KAIWALYA PAAD SUTRA - 19

                                          NA TAT  SWABHASAM  DRUSHYATWAT

                                      IT (CHITTA)  IS  NOT  SEER  AS IT  IS  SEEN

         This Sutra is continuation of the previous theme. So far we are told about the Chitta as being different that the object and the object continues to be there even if the Chitta does not see it or perceive it . So one may think that the Chitta is the seer and the object is the seen. But in the hierarchy of the human body, and I am not referring the body as limited to physical body only , but also to include the mind , intellect and the ego. But with this information and our day to day behavior , one may think that the Chitta is the supreme being and the seer. So in this Sutra we are told that the Chitta itself is 'SEEN'  and so it can be the REAL SEER. We often say 'I am happy' or 'I have pain' and 'I know'. Here we are referring to the physical body and mind  and intellect- all of them being part of nature  and the the PURUSHA OR SELF. So in this Sutra we are told specifically that the one that is SEEN can not be the SEER.
     So when I see a pot or a bird I am SEER and the pot is SEEN . But here the 'I' that is seeing is not the MIND OR INTELLECT OR THE EGO . The real seer is the SELF or the PURUSHA .The SELF or the PURUSHA is separate from the NATURE or the PRAKRUTI. The physical body and the mind  and the intellect and the ego and the Chitta are all part of Nature  and have Qualities or GUNAS.Contrary to that the SPIRIT or SELF or PURUSHA is different than Nature or PRAKRUTI.The SELF is SEER  and the NATURE and all that originates from Nature is SEEN . So even though in day to day life we tend to refer our MIND or CHITTA as the seer , it is not  as the CHITTA itself can be SEEN and whatever is SEEN can not be ultimate SEER. 

HONESTY IS IT THE BEST POLICY ?

   There is saying that the Honesty Is the Best Policy , but is  it really true?In life we have incidences where the honest answer may be crude or cruel or not pleasing . In Ganapati ATHARWASHIRSH, it is state the 'I will say Pleasing and Truth'. In personal relationships between the husband and wife and children and friend, this is true.But even in many other aspects of our life we don't have ti lie but we can still say truth without hurting the other person or the relationship.Sometimes we can not tell our boss what we 'feel ' about him or his decisions. We still can say the fact or the truth. In medicine this holds very well. I have come across this on number of occasions. This more often happens when we have a patient who has cancer . This brings me to the today's story.
      I had seen this 75 years old lady who was smoker and had some lung issues . Over course of my follow up she developed a mass in the lung . In all probability it was cancer and so we did do the work up and then i sent her to surgeon  and it was taken out. She did well- had some problem post op. But overall did OK. She needed oxygen after surgery , that was arranged at home . She was doing better and then may be 18 months or so after the surgery , when we did the follow up CT scan she had a mass . We had her see radiation  and oncologist . She had needle biopsy and then the recurrence of the cancer was diagnosed. She had localized mass and so she received radiation. She then saw oncologist , who decided to start her on some chemo . In spite of the chemo she developed new nodules and so the chemo was changed . Now she had multiple nodules in both lungs  and radiation was not option and so she had continued the chemo. She has been old  and has some dementia . She has COPD  and does need some oxygen .She was admitted to hospital with multiple issues , including anemia related to chemotherapy and also had low salt and worsening kidney function and also had swelling of the legs . Further work up showed that she had clot in the legs  and  for some unknown reason (at least to me ) someone ordered a CT SCAN of the belly and that showed a mass in colon.
She was in no shape to do any invasive procedures for diagnosing colon cancer , but more than that , diagnosing colon cancer would alter any treatments . Due to fear of bleeding from colon mass if she was started on blood thinner and with her low blood counts , we decided to do insert a filer in one of the blood vessel so that clot from legs would not travel to lung- embolism..
   When the radiologist went to insert the filter he realized that the entire blood vessel was filled with clot. So he could not do the procedure. But more of  a problem was that the clot occurred in the blood vessel as it was compressed by external tumor. So the narrowed blood vessel developed the clot and that was blocking the drainage  and so she had swelling of the legs . So then we had a catheter inserted in that blood vessel and clot busters were started . Now she will have to be on blood thinners too.
      So we have 80 years old patient  who has spread of a lung cancer , who also has anemia  and kidney failure and oxygen need for COPD , and has possible colon cancer and the a tumour that is pressing on one of the major veins that has clot. You get the picture. No matter how successful we are in treating the clot , her long and may be even short term prognosis is not very good . I did try to talk to her family as she has some dementia about this . But the cancer doctors and their nurse practitioners have not said a word about bad prognosis and so we are doing the bandage approach without being able to treat the underlying cause of the problem . The need to be honest but not blunt  and compassionate but still telling truth.

