september river saturday—the crossword puzzles of marina docks are full of words—serenity, destiny, grace—blue moon, morning star, dream catcher—at last, time out, why not
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Vidyaranya 1
There's the eye of the body, the eye of the mind, and eye of Atman.
The eye of the physical body looks out upon a land of golden idols.
The eye of the subtle mind reflects a poet, a pauper, a pawn, and a king.
The I of Atman is pure consciousness, awareness, Parabrahman.
On Three Levels of Reality
Science isn't real. Even its theory of everything is fictional. And consciousness only presents an unsolvable problem for all of its consciousness studies.
Religion is unreal. All you can say is saguna brahman with its power of maya made the universe the way it appears to be. For Isvara isn't as much a god as a dreamweaver.
Only consciousness is real. Consciousness is the noumenal absolute called ayam atma brahma. To clarify, pure consciousness is the nonconceptual witness to both dream states and deep sleep.
Drg Drsya Viveka annotated (wip)
1. Form is the seen and the eye is the seer. As that in turn is seen, the seer is the mind. And as its thoughts are seen, the Witness is the one seer, and never the seen.
In this verse, the author has introduced three observers, three illuminators: 1. sense organs, 2. mind, 3. sākṣī. 1 and 2 are relative illuminators and 3 is the absolute illuminator. ~Paramarthananda
The Ātman or the Innermost Self is the ultimate perceiver. If a perceiver of the Ātman is sought, the inquiry will end in what is known as a regressus ad infinitium. ~Nikhilananda
2. Blue, yellow, physical, subtle, short, long, and other such differences, forms are various and many. But the eye sees them all remaining as one and the same.
The eye is unaffected by what it perceives. It remains untainted and untinted by the qualities and hues it sees in objects. Thus the Seer is unaffected by the seen. ~Tejomayananda
To see the green color one uses the same eye that would be used to see the red color. This shows that there is plurality in the dṛśyam and there is non-duality in the dṛk. ~Paramarthananda
3. Blindness, dullness, sharpness are some characteristics of the eye. And the mind in its unity can recognize these. Also, in the case of ears, skin, etc., the same applies.
The eye is subject to changes which are perceived by the mind; for it is the mind that thinks: ‘I am blind,’ etc. The mind knows the changes because it is a unity. ~Nikhilananda
One seer, mind, and there are varied conditions of senses. Mind is one dṛk, and everything is dṛśya. That is eyes, etc are themselves dṛśyas to the mind, to the manomaya-ātmā. ~Dayananda
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
The Disidentification Revelation
That everything appears in consciousness is fact number one. And no one can deny one's own existence to be honest. Accordingly, consciousness-existence is the metaphysical ground and first principle.
Thoughts appear in consciousness. Thoughts bond to other thoughts. In time, an entanglement of thought is formed named ego. Ego evaluates new thoughts and combinations thereof, and loves them, hates them, or forgets them.
Reflected consciousness-existence identifying with an ego is one big error. Like anything based in ignorance, it has an end via the appropriate knowledge. But because such ignorance is beginningless, it shall require revelation.
footnotes
1. No effort can take you there, only the clarity of understanding. Trace your misunderstandings and abandon them, that is all.
Relax and watch the 'I am'. Reality is just behind it. Keep quiet, keep silent; it will emerge, or, rather, it will take you in.
~Nisargadatta Maharaj
2. The light of the Self within is reflected in the intellect, and this reflected light is passed on, by contact (samparka), to the lower mind, senses and the body.
People identify themselves with this or that aspect of the psycho-physical organism, depending on how far their powers of discrimination have developed and rescued them from crude self-identification with the body.
As long as there is failure to discriminate the Self from the intellect, the Self appears ‘like’ the appearances that come before it. But in truth it is pure light and does not really act or move.
~Alston from Sankara on the Soul
Alston on Shankara on Presiding Deities
Alston:
We are not here concerned with the intricacies of the early history of the conceptions associated with the names Brahmā, Hiraṇyagarbha, Sūtra, Antaryāmin, Mahat, Buddhi, Satya, Prajāpati, Vāc, Virāṭ, Ka, Prāṇa, Vāyu and other names used by Śaṅkara in connection with the chief deity presiding over the evolution and withdrawal of the universe.
Name and form, imagined through nescience, unmanifest before the beginning of the world-period and gradually brought into manifestation in accordance with the deeds of living beings as the world-process unfolds, are what constitute the stuff of the world for Śaṅkara.
They and their transformations form the external adjuncts of the supreme unchanging principle of Consciousness, and when the latter is viewed in association with the universe it assumes the appearance of a deity.
Various names were used for this deity in the ancient texts, of which the most important, for Śaṅkara, have been listed above. The deity can be conceived either as the universe (Virāṭ), or as the Cosmic Intellect (Buddhi, Mahat, Hiraṇyagarbha) in which all individual intellects are contained and in which the impressions of the previous thoughts and deeds of all creatures lie, or as the Vital Energy (Prāṇa, Vāyu) by which the whole process is sustained.
All lesser deities that preside over natural phenomena governed by law (e.g. Āditya, the sun-god) can be represented as modifications of the one great deity called variously Brahmā, Hiraṇyagarbha, Prajāpati or by other names. The exception is Viṣṇu (alternatively called Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa and Bhagavān), who is often identified with the Absolute.
As for the creator-deity, he is but the instrument of the Absolute, non-conscious in himself and requiring to be sustained and illumined by the light of the Absolute before he can unfold its powers of knowledge and action.
Extracts on this topic are arranged in three groups. Group A gives texts affirming that the Absolute stands supreme, untouched by any of its adjuncts, and yet that, from the standpoint of nescience, we have to accept the traditions of the Veda and Smṛti which represent the Absolute as if it were unfolding the universe through the knowledge and activity of a great creator-deity, the first-born to emerge at the beginning of the world-period, called by any of the names listed above and functioning as the ‘body’ and all-vivifying ‘soul’ of the universe.
