ADVAITA VEDANTA

[barney]

OM

 

Ajnanatimirintasyajnananjanasalakaya

 

Cakshurunmilitam yena tasmai

 

srigurave namah

 

ADVAITA VEDANTA

 

D Krishna Ayyar

 

 

 

APPENDIX 6

EXPLANATORY NOTES

 

 

 

Note No.33 – Iswara Srishti, Jiva srishti

 

Sastra talks of Iswara Srishti and Jiva Srishti. Whereas the universe that is presented to us, as created by Iswara, is common to all of us, how each man makes use of the objects and situations and how he reacts to them is special to him. In the same school, with the same teaching faculty and library, one works hard and studies well; another with an equally good brain wastes his time and fails to make the grade. One loves music; another can’t stand any music. One manages his office, being a friend of all; another manages the same office as a ring master. One loves swimming; another does not want even to have a bath. Iswara Srishti Jiva srishti situation is another facet of the interplay of karma and free will. From one birth to another, we not only carry our karma, but our vasanas,. It is on account of vasanas that tastes for things like food, music, literature, art etc. vary. Vasanas of the past can also be changed or overcome by free will, with determination. A powerful argument for free will is that, unless you accept free will, moksha will be impossible. Aspiring for moksha and making use of the opportunities available for spiritual advancement are matters of free will. Punya karma may even give you birth in a family of spiritual seekers, but whether you yourself take to the spiritual path depends on your free will. Papa karma may give you birth in a family of materialists, but, with your free will, you can transcend those surroundings and , if your aspiration is intense, you will find the set up where you can pursue your spiritual Sadhana.

 

 

 

Note No 34. Grace and free will

 

1. Apart from the enjoyment and suffering we have to undergo for our past karma, our life gives us lot of scope for fresh action. The factors that come into play in respect of fresh action are (1) Lord’s Grace (2) our vasanas and (3) our free will.

 

(1) Iswara’s Grace is in the form of laws governing the functioning of the universe. Deliberate action is not possible if there is no law governing cause and effect. We do action, expecting a result in accordance with such a law. For the laws of the universe, Iswara is responsible..

 

(2) We carry our vasanas from one birth to another. The vasanas are formed on the basis of previous experience. Vasanas govern our action in the sense that towards the same objects and the same situation, different people have different likes and dislikes. One enjoys music; another abhors it. One is helpful to others; another is self-centred.

 

(3) Subject to (1) and (2), we have a choice to do a thing or not to do a thing or to do it differently. How one acts in a given situation or reacts to a situation depends on his free will. No outside proof is required for the existence of free will; all of us are exercising it day in and day out.

 

2. If free will is not accepted, there will be two problems –

 

(1) The commandments and prohibitions of scripture will become meaningless. Scripture is advising man to do good actions and avoid evil actions only because scripture assumes that man has free will.

 

(2) If man has no free will and not merely our karmaphalan but fresh action is also impelled by Iswara, Iswara becomes responsible for the good action and bad action done by man. The problem then will be two-fold. By making some men to do good action and some men do bad action resulting in punya and papa followed by enjoyment or suffering as karmaphalam later, Iswara becomes partial and cruel. Secondly, If Iswara is responsible for man’s good action and bad action, no one can be rewarded nor can any criminal be punished. A murderer will say “ I am not responsible for what I did. The Lord made me do it.”

 

 

 

Note No.35 - Miracles and karma

 

Apart from the physical laws governing the universe, there are divine forces in the empirical plane. Evidence of such forces is found in certain temples, churches, mosques, darghas etc., such as Lourdes in France, and certain places of worship in India. We have authentic accounts of miracles in the form of the sick getting cured in such places. There are also authentic accounts of certain persons who have acquired or have carried forward from previous janmas Yogic powers by which they are able to bring about changes in the life of devotees. In regard to temples etc., in certain cases, the powers are attributed to Yogis who have attained samadhi there and have deliberately left their powers to operate there. In Brahma Sutra, Vyasacarya does talk of cases, where, for fulfilling certain cosmic purposes of Iswara, some who are liberated take rebirth, even after death.

 

The important point to note, in all these cases, is that not all who visit and worship at the places mentioned above get the benefit of the divine or miraculous powers. This can only be explained by postulating that what happens in these places does not fall outside the law of karma. Based on this premise, we should say that if a particular person gets a benefit, by way of cure or some other material advancement, it is predestined according to his karma itself that his suffering should be over at that time. It is just as a matter of the medium through which that takes place. In these cases, the medium for ending the suffering is the divine or miraculous force at such a place, just as the medium in other cases is a skilled doctor or a generous benefactor. Here also, free will comes into operation inasmuch as the choice of and the decision to go to a place of worship, just as the choice of and decision to go to a skilled doctor is a matter of free will.

 

(Yogis = Persons who have acquires supernatural powers by practicing certain disciplines in the psychic plane through regulation of prana or meditation on deities.

 

Samadhi = the end of a Jnani’s or Yogis life. (This should not to be confused with the Samadhi prescribed in Patanjali’s Yoga Sastra as a spiritual practice for the attainment of Moksha.).Dargha = Place where a Muslim saint’s body, at death, is interred.)

 

 

 

Note No.36 – Moksha means knowing one’s Infinite nature

 

Brahman is said to be infinite, space wise, time wise and entity wise. When you talk of a thing that is attained by you, it has to be a finite thing; before attaining it, it has to be away from you. Conversely, there can be no such event as attaining the thing that is infinite. By definition, ‘the infinite’ precludes the existence of any second entity. So, to talk of your being away from the infinite, to start with, and your attaining it, later, is illogical. Therefore, ‘attainment of Brahman’ can only be a figure of speech. One is ever Brahman; one has been ignorant of this fact and the ignorance is removed through study of Sastra.

 

 

 

Note No.37 – Mind is matter

 

Logic of saying that mind is matter is (a) it is affected by matter; for various mental disorders, the treatment is electric shock (2) a lie detector used and (3) there are psychosomatic diseases.

 

 

 

Note No.38 – Duality – two kinds

 

It is not enough to know that you, the Jivatma, are none other than the Paramatma. This removes only one kind of duality – the duality of consciousness. There is another duality – the atma anatma duality. This removed only when you gain the knowledge that all that there is Brahman; i.e., the substratum of everything in the form of existence, is Brahman and what appears as anatma is only nama roopa which is of a lower order of reality (which knowledge is called sarvatmabhava.)

 

 

 

Note No.39 – Effect on good actions on karma

 

An authority for saying that good actions, done out of free will, will have effect on karma, is in Kathopanishad I.i.18 – “A person who performs the Nachiketas ritual and does Upasana increases his punya and decreases his papa to such an extent that he goes, after death, to brahma loka.”

 

 

 

Note No.40 – Denial of consciousness – self-contradictory

 

The existence of consciousness cannot be denied, because the very denial involves the use of consciousness. This is what is meant by saying, ‘the negator cannot be negated’.

 

 

 

Note No.41– Mixing up orders of reality

 

One should not mix up orders of reality. Suppose, one convicted of murder pleads, “Atma neither kills nor is it killed. I am Atma, so, I did not kill and, therefore, you should not punish me.” The judge would turn round and say “I am not punishing your Atma; I shall punish only your body.” It is in this strain that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa relates a story. A man, thinking that the elephant is Atma and I am Atma; so the elephant cannot kill me. So saying he went and laid himself in front of a rogue elephant. The body of the elephant came and crushed the body of the man.

 

 

 

Note No. 42 – Unreality of the world

 

From the Vedic statement that Brahman is neither cause nor effect ( cf. Kathopanishad I.ii.14) we can derive the unreality of the world. Brahman is non-dual.; i.e., other than Brahman, there is no other entity. But we do have a world right in front of us. Who created it? The only logical answer can be ‘nobody; i.e., the creation and the creator are unreal.

