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A Modern Understanding of...
itself to be, so far, i.e. as what it ought to be, is he-ness, not this or that he but what could instantiate itself as any he whatsoever. Further, as here there is no room for abstract universal which is always adjectival, this he-ness is a universal substantive, and he as a universal substantive is but pure consciousness as absolute. It follows that as soon as I comes to be aware of itself as pure individual subjectivity (jīvasākṣin ) it is aware of itself as what also ought to be pure consciousness as absolute, as Brahman. This is the import of the mahāvākya · Tat tvam asi' ('That thou art') - 'tat' standing for possible he and 'tvam' for how I is understood from the point of view of a possible listener. The whole statement 'Tat tvam usi' intends that tyam (I understood as a possible you is really (i.e. as what is ought to be) a possible he, i.e. the absolute, tvam shedding its tvam-ness, though retaining the core-character which is pure consciousness, and tat shedding 'its possibleness and yet retaining, similarly, its core-character of pure consciousness. At the jīva-sākşin stage this absolute identification is felt as what ought to be. This ought-to--be character is understood as realizable in actuality either as many Advaitins hold, through listening to the mahāvākya 'Tat tvam asi' or, as others appear to hold, through one's own further effort of concentration 11 on this mahāvākya.
Be it noted here that though the jiva-säksin has withdrawn himself from his body and mind this withdrawal is no physical separation yet, and, therefore, listening or concentration is not out of court at this stage. The jīva-sākşin is jivanmukta, retaining the mind-body complex and, through that, the world of objects, but not being in any way committed to it, being committed to only one thing, viz. itself as pure subjectivity. This non-commital retention of everything else is only another name of symbolicaily constructing it.
This is not, of course, the whole story of jīvanmukti for the account given here is true equally of videhamukti. The
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Or, if one likes, negative attention.
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