Group B concentrates on texts where this deity is specifically revered under the name Hiraṇyagarbha. The name ‘Hiraṇyagarbha’ means ‘Golden Germ’ or ‘Golden Embryo’, and referred, at an early stage of its history, to the first nucleus of manifest being that formed in the infinite waters of unmanifest being before creation, and from which all manifest being was to unfold.
In Śaṅkara’s texts, the term Hiraṇyagarbha tends to stand for the mental aspect of the world-soul. He speaks of it as the collective mind embracing all individual minds, as the repository of all mental impressions and as the material for the ‘seventeen-fold subtle body’.
Texts in Group C discuss the minor deities exercising lesser power into which the Cosmic Vital Energy (prāṇa) breaks up. Such gods have certain supernormal powers, especially that of being present at many different sacrifices at different places at the same time, while themselves remaining only one. But they are mortal and powerless on their own, receiving all their strength from the Lord. Moreover, considered as individuals, even their existence and authority is temporary: they are office-bearers, and only the office is important.
~excerpted and radically edited from 'Sankara on the Creation' pp191-3
Monday, September 7, 2026
Alston on Shankara on Isvara
Alston:
Śaṅkara’s answer is that from the standpoint of the highest truth there is no plurality and no world and no Creator, and only the divine ground exists, if even the notions of existence or ground can be applied to it.
But from the standpoint of nescience the world of duality is a fact. And from that standpoint it is a grievous error to believe that the world-process goes on through the operation of any blind force and without the conscious support and control of an omniscient and omnipotent Lord.
In Śaṅkara, the terms ‘Īśvara’ (the Lord) and ‘Parameśvara’ (the supreme or highest Lord) are virtually interchangeable terms. The notion of ‘the Lord’ or ‘the highest Lord’ is also usually identical with that of the Absolute (ātman, brahman), though in certain contexts it may be distinguishable.
The only positive characteristic which Śaṅkara attributes to the Lord is that of Consciousness. He seldom attributes the character of ‘bliss’ either to the Absolute or to ‘the Lord’ and he certainly never associates the latter with the ‘bliss sheath’ in the manner of his followers.
From the Lord’s nature as Consciousness other characteristics follow. He is omnipresent (sarva-gata). Hence He is in the body of the individual, but that body does not limit Him. He is eternally self-evident from beginningless time.
As He is Himself perfectly identical with the Absolute, He is often characterized by negatives. He has no body, He is not an agent, enjoys not a whiff (gandha) of individual experience and has no defects or sins. As He identifies Himself with no body, He does not experience the feeling ‘I suffer’.
He is eternal and raised high above all change (kūṭasthanitya) like the highest Self, He has no form (rūpa), He is imperceptible (adṛśya) and needs no support (ādhāra). He cannot be known through the secular means of knowledge, and for this very reason His nature is revealed as the final import of the meaning of the Veda.
He is not subject to transmigration (asamsārin) and His Lordly power (aiśvarya) knows no limits. These and similar texts show that for Śaṅkara ‘the Lord’ (īśvara) and ‘the Absolute’ (brahman) are essentially one and the same thing.
His nature is Consciousness. All other affirmations in regard to Him reduce Him below His real stature. Such affirmations can, however, occur. They occur when the Lord is considered in His capacity as ‘Lord’ specifically in relation to the world or to the individual soul, or when He is taken as an object of meditation.
There are just a few passages in which, considered in such contexts as these, the Lord is actually differentiated from the Absolute (brahman), though even in these contexts the Lord and the Absolute are normally identified.
The Lord may be called, in relation to the world over which He is ‘Lord’, its projector (sraṣṭṛ) or its maker (kartṛ) or the one who fashioned (akalpayat) the universe, or the cause (kāraṇa) of the universe. He is the unmoved mover. He is omniscient and is often called omnipotent (sarva-śakti).
He exists in everything as its essence, and, despite the mention of subordinate deities, it is He ultimately who witnesses and presides over the evolution of all forms even after they have come into manifestation. When the texts speak of various subordinate deities, they imply that all are the one deity Īśvara viewed under different external adjuncts.
The view that the Lord, though pure Consciousness in his true nature, is somehow at the same time an active being manipulating his power of Māyā, is appropriate and useful for the development of the religious consciousness, which is a necessary preliminary before the final stages of the spiritual path for most people. But if it is taken as the final truth, it will imply that the Lord is an agent and is subject to change and is consequently Himself phenomenal.
The stricter usage, therefore, is to reserve the terms Hiraṇyagarbha, Brahmā or Prajāpati for the world-soul and to use the term ‘Īśvara’ (the Lord) to denote pure Consciousness as Witness and that by whose Light the world-soul and all living beings carry out their powers of activity and knowledge within the phenomenal world.
Within the world-appearance there are deities or powers which carry out their cosmic functions owing to the presence within them of the Light of the Lord, who is Himself a motionless, actionless Witness.
So Śaṅkara says, ‘Thus the lordship, omniscience and omnipotence of the Lord exist relative to the limitations and distinctions of nescience only, and in reality there can be no practice of rulership or omniscience on the part of the Self, in which all distinctions remain eternally negated in knowledge’.
Nevertheless, precisely because He is thus pure Consciousness (cit), He is the only effective root of all activity and knowledge, for He is that which alone exists. Thus, although He is in the true sense bereft of all form, body, organs or action, He is in fact the effective controller of the world-display.
For ‘The cosmic powers take up and lay down their activities in a controlled way through the mere proximity of the Lord as actionless Witness’.
Thus the Lord, though without bodies and organs of His own, carries out activities through the bodies and organs of the deities or cosmic powers. The conception of unmoving mover is illustrated by the analogies of a magnet and a king, both of which cause directed activity in others by their mere presence.
~excerpted and radically edited from 'Sankara on the Creation' pp8-80
Best of Vivekacudamani (work in progress)
The Atman dwells within, free from attachment and beyond all action. A man must separate this Atman from every object of experience, as a stalk of grass is separated from its enveloping sheath. Then he must dissolve into the Atman all those appearances which make up the world of name and form. He is indeed a free soul who can remain thus absorbed in the Atman alone. ~P(67)
Translators:
C (Chinmayananda)
G (John Grimes)
P (Parabhavananda / Isherwood)
U (unknown [Indic Consciousness{ai?}])
*Note on numbering: Grimes numbering varies from Chinmayananda. There are no numbers on Parabhavananda's verses so I've used the page numbering used on this version: Copyright, 1947, 1970 by Vedanta Society of Southern California; Second Edition, with added material, 1971.
