Ikshana (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: ''īkṣaṇa'') is a noun which means sight, care and superintendence but also refers to eye, sight, look, seeing, viewing, aspect, caring for, looking after, regarding.
In the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'',
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
is said to have become the Ikshana (eye), in the form of this mobile and immobile universe, of all entities that took birth; in the phrase ''Vrishbhekshana'', ''Virishbha'' implies the ''
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
'' and ikshana, the eye.
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...
, in the phrase मदिरेक्षणे appearing in passage II.72 of his
Abhigyanashakuntalam, has also used the word Ikshana to mean the eye, which phrase Sankara explains is – ''madira'' ('wine') as applied to the eye (ikshana), - eye as equivalent to 'beautiful', ''madirekhshane'' means the one whose eyes intoxicate like wine or is the wine-eyed.
Ikshana is a technical term used in
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
to show how creation took place by the beholding of Para-brahman as an intelligent and a personal act of the creator; it means revelation of the created. Parabrahman is essentially ''citta'' who produces his self as
Shabda Brahman (Logos) by ''ikshana'' ('beholding').
Badarayana states:-
:इक्षतिकर्मव्यपदेशात् सः, (
Brahma Sutra) I.iii.13
:"From the mention as the object of the act of seeing, it follows that the supreme Self is meant."
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
, in his commentary on this ''sutra'', states that the object of ''ikshana'' ('seeing') is the supreme Self,
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
, and not
Hiranyagarbha, the inferior Brahman. He says that the term ''ikshati-karma'' means the object covered by the act of seeing. The all-pervading entity (Purusa) that is to be seen can be seen to be "higher than the high one" meditated.
Pippalada tells Satyakama, son of Sibi, that he by the ''Sama'' hymns is elevated to the ''Brahmaloka'', he from this ''jivanghata'' ('the Macrocosmic Soul') beholds the supreme Being – एतस्माज्जीवघ्नात्परात्परं पुरिशयं पुरुषुमीक्षति -
Prashna Upanishad
The Prashnopanishad ( sa, प्रश्नोपनिषद्, ) is an ancient Sanskrit text, embedded inside Atharva Veda, ascribed to ''Pippalada'' sakha of Vedic scholars. It is a Mukhya (primary) Upanishad, and is listed as number 4 in t ...
V.5.
The statement – ''uho nama vi-tarkoktih pra-vicharekshanatmakah'', the terms ''Vitarka'' and ''Tarka'' are used interchangeably, ''tarka'' occurs after speech, mind and prana have been restrained immediately before Samadhi, vitarka consists of advanced thought and observation (ikshana); it is through discernment (''uha'') that one leaves the lower plane of ''savikalpa'' and gets uplifted.
The Vedic concept of
tapas and the Upanishadic concept of ikshana to the effect that consciousness and force are ultimately the same and every will has an aspect of force, helped
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...
to conclude that the fact is only a partial reflection of the Idea which has created it and that it is the idea which expresses itself in matter and takes to itself bodies, and formulate the 'Theory of ideas as forces'.
It was through ''ekacittekshana-samyukta-prajna'' the supreme perfect knowledge was realized (''abhisambodha'') by
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
, that converted ''Boddhisattva'' to ''Buddha''; ''ekacittekshana'' refers to ''
Prajna'' exercised in unison with 'one-thought-viewing' when there is no separation between 'knower' and the 'known', all are viewed in one thought and enlightenment is the outcome.
References
{{Indian philosophy, state=collapsed
Hindu philosophical concepts
Sanskrit words and phrases
Vedanta
Yoga concepts