Vedanta Verses 265 - 66

Vedanta is at once prasannam and gambhiram, i.e. simple and complex, the truth imparted is evident and also complex because it is difficult to see the most evident, for it eludes us very easily.

Time
Time which is considered to be so crucial does not actually qualify the seer. Time is not the property of the seer, for time is one of the details of the waking or dream experiences. Seeing /experiencing time does not pose a problem to the seer, the seer is one who is aware of time. Even though the seer “sees” time yet it does not alter or affect him.

Infact nothing that is ‘awared’ qualifies the seer, my feelings of pleasure, pain, guilt, are details of thinking and these are “awared” by me; it does not belong to me the seer. All my thinking are mere notions and I am the only seer of all thoughts,

To be aware is my svabhava, my nature. So I do not have to wait for the thoughts to subside to search for the seer, while in every thought I can pay attention to the seer/ awareness, thus I can seek It. Any thing that is ‘known’ is not the property of the knower. Thus the entire samsara which is “felt” and felt as true does not become the quality of the self. Self remains as it is, in its own svabhava.

The self has to understood and known while one is in the aggregate, Sangha meaning the body, while one is alive, right here and now. Ultimately self is the seer of both life and death because Life is after all “thoughts coming up and death is thoughts fading out”. Death and deep sleep are states where thoughts resolve, and here while in thoughts or while “alive” one has to discriminate between the ‘knower and the known’.

The “knower” is distinct from the known as king is different from the soldiers; he stands out amidst his soldiers. In this example there seems to be a comparative sense when we say that the king stands out, perhaps the king is taller, richer, more powerful etc.

But in the context of Vedanta we have to slightly alter the meaning even though the text gives this example.

Can we really having a comparison? In the context of “knower and “known what does it mean to say that knower stands out amidst the known? What is the intention when we say stand out?
How does the knower stand out amidst the known?
Here it is not in comparison for there can be no comparison of any sorts between the two.
The observer stands out amidst the known; the dreamer stands out amidst the dreamt objects,
What does it mean here? It is not that the dreamer is taller or shorter than the objects dreamt.
The water does not stand out in comparison to the waves, there is no comparison here. Standing out means standing out without any comparison, because there is nothing common to the observer and the known, or the observed, there is no point of comparison between truth and notion about the same,
There can be comparison between one wave and another wave, but not between wave and water for the wave when understood correctly is nothing but water. Water in this sense always “stand out”.

Understanding thus one has to be rooted in one’s self meaning one has to be absolutely clear and this clarity liberates the person.

One’s knowledge of the self, is the only true resort and all other so called resorts are empty. Owning all the wealth of the world is not another security, another alternative to this K of the self. There is no point of comparison between the wealth and the seer of the wealth. The latter is and is simply exists choice lessly, while the former is dependent, waiting to be seen and resolved, one is the truth and other is a notion and hence no comparison possible,

It is mediocre Vedanta to say that self Knowledge is better than all the wealth. There is again no comparison, the self is choice less and is ever present, and it is not available for any comparison,

Having understood that we are that pure conscious being, and as standing out choice less ly , and resorting to the vision of the self, we need to falsify or trace back the entire “seen” “Known “observed” back to the self.

Thoughts and perceptions are all made of awareness, and there is no spatial gap between thoughts and awareness just as there is no spatial gap between wave and water.

Falsifying the universe means falsifying the division between the observer and the observed.