Four Factors In Self-Knowledge - Swami Paramarthananda

To understand about knowledge in general, we should know four factors connected with knowledge. The first factor is the ‘locus of knowledge’. I should have a clear idea about where the knowledge takes place. I should know what the nature of knowledge is. In Sanskrit, locus is called ashraya and nature is called svarupam. Then, the third factor is the object of knowledge or vishaya.  I cannot generally say knowledge. I should say knowledge of what. Finally and most importantly, the instrument or means by which I generate knowledge. Locus, nature, object, and instrument - We should clearly know these four factors.

The first thing is the locus of knowledge. We already know that any knowledge has to take place only in the intellect, buddhi. Knowledge cannot take place in the physical body. Knowledge cannot take place in the atma also. There is only one place where knowledge can take place.That is called buddhi or manah. I will use the word intellect.

The second thing that we have to understand is the nature of knowledge. If knowledge has to take place in the mind, the knowledge can only be of one nature and that is in the form of thoughts. Any knowledge has to take place in the intellect and it has to be in the form of a thought alone. In Sanskrit, we call it vrttih.Vrttih means a thought mode.

In-fact, as even I am talking, your intellect is available here. And as even you hear my words, they are entering your intellect and a thought modification takes place. If nothing takes place in your intellect, there will only be blankness like a blank tape. Your intellect is undergoing thought modification and you are gathering knowledge or information. Therefore, knowledge is in the form of thought or vrtti. This is the nature of any knowledge.

The third factor that you have to know is the object of knowledge. Object of knowledge is anything about which I want to know. It can be atom, planets or anything that I want to know.

Fourth and most important factor is the instrument or means by which I gather knowledge. We have got several instruments. In-fact, every sense organ is an instrument. Now, you are using your ears. You use your eyes to know the color of an object. You use your nose to get the knowledge of smell. Every sense organ is an instrument of Knowledge. In Vedanta, it is called a pramanam.

Pramanam means an instrument of knowledge. All scientific discoveries also are based on the sense organs only. The only difference is that they do experiments with the help of sense organs and collect the data. Based on the data, they build up their knowledge.

Even though they use a lot of scientific reasoning as Newton did to arrive at the law of gravitation, no doubt that thinking is involved, but the data or the datum of the apple falling was collected with the help of sense organs only. Thus, we have got a set of instruments with which we gather knowledge. Of these four factors, the first two are same for any knowledge.

Whether you want to know sound or color or smell or taste or touch, the locus is the same. Any knowledge has to take place in the intellect alone. It is same for all. Similarly, the nature of knowledge is also the same. Whatever be the knowledge, whether it is smell or taste or color or physics or chemistry or economics, takes place in the form of vrtti or thought mode only.

Therefore, it does not change. It is uniform for all kinds of knowledge. The object of knowledge changes from situation to situation. If a college student sits in a physics class, the subject matter is physics. In chemistry class, the subject matter is chemistry. The object changes, but the locus is the buddhi and the nature of knowledge is vrtti. The objects alone change, but buddhi and vrtti do not change.

Similarly, the instrument of knowledge also will change depending

upon the object. If I want to know the sound, I have to use the ears

alone. If I want to want to know the color, I have to use the eyes alone. In eating, you can use different instruments. You can use your hand, a spoon, a fork or chopsticks, but with regard to knowledge you have no choice.

If you want to know the colour, you have to use the eyes and for sound, you have to use the ears. Depending upon the object, you have to use different instruments of knowledge. These four factors are important for any knowledge.

Now, we have to come to the specific knowledge called self knowledge.

What are the four factors to be employed with regard to self-knowledge? What is the locus of self knowledge, where does it take place? What is the nature of Self Knowledge? What is the object of Self Knowledge? What is the instrument of Self Knowledge?

We should have clarity regarding these. Otherwise, we will be groping in darkness.

Here also, we should be very clear that like any other knowledge, Self Knowledge also requires intellect as the locus of knowledge. Any knowledge can take place in the intellect alone, including Self Knowledge. That is why scriptures talk about preparing the intellect,refining the ground of knowledge.

By knocking off the intellect, I cannot get knowledge. Intellect is very much required as the receptacle, as the basis of knowledge.

एष सर्वेषु भूतेषु गूढोऽऽत्मा न प्रकाशते ।

दृश्यते त्वग्र्यया बुद्ध्या सूक्ष्मया सूक्ष्मदर्शिभिः ।। 1.3.12 ।।

।1.3.12।। He is hidden in all beings, and hence He does not appear as the Self (of all). But by the seers of subtle things, He is seen through a pointed and fine intellect.

