[Advaita-l] matter and spirit (jatam and chaitanyam)

Aditya Varun Chadha adichad at gmail.com
Fri Dec 2 02:51:26 CST 2005


there is nothing to rise "from". just to realise that all is brahman.
although we say effortlessly that "all is brahman", do you really feel
in your guts that you are One, the all pervading brahman? one may
"believe" in the non-duality of reality, but to reach a state where
one starts feeling the non-duality with respect to ALL things, at all
times, without exception, is what advaita tells us to strive for.

as far as i understand, for an "enlightened mind" all things real are
One, actionless, changeless, formless brahman, all else is unreal. and
this is not only believed, it is felt by the mukta.

remember that the "actions" suggested by advaita are for those who
live inside mAyA alone. action has no meaning for the one who has
attained the knowledge of brahmanhood (feels non-duality with all
things and at all times).

It is important to note that advaita does not prohibit action within
mAyA. advaita says that within mAyA the highest action is to strive
for the realization that in Truth (reality), there is no mAyA and thus
no action, no second or third-person, only Atman, which is brahman.

On 12/2/05, murali mohan <murali_mohan at yahoo.com> wrote:
>  Just one basic doubt. Most religions and philosophies talk about this matter and spirit and that one has to rise above matter and know the spirit etc etc . Even Gita talks about ones lower nature (matter or jatam) and higher nature (spirit or chaitanyam). My question is are they two different things? In Advaita there is only spirit - even science says there is nothing but energy and matter is only condensed energy having a form for the certain period of time after which it dissipates. So what is all this about rising above matter when matter itself is brahman as there is nothing other than brahman?

--
Aditya Varun Chadha
adichad AT gmail.com
http://www.adichad.com
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