Nature of Duality vis-à-vis Atman

Yajnavalkya explains Brahman. Maitreyi finds it difficult to understand the nature of Brahman. So Yajnavalkya takes up the same topic, but in a more lucid way. He gives mundane examples of duality (Dvaita) which Brahman is not. So, by understanding what Brahman is not, one may find it easier to comprehend what Brahman is.

Duality

This is what duality is: One sees a thing, smells an object, i.e., all senses are outbound. This sensory activity takes away the self out of the Self. One is not recognizing an external object, for example a flower, perceived by a sense tool to be the Self.   

A knower of Brahman realizes everything to be the Self alone.  For him, nothing is outside the Self.  In such as state, the senses don’t perceive anything.  No flower is seen, no flower is smelt, no flower is touched.  Mind does not function. Mind does not think as there remains no object outside the Self to think about.

Now the question remains to be answered, ‘by what method or tool the knower of everything can be known?’ 

So Yajnavalkya comes out with the idea of Absolute deduction, that is, Neti Neti: Not this, Not this.  By this process of relentless negation, through deep and continuous inquiry, one works on ‘What Self is not’.  This is not Self. This too is not Self.

Thus, it is realized that Self is imperceptible. It is not possible to perceive the Self. The Knower, that knows everything, cannot be known. Why? Only an object can be known. The Self, which is the Subject cannot be known.

More reason. Perceptible magnitude. For perceiving an object, these are some conditions to be fulfilled.  These are laid down in Samkhya Karika-7 (of Isvara Krishna).

a) ati-dura, extreme distance (from a sense tool), one cannot see a man living in another village;

b) ati-samipya, too close (to a sense organ, for example, a speck of dust in the eye cannot be seen),

c) indriya-ghata, disability of a sense organ, a blind cannot see a flower;

d) mano-anavadhana, absence of mental focus. If the mind is not focused along with a sense tool, an object cannot be perceived;

e) saukshmya, too subtle an object, say an atom being too small cannot be seen by an eye;

f) vyavadhana, an obstacle between a sense and its object, eyes cannot see an object that lies behind a wall;

or suppressed, an object is concealed deliberately and therefore the same cannot be perceived;

g) samanabhihara, mixed up with similar objects, for example, salt and sugar mixed together.

Self is not a faraway object, neither it is too close and so on. All the conditions cited above apply only on sense objects and not on Atman.

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