#176 Oneness despite duality
In the third section of the Mundakopanishad which is a dialogue between Angiras and Rishi Shaunaka, a beautiful imagery of two birds is presented.
द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते ।
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्ति अनश्नन्नन्योऽभिचाकशीति ॥ १ ॥
“Two birds with beautiful wings that are born together are always united, both of them enjoy consciousness and are perched on the same tree. Of them one experiences the karma-phala. The other one goes on witnessing without experiencing any karma-phala.”
The two birds are perched on a tree which is likened to the physical body. Why? because it can be felled for good or also perpetuated due to karma and hence it is like samsara. Of these two birds, one bird goes about fluttering, flying around and gathering fruits. It brings karma-phala and enjoys it. The ahankara bird is both the doer of karma as well as the experiencer of the karmaphala. This is the jiva.
The second bird is Sakshi, just witnesses this bird. It blesses this bird by lighting up all its experiences and providing the infrastructure for it to go around and do whatever it wants. It lends its existence and awareness to this bird. Because the jiva bird cannot do anything without the presence of the other bird, it comes back to the tree again.
When one is there, the other is always there.
Sakshi witnesses without eating and is not subject to any karma phala. He is the effulgent witness, always free, enjoying himself without doing anything. Why does he sit there and watch the other eating? He sits there because without him the other cannot eat.
Like a magnet which performs no action but makes all the iron filings active, Atma does not perform any action but by its mere presence it becomes the cause for the jiva. The fluttering bird has to recognise that ‘I am in reality the witnessing bird’. Then it becomes free from sorrow.
Similarly, two entities are seated in this body. One does a lot of karma, gathers karma-phala – Some fruits i.e. experiences are sweet, some rotten, some bitter. The results of karma in the form of experiences of happiness and sorrow seem to affect the doer/experiencer. The other bird seems to be enjoying without doing anything. One has to know that one is in reality the same as the other seated in the body who enjoys without doing anything.
Does the doer or experiencer have to stop all karma for the sakshi to witness? No.
Sakshi being consciousness is intrinsic and is the very nature of the jiva. However, the status of being the doer and experiencer are incidental and subject to change.
Jiva seems to be a mixture of Ahankara and Sakshi.
Ahankara is Karta, Bhokta and Sakshi is Akarta, Abhokta.
Sakshi Chaitanya is one while jivas may be many.
Sakshi Chaitanya is unlocated and therefore all pervading while the ahankara is located.
Sakshi Chaitanya does not have any gunas while the Ahankara has sattva, rajas, tamas.
The next Mantra talks more about the Sakshi.
समाने वृक्षे पुरुषो निमग्नोऽनीशया शोचति मुह्यमानः ।
जुष्टं यदा पश्यत्यन्यमीशमस्य महिमानमिति वीतशोकः ॥ २ ॥
“Being deluded and lost in the very same tree, the person comes to grief due to helplessness. When one recognises the other one, which is worshipful, who is the Lord of all, and knows ‘all this’ as his glory, he becomes free from the grief.”
What is the helplessness experienced by one of the birds?
Just like the bird, we too have a desire – the desirable should happen to me and the undesirable should not happen to me.
One does not always get what one wants.
One always gets what one does not want. No one wants grey hair but one gets it.
You liked somebody. Before you knew it somebody proposed to her or him.
You want to have a career but decides to take a break to homeschool your child.
You wanted to study music but you were criticised and you were forced to study finance.
You wanted to live in India close to your parents but your partner got a job in Canada.
Either way one is helpless. This is Anisha or jiva.
As a result of some punya collected over a period of time the jiva is shown the way to get out of this drowning situation by a very compassionate guru
The jiva is made to see that one is not the experiencer all the time.
Experiencership is only incidental. It is not the absolute reality.
Doership is also incidental. It is not the absolute reality. If it was, you would be the doer in deep sleep too and between two thoughts. Clearly that is not the case.
Am I the Sakshi backed by Ahankara or the Sakshi functioning through limited identities?
If I see myself as the limited ego, ahankara, then I am ever affected by karma?
If I See myself as Sakshi Chaitanya, then I use the ahankara to interact in the world during waking and deep sleep?
In deep sleep, the Ahankara medium may be resolved, but am I there or not? I am there. So I am the Sakshi using the Ahankara sometimes and not using it sometimes.
After all this teaching, who am I? The Upanishad says it is your choice!
The reality is you, the one who is aware of the doer and experiencer.
Following this path of enquiry one recognises the Sakshi as Ishvara, cause of everything and hence never separate from Ishvara. Ishvara is the awareness conditioned by maya who is the cause of everything. The other is jiva, the awareness conditioned by a given body, mind called the subtle body.
Recognising the sakshi as the same consciousness that is the very nature of Ishvara, the jiva becomes free from sorrow, free from the sense of smallness.
If Ishvara is other than oneself, then one will definitely feel small and insignificant. One will never be free from sorrow if there are two persons. Looking at a happy person an unhappy person is not going to be happy.
The fact is that there are no two birds here. There is only one bird which is always free and the bhokta bird is an incidental role because of the human being costume.
When one recognises this Ishvara to be oneself, one discovers that everything is one’s glory only, including the mind and senses, the doership and enjoyership, the actions and the results of actions and so on. That means there are no two Atmas here but only one.
The Upanishad first presents jiva and Ishvara as separate beings in order to distinguish them from one another. Afterwards jiva is pointed out as Ishvara with their nature being Consciousness. Hence the status of being karta, bhogta for the jiva, is mithya, not absolutely real. The status of being Ishvara involved with the functions of manifestation, sustenance and resolution are also relational and not eternal.
The jiva may still continue to do karma but is free from kartratvam
यदा पश्यः पश्यते रुक्मवर्णं कर्तारमीशं पुरुषं ब्रह्मयोनिम् ।
तदा विद्वान्पुण्यपापे विधूय निरञ्जनः परमं साम्यमुपैति ॥ ३ ॥
“When the jiva sees one’s self as effulgent like the sun, as the Lord who is the creator and the cause of even Brahmaji, then that person gives up punya-papa. Having become free from impurities, he attains oneness with Brahman.”
In other words, the jiva sees that it was always free through all the experiences.
