Thus Spake the Divine - Advaita 2
Thus Spake the Divine
Advaita
While the doctrine of Advaita states that the absolute reality (Brahmam) and human soul (Jeevatman) are identical, the Dvaita Vedanta School believes that God (Brahmam) and individual souls (Jeevatman) exist as independent realities, and hence are distinct.
Let us look into the etymology of the term “Advaita”. The word “Two” is derived from “Dvi” in Advaita, which evolved as “T” instead of “d” as in Advaita. The letter “w” in the word “Two” is phonetically pronounced as “v”. So, the word “Two” comes from the word “Dvi”. Dvaita believes that there are two substances existing. Advaita believes that they are not two but only one.
Which of the two do not exist separately?
Our general perception is that first and foremost is God (Brahmam) and secondary to Him are Jeevatman, the individual human beings. But there are no such two divisions at all! There can be nothing on this earth that can exist over and above the most supreme substance called the Brahmam. Similarly, there is nothing second to that too. The power of illusion or Maya manifests that one Brahmam in the form of innumerable human lives. But all these are just the camouflage. An actor may take the disguise of different characters, but yet he is the same one actor. Similarly, though there are so many human lives, the one who dwells inside all these lives is only the Brahmam. Though we split this concept as Jeevatma and Paramatma, in reality, it is only one Atma. If we can reach this state of conscious awareness by overcoming our own illusions, that is Maya, we need not live the lives of ordinary human beings engulfed with shortcomings; we can become perfect and flawless human beings. This is the basic philosophy propounded by the Acharya through the Advaita doctrine.
If we could reach this state of experience, then, any kind of sorrow, fear, lust, hatred etc. will not entangle or bind us in any way. When we believe that there is something that exists, which is other than our own selves, only then do sorrows bind us. This is what is known as “Samsara Bandham”, the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. When there is nothing over and above our own selves, then who will be entangled and what could entangle us?
More so, what is that so called ‘binding’? There is no second substance at all! In that case, how can there be a “binding” and how can an external substance be “binding” on us? Freeing ourselves from this state of affairs is known as “Liberation” or Moksha.
To attain this state of liberation, we need not go to Vaikuntha (The Abode of Lord Vishnu) or Kailasa (The Abode of Lord Shiva). We can experience the state of Moksha here and now. Rather this liberation is not something new. The eternal, boundless Brahmam has been predominantly existing as irresistible Moksha forever. The Space (sky) is expansively wide and present all through the Cosmos. If we keep empty pots in the same Cosmos, the Space will also pervade the empty space inside all the pots. We might distinguish both these skies as one that is wide and expansive in the entire Cosmos or “Maha Akasham” (The Great Expansive Sky) and the one that is inside the pot as “Gata Akasham (Sky inside the Pot). However, both the skies are one and the same in reality. If we annihilate the figurines of pots, both the skies merge into one. Similarly, we are also born in this Cosmos as separate pots, where Maya or illusion reigns. But still we are also identical to that of Brahmam. Due to our association with Maya, we become blind to the reality. Once we annihilate this Maya, which is in the form of pots, we will all realise that we are also a part of the expansive, omnipresent Brahmam.
To attain this state of experience, there are several steps, such as karma, upasana (worship) etc., Acharya has built the stepping stones for us to reach this state of experience with ease.
There are three stages of experiences for an individual. They are called “Jagruth”, “Svapnam” and “Sushubdhi”. Being awake in the normal mode (Jagruth) is one stage. Dreaming (Swapnam) is another stage. Sleeping unaware of what is happening around is the third stage (Sushubdhi). The individual existing in all these three stages is the same. One who dreams and one who wakes up are one and the same. But what happens during the dream and what happens after he/she wakes up are completely different. Something happens in the dream and something different happens after waking up. But while the experiences are different and the feelings are different during the experiences, in both the situations it is the same individual who goes through the different experiences. Similarly we should get the clarity that it is the same One who is existing within the living beings that are designed with different feelings and different attitudes and that “He” is “We”.
Bhagavadpada has advised that we should see everything in the universe as one identical to that of Brahmam. But when all living beings in the world appear in different forms, it is really confusing as to how to look at these as part of “we”.
