[Advaita-l] A lucid explanation of Advaita

[Venkatraghavan S]

Thank you sir.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 11:15 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> 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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>>
>>
>