ajata

Ajata Vada explained by Sri Suresvara (Shankara’s student and protege) | Advaita Vedanta | How does the world appear to the Jnani (Enlightened Sage)?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This article is an excerpt from a much longer article which you can view here, that gives further quotes on this same topic from others including Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Shankara, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita. The original article also expands on the disclaimer below and makes some suggestions as how to best appraoch these teachings.

A warning/disclaimer

The teachings that are given below, whilst they are open to anyone, they are very radical in their nature. It is not recommended that you read them if you are not an earnest seeker of liberation or if your mind is likely to be destabilised by a more radical notion of the nature of the universe or what liberation looks like.

We will see that these same exact teachings have been given for many centuries, but traditionally these teachings would only be given to a prepared mind, a mind prepared by devotion, faith and loving surrender. This infuses the mind and heart with an energy of peace, calm and loving kindness and happiness. It is this stable peaceful mind that is most able to receive these teachings, although it is possible there can be some exceptions to this.

Some people can find these teachings quite distressing and destablising and the author of this post takes no responsibility for providing this information to you that has been traditionally written about and taught for many centuries and is already in the public domain.

Sri Suresvara – Shankara’s student and protege

Suresvara was a devoted student of Shankara who wrote the treatise Naishkarmya Siddhi (NS, you can download the text for free in this link) as well as some commentaries on Shankara’s works. As expected, he explains exactly the same things as Gaudapada and Shankara do above. We will see that Suresvara explains the following key points in his writings:

  • That the world only appears due to ignorance
  • The world itself is a form of ignorance
  • The world refers to phenomenal arisings, also known as objects, and includes the body and the mind (thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc) and gross objects such as trees, stars, rivers, etc.
  • Ignorance itself is ultimately not a real thing that ever exists
  • When (apparent) ignorance is removed by self-knowledge, the world also no longer appears due to its cause (ignorance) being removed
  • This world therefore no longer arises or appears to the self-realised Jnani.
  • If we read carefully, we will see that Suresvara is not saying that the Jnani continues to see the world but sees it to be an illusion, and he is also not saying the Jnani continues to see the world but sees the world as Self or being one with the Self
  • In truth, there is no connection between the Self on one hand, and ignorance/the world/the body on the other hand, the latter not really existing, and only appearing to exist due to ignorance
  • The world also refers to all movement or action (karma), and this action or karma only appears or arises due to ignorance.
  • Because karma or action is downstream from ignorance, in that ignorance is the cause of action, action cannot remove ignorance.
  • Like action, desire also arises from ignorance, and so in self-realisation there is no desire, as ignorance, which is the cause of all desire, no longer exists.
  • Similarly, all of time and space are products of ignorance and so time and space cease once ignorance has been removed (seen to have never existed)
  • Similarly, all of samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, is due to ignorance and this entire process starting from birth no longer appears when our true nature (Self) has been realised. This is ajata vada – that birth or creation never really ever occurred in the first place, not even as an appearance.

Let us see some quotes from the writings of Suresvara:

Therefore all this (world-appearance) comes forth from ignorance (ajnana)
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 2.45

and that non-self is ignorance (or duality):

‘For the very nature of the not-self is ignorance‘
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 3.1

and again that the non-self is created by ignorance:

Further, the not-self is born of ignorance.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 3.1

and that ignorance is not actually a ‘thing’ at all:

…for ignorance is nothing but absence of knowledge, and since the latter is a non-entity (avastu) by nature…
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 3.7

In NS, in his introduction to Chapter 3 he writes the following:

‘We have shown at some length that all this [world] from the Creator [Brahma] to a clump of grass, consisting of the empirical [relatie] knower, his instruments of knowledge, his knowledge and its objects, is but a false [unreal or untrue] superimposition. And it has been made clear that the Self is the changeless rock-firm Consciousness, void of the six states of phenomenal existence beginning with birth – and is that [changeless consciusness void of objects] alone. And between the world (as false superimposition) and the rock-firm Self there is no connection except ignorance (ajnana) [which itself is unreal]…’

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, introduction to chapter 3

See how Suresvara gives the same teaching as his Guru, Shankara, by clearly stating that the Self is changeless and void of all phenomenal happenings. The phrase ‘beginning with birth’ emphasises that all phenomenal arisings right from their very outset are denied or non-arising in the Self.