 

 

 

Note No. 43 – Corollaries of Brahman being infinite

 

From the infinitude of Brahman, we can derive

 

(a) Formlessness (nirakaratvam) - (That which is infinite space wise cannot have any form)

 

(b) Eternity (nityatvam) – (That which is infinite time wise cannot have a beginning or end)

 

© Relationslessness (asangatvam) (That which in infinite entity wise cannot have any relation with anything, there being no second entity.)

 

Corollaries can also be derived in the converse direction.

 

 

 

Note No. 44 – Sarvatmakatvam of Brahman

 

Kathopanishad I.ii.20 says that Atma is the greater than the greatest and subtler than the subtlest. This seems to be a contradiction in terms. Sankaracarya argues that the contradiction can be resolved if we take the substratum. As the substratum of everything, Atma (Brahman) is the substratum of the greater than the greatest and of the subtler than the subtlest. Whether it is a mountain nama roopa or a microbe nama roopa, Atma is the Existence. Bangle cannot be in chain nor can chain be in bangle, but gold is in bangle and chain.

 

 

 

Note No. 45 – Atma beyond nama roopas

 

When mind is active, nama roopas appear. When mind resolved, nama roopas disappear. But, I, Atma, am there when nama roopas appear and when nama roopas disappear. So, is clear that I, Atma, am beyond nama roopas. The appearance and disappearance are phenomena of a lower order of reality.

 

 

 

Note No. 46 – Atma motionless

 

Kathopanishad I.ii.21, talking of Atma, says “remaining motionless, I move.” How can this be? In the presence of Atma, reflection of consciousness is formed in the mind. Mind moves by way of entertaining one thought after another; it is angry at one moment; it is calm later. It was sad yesterday; today it is happy. The ignorant person attributes these movements of the mind to the Atma which is, in reality motionless (acala.)

 

 

 

Note No. 47– Atma locationless

 

If you are asked “where were you while you slept” you have to say “nowhere”. So, you, the Atma, are locationless. When you are associated with the mind in the jagrat and swapna avasthas, you appear to be located. When the association with the mind is snapped in sushupti. there is no sense of location.

 

 

 

Note No.48 –Questions regarding origin etc, of world invalid.

 

Time and space are born with the universe. So, to ask ‘when did the universe come is illogical; there can be no time prior to time. Similarly, to ask ‘where did universe originate’ is illogical; there can be no space beyond space. So. Also, ‘how’ and ‘why’ are also out of court; process involves time and purpose involves time in terms of one in the present envisaging a future. The only satisfactory answer to such questions is the Advaita Vedanta answer that the world is unreal.

 

 

 

Note No. 49 – Vasana and free will

 

The first thought that comes to mind may be due to vasana. But whether I should nourish it and let it get hold of me or I should replace it by a better thought through will power is a matter of free will.

 

 

 

Note No. 50 – Guru and Brahman synonymous

 

A Jivanmukta is identifies with Brahman. So, in effect, he is Brahman. That is why guru is glorified as Paramatma in the famous sloka “ gururbrahma gururvishnu gururdevo maheswara; gurureva parambrahma tasmai sri gurave namaha”.

 

 

 

Note No. 51 – Relative immortality

 

An authority for saying that ‘amrutatvam’ should be taken in certain contexts as relative immortality is found in Kathopanishad II.i.2 which talks of benefit of the knowledge of jivabrahma aikyam as absolute immortality (“amrutatvam dhruvam). This implies that there can be ‘relative immortality’ in the sense of enjoyment of a life of a vastly longer duration than the human life.

 

 

 

Note No. 52– The unnegatable remainder

 

You experience your mind. So, you negate it, saying, “I am not the mind.” Then, when you analyse, you come to know that, even when the mind is not functioning, there is consciousness. You recognise the consciousness that exists constantly without your experiencing as an object as yourself. That is to say, there is only one thing that can’t be experienced but the existence of which cannot be denied; that is what is always available as the constant I, the Atma.