and the underlying reality of the universe is the same. There\nis only One Reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As explained\nin my article \u2018SatChitAnanda vs Self Awareness<\/a>\u2019, that both SatChitAnanada and Self-Awareness are identical. I always\nfind Awareness is a much easier way to understand our inner core and if we get\nto know the tone and nature of contemplation then this awareness becomes much\neasier to reach our inner core. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vedanta\nteaches us that SatChitAnanada is the only Reality. Since SatChitAnanada and Awareness are identical, it is correct to\nconclude that Awareness is also the only Reality. Awareness and SatChitAnanda\nare synonyms. Awareness is our inner most core and Awareness is also the\nunderlying Reality of the universe. Does that\nmean that Awareness of the inner core is different from the Awareness of\nthe universe out there? No, they are identical, but they are different forms of\nthe same Awareness. Awareness is One, but there are different Forms. Can there\nbe different forms of the same single Reality? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, the best example is H2<\/sub>O. H2<\/sub>O is\none, but it comes in 3 different forms \u2013 liquid, vapor and solid. In liquid\nform it is called water, in vapor form it is called steam and solid form it is\ncalled ice. H2<\/sub>O remains the same\nin all the three different forms. In the same way, Awareness is the only Reality,\nbut it comes in following 3 different forms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible\ntouches upon these 3 forms by the famous Trinity quote \u2018Father, Son and the\nHoly Spirit\u2019. These are 3 forms of the same reality. An equivalent statement\nfrom Vedanta could be \u2018Brahman, Ishvara and the Guru\u2019. Not any type of Guru,\nbut a pure self-realized Guru. These 3 types can be co-related with the 3 forms\nmentioned. SatChitAnanda is the same as Self Awareness. Ishvara is another name\nfor Reflected Awareness and Guru and Refracted Awareness are identical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The focus of\nthis article is to explain these connections and the 3 forms of Reality in more\ndetail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-Awareness\nand SatChitAnanda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is very important to understand\nwhat Awareness is. A simple question \u2013 are you aware of\nreading this article? Are you aware of your surroundings? Are you aware of any\nbackground noise? If your answer is not yes, then you will not experience\nanything. You will not know you are reading this article; you will not be aware\nof your surroundings; you will not be aware of the background noise. In fact,\nwithout Awareness, you will not be aware of anything of the external universe\nout there<\/p>\n\n\n\n When this Awareness interacts with this\narticle, you have the experience of reading this article. Awareness has\nintelligence and the power of reading within itself. When Awareness interacts\nwith the background noise, you have the experience of hearing the background\nnoise. That is because the power of hearing is part of Awareness. Without awareness, we would not know any objects\nwhich are perceived by all the five sense organs \u2013 eyes, ears, nose, tongue,\nand skin. These objects from the sensory organs must encounter Awareness, and\nthen only we can experience the object in its concrete and viable form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For an\nanalogy, let us think of the sun. If there is no light emanating from the sun,\nthe entire world will be dark; anything and everything become visible only when\nthere is light. In the same way, when any form encounters the light of\nAwareness, we become aware of the object. If there is no light of Awareness,\nyou will perceive nothing, not even the sun. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Awareness is the most powerful force\nin the universe. It has the intelligence to connect with a form present in the mind\nand fill up the object with Awareness. If you analyze Awareness, you will\nconclude that Awareness is made up of a Subject, Intelligence, and it also has\nan Object with the following functions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knower, Known and Knowing\/Intelligence\nare the 3 powers of Awareness. It must be clear that <\/p>\n\n\n\n Awareness is made of Subject, Intelligence,\nand Object and it has three different powers – Knower, Knowing and Known. It\nmust be understood that the Subject, Intelligence, and Object and the three\npowers are not something outside in the world, but they are within Awareness\nand they only make up Awareness. Wherever there is awareness, the Subject,\nIntelligence and Object must be present with all the three powers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For a more detailed explanation of\nAwareness, please read my post \u2018Analyzing\nAwareness<\/a>\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is\nSelf-Awareness? <\/strong>Our inner core is full, complete and it is stand alone. For Awareness to\nbe full and complete, it must be Self-Aware. Self-Awareness means that \u2018Awareness\nis aware of Awareness\u2019. Another way to put this is that \u2018Self is aware of the\nSelf\u2019. It is like saying \u2018I am aware of the tree\u2019. Here \u2018I am\u2019 can be referred\nas the subject and the tree is the object. In Self-Awareness, the subject is\nAwareness and the object is Awareness. Awareness plays the role of subject and\nobject. In other words, both the subject and object are the same. There is one\nentity only which is non-dual. This complete, self-standing Self Awareness is\nour inner core. There is no separation between the subject and object. Even the\npower of Knower (subject\/witness) is the same as Power of Known (Object making\nability). Self-Awareness is one non-dual and homogenous. It is Self-Shining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nSelf-shining Awareness is like Bulb of Awareness and it is our inner core. It\nis not dependent upon anything else and it generates its own light of\nAwareness. And it is the Bulb of Awareness. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-Awareness\nis non-dual, homogenous and it has many inherent characteristics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n SatChitAnanda is the name given to\nthis inner core of Self-Awareness. This inner core is present in every living\nbeing. So, it is present within you, me and within everyone. This\nSelf-Awareness just shines like of bulb of Awareness, and it does not do\nanything, except radiating Awareness. Nothing affects Self-Awareness and is\nindependent of everything. It is always at peace. Peace is its inherent nature.\nBecause Self-Awareness does not anything, all the characteristics mentioned are\nlying dormant within Self-Awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflected\nAwareness and Ishvara<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If our nature and inner core is\nSelf-Awareness, why don\u2019t we know it, why don\u2019t we feel it? The simple answer\nis that we are ignorant of our inner core. Ignorance has the power to cover\nSelf-Awareness. When we forget, who we really are, ignorance pops up and covers\nour inner core. Ignorance is like a veil covering Awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-Awareness does not do anything;\nit just keeps shining. When this Self-Awareness is covered by ignorance, this\nSelf-Awareness gets reflected in the ignorance. Ignorance is like a mirror in\nwhich reflection takes place. What you get then is Reflected Awareness. When\nthe sun is reflected in a mirror, you still have the sun and you also have a\nreflected sun. This is exactly what happens here. You have SatChitAnanda, the non-dual Self-Awareness\nand the Reflected Awareness. This Reflected Awareness is called Ishvara. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We have seen that Self-Awareness is\nnondual, in which \u2018Self\u2019 is both the subject and object. Unfortunately, because\nof our ignorance, we have forgotten that our inner core is nondual, and we are\nboth the subject and the object. Since we no longer know that we are both the\nsubject and the object, it simply means that there is a separation of the\nsubject being \u2018in here\u2019 and the object being \u2018out there\u2019. Ignorance converts\nthe non-duality into the duality of the subject in here and the object out\nthere. Ignorance has that power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the non-dual Self Awareness, the\npower behind the subject is the Power of the Knower and the power behind of\nobject is the Power of the Known. In non-duality, the subject and object are\nthe same. Therefore, logically the power of the knower is the same as the power\nof known. There are homogenous with no separation. This is what happens in\nnon-dual Self Awareness or Brahman. We have just seen that because of ignorance,\nthe subject and object separate creating duality. With this separation, even\nthe power of the knower and the power of known get separated. They are no\nlonger one entity, but the power of the knower and the power of the known\nappear as two separate entities in Reflected Awareness. Even the 3rd<\/sup>\npower of Knowing is available in the Reflected Awareness. Each of these 3\npowers of Awareness is very much active in Ishvara. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vedanta teaches us that Maya Shakti<\/em> is the power or force behind the creation\nand intelligence of the universe. Power of known, the power of knowing and the\npower of known are now available in the Reflected Awareness. These 3 powers are\nnothing, but the Maya Shakti as mentioned in Vedanta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maya Shakti =\nPower of Knower + Power of Knowing + Power of Known<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This Maya Shakti is within the\nReflected Awareness and Ishvara wields this Maya Shakti to operate and control\nthis universe. The Maya Shakti is lying dormant within Self-Awareness, within\nthe Self-Shining Bulb of Awareness. Due to ignorance, this Maya Shakti becomes\nactive within the Reflected Awareness. The nature of Awareness remains the\nsame, the Reflected Awareness or Ishvara is a different form of Awareness. In\nthis form the Reflected Awareness wields of power of Maya Shakti to create,\ncontrol and manage the universe. In Reflected Awareness, the Self-Awareness\nbecomes Ishvara. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Refracted\nAwareness and Guru<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the earlier section we saw that Ishvara<\/em> as the Reflected Awareness is on\nthe input side of ignorance. In this section, we will discuss the output side\nof ignorance. This is the side the Guru functions. Before we do that, let us\ndecode ignorance and get a better understanding of ignorance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pixel of Ignorance:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to understand the\nprocess of Knowledge and the lack of knowledge (ignorance), shows that there\nare different degrees of ignorance. This ignorance plays a central role in our\nexistence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us start by taking an example of the\nknowledge of Chinese language. If someone has a complete knowledge about the\nChinese language, he knows everything that is possible; this person will have\n100% knowledge about the Chinese language. On the other end of the scale, there\nare people who are completely ignorant about the language; they are 100%\nignorant about this language. Every living being in the universe will fall in\nbetween this scale of 100% knowledge to 100% ignorance. So, there is a\nknowledge\/ignorance profile about the Chinese language. Take another subject,\nsay Mathematics. Here again, there will be a scale of 100% knowledge to 100%\nignorance. People will fall somewhere in the scale of 100% knowledge to 100%\nignorance. So, there is a knowledge\/ignorance profile for mathematics. In the\nsame way, there must be a knowledge\/ignorance profile for every possible topic\nor object in the universe. If we combine this scale of 100% knowledge to 100%\nignorance for every