Indeed, there is never any real contact between the Self and the body, far less between the Self and objects.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.19

How can there be no contact between Self and objects? Only if the latter does not actually exist in any way, shape, arising or form! As he says in Chapter 2:

‘The Self is changeless consciousness, and therefore does not contain the factors of action.’

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 2.113

Suresvara is stating that the factors of action are not present in the Self – the factors of action are the doer/agent, the deed/action performed and the instrument through which it is performed. Everything we see/feel/perceive is in the field of action, of cause and effect. Suresvara is stating none of these exist in the Self. We see this same teaching here:

For Self-knowledge is based on the self-revealed reality alone, and its nature is to destroy ignorance and the whole complex of factors of action that arise from it as effects.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.35

Here again we see the notion that ignorance is the cause of the body, mind and world, which are its effects. Both Shankara and Suresvara repeatedly state that when ignorance is destroyed by Self-Knowledge, the effects of ignorance, namely all phenomenal arisings, are also destroyed, just as the illusory snake is destroyed when the rope is clearly seen as rope. Suresvara continues in the same verse as follows restating that action depends on ignorance for both its existance and continuation once it has arisen:

But action depends on ignorance both for its rise and (for the production of its effects) after it has arisen. For action is but a means resorted to by some agent. It does not maintain itself independently after its own component factors (agent, instrument, object etc.) have all disappeared

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.35

Suresvara states this more succinctly here in his preamble to 1.40:

Action arises from ignorance, it ceases with the destruction of ignorance.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 1.40

Action itself arises from nescience, hence it cannot destroy it. But right knowledge can destroy nescience for it is the opposite of it, as the sun is the oppositeof darkness.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.35

Here is it very directly stated that there is no action or movement when ignorance is destroyed, as action is a consequence or effect of ignorance. Next we will see Suresvara stating that the teacher, the texts and the seeker are all illusions that do not exist in self-realisation – the teacher and teaching are the part of the illusion that take us out of illusion, and, being unreal, they do not persist with self-realisation:

In the same way, one who was ignorant of the Self and who is awakened from this ignorance by the Vedic text (sruti) sees nothing other than his own Self. The Teacher (guru), the texts and he himself as deluded individual soul have all disappeared.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.37

In verse 43 of the same chapter Suresvara introduces the idea that it is our desire that creates/causes what is calls the ocean of suffering in verse 1.37 and what is here referred to as samsara, the cycle of birth-death-rebirth-suffering (also called transmigration):

Sruti has also declared this [teaching] in order to demolish desire (kama). All samsara has desire for its root. The destruction of desire arises from the destruction of ignorance.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.43

The implication is that ignorance causes desire, which in turn creates or manifests the phenomenal arisings, similar to what we read in the karma kanda portion of the Vedas as well as the ‘new age’ Law of Attraction teachings. Suresvara quotes from Sruti to back this statement up:

“When all the desires that lie in a man’s heart are resolved.” (then the mortal becomes immortal and attains Brahman): “thus (does the man who desires transmigrate; but the man who does not desire never transmigrates)”. So says the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad [in verses 4.4.6 and 4.4.7]. Vyasa also spoke of this, as in “this our bondage is verily bondage through desire”

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.44

We can see that that idea of samsara, or transmigration, which consists of (the illusion of) being born as a person, then living and experiencing the joys and pains of life, eventually dying, and then repeating the process by being born again – this entire samsara is the phenomenal arising that we see, also known as suffering, that appears to appear in ‘our’ consciousness – all of this samsara is due to desire -ie. our desires manifest or project or create phenomenal arisisings such as bodies, minds, creatures and things. Desire itself is a consequence of ignorance, and when ignorance ceases, all the effects of ignorance, namely all desire and samsara, which is to say the entire mind and all phenomenal arisings, also cease.

It seems that Suresvara was likely reading or referring to Shankara’s commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad when he wrote the above verse, as Shankara writes the following:

They do not also know the contradiction, based on incongruity, between the attainment of knowledge, which obliterates all action with its factors and results, and ignorance together with its effects. [ie. all objects, duality, actions and suffering are removed with liberation, so there is no possibility of either desire or an object to desire in liberation] Nor have they heard Vyāsa’s statement (on the subject). The contradiction rests on the opposite trends of the nature of rites and that of knowledge, which are related to ignorance and illumination respectively.

