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

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms 
Hare Krishna

There is no advantage to use Nana Jeeva Vada. 

>  IMO, there is no use either by asserting others are in my dream & I am 
alone in this universe without realizing that truth. 

What you explain in Nana Jeeva Vada can be explained far better in Eka 
Jeeva Vada.

>  upAdhi vishesha jeeva bedha is not my explanation prabhuji, it has been 
explained by shankara bhagavatpAda himself in sUtra bhAshya (3rd adhyAya I 
think).  There is a mention about samashti upAdi (hiraNyagarbha) and 
vyashti upAdhi i.e. bhOkta in various places of prasthAna traya bhAshya.

In Nana Jeeva Vada you have to accept all people in the world are
Jeevas like you. Then you have Vyavahara with them. 

>  Yes, with that notion only we can transact rationally in this world 
with 'other' jeeva-s.  Because, as I said before we are doing vyavahAra in 
this jagat through vyashti (individual) upAdhi.

In Eka Jeeva Vada you have accept the people in world are part of your 
dream. 

>  this does not serve any purpose IMO, because by merely calling other 
people in world are in my dream does not stop us doing vyavahAra with them 
in a normal & sensible way.  And if we want to treat other people & jagat 
mithya or dream, first we have to realize that ours' upAdhi which is 
seeing this dream is also mithyA or in that cosmic dream.  And it can be 
noted that we dont have to call other people are mere dream to realize our 
ekatva, there is a sAdhana called 'nityAnitya vastu viveka' in advaita, 
that does not necessarily ask us to treat 'others' are in dream and I am 
the ONLY person real in this universe who is standing outside of that 
dream.  A right discrimination (viveka) between temporary & permanent 
things is enough to carry out this sAdhana effectively.

You can have Vyavahara also with them and follow all rules of Shastras
because you want your dream to be good. If you follow Shastras and
rules and regulations it will make your dream good. Nobody wants to
have a bad dream.

>  prabhuji, IMHO, you are just calling the normal vyavahAra of this jagat 
as dream but that is not quite necessary and obligatory stand to do 
advaita sAdhana .  Coz. simply labelling the jagat & other jeeva-s as 
dream does not take us anywhere in sAdhana.  By attributing the temporary 
reality (vyAvahArika satyatvaM) to these transactions also we can go-ahead 
in our sAdhana mArga.

>  But as a side note, shankara somewhere in sUtra bhAshya answers a 
question : whether this perceived jagat (in waking state) is like dream?? 
No, shankara clarifies, what we see in waking state, like AkAsha, bhUmi 
etc. is not dream, it is Ishwara srushti, whereas what we see in dream is 
not pAramArthika Ishwara srushti and there is not even an iota of satyatva 
in svapna srushti.  In 3rd adhyAya   of vedAnta sUtra shankara discusses 
this topic.

You can continue to follow all Shastras and Vidhis and continue to
have a good dream. The Shastras and rules and regulations will make
your dream good but they cannot make you realize Reality. But
somewhere you will feel how long I have to be dreaming like this? I am
fed up with this dream. The dream is not real. I am getting stuck in
it. I want to experience reality. The answer to end your dream is in
your dream itself. Then you will go to the dream Guru and get dream
Vedanta instructions. They will make you realize Reality.

>  Yes, ultimately we realize that even shAstra and mOksha too loukika 
vyavahAra only, whether you call it dream vyavahAra  or anything else we 
have to do sAdhana to realize that we are dreamless awareness.  Let that 
sAdhana be in dream ONLY, if the dream tiger roars we would definitely 
wake up to the 'jAgrat'.  So, anubhava of that dream would definitely have 
its own 'reality'. :-))

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar