Advaita Vedanta!!!
||गुरुर ब्रह्मा गुरुर विष्णु गुरुर देवो महेश्वरःगुरुः साक्षात्परब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरुवे नमः||
Advaita Vedanta
I would like to begin with a story, fictional of
course. Unless, it will be very difficult for the reader to comprehend the
profound philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.
In the beginning, there was nothing. But there
was God; God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light; then God said,
‘Let there be water, and there was water; he then manifested Air, ether, and
finally Life. God had created a Universe through his powers, a Universe where
everything was according to his liking, as this was his manifestation and
through which He was Manifested. Days went by, God spent his time in his
splendid creation, then suddenly a thought crossed his mind.
Oh! Such a beautiful world I have created, but
Lo! There is no one to appreciate it; there is no one to enjoy its bliss or
sing its glories, which is so unfortunate. He also pondered: who else is
capable of appreciating the beauty of his creation other than him? So after
much contemplation, God decided to create another God, a sort of body double;
he named him ‘Man’. So, now there are two Gods, with a minute plot twist. The
Duplicate God, Man, is overpowered by the tool of the original God; it’s called
Maya, the tool of illusion. Under its power, Man forgets he is God and
identifies himself with the newly created body. Now, man is roaming around his
own creation, the creation that is his own manifestation, unaware of the
singing glories of its creator. God is best at whatever he does, so he was also
best at forgetting. Therefore, man never realised that he Himself is God, and
we all got stuck in his Samsara.
What we can infer from the above story is that
Man and God are not two separate entities; they are one. But when we limit
ourselves by identifying ourselves with our own bodies, we create boundaries.
We incessantly identify ourselves with various groups; we say, I belong to this
species, sex, nationality, caste, community, place, family, and so on. There is
no limit known to us humans by which we can’t differentiate ourselves from
others. All this is because of "I"-ness; we call it ego. The ego of
the individual compels him to see himself as different from everything. In
Sanskrit, "I" is called Aham," and I-ness is called Ahamkara.
This Ahamkara creates duality. Duality in this context must be understood as a
condition where One associates himself with something (like a body, Family,
Group, etc.) and develops such an attachment to it that he sees everything else
as different. This condition is universal and is found in all living organisms
in varied forms. Conflict arises only because of this condition; it can only
exist when there are two entities.
The objective of Advaita Vedanta is to make the
finite infinite, from being limited to Unlimited. Etymologically, Advaita
Vedanta can be essentially defined as "Non-Dual Knowledge derived from the
Vedas". However, it is very perplexing for anyone to ascertain the true
meaning without having a proper understanding of the utility of this
philosophy. Therefore, I will take a pragmatic approach and not discuss much
about the philosophy for the time being, but rather let’s know its
applicability.
Readers be like, "Thak gaye yaar, ab aur nahi padha jata"
Humans live in a society and have various
experiences; some are good, some are not. Nevertheless, all these experiences
are transitory. Unlike other living organisms, humans have the ability to
distinguish between good and bad. Man knows that something is under his
control, and he alone is responsible for its result. If results are according
to his expectations, he feels jubilant; if not, he becomes miserable. These
feelings have a lasting impact on human minds, but to varying degrees. For
instance, one may move on within a few days after the occurrence of some
terrible incident, whereas someone else may stay gutted in his room for months
after the same incident. The reason for this variation is due to the degree to
which a person's mind attaches itself to the incident. More attachment, more
sorrow. Therefore, we must learn to transcend this bondage by practising
detachment. But how does one detach oneself? by knowing our true nature.
According to Advaita Vedanta, we are all pure
consciousness, Atman, i.e., we are not affected by anything, physical or
mental. For example, we will only experience pain when our mind attaches it to
the wound; until then, we are unconscious of the existence of the wound. If we
don’t at all concentrate on the pain, we will never feel it. The same goes for
mental afflictions too.
But how to detach the mind? The answer is
simple: we attach our minds to transitory elements: wounds will heal, problems
will subside, and new problems will arise. Therefore, attaching our minds to
something permanent will help us reach equanimity of mind. Now, what is
permanent in this temporary world? The answer is God. But how do we know God?
Here, Advaita Vedanta has good news! You know, God, IT’s YOU!
But DO YOU KNOW YOURSELF?
Most people will say yes. They may start reading
out their CVs. Again, I must remind you that all things you do in this world
are transitory. Tell me what is permanent. Think for a while: not even your
body, by which you identify yourself, is permanent; it's changing constantly,
so what else can be permanent?
Only your Soul is permanent. That soul which is
invisible, but is all pervading, your every action is determined by that soul,
therefore its all-powerful. Have you ever wondered why all Humans have the same
constitution and yet everyone is different? Because of the soul. Now, the funny
part is that all the souls have the same origin. They are all part of the Super
Soul, Param-Atman. Some souls are tied very tightly to their bodies by Maya,
whereas others are loose; the former lie at lower levels of consciousness than
the latter. The atman, by associating itself with Param-atman alone, can
relinquish this bondage of the soul to the body.
But, Firstly its necessary for man to know
himself. We are handicapped by our sensory organs who always look outwards. We
see the outward world alone as the supreme reality. We fail to understand the
internal nature of ours, Gods kingdom exist within us, but we never care to
look inside us.
I will return to the story and will like to ask
you all a question. It was said that, we unaware that we ourselves are God.
The question is, in what way human can again
become God?
I want to leave you all with this question.
Please Contemplate it!
|| Tatvam Asi ||
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