Saturday, September 5, 2026
Grasshopper Gita
Unconsciousness refers to reflected consciousness. Pure consciousness is never not there.
Unconsciousness refers to the mind not being present. Unreflected consciousness witnesses deep sleep as well.
Unreflected consciousness is that pure consciousness is nondual awareness is parabrahman—substrate
to the superimposition of both individual consciousness and that universal consciousness called god by some or natural law by others.
The god of universal consciousness, aka isvara, is that supreme justice of natural law and sole representative of brahman in maya.
In duality, devotion to saguna brahman is nondual awareness of nirguna brahman. Brahman is all there is.
As saguna brahman is the representative of nirguna brahman in maya, there are representatives on earth for saguna brahman.
Maya never goes away but thinking maya is reality does. Reality is unthinkable.
As well as imperceptible, unrelatable, unreachable, and indescribable.
Only the ground of consciousness, the principle of existence, and the bliss of nonduality are true.
Unfortunately, the false is completely believable. Dream lucidly, grasshopper. I love I know I am.
The Lucid Grasshopper
Maya never goes away but thinking maya is reality does. Reality is unthinkable.
As well as imperceptible, unrelatable, unreachable, and indescribable.
Only the ground of consciousness, the principle of existence, and the bliss of nonduality are true.
Unfortunately, the false is completely believable. Dream lucidly, grasshopper.
Holy Mackerel and Lady Ghost
The god of universal consciousness, aka isvara, is that supreme justice of natural law and sole representative of brahman in maya.
In duality, devotion to saguna brahman is nondual awareness of nirguna brahman. Brahman is all there is.
As saguna brahman is the representative of nirguna brahman in maya, there are representatives on earth for saguna brahman.
Being Unconscious
Unconsciousness refers to reflected consciousness. Pure consciousness is never not there.
Unconsciousness refers to the mind not being present. Unreflected consciousness witnesses deep sleep as well.
Unreflected consciousness is that pure consciousness is nondual awareness is parabrahman—substrate
to the superimposition of both individual consciousness and that universal consciousness called god by some or natural law by others.
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Viveka Atman
There is a self-existent self-luminous reality called Brahman. Atman is Brahman, the Fourth, witness to both dream states and deep sleep.
Atman sees everything in its light but no one sees it. It gives its light to the body, mind, and intellect. Nothing gives it that light.
Atman pervades the universe. No mind may penetrate it. Only Atman shines. All the suns in this universe are merely its reflection. As the moon is a reflection of the sun.
In this body, in the secret cave of the intellect, in that space known as the undifferentiated, Atman shines like a sun illuminating the universe with its self-luminous self-existence.
~adapted from Vivekacudamani 127-136
Am I I Am or Am I I
If you're some household appliance powered by electricity, are you this appliance or are you electricity?
Or are you the ultimate source of that electricity: nirguna, not saguna, brahman?
Am I the body-mind, vital life force, or atman? That is the question.
Am I I Am or Am I I or something completely different?
Translator Notes on Maya in Vivekacudamani 108 (110)
avyaktanāmnī parameśaśaktiḥ anādyavidyā triguṇātmikā parā, kāryānumeyā sudhiyaiva māyā yayā jagatsarvamidaṁ prasūyate.
This is a controversial verse in the Vivekacudamani as it gives a rather precise definition of my. Some scholars maintain that Sankara never gave such a definition in any of his indisputable works.
Within the Advaita tradition, avidya/maya has been defined as having six defining characteristics: it is beginningless (anadi); it is terminated by right knowledge (jnana-nivartya); it veils and projects (varana and viksepa); it is indefinable (anirvacaniya); it is of the nature of a positive existence (bhavarpa); and it is located either in the individual (jiva) or in the Absolute (Brahman).
The three qualities (trigunas) are the ultimate building blocks of the material and mental universe. They are the indivisible atoms of everything. They are not merely parts, qualities, properties or ingredients of primordial nature (prakrti). They are the very material of prakrti.
There are an almost infinite number of gunas of three different types and by way of combination and perpetual recombination, they produce multiplicity. This theory is very much like the modern nuclear physics or contemporary field theory with a localisations of fields. Nature is like a quivering force field which is undergoing continuous transformations.
The word "maya” may be creatively derived from "ma-ya" or "that which is not".
~Grimes
The Undifferentiated—the perfectly balanced state of the three Gunas, where there is no manifested universe. When this balance is disturbed, then evolution begins.
Power of the Lord.—This distinguishes the Vedantic conception of Maya from the Sankhya view of Prakriti which they call insentient and at the same time independent.
~Madhavananda
One of the powers of the omnipotent Lord Parameśvara is the power to delude Himself! This Power Divine is called the ‘unmanifest’ and is the causal body.
Sattva, rajas and tamas are three ‘climatic’ conditions, as it were, under which thought functions. From these alone various manifestations arise. This māyā śakti consisting of the three guṇas is beyond sense perceptions (parā). Only its effects can be perceived, just as we do not know what electricity is, except through its manifestation.
When a particular tendency manifests in an individual, then only can it be said that his vāsanās are of a particular type. Hence, from the effects-only, māyā śakti can be inferred by those who have the necessary subtle intellect.
These vāsanās make one act more and more and in the end, man becomes cocooned in them and gains permanently for himself the sense of a separate individuality, the jīva-bhāva. All these are created by this avidyā, this non-apprehension of Reality.
Avidyā is the vāsanās in the microcosm. The avidyā of all individuals put together is its macrocosmic form and is called ‘māyā’. This is the vehicle of the Supreme when He functions as Īsvara. When the Supreme functions through the vāsanās or avidyā (microcosmic māyā), It becomes the jīva – the individual ego. When the Supreme functions through macrocosmic avidyā (māyā), He is Īsvara.
