“You” don’t really exist.
The Sevenfold Insight: Part II
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.
Maharishi: The ultimate Truth is so simple. It is nothing more than Being in the Pristine State. This is all that need be said. Still, it is a wonder that to teach this simple Truth there should come into being so many religions, creeds, methods and disputes among them and so on! Oh the pity! Oh the pity!
Maj. Chadwick: But people will not be content with simplicity; they want complexity.
Maharishi: Quite so. Because they want something elaborate and attractive and puzzling, so many religions have come into existence and each of them is so complex and each creed in each religion has its own adherents and antagonists.- Ramana Maharishi, Talk 96
The goal of Yoga is the complete cessation of dukkha. A healthy body and a calm mind are simply side effects.1
The diagnosis, as we have discussed at length, is dukkha - the “bumpy ride” nature of life.
The cause of dukkha is the conjunction between Prakriti and Purusha, which is further caused by avidya - the Primal Ignorance that manifests as the confusion between what is “me” and what is “not me.”
Specifically, we confuse the Self with the reflection of the Purusha in the mind (specifically in the sattvic aspect of the buddhi), and as a result, everything that happens to the body or mind, we take seriously as happening to “me.”
While the situation may seem dire, the prognosis is good.
This “good news” (aka “gospel”), is that there is a solution to the problem of dukkha, and this “state” is called Kaivalyam - independence, or freedom. Specifically, this refers to the freedom of the Purusha.
It is not something to be attained, but rather, It is already the case. The Purusha never was conjoined with Prakriti, it only seems that way. This is why it is also known as “Realization” - we “Realize” that we were already free, like a person who is looking everywhere for their glasses, only to find that they were wearing them all along.
This is the Ultimate Insight - the final goal of Yoga which frees us2 from dukkha.
This Ultimate Insight has seven aspects to it. These are not seven separate insights that arise, but rather seven separate angles of the same simple insight, appearing sequentially. They are:
The first four have to do with the personal effort of the Yogi. That is, they arise due to consistent, careful, and honest practice.
The last three arise spontaneously. That is, once the first four have arisen, even without any further practice, the last three will come with time.
Last week, we discussed the first four. This week, we will discuss the final three. You can catch up on last week’s article here:
The buddhi fulfils its purpose
The buddhi, as we know, is the function of mind which decides and determines. When “you” make a decision, it is the buddhi making the decision, while the Purusha (ie. the real “You”) witnesses the decision being made.
The buddhi is the first evolute of Prakriti in the individual. That is, all other functions are simply different modifications of the buddhi, just as various gold ornaments are simply different modifications of gold, or waves are simply different modifications of the same underlying water.
The purpose of the buddhi, and so of all of Prakriti, is twofold:
Bhoga: Experience
Apavarga: Liberation
Vyutthaana samskaaras, or outward mental impressions, pull the Yogi towards bhoga, while nirodha samskaaras, or inward mental impressions, pull the Yogi towards apavarga. There are only two possible directions, and they are diametrically opposed to each other.
P: Why are they opposed? Can’t you have both?
Jogi: This is like asking if you can go both East and West at the same time.
P: How so?
Jogi: Bhoga involves the separation of objects from each other, and from the experiencer. Without this separation, there can be no experience. That is, in order for any experience to occur, it must involve three things: the experienced object, the experiencer, and the experience that connects them.
Apavarga, or Freedom, on the other hand, involves the Realization that there is no separation between objects, and that the “I” that experiences is simply a convention. This means that experience as we know it cannot occur. As a result, the two are diametrically opposed.
P: Does this mean that the Realized Yogi doesn’t experience anything?
Jogi: Yes and no. They Realize that there was nothing to experience - that the objects are not actually there as they thought they were - but this doesn’t mean they disappear completely. This like a person who knows there is no sense in trying to catch hold of a rainbow, since it is just an appearance. However, in Asamprajnaata Samaadhi - the objectless, seedless Samaadhi - the objects, including the mind, do disappear completely for the duration of Samaadhi.
At this point in the journey, the Yogi has used their experience of the world to turn the mind towards Liberation, and has now reached the ultimate point of the journey, wherein the second purpose has also been achieved. That is, both bhoga and apavarga - the only two purposes of the buddhi have been fulfilled.
Normally, as we go about our lives, the main thing we are trying to achieve is fulfilment. We run after money, power, fame, and so on, putting ourselves through great pains in order to achieve these things in the hope that we will feel fulfilled. However, even if we achieve them, we still feel a sense of incompleteness.
Kaivalyam, on the other hand, results in a feeling of Ultimate Fulfillment, since there is nothing more for the mind to do.
The mind dissolves back into the gunas
रङ्गस्य दर्शयित्वा निवर्तते नर्तकी यथा नृत्यात्।पुरुषस्य तथात्मानं प्रकाश्य विनिवर्तते प्रकृतिः॥Rangasya darshayitvaa nivartate nartakee yathaa nrityaatPurushasya tathaAtmaanam prakaashya vinivartate PrakritihJust as a dancer stops dancing after the show, once she has been seen on the stage, so does Prakriti cease once [her true nature] has been seen by the Purusha.
- Sankhya Karika LIX
The mind, in Yoga, is comprised of the five organs of action, the five sense organs, the manas, the ahamkaar, and the buddhi. The ahamkaar is a modification of the buddhi (like a wave is a modification of water; or like a pot is a modification of clay, which is a further modification of mud). The manas and the ten organs are a further modification of the ahamkaar.
What then is the buddhi a modification of?
The buddhi is a modification of the three gunas that comprise Prakriti, or nature. The three gunas - sattva, rajas, and tamas - are always in flux, rising, falling, and modifying into various shapes.
The buddhi is just one of these shapes that it takes.
For many of us, we consider the mind to be “me.” We can recognize this feeling directly when we make a decision, and feel like “I” made the decision, when we understand something and we think “I” understood, or when we think something and feel that “I” had a thought. We feel like the mind is consistent throughout our lives, saying things like “I didn’t know at the time” as though the “I” at the time was the same “I” that is here now.
The mind is, upon closer inspection, more like the flame of a candle. When we see a flame, we can easily recognize it, and we give it a label, “flame.” As the candle burns, we refer to the flame as a consistent object.
In reality, a flame is a constantly flowing stream of hot gas. As carbon atoms are released from the wax, they rise and interact with oxygen in the air. Some of the carbon atoms remain free-floating for a while, and when they heat up, they glow. The actual particles within the flame are changing, moment to moment, yet the shape and colour remain somewhat consistent. It is the combination of form and colour that we label as “flame.” Actually, there is no “flame” as such - just a shifting stream of hot gas particles.
Similarly, the mind is a shifting stream of the gunas, which we combine into pratyayas - mental events which we categorize and classify based on “shapes.” We then combine these pratyayas into vrittis, and then combine these vrittis further to form our identity. Really, there is no identity there, just as really, there is no flame.
All patterns are a function of the mind, created due to mental effort. It is like seeing shapes in clouds.
In the case of “mind”, however, we take the patterns seriously, and so we put a lot of mental effort into keeping track of the patterns. It is like if we saw a rabbit in the clouds, and then got obsessed with the pattern, making sure that the rabbit is alright, wondering about its origins, and then getting upset when it disappears.
When we Realize the true nature of the Self - that is, when we see that the Self is the Purusha, and not any particular combination of the gunas, we cease to give importance to the combinations. When this happens, we stop putting effort into superimposing a layer of consistency onto the shifting patterns, and so, in a sense, the pattern that we called “mind” disappears.
The Purusha shines independently
“You don’t really exist. That is, as an ego, a soul, a separate will … Now, don’t misunderstand me. This is not any kind of fatalism when I say “you”—as you conceive yourself to be, that is your ego, your image of yourself—isn’t there! That it doesn’t exist.
It’s an abstraction. It’s like ‘three.’ Did you ever see three? Plain, ordinary three? No, nobody ever saw it. It’s a concept, it’s a vikalpa. So, in the same way, is one’s self3. There is the happening, the suchness—yes, sure, you bet—but it’s not pushing you around, because there’s no you to be pushed around. In other words, there’s no billiard ball on the end of the cue.”
- Alan Watts
In the third sutra of the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali declares the final result of Yoga:
तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपे अवस्थानम्।Tadaa drashtuh svaroope avasthaanamThen, the Seer rests in its own nature.