~ Sri Shankara, Commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, introduction to section 2.4

We see Shankara say the the following in his commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad about desires not being present in the Jnani, that is actually just the Self devoid of all illusion/arisings/birth.

But there are some who hold that even a knower of Brahman has desires. They have certainly never heard the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad [which states the Jnani has no desires]

~ Sri Shankara, Commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, introduction to section 2.4

Here in this next verse Suresvara says the following:

The sphere of ignorance is the unreal; the sphere of knowledge is the highest reality : conjunction between the two is like conjunction between the sun and the night.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.56

And again here:

We have shown that action is an effect of ignorance, and that therefore there can be no association, either simultaneous or even successive, between knowledge and action

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, peramble to verse 1.76

We can see here Suresvara is stating that, just as when the sun rises nighttime cannot exist in any way, similarly the unreal cannot exist in any way in self-realisation, which is the highest reality. Note that this is essentially the same as when Sri Ramana writes in ‘Who am I?’:

Therefore, when the world appears, Self will not appear; and when Self appears (shines), the world will not appear.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’

and

Question 4. When will the realisation of the Self be gained?
Sri Ramana: When the world, which is what-is-seen, has been removed, there will be realisation of the Self, which is the seer

Question 5. Will there not be realisation of the Self even while the world is there?
Sri Ramana: There will not be

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’
(Question and Answer version)

Suresvara makes the point there can be no identification whatsoever with the body-mind for the self-realised one:

The Self-realized man cannot identify himself with the individual body and mind, since such identification is due to demoniac (Asuric) ignorance. If the latter had power to afflict even the man of Self-realization, knowledge of the Absolute would be useless.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.75

This is because there is no body-mind and world for the self-realised one, who is nothing but the pure objectless formless self. The notion that the Jnani has a body, a mind, and engages in actvities, in birth and death, is only from the ignorant point of view of the ‘onlooker’, none of which exist in truth if we investigate who we are. Here are some more verses from Suresvara on this topic, all taken from Naishkarmya Siddhi:

Preamble to 2.30: When the ego-limitation is removed, nothing in the whole range of duality is left standing, since that is the sole root of our relation with duality. So we proceed:

2.30 When the ego-sense ceases, the sense of possession, too, departs; for the ego-sense is its only cause. Can there be (the appearance of) a false snake except when it is dark?

2.31 It is only he whose mind is afflicted by darkness who sees a snake in a rope through error. Therefore noone sees a snake in a garland except through error

2.32 If the ego-sense were really a property of the Self it would continue after liberation and in deep sleep. Since it does not do so, we conclude that it is a property of something else.

2.44 Thus we have shown that this duality is different from the Self – this duality which is false, which has no definable essence, whose cause is ignorance and whose nature is hard to understand by mere reasoning.

Preamble to 2.51: Nor does this whole illusory display (abhasa), consisting in action, its factors and results, touch the supreme reality in any way, since it is founded in mere delusion.

2.61 If the Self of man changes with the rise of every new idea in his intellect, that Self is non-eternal; but if the Self does not change, it cannot be the knower of that cognition.”

2.63 The notion that the changeless Self can be an experiencer is due to an error set up by the ego-sense; it is like the notion that mountains are moving due to the error set up by the motion of a boat.

Preamble to 2.69: Thus this pure consciousness, “firm as a mountain peak” (kutastha), has no contact with duality whatever

2.93 This formless non-dual Absolute (Brahman) is conceived in millions of ways by those of weak intellect, like the blind men guessing at the nature of the elephant.

2.119 So saying, he pronounces “OM” and becomes awake to the partless Self, beyond action and the factors of action. He acquires the solitary state, estranged as it were from the intellect, the body and the external objects.

Suresvara explains many other points in his text, such as the nature of ignorance and the method of self realisation, and he repeats these teachings that I have given above elsewhere in the text too, but I think the point is hopefully made that Suresvara’s view is very clear, and in accordance with his Guru, Sri Shankara, as well as with Gaudapada and the Upanishads, namely that there are no phenomenal arisings whatsoever in the Self, not even as an appearance. It is not that there is the Self, and there is the non-self, and these two never meet, for this would be highly dualistic – it is that there is only self, and in truth (which is ‘seen’ in self-realisation) there has never been non-self at any time. This is also explained in this article here with respect to the three levels of the teaching (sristi-dristi vada, dristi-sristi vada and ajata vada).

