[Advaita-l] The essence of advaita

[Amuthan]

namo nArAyaNAya!

On 9/26/07, Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> A simpler approach is trust in shruti. shruti states that ultimate
> reality is non-dual brahman, but on a practical level we see duality
> which is caused by so called avidya/mAyA.  shruti also affirms there
> is a way out of it.  When try to explain and understand how this
> non-dual brahman became all this dual stuff, we seem to get stuck. If
> this non-dual brahman is beyond the grasp of one's mind, why should we
> assume that somehow we will grasp how "that" became "this"? The
> explanation that ties the ultimate non-duality to perceived duality
> too is beyond the grasp of mind. Ultimately we progress only by
> shraddha and it better not to get trapped in this. shraddhaavan
> labhate jnAnam.

this is a much better view. instead of wasting time trying to
understand the ontological significance of mAyA, which is
anirvacanIya, it is better to concentrate on knowing the Self.

there is a huge difference between looking at advaita as a
philosophical viewpoint and as a means to overcome birth and death.
the former (the 'academic' view), while being of some importance in
establishing the soundness of advaita over other darSana-s, is not of
much help to someone who wants to put an end to suffering and
ignorance. in the latter approach (that of a mumukshu), there is
actually no necessity to worry about unnecessary questions like 'what
is mAyA?', 'how can mAyA exist at all in brahman which is non-dual?'
etc. such questions can at best be answered in terms of some analogy
and since no analogy is perfect, there will be no end to doubts. one
can exhaust a lifetime asking doubts and trying to rationalize avidyA,
which is the essence of all irrationality; but that won't lead us
anywhere. rather it is better to ask questions like 'i experience
hunger, pain, fear, love, hatred etc... how the heck do i put an end
to this?'. advaita is best understood only from a mumukshu's
viewpoint; certainly not from a speculator's.

in short, it is better to either plunge into svAtma vicAra or do
nishkAma bhagavad bhakti instead of getting lost in what AcArya calls
SabdajAlamahAraNyam.

vAsudevaH sarvaM,
aparyAptAmRtaH.