Author Archives: Dennis Waite

The Darkness of Ignorance (Part 2)

Posted on by
2

*** Read Part 1 ***

Brahmasūtra 2.2.28

Darkness as a Physical Entity

It is true that it is possible to conclude that Śaṅkara regarded darkness as an actual entity. One of the passages in support of this is his bhāṣya on Brahmasūtra 2.2.28. As already noted, he is arguing with the Buddhists and talking about ‘creation’ and the existence of the world. At one point he says:  

tamaso darśanāt, prāgabhāva iva tamaso darśanaṁ dṛṣṭi-pratyakṣatvāt.

Because of the perception of darkness, it is like the perception of prior non-existence, as darkness is perceived by the sense of sight.

Here, the ‘perception’ of darkness is not, in the empirical sense, like seeing a table in the room but in a metaphorical sense, as in the way the carpenter might visualize the table before setting about making it. Thus, just as we might say that ‘darkness prevents us from seeing the table in the room’ (after it has been made!), we say that ‘ignorance prevents us from realizing that we are Brahman’. But the truth of the situation is that there is no light in the room, and no one has put the knowledge into our mind.

Continue reading →

The Darkness of Ignorance (Part 1)

Posted on by
4

Introduction

Any reader who has begun a study of Advaita will know that reality is non-dual, that who-they-really-are is Brahman or Consciousness. The seeker’s problem is that, although they acknowledge this as the ‘end point’, they do not yet really believe it. The purpose of the teaching of Advaita is to bring them to this realization – an ‘event’ in the mind which is called ‘enlightenment’.

It might seem self-evident that gaining this Self-knowledge is the same as ‘removing the ignorance’ which presently prevents that realization. But by changing the phrasing in this way, it is perhaps not surprising that some (both seekers and teachers) have then started to consider ‘ignorance’ to be an actually existent entity that ‘obscures’ the truth. It is seen to be analogous to the way in which darkness prevents us from seeing objects in a cave, for example. And there is a tendency for people to believe that darkness is a real entity also.

This way of looking at things is very common and has led post-Śaṅkara authors to pursue endless, esoteric arguments which are virtually incomprehensible to the non-academic mind (e.g. me!) and (as far as I can tell) have entirely failed to reach a consensus. I have addressed some of these issues in my book ‘Confusions in Advaita Vedanta: Ignorance and its Removal’ (it should be available from Amazon in 2025). Those discussions examine some of these aspects, although aiming to do so in a readable and understandable manner.

Continue reading →

Q.554 – Practice and Enlightenment

Posted on by
Reply

Q: I have been a seeker for the past 25 years and now realize that Advaita is the optimum path. I would like to study full time but still need to pay the rent! How can I gain Self-knowledge while performing a mundane job?  Simply ‘being in the present’ cannot bring about self-realization.

Also, is it correct that ‘cosmic ignorance’ produces māyā and the universe? Īśvara and māyā produce the guṇa-s, which then determine the jīva’s individual ‘make-up’? If this is right, it seems that individual karma must be related to Īśvara as well? But I read that Īśvara has no karma, although responsible for ‘creating’ the gunas. I am confused!

A: The bottom-line answer to your question is that no, there is nothing that you can ‘practice’ or actively ‘do’ in order to gain enlightenment. The ultimate reality is that there is no creation and no ‘individual you’. Reality is non-dual. Who-you-really-are is the non-dual Consciousness and therefore you could say that you are already enlightened.

Continue reading →

Q. 553 – Mind and Causality

Posted on by
Reply

Q: Does the mind play a causal role in enlightenment? If not, then it seems that no change can actually happen. But then we say that there is now Self-knowledge where before there was ignorance. If the mind is neither cause nor instrument, then surely there can be no Self-knowledge because no change can have occurred.

Furthermore, if the mind isn’t a factor, preparatory practices can be dispensed with and ultimately the understanding isn’t something which takes place in time. Is that what’s meant by the mind having no causal role? That realization isn’t something which happens in time? Am I missing something here please?

A: I think that your problem here is failing to differentiate absolute and empirical reality. The bottom line is that there is only Brahman or Consciousness. And you cannot say anything more. (Even that is too much.)

From the standpoint of empirical reality (vyavahāra), there certainly is causality. Enlightenment is the ‘event’ in the mind when the above is realized to be true beyond any shadow of a doubt. And there are certainly causes for this. The first of these is the preparation of the mind – sādhana catuṣṭaya sampatti. Then there is śravaṇa – listening to a qualified teacher or reading very good books; and manana – clarifying doubts by asking someone who knows the answers to your questions. These are all causes, hopefully leading to eventual enlightenment. Being enlightened is having knowledge of the Self. Not being enlightened is not having that knowledge. (Beware of thinking that there is a positive thing called ‘ignorance’ – I have just written a book about this.)

Continue reading →

Q.552 – Teaching and Seeking

Posted on by
Reply

Q: I’m currently reading ‘Back to the Truth’ and I can see you have presented a holistic view of Advaita. But I am curious. In your journey, having investigated all these schools, which do you prefer? Which teachers or schools do you think are best or have been most helpful to you? Or if you could choose just one school, book or guru to study, which would it be?  Also, what is your main spiritual practice? What aids have been most helpful to you?

