Introduction to Vedanta -Drig Drisya Viveka - Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lecture in Vedanta society of southern California part 5

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.

Question is, how pure consciousness gets stained or impure? How is the pure witness consciousness maligned with disease, death, sins and all forms of decay? The answer is - the self that is reflected is never stained by the quality of the mirror. The quality of the mirror decides the quality of the image, i.e. the reflected consciousness or the individual. The pure witness consciousness is unaffected. The reflected consciousness gets identified with the mirror, so if the mirror is good the reflected consciousness thinks itself to be good. If the mirror is bad, the reflected consciousness thinks itself to be bad out of ignorance. Karma is of three types - sanchita or the stored repository, prarabdha or the portion of the stored that had begun yielding fruits and is responsible for the body and agami or the karma that is being done this life and will get stored in the repository. The prarabdha is responsible for a good or bad life. 

If a thorn has pricked, take another thorn and remove it and then discard the new thorn as well. Sri Ramakrishna mentioned about the thorn of knowledge and the thorn of ignorance. The thorn of knowledge is used to take out the thorn of ignorance. Both knowledge and ignorance reside in the mind. Knowledge helps in removing ignorance. Once ignorance is removed Truth is self revealing. It just shines forth, just as once the cloud is dispelled by wind the sun simply shines and brightens up the day. There is no longer any need for knowledge when the Self as pure consciousness reveals itself. The duality of knowledge and ignorance goes. Mind does not remain as individual ego, its now the infinite existence-knowledge-bliss.

It is the pure consciousness that has become the limited reflected consciousness. Behind everything is the pure, witness consciousness and that is our Real Nature - the Real Man.  There are three states in Vedanta - Jagrat or the waking state, swapna or the dream state and sushupti or the dreamless deep sleep state. In the waking state the ego sense and reflected consciousness are wide awake. When teh mind and senses are in dream world, the reflected consciousness is in a dim state. When the mind shuts itself off completely, the reflected consciousness is also switched off, just as a reflection is not there when the mirror is removed. This is the state of sushupti. But pure consciousness always exists. The change in state is in mind. It is said of the reflected consciousness that it never rises, nor sets - just as the sun in actual practice does not rise or set but the earth turns or spins on its axis causing day and night - na chodeti na astameti. This consciousness is self illumined.