Gita 8.20
Aksara Brahma Yoga
परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः । यः स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति ॥
paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati
In essence: But beyond that unmanifest is ANOTHER unmanifest - eternal, supreme - which does not perish even when all beings perish.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "Wait - there are TWO unmanifests? I'm confused."
Guru: "Think of it this way. When you sleep, your mind dissolves into an unmanifest state - no thoughts, no dreams. But there is awareness of sleep itself. Which is more fundamental - the dissolved mind-state or the awareness of it?"
Sadhak: "The awareness, I suppose. Without it, I wouldn't know I slept well."
Guru: "Exactly. The unmanifest prakriti is like the sleep-state - forms dissolved into potential. The higher unmanifest is like pure awareness - it witnesses even the dissolved state."
Sadhak: "So when everything perishes in cosmic dissolution, this higher unmanifest remains?"
Guru: "It doesn't "remain" as if it persists through time. It is beyond time itself. It is the ground in which time appears and disappears."
Sadhak: "Can I reach this eternal unmanifest? Is liberation possible?"
Guru: "You cannot reach it because you have never left it. You can only recognize that you ARE it. The waves cannot reach the ocean - they are already ocean."
Sadhak: "But I feel so identified with my body, my thoughts, my life story..."
Guru: "Yes. And this identification is what makes you helplessly cycle. The teaching is clear: discover what you are beyond identification, and you discover the imperishable."
Sadhak: "How do I discover it?"
Guru: "Through the very inquiry you are conducting now. Who is asking? That which asks is closer to the answer than any answer could be."
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🌅 Daily Practice
Upon waking, before any thought, notice the awareness that knows you have awakened. This awareness was present in deep sleep (or you wouldn't know you slept). Recognize this as the unchanging ground - your taste of the eternal unmanifest.
Throughout the day, practice "ground awareness." Whatever experiences arise - pleasant, unpleasant, neutral - ask: "What is the awareness in which this appears?" Don't seek an answer; just shift attention from object to subject.
Before sleep, contemplate: "All that I experienced today arose and is now dissolving. But I - the witness - remain. I will witness sleep, and then waking again." Rest in that witnessing presence.