The four-fold qualifications are:
(1) Discriminative understanding of the difference between the permanent and impermanent,
What is the discriminative understanding between the (nitya) and the time-bound (anitya)?
(a) The permanent is one Brahman (limitless).
(b) All else other than that is timebound (finite).
This alone is the discriminative understanding between the permanent and impermanent.
(2) dispassion for the results of experiences here and afterlife,
(3) the six-fold accomplishments (inner wealth, etc), and
(a) sama? (b) dama? (c) uparama (d) tistitik?a (e) sraddha (f) samadhana?
management of mind, control of senses,observance of one’s own duties, persistence, faith (trust), and single-pointedness.
(4) desire for freedom from becoming
What is a mumuk?u? “Let me attain Liberation”. This intense desire.
This is the fourfold qualification. Thereafter, they become fit for the enquiry into the Truth.
What is the discriminative knowledge of truth? Atma, (I) is the truth; all else other than that is mithya (apparent).
What Self is NOT (Intro):
The one who is distinct from the gross, subtle and causal bodies, who is beyond the five levels of experience, being
the witness of the three states (of experience), that which remains in the form of existence, consciousness and
fullness, he (is) the self, atma.
gross body.
That which is made up of the five great elements that have undergone the process of pañcikara?a, born as a result of
the good actions of the past, the counter of experiences like joy, sorrow and so on and subject to the six
modifications namely – to exist, to be born, to grow, to mature, to decay and to die –
subtle body
That which is composed of the five great elements which have not undergone grossification, born of the good actions of the past, the instrument for the experience of joy, sorrow and so on, constituted of seventeen items (the five sense organs, the five organs of action, the five physiological functions, the mind and the intellect) is the subtle body.
The five organs of perception are the ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose. The presiding deities of the organs of
perception are Space of the ears, Air of the skin, the Sun of the eyes, Water of the tongue and the two Asvini
Kumaras of the nose. The fields of experience for the organs of perception are, cognition of sound for the ear;
cognition of touch for the skin, cognition of form for the eyes; cognition of taste for the tongue and cognition of smell
for the nose
The five organs of action are: speech, hands, legs, anus and the genitals. The presiding deities of the organs of action
are: Agni (Fire) of speech, Indra of the hands, Vi??u of the legs, Yama of the anus and Prajapati of the genitals. The
function of speech is to speak, that of the hands is to grasp things, of the legs is locomotion, of the anus is the
elimination of waste and of the genitals is pleasure (procreation).
causal
That which is inexplicable, beginningless, in the form of ignorance, the sole cause of the two bodies (gross and
subtle), the cause of ignorance of one’s own true nature, and is free from duality.
e the three states? They are the waking, dream and deep sleep states.
e waking state? That (in which state) the objects, of cognition beginning with sound, etc., are cognised by
the organs of perception such as the ear, etc., that is the waking state. ‘I’ (atma) identifying with the gross body is
called visva.
(If it is asked) what is the dream state? (It is) the world which is experienced while in sleep, (projected) by the
impression born of what was seen, what was heard in the waking state. ‘I’ atman identifying with the subtle body is
called taijasa, the effulgent one.
‘I do not know anything. Happily the sleep is experienced by me.’ Thus, (this is) the deep sleep state. The Self
identified with the causal body is called Prajña.
What are the five ‘sheaths’?
The food (modified) sheath,
the vital air sheath (the physiological functions),
the mind sheath (the mental states),
the intellect sheath, and
the sheath of happiness.
s the food sheath? That which is born from the essence of food, grows by the essence of food and merges into
the earth, which is the nature of food is called the food sheath or the gross body.
What is pra?amaya sheath? Pra?amaya, the sheath that is a modification of air, is the five physiological functions
beginning with respiration etc., and the five organs of action beginning with speech and so on.
Mental Sheath
What is mental sheath? The mind and the five organs of perception together form the mental sheath.
What is intellectual sheath? The intellect and the five organs of perception together, is the intellectual sheath.
Bliss Sheath
What is bliss sheath? Established in ignorance, which is of the form of the causal body, of impure sattva, united with
thoughts like priya (pleasure) and so on, is the bliss sheath. These are the five sheaths.
beyond
Just as bangles, earrings, a house and so on, are known as ‘mine’ are all other than the knower ‘me’. So too, the five
sheaths and so on, are known by oneself as ‘my body’, ‘my mind’, ‘my intellect’, and ‘my ignorance’ - are different
from me and are therefore not the Self.
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