Dṛg-dṛśya Vivekaḥ 4–5: Illumination of Consciousness
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 26/05/2020

This series is classified Vivartha-vāda | Rāja-yoga | Suśupti | Ājñā-cakra

“It (the Ātman) shining, all else shines” —Katha Upaniṣad 5.15. There is nothing else to illuminate the Ātman: It is self-luminous, and illuminates all objects.

Text 4:
kāmaḥ saṁkalpasaṁdehau śraddhāśraddhe dhṛtītare |hrīr-dhīr-bhīr-ity-evam-ādīn bhāsayety-ekadhā citiḥ ||

“Consciousness illuminates mental states such as desire, determination and doubt, belief and nonbelief, constancy and its opposite, modesty, understanding, fear and others, because it (consciousness) is a unity.”

Mind, like other sense organs, is also an object perceived by another: consciousness or the Self. Consciousness illuminates the mind and senses, which are otherwise dark and inert. 
Desire means wanting the satisfaction of sensual pleasure.

Determination means recognizing the nature of objects perceived by the sense organs.
Faith means confidence in the existence of God and the result of karma.
Steadiness is the mental power which sustains a man even while he is physically or otherwise tired.

Others refers to the innumerable states and functions of the mind. Apart from antaḥkaraṇa there are six other deterrents: desire, anger, jealousy, confusion, pride and envy.

Text 5:
nodeti nāstametyeṣā na dṛddhiṁ yāti na kṣayam |svayaṁ vibhātyathānyāni bhāsayetsādhanaṁ vinā ||

“This consciousness neither rises nor sets. It does not increase nor decay. Being Self-luminous it illuminates everything else without any aid.”

That the mind undergoes all these changes is known to all. Because of its changeable nature, the mind is an object of perception and Consciousness is the perceiver. This is because all these changes are perceived by Consciousness. Consciousness perceives all these states because it is a unity. These states, though distinct in nature, become unified in Consciousness or Self.

Consciousness is the eternal Witness of all internal changes.

Neither rises—Rising means birth: coming into existence of a previously nonexistent entity. This cannot be applied to consciousness, as it is the Witness of all previous nonexistence. Otherwise no one will be aware of such nonexistence. All entities, from the empirical ego to the gross object perceived, have a previous nonexistent state, because their appearance and disappearance are cognized by consciousness.

Set means disappearance of a previously existing entity: its becoming nonexistent again. This state, though possible for relative entities, cannot be applied to consciousness. No disappearance or destruction can be cognized without a conscious Witness.

Does not increase nor decay—Every perceived entity of the empirical world possesses six characteristics: birth, existence, growth, change, decay and destruction. But Consciousness has none of the characteristics of a perceived entity. By negating birth and decay, the four other characteristics are also negated in Consciousness. Growth and decay are only possible for those entities that change and have parts. But Consciousness is without parts or change.

Everything else—All perceived entities. “It (the Ātman) shining, all else shines” —Katha Upaniṣad 5.15. There is nothing else to illuminate the Ātman: It is self-luminous, and illuminates all objects.

==========
Dharmasār Video Series Index:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EZFqp9G893-LMYSm-ucUt3CylMTbfLV2/view?usp=drivesdk

Four States of Consciousness Diagram: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13OWr_2V857yq7AjS59yhF4ub2q9k8Kl9/view?usp=sharing

Dharmasār Complete Archive Library:
https://archive.org/details/dharmasar-essence-of-dharma