- Yoga Sutras 1.3
This is the Ultimate aim of Yoga.
The Seer - the Purusha - is simply Awareness. It is like a light that shines on the objects of this Universe, including the mind. Just as light is unaffected by the objects it falls on, but illumines them, Awareness is unaffected by the objects it illumines.
Specifically, we feel as though “I am angry”, “I am happy”, or “I am thin”, “I am muscular”, and so on, only due to the confusion of the Self and non-Self - the apparent conjunction of Purusha and Prakriti. In reality, however, the two are not conjoined, and never were.
The Purusha has always been free of Prakriti, and will remain so. It is the unchanging, unmoving reality behind the shifting appearance of the Universe.
This confusion results in a feeling of contraction - we feel small, limited to the body and mind, in a vast Universe. We feel as though we were dropped here somehow, with no clear purpose. However, we only feel this way because we are not seeing clearly. We have identified with a particular pattern, and as a result disidentified with everything that falls outside of it.
Upon Kaivalyam, this confusion is cleared up. We see that the body and mind are simply patterns of our own mental creation, and that the Self is different from them. We see that the entire Universe is just a movement of Prakriti, and that Prakriti extends all the way up to the buddhi, which is, in fact, not “me.”
Most insights are appropriated by the ahamkaar. That is, we have an insight, and we feel “I have had an insight” (even if not so blatantly). Here, however, the ahamkaar is seen to be a pattern in Prakriti, of our own mental creation (ie. superimposition), and so the ahamkaar does not appropriate this insight. This is why is is not technically “correct” for a person to claim “I am enlightened”, because it can never actually be so.
The person is never free, because the “person” is just a movement of Prakriti. On the other hand, the Purusha (who was always free, and always will be) does not have an appropriating function, since it is just the light of Awareness shining upon everything else. Therefore, there is, in Truth, no one to claim “I am enlightened.”
At this final stage, all suffering is seen to be a creation of Prakriti, experienced within Prakriti, illumined by the Purusha. In this way, the suffering ceases, since it is seen to be, ultimately, a creation of mind.
P: Wait a second, are you saying that all suffering is just in the mind? Like I can just “think” myself out of suffering?
Jogi: Not in this way. Suffering feels real, and from a transactional standpoint, is real. That is, as long as there is a “me” to suffer, there will be suffering, and any mental effort to “think it away” is simply fooling oneself. Rather, the “me” that is suffering is not a fundamentally real entity - it is more a pattern like a flame, or like a rabbit in the clouds. When this is realized, then suffering is no longer what it used to be. In this way, Kaivalyam does not solve suffering, but dissolves it.
TL;DR
The goal of Yoga is the cessation of suffering. A calm mind and a healthy body are side-effects.
Through the practice of Yoga, we have many insights. The culminating Insight - called Prajnaa - results in Kaivalyam, which is the removal of avidya, or the Primal Ignorance, which results in us feeling like we are a separate “me” that has been dropped into this world, like a crow on the branches of a dead tree. Removing avidya results in the dissolution of all suffering, by way of Realizing that the “me” that was suffering, as well as the suffering itself, were both appearances all along - like a rope seen in the darkness may appear to be a snake.
This Ultimate Insight has seven aspects. The first four aspects have to do with the personal effort of the Yogi, while the last three arise spontaneously, and have to do with the freedom of the mind. The seven aspects are:
Ultimately, this is the final goal of life. All we are doing, no matter what we are doing, is for this purpose - the cessation of suffering and the attainment of lasting fulfilment. Most of us spend our lives running around the hamster wheel of karma doing things that we hope to bring us happiness, but that ultimately only result in disappointment and suffering. We cope by reducing our expectations, saying “that’s just how life is.”
The Yogi, however, does not settle. This is Yoga.
Next time: More on Kaivalyam
Necessary side effects, or stepping stones, without which the goal is very difficult to achieve.
In a sense, since we are already free. We just haven’t Realized it yet. Additionally, the person is never free, it is the Purusha - the Awareness that shines on the combination of gunas we refer to as the “person” (ie. the Real You) - that is free.
In Yogic terms, “self” here refers to the combination of the gunas which we normally refer to as “me.” The Purusha itself is not an object - it is more akin to the Clear Light of the Void in Buddhist terminology.