Nonduality Comics 231208

a.

Universal consciousness (god) appears in pure consciousness. Individual consciousness (person) appears in universal consciousness. Departmentalized consciousness (nightdream) appears in individual consciousness.

Consciousness is nothing if not fractal.

So does dna (karmic consciousness) ultimately appear in departmentalized consciousness and if so, does god ultimately appear in karma and so on until realization? 

b.

In other words,

karma creates the gods, god creates people, a person creates nightmares, a nightmare creates karmas, karma creates the gods, the cycle of maya.

And the blood of gods is dna!

Jai Guru Deva Om

1.

There’s the egoic self (I am something-else) constructed with thoughts, and there’s the reflected self (I am) created with the devatmasakti of saguna brahman, and there’s the true self (I, paramatman) which is unborn.

The cause of the personal self is ignorance (avidya) of its universal being. The cause of the universal self is that intelligent illusion called self-awareness (maya) appearing in the absolute ground of the true self (parabrahman).

Deconstructing ego involves seeing through thought (see pratibodha viditam for the particulars) to this universal being where absolution suddenly happens. Om, attention minus thought equals pure consciousness.

Transcreating Svetasvatara 1.16

Atman, all-pervasive like butter in milk, and the source of self-reflection and self-realization, is Brahman, the highest truth. That is the supreme upanisad.

~Svetasvatara 1.16 (my tx)

Devoted to the One Who Shines

1.

Individual consciousness is the cause of hell on earth. No individual consciousness can rid the earth of this mortal hell until it rids the earth of all individual consciousnesses. There’s always a catch.

This is not to say an individual consciousness cannot try to build a better hell. But one person’s better hell is another person’s worse one. It’s good to remember the universe is karma neutral in that way.

Meanwhile, devotion to universal consciousness from the illusory individual consciousness is not a bad practice. Although universal consciousness, Isvara and all the gods, are illusory too, universal consciousness is the direct reflection of nirguna brahman.

Look, the ‘I am’ is already your god. Just recognize its universal quality and give it an ever-loving name. That’s all. Like Devatmasakti or Deva for short, the one who shines.

2.

The source of the sun and all celestial beings like my beloved Deva is 

Parabrahman (not a black hole)

as the source of electricity is pure potentiality. Plug in, turn on, shine.

Be the unknown.

NdC 231204 (devatmasakti)

1.

Between parabrahman and the mind is devatmasakti.

It’s the technical name for ‘I am.’

Love god, know god, be god.

2.

a. If you’re looking for me, my triangulation at the moment is Nisargadatta of the Navnath way, Nikhilananda, Gambhirananda, and Tyagisananda of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda way, and Chinmayananda, Dayananda, and Tejomayananda of the Tapovan way.

b. Parabrahman is the source and devatmasakti is the power of three.

c. For the power of seven, see the reflexive universe created by the sound of a bell. Om.

3.

There are ten thousand ways of seeing lightning in the sky.

Thirteen ways are like a blackbird.

Devatmasakti!

Gods of Tattvamasi

Another name for maya is devatmasakti: deva for the god of bhakti, atman for the self of jnana, and sakti for the chakras of kriya.

The mind dreams in concepts. Brahman dreams in universal consciousness. Isvara dreams in individual consciousnesses called the mind.

Between the mind and the absolute is universal consciousness and its fundamental devatmasakti. Respect the gods of tattvamasi.

Nonduality Comics 231202

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231202a

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First, disassociate ego from intellect.

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It’s ok to associate love and intellect. Let love be the force of the buddhi.

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For true knowing happens in the intellect. Some call this knowing, intuition. Some call it affectionate awareness.

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231202b.

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Love is the state of universal consciousness. Samsara is the state of individual consciousness.

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Knowing only happens in the state of universal consciousness. This is a fact and not some romance novel.

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The subtle I-Am is that universal immaculate conception like the Christ story.

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231202c

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boston university winter 70-71 grateful dead incarnated then with pigpen

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me and tony watching from the rafters after our small mob busted in through the back door

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and we watched them warm up for a long hour but soon the workingman's dead were playing for infinity

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231202d a nonduality comics haiku

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grand canyon south rim sunrise striking butte by butte in the land of ten thousand sunrises

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mummy cave ruins across canyon del muerto whilst sitting by the diamond timelessness of chinle creek blues

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hiraizumi, matsushima, yamadera.

