Vivekachudamani 24 What is Anatman? - By Swami Tattwamayananda

The entire text is built around answering seven questions from the student in the 51st verse. The seven questions are: (1) What is this bondage? (2) How does it come about? (3) How does it exist and what sustains it? (4) How do we come out of it? (5) What is anatman? (6) What is the supreme Atman? (7) How do we differentiate between atman and anatman?

The teacher starts by answering the 5th question first: “What is anatman?”

The teacher addresses this question by discussing different sarira (body). There are three sariras: Sthula sarira (gross body), sukhshma sarira (subtle body, the personality behind the gross body) and karana sarira (avidya or lack of understanding of our true nature). All of these are non-eternal – they come and go.

122nd verse: In this karana-sarira, the three gunas stay in as avyaktam in their seed state. It is also called avidya or maya – absence of awareness of our true nature. Sushupti is a distinct aspect of karana-sarira, characterized by dissolution of all mental and physical activities.

During Sushupti, all the activities of the sense organs, mind and intellect get dissolved. We do not experience any duality in Sushupti.

Dreams cannot be completely disassociated with waking state. The background for dreams gets created in the waking state. However, there is continuity in waking state and no continuity in dream state.

Our thoughts and actions in the waking state leave an impression in the mental system which affects our states of sleep. We cannot have deep sleep if our mind is disturbed. We can reduce the intensity of the impressions in the waking state by keeping in mind that all experiences of the waking state are transient – they come and go.

123rd verse: “All pramanas – knower, knowledge, process of knowing – disappear in Sushupti. When we come out of Sushupti, we recollect the experience by saying: “I did not know anything.”
Mind gets complete rest only in Sushupti, as we withdraw ourselves into ourselves. All aspects of our personality remain in seed form in Sushupti. Even for animals such as lions, their violent tendencies remain in seed form during Sushupti. When they wake up, the causal form comes into effect.

Samadhi or Nirvana has a lasting effect. In Sushupti, we don’t. In Sushupti, we just get a taste of the highest spiritual experience. This is the time when we get close to our spiritual home.
124th verse: “The body, sense organs, pranas, mind, sense of egoism, sense objects, the entire universe – they all come under the category of anatman.”

Anything that can be perceived is not Absolutely Real, from the Vedantic definition of Absolute

Reality. It is only relatively real, not Absolutely Real.

125th verse: “Whatever you see in this world is the effect of Maya.”

This ends the discussion on the 5th question: “What is anatman?”

In the text, the teacher will next address the 6th question: “What is the supreme Atman?”