AVG 1.18

Chapter 1 (Guidance on self-realization): Verse 18

साकारमनृतं विद्धि निराकारं तु निश्चलम् ।
एतत्तत्त्वोपदेशेन न पुनर्भवसम्भवः ॥ १-१८॥

PURPORT:

Realize that which has shape and form 

to be chimerical;

and that which is illusionary and incorporeal 

to be the tranquil nature of things.

Through this freethinking instruction,

you will not revisit manifest fabrication.

TRANSLITERATION:

साकारम् अनृतम् विद्धि निराकारम् तु निश्चलम् ।

sākāram anṛtam viddhi nirākāram tu niścalam ।

एतत्तत्त्वोपदेशेन न पुनः भवसम्भवः ॥ १-१८॥ 

etattattvopadeśena na punaḥ bhavasambhavaḥ ॥ 1-18॥

MEANING:

sākāram (साकारम्) = that ['that' is taken here to mean as any entity that has corporeal form] which has external form, definition and appearance

anṛtam (अनृतम्) = unreal/illusion/chimerical/unsubstantial

viddhi (विद्धि) = know/realize/cognize/discern

nirākāram (निराकारम्) = incorporeal/shapeless/formless

tu (तु) = but/nevertheless/although/however

niścalam (निश्चलम्) = enduring/perpetual/permanent/persistent ।

etattattvopadeśena (एतत्तत्त्वोपदेशेन) = compound meaning 'through this ultimate instructional truism'/or 'by the means of teaching of this preeminent truth'

na (न) =not

punaḥ (पुनः) = again/once more/anew

bhavasambhavaḥ (भवसम्भवः) = compound meaning 'chance or possibility or probability of coming together here' ॥ 1-18॥

COMMENT:

As you are doubtless aware, questions regarding the shape and form of the material universe are firstly, a difficult one and secondly can only be 'attempted' to be answered. This is so because the ultimate answers may never be clearly understood nor conveyed. To find out a semblance of what can begin to look like an answer, it might be useful for us to start with ideas around the nature of reality. 

Let us look briefly at the nature of reality. Given the enormous amount of information processed by our brains, science tells us that external reality as it relates to each of our sense receptors is only a simplified version of the underlying complexity. This is the only way we can function the way we do. Hiding the complexity allows for our brains to process just what is necessary for our continued existence. Examples are many – suffice to give two examples here:

• the fact that we (humans) can only see/sense a trillionth of the electromagnetic spectrum and fact that all of the colors within the spectrum we perceive are basically 'tags' created by our mind for segregating light within that narrow band of electromagnetic spectrum is a simple enough demonstration to show that we only see a very minute portion of the underlying electromagnetic radiation.
• examining the concept of empty space: let’s start with a photon – a particle of light – physics tells us that what you are experiencing and observing as 'the photon' is the excitation of an inherent field within the space examined – the electromagnetic field in the case of a photon. This is the same manifestation that we notice with any other particle, electron, proton or quark. Those particles are simply energy-bound manifestations that result from the excitations of their corresponding fields in space in response to changes in energy levels. Now say that you take away the photons from that portion of space examined. If the photons are removed, physics tells us that the empty space is still pervaded by an inherent, energy field without excitations. Physics today is clear that once you take away the particles, the field remains. Physicists are starting to realize that there is no reason to think that the energy per unit volume (the density of energy in the fields), is ever zero! Thus, even if you take away all of the particles, the energy of free space (colloquially referred to as vacuum energy) is always a non-zero value. Yet another demonstration to show that we only perceive portions of manifested reality.

Thus, we live – in a sense – within a niche ecosystem that is tailored and that is conformed to our senses. The Germans had a word for this – referred to as an ‘umwelt’ – explained as the semiotic world of sentient organisms, including all the meaningful aspects of the world for the organism, i.e. it can be water, food, shelter, potential threats, or points of reference for navigation. An organism is born within its own umwelt and interacts with that specific umwelt all through the organisms’ life. The umwelt theory states that the mind of the organism and the world the organism perceives are inseparable, because it is the mind that interprets the world for the organism. Consequently, the umwelten of different organisms differ, which follows from the individuality and uniqueness of the history of every single organism. Using the examples above, the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum we see and the portions of manifested reality we perceive are specific to us and only us humans. Bats interact with a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and will perceive the portions of manifested reality that may not be applicable or even open to our modes of perceptions.

Our entire world is thus functionally projected into the mind. The experience conveyed thus is one of discrete chopped up bits of external reality that is integrated into a seamless experience of reality. The aggregation performed by the mind allow for conscious thoughts to form and all such projections of conscious thoughts on the screen of the mind is sometimes referred to as consciousness. From the brief passages above, we start to see that forms themselves are not real but the reality that we construct within our own umwelten that allows for those specific forms to exist within our minds is what is real. Case in point – let us look at the sensory process of hearing - 'hearing' does not take place in your ear nor does it take place within the cilia inside the ears nor is there any ‘sound’ produced in the brain that allows us to hear. The auditory experience of sound is a sensory response created and fashioned by our brains that we are conditioned to understand as sound. ‘Sound’ does not have any inherent essence. The case is the same with sight, taste, smell and touch. The mind aggregates the inputs from each of the sense receptors in forming our conscious experience of reality.

Thus, if conventional reality is what fashions our everyday experience and our understanding of the phenomenal world is shaped by the qualia of our own umwelts, then, conventional truth is only our version of the truth that is agreed and felt by our sensoria. I want to use one more example to make this slightly clearer. Let us take the reality of fire: Can any one of us try and analyze what is 'fire' from an essential perspective? My answer will be NO. Fire like any of the other phenomena we encounter in our daily sensory lives is just another dependent phenomenon. Fire depends upon oxygen, combustion, fuel and innumerable other conditions for fire to exist. Even if one looks hard enough, it is difficult to find an inherent underlying essence of something called fire. It is always in dependence upon other factors and conditions for its own existence. Fire thus is a dependent manifestation that is available to our senses based upon the inter-action of a number of dependent conditions – fire does not have its own nature and consequently, it does not independently exist. Please do not take this to mean that fire does not have the capability to burn you. This only means that the fundamental nature of fire (or of any entity felt and experienced by our sensoria) is inherently a product of the way our senses make the entity out to be. If there were no reliability or regularity with respect to the patterns we encounter, our sensorial experiences would become useless and our life chaotic. In the same manner, all phenomena around us does not have any sort of independent existence nor any inherent essence. It is basically 'un-findable' within the narrow umwelt that we occupy within the ecosystem that we inhabit. The same is the case with any of the other phenomena we encounter. The same is the case with something as complex as the material structure of the universe as with something simple as the nature of water flowing. The moment one starts to realize and recognize that all phenomena dependently exist and no phenomena can ultimately be singled out on its own from an inherent essence perspective, one might have a better way of asking this question.

Our conventionally manifested truths - their shapes and forms are chimerical on closer analysis; the true, tranquil nature of things start to be understood as illusionary and incorporeal on closer analysis. This is our truth and the truth that these verses point us towards. Since the true nature of external reality is hidden (matter composed of molecules in turn composed of atoms in turn composed of proton-electron-complex in turn composed of quarks in turn composed of vibrational fields which is basically vibrational energy), and the fact that the underlying hidden aspects of reality extends to interactions that mediate everything from the smallest interactions of quarks to basic human interactions to interactions between galaxies, all one can say with certainty is that the basic nature of reality is currently unknowable.