Form of Knowingness

Knowingness is subject of contemplation or the Drishti ka Vishay. One contemplates on the self of the form of having infinite qualities including infinite knowledge, bliss, vision, strength etc. These qualities are ever present in the self whereas the soul normally contemplates on his day to day problems which can be called the paryaya wherein he is immersed in momentary happiness or unhappiness which keep changing from one moment to other. However the path to liberation comprises of concentrating on the permanent nature of the soul having the infinite qualities and establishing oneness with that. It results in realizing the true veetraga nature of the soul filled with those qualities. Further he starts experiencing the taste of his nature i.e. the qualities are manifested  in his paryaya resulting in experience of the bliss. This process continues till the soul attains Moksha. This is a process of continuous purification of soul by means of meditation or shuddhopayoga.

What does the soul contemplate about? This subject is at variance in different religions. However in Jainism it has been handled very logically and philosophically supported by the literature dating  to 2000 years back tracing the authorship to Bhagwan Mahaveer. Several Acharyas belonging to this interim period have confirmed it with their description of the same.

The object of contemplation is the pure self having those infinite qualities into single undivided self. It is clearly told that if one contemplates on the qualities then it would never end, being infinite, and would only distract him. Similarly the subject cannot be impure nature of self since it is paryaya and impermanent and hence causes further distraction and disturbance within self. However the dravya is the self which is base of these qualities and manifestation which is permanent as well as indivisible. The means to detect and identify is by means of knowingness of the self. Remember that knowingness is not same as knowledge which comprises of knowledge of different objects and hence causes distraction. However knowingness is permanently present in the soul which never changes just as a river does not stop flowing. One can compare it to an ocean which undergoes perturbation at surface in the form of waves but at the back of it is a massive silent mass of water which is steady and unperturbed. It can be denoted as a fixed component of the soul as shown in the diagram. This is steady unperturbed and unchanging with all its qualities. The other component is variable denoted by paryaya which is floating above the fixed component which undergoes momentary happiness or unhappiness time to time. This is not a subject of contemplation since this itself is variable. Thus discarding this outer soul comprising of variable component , one has to proceed inwards towards the fixed component and establish oneness with that self.  Once he practices this , a stage would come when he will start experiencing those infinite qualities of the self resulting in bliss.

This form of meditation is Nirvikalpa or without any noticeable thought process, while unnoticeable thought process continues till later spiritual stages. One has to ignore and discard all the visible thoughts arising in the mind as not of the nature of self. They are in reality manifestation of the karmas. He has to concentrate on the self of the nature of knowledge , in other words knowingness which guides him to the real self having all other infinite qualities. Knowingness is the detectable quality hence used as means to contemplate. The thoughts arising in the mind are not our nature hence are to be ignored. One has to concentrate on the knowing self having undivided power of knowing, bliss etc. Hence thoughts of qualities are also a distraction. A single indivisible knowing self, like the fixed component in the diagram which is surrounded by the variable component which needs to be ignored.

The next stage comprises of experiencing the self i.e tasting the state of self in this form because one is not thinking of any subject, which leads to distraction. The experience is beyond senses since it is not generated by senses. It is different from what has been experienced so far and not describable. That is the true nature of bliss. However it is not steady and prolonged and one gets distracted fairly soon. Hence one has to keep making effort and practicing to purify the experience again and again. Only when he reaches the state of omniscience he is able to experience the self on prolonged basis since there is no more distraction for him. Further his strength is also infinite and  happiness is permanent.