This is the true meaning of ajata vada, and this cannot be understood by the mind, which has completely perished (or ‘seen’ never to have arisen, a bit like the snake in the rope although that analogy too falls short as it appears that the snake did arise for a point in time, but actually ajata is even more radical and unfathomable than this!) in Self-Realisation. As suresvara states, ignorance has never really ever occurred:

When the Self is pure knowledge by nature, void of the factors of knower, knowing and known, how could there be the faintest possibility of the existence of ignorance therein?

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 3.112

Here is a different point that Suresvara makes, that reasoning and intellectual knowledge alone will not lead to eradication of ignorance (and the subsequent or simultaneous self-knowledge)

The knowledge that the intellect, etc are not-self may be attained through reasoning. But reasoning does not suffice to annihilate ignorance.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 3.33

Here Suresvara states that Self-knowledge or removal of ignorance only can happen once, and when that happen, no time and space (and therefore no phenomenal arisings) and no samsara remain:

Through knowledge of reality he brings empirical being (samsara) to a complete end. Right-knowledge destroys the path of renunciation as surely as it destroys the path of action.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.56

By merely rising once, this (knowledge) destroys all becoming, through negation of ignorance once and for all. There is no more wrong knowledge afterwards.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.57

Time and space, etc., are the effects of delusion, and do not inhere in the Self. Once the Self is known, there is no more knowledge to gain and no ignorance left unconsumed.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.58

This article is an excerpt from a much longer article which you can view here, that gives further quotes on this same topic from others including Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Shankara, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita. The original article also expands on the disclaimer and makes some suggestions as how to best appraoch these teachings.

Gaudapada and Shankara explain Ajata Vada: No body,mind or world appear in Self-Realisation or Liberation | Advaita Vedanta

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This article is an excerpt from a much longer article which you can view here, that gives further quotes from others including Sri Ramana Maharshi, more quotes from Shankara, Suresvara (Shankara’s main student), Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita on this same topic.

There was a particular conceptual world-view that great sages such as Sri Ramana Maharshi encouraged us to take on, if we are able to, in order to facilitate our spritual practice and thereby attain self-realisation or liberation.

For lower seekers of liberation, meaning for those whose minds were unable to be open to the higher teachings, Sri Ramana Maharshi and the great sages often did not give the teachings we will outline below, but for those whose minds were ready and ripe, he would often encourage this following view of creation and the world, as it is this conceptual view that most readily allows the seeker’s mind to properly do self-enquiry and thereby realise the Self.

However, rest assured, that regardless of how one conceives of the world, meaning that even if you do NOT agree with the teachings below, if one makes an earnest attempt to understand and carry out Self-Enquiry, liberation will be assured irrespective of your conceptual view on liberation and the world. Then you will discover the truth for yourself.

A warning/disclaimer

The teachings that are given below, whilst they are open to anyone, they are very radical in their nature. It is not recommended that you read them if you are not an earnest seeker of liberation or if your mind is likely to be destabilised by a more radical notion of the nature of the universe or what liberation looks like.

We will see that these same exact teachings have been given for many centuries, but traditionally these teachings would only be given to a prepared mind, a mind prepared by devotion, faith and loving surrender. This infuses the mind and heart with an energy of peace, calm and loving kindness and happiness. It is this stable peaceful mind that is most able to receive these teachings, although it is possible there can be some exceptions to this.

Some people can find these teachings quite distressing and destablising and the author of this post takes no responsibility for providing this information to you that has been traditionally written about and taught for many centuries and is already in the public domain.

Be open minded to receive these teachings

Similarly, the ego-mind will often reject these teachings when it first hears them. Often a person’s ego will only be able to come to these teachings once it has suffered enough. The more insight the ego has into suffering, and the more it is able to contemplate the causes of suffering, then the more likely it is able to appreciate the truth of these teachings.

Usually only a sharp intellect is usually able to discern these teachings. Many people read these types of spiritual teachings and immediately project their own preconceived ideas onto them, and so distort the teachings from the very beginning. If we keep an open mind and read the range of quotes given, we will inevitably see what they are truly pointing too. If we cling to our own preconceived notions then we are less likely to receive these teachings in the way they were intended.

These teachings are rare and often misunderstood

Many prominent spiritual teachers, including prominent teachers of advaita and non-duality, give out distorted versions of these teaching, so it is important to be able to temporarily put aside all you have learnt whilst reading or listening to these teachings if you really want to understand what the intended communication actually is.

