AVG 1.17

Chapter 1 (Guidance on self-realization): Verse 17

निरपेक्षो निर्विकारो निर्भरः शीतलाशयः ।

अगाधबुद्धिरक्षुब्धो भव चिन्मात्रवासनः ॥ १-१७॥

PURPORT:

Your awareness is unconditioned 

vacant of volume and immutable,

of placid disposition and deep wisdom.

Remain composed as you reach for 

just that indivisible core of pure truth. 

TRANSLITERATION:

निरपेक्षः निर्विकारः निर्भरः शीतलाशयः ।

nirapekṣaḥ nirvikāraḥ nirbharaḥ śītalāśayaḥ ।

अगाधबुद्धिः अक्षुब्धः भव चिन्मात्रवासनः ॥ १-१७॥

agādhabuddhiḥ akṣubdhaḥ bhava cinmātravāsanaḥ ॥ 1-17॥

MEANING:

nirapekṣaḥ (निरपेक्षः) = unconditioned/not-habituated

nirvikāraḥ (निर्विकारः) = abiding and changeless/immutable

nirbharaḥ (निर्भरः) =  without weight or measure/vacant of volume and structure

śītalāśayaḥ (शीतलाशयः) =  of placid disposition (literal meaning implies cold, but the implication is ‘of serene temperament’)।

agādhabuddhiḥ (अगाधबुद्धिः) =  compound of agādha + buddhiḥ; agādha (अगाध) meaning immeasurably deep (profound) and buddhiḥ (बुद्धिः) meaning knowledge or wisdom (the compound is read as one who has unfathomable wisdom)

akṣubdhaḥ (अक्षुब्धः) =  placid/serene/unperturbedc/omposed

bhava (भव) = to be  

cinmātravāsanaḥ (चिन्मात्रवासनः) = compound of cinmātra + vāsanaḥ;  cinmātra  meaning just that specific indivisible non-dual essence, can also be taken to mean just that indivisible moiety of pure consciousness; vāsanaḥ  meaning penchant/disposition/inclination (the compound is read as ‘having a penchant to for attaining just that indivisible core of pure consciousness)) ॥ 1-17॥

COMMENT:

The general import of these lines boil down to the fact that our underlying, latent nature is that of an unconditioned state and the realization of such a state will happen if one starts to pare down the processes that constitute our minds. Paring down culminating in an awareness characterized by an unconditioned perspective to aspects intrinsic to our being that apply equally well to our extrinsic awareness extrinsic - with the understanding that the intrinsic - chiseled, polished and honed by the past - is ultimately our extrinsic projection. 

We are creatures of our thoughts and expressions of our thoughts manifest in our actions. Our actions are acutely guided and channeled by our thoughts and perceptions that the thoughts bring to bear on the actions. The outcomes of our individual actions when aggregated over larger sets of like minded beings become our choreographed responses as a group and thereupon as our collective societal characteristics. In this particular sense, if the nature of the larger group has to tend towards a state of calmer disposition, the first place to start will be to understand oneself - and the place one turns to understand oneself is within our thoughts. The generally understood maxim that leading by example is generally most effective for participation within the larger milieu is true in this regard. When the individual attains a measured level of understanding, the groups that the individual participates with are transformed - similar to the effect of small changes having ripple effects on larger complex systems. Such a feedback process is symbiotic - the individual in turn will also be influenced and transformed by the group.

The thoughts themselves are the result of our stored memories, lived experiences and past actions. All that has happened in the past conditions our present moment and the actions emanating from our present moment inform the future. This conditioning can take various forms - the education system, invented gods, mores and traditions, authority figures, blind faith, anxieties, our own impermanence, expectations, fears, suffering - all of these condition our every waking moment and in turn condition the quality and trajectory of our thoughts. The thoughts in turn conditions large parts of our psychological consciousness - a collective amalgam that we project as our general state of being that is a product of the same thoughts, the idiosyncrasies stored within us from the past and the resultant biases engendered within ourselves as a result of such conditioning. 

Understanding this, a key takeaway here is a striving to shift from selective receptivity and biased response to a state of impartial receptivity and unattached response - as Ashtavakra states - "an awareness that is unconditioned, vacant of the volume of the past, of placid disposition and deep wisdom". A gradual transformation where the sense of intrinsic awareness cultivated within oneself will in turn manifest itself with a heightened awareness that is extrinsic. A modulation of our inner lives where we start to become intensely conscious of the flow of our thoughts, the arising of the thought itself, the abiding of the thought within our minds and the eventual dissolution of that temporal mental fluctuation (because that is all what thoughts really are - temporary mental fluctuations).  

To train our minds not only to to understand clearly the point of inception of the thoughts and acknowledgement of the same, but also in trying to see what lies in between the dissolution of the thought and the arising of the next thought within our minds is a starting point for awareness to seep in. An understanding of our intrinsic patterns of mental fluctuations naturally leads to extrinsic awareness – where the focus of attention is tuned ever so sharply to the object at hand and thus to not allow past conditioning to get in the way of present activity. Understanding this will get the individual to a place where one is no longer conditioned by the biases that are ever present within our interactions whether we seek such biases or such biases are part of our conditioning from the past. An aspect of unity between the intrinsic and extrinsic awareness results in a feeling of placidity within ones mind. Stretching that empty void that lies between thoughts to expand and fill up your state of being is an aspect of the indivisible core of truth that is referred to in the last line here.