Viveka talks – exercise 14.
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Points to consider
The idea that language is an extraordinary feature of the human mind and requires special attention is expressed in the oldest texts from Indian culture. Rgveda 1.1.164: „The ultimate abode of language is the Absolute.“
What is language? Clearly, it’s not just any sound that carries a meaning. The sound of words is only a secondary level of language. Perhaps, the reason why language attracted so much attention from philosophers interested in truth and reality lies in the fact language doesn’t even have to be expressed with audible words to be language. Language is more about thinking than speaking.
Adi Shankara and Vivekachudamani claim that with the use of a language (thinking), the forgetful vantage point can remember its true status and possibly start a new wave of creation as an awakened soul.
Scientists agree that the appearance of language, and therefore true human thinking ability, was sudden and abrupt. It was kind of a quantum leap, not a gradual development. That happened not so far back in our evolutionary history. Paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall dates that abrupt and sudden event within the narrow window of 50,000 to 100,000 years ago.
The fourteenth Chapter continues with the creation story from the previous “The Cave of the Mind” and explains the third wave of creation. Quote:
The first wave of creation is behind us. The „divine“ network of fully conscious elements is stable and alive. The second wave is also behind us: the vantage points of milliard atmans turned their attention to themselves and thus became lesser creators.
The result of the second wave is illusory separation from the rest of consciousness and the creation of I-ness. The Sanskrit term for that feeling is ahamkar. So, the first wave of self-referral processes inside the consciousness created your soul – atman, and the second wave created you – ahamkar.
Ahamakar becomes the center of its reality. In the beginning, it just perceives, experiences, and feels. But, the „I“ is the child of consciousness and, as such, requires understanding. The citta element (awareness) of manomayakosha is present before buddhi (understanding).
The appearance of buddhi (discerning quality, intellect, language) changes everything. As you will see, that change is for the better and worse.
To understand what is going on, buddhi starts using signs or symbols. When something happens, perception or experience, buddhi creates a sign for that event. Now, another reminder: we are in the cave of the mind. There is nothing around us but ideas. So, the sign buddhi uses is nothing but another idea, an idea about the idea.
What just happened is the third wave of creation. Thoughts, language, and ideas „inside the mind“, are all parts of one consciousness, but they appear to be separated and placed inside the mind’s container, which belongs to an owner, ahamkar. It is not a true reality, of course. It is an illusion, but nevertheless, an illusion with consequences.
With signs and symbols created by buddhi, ahamkar can now identify the events when they repeat. It is possible to put them in a relationship to other events or use proportions to understand the strength or impact of experiences.
Maya equally powers the third wave of creation as the first two. However, in the first wave, Maya is in „divine“ hands. The consciousness is one, not many, but it appears as many due to conscious interaction between different functions of the same consciousness.
The second wave of creation is equally inevitable. The propagation of experiences requires forgetting. Maya is employed by the power of creation to hide the fact that a vantage point is just that, a vantage point, not a new entity.
Nevertheless, a vantage point now has the apparent status of a separated being. Atman is not gone, but it is hiding behind ahamkar. That is a critical point: the control over Maya was transferred to an individual.
Maya is a perfect servant, obeying whatever the master’s bidding is. And in the third wave, ahamkars are the masters.
I wrote that the appearance of buddhi (thinking, language) changes everything and that change is for the better and the worst. The role Maya starts to play in creating the realities of different ahamkars is for the worse. Now, what’s for the better? Quote:
“The mind operates with constructions. The complexity of construction increases the probability of a mistake. The mistake in the mind is the mistake in reality – an illusion. It is important to understand that buddhi is a discerning quality of mind. If the mistake is made in meanings, quantities, proportions, etc., the buddhi can identify it. That’s his job. A corrected mistake is a step towards reality with less illusion. The first stages of purification of buddhi through constant and diligent application of viveka (that means learning how to think properly) will gradually eliminate the illusion from the third wave of creation.”
When the buddhi is purified enough, he could pierce through the second wave and free the atman from ahamkar. Do not be surprised if that success creates the fourth wave of creation, the one in which Maya returns to the arms of the divine.
Questions for thinking
- Write in your own words, what is “the first wave of creation”?
- What is the “second wave of creation”?
- What is the “third wave of creation,” and in whose hand is Maya then?
- What are the negative sides of the appearance of budhi (thinking, language)?
- What are the positive sides of the appearance of budhi (thinking, language)?
It is your turn now. Write your thoughts, comments, or questions.
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