7.2. Cid Khyāti

The Bhāṣyakāra explains the definition of Cid Khyāti:

tato bhinne tu citkhyātirvaiparītyaṃ yadā bhavet |
yathā''tmasu jaḍatvādi cetanatvaṃ jaḍeṣu ca || SSSK 278 ||

“Apart from these māyic products in the case of fallacious appearance in sentient entities, we concede cid khyāti. As sentient in inert or inert in sentient.”

According to cid-khyāti, the error is not the non-distinction between a percept and a memory or between their contents. But, when someone perceives the sentient entity as insentient, the body as ātman, the ātman as the body, the perception of māyic as amāyic and amāyic as māyic etc. this is identified as cid-khyāti. Similarly, when a person perceives human traits in Parabrahman and sees Him as human, is a bhrānta (one with khyāti or erroneous knowledge).

Svāminārāyaṇa explains

: “What is meant by perceiving human traits in Brahman or Parabrahman? Well, it is when all of the feelings of the antahakarana -i.e., avarice, lust, anger, infatuation, arrogance, matsara, desires, cravings, etc.; and all of the characteristics of the physical body -i.e., bones, skin, faces, urine, etc., as well as birth, childhood, youth, old age, death, etc.; and all other human characteristics are perceived in Brahman and Parabrahman. A person who perceives such characteristics may appear to have a conviction of Parabrahman, but his conviction is flawed.”(Vacanamrut Loyā 18, p.349)

Furthermore, he warns us by demonstrating the consequences of this erroneous knowledge that one who does not have such understanding would find it difficult to accept His human-like nature.^[1] The theories of error in Indian philosophy center around mostly whether the object of error consists in the subject’s cognition or in the object itself, or in both, or neither. Various schools of philosophy maintain their own perspective points regarding this and thereby develop their theory of error.

An understanding of what is true and what is untrue is an integral part of philosophical study for the acquisition of the highest knowledge. Knowledge presupposes a subject of that knowledge and also the object corresponding to it. When the subject of knowledge is Brahman and Parabrahman then there must not be any bhrānti (erroneous knowledge). That bhrānti or khyāti occurs when one mixes sentient into inert or inert into sentient.

The Bhāṣyakāra gives an example of cid-khyāti by commenting on the Gītā-verse:

avajānanti māṃ mūḍhā mānuṣīṃ tanumāśritam |
paraṃ bhāvamajānanto mama bhūtamaheśvaram ||^[2]

“Ignorant persons despise me when I appear in human form because they do not know my transcendental nature as the great Lord of all beings (taking me for an ordinary human being).”

The Svāminārāyaṇa-bhāṣya remarks:

“mama paramātmanaḥ paraṃ sakaletaravilakṣaṇatvāt sarvotkṛṣṭaṃ bhāvaṃ sarvajñatvasarvajagadutpattipralayādikartṛtvakālakarmamāyādiniyāmakatvādidivyasvabhāvam, ajānantaḥ abudhyamānāḥ santaḥ mūḍhāḥ anādimāyāprabhāvāt, svātmani brahmabhāvavaidhuryāt paramātmani svasajātīyamānuṣaceṣṭādidarśanācca saṃmohaṃ prāptāḥ bhūtamaheśvaraṃ jīveśvarādisakalacetanapraśāsitāramapi māṃ mānuṣīṃ manuṣyasamaceṣṭādisanniveśayutāṃ tanuṃ naravigraham āśritaṃ mānuṣabhāvādhīnamitiyāvad avajānanti tathārūpeṇa jñātvā madavajñāṃ kurvanti ||” (Bhagavad-Gītā 9/11, p.209)

“Although, I Parabrahman, being the generator, sustainer and destroyer of this universe, take birth as a human on earth yet with all of my strength, divine powers and attendants. However, without the state of brahmarūpa, those who don’t realize this esoteric truth understand the human form of Parabrahman on this earth as being exactly the same as the form of a human out of their misconception, they do not feel that there is even a slight difference between that form and their form. Instead, they disobey me.”

In this way, Brahman and Parabrahman remain divine and flawless despite manifesting on this earth in a human form. Anything they accept also becomes divine; in fact, any object, person, or place which has been graced with the contact of Brahma-Parabrahman can also be called nīrguṇa and divine. Sometimes Parabrahman manifests through an avatāra, so the avatāra is also divine. In addition to this, when someone perceives the sentient entity as insentient, the body as ātman, ātman as body, māyic as amāyic, amāyic as māyic etc. is also called cid-khyāti.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vacanāmṛta Sārangpur 6

[2]:

Bhagavad-Gītā 9/11