[Advaita-l] A lucid explanation of Advaita

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 3:14 PM, Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks a lot Subbuji. Would it be possible to send the text of the
> original message to the list, so that people not on facebook may benefit
> too?
>

Here it is:

QUOTE OF THE DAY : 9 - 5:
248. ADVAITA DIALOGUE
GURU: Let us get on with our analogies. Water in mirage and Silver in
mother of pearl are both of one kind.
SISHYA: In both cases the appearance is well-known and repetitive. In both
cases there is no medium involved.
G: But in the case of the reflection in a mirror the mirror happens to be
the medium.
S: Am I allowed to do some more analysis of these analogies?
G: Go ahead.
S: Rope appears as a snake. Better lighting shows it as only rope.
G: So also Brahman appears as the universe. A Guru gives the better light
by pointing out the Truth.
S: OK. After you have told me the Truth and I have understood it, still I
see only the universe, not Brahman. Why?
G: To see this you have to go to the analogy of the water in the mirage or
the silver in mother-of-pearl.
S: I see. In both cases even after knowing the Truth, the same wrong
appearance stares me in the face.
G: But even here there is an objection. You can’t use either the water in
the mirage or the silver in the mother-of-pearl.
S: You mean the water will not quench my thirst and the silver will not get
me any money?
G: Yes. But the water in the universe quenches my thirst. And the silver in
the universe gets me money.
S: Well, that means the analogies are not perfect.
G: In fact there is no perfect analogy. Still let us continue our study.
Now go to the dream analogy. In the dream, there is (dream) water which
will quench your (dream) thirst.
S: I think I am missing something.
G: If the universe, which is only an appearance, satisfies many of your
needs, the dream also is of the same kind. Whatever thirst you have within
the dream, there is water in the dream that quenches your thirst. The
silver in the dream gets you money in the dream. So the dream analogy is a
fairly close analogy to the reality or unreality of the world-appearance.
S: Is it why there is so much talk about the operational world being just a
dream from an absolute point of view? Are there other features of the dream
analogy?
G: There is something unique. That the dream is not real dawns on us when
we wake up from the dream. The dreamer, when he dreams, takes it to be
totally real. There is no guru coming in the dream and telling you that it
is all only a dream and that you should better wake up from the dream into
the outside world. On the other hand, in the operational world of reality,
though we take the universe to be real and existing. we have our guru
telling us that this is a dream from the absolute point of view and we have
to wake up from this ‘dream’ of a world! He himself lives beyond the
‘dream-of-the-world’ stage, yet he comes ‘down’ from his absolute level
into our ‘dream’ and talks to us in this ‘dream’ of ours about the Truth
that is beyond this ‘dream’! Without the dream analogy in our culture, it
would be almost impossible to comprehend the Guru’s teaching that the Truth
is beyond this visible operational world of reality!
S: Fantastic! There is so much about the dream analogy!
Extract from the 1008-piece dialogue on Advaita, from V. Krishnamurthy’s
Website, and also available in the book: “Live Happily the Gita Way”

regards
subbu

>
> Regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
> On Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 10:17 AM, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 1:47 PM, Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Dear Subbu-ji,
>> >
>> > Why this simple & profound meaning couldn't be comprehended by
>> v.advaita &
>> > dvaita acharyas ?
>> >
>> > What could be the reason for misunderstandings among the scholars?
>> >
>> > How beautiful it would have been if all the acharyas stand on a single
>> > platform and
>> > accept a single / universal philosophy without quarrelling among
>> > themselves.
>> >
>> > Just thinking aloud ...
>> >
>>
>> Shankaracharya has already 'thought aloud' :
>>
>> http://www.celextel.org/adisankara/mayapanchakam.html
>>
>> ॥ मायापञ्चकम् ॥
>>
>> निरुपमनित्यनिरंशकेऽप्यखण्डे
>>    मयि चिति सर्वविकल्पनादिशून्ये ।
>> घटयति जगदीशजीवभेदं
>>    त्वघटितघटनापटीयसी माया ॥ १॥
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. Maya, which is adept at making the impossible happen, superimposes on
>> me
>> (the Atman) who am in reality pure Consciousness, who am incomparable
>> (because the Atman is the only reality and there is therefore nothing else
>> with which it can be compared), who am eternal, partless, unlimited by
>> space, time and other objects, in whom there is no differentiation
>> whatsoever, the distinctions in the form of the world, God and the
>> individual soul.
>>
>> Note: The world, God and the individual soul appear to be different from
>> one another only because of the limiting adjuncts. Intrinsically, there is
>> neither difference nor identity among them, for all the three are in
>> essence Pure Consciousness, homogeneous like a lump of salt. When the
>> unconditioned Self has, as the limiting adjuncts, the body and organs
>> which
>> are characterized by ignorance, desire and action, it is called the
>> transmigrating individual soul. When the limiting adjunct is the power of
>> eternal and unlimited knowledge, which is Maya, the same Self is known as
>> God, who is the antaryaamin or Inner Controller of the whole world. The
>> same Self, free from all limiting adjuncts, is Brahman (Br.up.3.8.12,
>> Sankarabhashya).
>>
>>
>> विधिहरिहरविभेदमप्यखण्डे
>>    बत विरचय्य बुधानपि प्रकामम् ।
>> भ्रमयति हरिहरभेदभावा-
>>    नघटितघटनापटीयसी माया ॥ ५॥
>>
>>
>> 5. Alas! Maya, which is adept at making the impossible happen, creates in
>> Brahman which is homogeneous, without any parts, distinctions such as
>> Brahma, Vishnu and Siva and thereby perplexes even the learned by making
>> them look upon Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva as different from one another.
>>
>> Thus it is māyā that deludes one's intellect that projects the
>> differences.
>>
>> regards
>>
>> subbu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > regs,
>> > sriram
>> > _______________________________________________
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