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

[Setu Srivatsa]

Namaste Sir!
Thanks a lot a lot sir ! Sir can I mail you personally for furthur doubts
when I get??Please sir!

On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 9:34 PM Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste,
> "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."
>
> nirguNa Brahman, by its very definition is not something that is
> experienceable - अन्यदेव तद्विदितात् अथो अविदितादधि  - it is neither the
> known, nor the unknown, because it can never be the object. Rather, it is
> the subject of every cognition - the cognitions may vary, but the subject
> does not - व्यावृत्तासु अनुवर्तमानम् अहमिति अन्त:स्फुरन्तं सदा - that
> unvarying subject, which is never experienced, but without which no
> experience is possible, is Brahman.
>
> "If you define as existance,then all objects are temporary."
> Objects can be temporary - the clay becomes the pot, which breaks into
> pot-shards, then gets crushed as powder, then gets wet by rain etc.
> However, in each of the varying names and forms clay, pot, pot-shards,
> powder, wet mud etc, there is one unvarying thing that remains even when
> the objects are being born, sustained and destroyed - existence, which
> manifests itself as "existence of X". That existence is Brahman.
>
> "How can everything rocks stones ornaments all be prevaded by impersonal
> Brahman??"
> The last question has been addressed already in the previous email.
>
> Regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
> On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 10:37 AM Setu Srivatsa <sethusrivatsa at gmail.com>
> 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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