मनसैवेदमाप्तव्यं नेह नानास्ति किंचन ।

मृत्योः स मृत्युं गच्छति य इह नानेव पश्यति ।। 2.1.11 ।।

 ।2.1.11।। This is to be attained through the mind indeed. There is no diversity here whatsoever. He who sees as though there is difference here, goes from death to death.

Upanishads make it very clear that intellect has to be prepared and kept intact as a locus of the knowledge. That is why Shri Dayananda Swamiji says that some people listen to the talk sitting in meditation and if they are going to make their mind blank sitting here, nothing will happen. They have to keep their intellect alert and ready to receive any knowledge, including Self Knowledge. Therefore, intellect is the locus of Self Knowledge also.

Then, the next question is - what is the nature of Self Knowledge? Here also, we have to understand that all the other forms of knowledge are in the form of thoughts. It has to be extended to Self Knowledge also. Self Knowledge also has to take place only in the form of a thought. Thoughtlessness is not any knowledge. Thought is knowledge. Self Knowledge is also vrtti rupa.

Shankaracharya beautifully says - vrttim jnanamayim krtva pashyet brahmamayam jagat. jnanamayi vrttih - vrtti in the form of knowledge, knowledge in the form of vrtti. Vrtti means a thought. Self Knowledge has to take place in the form of a thought which corresponds to the self, the atmaaakara vrtti or atma vrtti. This is the nature of Self Knowledge.

Then, the next question is - what is the object of Self Knowledge? Here alone there is uniqueness. In all other branches of science, we try to learn about one object or the other. It is all objective knowledge called apara vidya or material sciences. The uniqueness of Self Knowledge is that it is the only knowledge where the object of knowledge happens to be the subject itself.

There is no uniqueness with regard to the locus of knowledge. The locus is the same whether it is material knowledge or Self Knowledge.The locus is the intellect only. And the nature is also the same for both material knowledge and spiritual knowledge. It has to be in the form of vrtti alone. There is no difference in nature or locus, but the difference is only in the object of knowledge.

Here, the object of knowledge happens to be the very subject itself. I

am the object of knowledge.

Then, comes the fourth important factor.

We have seen the locus, nature and the object. Now the crucial question is - what is the instrument or means of gathering this knowledge? The normal instruments of knowledge that we use, like the sense-organs of perception are all turned extrovert. By their very nature, they can only reveal the external world of objects.

They are incapable of objectifying the subject. That is why it is called the subject. If they could objectify the subject; subject would have been called the object. Therefore, our peculiar problem is that all our instruments of knowledge are turned extrovert.

पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत् स्वयम्भूस्तस्मात् पराङ्पश्यति नान्तरात्मन् ।
The self-existent Lord destroyed the outgoing senses. Therefore one sees the outer objects and not the inner self.

My sense organs are not able to help me know myself. All the material sciences also cannot help because all the material sciences are based on sensory data. Physics deals with a field which is again based on sensory data. In any branch of science, they do experimentation, collect data and arrive at the knowledge.

Therefore, all sciences also cannot help because they are all based on extrovert sense organs. Therefore, they cannot give Self Knowledge. If all the conventional instruments are useless, what should I do, is the crucial question. It is a very important question for a serious spiritual seeker. If one is very serious, this becomes a very big question.

The answer given is - what do you do if you want to see your own eyes? We have got a pair of eyes. With these eyes we can see everything that is seeable in the world. They have the capacity and they are powerful without defects. I want to see my own eyes with this pair of eyes. What will I do? Somebody tells that my eyes are beautiful. I want to take a look at my own eyes.

However powerful my eyes are, they will never be able to look at themselves because a subject, a seer cannot objectify the seer itself.

Then, what do we do? Bhagavan has given a reflecting surface, a mirror or a polished wall. I look at the mirror and I am able to see my own eyes. The beauty is that even though the eyes are turned outwards, with the help of the mirror, what I am seeing is not the mirror, but I am seeing my own eyes.

But one thing is that mirror alone is not enough. My eyes also must be

in good condition. So, I use my eyes and I improve the capacity of my

eyes by having an external aid, an external support which is called the

mirror. When the combination of the regular instrument plus an additional support called the mirror comes, I will be able to see.

Now, the scriptures point out that with regard to Self Knowledge also,

we have to use an external support or aid. However much you independently try, you will never succeed. It is like a person with powerful eyes saying he won’t use a mirror to see his own eyes. He is

only going to be the loser. Similarly, if I refuse to take external help, I

will never succeed in gaining Self Knowledge. So, I require a mirror.