KAIWALYA PAAD SUTRA -18

                                 SADA  DNYATAH  CHITTA  VRUTTAYAH  TAT

                                 PRABHOH  PURUSHASYA  APARINAMITAWAT

       THE  PRABHU  (SELF)  WHO  IS  IN  CHARGE  OF  THE  CHITTA,  KNOWS

ALL  THE TENDENCIES  OF  THE  CHITTA  AS  THE  SELF  DOES  NOT  CHANGE

      In the last SUTRA we were told that the CHITTA is aware of the objects sometimes  and not aware of the objects some other time . In this Sutra , we are told the difference between the Chitta  and the SELF or the Spirit. In regular science we have no SELF recognized. We know mind  and brain and intellect , but beyond there is no ATMA -SOUL-SELF. The science states that the Mind Thinks  and the information provided to the Brain  and the past experiences lead to a decision by the brain . Beyond the brain there is nothing . So when we die , there is no preservation of the impressions that have occurred in this life , nor there is any likes and dislikes continued beyond THIS life . In this Sutra we are told that the SELF is ALWAYS there  and is UNCHANGING.It is AWARE of the objects even when the CHITTA or mind stuff is not aware of it. We were told that object continues to be there even when the mind or the Chitta is not aware of it. But the Self is not AFFECTED by status of the CHITTA. So the SELF is above  and beyond the mind and intellect and brain and is UNCHANGING and is aware of ALL the things. We have a tendency to mix up the 'I' with SELF . Usually when we refer to 'I' , we are talking about the present physical body and the mind  and the intellect . When I say 'I have headache'.I am referring to my physical body-pain. When I say 'I feel sad or happy ', I am referring to status of my MIND. When I say 'I am intelligent', I am making a statement about the intellect or Brain. We have no concept that the SELF or the SPIRIT is separate from all these things which are related  and are products of NATURE OR PRAKRUTI. The SELF or SPIRIT is separate from nature or Prakruti  and is UNCHANGING or UNAFFECTED by the changes in the Nature OR PRAKRUTI .
    So in this Sutra this separation is stated again .  

KAIWALYA PAAD SUTRAA-17

          TAT  UPARAGA APEKSHITATWAT  CHITASYA  VASTU  DNYATA  ADNYATAM

  THE  CHITTA  NEEDS CONTACT  WITH  VASTU -OBJECT-  TO KNOW  OR NOT  KNOW

      In the last Sutra we were told that the objects are not under control of the CHITTA or the mind . The objects continue to exist even if the MIND or the CHITTA is unaware of it . We know that  and we have experience it , just because I don't eat a sweet food , the food dos not loose the sweet taste. But my mind or CHITTA is not aware of the taste of that object . Now in this SUTRA we are told the similar thing in little different way . For CHITTA to 'Know' an object , the Chitta must come in contact with the object. So the 'contact'is through the objects or perception -sense organs .I can look at something and get some information and that may not be complete. I may have to use all my sense peseption to know an Object. I will know if it is round or square , smooth or rough , sweet or sour , hard or soft and the smell and so on . But do know this information,I must have contact btween my senses and the objects . I may conclude the information based on my previous experiences and it may be correct or incorrect.
       So the object continues to exist even if we are not aware of it .So the object is independent of our knowledge of it .The example would be a distant star. We may not be in position to see it with naked,eye, but we the help of telescope we can see it.

So the CHITTA is separate from the object and the object has independent existence. But there must be a contact between the two to get the knowledge,