Vivekachudamani 26 What is Paramatman? - 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?

In response to the student’s questions, the teacher starts by answering the 5th question first: “What is anatman?” This is because the Absolute Reality (question 6) cannot be defined or explained. We can only indirectly indicate it. The teacher explains the nature of the empirical world, which is non-eternal and non-Atman. Once we understand this, whatever is left out is the Atman.

The teacher then takes the 6th question: “What is the Supreme Atman, our true nature?”

127th verse: “There is one reality (Atman) that is present in all three states of consciousness as the witness – waking state, dream state and deep sleep state. It is the foundation of the “I” feeling. This Atman is distinct and different from the three states of awareness and the five sheaths of consciousness.”

“I” can refer to the physical body, ego sense, emotions and mind. The real “I” is behind and distinct from the ego. It is the real witness.

The awareness of the real “I” helps us detach from the problems of life and live life wisely. This “I” goes through a refinement process across several lifecycles. The spiritual practices described in the

19th verse (Sadhana Chatushtaya Sampatti) enable this refinement. Two conditions have to be satisfied for anyone to be a witness: (1) You have to be aware of what you are witnessing and (2) You have to be non-involved in what you are witnessing. Atman is present as the witness in waking, dream and deep sleep states.

It is a fact that the highest idea of God is one all-pervading reality that is present everywhere and in everything. However, for a beginner, it is just an idea. The scriptures discuss how to convert that idea into an actual experience. The seeker has a long road to travel from idea to experience.

Vedanta accommodates all concepts of God. Swami Vivekananda said that all of us are trying to manifest the divinity within, depending on our own temperaments and spiritual progress. According to Vedanta, everyone is moving towards the same spiritual destination. The person who has reached the highest stage is a good human being – he cannot harm anything in creation.

128th verse: “In the three states of consciousness, there is one witness who is aware of everything that is happening. It is aware of the presence and absence of buddhi and action.”

129th verse: “This Atman knows everything. But that Atman is not known by anything. It cannot be known in the empirical sense of using mind and senses of perception. It is the one who sees everything but the one whom nobody can see, perceive, verbalize or objectify. It is the one who enlightens our emotions and intellect, but which is not enlightened by something else.”

This Atman is our true nature and is a matter of our inner experience. The journey towards this Atman is explained by the four Mayavakyas. The first mahavakya comes in Chandogya Upanishad. It is an instruction to the student: “The truth that you are seeking is non-different than yourself.”

When we read a scripture or hear a spiritual instruction, we understand and take home only what we are ready for. In Hinduism, there is freedom in spiritual/religious life but less freedom in social life. In the west, there is more freedom in social life, but less freedom in spiritual/religious life.