Witness vs. Knower: The Key to Self-Realization | Advaita Vedanta

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:06]Om asatoma sadgamaya tamasoma jyotir gamaya mrityorma amritam gamaya Om shanti shanti shantihi harihi Om Om Lead us from the unreal to the real.

[00:00:36]Lead us from darkness unto light.

[00:00:40]Lead us from death to immortality.

[00:00:43]Om peace peace peace So we are studying this introductory text Drig-Drishya-Viveka and we are well on our way through the text.

[00:01:00]Now let us chant the three mantras three shlokas dealing with the internal meditation that is from 24 verse number 24 25 and 26 let's chant them.

[00:01:21]Kamadyashchittaga drishya Kamadyashchittaga drishya Tatsakshitvena chetanam Tatsakshitvena Dhyayedrishyanuviddhoyam Dhyayedrishyanuviddhoyam Samadhisavikalpaka Samadhisavikalpaka Asangasachchidananda Asangasachchidananda Sapratibha dvaitavarjita Sapratibha dvaitavarjita Asmitishabdaviddhoyam Asmitishabdaviddhoyam Samadhisavikalpaka Samadhisavikalpaka Svanubhutirasaveshat Svanubhutirasaveshat Drishyashabdaupekshatu Drishyashabdaupekshatu Nirvikalpasamadhisyat Nirvikalpasamadhisyat Nivatastithadipavat Nivatastithadipavat If you are not familiar with Sanskrit don't let all this Sanskrit put you off because the whole thing we are doing the whole thing in English and we are chanting the Sanskrit and using the Sanskrit just to get a flavor of the original.

[00:03:05]Now where were we?

[00:03:10]You see Advaita holds that Brahman alone is real existence consciousness bliss absolute within ourselves and in this world outside.

[00:03:26]Within ourselves what happens is pure consciousness the witness gets reflected in the mind gets reflected in the mind and is termed the reflection of consciousness chidabhasa reflection of consciousness.

[00:03:44]None of it is speculation it's what we are feeling right now all of us are feeling conscious hopefully and this consciousness that we feel now that we feel ourselves as aware sentient conscious beings this consciousness is the reflection of the witness of pure consciousness.

[00:04:04]This consciousness using the mind becomes the knower becomes the knower the witness reflected in the mind in the reflected consciousness with the mind becomes the knower.

[00:04:21]Sabhasa antakarana sabhasa buddhi according to in in the Sanskrit term it becomes the knower keep this distinction in mind the witness and the knower what we feel ourselves just now all the time whether we study Vedanta or not what we feel ourselves to be is the knower the one who sees the one who hears the one who thinks the knower and well who we are really is the witness.

[00:04:52]This distinction between the witness and the knower in Sanskrit terms the distinction between sakshi and pramata is obscured by ignorance by the veiling power of Maya this distinction between the witness and the knower sakshi and pramata is obscured by the veiling power of Maya where within us inside us all the time.

[00:05:20]So we do we are not aware of ourselves as a witness we may read about the witness we may read about Drig-Drishya-Viveka but we think of ourselves believe ourselves to be and function as the knower the knowing subject.

[00:05:37]So that's the that is the situation within us and externally when we look at the world around us when we experience the world around us Vedanta insists that it is Brahman pure existence but it is overlaid with a layer of name and form by the projecting power of Maya a veil of name and form covers pure existence so what we are experiencing we are experiencing the world we are experiencing Brahman as pure existence plus name and form.

[00:06:10]So whatever we see in this world whatever we experience in this world is Brahman existence consciousness bliss with name and form the name and form being a product of Maya.

[00:06:29]So now the our task becomes now within ourselves how do we know that we are the witness not the knower and externally in the world outside how do we know Brahman which is covered by name and form?

[00:06:52]So how do we make this distinction?

[00:06:55]And these six techniques of samadhi six meditative techniques which are being discussed now they help us to make this distinction.

[00:07:05]The distinction between the witness and the knower within us between Brahman the pure existence and name and form outside us.

[00:07:17]Now we have already discussed these three internal techniques what are the six techniques? Even if you don't remember let I'll refresh your memory the six techniques are three internal and three external.

[00:07:29]The internal are let me just give you the Sanskrit names first and then the English translations which are very cumbersome the internal names are um antara drishyanuviddha savikalpaka samadhi number one antara shabdanuviddha savikalpaka samadhi number two antara nirvikalpaka samadhi number three externally bahya drishyanuviddha savikalpaka samadhi bahya shabdanuviddha savikalpaka samadhi and bahya nirvikalpaka samadhi internally and externally what are the English translations? Just for fun I'll translate it just serve to confuse you.

[00:08:22]Internal um object based meditation with the distinction of knower and known savikalpaka internal s uh text based meditation with the distinction of the knower and the known internal nirvikalpaka samadhi this is the highest samadhi without distinction of knower and known.

[00:08:51]Thank you.