Karya Avasthas

After explaining the nature of the self, Umapati Shivam proceeds to explain the nature and functions of Karya Avasthas. Avastha is a state of the self. Causal states (Karana Avasthas) are kevala, sakala and shuddha . In relation to the causal state, resultant states like waking, dream, sleep etc., are explained. Umapati Shivam wants one to know the empirical experience by looking upon “knowing” act as spiritual in character before enlightening him of the spiritual life (shuddha avastha .) In relation to the bondage of pasha , every cognitive act may be looked upon as spiritual, since the removal of pasha is effected partially thereof. He says that empirical experience is a step in the direction of self-purification.^[1]

The concept of “knowing” or “knowledge” through various states called “avasthas ” is to be understood before understanding the mode of enlightening the self. The instruments of maya as identified by the self determine the nature of the self as a knower of object. The self in the kevala avastha is devoid of instruments and the anava keeps the existence of the self totally bound. The sakala avastha provides the material accessories. Hence, the self stands identified with different centres or locations in the body moving from one centre to another. It is subjected to varied experience as per identification with different centres.Thus the self experiences various states of consciousness (avasthas) and these various states of avasthas help the self to gain knowledge.

Arulnandi Shivam vividly gives, in Shivajnana Siddhiyar Supakkam , an account of avasthas in the descending order i.e. from the mid-eyebrow to the muladhara . In Shivajnana bodam, Meikandar gives the account in the ascending order i.e. from muladhara to mid-eyebrow.Umapati Shivam follows the footsteps of Shivajnana bodam which begins with muladhara i.e. from the nether side. In muladhara ,the self is bound in a state that has deprived it of cognition, conation and affection. It remains in this state as though it doesbarely exist alone.^[2]. In this state, the self does not have any sensation and is full of ignorance, with no other faculties or instruments. Purusha tattva just exists with the self. Umapati Shivam says that this state is below the biological level and the self looks like a non-living material object. This looks like something similar to bliss in kevala state but this is not pure bliss.

It is the bliss—turiyaditha—enjoyed by “purusha ” when the self is in association with the evolutes of “prakrti ”(ashuddhamaya).^[3] In the next state of experience, the self starts a feeling of dwelling in the area wherein the vital air or “prana ” contributes to the functioning and is comprehensible. This state is known as “turiya ”. This state portends to an experience of first principles of biological perception of senses. It may be taken at rudimentary level. In the next higher state, the self gets shifted to the heart where the self is in a state of sleep. The “citta ” or the enjoining faculty of mind is added to the functioning of the self in this third state. It acquires an experience of a sleepy awareness i.e. a kind of self forgetful absorption in the contemplated object. The presence of the incipient mind raises the contemplation from a biological level to a psychological level. The next higher state of experience—“dream”—makes the bio-motor forces to come into operation besides the vital air (prana) and the psychic senses in addition to citta . These include the three internal organs i.e. mind (manas), judgment (buddhi) and will (ahankara) along with five jnanendriyas , five karmendriyas and nine kinds of air (besides prana). The feeling of the dream state is centered at around the throat along with the biological movement. Next state—jagrat—opens the gateway of knowledge and action leading to a state of wakeful consciousness. Their actions are enabled through the medium of outer elements.^[4] The centre of experience is said to be the mid-brow in the fore-head.^[5]

Ilakkanam Chidambaranatha Munivar explains these states through examples of his own. He compares the above five states to the five states of an iron ball when it is heated. When an iron ball is in contact with fire, it becomes red hot. This state may be compared to “jagrat ” where the self has full consciousness. In the second state, the very hot iron ball continues to glow even when it is removed from fire. In the same way, in the state of dream, there is consciousness in the self even after the five organs of sense and the five organs of action have stopped functioning. It is like a man feeling a whirling sensation even after he has stopped whirling on his toes. The difference between the waking and the dream states is that the self is in actual contact with the objects in the waking state, while it is not so in the case of dream but the impressions of the objects remain in the dream state. In the third state (susupti), the temperature of the iron ball is decreasing and there is a tinge of heat in it. Another example for this state is the difficulty ofthe eye to see the object just after a flash of lightning. In the fourth state there is no action except that of “prana ” and this may be compared to the state of the iron ball which has lost its light and heat except for a very small tinge of heat. In the fifth state,—turiyaditha—the self is like a non-living material object and this state is compared to the iron ball which has lost all its heat and it is like the eye of a blind man enveloped by complete darkness. The above mentioned five states come under “kevala” in sakala or keezhal avastha .

