Introduction to Vedanta -Drig Drisya Viveka - Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lecture in Vedanta society of southern California part 3

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California.

Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta.

The pure consciousness is everywhere, also in external objects. Then the question that may arise is -

How do we identify ourselves with our body, mind and senses and not with external objects? The witness consciousness is reflected in the mind just as sun is reflected in a pool of water or in any shining object. The mind borrows consciousness to illumine senses and the senses in turn illumine the bodies, just as moon borrows sunlight to illumine night (as if sun directly shines as the light of knowledge, as pure consciousness and that is called as day or enlightenment while moon illumines merely the darkness of ignorance - the worldliness and ignorance is night for the illumined soul). Just as vegetables boil with the borrowed heat from the fire underneath, the mind, sense organs and the body functions by borrowing consciousness from witness. Just as heat is the intrinsic property of the fire, but not of the water and vegetables etc., in the same way, consciousness is an intrinsic property of the pure consciousness but not of the witness or reflected consciousness or the body mind senses in which it is reflected. From intellect to the tip of the nails in the body, i.e. in every place in the body and mind there is consciousness, but that is reflected from the pure, witness consciousness. Outside us, in  the external universe, according to our perception that consciousness does not exist, i.e. the individual does not feel the objects outside her body to be conscious. In fact she cannot even perceive consciousness in others - like what the others are thinking or feeling etc. So we do not feel the external objects and others as "us". 

Vedanta divides the mind into fourfold divisions of mind, intellect, memory or mind staff and ego - manah, buddhih or dhih, chittah and ahamkara, but this text divides mind into two - ego vs. mind-intellect-memory - aham and antahkaranah. This I or egosense is the reflected or borrowed consciousness. This ego sense is the experiencer - I see, think, feel, hear, etc and all other mental and bodily functions are there in this ego sense or reflected consciousness. Reflected consciousness is not an inherent property of the body mind because when the body dies there is no consciousness left in the body. Mind also switches off in deep sleep but the consciousness remains as the experiencer.