At one point of time, an individual is soft and kind in nature. At another, he gets angry. But it is the same person who goes through both the feelings. Our body language undergoes changes based on our different mental outlooks and feelings. With the passage of time, when the individual grows older, even the structure of the body undergoes change. This is happening in the material world, which goes through a number of acts and transactions. However, it is entirely different in the world of dream. In the dream, from our own mind and heart, we create different characters, different places and different seasons. Though we dream of different acts, even unacceptable and contrary to each other, we do that with different bodies and different minds. Yet, we realise that it is the same individual who exists in all these experiences. When we get high fever followed by convulsions, we do something contrary to what we have done earlier. If we had written a book earlier, we ourselves tear the book now. It is the same individual who has written the book and it is the same individual who has torn the book.
This world can be likened to an embodiment of a dream. Once we realise that this material world has emerged similar to hallucinations emerging out of the fever of Maya, we will realise that everything is one and the same. When in our dream, if our own mind can create so many characters, we must realise that living beings in the Cosmos are a creation of thoughts emerging out of the Supreme Mind of Brahmam. Even if somebody else has torn the book written by us, we should realise that he is also the reflection of our own self who had desired to tear up the book. In this material world, though who writes the book and who tears the book can be different bodies, the person who is inside each body will not be different. Those existing in all beings are one and the same. If someone beats us, it is not correct to think that someone else is beating us. What is true is that we are beating our own self!
If in case this phenomenon is untrue, then there must be something else existent over and above God or Brahmam. In that case, the following questions arise; where did that ‘something’ come from? What is it made of? Who has created that?
There are two segments now; one is, “we” the living beings, who have absorbed consciousness or awareness (Chaitanyam) and the second is the “inactive, sedentary Cosmos” (Jata Prapancham), which is empty without any consciousness. The living beings have not created this inactive, conscious-less Cosmos. Similarly, the inactive and sedentary Cosmos has not created the living beings. When it does not have its own consciousness, how is it possible for it to create something on its own? While the conscious-less, inactive, sedentary Cosmos has been functioning systematically and infinitely, then it must have been created and administered by only a Super Brain. If that Super Brain has created this Cosmos using “something” else, then the question arises as to how that “something” existed on its own? So, it means that this Super Brain has been exhibiting itself as the inactive, sedentary and conscious- less Cosmos. Then, the next question arises: we, the conscious beings exist here! Have we created our own selves? When each of the living beings existing in this Cosmos has its own unique characteristics, attitudes and body structures, then it is absolutely certain that it could not have been created its own self, and that too with separate identities. Therefore, it is clear that the whole of living beings in this Cosmos have been created by only one Super Brain. The consciousness of living beings does not emerge from somewhere else unknown; it is clear that it is this Super Power, which is responsible for this creation.
The requirement of food, clothing etc., for living beings has to be procured only from this inactive Cosmos. To experience different sensations, such as smell, taste, cold and heat that are permeating in the Cosmos, living beings are designed with the respective sensory organs. Thus, the inactive Cosmos and the
conscious living beings are closely connected with each other. This association has not been created by the living being all by him. Can the individual living being plan to get food, clothing shelter etc. from this inactive Cosmos on his own? Even if he plans to do so, will the Cosmos ever fall under his control? Thus, it is clear that it is the Super Brain, which has made the connection between inactive Cosmos and active living beings. Had the living beings been created by ‘some power’ and the inactive Cosmos created by ‘some other power’, then there would not be such a strong and well-streamlined association between the two. So, the origin and connecting point for co-existence of conscious-less Cosmos and conscious living beings is only the Super Brain. Even though we say that the Super Brain has ‘created’ these, we realise that these creations have not been made using some ‘external’ things. The most powerful truth is that ‘it’ alone appears as ‘so many other’ things. So, what exists is only one. The same one appears as different things. It has the power to manifest itself into different things. That is what is called “Maya”. The basic philosophy of Advaita is that the same Brahmam manifests into different things under the disguise of Maya.
We should inculcate the attitude of looking at the entire universe as one and the same. If everything is one, then there will be a stage when “I” and “Others’ cannot be anything “different”. It is this wisdom that is eternal and blissful enlightenment (Moksha), which should be experienced by all of us while existing in this body itself.
This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in & across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture & Tradition.
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