From Thinking to Knowing

Knowing vs Thinking : Why it matters 

A couple of weeks back the topic of our Sunday zoom class was Maya. There is perhaps no other topic that intrigues scientists, spiritual seekers and ordinary folks alike. It confuses the brain like nothing else. It challenges long held beliefs about what is real and what is not. My understanding, which I voiced during the discussion after the class, was that anything that is perceptible as an object is Maya. 

But I realize, even that deduction is perhaps an oversimplification.

Yesterday I wrote a post about teeth and tongue. These are two body parts of a single person’s body. Extrapolate this to the concept of Sarva Khalvidam Bramha! Everything that exists is a single entity, Brahman! I was watching the sun rise on the eastern horizon this morning. As per my usual habit I offered obeisance to the sun while acknowledging that it is part of my whole being. It set off a series of considerations.

Am I perceiving it as an object? Perhaps. Does that contradict the idea that it is part of my being? Yes and no. That would depend upon how I see myself. If I limit my idea of myself to a single human body then the sun as an object can’t be part of me. But if my idea of myself is totality of all existence, seen and unseen, then the sun is part of me. How can I see it as an object? Can’t I see my hands and feet as objects ? Can’t I feel my nose, ears, teeth or tongue as objects? Yet I know they are not separate from me as a person, right? The concept of me has extended to them. It has extended beyond these body parts to the contents and patterns of my thoughts and emotions. And what has brought them under one roof ? The idea of how I see myself!

Now here’s the interesting thing. This idea of how I see myself is itself amenable to change! And despite the transition, deep inside, the me does not seem to waver! So I can see myself as an individual human being one moment and the entirety of creation the next minute. And I am the same person in both instances! How?

Because the ‘I am’ part of the equation is what ‘I know’. The variable appearance of me is what ‘I think’. Maya makes an entry only at the level of my thinking. It has no place in the foundation substance of ‘I know’. Or as Muktabai stated, it is an aberration in the basic state of “I know”.

उठे विकार ब्रह्मी मूळ ।अवघे मायेचें गबाळ ॥

Tukaram Maharaj has famously stated:

Anuraniya thokada 

Tuka aakaashaa evadha 

“ I, Tukaram, am smaller than the smallest particle and also as big as the sky ”. 

In other words I am as big as I can imagine.

Everything that “I know” other than “I am” falls under the purview of Maya. If I know myself as all creation then in the language of Maya, I am Ishwara. If I am a single human being, then in the language of Maya, I am a jeeva like billions of other jeevas. In the background, whether Maya designates me as Ishwara or jeeva, I exist as “I am”. In fact, even the I is in the language of Maya. “Am” is the simplest way to indicate the changeless me. 

So one way to look at Maya is as it being my mirror. A magic mirror. I can hold it and see myself in it. One moment one appearance. Another moment a different appearance. One moment my hand is folded, the next moment it is raised. One moment the sun is rising, the next moment it is high up in the sky, another moment it is out of sight. One moment the mind is experiencing excitement, another moment it is feeling dejected. One moment I am awake, another moment I am dreaming, and yet another I am in deep sleep. 

Muktabai’s words:

ऐसा नटनाटय खेळ ।स्थिर नाही एकवेळ ॥

Aisa naTa naaTya kheLa

Stheer naahi ek veLa 

In this way the drama continues. It doesn’t stop even for a moment. Like someone started rolling an infinite reel of film and forgot to turn it off. 

Talking of mirror, when we hold a mirror to our face, we see our face in the mirror. If we believe there are two separate people, one in the mirror and one outside, it is purely our ignorance that makes us believe in it. The same ignorance makes us see the world of duality or multiplicity.

Maya can function also as a kaleidoscope. I can see the view from as many angles as I wish to. Or through as many lenses that I wish to. And it would be different each time. For example, through the eyes of a cub, the tigress is just a mom where she is a source of my nourishment and security and love. Through the eyes of a deer, the same tigress is a terror and threat to my life. Through the eyes of a wildlife photographer she is a marvel, an exotic creature. Through the eyes of a wildlife biologist she is the subject of my study. Through the eyes of a poacher she is a prized target that will fetch me a handsome reward. Same object, different perception.

Can I put down the mirror/ kaleidoscope ? The answer is yes! 

For that I need to be able to differentiate clearly between what I know and what I think and/or see!

What I think, is largely based on what I see or gather from my sense organs. Conversely, what I see or understand through my sense organs is  influenced by how and what I think.

 What I think can be modified. What I know based on what I think, can also be modified. 

What I know without basing on my thoughts or circumstances cannot be modified. 

As long as what I think, feel, see or do remains under the watchful eye of that non-negotiable knower/knowing/ knowledge authority it will be credible. It will have a chance for being rectified of errors umpteen times if need be. 

Errors will perpetuate until the thinking proceeds independent of and without the recognition of the one changeless observer who refuses to be influenced by the thinking. Who cannot be corrupted ever. In fact surrendering to this incorruptible observer is the only way thinking can absolve itself from corruption and cure itself of ignorance and delusion. 

The elusive Maya can become recognizable only when the observer is separated from the observed entities. When I know I am not my thoughts or my appearance and all this time I had got it all mixed up. When I realize beyond doubt that both, my thoughts and my appearance, are constantly in a state of flux, while I am not capable of changing. That’s when I become fully conscious of what is imagined and what is not.

सांडी कल्पना उपाधी ।तीच साधूला समाधी ॥

Or

मिथ्या कल्पना मागें सारा ।ताटी उघडा ज्ञानेश्वरा I

Once what is determined as imaginary is put aside what remains at hand is what is real. Amongst everything imagined, the only thing that is real is me.

Now the tricky part. You now reverse what you had determined earlier. Since only I am real, whatever I see is nothing but me. I am not my hand, or my eyes or my thoughts. But as long as these are apparent, I know that they are nothing but me. Even the other person I see is me. The house, the trees, the animals, the birds, the sky, the sun, the stars are nothing but me. A figment of my imagination but for practical purposes, nothing but me. 

माया समूळ नुरे जेव्हां ।विश्व ब्रह्म होइल तेव्हां  ॥ 

Just arriving at this determination is not enough. It needs to be closely guarded against forgetfulness. Our brain is hopelessly forgetful of things. A sleepyhead. It awakens to realizations and then falls back to sleep.

The best alarms to stay awake to our true self are pain and discomfort. When the tongue gets bitten by the teeth, we are provoked by the pain but we stop short of knocking off the teeth, because we realize both are inseparable and essential parts of ourselves. Thus any time we encounter discomfort it should awaken us and remind us of who we are and how does the painful experience relate to us. The pain will become something we can understand in a different light and deal with in a different way.

ऐसा उमज आदिअंतीं ।मग सुखी व्हावे संती ॥ 

The whole purpose of the tedious exercise of finding our true self is to find happiness and spread happiness around us. To not become a victim of pain ourselves and also teach others to combat pain with a better understanding. To experience the entire spectrum of life with full awareness and with the right spirit. 

What use is the detailed description of how sugar looks and tastes without a chance to taste it? 

We need to graduate, from thinking of who we are and what the world is, to knowing irrefutably who we are and what the world really is.