Shankara on the Absolute as Lord

We have already seen that the texts teach the existence of the Absolute as ‘that from which all this comes forth’. But did they imply that this Being is actively involved in the creation and control of the world, or is it merely conceived as an actionless divine ground on which the world manifests through nescience?

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.

To correct this error, the upanishadic texts speak occasionally of the Lord (īśa, etc.) and imply that He is the efficient and material cause of the universe, the Inner Ruler and Divine Magician who spreads forth the whole world-appearance under His own conscious control as a mere illusion.

~A J Alston from 'Shankara on the Creation', p.8

Shankara on Avidya (nescience)

If, says Śaṅkara, you demand to know to whom this ‘not-being-awake-to-the-Self’ (aprabodha) belongs, we reply, ‘To you who ask this question’.

If you were awake (prabuddha) to this, you would see that in truth no nescience exists anywhere for anyone. 

Śaṅkara argues in a rather similar way in his Gītā Commentary. First he asserts that nescience does not afflict the true Self. 

Then he brings forward a pupil who wants to know what it does afflict if it does not afflict the Self. It afflicts, he is told, whatever it is perceived to afflict.

To ask further ‘What is that?’ is a useless question, since one cannot perceive nescience at all without perceiving the one afflicted by it. 

Śaṅkara so conducts the remainder of the argument that the pupil has to admit that, because he cannot help perceiving the one afflicted with nescience, he cannot himself be the one afflicted with nescience.

Thus bondage is an illusion and enlightenment does not imply any real change of state. Enlightenment does not so much destroy nescience as reveal that it never existed.

~A J Alston fom 'Sankara on the Absolute' p.88

Mechanics of Maya

The world of maya is an illusion which doesn’t look like one because the person looking is illusionary too.

Understanding the metaphysics of maya doesn’t mean ignoring the newtonian ones. Even quantum mechanics doesn’t go there. Everybody needs a bed to sleep on.

Understanding all is illusion is one thing. Knowing it's one is another. The former is mindful and the latter is atman.

2. east and west

All coding appears in the mind. Waves don’t make a sea. DNA may make the mind but the mind is an appearance in consciousness. Like AI.

Spacetime appears in consciousness and not the other way around. They say understanding this is the big difference between east and west. Sunrise appears in consciousness. Sunset appears in the mind.

3. tending to satcitananda

Happiness does not reside in the mind. War resides in the mind.

Desires aren't happiness but it's the only thing the mind has got.

People think they are tending to satcitananda by making a living, bless our little hearts.

4. me, s/he, & I

me is a reflection of I

s/he is a reflection of god

I am Self-luminous

5. talking kena 2.4

Consciousness is timeless.

Existence is spaceless.

Talking right here and right now.

I am the witness consciousness.

In absolute consciousness, there is nothing to witness.

In reflected consciousness, the dreaming is non-stop.

Attention minus thought equals awareness.

Pratibodha viditam.

footnotes

pratibodhaviditaṁ matamamṛtatvaṁ hi vindate, ātmanā vindate vīryaṁ vidyayā vindate'mṛtam.

Engineering Nonduality (MAYA)

In Maya, pure awareness is the witness consciousness. But absolutely, what is there to witness?

In Maya, Vishnu is that aspect of Isvara which pervades the universe. And not Nirguna Brahman.

Theoretical nonduality does the math but intuitive nondoing is all about the engineering.

2. the double-edged sword of Maya

An individual is a facet of the universal. Any dude will tell you. The universal always knows It's the absolute. The omnipresent is absolutely omniscient.

‘I am me’ minus ‘me’ equals ‘I am’. I Am equals universal consciousness, God, Isvara spontaneously wielding Its double-edged sword of Maya.

3. my Maya

Maya veils and Maya reveals.

Maya is beginningless like which came first the chicken or the egg.

Seeing through Maya is my meaning of life.

4. M A Y A

Make advaita yes again.

Do not go neti neti into nihilism.

Pledging my time to the principle of existence after all these years.

On an Ancient Concept

Nonduality is an alien concept to those in the world and of the world. Forgive them for avidya is beginningless. 

In the beginning, their metaparadigm is at odds with yours. Your wonderland is different than their own samsara.

It's like this: thinking consciousness is a product of this world or knowing this world is an appearance in consciousness.

2. even people

Nonduality does not deny duality. A dream is a dream is a dream.

Look, as long as you’re dreaming, someone is dreaming you.

Even people who don’t believe in god have a god. They just don't know who.

3. on I am

The God in me says I am.

I do not think I am; I know I am.

That is the bliss of consciousness-existence.

aum

I am as in I is the ground of consciousness and Am is the power of the principle of existence, om. my god, i am

nonduality comics #250426

1. An Epistle to Big Materialism

The meaning of life is, Elon, self-awareness.

The reflexive universe can show you the inner engineering.

The Katha and its ilk can coach you in the metaphysics.

2.

consciousness-existence is i am.

satcitananda is knowing i am well.

thinking otherwise sucks.