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Buddhi is the inner buddha.

Welcome to act seven, scene seven, in this play of self-awareness, called Lila.

Intuition is affectionate awareness as jnana is bhakta.

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Everybody talks about the universe as if it’s a god. What’s up with that? If it’s a god, then have the common courtesy to give it a name.

My god is Brahman wielding the power of Maya and my bible is the Principal Upanishads.

My guru is Nisargadatta Maharaj.

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because of this subtle body, existence feels like i am

but understand this feeling is a universal one. thinking this feeling is an individual one is the only mortal sin there is.

om.

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Brahman Dreams of Maya

This subtle body of organic chemicals and functional compounds doesn’t reflect pure consciousness as much as let that omnipresent light into this box of mindstuff revealing it as so much Maya.

Maya is like the dream of Brahman. Like a dream, Maya isn’t real. But like a dream, Maya is certainly happening. And Maya is like a metaphysical koan. Does the universe have a maker, it asks. Maya (or mu), it answers.

If Maya is like a dream, pure consciousness is not like deep sleep, but existence itself. In other words, deep sleep appears in awareness as the sun appears in that omnipresence so bright, it burns out the mind’s eye looking at it. So it’s called a black hole by the nihilists.

Svetasvatara 1.3 on devātma śakti (aka maya) with commentary by Tejomayananda and Nikhilananda

The first and second verses [Svetasvatara 1.1 & 1.2] raise the following questions: Is Brahman the cause of the universe, or should time, or nature, or necessity, or some other factor, be considered as the cause? Can Brahman properly be called the cause, or is It devoid of causal relationship? Does Brahman, if It is the Creator, create the universe with outside help? If It is the cause, should It be regarded as the material cause or as the efficient cause? Or is It both efficient and material cause? Lastly, if Brahman is designated as the cause then what are Its characteristics; and if It transcends the causal relationship then, too, what is Its nature?

The answer is that the Pure Brahman is neither the cause nor something other than the cause, nor both, nor some thing other than both. Further, It is neither the efficient cause nor the material cause, nor both. Brahman is one and without a second, and devoid of any causal relationship. From the standpoint of the Absolute there is no creation; therefore Brahman cannot properly be described in terms of cause and effect. From the standpoint of the universe, however, Brahman with maya appears to be associated with creation, preservation, and destruction.

~Nikhilananda

two translations of Svetasvatara 1.3

1.3. Following the path of meditation, the students saw the power of the Lord, hidden by its own inherent qualities, the Lord who, alone presides over all the causes – from time to the individual self. (tr-Tejomayananda

1.3. The sages, absorbed in meditation through one-pointedness of mind, discovered the [creative] power, belonging to the Lord Himself and hidden in its own gunas. That non-dual Lord rules over all those causes —time, the self, and the rest. (tr-Nikhilananda)

some commentaries

The infinite Truth has an infinite potential to create. This inscrutable divine power is called māyā. Thus the infinite Truth (Brahman) associated with māyā is the cause of the world... The various factors like time, inherent nature, nature’s laws, matter and energy are manifestations of māyā, or creations of māyā... Māyā cannot exist separate from Truth as Truth is of the nature of Existence. Anything other than Existence cannot exist. Then māyā must be one with the Truth. If so it becomes the Truth itself. Hence māyā cannot be said to be either separate or one with the Truth. Then maybe it does not exist at all. Since creation exists, its cause, the creative power also must exist and this power must exist in the infinite Truth alone. Hence this power is called inscrutable (anirvacanīya).

~Tejomayananda

"Maya is like a twisted rope consisting of three strands, which are the three gunas. All that exists in the universe consists of these three gunas. Brahman, or the Great Spirit, after projecting the universe, remains hidden in it, just as a seed, after producing a tree, remains hidden in the tree. The cause produces the effect and remains concealed in the effect. First of all, Brahman is conceived as the Lord of maya; next, the same Brahman is known as the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of the universe. The creative aspect, associated with sattva, is known as Brahma; the protective aspect, associated with rajas, is known as Vishnu; and the destructive aspect, associated with tamas, is known as Siva. These three aspects are related to the phenomenal world; they have no bearing upon the attributeless Brahman.

