[Advaita-l] What do we interact with as people?

[V Subrahmanian]

As a further thought about the following post, here is a verse from the
Aparokshanubhuti of Shankara:


Sarvopi vyavaharasthu brahmana kriyathe janai ,

Ajnananna vijanathi mrudheva hi ghatadhikam. 65

All vyavahara by people is with Brahman alone but owing to ignorance it is
not realized just as while dealing with pot, etc.the cognition that it is
actually clay alone is not had.

Shankara makes a profound statement when he says that.  Since there is
Brahman alone and nothing other than that, all vyavahara, scriptural and
worldly, happens 'in' Brahman. What does this mean: All factors involved in
any action, mental, verbal and bodily, it is Brahman alone appearing as
those factors. The doer, what is done, the doing, the result, everything,
on the lines of 'Brahma arpanam, the act of offering, the offered
object,Brahmaa havih, Brahma agni, the one who offers is Brahman.  The
Shruti teaches that in all effects, it is only the material cause that is
real and the effects known by names and forms is mere words that have no
substantial thing to show.

Thus, while the body-mind complex is inert and prakriti form one angle,
from another, more fundamental angle, everything is Brahman, being vivarta
of Brahman.

Om Tat Sat

On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 4:06 PM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> What do we interact with as people?
>
> Swami Paramarthananda in one of his classes made this very crucial, but
> not at all generally perceived, revelation. He asked his students:  How
> would you feel if I were to tell you that I am seeing in front of me inert
> bodies and minds?  Surely you would retort:  How could you ever say that to
> us who are beautiful, well-dressed, well-educated , intelligent and
> well-mannered people?  How indeed could we be inert entities?
>
> The Swamiji went on to say, what you would say is true of me as well. You
> are seeing in front of you a me, an inert body-mind entity.  And he
> explained:
>
>
>