topic, we will get a cumulative knowledge\/ignorance profile\nfor all the possible topics and objects. Within this cumulative knowledge\/ignorance\nscale, each person will know his\/her own knowledge or ignorance profile. Each\nliving being has more knowledge on some topics and less or no knowledge of the other\ntopics. In other words, every being will have each of their own unique\nknowledge\/ignorance profile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To the knowledge\/ignorance profile of\nobjects, you must also add the knowledge profile of the Self. Here again, the\nspectrum can be broken down into countless parts and each part has a different\namount of Ignorance. An enlightened person will have 100% knowledge of the\nSelf, while a completely ignorant person will have 0% knowledge or 100%\nignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this cumulative and complicated knowledge\/ignorance\nprofile, if you can imagine there are countless number of \u2018pixels of\nignorance\u2019. Each \u2018pixel of ignorance\u2019 has its own unique mix of ignorance and\nknowledge. Each \u2018pixel of ignorance\u2019 represents a single individual living\nbeing with his\/her own ignorance\/knowledge profile. There is countless number\nof living beings and each living being has his\/her own \u2018pixel of ignorance\u2019.\nYou have a pixel of ignorance and I have a pixel of ignorance, and in the same\nway every living being has its own unique pixel of ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have seen that on the input side of\nignorance, the Reflected Awareness is present with duality, with separate\nsubject, object and the intelligence. This reflected Awareness or the Ishvara,\nmakes the pixel conscious and sentient. When this pixel of ignorance interacts\nwith the reflected Awareness, it breaks up the Self-Awareness into the\nfollowing 4 parts. We know that Self Awareness is made up of the following 4\nparts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-Awareness = Self + Subject + Intelligence\n+ Objects<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is like refraction. Place a prism\nin front of the light and we can see the 7 different colors on the other side.\nIn the same ways, the ignorance of the Self within the pixel refracts the\nreflected Awareness into the following 4 different components. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These 4 components make up the mind.\nThe creation of the mind is the output side of the pixel of ignorance. The mind\nis the part of the subtle body. So, the ignorance of the Self has that power to\ncreate the mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mind = Refracted Awareness + Ignorance<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a countless number of pixels\nof ignorance \u2013 one for each individual living being. This refraction takes\nplace in each pixel and thereby countless minds are created. Each mind thus\ncreated, will be different; it will depend upon the knowledge\/ignorance profile\nfor each pixel. The simple calculation is this: more the ignorance, less\nefficient the mind. It will have a lower intelligence level. The opposite is\nalso true, lower is the level of ignorance, the mind finds the right passage to\nevolve fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Sattvic mind will have no\nignorance. In Sanskrit Sattvic means pure. This\nmeans a pure mind with no Ignorance. This is the mind of a true Guru. These\ndays the term Guru is overused, and it can mean a teacher or expert. In\nVedanta, the term Guru is much more specific, it means a self- realized\nspiritual person with no ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guru\u2019s Mind = Refracted Awareness (no\nignorance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Guru\u2019s mind with no ignorance is\nno different from SatChitAnanda. Guru is SatChitAnanda in human form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Guru\u2019s mind has no ignorance. What\ndoes this mean? It means that the Guru knows that his innermost core is\nSelf-Awareness. He knows that it is his inherent nature. He knows he is full\nand complete, displays a higher quality of mind, knowledge, reflection and free\nfrom materialistic desires. He is at peace with everything good and bad. This\nstate is permanent; it is not a fluctuating state. His mind is always immersed\nin Awareness. In fact, it is correct to say that the Guru has no mind, he has\nonly Self-Awareness. The Guru abides in the source and has no need for the\nmind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost every living being experiences\nduality \u2013 the subject \u2018in here\u2019 and the object \u2018out there\u2019. This is our daily experience. We have seen\nignorance of our non-dual nature of Self Awareness, leading to duality with the\nseparation of the subject and the object. Since the Guru does not experience\nduality, does that mean that the Guru does not perceive the universe \u2018out\nthere\u2019? That is incorrect; he perceives the world out there, but experiences\nnon-duality. The Guru\u2019s perceives world and knows it part of the Self, which is\nnature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Guru is not ignorant; the Guru\noperates on the side of Refracted Awareness. He knows that his true nature is\nSelf-Awareness. He has no confusion regarding this. Since the content of all\nthe objects is Awareness, the Guru who is Self-Aware of sees his true nature of\nAwareness in all the objects of the universe. He sees no difference between his own Self and\nall the objects out there. He therefore sees nonduality everywhere in the\nuniverse. He sees all the form of the objects, but he sees them as Awareness,\nas his own Self. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you are a student of Vedanta, you are taught that SatChitAnanada or Brahman is the only Reality. It is explained that SatChitAnanda is our innermost core and the Brahman is the underlying reality of the universe. With the powerful Mahavakya (Major Sentence) \u2018Tat Tvam Asi \u2013 That You Are\u2019, Vedanta makes a connection between … Continue reading Three Forms of Reality<\/span>