Drg-Drshya-Viveka 20

Every entity has five aspects which are: it is, it shines, it is dear, its name, and form. The first three belong to the Reality and the latter two to the world. - Verse 20

Excerpt From Summary

Mind keeps wandering. Where can it go? Anywhere and everywhere! "I", the awareness is present everywhere the mind goes. So the mind can never be away from me. How then, can we recognize the Reality in every object that the mind wanders to?

Any object that we perceive or that we can conceive of has five aspects. The first is its Existence. A book cannot be written by a non-existent author. The book 'is', the author 'is', and its reader, I, also exist. This is-ness indicates the existence aspect of a thing. 

Also the object is 'known' to exist. I 'know' that the book is and I 'know' that I am. Without awareness the existence of a thing cannot be known. This awareness indicates the Consciousness aspect inherent in the object. In this context the knowability of an object is indicated by saying that it enjoys, or has, Consciousness.

The known object is also dear. But we do not feel that every object gives us happiness. Beings like snakes are a source of joy to snake-charmers and snake lovers. We are all a source of joy to someone or the other and hence dear. Each of us is the freatest source of joy to ourselves, therefore, I love myself the most. Everything else is dear only for my own sake. The love objects changes from time to time and sometimes sours into indifference, dislike or hate. Self love is unconditioned by time or place. We are instructed: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' but never 'Love thyself,' since self-love is inherent, Self-love is uncaused, homogeneous and unending. This love indicates the Bliss aspect inherent in the object.

Existence-Consciousness-Bliss is the nature of the Self and every object of the world. The reality manifests as is-ness, awareness and dearness in objects. Every object also has a name and form which keeps changing and perishing. The Reality is the only changeless substratum over which the changing world is superimposed. The is-ness, awareness, and dearness of an object belong to the Seer and not the seen. The name and form constitute maya. To one whose attention is only on the names and forms, the underlying Reality remains unknown. He feels that the world is real as perceived by him. 

The five aspects of an object are enumerated to enable us to distinguish between the Real and the unreal and to come to own the Real as our nature. On enquiry, the names ad forms are found to be nothing by the Reality. Hence an object hasa only three aspects: Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. But existence is consciousness and existence-consciousness is bliss. Therefore the one Reality alone remains. The body has a name, form, it is, it is known and it is dear. Who perceives the body? I do. Then I cannot be the body - I must be in the body. I lend is-ness, awareness and dearness to the body, so I must be Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Hence, I am unconditioned by time and space. I cannot, therefore, be in the body - the body is in me. Yet I am unconditioned by any other object, therefore, there is no body: 'I alone am'. Such is the analysis undertaken to arrive at the Truth.