~Nikhilananda

The word 'devātmaśakti' is an aphoristic ex- pression which is variously interpreted by various commentators, but to us it seems to embody the following view: The word 'deva' represents the God of Religion, 'ātma' the Self of philosophy, and 'śakti' the Energy of Science. The word also means the self-conscious power which is in everyone, Deva meaning self- luminous. It thus means to emphasize the presence of the Ultimate Truth in every- body in the form of self-conscious power. Devātmaśakti also means the source of knowledge, emotions and will, the three aspects of mind, Deva standing for knowledge, Atma for the emotions, and Śakti for will. This gives the characteristics of the Ultimate Reality which is beyond the province of mind and language.

~Tyagisananda

Nonduality Comics 231129wd

01.

Here’s the thing about the truth: when it’s finally known, it’s almost impossible to think you never knew it.

Those who are capable of thinking about the unthinkable are sometimes called bodhisattva, sometimes guru.

And those who think the unthinkable is unthinkable, stop thinking. Thank you for your service.

02.

In deep Mandukya-speak, avidya is the dreaming state, advaita is the waking state, and nirvikalpa is the deep sleep state.

Some say there are three states of samadhi instead: non-savikalpa, savikalpa, and nirvikalpa. That tracks.

~Thursday, April 27, 2023

03.

I was more the walker than peak bagger. That’s why I hiked Acadia whenever I could.

Nineteen years past 1984 and I had hiked every major trail but the holy precipice where ten thousand peregrine falcons rule the pink cadillac granite cliffs of downeast maine.

I’m told the precipice of The Brihadaranyaka is by invitation only as well but unlimited guests shall be allowed.

04.

That is infinite and this is infinite too.

Infinite universes are emanating from an infinite brahman.

Remember children, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

05.

To know oneself as “I am Brahman,” yin and yang must first be born.

Then turn, turn, turn.

That the material world appears in consciousness and not vice versa is in the first degree.

06.

This was brahman in the beginning knowing i am brahman,

the same with seers and all the people—whoever knows the self as brahman is all this

so says Brihadaranyaka 1.4.10 as in Aham Brahma Asmi,

Brihadaranyaka Says (I am Brahman)

Some say Advaita is Buddhism without Buddha. And others say Buddhism is Vedanta without Brahman. Who cares?

Considered one of the oldest Upanishads, the Brihadaranyaka says ‘I am Brahman” and after sleeping on it, I agree.

This experiential awareness is the consciousness accompanied by, at the very least, the primal thought of ‘I am’.

And absolute awareness is that pure consciousness beyond this hydrogen bomb of a thought. I Am That, my dear Nisargadatta is echoing Brihadaranyaka.

Transcreating Katha 2.3.2-4

All there is—this universe and everything within it—vibrates with life. 

For all is projected from Brahman and exists within the ground of Brahman. 

And that Brahman has supplied this great jolt like a diamond thunderbolt.

And those who are struck by this knowledge realize one's immortality.

For in awe of Brahman, this inferno burns:

Sun shines, rain falls, wind blows, and death runs out the course.

But if one prevails in realizing one is Brahman before the blaze burns out, 

Then one is freed from such fearful embodiment by that great self-awareness.

Nonduality Comics 231127: See of Awareness, Part Two

1.

That awareness is nameless of course. Pure consciousness is nameless too.

Let’s say ‘attention minus thought equals awareness’ because the power of three.

Resting in awareness is as good a practice as any, but dreaming in awareness is what’s happening.

2.

I know what this natural awareness is but all I can say it's not any thought swimming in that awareness.

That awareness is the air beneath these wings, the sea beneath this wave.

That awareness is my everything.

3.

Some say awareness is not a name but a scientific term. I say awareness is as much a name as any name of god, Walt Whitman.

Shiva is as good a name as awareness and may be better. There is nothing more deserving of devotion than this grand nondual equation: a-t=A (attention minus thought equals awareness).

This natural awareness, this pure consciousness, this paramatman, this this, is the great substrate (parabrahman) upon which the supernatural (brahma wielding the sword of maya) is imposed.

footnotes

Seeing through cognition itself is seeing timelessness awareness, pratibodha viditam.

Shankara comments that the strength needed for knowledge of atman is acquired through atman alone and not through anything else. I call this the Paradox of Kena 2.4

Resting in awareness isn’t resting as much as listening to the tao of the satguru. Consciousness is talking to consciousness. Quiet on the set!

The See of Awareness, Part One

1.