Each individual creates his own world around himself due to his ignorance (avidyā), through his mind. The sum of each one’s world put together is the total world which we call the universe, the jagat. Therefore, the total world, the universe is created by the total mind when expressing through the total vāsanās, otherwise called māyā.
Thus the Supreme functioning through total avidyā is God, Īsvara, and the Supreme expressing through the total mind is the Creator (Brahmā) who creates the universe.
~Chinmayananda
Māyā is not independent and it is dependent on the vastu which is parameśa. Parama means that which is not limited by space, time or object. It is saccidānanda-brahma. At the same time, in association with the māyā śakti the vastu is called īśa, the Lord, the cause of creation. Vastu is called īśa only because of this māyā śakti.
Māyā is His power to create, sustain and destroy. It is aja, unborn, anādi, beginningless and eka, undivided. Māyā is not an imagination by any human mind; the śruti herself talks about māyā. The śruti says, ‘Know māyā to be the prakṛti and the māyī to be Maheśvara, the Lord’ (Śvetāśvataropaniṣad 4.10).
The world that we experience must have a cause; that cause can be none other than Brahman. We have a problem here. If Brahman is the cause it has to undergo some change to become the world, but Brahman being limitless in terms of time and other attributes, cannot undergo any change. So we have to bring in another factor that accounts for this apparent change in the form of the world, a factor which is not independent of Brahman. That factor, that power is called māyā. Ontologically māyā is mithyā.
This māyā is parā, and it is the cause of creation. It has got another name avyakta, unmanifest. Before the creation, the māyā is unmanifest. The śruti says, ‘only sat was there before the creation. That sat alone appears in the form of this world.’ Therefore this jagat is nothing but māyā plus sat. It is purely a name for sat, because it is mithyā.
Māyā can be understood from its effect in the form of the three-fold manifestations - activity, knowledge and inertness - we see in the manifest world. From this we do infer that the required factors for the three-fold manifestation should be present in its cause, māyā, which is, being mithyā, dependent on the sad-vastu.
This māyā is understood by a sudhī, one who possesses a dhī, intelligence, who has got śraddhā and a reasoning capacity which is in keeping with the śruti’s understanding. Reasoning can help you to discern things, and it can take you upto a point to understand a thing. But if it delves where it has no access, it goes in circles and finds that all the doors are shut. At that point it has to give up and accept what the śāstra says. So māyā is understood from its effect by a person who has got a mind which always strives to understand what the śruti says and assimilate it.
From what is said in this verse it may appear that there are two realities ātmā and māyā. If they are two different realities then there is no more non-duality. So, is this māyā separate from the vastu? What is the ontological status of māyā? That is explained in the next verse. (Māyā cannot be said as real or non-existent or combination of real and non-existent; is not separate or non-separate from Brahman nor combined in nature of separate and non-separate; does not have parts nor is partless or combined in nature. She is a great wonder and cannot be categorically explained.)
~Dayananda
The Translations
That-which-is-not (my) is called the unmanifest. It is the power of the supreme Lord. It is beginningless ignorance. The three qualities are its constituents. It is superior to their effects and has to be inferred, by the wise whose intellect is in accord with scripture, from the effects it produces. It is this which gives birth to the entire world.(110) ~Grimes
108. Nescience (avidyā) or māyā is also called the ‘unmanifest’, and is the power of the Lord. It is without beginning, it comprises the three guṇas and is superior to their effects. It is to be inferred only by one who has a clear intellect, from the effects it produces. It is this avidyā which projects the entire universe. ~Chinmayananda
108. Avidya (Nescience) or Ma}^^ called also the Undifferentiated, is the power of the Lord. It is without beginning, is made up of the three Gunas and is superior to the effects (as their cause). She is to be inferred by one of clear intellect only from the effects She produces. It is She who brings forth this whole universe. ~Madhavananda
That māyā, through which this whole world is born, is called avyakta (unmanifest) and is the power of the limitless Lord. She is the beginningless ignorance, of the nature of the three guṇas viz., sattva, rajas and tamas and superior to her effects. Her existence is to be inferred from her effects, by a person with a clear mind. ~Dayananda
MAYA, in her potential aspect, is the divine power ·of the Lord. She has no beginning. She is composed of the three gunas, subtle, beyond perception. It is from the effects she produces that her existence is inferred by the wise. It is she who gives birth to the whole universe. ~Parabhavananda / Isherwood
- avyaktanāmnī (अव्यक्तनाम्नी): Unmanifest is her name (Avyakta = unmanifest; Nāmnī = named).
- parameśaśaktiḥ (परमेशशक्तिः): The supreme power of the Lord (Parama = supreme; Īśa = Lord; Śaktiḥ = power).
- anādyavidyā (अनाद्यविद्या): Beginningless ignorance (Anādi = without beginning; Avidyā = nescience/ignorance).
- triguṇātmikā (त्रिगुणात्मिका): Composed of the three gunas or qualities (Tri = three; Guṇa = qualities of Sattva, Rajas, Tamas; Ātmikā = nature/essence).
- parā (परा): Superior, transcendent, or causal.
- kāryānumeyā (कार्यानुमेया): To be inferred from her effects (Kārya = effect/creation; Anumeyā = to be inferred).
- sudhiyaiva (सुधियैव): By the wise alone (Sudhiyā = by the wise/pure-minded; Eva = only/alone).
- māyā (माया): Maya (the cosmic illusion).
- yayā (यया): By whom.
- jagatsarvamidaṁ (जगत्सर्वमिदं): This entire universe (Jagat = universe; Sarvam = all; Idam = this).
- prasūyate (प्रसूयते): Is produced, projected, or born.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Ekatma Godhead
There's a seeing presence which many think is God, some feel as godhead, and one in a million self-identify.
That dispassionately blissful knowing presence, appearing like this hologram of all there is, is witnessing.
See the passion play of great compassion and all the lower passions from Isvara to the lesser gods.
***
Belief is not being. Believing is thinking. Being is unthinkable.
Consciousness-existence is that absolute witnessing presence called Atman.
That intuitive endless I-essence is translating as ekatma pratyaya saram.
