Pratibhā - the pre-thought experience of reality

Pratibhā

pratibhā is every individual’s pre-thought experience of reality as it is. This level of speech is called paśyanti. It is undifferentiated in any way and word and meaning remain without sequence or form. This is the unmanifested Śabdabrahman. The essential prompt of this inner self stimulates a wordless intuition of the complete and indivisible reality.  However as soon as words arise, division ensues. Words may attempt to describe it but they can do no more than offer an unreal representation of it.

Bhartrhari writes:
śabdeśvevāśritā śaktir viśvasyāsya nibandhani / 
yannetrah pratibhātmāyam bhedarupah pratiyate //
(VP, 1. 118)

“The power which resides in words is the sole cause of this universe. Led by that
intuitive self, this appearance of division is recognised.”

Pratibhā is innate in all living beings. It is the reason that the natural behaviour of birds and animals takes place without instruction or any other prompting. It is the reason the Indian cuckoo sings in spring, for example. In human beings, it is evidenced in the newborn child.

Popular posts from this blog

om vacadbhuve namah ॐ वचद्भुवे नमः

I translated this some years ago and it is still available here and there on tinternet . Someone recently asked about the mantra so here is a repost -  ॐ  वचद्भुवे नमः  om vacadbhuve namah the origin of the mantra "om vacadbhuve namaḥ" --------- Chapter 18, verse 10 of sri Ramana Gita - notes below - based on Ganapati Muni's 'gurumantrabhāshyam', also known as 'anubandham 2' (Sri Ramana Gita, Tiruvannamalai; 6th Edition, 1977; p.116) In this verse, Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni, as the Seer, reveals the bījākṣaras (seed syllables and/or letters) which make up Sri Ramana Maharshi's special mantra. This mantra reveals various correspondences and is said to be endowed with śakti (power). vedādi - beginning (and end) of the Vedas - bīja - 'om' pāka damana (indra) uttara - mightier than Indra, the subduer of the demon called Pāka (symbolic of the overcoming of ignorance). Sri Maharshi lies beyond even the Lord of the senses. Lord Indra'
Read more

Breath and mind arise from the same place…

 Breath and mind arise from the same place and when one of them is controlled, the other is also controlled. As a matter of fact, in the quest method — which is more correctly ‘Whence am I?’ and not merely ‘Who am I?’ — we are not simply trying to eliminate saying ‘we are not the body, not the senses and so on,’ to reach what remains as the ultimate reality, but we are trying to find whence the ‘I’ thought for the ego arises within us. The method contains within it, though implicitly and not expressly, the watching of the breath. When we watch wherefrom the ‘I’-thought, the root of all thoughts, springs, we are necessarily watching the source of breath also, as the ‘I’-thought and the breath arise from the same source. - Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day with Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, 1.12.45
Read more

The time has now come to turn inwards…

  “The time has now come to turn inwards, to learn to explore the inner space within the heart , and to make that long and exciting journey to the Centre . Compared with this, the exploration of the moon and planets is the play of children."   (Daily Readings with Bede Griffiths . Darton, Longman &Tod. 1990)  
Read more