namaste everyone.
smt.ReNukA said in post #395 that
guNa also means 'a single thread'. Perhaps she had the idea of
sUtrAtman at the back of her mind. Here is how the concept of 'recording our karmic seeds' for use in the next birth is explained in our texts:
वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्त ँ शरीरम् ।
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृत ँ स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृत ँ स्मर ॥१७॥
vAyuranilamamRutamathedaM bhasmAnta ~M sharIram |
oum krato smara kRuta ~M smara krato smara kRuta ~M smara ||17||
Sankara's commentary on this mantra says:
Now, as I am dying, let my
vAyuH--vital force, give up its physical limitation and attain its divine nature which is all-pervading
amRtam anilam--immortal Air, i.e., the
sUtrAtmA (hiraNyagarbha). The word 'attain' has to be supplied to complete the sentence. The idea, 'And let this subtle body, purified by rites and meditation, ascend', is also understood, by virtue of the solicitation for the path (to ascend by). Now, this body, being offered as an oblation to fire, may be reduced to ashes. Since Brahman has AUM as Its symbol, therefore, consonantly with the meditation followed (by the dying man), Brahman, which is called Fire, and is Truth by nature, is presented here as identical with AUM. O mind, whose characteristic is volition, remember, the time has arrived when all that has to be remembered by me should be remembered; therefore (you) remember all that has been thought of so long. O Fire, remember, whatever work has been done from by childhood; that too do thou remember--this repetition implies earnestness.
SadAnanda's
vedAnta sAra explains it further (Tr.svAmi NikhilAnanda):
91. Consciousness associated with this totality is called
sUtrAtma,
hiraNyagarbha and
prANa etc., because it is immanent everywhere and because it identifies itself with the five great uncompounded elements endowed with the powers of knowledge, will and activity.
92. This aggregate made up of three sheaths such as
vijnAnamayakosha etc., (which forms the limiting adjunct) of
hiraNyagarbha is called the subtle body as it is finer than the gross universe. It is also called the dream state, as it consists of the impressions of the waking state; and for that very reason it is known as the merging place for the gross universe.
93. Consciousness associated with each individual subtle body is known as
taijasa (full of light) on account of its being associated with the effulgent inner organ (
antaHkaraNa).
94. The individual limiting adjunct of
taijasa too, made up of the three sheaths, such as
vijnAnamayakosha etc., is called the subtle body, as it is finer than the gross body. It is also called the dream state, as it consists of the impressions of the waking state, and for that very reason it is known as the merging place for the gross body.
95. The
sUtrAtma and
taijasa, at that time, through (subtle) functionings of the mind, experience the subtle objects. Witness such Sruti passages as, “
taijasa is the enjoyer of subtle objects” (Mand.Up.3).
96. Here also the aggregate and individual subtle bodies are identical, like a forest and its trees or like a lake and its waters, and the Sutratma and the
taijasa, which have those bodies as their limiting adjuncts, are also identical like the spaces enclosed by a forest and its trees or like the skies reflected in the lake and its waters.
97. Thus do the subtle bodies originate.
98. But the gross elements are all compounded.
For a diagrammatic representation involving the
sUtrAtma, check (although it is from other traditions)
Untitled Document
Esoteric knowledge of sleep
