Tat tvam asi?

[hbdave]

Recently some technical words like
kutastha, maayaa, avidyaa, etc.
were being discussed over this list. I propose to explain these if list members

are interested.

Usually I start such discussions with a mantra from scriptures, but this time I

shall :
(i)    give a proposition, and
(ii)   describe an incidence that ocurred recently (just an example).

(i)    Jagatguru Adi Shankara has said :
            shlokaardhena pravakshyami yaduktam granthakotibhi.h |
      brahma satyam jaganmithyaa jiivo brahmaiva naapara.h   ||

        Thus acharaya has explained advaita as aikya of jiiva and brahma.

        Maayaa or avidyaa is anirvachaniya - in one plane of reality it exists
        and other (higher) plane of reality it does not.

    Proposition : thus, to understand advaita properly, one has to understand
                            the aikya of brahma and maayaa. If this is clear,
then all the
                            other statements in advaita follow from it.

(ii) The following is NOT a made up story, it really ocurred :
    A few days back I had an experience, typical of many comparable
incidences in past.
    One late evening, I had gone to the market place of my town, a few
kilometers
from my home, to do some little work. I completed my work there and was waiting

for a proper transport to reach back home. Unfortunately, I could not get any
bus
or autorickshaw, so I stood on a side of the main road. There was considerable
evening traffic around me, making usual noises.

    Standing there, I slowly slipped into a state where I was happy with
myself,
not at all worried that I was getting late to reach home, not irritated that no

auto-driver was coming forth to take me home. I was aware and also
simultaneously
NOT aware about the people, vehicles, their noise, etc. The situation could be
compared somewhat with how you are aware of noises, motion, etc. when
travelling
in a train, talking to your friend. It is a kind of hazy, dream-like awareness.

    Was I asleep? No, one can not sleep standing. In fact, I was very much
awake and
aware, but the awareness was not of involvement with the surrounding chaos. I
was
just there, just happy to BE, without worries, impatience about getting home,
... ... ...

    This state lasted for about 2 hours (which I found out on ultimately
reaching home)
Ultimately, I could get a auto driver to take me home.

    On reaching home, my wife asked : "what happened? why are you so late?"
I simply said : " I could not get a auto."

    How to explain to her  my "experience"?, Those two hourse which went like
seconds?  Who were those "I" experiencing various levels of inputs?

To be fair to the list-members, I shall start  giving my explanations about
kutastha, etc.  only if we get some response to this mail, otherwise forget the

whole thing.

-- Himanshu
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