[Advaita-l] I am Alone in the Universe?

[S Srivastava]

Sir:

Some Advaitis have accepted the Eka Jeeva Vada. This is saying I am
> Alone in the Universe.


Very true.


> The people in the world are only in my dream
> not real.


Yes. They are appearances in I awareness. However keep in mind that this
particular body-mind organism that is typing these words is also an
appearance in the self same I awareness.


> They are not different Jeevas but my dream creations.


Yes, they are dream creations- including one special dream creation that I
take to be myself.

This is not any different from what is ordinarily called a dream state,
which is created entirely by me yet out of the numerous characters created
in the dream, only one dream character is imagined as "me".



> God is
> also my dream creation. Even they say if a Guru comes and gives
> instructions he is also in my dream only. He is teaching me in my
> dream.


Very true.


> But question is how can anyone take the Guru seriously if he is
> only a dream creation? How can there be liberation without taking Guru
> seriously?
>
>
I awareness that creates all these dream characters indeed does not have
any reason to take a dream guru seriously. It is the dream "I" that needs
the teachings of the dream guru - not the I awareness that is the creator
of dream "I" as well dream guru.


They have said Advaita is different from this Solipsism. How is the
> Eka Jeeva Vada different from Solipsism?


Solipsism  considers all others as dream characters in the dream of this
particular body-mind organism which is considered to be myself. It accords
a higher level of reality to one special body-mind organism among a
multitude. So this particular body-mind organism is considered as real
while all others as simply dream characters. Advaita turns this concept on
its head. All other characters including this particular body-mind organism
which is considered to be myself have the same order of reality - whether
you call it dream or appearance.

Advaita is not solipsism. It is the true seeing of our raw experience. Do
we not see this particular body-mind organism also an object just like
others? Wherever we turn our attention we find only objects. The subject
cannot be found anywhere. However the word "object" is meaningful only in
contradistinction to the word "subject". If there is no subject then there
is no point in saying that all we find is object. At this point the
difference between the subject and the object collapses and there is only
pure intimacy of experiencing, which is also called "I" awareness.

praNAm