[Advaita-l] The liberated soul...

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004, Kiran B R wrote:

> 1. What I undestand from responses to my query is that
> some people here believe that there is a saMsAra
> different from the Brahman.

It is not a matter of belief.  It is blindingly obvious that there is
multiplicity in the world.  Advaita Vedanta wouldn't be much of a
philosophy if it ignored this simple fact.  The reason it exists is to
provide a practical method of demonstrating that there is an underlying
unity to this multiplicity.

> This is wrong, for it goes
> against  the "anaMtatva" of the Brahman. The
> postulation of any sort of duality is "apriya" to true
> advaitins.
>

Yes and if you feel that way firmly then congratulations because that is
the goal for which sadhakas strive.  But it won't do to just be non-dual
in the field of jalebi!  Do you sometimes go into work and sometimes stay
at home, telling your boss that it's just a kind of duality?  Do you
sometimes feed your kids and sometimes let them starve because food and
its absence are just forms of duality?  For those who have not mastered
vairagya the provisional existence of duality has to be accepted.  However
there are many types of duality and the Advaitin is the one who selects
the types that cause their own decrease.


> 2. Some said that there is no "I" which has to return
> to saMsAra after realization. True. What is also true
> is that nobody leaves the saMsAra, which is
> non-differentiable from the Brahman who is
> non-differentiable from "I" whom am "anaMta".
>

Then what is the difference between samsara and Brahman?  It is a matter
of scale and perspective.  From one viewpoint the moon appears to sit in
the branch of a tree.  From another it is orbitting the earth.  The
problem with your question of whether Brahman wants to eat jalebis is that
it confuses scales.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/