Question and answer 19

Disciple: Who is the jīva, and who is the witness? Is not a witness apart from the jīva like a barren woman's son?

Guru: The space in a pot, together with the reflection of space in the water it holds, is called the space in the water. Just so, the consciousness that is the substratum of the intellect, joined with the reflection in the intellect that carries desire and karma, is the jīva: the doer, the enjoyer, the one who goes round in saṃsāra. The consciousness that is the substratum of the intellect, the qualifier of jīva-hood, or of individual ignorance, is the witness, the immutable one. He has no origin and does not change. Merit and demerit, pleasure and pain, going to other worlds and coming back, and the like, belong to the reflection alone; and more truly to the inner instrument, its qualifier, not to consciousness, the part it qualifies. The part of the jīva that is qualified is itself the witness. Within the one consciousness, the inner instrument is a limiting adjunct for the state of witness and a qualifier for the state of jīva. That is, a single consciousness, with the inner instrument, is the jīva, and leaving aside what belongs to the inner instrument, is the witness. Put another way: to the discerning eye the one inner instrument is a limiting adjunct of consciousness; to the undiscerning eye it is a qualifier. So the one consciousness is the witness for the discerning and the jīva for the undiscerning.

Disciple: Who is the jīva? Who is the witness? Apart from the jīva, is not the witness like a barren woman's son?

Guru: As the reflection of space together with the pot-space becomes the water-space, the consciousness that is the substratum of the intellect, and the reflection in the intellect together with desire and karma, joined, is the jīva, doer, enjoyer, one in saṃsāra; the consciousness that is the substratum of the intellect, the qualifier of jīva-hood, or of individual ignorance, is the witness, the immutable one. He is without origin. Changeless. Merit and demerit, pleasure and pain, going to and coming from other worlds and the like are qualities of the reflection alone. Even more, they are in the inner instrument, the qualifier, itself; they are not in consciousness, the qualified part. The qualified part of the jīva itself is the witness. In one consciousness, for the state of witness the inner instrument is a limiting adjunct, and for the state of jīva it is a qualifier. That is, one consciousness, with the inner instrument, is the jīva, and, leaving the inner instrument's character, is the witness; that is to say, the one inner instrument in the view of the discerning is a limiting adjunct of consciousness, and in the view of the undiscerning is a qualifier. Therefore one consciousness is the witness for the discerning and the jīva for the undiscerning.