Knowledge and Self Knowledge ( Gyana )

 

The definition of knowledge means internal subjectivation of the external objectivity is called knowledge. There are two types of knowledge

(i) Para ( absolute knowlwdge) , In paravidya the position is reverse: you and the external physicalities are the objects of another subject. The endeavour to discuss that Subject, the knower , the witnessing entity is the pursuit of paravidya. You are not to look upon yourself as the knower or author of actions, but as the objective counterpart of the Subjective Entity. para vidya is the real absolute knowledge. 

(ii) Apara ( relative knowledge) The internal and external ideas of the unit mind can understood from the following aneedote.Suppose you want to know what is lying in a particular corner of a particular house in a particular town ,you are quite familar with. The quest for this type of knowledge is called apara for it concerns the relative world. 

When you come to know everything there is to know about the town you will still know nothing about another town. If your psychic arena is likened to previous town , then to know present town you will have to expand your psychic arena. When knowledge concerns the mundane world you lookupon objects as the subjects. No matter how much you study the different stages of metamorphosis an object passes through, the Supreme Subject of those objects will remain unknown to you . Likewise when you are the object , then your subject remain unknown to you. Therefore in aparavidya you are the subject and the external physicalities are your psychic objects

Sensory knowledge: Sensory knowledge is two types- 

    (i)Direct sensory knowledge ( sarala samyukti)  occurs when an indriya directly receives an inferential vibration and conveys it straight to the chitta, thus creating the same kind of experience in the unit mind. Suppose an elephant is standing before you. 

 (ii) Indirect sensory knowledge ( tieyak samyukti). In this case the indriyas receive inferential vibrations indirectly. For example-  You  have acquired a lot of knowledge about a particular city , even though you have never been there , through indirect perception.

Acquired knowledge : Acquired knowledge also of two types : 

 (i) Knowledge acquired through habitual instinct ( siddha samskara raja gyana) - This knowledge occurs when one receives the same piece of information again and again. 

(ii) Knowledge acquired through inborn inborn instinct ( sahajata samskara raja gyana) Children have certain instincts which can be called inborn instincts. A baby mammal learn spontaneously how to suck its mother's breast- it does not need to be taught that there is milk in the breast, or the method of sucking. It is a kind of inborn instinct. 

Intuitional knowledge: 

(i) Focused intuitional knowledge ( aparoksa bhasa) All objectivities lie accumulated within the casual mind,however they normally remain unseen since the casual mind is darkened by static ignorance. The process to see some parts of the casual mind with the help of spiritual effulgence is called focused intuitional knowledge. I do not call it perceptional knowledge because it is only acquired through spiritual effulgence and not psychic probing. as the objectivities lie within the casual mind, I cannot logically call it the faculty of perceptional knowledge.

(ii) Spiritiuo-intuitional knowledge ( aparoksa anubhuti ) One who is established in the Microcosmic Mind is the knower of all objectivities. To such an entity knowing the entire Cosmic stance, all knowledge is spirituo-intuitional knowledge. When the perceiver, perceivable and perception; or the knower, knowable and knowledge become one; or when the deed and the 'doable' become one with the doer, one attains non-dualistic self-knowledge, one becomes the embodiment of knowledge. Onlly this is real knowledge. all other knowledge is the shadow of knowledge ... nsubstantial knowledge. The persuit of perceptional knowledge has no absolute value.

  Thus intelligent people , instead of cultivating perceptional knowledge, will direct their minds towards Parama Purusa the Supreme witnessing Entity, the Supreme guide , the Supreme answer to all questions not as the object of knowledge but as knowing Entity.

: Self Knowledge :

  In empirical knowledge , the objective portion of the mind ( chitta) takes the form of the object and subjective portion of  the mind witnesses it and all these take place because of the existentiality of the self transcendental consciousness, which accompanies all cognitive processes , perception, inference, memory etc. The difficulty arises when one seeks to know the self. There is the apparent paradox with regard to the knowledge of the self. The self , being the transcendental subject, is presupposed in all acts of knowing. So how can the very subject be the object of knowledge ? On the other hand it is claimed that the self-knowledge is the highest knowledge because it is by knowing the self, that everything is known. All other forms of knowledge are mere shadows the umbra and penumbras of real knowledge. In emperical cognition, the object of knowledge is extrinsic to the knowing subject and terefore it involves the subjectivisation of objectivity. Here chitta has for its assumes the form of the object it knows. When the object of knowledge is the self the epistemic phenomenon is radically different. As mentioned before chitta is the object in ralation to Ahamtattva, Ahamtattva is the object in relation to the Mahatattva, which in turn, is an object in relation Atman ( self). Hence there is the prime facie oddity of the object knowing the subject. For chitta knowing consists in becoming the object. Self is the subtlest of all existence. Chitta is cruder than Ahamtattvva. Ahamtattva is cruder than Mahatattva and Mahatattva is cruder than the self, ( witnessing consciousness). Hence knowledge of the self would involve introversion of the objective portion of the mind. In the attempt to know the self the chitta becomes subtler and subtler, until it becomes the self. In other words chitta can know the self only by becoming it. In knowing a finite object chitta assumes a determinate form. So the knowledge of self becomes possible only when chitta becomes the self. So knowing here consists in becoming. The unit consciousness(jiva) can know the Cosmic-consciousness ( Shiva) only by becoming it.

All cases of knowing involve Subjectivisation of Objectivity. It means that the object of cognition has to be assimilated within. The degrees of truth depends on the degree of assimilation. The process of assimilation(atmasthikaran) is completed in three stages : Ava-atmasthikaran ( superficial assimilation), upa-atmasthikaran ( psychic assimilation) and samyak-atmasthikaran. In sensory cognition there is superficial assimilation of the inferential vibrations ( tanmatras) emanated from the object and received by the sense organs according to their capacity. One's knowledge about the object is confined to the external vibrations received by the sense organs, assimilated by the chitta and wittnessed by the I-consciousness. In sense perception, there is always the possibility of error. It may be due to the defect in the receptive organs or the epistemic handicaps, preventing an effective sense object interaction. Similarly all inferences are fallible in principle, except deductive inference where the conclusion does not add any content to the premises as they are already contained in them . Such is also the case with knowledge derived from Authority. Something does not becomes true simply because it is certified by the Authority but because it is really so. Hence such knowledge are always open to validation or invalidation in the light of facts.Ava-atmasthikaran yields knowledge about the object, only from a particular perspective. Therefore they are relative and open to sublation or falsification. There is another mode of knowing where one knows the object by entering into the innermost core of the object. Here one goes beyond the tanmatras and knows the object by assimilating the psychic vibration of the object. This is characterised as Upa-atmasthikaran. Everything living or non-living is a metamorphosed from of the Supreme consciousness. The gamut of creation is nothing but the creation of the cosmic mind. Hence mind is dormant in everything animate or inanimate. Those who are psychically developed can know the object by perceiving the psychic throb within the object, be it a material body, plant, animal or a human being. The knowledge obtained through such interactions are much more intimate , complete and infallible than knowledge available through sense-object interaction. 

 But in case of knowledge of the self there is neither assimilation of tanmatrik vibrations because there is no tanmatra-emanating object, nor is there the psychic assimilation because the self is beyond mind. Hence , the only way for the mind to know that which is beyond it is to metamorphose itself to the sublest entity. Mind in the process of knowing the self gets dissolved and becomes the self. The self is nothing other than the pan-consciousness which lies quiescent in every structure and is the eternal witness of all the cognitive, cognitive and affective functions of the individual and the collectivity.

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