VIVEKA

VIVEKA

Viveka is discrimination between the real and the unreal, permanent and impermanent, Self and the not­-Self. Viveka dawns in a man on account of the grace of God. The grace can come only when one has done incessant selfless service in countless births with the feeling of Isvararpana (offering unto God). The door of the higher mind is flung open when there is awakening of discrimination. There is an unchanging permanent principle amidst the ever-changing phenomena of the universe and the fleeting movements and oscillation of mind.

The five sheaths are floating in the universal consciousness like straw on water. The five changing kosas (sheaths) are mixed up with the eternal Atman (Self). There is childhood, boyhood, adolescence and old age for this physical body. But there is an unchanging background for this ever­-changing body and mind, like the blackboard or screen in a cinema which manifests various forms and figures. The witness or the silent spectator of these changes of the body and mind is permanent and unchanging. He is like the all­-pervading space. He pervades, permeates and interpenetrates all these changing forms like the thread in a garland of flowers. This eternal essence of Atman is present everywhere and in everything -­ atoms, electrons, mustard, nay in ants and mountains. He dwells in the chambers of your own heart. He is the soul of this tree, stone, flower, goat, dog, cat, man, saint or Devata (God). He is the common property of all, be he a saint or a sinner, a king or a peasant, a beggar or a baron, a scavenger or a cobbler. He is the very source for life and thought.

The aspirant should learn to discriminate between the eternal and unchanging substratum of all objects and the ever­-changing names and forms. He should seriously engage himself at all times to separate the eternal unchanging self. He should try to separate himself from the changing, impermanent five sheaths, from the passions, emotions, feelings, thoughts, sentiments, nay from the oscillating mind itself. He should distinguish between the mind and the witness who moves and illumines the mind, between ordinary sensation, feelings and sentiments and perfect awareness of pure consciousness which remains unaffected and unattached, between personality and individuality. He must also separate himself from the adventitious false superimpositions of the body, viz., position, rank, avocation, birth, caste, stage, and order of life. These are all accidental appendages of the false personality.

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