Do you think that, reading books on Advaita becomes at a certain point not so helpful anymore; after you realize the only thing to truly do as ego is just self-enquiry and turning within?

A: I wrote ‘Back to the Truth’ nearly 20 years ago. I considered writing a second edition, in which quite a bit would change, but my publisher wasn’t interested. Instead, I began a series of books on ‘Confusions in Advaita Vedanta’. The scriptures (Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahmasutras) are the source of the teaching. Many modern ‘teachers’ are either unaware of this or simply do not bother to read them. Traditional teaching is the ONLY reliable, consistent, reasonable, proven method. This teaching was systematized by Adi Śaṅkara but, even here, many subsequent ‘traditional’ teachers have distorted, mistranslated or misrepresented him.

Continue reading →

Q.551 – Illusoriness of the world (again)

Posted on by
2

Q: Why exactly is the world considered illusory? In what sense is it illusory?

Objects change their form and so the form is unreal. We have ideas about objects but these are unreal being imagination only. The whole subjective world with a person as its center is born of imagination.

I can see that objects including the body-mind appear in this field of awareness and everything functions by itself. But the differentiation still exists. There is awareness and also its contents. So how are they illusory? Is it because they are dependent on awareness?

A: Advaita does not say that the world is illusory. (This is a mistranslation by some modern teachers.) Nor is it ‘imaginary’. The world is mithyā, which means that it derives its existence from Brahman. It is ‘name and form’ of Brahman just as we can say that a chair is name and form of wood.

Continue reading →

Q.550 – Alzheimer’s and Self-knowledge

Posted on by
Reply

Q: I read your answer to a previous question on this topic but am still not clear. What would be the state of all the knowledge of Advaita that I have acquired? E.g. I know now that I am not the doer and I should surrender the fruits of all my actions. But how can I still know this if I wake up with Alzheimer’s?

A: As I intimated in the answer to Q. 383, you have to differentiate between paramārtha and vyavahāra. In reality, there is only Brahman. There is only the appearance of people and world. They are mithyā. Their real substrate is Brahman.

We appear to have a body-mind and that body-mind is subject to disease, decay and death. This applies equally to the body-mind of the jñānī. The difference between the jñānī and the ajñānī is that the former knows that the body-mind is mithyā, while the latter doesn’t. Just as the body may suffer disease or even lose parts through accident, so the brain also is subject to illness and deterioration. Since the mind is associated with the brain, if the brain suffers loss, the mind will also. The memory may deteriorate or fail completely. This is the case irrespective of whether the jīva had previously gained Self-knowledge.

Continue reading →

Q. 549 – Consciousness is all there is

Posted on by

Q: Advaita tells us that Consciousness is what we are and it is always the case. Why is ‘knowledge’ necessary? Knowledge is knowing about something. Simple pointing out of the fact of Consciousness seems to be the only thing necessary. This is simple and immediate. I am Consciousness right now and nothing needs to be thought or said about it.

Since there is only Consciousness, and as Consciousness, there is nothing else to think about or that can be thought about, there are no ‘levels’ for Consciousness. So therefore, there isn’t a second ‘transactional’ world to know or think about.

A: But it is not Consciousness that is thinking about these things, is it? You are confusing absolute reality (which is Consciousness right now and there is no second thing etc.) with the obvious (to perception) world and thoughts that are in front of you (the jīva) right now. It is the apparent dichotomy between these that has to be rationalized by the mind, with the help of Advaita. Again, the concept of cidābhāsa is helpful here.

Continue reading →

Q. 548 – God and germs

Posted on by

Q: It is said that God is everywhere. So God is very much in the human body as well. He is in every cell/atom of a human body. My question is: what is the position /status of God, who is within the body, when  every cell/atom becomes infected? Is infection more powerful than God?

A: God is not ‘in the  human body’. The human body is name and form of Brahman. Similarly, bacteria are name and form of Brahman. There is ONLY Brahman in reality.

At the level of appearance (world etc.), God (Īśvara ) provides an interim explanation of the laws that govern the seeming creation.  One of these laws is that bacteria can infect bodies and affect their working, even to the extent of ‘killing’ them. But God, bodies and bacteria do not exist as separate entities in reality. They are all Brahman.

Continue reading →

Q.546 – Mind and Soul

Posted on by

Q: Advaita says that there is nothing beyond consciousness. Nothing can take place/occur without   the background of consciousness. When consciousness takes the form of a human body, it is called soul/jīvātmā. When the body becomes sick, is it the soul which grieves / or only the mind?

A: There is nothing OTHER THAN Consciousness in reality. (‘Beyond’ implies that there are other things.) Consciousness is the foreground as well as the background! It is the mind that grieves when it thinks that ‘I am the body’. Consciousness never ‘does’ anything at all (including thinking).

Q: So what is the purpose of such ‘Being without doing anything’ in maintaining such BIG universe?

A: There is no universe in reality; there is ONLY Consciousness (Brahman). Please do not ask why there is the appearance of a universe, when there is only Brahman. Advaita does not really have an answer for this. The j~nAnI still sees a world but knows that it is Brahman. It is the mind that perceives ‘form’ and gives this a ‘name’.