in maya,
every object has five qualities
about it—
name, form,
existence, consciousness, bliss.
namarupa is the great illusion.
satcitananda is the great one.
brahman.
listen in brahman,
there’s not only silence,
but no eyes, no tongue,
no nerves, no nose
as well as no ears
to hear.
Reality is existence. Reality is consciousness. Reality is bliss. Satcitananda is the nature of reality and not its components. Reality is the whole.
(In this way, Vidyaranya talks about the three types of differences: within a singular object, between objects of the same kind, and between objects of unlike kinds. Bheda: svagata, svajatiya, vijatiya.)
There are no parts within reality. Parts consist of name and form. Namarupa is the essence of the manifest creation. Existence is the essence of the unmanifest reality and not one of its parts.
Reality is alone. There can’t be another reality. Reality is uncontested. Existence can’t be opposed by non-existence; even emptiness exists as a superimposition upon existence. Look, it’s ekam eva advitiyam, one only without a second.
Without indirect knowledge, one must depend on the kindness of spontaneous combustion. It happens, I guess. I once knew a woman who won the lottery big time.
Not believing blindly, listening faithfully means accepting the guru’s transmitted knowledge as truth. Later alone one reasons it out—not to disprove the truth but to convince the mind of its logical foundation. And in turn, silence this disturbing noise of doubt. Or not.
Relatively speaking, listening and reasoning take effort. But meditation is effortless. No longer about the guru’s words, it’s now about that attractive flame of the satguru.
In the Pancadasi, a 14th century handbook of Advaita Vedanta (or as was just auto-corrected to advice of the doctor), in the chapter entitled Tattva Viveka, the first of 15 chapters, Vidyaranya (the author, most likely) writes of the 4 stages of knowledge from indirect to direct.
The first is called the listening. The second is called the reflecting or reasoning. Sravanam is listening to the guru faithfully. Manaman is confirming this knowledge initially taken in faith with logical reasoning and careful analysis until the mind buys it and owns it. Or not.
Only when this indirect knowledge clicks does the third stage, meditation, begin. Nididhysanam is the one-pointed contemplation on the brahmakara vritti, the thought, I am Brahman—until the meditator and the meditating drop into the nirvikalpa samadhi of Parabrahman, the fourth.
First, a lawful myth must be logical. There are two metaparadigms of physics (general relativity and quantum mechanics) which will never be united, no matter how much our scientific priests pray to Some Theory of Everything for us.
Actually, general relativity and quantum mechanics are the original duality. General relativity and quantum mechanics appear in consciousness and not vice versa, period.
Further, consciousness is the everything in which the original duality of general relativity and quantum mechanics appears. And even better, consciousness is not a theory.
Keep an open head: that out there is you in here.
If form is transformation and transformation is form,
then beneath this superimposition is the formlessness of brahman.
Religions have their gods. Science has its theories.
Avidya may be beginningless but it’s not everlasting thank god.
No guru, no method, no teacher?
No creator, no creation, no creature.
It may not appear to be the truth but that out there is you in here.
Remove the emptiness of all phenomena from the picture—
it’s obvious the absolute is the material cause of all.
Remove all belief and theories circulating in and about creation—
it’s obvious the absolute is the efficient cause as well.
Remove all beginningless ignorance concerning one’s actual self—
it’s obvious the absolute is one’s formal cause at last.
Thus that without the twin illusion of creation and creator
is you without the nescience of thinking you’re their creature.
footnote
Keep an open head: that out there is you in here.
If form is transformation and transformation is form,
then beneath this superimposition is the formlessness of brahman.
Religions have their gods. Science has its theories.
Avidya may be beginningless but it’s not everlasting thank god.
No guru, no method, no teacher?
No creator, no creation, no creature.
There are three bodies to every person: material, subtle, and causal.
The material body is the outer body completely inert and dependent on consciousness for sentience.
The subtle body is the inner inert one composed of two basic notes: energy and mind.
The mind is also binary in its essential nature and comprised of thinker and doer.
The thinker is the processor stuck between a zero and the one; the intelligence in this operation is the doer in duality.
The causal body is original ignorance and reflector of consciousness called the lover in this story.
For every lover, there’s 1, an object of desire like a missing half,
2, the procurement of this object making things whole again,
and 3. the temporary experience of this fulfillment for all worlds must end and start again.
footnotes
1. There are five sheaths to every tristate.
2. The material body is also called the gross body or annamaya, the sheath of food.
3. This energy is the vital breath, the life force, pranamaya.
4/5. Unsurprisingly, the mind is actually of two minds: manomaya is to hamlet as vijnanamaya is to the decider. Both were tragic.
