6.13.1 to 6.13.3 and 6.14.1 to 6.14.3 Uddalaka continues the teaching using common metaphors as he finds that Svetaketu is a worthy student. When salt is dissolved in water, it is not possible to see the salt with eyes. However, presence of salt is ascertained by tasting the water from top or middle or bottom. Brahman is present in every jiva but sense organs are unable to perceive it. However, there are other means, namely, the scriptures, by which Brahman is known as the Self of jiva. A robber having brought a person blindfolded from Gandhara leaves him in a desolate place. The person is clueless about directions and in particular about the direction leading to GandhAra. He cries for help and fortunately on getting guidance from someone, he proceeds towards GandhAra inquiring for its location from people whom he meets on way. Finally, he reaches GandhAra. Similarly, as long as a person does not get a preceptor, he remains ignorant about Brahman and Self. If he is fortunate due to his punyas earned, he gets a preceptor and he becomes liberated. Sections 13 and 14 conclude with Thou that art.
Use of the word ‘mithyā’ in traditional Advaita
Back in 2013, I posted a short essay on the topic of ‘Origin and Meaning of the word mithyA‘. In this, I stated that the word only occurs in one instance in Prasthāna Traya and Shankara’s commentaries, namely in the Muktika Upaniṣad. This statement has recently been challenged, so I undertook to investigate further. I enlisted the assistance of ChatGPT, since I was interested to see whether the latest version (5) was an improvement upon the earlier version. It is – very much so! Here is the ‘conversation’, posted in two parts.
Q: Can you locate any explicit use of the term ‘mithyā’ in prasthāna traya or Śaṅkara bhāṣya?
A (ChatGPT5): Short answer: Not obviously — at least not often.
Continue readingBrihadAranyaka Upanishad(Part 3)
1.4.8 A secret is divulged. Love for worldly objects including close relations falls in one of the two categories: dear or dearer. It is not the dearest. The Self alone is the dearest. It is the innermost. A person may enjoy the company of the dear or the dearer. More important is the time spent with the dearest, namely, the Self. A husband loves the wife not for her sake but for the sake of the Self. A wife loves the husband not for his sake but for the sake of the Self. Love for any object is not for the sake of the object but for the sake of the Self. This is the harsh truth. The love for wife, husband, son, or daughter are conditional. They are loved so long as they are source of happiness. Moreover, they are mortal and cannot provide permanent happiness.
Q.560 The 3 Levels of Reality
Q: It seems to me that so many questions on Advaita Vedanta are explained with reference to the 3 levels of reality: pratibhasa, vyavahara and paramartha – why then do we not see more reference to these levels in books about Advaita? I have found in my reading very few that mention them up front, or as a matter of great importance. And, of course, hardly ever mentioned, if at all, in Neo-Advaita tomes.
A: That’s a good question.
The ‘bottom line’ of Advaita is that there is only Consciousness (sarvam khalvidam brahma – all this is Brahman). So the ‘teaching’ of the neo-Advaitin – ‘this is it’ and similar pronouncements – is not, strictly speaking, wrong. The problem with it is that it is not very helpful!
The point is that, as soon as we separate out a form in perception and give it a name, we are apparently in the realm of duality. And it is difficult to move from that position to one of accepting the truth of non-duality. So traditional Advaita takes things very slowly. For the new seeker, it begins from our present experience and understanding and moves one step at a time, as it were, supplanting the initial teaching with something more refined and nearer to the truth.
Continue readingChAndogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 5
Part 4
6.9.1 to 6.9.4 and 6.10.1 to 6.10.3
During sleep, mind is resolved and jiva’s individuality is suspended and therefore he does not know his merger with Brahman during sleep. Bees collect juices from different flowers and make honey by mixing the juices. In the honey, there is no trace of individual juice. Eastern and western rivers flowing towards east and west respectively merge in ocean and lose their individuality. Similarly, during sleep, at the time of death, and dissolution of a cycle of creation, all the creatures lose their individuality, and they resolve in Brahman. During sleep, the karmAs are in potential form. On becoming awake, they become live and functional. Hence going to sleep does not mean moksha. There are two types of entry of an individual into pure Being: involuntary and voluntary. In deep sleep, one’s entry is involuntary. There is no knowledge of the entry, and it is not permanent, and one comes back from that state.
