Knower and The Known

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Q: The mind, sense-organs, etc., have the ability to perceive; yet why are they regarded as perceived objects?

Drik (Knower): The Seer

Drishya (Known Object): Pot (the seen object) 

Further,

Drik: The eye organ                        Drishya: Body, Pot etc.

Drik: The sense of sight                 Drishya: The eye organ

Drik: The mind                               Drishya: The sense of sight

Drik: The individual soul               Drishya: The mind

Drik: Consciousness (The Self)     Drishya: The individual soul

As shown in the above scheme, since we, the consciousness, know all objects, we are said to be drik (knower). The categories ending with pot are the objects seen, since they are what are known. In the table of ‘knowledge: ignorance (i.e. knower-known)’ given above, among the knowers and objects of knowledge, it is seen that one is knower in relation to another; yet, since that one is object in relation to another, none of those categories is, in reality, the knower. Although we are said to be the  knower’ because we know all, and not the ‘known’ because we are not known by anything else, we are said to be the ‘knower’ only in relation to the known objects. In truth, however, what is called the ‘known’ is not apart from us. And so we are the Reality that transcends those two (the knower and the known). All the others fall within the knower-known categories.