The local mirror will not be of any use because that will show only the physical eye. The real ‘I’, the true self, cannot be seen with the help of the local mirror. We require another mirror which we call Shastra mirror. Shastra or the scriptures are the mirror which will show my own nature to myself.

When I study the scriptures and when I employ the scripture, it looks as though I am extrovert. Many people think that scriptural study is an

extrovert pursuit, but we should remember that it is like looking at the

mirror. I am looking outwards, but what I see is my own eye. Similarly, when I study the scriptures, it looks as though I am extrovert, but really speaking, scriptures are serving as a mirror.

When I study the scriptures, I get a clear knowledge of myself.Therefore, there is no difference between scriptural study and self enquiry. It is exactly like seeing the mirror is seeing my own eyes. The more clearly I look into the mirror, the more clearly I see my own eyes.

Similarly, scriptural study is not an extrovert pursuit. Scriptural knowledge is synonymous with Self Knowledge. Scriptural enquiry is synonymous with self enquiry because scriptures are verbal mirrors, word mirrors called shabda pramanam. If we use them, we come to know of our real nature. But when we enter into the shabda pramanam, the scriptural words, especially the Vedantic scriptures, we face some fundamental problem.

This knowledge being unique as it is dealing with the self, the scriptures use some methodologies to convey this knowledge because it is not a regular knowledge of objective things. Because it is a unique subject matter, scriptures use special methods to communicate. Therefore, if I try to study the scriptures by myself, I never will be able to extract the teaching. In fact, the scriptures are seemingly full of contradictions.

A mantra in Ishavasya Upanishad says  - vidya ca avidya ca yastad

veda ubhayam saha - If you have the knowledge of the combination of knowledge and ignorance. The scriptures talk about the combination of vidya and avidya which is very difficult to understand. Because how can you combine vidya and avidya? Yet Ishavasya Upanishad asks you to combine vidya and avidya.

Again it says  avidyaya mrutyum tirthva – having crossed mortality through ignorance. That means you should get immortality through ignorance!!! If immortality can be got through ignorance, you should have got it long before because we are rich in ignorance. But the Upanishad asks us to get immortality through ignorance. So what does it mean?

Therefore, the more you read the Upanishad on your own, you will only get confused because of the peculiar, seemingly contradictory words that the scriptures use. There is another problem also with regard to the scriptural words.

This is also another technical subject. There is a difference between scriptural words and non-scriptural words, the other literature. What is the difference? When I read a Physics book and know about the law of gravitation or I learn about Boyles Law or Charles Law, I gather the knowledge of the particular law from the words of the book.

But how did the author of Boyles Law or Charles Law gather that knowledge? I  know the law of gravitation by reading a book, but how

did Newton get the knowledge of gravitational law? He certainly did not read the book. He got the knowledge through other methods such as

sense organs and his intellect.

Therefore, the Physics book is not producing knowledge. The words about physics are only transmitting the knowledge which has been gathered by Newton by other methods. Therefore, words about physics are never the producers of knowledge. They are only transporters of knowledge which has been gathered by Newton through other methods.

It doesn’t matter even if the Physics book is destroyed because if Newton can invent, other human beings can also invent. There, the words are not important because the words are not the producers but the words are only carriers of knowledge.

But when we talk about the Upanishads, we should understand that the Upanishads are not the carriers of knowledge. It is not that the Rishis got the knowledge by other methods and then they converted into words. If the Rishis have gathered the wisdom through other methods and they have converted that knowledge into words, these words are not very important because even if the words are gone, we can get the knowledge by other methods.

We should remember that the Upanishadic words produce a knowledge

which cannot be gathered by any other methods. Unlike Physics or Chemistry whose knowledge can be gathered without books through

other means, Upanishadic words, Vedantic words are of a totally different type.

They are not the carrier of knowledge gained through other methods. They produce a unique knowledge which can never be gathered by any

other method. Therefore, the scriptural words are given the title aloukika shabdha or words which do not originate within our transactional reality  This is a crucial difference between the scriptural text and all the other text books. We lose nothing if all the Physics books are destroyed. We can gather the same knowledge through other methods.

However the knowledge given through the scriptures is unique knowledge. They can never be gathered by any other method. Therefore, the scriptural words have to be employed in such a way that it gives me a unique knowledge. We do not know this and we do not have the key to open the scriptural words and extract this unique knowledge.

This key is only with the jnanis or wise people who have received the knowledge from the tradition of knowledge passed down from Guru to disciple. Therefore, only if a wise person handles the scriptural words, he will be able to show the scriptural words  as a mirror in front of you. And the words coming from the mouth of an Acharya serve as a subtle mirror which will help you discover this knowledge.

Om Tat Sat