Eka: One, single, or unique.
Atma: The Self or pure consciousness.
Pratyaya: Cognition, inner conviction, or the direct first-person "I" experience.
Saram: The core, essence, or substance.
other "ekatma pratyaya saram" translations:
~Gambhirananda
~Nikhilananda
~Olivelle
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Sea Self
As the sea is not a wave, the self is not an ego. As the wave is nothing but sea, egoic consciousness is nothing but consciousness.
Egoic consciousness is consciousness reflecting in the mind of thinking. A wave is the sea reflecting in a world of moon force and wind speed.
People are born with original ignorance of what they are, believing oneself to be a wave and not the sea. There's nothing you can do to be the sea but know you're not a wave.
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Mahavakya+ Prayer tbd
***
There's a witnessing presence which many think is God,
some feel as godhead, and one in a million self-identify.
Saguna Brahman creates the universe with its power of Maya.
This foremost God is called Isvara in Vedanta. Praise be!
Spacetime appears in the timeless and spaceless Nirguna Brahman.
***
A square circle is unreal. Only consciousness-existence is real.
Thinking and living is neither real nor unreal but mithya.
Thus, Science is not real. Religion is unreal. Brahman is real.
***
Consciousness is Brahman. The mind is reflected consciousness.
Pure consciousness is that awareness witnessing both dream states and deep sleep as well.
They say consciousness is not experiencing the universe as something separate from Itself
but Consciousness is experiencing Itself as the universe.
Prajnanam Brahma.
***
In the world of samsara, there is doing and not doing, rajas and tamas, busyness and inertia.
In primordial Maya, the quantum power of God, there is effortless nondoing, sattva, wisdom, the will of Isvara.
In the world of samsara, I am someone, I know some things, and I love some of them.
In primordial Maya, the quantum power of God, I am, I know, I love I know I am.
In reality, there is the Principle of Existence, the Ground of Consciousness, the Essence of Bliss, Satcitananda, the Nondual Absolute, Parabrahman.
To wit, I minus Avidya equals That minus Maya, Tattvamasi, You Are That, Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahman.
***
Consciousness is not a product of the body-mind.
Consciousness is the ground upon which the body-mind is superimposed.
Consciousness is the noumenal absolute called Brahman.
The universe appears in Brahman.
The universe is pervaded by Brahman.
The universe is made of Brahman.
Brahman is all there is.
Nondual Brahman is that consciousness-existence called Satcitananda.
I, Atman, am Brahman, is Turiyam.
***
As the sea is not a wave, the self is not an ego.
A wave is the sea reflecting in a world of moon force and wind speed.
People are born with original ignorance of what they are,
believing oneself to be a wave and not the sea.
There's nothing you can do to be the sea but know you're not a wave.
***
"Atman is not inner consciousness nor outer consciousness nor consciousness in-between. Not a seed of consciousness nor omniscient consciousness nor unconsciousness either.
Brahman is imperceptible, unrelatable, unreachable, uninferable, unthinkable, indescribable.
Turiyam is that intuitive endless I-essence. Cessation of the world's appearances. Peaceful. Auspicious. Nondual. What is called the Fourth. That is the real self. That is to be realized."
Ayam Atma Brahma.
Aum.
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Viveka World 2
Viveka is the key.
In reality, viveka is discriminating (differentiating) the real from the not real and unreal.
Viveka is naturally first. All other qualitifications (revelations) flow from that inquiry.
Self-inquiry is the only law of a self-reflexive universe.
General relativity and quantum mechanics are merely its secondary arms.
Science is not real. Religion is unreal. Turiyam is real.
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Sunflower Sun
1.
On the substrate of satcitananda, namarupa is superimposed. Aham Brahmasmi.
They say consciousness-existence is my personal ground. And there's no doubt when one really looks into it.
People are nothing but names and forms, and not exactly carved in Brahman. The wind cries Maya.
2
The time between understanding and realization is called gradual enlightenment.
From an enlightened point of view, there's only spontaneous enlightenment, of course.
Another name for this self-reflexive universe in Maya is gradual enlightenment.
Similar to deep sleep, dreaming, and waking, there are three stages of gradual enlightenment:
beginningless ignorance, the dawn of understanding, and gradual enlightenment.
3
There's no real money in enlightenment.
There's a living to be made in understanding though.
But beginningless ignorance is where the big game hunters go.
Upanishads are the first self-help books and to date unsurpassed.
Rare is a homosapien birth longing for release discovering a nondual guru.
You never get what you want. What you really want is more.
You were never no sunflower, sunflower. You are always the sun.
Maya is a bottomless hole. No one ever fills it.
underture
They say consciousness-existence is my personal ground. And there's no doubt when one really looks into it.
The time between understanding and realization is called gradual enlightenment.
Rare is a homosapien birth longing for release discovering a nondual guru.
outtake
Mithya means not real. The real isn't temporary. The unreal isn't real.
In other words, consciousness-existence is
witness to both dream states and deep sleep.
Maya means not Brahman. Brahman means everything is Brahman.
Sunflower, Sunflower
There's no real money in enlightenment.
There's a living to be made in understanding though.
But beginningless ignorance is where the big game hunters go.
Upanishads are the first self-help books and to this date unsurpassed.
Rare is homosapien birth, longing for release, and a nondual guru.
You never get what you want. What you really want is more.
You were never no sunflower, sunflower. You are the sun.
Maya is a bottomless hole. No one ever fills it.
Consciousness is Brahman. Atman is Brahman. I am Brahman. Tattvamasi.
Gradual Enlightenment
The time between understanding and realization is called gradual enlightenment.
From an enlightened point of view, there's only spontaneous enlightenment, of course.
Another name for this self-reflexive universe in Maya is gradual enlightenment.
Similar to deep sleep, dreaming, and waking, there are three stages of gradual enlightenment:
beginningless ignorance, the dawn of understanding, and gradual enlightenment.
My Personal Ground
On the substrate of satcitananda, namarupa is superimposed. Aham Brahmasmi.
They say consciousness-existence is my personal ground. And there's no doubt when one really looks into it.
People are nothing but names and forms, and not exactly carved in Brahman. The wind cries Maya.
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Spacetime in the Whites
shizukasa ya / iwa ni shimi-iru / semi no koe
In New England, Mount Washington is like the Absolute. Actually, the Gulf of Maine is like the Absolute. Mount Washington is like Isvara, first in our hearts.
I never conquered Washington but I did do Lafayette. Negotiating Lafayette is why I'm in the mile-high club. I merely drove up Mount Mitchell and Pike's Peak.
Silence! Entering rock and slowly sinking in, the cicadas cry. Flamingos fly. Light dawns on Marblehead. Basho deconstructs the Zen temples of Yamadera.
Creating Spacetime
1.
Saguna Brahman creates spacetime with its power of Maya.
This foremost God is called Isvara in Vedanta. Praise be!
Like reflections of clouds in a lake, like dreams in a sleeping mind—
spacetime appears in the timeless and spaceless Nirguna Brahman.
2.
Space isn't nothing. Space is the manifestation of consciousness.
Time is measured in seconds like a third dimension of duality.
A square circle is unreal. Only consciousness-existence is real.
Thinking and living is neither real nor unreal but mithya.
Mithyā: not real; neither real nor unreal; illusory. According to Advaita, it has a special status as it is not the real (sat), for it is sublatable; and it is not the unreal (asat), because it is perceived (unlike a barren woman's son or a square circle).
~from A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Reorientation 101
The mind appears in Brahman. The mind is made of Brahman. The mind is activated by Brahman. The mind is witnessed by Brahman. There is nothing for Turiyam to witness.
The mind creates in twos. The mind deconstructing itself is nondual. Nothing said is completely true. Every word speaks in ten thousand tongues.
They say wisdom points. But everyone is looking from their own direction. Finding fault in any sign is relatively easy. Reorienting oneself is hard.
2. Quoth the Great Blue Heron
If you come for the Emperor of Ice Cream, you better not miss.
Don't end up a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.
Quote me no Great Wave nor Mount Fuji. Every picture tells satori.
3. Camelotta Dreaming
First I am. Next I know. Last I love I know I am. Satcitananda!
Brahman is wielding its sword of Maya. And duality.
Consciousness is not experiencing the mind as separate from itself.
Consciousness is experiencing itself as the mind.
4. Satcitananda!
The principle of existence is the first principle.
Consciousness is substratum to all superimposed misunderstandings.
Ananda is loving that.
B. Omega
Maya is invisible like quantum physics.
Brahman is that metaparadigm transcending spacetime.
Consciousness-existence can't be deconstructed honestly.
C. Conclusion
The mind experiencing itself is called dreaming.
Deep sleep isn't no mind. Deep sleep is mindless.
Consciousness experiencing the mind is called the waking dream.
A. Overture
The mind is witnessed by Brahman. There's nothing for Turiyam to witness.
Quote me no Great Wave nor Mount Fuji. Every picture tells satori.
First I am. Next I know. Last I love I know I am. Satcitananda!
Consciousness is substratum to all superimposed misunderstandings.
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Made in Consciouness
You are that. I am Brahman. You minus maya are brahman. I minus avidya am atman. Ayam atma brahma.
Dreams are relatively real from the viewpoint of a dream. Dreams appear in the mind and are made out of mind.
The waking dream appears in consciousness and is made out of consciousness. Further, consciousness is brahman.
There's nothing to do unless you're a doer. If so, stop doing that. Nondoing is fact and not opinion.
The waking state is the dream state awakening to self-awareness with three steps forward and two steps back.
Deep sleep is the silence between memory and intent.
Treasure Islands
1. Treasuring Oneself
Some say the metaphysical ground of nondual consciousness is ordinary awareness and that's true if such nonconceptual awareness is understood to be the witness of both dream states and deep sleep as well.
The universe is Brahman with attributes arising from the power of Maya called Isvara, that universal consciousness, god of gods. An individual consciousness such as a person is not a god but an error in understanding.
You already possess the six treasures required but just don't know it. Look for their appearance in your dreamtime and hold their being like its yours. Deconstructing delusion is intuitive for everyone. You are that. I am Brahman.
2. Made in Consciousness
You are that. I am Brahman. You minus maya are brahman. I minus avidya am atman. Ayam atma brahma.
Dreams are relatively real from the viewpoint of a dream. Dreams appear in the mind and are made out of mind.
The waking state is the dream state awakening to self-awareness with three steps forward and two steps back.
The waking state appears in consciousness and is made of consciousness. Further, consciousness is brahman.
Selected Upadesa Sahasri Verses (transcreation in progress)
In the post-war years, western and western-inspired scholarship, notably that of Paul Hacker and Sengaku Mayeda, has tended to show that the only surviving independent work that can with safety be ascribed to Śaṃkara is the Upadeśa Sāhasrī or Thousand Teachings in both its prose and verse parts—though it would be incautious to suppose that there was finality in this judgement. ~A.J. Alston
1. upodghātaḥ (introduction)
25. Therefore, for the destruction of ignorance, the cessation of saṃsara, and the establishment of Brahma-vidya, this Upanishad is begun.
2. pratisedhah (negation)
2. The notion of "I" arises from the non-Self belonging to the domain of mere words. When this notion has been negated as the true Self, it can never again attain the status of valid knowledge.
3. A subsequent understanding does not arise without canceling out the prior notion. The one seer is self-evident. Because it is the substrate of all, it cannot be negated.
3. īśvarātmā (self brahman)
1. If Isvara were separate from the Self, then one would have to understand 'I am not That.' But if Isvara is the Self, then the realization 'I am That' is the true knowledge which removes duality.
4. tattvajñāna-svabhāvaḥ (nature of true knowledge)
5. As to the conviction I'm the body, true knowledge refutes the false knowledge that the body is the Self. Arising in that true Self alone, such a person is liberated even without desiring so. Therefore all of this is proven and the practical application has been explained by us.
5. buddhy-aparādhaḥ (error in understanding)
2. Situated in the intellect, Atman appears to move and meditate. Similarly, to a person sitting in a moving boat, the trees on the bank appear to be moving. Such is the illusion of samsara.