BrihadAranyaka Upanishad (Part 2)
1.4.7
The mantra has core teaching of Vedanta, namely, Brahman is satya, jagat is mithya, and jiva is not different from Brahman. Brahman is all-pervading pure existence. Pure existence is same as pure consciousness. Existence and consciousness are two aspects of Brahman. It is eternal and changeless. It has mAyA power which is a relative reality because it borrows existence from Brahman. MAyA is the aggregate of sanchit karmAs of all the jivAs at the end of one cycle of creation which rests in Brahman in unmanifest and potential form. At appropriate time, the world is projected due to mAyA power. The creation unfolds in stages starting from five elements in nascent forms. The undifferentiated Brahman appears as differentiated names and forms called world. At some stage, jivAs with gross and subtle bodies are created which are inert and they enclose the all-pervading consciousness. It is like a pot enclosing space. The enclosed consciousness is jivAtma. This phenomenon is figuratively described as entry of Brahman. It is like a waking man entering the dream. When the dream is over, the waking man says that he has experienced the dream. It means that the entity which experiences the waking state also experiences the dream.
Four Verses from Bhagavad-Gita
[This Blog Post is presented for advanced students of Advaita Vedanta as a case study in ‘Reflection’ (mananaM).]
It seems to me, as though, there is a fine thread of commonality running through the four verses 4.24; 6.29; 9.4 and 9.5 of Bhagavad-Gita, coming from the Chapters titled respectively, jnAnakarmasamnyAsayoga, dhyAnayoga and rAjavidyArAjaguhyayoga.
ChAndogya Upanishad (Chapters 6 to 8) Part 4
6.8.1 to 6.8.7
In deep sleep, the mind and sense organs resolve and the jiva resolves into pure existence. Sleep is called svapiti. The etymological meaning of the term svapiti is ‘one goes’, or ‘reaches’ sva, i.e., the self. The word sva connotes one’s own being or essential nature. One is absorbed in oneself in sleep. There is no individuality. Though the mind and sense organs are resolved, jiva continues to exist because there is prana, i.e., life. A clay pot resolves into clay. The clay is the nature of pot. The true nature of an entity is the locus of its resolution.
SELF SEEKING: Finding a Modern Teacher of Advaita
This book may now be pre-ordered from bookstores around the world. It will actually be available on 28th October but, from Amazon at least, there is a 20% reduction if ordered now (normal price £19.99, pre-order £15.99; $27.95 with no reduction from Amazon US). The links to buy from Amazon are: UK and US. The ISBN is 978-1803418896.
[The E-Book should be available imminently but is an EPUB file so cannot be read on Kindle readers without first converting (e.g. using an app such as Calibre).]
Here is the publishing blurb:
Are you interested in Advaita and want to become enlightened? How should you go about it? What will happen if you do? How can you know what works and what doesn’t? In particular, how should you go about finding a teacher? What books should you read? Author Dennis Waite answers all these questions and more, having communicated with many teachers and seekers over the past 25 years, accumulated around 1500 books on Advaita, and written more than 10 books himself. In these pages, you will learn how to identify false teachers by spotting irrelevance, pitfalls, fallacies, and mystical mumbo jumbo. You will be warned against grandiose marketing claims, spiritual catchphrases, unclear language and poetry, and why you should be wary of various transcriptions and translations. For instance, the styles of Neo-Vedanta, Neo-Advaita, Direct Path, and satsang, in general, are compared with the original traditional teaching, and the relative values of scriptures, psychology, social media, and even AI are investigated. An attempt has been made to research all living teachers and organizations that claim to be teaching Non-Duality in the West and establish whether it is really Advaita. Do they help you to seek the Self or are they simply self-seeking?
Ghunghat ka pat khol re-Vedantic message
Introduction Kabirdas was an Indian mystic who lived in north India in 14th Century. He was a devotee of Nirguna God. There are many spiritual songs (bhajans) in Hindi to his credit containing profound messages. He was of the firm view that without purity of mind, there cannot be spiritual upliftment. An impure mind leads to hypocrisy. Through his bhajans, he criticized hypocrites in a satirical manner. Dennis had a posted my article: ‘Chaki- a Vedantic Perspective’ in 2018. It was based on a bhajan of Kabir. Now is presented another bhajan: ‘Ghunghat ka pat khol re’ and its Vedantic message