Still Confusion regarding Shankara’s co

[Cameron Reilly]

At 08:38 28-01-97 -0500, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:

>On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, Cameron Reilly wrote:
>
>> No, I disagree. The pot and the three sided square have equal reality -
>> both are nothing more than concepts in your mind. Advaita does NOT say the
>> world is real at all. Advaita sayd the world is a mental concept. What is
>> real is the Brahman. Everything else is sensory illusion.
>                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>
>Now you are creating duality.  You're saying there is something other than
>Brahman.

Read what I wrote my friend. Did I say there was something other than
Brahman? I said everything else is 'illusion'.

>The only things that can be like that are things like the
>three-sided square that logically cannot exist at all.  Anything that
>exists is real to some degree but the extent to which it is real is hidden
>by maya.
>
>If the world was only a concept in your mind than the first time anyone
>achieved moksha the world would cease to exist.  This is patently
>ridiculous.  The world cannot be simply wished away.

Guess what? When moksha is reached, the phenomenal world DOES cease to
exist! To the person of understanding, the phenomenal world merges with the
Brahman. There is no separation. It is not 'wished' away, it is simply not
seen as being objectively 'real'. The phenomenal manifestation is known to
be merely the reflection of Brahman in the mind.

I quote from Ramesh Balsekar:

"To the ignorant individual, whatever is seen by the senses appears real
and is taken as real - and only that which is perceived through the senses
is real. To the sage, on the other hand, whatever appears is not real:
whatever appears is only the changeable appearance of the unperceived Real.
In other words, the ego-centric, identified individual, fully awake to the
world of perception, is asleep to the real, the Atman, lived and enjoyed by
the sage."

(Ramesh S. Balsekar "The Bhagavad Gita"
Zen Publications, 1996)

Best regards,




Cameron Reilly
The Robert Adamson Centre for Non-Duality/Advaita Studies
Direct Lineage of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Melbourne, Australia
Email: cjreilly at ozemail.com.au