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

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste Sri Bhaskar

The Upanisad has said Neha Nana Asti Kinchana. There cannot be many
Jeevas but only one. That one Jeeva is me. There is no use for
accepting Nana Jeevas are existing in the Universe. The Samashti and
Vyashti Upadhis may be there for explaining and arguing with dull
opponent schools.

For Advaitis it is not necessary to say all 7 billion people in the
world are so many Jeevas existing with me. These 7 billion people are
there only because I am dreaming of them. They are parts of my dream.
This is the direct straightforward approach.

I said earlier also there is no Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha and others
separate from my dream. They are also existing because I am dreaming
about them.

But I cannot say I am the only dreamer so I will do what I want. I
will not  care for any rules. Because Dharma and Moksha Shastra is
also in my dream. I have to obey that if I want the dream to be nice.
Otherwise my dream will become bad. I don;t want to suffer in the
dream. I want to have a nice dream. For this I have to follow the
dream Dharma Shastra.

But if I follow only Dharma Shastra I will have a good dream but I
will not wake up and realize Reality. To wake up I have to study the
dream Moksha Shastra. But first I must do Sadhana Chatushtaya. Then I
can study Vedanta. But I have to study it with another so called
Jeeva. This is the Guru. I am dreaming this Guru also.

You have said we cannot do Sadhana if we follow Eka Jeeva Vada. But
above I have given reasons for doing Sadhana. If you do Sadhana of
Dharma the dream will be good It will not make you to suffer in it.
But it will not wake you up. For that you have to do Sadhana of Moksha
Shastra.

Both Dharma Marga and Moksha Marga are available in your dream. Athato
Dharma Jijnasa and Athato Brahma Jijnasa are in your dream. Both
Sadhanas can be done.

On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 3:25 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:
> 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
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh