jagrta panchakam

Ethnomethodology is the field of study that explains how one sustains ‘reality’. It says there are five features to our reality- reflexivity, coherence, interaction, fragility, and permeability. Each stanza of jAgrta panchakam corresponds to one these five features of reality.

When we are sleeping our perception and reality are different. When we wake up, we are supposed to perceive the reality. But due to these five features of reality, we don’t. Hence we have to really wake up, be aware of these five features of our specific reality says jAgrta Panchakam.

Our reality depends on our interaction with mother, father, friends, relatives, our ownership of wealth, house etc. Our reality is permeable as it changes over a period as we grow through different stages of life. Our reality is a group of coherent ideas that logically fit each other and that justifies our internal biases, greed, lust, anger etc.

Our reality has reflexivity in the sense that even in face of contrary evidence, we use that contrary evidence to justify our internal biases. Our reality is fragile as when our assumptions change, it breaks down. As our health or youth goes down or wealth evaporates our assumptions change and reality changes.

So waking up from dream and what we are seeing and perceiving is not real. We have to wake up from these features of reality. The only way to do that is to develop that detached perspective, that sAksi in us that helps us get closer to reality. jAgrta panchakam translation sung in tamil, essence in english with mahaperiyava discourse