It is also important to not assume that all spiritual teachers are teaching their own versions of the Same One Teaching, and be open to the fact that they may be teaching very different things; just because a teaching is helpful, doesn’t mean it is liberating; and just because a teaching isn’t liberating, it doesn’t mean it will not be helpful to you.

The Jnani does not see the world

Sri Ramana often said that the Jnani (self-realised or liberate Sage) is totally unaware of the body, the mind and the world, and that the liberated sage also has no awareness of the 3 states of dream, deep sleep or waking, all of which are a projection of ignorance (aka the mind). We will see below that Sri Shankara says the same, as does his guru’s guru, Sri Gaudapada, as well as his student, Sri Suresvara.

For a clear definition of what Ajata vada is, please see this article here.

Sri Gaudapada’s Mandukya Karira and Shankara’s commentary on this

Gaudapada, who was the guru of Shankara’s guru, also makes these teachings (ie. that the body mind and world no longer appear in liberation, ie. Ajata Vada) very clear repeatedly throughout his writings, and Shankara makes these same points in several of his other commentaries too. If you read discerningly you can see Gaudapada makes the following points in the quotes below (as Shankara has already made these points above), and that Shankara brings these very points out in his own commentary on Gaudapada’s verses:

  • The term ‘duality’ refers to the appearance of objects
  • Similarly the term ‘non-duality’ refers to that which remains when no objects whatsoever arise
  • In non-duality there is no duality whatsoever, not even as an appearance (some people are of the impression that the non-dual acts as a ‘container’ for the apparently dual)
  • The entire world (of phenomenal arisings), which is duality, is projected or created by ignorance and is also known as ‘the effects of ignorance’.
  • Ignorance is also known as the mind, and every thing (object) we perceive, from the subtle to the gross, is actually a manifestion of thought or mind
  • When the mind stops, that is the cessation of ignorance; then there are no thoughts, no duality and therefore no effects of ignorance (ie. no appearance of body, thoughts/feelings or the world) as their cause (ignorance) has been removed.
  • This is akin to the rope and the snake, wherein the snake disappears when the truth of the rope is seen; similarly the arising phenomena, which are illusory like the rope, all cease when the truth of Self is realised.
  • It is spoken as if there are two levels or aspects of reality – (1) conventional or relative reality consisting of the body mind and world ie. all objects or duality, and (2) the Ultimate or the Absolute, which is the non-dual Brahman/Atman. However, although it is spoken of as two levels, in truth, only one of these actually exists, and in self-realisation it is seen that the relative never existed at all, not even as an appearance. The notion of there being two aspects of reality is a fictional concesession merely used as a teaching device for the ignorant who are presently unable to fathom the unreality and non-existence of the phenomenal world. See here for more.

If we read discerningly and carefully, we will see that several other notions or theories are refuted by the quotes below and therefore not compatible with them:

  • the notion that in self-realisation all phenomena continue to arise but are seen as illusion (for it is only the ego or ignorance that sees phenomena or could know phenomena as being real or illusory)
  • the notion that in self-realisation all phenomena continue to arise but are seen as one with Self (for to admit to phenomena arising would be to admit to multiplicity or duality as somehow existing or apparently existing in the self, and this is not permissable according to the scriptures)
  • the notion that for the realised sage the body-mind continues according to its remaining (prarabdha) karma – this is a lower teaching for those who are unable to accept the radical ajata teachings explained above.
  • the notion that when Gaudapada or Shankara deny objects, they are not really denying the objects, but just the notion they are separate from the Self. It is important to note in the quotes below that (1) this view is denied by Shankara and (2) nowhere in the scriptures is this view given, apart from as a lower view.
  • because the world is an illusion, there is no need to do a practice or have a teacher, as these too are part of the illusion. No, rather the teaching and teacher, whilst ultimately being part of the illusion, they are part of the illusion that help us get out of the illusion, like dreaming of a lion that scares us and wakes us up from that dream. There is a specific teaching and practice that is necessary to undergo whilst the illusion/ignorance appears to exist, and whilst we consider ourself to be a person living in a world and thereby suffering accordingly.

Before we get to verses from Gaudapada, let us read Shankara’s introduction to his commentary on Mandukya Upanishad and Karika, where he explains the purpose of the text:

‘What is the aim of the text? Let me explain: just as a healthy person afflicted by disease will seek a cure for the disease in order to regain the natural state of health, the natural state of being the Self, when afflicted by suffering, will be returned to its ‘natural state of health’ through the cessation of the phenomenal universe of duality.

