Dṛg-dṛśya Vivekaḥ 18–19: Thou Art the Witness
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 2020-06-03

This series is classified Vivartha-vāda | Rāja-yoga | Suśupti | Ājñā-cakra
Text 18:
tathā saga-brahmaṇoś-ca bhedam-āvṛtya tiṣṭati |
yā śaktis-tad-veśāhṛhma vikṛta-tvena bhāsate ||
“Similarly Brahman, through the agency of the power that conceals the difference between It and the phenomenal universe, appears as if endowed with the attributes of change.”

As in the case that the subject, the sākṣin through false identification appears to have become the jīva, so also from the point of view of the individual self, Brahman appears to be identified with the objective universe. This is due to the concealing power of Māyā, āvarana-śakti. 

The real nature of Brahman is that It is without the six attributes of the manifested manifold: birth, existence, growth, change, decay and annihilation.

Text 19:
atrāpy-āvṛti-nāśena vibhāti brahma-sargayoḥ |
bhedas-tayor-vikāras-syat-sargena brahmaṇi kvacit ||
“In this case also, the distinction between Brahman and the phenomenal universe becomes clear with the disappearance of the veiling power. Therefore change is perceived in the phenomenal universe, but never in Brahman.”

When that veiling power is destroyed, the distinction between Brahman and the phenomenal universe becomes clear and then the changes etc. attributed to Brahman disappear.
As in the case of the individual self, as the result of the knowledge of the nondual Brahman, change etc. whose essential characteristics are birth, growth, decay etc. are seen to exist only in the phenomenal world and not in Brahman.

In the foregoing stanzas we have seen, following the methods of agreement and difference, that the word tvaṁ (“Thou” in the Vedic statement tat tvam āsī, “That Thou Art”) indicates the Witness (sākṣin) which is immutable and changeless, and that the word tat indicates Brahman, which is unrelated to the phenomena. The attributes generally associated with “Thou” and “That” are mere appearances and hence unreal.

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