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.
Of course, this does not really help from an empirical standpoint. The point is that only Self-knowledge can bring you to this understanding. The function of practice (Karma Yoga, Meditation etc.) is to condition the mind into being able to interact with a guru etc. in order to gain this Self-knowledge. You can practice karma yoga in your day-to-day work through your interaction with patients. So that should not be considered an obstacle at all.
The question of karma is a much wider question and cannot really be answered simply. I will be writing a lot about this in my next two books. There is much scope for confusion. The entirety of my ‘Confusions Vol. 2’ book is about ‘Ignorance’, individual and ‘cosmic’. For a start, guṇa-s as ‘created entities’ is a concept in Sāṅkhya philosophy. In Advaita, they are ‘attributes’ of entities. (Remember that the Gītā is treated as a ‘source document’ by philosophies other than Advaita!)
Karma in the sense of puṇya and papa (merit and demerit gained as a result of action) is very much ‘individual’, governed through the mechanism of saṃskāra. You can think of Īśvara as administering the rules that ensure that each jīva ‘gets what is coming to them’ in the next life as a result of what they have done in previous ones. But Īśvara Himself is not subject to karma.
Q: In one of your Q&A’s about the mind and thoughts you write that thoughts arise without any volition / conscious will of the individual. You simply observe them, like in meditation, but cannot influence them.
But aren’t thoughts on a deep unconscious level ‘willed’ by the jīva? Surely it is not Īśvara thinking these thoughts? My thoughts are dependent on my individual constitution determined by the ‘karmic seeds’ in the causal body and reflected in the subtle body where I become aware of them.
I guess what I am trying to understand is: to what extent am I as a jīva responsible for my thoughts, and feelings etc.? Where does the jīva stop and Īśvara begin?
A: Your subsequent question brings in the topic of free will and this is another aspect of what I will be addressing in my next books. It is one of the most confusing for seekers. Personally, I have never accepted that it exists, and the more I read about it, the more this is confirmed. The issues are too extensive to cover briefly here. I have previously answered related questions – see 9, 13, 16, 17, 18, 65, 79, 137, 171, 178, 200, 248, 287, 365 and 413. And, for a short and brilliant overview of the subject from Swami Sarvapriyananda, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvhxTVikbos. He describes how, while we can see how our actions can certainly be considered to be determined, and there is not really any ‘free will’, nevertheless, our real nature is freedom. By exercising the illusory free will, we are taken to the reality of mokṣa.
As I say, my intention is to investigate this much further and hopefully write something coherent and meaningful in the next two books. (Incidentally, I keep referring to ‘two’ books. One will be the final ‘Confusions’ book, aimed at ‘advanced’ students. The other will be the companion book to the ‘Finding a Teacher’ book due out next year, and aimed at relative beginners.)
P.S. Reading through the Q & A, I realize that I did not actually answer your main question – sorry! Traditionally, there were four stages to the social life of the seeker. You are presently in the second stage of the ‘householder’ (gṛhastha), with a job and maybe a wife and children. Here, you are indeed aiming to fulfil this aspect and do not have much time for study. When children are settled, you would (traditionally) abandon this stage, say goodbye to everyone and go ‘into the forest’ (become a vānaprastha) to devote yourself to understanding the truth. The final stage was to give up everything except a loincloth, staff and begging bowl and become a saṃnyāsin.
In Western society (and probably Indian, too, by now), this is no longer a viable option. It is possible, however, to read good books, listen to or watch good material on the Internet, and learn an awful lot in your ‘spare time’ whilst still working. You may even be lucky enough to live close to a good teacher. Many of these now give ongoing talks of maybe a couple of hours per week, working through a specific scripture. It really is a question of how serious you are about this!