Nirvana Shatkam (Atma Shatkam)

In one of the google groups I am a part of, one of my good friends Deepak, asked me to explain what I think of Nirvana Shatkam (also called Atma Shatkam). So, breaking the tradition of writing only poetry in this blog, I am attempting some prose for the first time...

The Atma Shatkam defines what one is by defining what one is not (typical way of defining some fundamental concepts in East Asian traditions). Zen is also defined the same way in his attempt to bring it to western world by Alan Watts in the book "The way of Zen". The best analogy is a sculptor carving out the sculpture from a stone by eliminating the "unnecessary" (what is not) stone to reveal his intended design (what is) such that what is manifests by itself when what isn't is removed.

Also note that it is Shatkam and not Shatakam (most websites make this mistake). Shatkam is a group of six verses while Shatakam is about a hundred verses. The beauty of Sanskrit - a small error can change the whole meaning.

The context:

So lets start with the context of the Shatkam. Legend says that Sankaracharya composed this when he first met his Guru Govindabhagavatpada. This journey by itself is consdered a very inspirational and eventful journey where Sankara traveled from Kerala in the south to the banks of Naramada in Gujarat. There is a separate treatise on this journey Sankara Vijayam or "The Victory of Sankara". It is considered to be very inspirational reading (unwavering dedication to achieve your goal). Coming back to the topic: Govindabhagavatpada asked Sankara who he was and he apparently answered him with this six verse group. What an elegant way to introduce oneself! It can be safely said that this is one of the best compositions that deals with the existential question of "Who am I?" in a very lyrical, concise and profound way.

Short Summary -

"I am not this gross body, nor the intellectual self through which I experience this world, nor the ego. I am not what I aspire to be in this world, what I compete to be, I am not my likes nor dislikes, where I come from, my jati, my institution, nor am I my profession. I have no birth, no death, I am no parent, nor teacher, nor student, I have no relations so to speak. Then who am I? I am eternal bliss, the consciousness that resides in all beings, the vitality behind all living beings". I would define eternal bliss as the "flow state" by which the entire universe works in perfection. The essence of the composition is a profound universal message in the oneness of all and the impermanence of nature. In that sense it makes me sometimes wonder, are we all really different? Are we just manifestation of the same consciousness in different forms from time to time?

You could perhaps skip to the concluding part after verse 6 below if you'd like :-)

More Details

A bit more into the details now. If we ponder on it, we realize that the Shatkam follows an interesting structure. It starts with mano budhyahankaara chittaani naaham...". If it is all about defining what one is not, then why should it matter how it starts? So, let's ponder on this for a bit. Seriously, just ask this question to yourself - "Who am I?" and after sufficient thought you may realize and appreciate the composition. The fact that we even can question implies we are thinking beings. So, it follows: are we our mind? Are we our intellect, thoughts, ego?...and the questioning can begin from there. I will write below what I think of the structure below.

Verse 1:

I am not my mind, my intellect, nor ego, I am not the sense organs. Now it is important to recognize the significance of this. Once we start thinking and questioning, we begin to realize that we experience this world through our sense organs and that is why the questioning is possible in the first place. So, are we the sense organs then? No... (nacha shrotra jihve na cha GhraaNa Netree...). It continues to say that I am not the five (gross) elements (panchabhoota) of nature (air, water, fire, earth, ether].

Verse 2:

I am not the praana vayu (the breath that sustains life), nor the gross body made up of bones, flesh and skin...I am neither my organs of action through which I sustain myself and procreate. Here Sankaracharya mentions panchakosa...I don't have a deeper understanding of Advaita to clearly define what it is, so it can be checked from the reference below to get a reasonable idea. I leave it to reader.

Verse 3:

Once the basic identification (and negation thereof) exercise of body is done, then the composition proceeds to basic emotions. Am I what I like and dislike? Am I the passions I have, Am I the greed, the cravings, the envy? Am I the arrogance, the frailties have, am I living for aspiring the purushaarthaas?. Unfortunately it is hard to define the purushaarthaas in plain English - I leave it to the reader (If you are an Indian, you might appreciate easily and if not write to me offline and I will do my best to explain or simply google!).

Verse 4:

Once the basic emotions are also negated, them am I my profession? Am I a collection of good and bad (deeds that I do), am I the vicissitudes of life that I go through? Am I my daily duties that I (have to) do? All these identifications are also negated.

Verse 5:

Then the identification proceeds to jati, birth, parents, guru, and students (or in today's context - the institutions we come from and/or where we work), our kith and kin, the different roles we play in different contexts. Am I all of them? Do they define my identity? This is negated as well.

Verse 6:

After negating all the above, here the definition of what is is attempted. I have no form, I have no thought, I have no attachments, nor am I detached, I am not definable, nor measurable - I am all inclusive. I am the eternal bliss and the consciousness behind all beings. A bit more detail here: the state of being without thought has eluded lot of seekers from time immemorial (the more recent mindfulness theory is also related to this). Yoga is being without thought - yogah chittavritti nirodhakah as defined by sage Patanjali.

Now come to think of it - how beautiful the composition proceeds! The logical sequence is amazing. Eliminating all the typical identifying factors that we consider when we start defining ourselves.

References/acknowledgements

1. http://www.svbf.org/journal/vol2no4/nirvana.pdf

2. Inputs from my mother Dr Sita (Retd Sanskrit Prof)

3. And of course my friend Deepak...

Feel free to comment. Keep it neat and decent and feel free to write to me if need be.

Yoga

09/27/2011