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16
Kalidas Bhattacarya
itself to be, so far, ie 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 (liya sāksın) it is aware of itself as what also ought to be pure consciousness as absolute, as Brahman This is the import of the mahāyākya. Tat tvam ast' ('That thou art) - 'tat' standing for possible he and 'tvam' for how 1 is understood from the point of view of a possible listener The whole statement Tat tvam usi' intends that tvam (I understood as a possible you) is really (1.e as what is ought to be) a possible he, ie the absolute, tvam shedding its tyam-ness, though retaining the core-character which is puic consciousness, and tat shedding its possibleness and yet retaining, similarly, its core-character of pure consciousness. At the jīva-säksin 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 Advaitios bold, through listening to the mahāvākya
Tat tvam ası' 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Be it noted here that though the jiva-sākşin has withdrawn himself from his body and mind this withdrawal is no physical separation yet, and, therefore, listening or concen tration is not out of court at this stage The jīva-sākşın is jīvanmukta, retaining the mind-body complex and, through that, the world of objects, but not being in any way committed to it, being communicu io valy uuu chung, Viz. itself as pure subjectivity This non-commital reteation of everything else is only another name of symbolically constructing it.
This is not, of course, the whole story of jīvanmuktı for the account given here is true equally of videhamukti. The
11 Or, if one likes, negative attention.
