Hi Sundari,
Just to be sure … It is weird to be quite clear about not being jiva – yet still have a darkness hanging around, it is good to check into it and resolve it. So, I leave the story for what it is – but work on the effects.
Sundari: This is not weird, it’s pretty normal as ignorance is hard-wired and it takes as long as it takes for Self-knowledge to completely purify the mind of duality, the effects of Maya. The jiva’s story is the effects because anything that is not Self is mithya, the effects of ignorance, Maya.
Kevin: If I understand it well the jiva is the sheath’s – built out of the guna’s? I ask because the teaching on the sheath’s I left aside.
Sundari: Basically yes, that is correct in that the five sheaths make up the Subtle body and the gunas generate everything in mithya. The three gunas work the same way for everyone and produce the same results more or less, though the karma may seem different. But as there are countless guna combinations, everyone has a guna-makeup that seems unique to their personality/vasana load, as well as the type of Gross body they have.
The full teaching on the five sheaths is covered in several of the scriptures and publications online, Panchadasi covers it. Have you read Tattva Bodh which is part of the foundation text for self-inquiry and covers the basic principles and terminology used in Vedanta? If not, I advise it as it is essential to clarify all the foundational terms in Vedanta.
Kevin: But James said something about it in a video that I cannot find anymore. It kicked in, I remember – like ‘ow ..!’ Ishvara is not sheath’s, and the person-ality is …
Sundari: The five sheaths or koshas which make up the Subtle body, are the uphadhi for the jiva. An uphadi is a limiting adjunct—that which makes something appear to be something other than it is. For instance, if I have a red rose behind a clear crystal, the clear crystal will appear to be red even though it is clear. Maya is the Uphadi for Isvara. Isvara (Awareness plus Maya) is the uncaused cause of everything and is formless, though all form originates from it (Causal body). Isvara never enters the creation; if it did, there would be no escape from duality.
Put it this way: the uphadi for the Self/Awareness (or what we can also call perception) is the person—the individual jiva or self under the spell of ignorance. It makes the Self look like it is a jiva. However, what belongs to the person does not belong to the Self because the person and Awareness do not exist in the same order of reality.
The Self, the subject, is what is real and the object, the person, is what is apparently real. As you know, the definition of real is that which is always present and never changes, which only applies to the Self. The perceiver only looks different in accordance with the uphadi in association with it; the difference belongs to the uphadi and not to the subject (the Self). It is just an appearance in Awareness causing a sense of difference where there is no difference. Maya is a very clever trickster—ignorance is very intelligent.
The confusion comes in what belongs to the person and what belongs to the Self: a jiva under the spell of ignorance thinks that what applies to the person, also applies to the Self. The person and the Self are not the same because of the different uphadi’s. What belongs to the person cannot belong to the Self because the Self is a partless whole. So, the Self cannot be a jiva, but the jiva is the Self. Like the wave is the ocean but the ocean is not the wave, the pot is clay, but the clay is not the pot, the ring is gold, but gold is not a ring. That kind of thing.
Some facts about the jiva that may help:
1. Jiva is a mixture of sattva and tamas, spirit and matter, knowledge and ignorance – which equals rajas. Thus, Consciousness plus rajas = avidya, personal ignorance (avidya). If jiva came from pure sattva it would be omniscient, like Isvara. If it came from pure tamas, it would be totally ignorant.
2. As a result of rajas, limitless Awareness appears as a limited being or Subtle body. It is the eternal individual or jiva, also called ‘the son of God’. Deluded by Maya, it identifies with the Subtle body, the reflected medium (or five sheaths), instead of Awareness. It thinks objects contain happiness and are separate from it. It suffers chasing objects trying to complete itself through them.
3. The individual embodied self or jiva is apparently conditioned by avidya. It is multifaceted and complex due to the infinite combinations of the 3 gunas and the five sheaths that have many parts.
4. There is only one eternal jiva, not infinite unique individuals. If jivas were truly all unique, Vedanta would not work to free anyone as everyone would need a unique scripture just for them. Duality could not be dismissed.
5. Jiva knows it exists and is conscious but believes it is limited because of avidya.
6. Deluded by Maya jiva is always confused by ignorance and knowledge, never knowing the difference between them. Everything becomes a problem.
7. Worry and fear of what will happen is the nature of all jivas because the jiva is not in control of the objects or the field of existence, and both are always changing.
8. Because the jiva is driven by fear and desire it develops binding likes and dislikes which cause great suffering.
9. Jiva is always running towards or away from something because it is driven by fear and desires. Desire is painful.
I hope this helps
Much love
Sundari
