TALK 14 by Prabhuji
Let us contemplate some more aspects of ‘Antahkarana’ or ‘the inner organ’.
The world which we experience is nothing but ‘name and form’, ‘nama and rupa’.
For example, there is a book and I see this is as a book or paper. The paper or book is the name given. Now every form and name is a superimposition on reality.
Let us look at this paper, is it just a paper?
The paper is made from wood and wood is made from tree and tree comes from forest, forest comes from the rain and sunshine. Just a piece of paper has lot more information stored in it than just a name called ‘paper’. But the Manas forms the image of the paper and Chitta gives the name to the form. By giving a name to the form we are reducing the information processing. Anything having large of information and a computer called Antahkarana cannot handle all this information. So it has to reduce the information. Reality which consists of paper, wood, tree, earth, forest, sunshine, rain, water and a lot more information is cut into something called paper and recorded in Chitta.
The world is nothing but ‘nama and rupa’, and that is called ‘Maya’. Just by giving a name and form you are cutting the reality. The form of paper extends beyond this. But for your conceptualisation purpose the name and form is cut. So our mind which works like a computer will cut the information behind the paper and just name it as ‘paper’. So you are hiding a lot of information about the paper, isolating it from the existence. And when the name is given to the form reality is shrunk or cut, this is Maya. So ‘Maya’ means ‘yama iti Maya’ ‘what is not there appears to be there’. So a larger reality is cut. Maya is also called measurement, when a larger reality is cut or measured by small mind than it becomes Maya.
So what is the larger reality?
Is the paper larger reality?
Is the wood larger reality?
Is the tree larger reality?
Is the earth larger reality?
Is the sunshine larger reality?
………
The largest reality is the unchanging Consciousness, which mind cannot recognise and so it gives name and form and records it in Chitta.
Let us take a paper and make a rocket out it.
Now what is this?
This has become a rocket. It is a rocket.
The moment a form changed, you forget that it is a paper and your mind associates it with that form. In reality it is paper. Similarly everything in the universe is nothing but Consciousness. The Consciousness takes a form and you give it a name. You then forgets the Consciousness takes that name and form as another concept in your Manas. So this is called Maya, superimposition.
Now concepts are recorded in Chitta, the Buddhi/intellect uses only this information that is recorded in the Chitta and deals with that to determine what it is. So Manas feeds incomplete information to Chitta and Buddhi takes decisions based on that incomplete information.
Similarly the Manas gives the concepts and images about ‘me’, which is recorded in Chitta, and Buddhi uses that. This is how we start living in ignorance or Avidya.
So what happens in realisation?
Buddhi starts questioning ‘Who am I?’, the images stored about “me”in Chitta is taken out. Now Buddhi knows based on the Shastra and based on the teachings of Guru, the Buddhi starts analysing, ‘Oh, this is not what I think as ‘me’, I am not body, I am not mind, this is not mine, not me..’ So what is there in Chitta, nothing is there in Chitta now, some new recording has come now, from Guru’s teachings, that ‘I am Atma’, the Buddhi take that , so this is the starting of the process of awakening of Buddhi, awakening of the Atma-Self.
Transcription by Atmajyothi Satyavathi
Light of The Self Foundation 