Umapati Shivamfurther explains the five states which occur in jagrat state itself. The self experiences the five avasthas by going from eye-brow to muladharain jagrat itself. These five states are called “karya sakala” or “sakala in sakala” or “madyavastha ”.^[6]

Umapati Shivam then explains how God enlightens the self to attain the highest level of spiritual realization. He says that eighteen factors operate for the self, leading to the arousal of determinate knowledge. These eighteen factors include (i) one of the fivefold senses (e.g. ear for hearing or eye for seeing etc.), (ii) one of the five-fold gross elements which help in our knowledge (e.g. sound for hearing and light for seeing etc), (iii) Four internal senses which mediate between objects and the self (manas, buddhi , citta and ahankara) (iv) The interior internal senses with kala (kala and niyati also included) which form an inseparable vesture of the self and (v) five Shiva tattvas in their varied combination which stimulate experience. When the self experiences an object, it does so with the help of this aggregate of eighteen factors. Without these factors functioning and without the enlightenment bestowed by God, the self will not know any thing.^[7]

This functioning of the aggregate of eighteen factors is again inconceivable without the light of the intelligent self whom they help. These factors are non-intelligent and so they do not initiate the knowing process but they definitely require the intelligent presence of the self. Thus the aggregate serves as the helping factor when the self knows the object.^[8]

Hence it becomes clear that the self has no knowledge of its own so as to adopt the tattvas and make use thereof. The tattvas are also non-intelligent so as to get themselves attached to the self. Hence it is to be concluded by elimination process that the attachment of tattvas to the self so as to understand and know should be necessarily through an external agency. This agency should necessarily be “cit ” i.e. God who has infinite knowledge without any help from any other agency and also irrespective of time and space. Therefore the self is thus enabled by God only to experience all things through the above cited media.

Thus there is His help in not only during creation of the body etc, from “maya ” but in every act of knowledge. This revelatory function is true with respect to empirical experience as well as beyond the empirical experience. That is why the self is also termed indirectly as a tattva (purusha).

The above notion may perhaps lead one to presume that God is the master, who “knows” the things for the sake of the individual self and also experience of the individual. This argument amounts to saying that while someone is hungry, the other one by proxy eats his food.Umapati Shivam overrules this paradox by an explanation.He quotes the example of sun, self and the objects. The sun rises in the morning and the darkness is driven away by its rays. The self perceives and knows the objects as it were in night.The eager self appropriates this function for itself without any thought of the Grace that functions within, causing the combination of tattvas .The self is too involved with objects to see or think of the sun supplying the light, as a hungry man is considered here.^[9]

Umapati Shivam then raises many doubts: (1)If God experiences to make the self to experience, then whether God is different from self (2) It amounts to saying that God is also imperfect. (3) Also the self becomes devoid of any knowledge (4) Grace of Godshall be termed as cruel, since being aware of the sufferings of the self, the same are not directly mitigated by Grace. (5) Why the sorrow and joy do not have any impact on God whereas they affect the self only. (6) The self enjoys pleasure and pain whereas the senses do not have such experience.

The answers are beautifully illustrated by Umapati Shivam. The sun does not have pressure from anyone but rises at dawn without any request from people. The people do not see the objects during night but when it dawns, they see the objects. Hence the answers for these questions are well answered. 1) The sunlight reveals the objects to the people while the sun remains aloof from them, so also God is different from the self. 2) Sunlight and sun are not affected and they keep their independency. God also in the same way remains totally perfect. 3) Though sunlight reveals the objects, the eye’s vision only makes the self to “know”. Hence the self cannot be said to be devoid of knowledge. 4) The sunlight helps the eye to understand with its own power of vision. Hence the sun is not having the quality of cruelty rather its Grace is all prevalent irrespective of the nature of the self. 5) The experience of the objects is for the individual selves only. The sun is not afflicted by the experience.6) the senses do immerse the self into pains and pleasures. They, being devoid of knowledge, do not have pains and pleasures.

It therefore follows that God does not appropriate the pleasure and pain.Hence He is not affected by them. The individual self appropriates the enjoyments and hence it is affected by them. It follows that, more the self refrains from ownership and appropriation; more it becomes God-like. It also follows that when the self becomes aware of the divine assistance, the self tries to achieve union with God and in the process surrenders itself to God.

The God, in spite of His highest level of superiority, condescends Himself to Grace the self as though He Himself lives in the body and mind alike. This includes walking, eating, sleeping,waking etc in normal life. In infinite experience, there is perfect coincidence and congruence between God and self.^[10]

When the self is finally cleansed of its sin and abandons its ownership as well as appropriation, it dwells in God and God dwells in the self. The self has absolutely no perception of any difference between itself, God and other things. The self enjoys the Bliss-Supreme and it is not even conscious that it is enjoying. In this condition, the self retains the body, and also remains within Supreme Bliss. The self in this state is known as jivan mukta . As a result of this physical covering and environment; he comes into contact with other physical objects and things. Whatever actions follow, jivan mukta in Supreme Bliss is not responsible for any of them. No taints can attach to him as all his tanu, karana, bhuvana and Bhoga are converted to that of Lord Shiva. The only condition is that the self must lose all sense of self. Then all his actions and burdens become those of the Lord.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Thottrammala bhagamvarak katthal bhogam .—Sivaprakasam 18.

[2]:

Kevalam thannunmai—Shivajnana-Siddhiyar-Supakkam 227.

[3]:

Mayaiyin vayitrulmanni ,
Varum seyal gnanam icchai…
Kayam betthangal agik
Kalandhu udan nirkum anma .—Shivajnana-Siddhiyar-Supakkam 211.
The self (thus immersed in the darkness of bondage, emerges in the twilight of embodiment and to begin with it) enters (its causal body of) the womb of (asuddha) maya and has its intelligence will and action expressed in a general and collective sense.—Sivaraman.K, commentary on SSS , (Tirupanandal, ShriKasimadam, 1988), 107.

[4]:

Kannurum anju araya karuvigal maruvunthane .—Sivaprakasam 60.

[5]:

The anatomical location of these centres is a difficult task. There are many theories about these locations. But no theory is supported or verified by scientific approach.

[6]:

An elaborate description is given by Sivaraman.K.,opp.cit.,112 to 117.

[7]:

Indha ozhungu ozhindhu uyirum ondraith Therivuradhu ,—Sivaprakasam 63.

[8]:

Avan ozhintha atthiralgalum seyal ilave .—ibid

[9]:

Irulnani iravidhan vandhu iritthalum iravil ennum
Porul nilai kandu mandhar porundhidumarupola
Marulnilai engum ninga magizhndhuyir thannul mannum
Arulaiyum ozhiyum gnalatthu arindhavaru ariyumandre .—Sivaprakasam 66.
When the sun rises in the morning and drives darkness away, people directly see things which they wished to see in the night. Similarly when, by being attached to reals, the darkness encircling the self fades away, self gladly sees things for itself though it does not think of the Grace of God which attached the reals to it, just as people seeing things in daylight do not think of the sun which supplied the light.-Subramania Pillai.K, commentary on SP , 61.

[10]:

Thanakuena orseyal attrutthan adhuvai nirkil ,
Nathan avan udal uyirai, undu urangi, nadandhu ,
Nana bhogangalaiyum thanagach cheidhu ,
bhetham aranindru, ivanaitthan akkividuvan ; 85—Unmaineri-Vilakkam 6.