Atmabodha: Path Of Self-enquiry

Jun 16, 2004, 12.00am IST

Pranav Khullar.

Sankara's views on advaita are best encapsulated in the classic line from his Brahma-Sutra Bhasya: "Brahma satyam jagat mithya, Jiva brahmaiva naparah — the Brahma alone is real, the world illusory, the individual and universal soul are one."


Using everyday references to illustrate advaitic concepts, the Atmabodha, set in 68 verses, seeks to put the abstruse philosophy of the Brahma-Sutras within easy reach of the average person. Sankara begins by stating that the Atmabodha will serve as a primer to those desirous of liberation, equipped with the tools of discernment and renunciation.


The second verse gets to the heart of the matter bluntly: It declares that knowledge alone can be the cause of liberation, just as fire is the direct cause of cooking. Requirements might include water, pots and pans; but it is fire which actually makes cooking possible.

Sankara states that karma or action is powerless to destroy ignorance, for "...it is not in conflict with ignorance". The Self can be known only through knowledge, just as light alone can dispel darkness. He compares the jnana abhyasa or practice of knowledge which purifies by removing ignorance, with the traditional method of purifying muddy water in rural India with kataka-nut powder. Just as the powder sprinkled on the surface of the water forms a film and drags all the impurities to the bottom, leaving pure water on the surface, constant practice and use of knowledge removes the dirt of ignorance. And just as the kataka-nut powder merges into the water after doing its work, knowledge too disappears after the Self emerges.

Sankara talks about the illusion created by oyster shells scattered along the beach on a moonlit night. We mistake them for silver, only till we recognise the reality of the oyster-shells. Similarly, the world of names and forms exist till self-know-ledge dawns. The phenomenal world exists in the mind of the perceiver alone, and names and forms are like ornaments and Vishnu, the all-pervading consciousness, is like the gold. Sankara reinforces the spirit and content of the Upanishads by alluding to the Mahavakyas in his delineation of the nature of Brahma, reiterating the well-known method of arriving at the nature of Brahma by practising "neti, neti...", not this, not this.

Sankara declares that meditation is essential to refocus on the Self. The flame of knowledge can be kindled only by constant meditation, which he compares with the act of rubbing wood to light a fire. Meditation is the friction between the mind-wood and Om-wood pieces. The story of Rama is allegorised as Atmarama, one who derives satisfaction from the Self alone, having crossed the ocean of delusion to vanquish the creatures of passion, just as Rama crossed the ocean to kill Ravana.

The concluding verses are a lucid exposition of advaita, in which Sankara seems to speak from a meditative trance, as he alludes to the nature of Brahma — sat-chit-ananda (knowledge- existence-bliss). These ver-ses reflect the cosmic nature of his thought as he exhorts: "All things, which can be perceived or heard, are Brahma itself, and nothing else...and though atma is reality, it can be perceived by one who has the eye of wisdom..." Sankara asks us to undertake the real pilgrimage to "the shrine of the atma..." which will bestow real equanimity.

Atmabodha, like its companion-piece, the Vivekachudamani, is a call to free enquiry. It reflects the fact that Sankara was reaching out to the masses as much as the intelligentsia of his time: It is a call to the heart as much as a call to the mind.