Thought 76: You are pure knowledge

All knowledge is classified into:
Vritti Jnaanam – which is learnt or acquired knowledge
Pure knowledge – which is Awareness

“Vritti” means a thought; “Vritti Jnaanam” means “knowledge gathered through thoughts”. Thoughts alone give us all knowledge that we learn - from birth to death. There is no other way to gain knowledge.

All Vaasanaa Jnaanam, is “Vritti Jnanam”. Vaasanas appear as thoughts (Vrittis). Hunger, for instance, is a thought in the mind; thirst is a thought in the mind; danger from the enemy is a thought in the mind. These thoughts result in immediate actions to satisfy the need implied in such thoughts. Vaasanaa Jnaanam is in-built into the psyche of each individual.

Vivechana Jnaanam is also “Vritti Jnaanam”; every bit of it is learnt either through books or through teachers or through parents, etc. Even Aatma Jnaanam (which is also known as Advaita Jnaanam) is also acquired through Vrittis (thoughts). You discover that you are the Aatma, when the “Akhanda Brahmaakaara Vritti” unfolds in you.

There are only two things in existence – and they are The Aatma and what is not the Aatma. What is not the Aatma is called Anaatma.

Aatma is Awareness or pure knowledge. You are this pure knowledge – you are not your body-mind complex. Aatma is Nirguna Brahman (Brahman with no attributes and form), which is also called “Purusha”. Pure Jnaanam (Awareness) is Purusha. You are the Purusha (Awareness). Purusha (Awareness) can exist on its own independently.

Anaatma is called “Prakriti”. Your Sakti, for instance, is Prakriti. Your Sakti can never exist apart from you; it cannot exist independently on its own. If it has to exist, it can only exist as “my Sakti” or as “your Sakti”.

Thoughts are Anaatma or Prakriti and therefore, they always exist superimposed on Awareness in the mind. Awareness lights up all thoughts in our minds - in the same way that sun lights up this world, when only, we come to know this world. Thus, thoughts become known to us only because Awareness lights them up in our minds. Every bit of knowledge first appears as a thought in the mind, gets lighted up by the Awareness and then, becomes our knowledge. There is no other way to gain knowledge.

Prakriti is also known as Maayaa. Maayaa is the Sakti of the supreme God, Brahman. You have no control over Maayaa. But Maayaa has control over you – and on everything else in the domain of the Anaatma. Vedaanta says that Maayaa has two characteristics. Maayaa veils (which is called Aavarana Sakti in Sanskrit); it veils that portion of your knowledge in you, which reveals that you are the Aatma; consequently, you think that you are the body-mind complex - and not your Aatma. Maayaa does not veil any other knowledge that exists in you.

Maayaa also projects (which is known as Vikshepa Sakti in Sanskrit); it projects this world on the Paramaatma. Pramaatma is the screen over which the entire universe is projected. We think that the universe, its objects and beings are real, in the same way that we consider the moving pictures moving on the screen of a movie theater are real, while viewing the movie. When the movie is over, there are no more pictures – but the screen is still there. The screen (Aatma) is always there, whether the world is there or not. Maayaa makes sure that you cannot know anything about the screen - by keeping you busy viewing all kinds of pictures, which it projects on the screen.

Maayaa exists in every mind in the form of the three Gunas (which are also known as the Gunas or modes of Prakriti). These Gunas are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. These three Gunas are the engines that generate all thoughts in our minds. Each Guna generates its own characteristic thoughts. Sattva, in general, brings clarity and tranquility. Rajas, in general, brings activity. Tamas, in general. brings lethargy. Rajas and Tamas give rise to all the impurities in the mind.

All impurities in the mind arise from thoughts only. Greed is a thought. Hatred is a thought. Anger is a thought. Jealousy is a thought. Selfishness is a thought. Arrogance is a thought. Every emotion that you feel is a thought. If you get attached to these thoughts, they overpower you and drag you into a quagmire; it is something like a person being helplessly dragged into a powerful whirlpool in a river like Mississippi. But if you were to say that you are not interested in a particular thought - that thought will go away quietly without doing any damage to you. This is how you control your thoughts – and thus, you control your mind.

When you associate yourself with these thoughts, however, they will give you no respite. The mind is in constant turmoil. It is as if you are in a mental hurricane all the time; sometimes it is even like a full scale cyclone too. Maayaa does not allow you to discover who you are. It keeps you fully engaged in these worldly thoughts and the activities, which those thoughts generate. In this manner, you become a hapless and helpless victim of these thoughts. Unless the mind is rendered calm, you will not find any peace - and without peace there is no happiness for you.

In this sense, the mind is like an ocean. You only see waves on the surface of the ocean and for you the image of an ocean is merely a series of waves. If you say that to an ocean, it will smile and tell you that these waves are merely the surface phenomenon. Deep down, it is calm - very calm and peaceful indeed. It is even so with the mind. Deep down, the mind is very calm like what it is in the depth of an ocean.

Thus, mind has two portions. One portion, which is its surface (comprising the 99% of the mind) consists of waves, turmoil, agitation, and movement. The agitated part of the mind binds you to Samsaara. Samsara is the endless cycles of birth-death-and rebirth. The remaining 1% however, is very, very calm and serene. The calm part can help you gain liberation from Samsaara. The ancient Maharshis, who gave us Upanishads, had 100% of their minds very calm and serene. It is only in such minds, revelations (during the contemplation) take place. The Upanishads were revealed to those Maharshis in this manner.

You are the pure Jnaanam (Awareness), which does not participate in anything, but witnesses everything that occurs at every nook and cranny of this infinite universe. Pure knowledge does not perform any Karma. Pure knowledge has no wife and children; it has no anxiety or worry about them. It has no friends and it has no enemies also; therefore, it has no likes and dislikes and attachment or animosity. Pure knowledge has no impurities such as selfishness, greed, jealousy, arrogance, anger, hatred, etc. And yet, you have anxiety and worry, likes and dislikes, impurities such as selfishness, greed, jealousy, arrogance, anger, hatred, etc. This is all the work of Maayaa, which covers that portion of your knowledge in your mind, which should reveal that you are the Aatma, which is pure knowledge - and not the body-mind complex.

The next thought is about “The mind and attention (Awareness)”