6. The causal body is the locus of avidya, before karma but after maya. For anandamaya is the lover.
7. Make the object of my desire, god, truth, reality, or my beloved!
8. May my procurement of this object be the end of me in thou, tattvamasi.
a. energy plus mind equals wave-particle equals the subtle body.
b. the body is made sentient by the subtle astral body which is made sentient by the reflection of consciousness in anandamaya.
c. if i am the doer in duality, who am i?
d. if anandamaya is i am.
e. anandamaya - maya = brahman.
*
to fish in the sea
water is the vital breath—
to human beings
the space of consciousness is
*
if this karmic subtle body equals
that astral body of energy and mind
this wave-particle body-mind equals
lucid dreaming
*
ignorance may be beginningless, birthless, and unborn,
but thank god, it's not eternal
*
as pure consciousness is i
the reflection of consciousness is i am
*
the body-mind cannot begin to sheath infinite consciousness but almost everybody thinks it does
*
1.
The universe controls illusion. Ignorance controls people.
Universal consciousness directs maya with the laws of nature and whatnot.
Ignorance misdirects personal consciousness until the knowledge of the satguru turns its head around.
2.
As universal consciousness (Isvara) guides Maya (creatrix of intelligence, prakriti of sattva),
Avidya (creatrix of motion and matter, prakriti of rajas and tamas) dupes
this individual consciousness called Jiva just waiting for the Satguru.
footnotes
*
young’s myth of the self-reflexive universe fits into vidyarana’s advaitic one quite nicely
*
maya is why there will never be a unified theory of physics
you can’t unify physics without the metaphysics of illusion
the immutable nature of brahman will not let you
*
waiting for satguru is avidya’s inside joke
the one waiting for the satguru is the satguru
*
“I, Lalla, tried beyond trying in my search,
Discovering only my efforts had redoubled.
No matter what I did the door remained bolted.
By resolving only to stay there did I see
The door was my own doing.”
*
avidya dupes
One could say the known universe is made from just five qualities:
name, form, existence, consciousness, beatitude.
Namarupa is the big bang
appearing within the silent witnessing of Satcitananda.
Sat (existence, being) is the antidote for nihilism.
Cit (consciousness, awareness) is the antidote for materialism.
Ananda (beatitude, bliss) is the antidote for big belief
be it scientific theory or religious creed.
Beneath the relative world of name and form is the substratum of existence, consciousness, beatitude.
Name and form create the illusion of a relative world, the snake to be deconstructed from the noumenal rope.
Still, if the superimposition isn’t there doesn’t mean the substratum isn’t. Namarupa may be the dream
but satcitananda is the bedrock—lending dimension to mountains, depth to the sea, and sentience to superimpositions.
1.
The more evolved the subtle body, the brighter is this reflection of consciousness.
The brighter the reflection of consciousness, the more clear is the voice of the satguru.
This is a glorious opportunity. A 50,000 watt radio station from my day goes for merely 5g today.
2.
The molecular has zero degrees of freedom. In the vegetable, there is growth, organization, reproduction, flowers!
In the animal and honeybee stage of the self-reflexive manifestation, there’s mobility, action, satisfaction, and the illusion of choice.
In the jiva and ultimate stage of so-called individual consciousness, or dominion as Young calls it, there’s this flickering of self-awareness. There shall be fire!
Pure consciousness is reflecting on this thin diaphanous body of the subtle buddhi.
This reflection of consciousness moves with its subtle medium identifying with a wavering mind,
which in turn, with its newborn sentience, identifies with the outer unsubtle and suffering body.
This reflection of consciousness is the original 'I am' that the satguru is always reminding the mind about—
the light moving in the water is the water but the light reflecting in the water is the absolute light.
The seer is the witness of the seen.
The witness is aware and the seen is unaware.
Thus, in the absolute awareness of brahman, there is no seen.
And in the phenomenal seen, there's maya.
1.
Some divide the drg drsya viveka into two, thinking the first 31 slokas are the real deal and the last 15 a later addition.
For example, Tejomayananda only comments on the 31. Nikhilananda notes all 46. Who knows? After all, there’s questions as to authorship. Shankara? Vidyaranya? Bharati?
