That which was not there before - Chapter 10

The ability to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent which was listed as the first of the fourfold qualification that makes one qualified for the teachings of Vedanta is now sought to be elaborated by the student.

नित्यानित्यवस्तुविवेकः कः ?

What is meant by discrimination between the permanent and the impermanent?

The seemingly innocuous two-lined response to this question contains within it the essence of Vedantic teaching which would take one many years to understand and possibly many lifetimes to assimilate.

नित्यवस्त्वेकं ब्रह्म तद्व्यतिरिक्तं सर्वमनित्यम् ।

अयमेव नित्यानित्यवस्तुविवेकः ।

The Reality alone is eternal; everything else is transient. This conviction alone is discrimination between the permanent and impermanent.

We saw previously that viveka (विवेक) is the capacity of the intellect to distinguish, categorize and recognize one thing from another. It is an ability that is present even in animals. An animal using its discrimination separates what is edible from what is not and an object of threat from an object that need not be feared. Human beings though can use this ability to discriminate to enquire into and differentiate between more subtler things such as nityam (नित्यम्) and anityam (अनित्यम्) or permanent and impermanent.

Anityam (अनित्यम्) is the word used to denote that which is impermanent and at a very broad level, anything that was not there before and shall not be there at some point in time in the future is impermanent or transient. If one were to reflect objectively with a subtle mind one would see that all objects, people and situations that are the basis of all of one’s experiences did not exist at some point in time in the past and shall cease to exist at some point in time in the future. Everything in the world that we perceive is bound to coming and going and nothing lasts forever however much one wishes that they do.

It is one’s raaga (राग) and dvesha (द्वेष) or likes and dislikes though that cloud one’s thinking and obstruct one’s ability to discriminate between the permanent from the impermanent. We place exaggerated subjective value on impermanent things driven by our strong likes for them to the extent where our ability to distinguish them as impermanent gets blunted. Clear and rational thinking that is not influenced by emotions therefore is needed for such enquiry and dispassionate reasoning where one’s emotions don’t overrule objectivity becomes important.

It is only when one sees the impermanence of everything that one gets to asking if there is anything permanent at all. Is there anything at all that is present at all times and does not undergo any change? The eternal and changeless substratum of everything impermanent is called Brahman in the Upanishads. It is the conviction born of deep reflection of one’s own life that everything is impermanent and Brahman alone is permanent that is the first of the four qualifications that a student of Vedanta is expected to have.