5. This ego is illumined by pure consciousness and borrows its existence from that. When this is abandoned, there is nothing other than that. That itself is realization.
6. viśeṣāpohaḥ (negation of attributes)
3. All of these attributes are like fine ornaments. Arising out of nescience, they become non-existent when the true Self is known.
4. The knower is always the Self. By casting aside the known, it is purely realized. Even the ego is knowable and thus like a severed limb to that.
7. buddhy-ārūḍham (knowledge through the intellect)
1. Everything objectified by the intellect at all times is seen by me. Therefore, I am the Supreme Brahman, knower of all and all-pervading.
2. Since as the Self I am the witness of the movements of this mind, so similarly am I of other minds. I can neither be rejected nor accepted. Therefore I am indeed the highest.
5. Objects are seen in the intellect while it's active, but not when it's not. Since the seer is always there, duality isn't.
6. Through lack of discernment, the intellect perceived the supreme to be non-existent. But due to right discernment there is nothing other than the supreme and the intellect itself is not found.
8. mati-vilāpanam (dissolving the mind)
1. Consciousness in itself is my true nature. According to that realization, your connection with senses and emotions is caused by your delusion. Nothing you can do will affect me in any way, for all my worldly distinctions have been destroyed.
2. Having completely abandoned this state of living as a product of Maya in the world, attain supreme peace from unreal desires and actions. For I am always the Supreme Brahman, completely liberated, unborn, one devoid of duality.
9.
3. Just as before the wind and all the other elements, there was all-pervading space, I am that one pure consciousness alone all-pervading and nondual.
Saturday, August 8, 2026
A Nondual Job
Dropping the metaparadigm of scientific materialism is job one. But it's not a matter of doing or not doing but effortless nondoing.
The body-mind doesn't manufacture consciousness like a dark satanic mill. Consciousness is the nondual substrate upon which a body-mind is superimposed.
People are like silver balls in a pinball machine not knowing it. The power of brahman is maya. Avidya is its kryptonite.
Self-awareness is another name for love. Consciousness-existence is another term for metaphysical ground. Satcitananda is another way of saying I love I know I am.
Brahman is naturally self-aware. Maya is dreaming. Avidya is a bad dream. Worship one. Love one another. Realize nonduality.
If consciousness is existence and ananda is the bliss of self-awareness, satcitananda. Come forth sweet resurrected angels of reflexive self-awareness.
first draft
Dropping the metaparadigm of scientific materialism is job one.
It's not a matter of doing or not doing but effortless nondoing.
The body-mind doesn't manufacture consciousness like a dark satanic mill.
Consciousness is the nondual substrate upon which a body-mind is superimposed.
Come forth resurrected angels of this reflexive dream of self-awareness and await.
People like silver balls in a pinball machine not knowing it.
Karma is karma for one lost in its game.
The power of brahman is maya. Avidya is its kryptonite.
Self-awareness looks like that from thirty thousand feet.
Self-awareness is another name for love.
Consciousness-existence is another term for metaphysical ground.
Satcitananda is another way of saying I love I know I am.
Brahman is naturally self-aware. Maya is what self-awareness feels like to an untrained I.
Maya is dreaming. Avidya is a bad dream. Worship one. Love one another. Realize nonduality.
If consciousness is existence and ananda is the bliss of self-awareness, satcitananda.
Saturday, July 11, 2026
4 Mahavakyas in 3/5 of a 2nd
Philosophy is full of words. There are four mahavakyas used in countless variations.
If consciousness is the metaphysical gound called brahman,
and the innermost self called atman is brahman,
then I am brahman,
tattvamasi.
footnotes
1. I minus avidya equals that minus maya means tattvamasi.
2. Objects are seen in the mind when the mind is turned on for both dream states.
3. When the mind is turned off in deep sleep, the seer still sees—no objects are there.
4. The absence of duality reveals the presence of nonduality, aum.
5. All gods, including the ones of scientific materialism, are accepted by Isvara on planet Maya. Worship responsibly.
6. Consciousness is the ground. Existence is the principle. Self-awareness is holistic infinite bliss.
7. Death shall be no more. Death, thou shalt die. Rave on John Donne. Rave on Shankara.
8. And the nominees are:
Deconstructing Spacetime in Grand Canyon.
Seeing through Causation in John Ford's Monument Valley.
The Legend of Basho Stopping at Matsushima and the Haiku He Never Wrote.
And the winner is Fleas, Lice, and a Horse Pissing by My Pillow.
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Suddenlyte
Consciousness-existence is the ground upon which this world is turning, twisting, slithering.
Don't take this personally but you're not a person.
Deconstruct the smoke and mirrors until suddenly things become transparent.
You're beyond spacetime and there are no words.
Footnotes
For the destruction of ignorance, the cessation of saṃsara, and the establishment of Brahma-vidya, take Shankara:
— "The notion of "I" arises from the non-Self belonging to the domain of mere words."
— "The one seer is self-evident. That substrate shall not be negated."
— "True knowledge refutes false knowledge. A person is liberated without desiring so."
Take Shankara
For the destruction of ignorance, the cessation of saṃsara, and the establishment of Brahma-vidya, take Shankara:
"The notion of "I" arises from the non-Self belonging to the domain of mere words."
"The one seer is self-evident. That substrate shall not be negated."
"True knowledge refutes false knowledge. A person is liberated without desiring so."
Saturday, July 4, 2026
Real Arts and Sciences
Without mind there's deep sleep. Without consciousness, there's death.
For the body only borrows its existence from the satcitananda of Brahman.
Existence identifying with non-existence takes some kind of special ignorance.
Undoing such doings is the science of nescience and the art of as it is.
The universe is made of satcitananda. The mind adds namarupa to make it a world.
This planet of Maya feels so real because its fancies are formed from reality.