There is a progression in the 31 from the seen to nirvikalpa samadhi which seems to make it a whole. Whether it’s a whole part or a whole whole shall be argued by linguists. Mystics see these things differently.
2.
Rather than beginning with the seen, the second part begins with the jiva, which considered further, is a particular version of the seen.
“Reality of jīva is to be understood in a threefold way. It means we look at the reality of jīva from three different standpoints. There is no threefold reality but there are three points of view of the same reality.” ~Dayananda
The logician in me wants to line up limitation-containment-identification, presentation-reflection-projection, and imagination-dreaming-illusion with satcitananda.
2.
Like identification is not sat, reflection is not cit, imagination is not ananda.
Identification is not sat. Limiting oneself to the body-mind is a conditional existence. Such limitation is not pure existence.
The projection of consciousness is not cit but the reflection of consciousness is. Imagination is not ananda but love is.
4.
I first learned the concept of continuous improvement in quality control. In nondoing, I see there is no continuous improvement.
There’s continuous change and adapting to it. A tour guide taught me this in Monument Valley when I asked her about the Navajo people and climate change.
The light reflecting in the water is light. The light moving in the water is water.
There are these three nondual myths concerning individual consciousness. Call them limitation, presentation, and imagination.
That of limitation is like infinite space being contained in a clay pot. As if subject to the upadhis of prana, atman identifies as jiva.
That of presentation is like the sun reflecting on water, like the light of consciousness reflecting in the mind, its reflection assuming the qualities of the medium.
That of imagination is like noumenal atman (due to avidya) dreaming an individual jiva. Or like absolute brahman (due to maya) dreaming this universal isvara.
footnotes
1. limitation, containment, and identification.
2. presentation, reflection, and projection.
3. imagination, dreaming, and illusion.
1.
Atman is to individual consciousness as brahman is to universal consciousness.
As the dream cannot know the dreamer in any fractal actuality of dreaming, transmigration must remain a mystery under the jurisdiction of maya, no matter how obvious fractal dreaming appears to be.
When I awaken, I still may know a dream or two. But my dreams have never known their dreamer. Lucid dreaming being the exception that proves the rule.
In other words, reincarnation is more than likely, but who knows.
No one looks for the dalai lama. The dalai lama looks for you.
2.
Sat is cit
Like existence and consciousness
Existence-consciousness is ananda
Ananda being unconditional love
Satcitananda
Sat is for the existence principle
Cit is for the awareness principle
And ananda is for the holistic principle
Satcitananda is the power of three.
3.
What’s so funny about existence, awareness, and self-love?
On self-inquiry and myth-making
Sat is never in denial
Cit is never unaware even in deep sleep
Ananda is the nondual source of love.
Ananda is preventing advaita vedanta from becoming just another belief system.
samadhi—
it’s not about what you know but how to know what is what—
all samadhi is savikalpa—
kalpa means duality—
savi remaining with—
nirvikalpa samadhi means beyond samadhi—
samadhi is a state of meditation—
its two main practices are self-inquiry and myth-making—
within and without.
Samadhi cannot be done by doing. Only the knowledge of nondoing does. That’s basically the understanding of jnana.
Samadhi is not about thoughts of knowing, but abiding in the consciousness illuminating the thought of knowing.
Samadhi isn't a verb but a noun. One doesn't do samadhi, but abides in samadhi. Samadhi is the alert, unwavering and balanced state of duality abiding in its nondual truth.
The practice of samadhi is within or without. That within of atman is self-inquiry, discriminating between seer and seen, in self-realization.
That without of brahman is more a metaphysical inquiry, looking beyond the superimposition to the substratum of absolute reality.
1.
advaita vedanta is like distilled myth. but rather than starting with intoxicating stories of the mind, let's start with ten-thousand proof absolute.
begin at the beginning. what is the nature of an absolute godhead?
the nature of an absolute godhead is obviously unborn existence, immutable awareness, and wholly beloving.
2.
given that this empirical world is none of the above, how could something so unbrahman be?
and if unbrahman be, then there is no brahman.
but advaita vedanta begins with brahman! therefore unbrahman cannot be.
3.
unbrahman therefore must be an illusion, maya, dreamstate, name and form superimposed on satcitananda.
this is the genius of advaita vedanta as i see it. it doesn't start with creation. it establishes the nature of the absolute godhead, brahman, first.
rather than beginning in samsara, it establishes the primacy of nirvana. and since there is no samsara in nirvana, that's that.
