[Advaita-l] How can Brahman/consciousness be all pervading including living and non living things?

[Vishesh Bhat]

Brahman is pure existence consciousness. Existence itself is not temporary.
Objects that borrow existence are temporary. Atman/Brahman is an entity for
which existence is an intrinsic property, unlike Jiva.

Brahman pervades the universe just as water pervades the reflection in it.

The 16-18 verses of Chapter 2 of Gita answer this exact question.

On Mon, 1 Mar 2021, 16:47 Setu Srivatsa via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste sir. Sorry for the late reply. Thanks a lot for the detailed reply.
> But what I am stressing and not understanding is what exactly is Nirguna
> Brahman ? It can't be Consiouness because to be Consiouness it has to have
> a form to experience. If you define as existance,then all objects are
> temporary. And how can Brahman pervade all objects when it can't be
> Consiouness or Bliss? And when Shankacharya says Chidananda Rupa Sivoham
> And Aham Nirvikalpo Nirakara Rupo, isn't it contradiction??? How can
> everything rocks stones ornaments all be prevaded by impersonal Brahman??
>
> On Saturday, February 27, 2021, Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Namaste,
> > In reply
> > 1) As you said, the Upanishads speak of the self as existence,
> > consciousness, bliss. The self as existence is manifest wherever anything
> > appears to exist - whether an inert object, plant, insects, animals,
> humans
> > etc - whenever we say anything it exists, the existence that appears in
> > anything is really Brahman. In terms of the consciousness aspect, it is
> > manifest wherever there is a medium capable of reflecting it - ie
> > possessing a subtle mind (mind, sense organs and prANa). Just like
> sunlight
> > is reflected in a polished surface and not otherwise, consciousness is
> only
> > capable of reflection in a mind. In terms of the bliss aspect of the
> self,
> > it is manifest wherever there is a mind capable of reflecting it AND
> such a
> > mind is relaxed and free, however momentarily, from agitation. Thus, even
> > though consciousness is all pervading, to be aware of it requires a
> certain
> > type of medium and certain conditions. Just because Its manifestation
> > occurs only in certain places and at certain times, that does not limit
> the
> > spatial, temporal, objectwise limitlessness of Brahamn.
> >
> > 2) Consciousness is awareness devoid of the mind - one is aware within
> the
> > contours of the mind, because the mind is restricted spatially, ie only
> > within the body. We have to understand what is meant by all pervading -
> the
> > word pervading indicates that there are two entities - that which
> pervades
> > and that which is pervaded. That is not the intention of advaita. What is
> > meant is that Brahman IS all.  As said above, existence appears in every
> > object, leading one to conclude "the object exists", however really
> > speaking there are two aspects to that cognition - the existence aspect
> and
> > the appearance of the object. The existence aspect is the self, which is
> > real, the appearance aspect is unreal. A false mixing up of the real with
> > the unreal leads us to the erroneous notion that it is the object that
> > exists, when it is really consciousness that existence, and the object is
> > an unreal projection on consciousness. When this is understood it is easy
> > to see how Brahman is all - because it is the existence that is manifest
> in
> > every object.
> >
> > 3) See above.
> >
> > 4) One can see the self in all non-living beings as existence. When we
> try
> > to understand what existence really means, the only reference point that
> we
> > have to the existence of anything is our own existence - the certainty
> that
> > we have in our existence we really cannot have in the existence of
> anything
> > else. That certainty of our own existence is nothing but the awareness of
> > our existence. Therefore, existence boils down to awareness.
> >
> > Similarly, when we start off with awareness and try to understand what it
> > means, it boils down to existence.
> >
> > Further, when we try to understand the nature of bliss, we start off with
> > love. Bliss manifests as a result of love that we feel for anything -
> when
> > the object of our love is attained by us, we are happy. When we lose it,
> we
> > are sad. When we fail in our attempt to attain it, we are angry.
> >
> > However, upon analysis, we realise that the love that we feel for
> anything
> > only exists so long as it brings happiness to us, when that thing stops
> > bringing us happiness - even when we possess it, it stops being dear to
> us.
> > The love for any object is therefore conditional. The only unconditional
> > love that is felt is for our self - in every experience of bliss, it is
> > because "I" have attained that object that gives me happiness. Thus, the
> > true source of bliss is love, and the true source of love is our self.
> That
> > self, as seen above is nothing but awareness-existence, hence -
> > existence-awareness-bliss.
> >
> > As seen above, when we try to seek to understand what each aspect means,
> > we realise it ends in a one, undifferentiated entity.
> >
> > The entire universe is a body for that entity as the manifestation of
> that
> > entity requires the body, just like the manifestation of the mind
> requires
> > a physical body.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Venkatraghavan
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 26 Feb 2021, 14:10 Setu Srivatsa via Advaita-l, <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Hello everyone. Please accept my humble Pranams. I dont know how to ask
> >> doubts on this platform. But I have few doubts on Advaitha. Can you
> please
> >> help me.
> >> Brahman is defined as Existence,Consciousness and Bliss(Satchitananda).
> >> Aitareya Upanishad 3.1.3 says Brahman is consciousness and pure
> awareness.
> >> Isa Upanishad 1 says it's all pervading.
> >>
> >> 1)But how can Brahman or Awareness or Consciousness be there and be all
> >> pervading in Non Living things like Pots,Ornaments etc which have no
> sense
> >> of awareness or Atman?
> >>
> >> 2)How can Brahman be all pervading as Isa Upanishad says when it's just
> >> pure awareness ? It only exists individually as Awareness or life force
> or
> >> Atman in all beings. Atman is just awareness. I am not the
> >> body,mind,intellect. This same I is in all. How does that mean this
> >> awareness is all pervading???
> >>
> >> 3)What is the Sat feature of Brahman?? What exactly is that existence
> that
> >> is conscious of all things including non living things??
> >>
> >> 4)How to see one's self alone in all non living things which don't have
> >> Atman and in what sense the whole Universe is our body as per Brahma
> Vidya
> >> Meditations??
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