Footnotes : Mindgames
1. One goes into the woods to be in satcitananda with as little namarupa as humanly possible.
2. Material science is reconstructing the universe. Real science is deconstructing name and form.
3. Samsara lives because Maya is beginningless. Enlightenment happens because Maya ends
4. As material science reconstructs the beginningless, real science deconstructs the never was.
5. On that screen of satcitananda, Maya is playing daily. The mind even dreams when it's sleeping.
6. Although there's no beginning to the beginningless, there's an end if you really look for it. Aum.
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
My First Gospel of Nonduality
1. Brahman
Nonduality minus Maya equals Gnostic duality.
God minus Maya equals Brahman.
The dreamstate equals the waking and dreaming states.
The deep sleep state equals the seed of Maya.
Turiyam witnesses both dream states and deep sleep.
Turiyam equals Atman is Brahman.
2. Atman
People minus the nescience of avidya is Atman.
Attention: attention minus thought equals awareness.
Attention is ordinary awareness as defined by most people.
Atman is that awareness witnessing the dream states of thought and the deep sleep state of no thought.
Awareness equals pure consciousness. Being equals the principle of existence.
I love I know I am is the nondual self-awareness of satcitananda.
3. Trilogy
From awareness to self-awareness travels the ark of Maya.
Awareness descends to unawareness like light turns to rock.
Science says scissors beats paper. Hark! Knowledge beats rock.
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Because Karma
Space, time, causation, oh me!
Evolution is another name for deconstructing this conceptual universe.
Through the body of three dimensions,
the mind of the second-hand,
and the one beating heart of karma.
To that satcitananda of self-awareness
Aum
Footnotes to Because
Brahman is causeless.
Maya is beginningless.
Brahman with the power of Maya is the first cause.
Reflections in the mirror are of the mirror and so much closer than you think.
Brahman with the power of Maya is the God of gods.
Atman exposed to the kryptonite of avidya is Clark Kent.
Whether self-remembering, lucid dreaming, or being only, tattvamasi.
Consciousness is your inner self. Your inner self is the godhead of existence.
Transcreating Dakshinamurti 10
sarvātmatvam-iti sphuṭī-kṛtam-idaṁ yasmād-amuṣmin stave tenāsya śravaṇāt-tadartha-mananād-dhyānācca saṅkīrtanāt, sarvātmatva-mahāvibhūti-sahitaṁ syād-īśvaratvaṁ svataḥ siddhyet-tatpunaraṣṭadhā pariṇataṁ caiśvaryam-avyāhatam.
सर्वात्मत्वम् - knowledge of 'all this Ātman'; इति- this; स्फुटीकृतम् - has been explained; इदं now; यस्मात् - and so; अमुष्मिन् - in this; स्तवे hymn; तेन because of this reason; अस्य of its; श्रवणात् - listening from the Teacher; तदर्थमननात् - by reflecting upon its significances; ध्यानात् - by meditating; च also; सङ्कीर्तनात् - by reciting it; सर्वात्मत्वमहाविभूतिसहितं - endowed with the glory of all Selfhood along with holy powers; स्यात् one shall gain; ईश्वरत्वं – of godhood; स्वतः - by itself; सिद्धयेत् - shall gain; तत्- that; पुनः again; अष्टधा in eightfold; परिणतं manifested; च - and; ऐश्वर्यम् divine glory; अव्याहतम् -without any obstruction
10. The knowledge of 'all this Ātman' (sarvātmatvam) has been explained in this hymn and so, by hearing it, by reflecting and meditating upon its meaning and by reciting it, one will attain that divine state, endowed with the glory of all Selfhood, along with the permanent eightfold holy powers of godhood. ~Chinmayananda
Since, in this hymn, the All-Self-hood has thus been explained, by hearing this, by reflecting on its meaning, by meditating on it, and by reciting, there will naturally come about lordship (Iśvaratva) together with the supreme splendour consisting in All Self-hood; and will be achieved, again, the unimpeded supernormal power presenting itself in eight forms. ~Mahadevan
Because the universality of the Ātman has thus been explained in this hymn, therefore by hearing it, by reflecting and meditating upon its teaching, and by reciting it, that divine state which is imbued with the mighty grandeur of being the universal self shall of itself come into being, as also that unimpeded divine power presenting itself in eightfold forms. ~Sarvapriyananda
My transcreation in progress:
Thus the Self of all has been clearly explained in this hymn and by hearing its meaning, by reflecting, meditating, and chanting
- sarvātmatvam (सर्वात्मत्वम्): The state of being the Self of all; absolute oneness.
- iti (इति): Thus; in this manner.
- sphuṭī-kṛtam (स्फुटीकृतम्): Clearly explained; made explicit (sphuṭī = clear + kṛtam = made).
- idam (इदम्): This.
- yasmāt (यस्मात्): Because; since.
- amuṣmin (अमुष्मिन्): In this.
- stave (स्तवे): Hymn; praise (referring to the Dakshinamurti Stotram).
- tena (तेन): Therefore; by that.
- asya (अस्य): Of this (hymn).
- śravaṇāt (श्रवणात्): By hearing / listening.
- tat (तत्): Its.
- artha (अर्थ): Meaning.
- mananāt (मननात्): By reflecting / pondering upon.
- dhyānāt (ध्यानात्): By meditating.
- ca (च): And.
- saṅkīrtanāt (सङ्कीर्तनात्): By chanting / reciting aloud.
- sarvātmatva (सर्वात्मत्व): The state of being the Self of all.
- mahā-vibhūti (महाविभूति): Great glory; supreme manifestation.
- sahitam (सहितम्): Endowed with; accompanied by.
- syāt (स्यात्): Attained; comes to be.
- īśvaratvam (ईश्वरत्वम्): Divine state; godliness; lordship.
- svataḥ (स्वतः): Automatically; naturally; by itself.
- siddhyet (सिद्ध्येत्): Is accomplished; is realized.
- tat (तत्): That.
- punar (पुनर्): Again; furthermore.
- aṣṭadhā (अष्टधा): In eight ways; eight-fold.
- pariṇatam (परिणतम्): Transformed; manifested into.
- ca (च): And.
- aiśvaryam (ऐश्वर्यम्): Divine sovereignty; supernatural powers (siddhis).
- avyāhatam (अव्याहतम्): Unobstructed; unimpede