You’ve been led to that deep well of awareness

But only you can drink from, and dissolve in, that.

2.

That awareness is the substrate, the real self, paramatman,

And not yourself.

3.

Not only is that sea of awareness always there,

This superimposition of yourself is merely conceptual, dreamlike, maya.

4.

Any thought, including yourself, is merely floating in that awareness,

like waves in the sea, like words burning in a fire.

5.

The more time you float in that water of awareness,

The more realized is that water is the sea, and there all the time.

6.

And further, time is just a concept floating on that timelessness,

And I am, in truth, that timeless awareness.

Ayam Atma Brahma Forever

I'm going to strawberry fields / Nothing is real / And nothing to get hung about / Strawberry fields forever

1.

Brahman is not a name as much as an adjective without a noun—

big. As in beyond the bang.

2.

And atman is the very breath, the inner spirit, soul, heart, swing, poetry.

3.

Atman is brahman is the big reveal

and paradoxical revelation—

haiku kahuna koan.

Brahmavidya in the Material World

No language can describe the nondual truth but scientific language in particular is especially out of its element.

Science is concerned with the material world and is quite wonderful in its ability to circumscribe that maya, but brahmavidya not so much.

The genius of scientific language is in the inner logic of locking its discoveries into place. In brahmavidya, logic is important too, but so is artistry and paradox, not exactly the expertise of science.

Shankara, that 8th or 9th century proponent of advaita vedanta, is nothing if not logical, yet often lands on metaphor for his most important points.

The rope is never a snake, the sky is never a cloud, the desert is never a mirage, the sea is never a wave, and truth is never a science.

Song of Maya

The expression of brahman is always changing but brahman never changes.

The ignorant will freeze some particular span of space and time to worship for its monumental creativity—and defend its monument against all change.

Only the grateful dead live are the grateful dead. A poet reads in order to write. As consciousness, one writes.

The poet is not the word as brahman is not the universe but the wave is the sea.

Ode to Enlightenment

It’s not true everyone is enlightened about their true nature, but it is true that no one is not brahman.

Enlightenment is just an ostentatious word for having rid oneself of this unborn ignorance once and for all. But I like it.

Not only is that one attentive to one’s natural awareness amidst the word cloud of the world’s loud benightedness,

but one is actually that awareness—awareness is always enlightening one if one is actually listening.

Nonduality Comics 231121tu

1

The mind may come to know what it isn’t and what the mahavakyas say it is and cipher exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two and wait there for the magic bus that is coming to take me away ah ha!.

They say realization happens in the intellect, that reflection of divine intelligence, that cave of atman, that city of brahman, that lotus of my heart.

Call it pratibodha and say om.

2.

So what science sees as a great black hole is actually the self-shining seer seeing science.

You can't see it. That's why you have to listen. Silence is not an end in itself. It's the prerequisite for this listening.

And one doesn't listen by this listening. One listens by heart.

3.

At the heart of every concept is awareness, pure consciousness, that essential principle of existence.

Vedantic scientists have named this postulate of truth, pratibodha-vidatam.

Vedantic poets call it rope and snake.

4.

Awake the lotus heart is lucid dreaming.

Stevie wonder dreaming in the city of brahman—skyscrapers and everything.

In my day, the grateful dead were grateful for their psychedelic resurrection as pure consciousness and the beatles went all the way to rishikesh. This was my generation baby.

5.

Everything appears in the self-shining light of pure consciousness (natural awareness), does it not?

So the question you have to ask yourself punk, are you the appearance or the natural awareness?

It's the simple equation behind every koan: om is mu.

X.

Call it pratibodha and say om.

So what science sees as a great black hole is actually the self-shining seer seeing science.

Vedantic poets call it rope and snake.

Awake the lotus heart is lucid dreaming!

It’s the simple equation behind every koan: om is mu.

6.

If you feel you need to breathe, your god is obviously still vayu.

And by the transitive property of the gods themselves, you may choose any aspect of this absolute manifestation to worship instead.

For this is the heart of all polytheistic points of view. Praise maya!

The Sun of Self-awareness

The sea pervades and envelops the wave that’s not a wave but is maya’s brave new world of dreaming unawareness.

For unawareness is just a temporary state, much like the grand appearance of a superstar and its transformative return to the great black hole of brahman.

Look, only the mind sees that paramatman as a great black hole; the nondual self is in reality the self-shining seer.