Big Bang Advaita

They say the creator and its creation are not two. There’s no space between the one.

They say the maker is masculine and the material is feminine. Nirguna brahman is without attributes.

The maker is saguna brahman. The material is hydrogen shakti. The cause is maya.

clarification

pure awareness is nirguna brahman—nirguna brahman is brahman without qualties—masculinity and femininity are qualities—saguna brahman is brahman with qualities—shiva is masculine—shakti is feminine—maya is the signal—samsara is the noise—satcitananda is the silence in which all this is appearing

furthermore

Maya is beginningless like which came first the chicken or the egg

Space is our main ingredient and time is our head distiller.

Consciousness is that open field in which my secret is appearing.

nonduality comics 250423wd

if you quack like a duck

you believe in a god

whether named or not.

people are not gods.

personalities are just parts of god.

all gods appear in atman/brahman.

consciousness/existence is the self.

the self translates as atman.

atman/brahman is the greatest.

believing I'm the body-mind is the original disease.

understanding i am that in which such ignorance appears is priceless.

intuition is the way of faith one step at a time.

there are three states of mind,

two states of dreaming,

and one consciousness.

A Godlike Homecoming

Our mind is a worldly mind, conditioned by the world in every which way but Sunday.

For Sunday is Self Day in these parts.

Separation from the world is detachment by worldly standards.

Detachment from the mind is a godlike homecoming.

Being Mindful of the Truth

Mindfulness is lucid dreaming in the waking state.

Dream interpretation isn’t lucid dreaming but mind on mind. Lucid dreaming is self-aware. 

Every graduate knows the facts. The material world is made of atomic/quantum particles.

That the world is an appearance in and of atman/brahman is being mindful of the truth.

Foundational Satcitananda

Although the world looks to be something solid out there, it’s just an appearance in and of consciousness.

As dreams appear in and of the mind, this worldly mind appears in and of consciousness.

In fact, the world’s existence depends upon that principle of existence which is consciousness.

Like the proverbial snake seen in the rope, there’s only rope. You are that consciousness-existence.

2. the blessing of the fleet

On the wild side, the rishis go, it isn’t rocket science.

Don’t take this inquiry personally but is there existence or not?

If so and you know it’s so, then let’s call that your real self.

I am and I know I am and bless holistic bliss infinity.

3. untitled

Consciousness is that nameless formless spaceless timeless self.

Maya is beginningless but not endless. Dreams are born and dreams shall die.

But consciousness-existence is even witnessing deep sleep. 

4. not ready for nonduality

People are thoughts and thoughts are viral.

Self-awareness is the best medicine.

Even gurus get the blues.

5. the end

Regressus ad infinitum appears in consciousness.

Only the principle of existence is self-shining.

Mindfulness minus mind equals self-awareness.

nonduality comics #250418

1.

Don’t get me wrong. I love science. Indoor plumbing is like the Prometheus of water.

Science is aiming for the Big Bang’s beginning although Maya is beginningless

but not without end.

2.

science will never find the beginning of beginningless ignorance but truth shall end it

Ahab's Casablanca Picture Show

Everything is Brahman clothed in the names and forms of space and time.

Isvara is the name of this movie house and Maya is our wonderful projectionist.

Samsara is the movie currently playing on that silver screen of Brahman.

There are three states of consciousness starring in this picture.

Waking dreaming, sleeping dreaming, and a dreamless mass of existence.

Any fourth state is a stateless state. Turiya is satcitananda.

The Seven Seas of Brahman

Say the sea is consciousness and waves are consciousness too.

There’s one original sin and that’s avidya.

Like thinking you’re not the light of consciousness but individual reflections of thought.

They say the Mahavakyas are the Revelations of Isvara.

For Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman both have That in common.

Maya veils and projects but more importantly Maya reveals.

Consciousness is Brahman. Atman is Brahman. I am Brahman.

nonduality comics #250415

1.

The waking state is individual; the dream state is universal;

deep sleep is unmanifest; Turiya, absolute;

a la Freud, Jung,

and Shankara.

2.

As Maya is the power of universal consciousness,

avidya is the powerlessness of individually divided consciousness.

3.

It's not like being in the construction business.

It's more like cleaning windows.

"What's my line? I'm happy cleaning windows."

4.

Dissolve the body into mind. 

Dissolve mind into understanding.

Dissolve understanding into intuition.

Dissolve intuition into awareness.

5.

I am the third rail.

No matter where you go,

there I am.

6.

Christ is homeless.

Krishna is the yeti.

7.

If experience is existence

overlaid with thought,

existence is experience

minus thought.

8.

Physics is the lesser science.

Metaphysics is the higher one.

In the Land of Consciousness

I know the nondual metaphysics well enough and I’m filling in the subtleties each day.

There's detachment by worldly standards but nearly not enough by godlike ones.

I'm waiting for truth to work on me from the inside-out as reality takes me in.

Meanwhile here I am pledging my time to the principle of existence.

