[Advaita-l] 2 questions

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Pranams Shri Umesh ji,

Please find answer below.
1. How am I different from my body and senses experientially?
A: When you practice either OM chanting or Neti-Neti, the result is that,
you begin to separate yourself from thoughts, body and desires. The scenes
that mind create can be now understood to be different. This experience
happens when you i.e. 'I' does not get involved in the scenes created by
mind or does not involve or gets itself dragged in the inner mental chatter
that constantly goes on. In other words, you experience yourself as a
witness (sakshi).

2. How do I know my consciousness is the same as universal consciousness?
A: After practicing Neti-Neti or chanting OM, all that is not 'I' is
negated i.e. attachment from mind for all that is anAtmA (not-Self) fades
away. So now mind is no more attracted towards it, so whether the object is
lying in front of you or not, there is no longing and so no attraction
towards it. This is also true for attachment and bonding toward any person
like friend or family member.

So when nothing is left for mind to get attached to, it turns towards it's
source, from where it gets it's power to function, as mind cannot stay
without clinging to any object. So it attaches itself to Brahman, which is
higher authority.

Throughout the process of negating what is not 'I', mind, body, intellect,
thoughts, desires, vritti-s, etc, there is not a single moment when you
will experience that 'I' is lost. 'I' is the first person, the witness.
Without this 'I, you cannot be aware of any other thing. So without first
person 'I', there cannot be 'you' - second person or 'he' - third person.
'I' which is consciousness always exists. You cannot negate yourself, try
it in meditation, you cannot.

After negation of everything else, what is left is just 'I', but this 'I'
is not ego or something limited, it is experienced as infinite, with no
boundary. Soon this ever expanding experience of 'I' cease to exist. Now
there is no other one to experience anything. This state cannot be
described as there is no second one to describe it, there is no witness
either. But when mind comes down from this non-dual state of nirvikalpa
samAdhi, it tries to retain this state, so it pulls with it, Bliss, deep
peace and ofcourse the sense of existence (sattA). Hence, even in dual
place, one experiences deep peace and bliss. This Ananda is regularly and
daily experienced by advanced meditators.

Since there is no individual identity left like Salt doll trying to find
the depth of ocean melts into it, loosing it's identity, what is left is
ocean, Brahman or Atman only. In this way, one experiences that 'I' is same
as Brahman i.e. individual consciousness is same as universal consciousness.

sAdhanA ends when there is no more need to 'enter' into samAdhi by regular
meditation. One experiences no samAsra in nirvikalpa samAdhi (Brahma Satya
jagata mithyA, JnAte tatve ka samsAra, neha naAnAsti kinchana) and in
waking state, one experiences that all else is Brahman - sarvam khalu-idam
Brahma

In order to experience separateness, one needs sattva guNa as dominant guNa
and of course grace of guru. By questioning your attachment or saying
neti-neti like in Atma ShaTaka / nirvANa ShaTaka, mind is so pure that it
detaches itself from the object or person or emotion or any kosha that is
under question and turns deep within. If this does not happen, then one
does not experience this separateness. So advaita is not for everybody.

OM

Sujal
"To disconnect from the self and to become Aware of anything else is
nothing but unhappiness" - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi


On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 12:29 PM jayakumar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Dear Sri Umesh,
> Namaste. Your two questions are answered below very briefly as well as
> elaborately with the science, logic, cognitive understanding and enjoying
> the benefits through shifting 'my' identity and not through experience of
> Consciousness.
> Brief answers :
> 1. How am I different from my body and senses experientially? Answer : You
> are experiencing your body and sense and their perceptions only because,
> you are the Consciousness.
> 2. How do I know my consciousness is the same as universal consciousness?
> Answer : Because, you are in the Consciousness which is a single 'entity'
> of a higher order of reality close to deep sleep. Deep sleep is identical
> universally.
>
> <content clipped> <listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org>
>