The Lord of Death's Ancient Teaching (15 Key Verses from Katha 1.2 & 1.3)

1.2

Yama said: The good is one thing; the pleasant, another. Both of these, serving different needs, bind a man. It goes well with him who, of the two, takes the good; but he who chooses the pleasant misses the end. (1.2.1)

Many there are who do not even hear of Atman; though hearing of Him, many do not comprehend. Wonderful is the expounder and rare the hearer; rare indeed is the experiencer of Atman taught by an able preceptor. (1.2.7)

Yama said: The goal which all the Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at and which men desire when they lead the life of continence, I will tell you briefly: it is Om.  (1.2.15)

This syllable Om is indeed Brahman. This syllable is the Highest. Whosoever knows this syllable obtains all that he desires. (1.2.16)

The knowing Self is not born; It does not die. It has not sprung from anything; nothing has sprung from It. Birthless, eternal, everlasting and ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed. (1.2.18)

This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. (1.2.23)

He who has not first turn away from wickedness, who is not tranquil and subdued and whose mind is not at peace, cannot attain Atman. It is realised only through the Knowledge of Reality. (1.2.24)

1.3

Two there are who dwell within the body, in the intellect, the supreme akasa of the heart, enjoying the sure rewards of their own actions. The knowers of Brahman describe them as light and shade... (1.3.1)

We know how to perform the Nachiketa sacrifice, which is the bridge for sacrificers; and we know also that supreme, imperishable Brahman, which is sought by those who wish to cross over to the shore where there is no fear. (1.3.2)

Know the atman to be the master of the chariot; the body, chariot; the intellect, the charioteer; and the mind, the reins.  (1.3.3)

A man who has discrimination for his charioteer and holds the reins of the mind firmly, reaches the end of the road; and that is the supreme position of Vishnu. (1.3.9)

Beyond the senses are the objects; beyond the objects is the mind; beyond the mind, the intellect; beyond the intellect, the Great Atman; beyond the Great Atman, the Unmanifest; beyond the Unmanifest, the Purusha. Beyond the Purusha there is nothing: this is the end, the Supreme Goal. (1.3.10/11)

The wise man should merge his speech in his mind and his mind in his intellect. He should merge his intellect in the Cosmic Mind and the Cosmic Mind in the Tranquil Self. (1.3.13)

Arise! Awake! Approach the great and learn. Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, so the wise say−hard to tread and difficult to cross. (1.3.14)

Having realised Atman, which is soundless, intangible, formless, undecaying and likewise tasteless, eternal and odourless; having realised That which is without beginning and end, beyond the Great and unchanging−one is freed from the jaws of death. (1.3.15)

Nonduality Comics: god minus maya

1. 4D

Whatever happens in the dream stays in the dream. 

As an individual, let the universal be your God.

The dream is nothing but mind. The mind is nothing but God. 

And God minus Maya is nothing but Brahman.

2. reflections

like the reflection in a mirror of yourself 

you are just a reflection in and of the Self

3. wholly wholly wholly

The world is a hole within the whole; satcitananda minus satcitananda equals satcitananda.

Although the world is in Brahman and of Brahman, Brahman is in the world but not of the world.

4. turiya arizona

jennifer juniper effortless earnestness

intuitive inquisition and the mysterians

unconditional unity absolute consciousness

I Am: The Principle of Existence

Things exist because Brahman.  For Brahman is satcitananda; the sat in satcitananda refers to that principle of Existence.  And I as a person exist because Brahman. I am in person the mere reflection of that Brahman.

Look at any reflection in a pond and see it exists because of the pond’s existence.  And further, any reflection in a pond isn’t really there.  It’s just an optical illusion, like something out of Maya.

Reflections are nothing but water, water being the vehicle for this particular metaphor.  It’s Brahman Brahman everywhere and not whatever you think.  Here's another thought. There is no snake—only rope.

Katha on Divine Grace

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

Arise! Awake! Approach the great and learn. Like the sharp edge of a razor is that path, so the wise say - hard to tread and difficult to cross.

~Katha 1.3.14 (tr-Nikhilananda)

Many there are who do not even hear of Atman; though hearing of Him, many do not comprehend. Wonderful is the expounder and rare the hearer; rare indeed is the experiencer of Atman taught by an able preceptor.

~Katha 1.2.7 (tr-Nikhilananda)

This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form.

~Katha 1.2.23 (tr-Nikhilananda)

He is to be realised first as Existence limited by upadhis and then in His true transcendental nature. Of these two aspects, Atman realised as Existence leads the knower to the realisation of His true nature.

~Katha 2.3.13 (tr-Nikhilananda)

The devotee first beholds Brahman with form. Next, when he is eager to realize the Absolute, Brahman Itself removes, as it were, the veil of the upadhi and reveals to the devotee Its all-annihilating and all-embracing formless nature. Thus it is not solely the personal effort of the seeker that brings about this profound mystical experience; there is also divine grace.

~Nikhilananda commentary on Katha 2.3.13