The aim therefore is the realisation of non-duality. Since the phenomenal world of duality is a creation of ignorance, it can be eradicated through knowledge.’

~ Sri Shankara, introduction to his commentary on Mandukya Upanishad and Mandukya Karika

We can see right that the outset Sri Shankara is summarising the teachings. Let us now see what Gaudapda says in his writings. If we read carefully and discerningly, we will see he is giving a very clear teaching. As usual, unless we read with a clear and discerning mind, the true teaching may ellude us:

‘This duality, which consists of the moving [ie. living beings/creatures] and the unmoving [ie. inert or non-living things], is a projection seen by the mind. Indeed, when there is the state of no-mind, this duality is not perceived/experienced at all.’

(manodṛśyam idaṃ dvaitaṃ yat kiṃcit sacarācaram
manaso hy amanībhāve dvaitaṃ naivopalabhyate)

~ Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 3.31

Gaudapada states that duality, which consists of all living and non-living things – ie. all objects – is merely a projection of the mind, and when the mind no longer exists (later it will be explained the mind no longer appears or exists in self-realisation), this duality is not experienced/perceived at all. Note how Guadapada specifically refers to and thereby defines duality as the objective realm of living and non-living things, and note how Gaudapada is clear there is no duality in non-duality. Shankara, in his commentary on this verse, states the following:

This duality as a whole, that is perceived by the mind, is nothing but the mind, which itself is imagined – this is the proposition. For duality endures so long as the mind does, and disappears with the disappearance of the mind.

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 3.31

See here how Shankara repeats that duality is a projection of the mind, which itself is a projection/imagination – ie. the mind itself is not a real entity. Note how Shankara also asserts that all phenomenal arising are themselves nothing but mind, and they all disappear when the mind disappears (it will be explained later that the mind disappears in self-realisation).

Shankara also writes the same in his wonderful masterpiece of a text, Vivekachudamani, in many verses, some of which I have included below. Verse 170 in particular was highlighted by Sri Ramana Maharshi as containing a most essential teaching of Vedanta – (see here for verses Sri Ramana Maharshi thought were most important in Vivekachudamani, and see here for more verses like these from Vivekachudamani, as there are many more – this last link also explains the method by which liberation is attained which is not explored so much in this post, and is perhaps the more important topic!):

169. There is no Ignorance (Avidya) outside the mind. The mind alone is Avidya, the cause of the bondage of transmigration. When that is destroyed, all else is destroyed, and when it is manifested, everything else is manifested.

170. In dreams, when there is no actual contact with the external world, the mind alone creates the whole universe consisting of the experiencer etc. Similarly in the waking state also; there is no difference. Therefore all this (phenomenal universe) is the projection of the mind.

179. Man’s transmigration is due to the evil of superimposition, and the bondage of superimposition is created by the mind alone.

180. Hence sages who have fathomed its secret have designated the mind as Avidya or ignorance, by which alone the universe is moved to and fro, like masses of clouds by the wind.

407. This apparent universe has its root in the mind, and never persists after the mind is annihilated. Therefore dissolve the mind by concentrating it on the Supreme Self, which is thy inmost Essence.

~ Sri Shankara, Vivekachudamani

See also how Shankara insists duality ends when the mind ends and equates duality with the appearance of objects or phenomenal arisings. You can also see Shankara is equating ignorance with maya (the power the projects the illusory world) repeatedly. Shankara goes on to say the following in his commentary on the same verse:

For, when the mind ceases to be mind, like the disappearance of the illusory snake in the rope, the mind’s activity stops through the practice of wisdom and detachment, or when the mind gets absorbed in the state of deep sleep, duality is not perceived.

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 3.31

Shankara is likening the illusory projection of objects onto the self to the illusory projection of the snake onto the rope: just like the snake disappears when the truth of the rope is seen, the objects disappear when the truth of the Self is seen/known/realised. Sri Ramana Maharshi explains this same exact teaching in his text ‘Who Am I?’ as follows:

If the mind, which is the cause of all [objective] knowledge and all action, subsides, the perception of the world (jagat-drishti) will cease. Just as the knowledge of the rope, which is the base, will not be obtained unless the knowledge of the snake, the superimposition, goes, so the realization of Self, which is the base, will not be obtained unless the perception of the world which is a superimposition, ceases.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’

Note that Shankara states that objects cease to appear both in deep sleep (when no objects are perceived) and in Self-realisation, making clearer the intended meaning that ‘duality’ refers to the presence or perception or appearance of objects, and that these are absent in self-realisation. Shankara in his commentary then asks how to attain this state of ‘no-mind’ and says this will be explained in Gaudapada’s next verse. In the next verse Gaudapada explains that this no-mind state is attained through self-realisation, and that the mind no longer exists in Self-realisation due to there being no thoughts present:

‘The mind ceases to think as a consequence of the realisation of the Truth that is the Self (Atmasatya), then the mind attains the state of no-mind; in the absence of objects to be perceived, it ceases that perception (of objects).’

Ātma-satya-anubodhenā na saṅkalpayate yadā |
Amanastāṃ tadā yāti grāhy-ābhāve tad-grahaṃ

~ Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 3.32

We can see here in verse 3.32 Gaudapada is stating that in Self-Realisation, all thoughts cease, and when all thoughts cease, there is no mind. Verse 3.31 has already stated that the mind is the cause of the appearance of all objects, the implication is therefore that when the mind ceases to think, it ceases to project any phenomena or objects, and therefore no arising phenomena or objects are perceived in the self. In 3.32 Gaudapada states in the state of no-mind, there are no objects to be perceived and therefore no perception of objects remains. Shankara write the following in his commentary on this verse:

The mind does not think, as fire does not burn in the absense of fuel, then at that time it attains the state of no-mind. In the absense of objects to be perceived, that mind becomes free from the entire illusion of perception.

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 3.32

Notice how Shankara is comparing the mind to fire and objects to fuel – he is saying just as there can be no fire without fuel, there can be no mind without objects appearing/being present. This is the state of no-mind, or self-realisation, in which freedom from all of Maya or phenomenal arising occurs. Again we see the same teaching from Sri Ramana Maharshi in his text ‘Who Am I?’:

What is called mind (manam) is a wondrous power existing in Self. It projects all thoughts. If we set aside all thoughts and see, there will be no such thing as mind remaining separate; therefore, thought itself is the nature (or form) of the mind. Other than thoughts, there is no such thing as the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, (and hence) there is no world; in waking and dream there are thoughts, (and hence) there is the world also, Just as the spider spins out the thread from within itself and again withdraws it into itself, so the mind projects the world from within itself and again absorbs it into itself. When the mind comes out (rises) from Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears, Self will not appear; and when Self appears (shines), the world will not appear…The mind can exist only by always depending upon something gross [ie. objects]; by itself it cannot stand’

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’

We can see how Sri Ramana also concurs with Shankara and Gaudapada stating that the entire world is merely a projection of the mind, comparing this to a spider projecting a web (a traditional metaphor also used by Shankara in his commentaries) – an apt comparison before the days of computer simulation and wide use of projecting devices. Sri Ramana also states that when the world appears, the Self will not be realised and vice verse – when the Self is realised, the world will not appear. This is made even clearer in the question and answer version of ‘Who Am I?’:

Question 4. When will the realisation of the Self be gained?
Sri Ramana: When the world, which is what-is-seen, has been removed, there will be realisation of the Self, which is the seer

Question 5. Will there not be realisation of the Self even while the world is there?
Sri Ramana: There will not be

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’
(Question and Answer version)

Also note how Sri Ramana uses an analogy similar to Shankara’s fuel/fire analogy when he writes ‘The mind can exist only by always depending upon something gross [ie. objects]; by itself it cannot stand‘, meaning that devoid of objects, the mind cannot survive, just as fire cannot survive without fuel.

Shankara and Ramana are both stating that in self realisation, objects or duality no longer exist or even appear to exist, and therefore, as the mind mind cannot exist without objects, it too can no longer exist. This causality can also be stated the other way round, as causality itself is an illusion, so we can also say that as objects (all living and non-living things as Gaudapada and Shankara put it) are projection of the mind, when the mind becomes no-mind, ie. when there are no thoughts and when therefore there is no mind, the objects can no longer appear. Shankara makes this point repeatedly in his commentaries on other Upanishads and in his various other writings such as Upadesa Saharsri, eg:

All this world is unreal and proceeds from ignorance, because it is seen only by one afflicted by ignorance

~ Sri Shankara, Upadesa Sahasri 17.20

‘For it is not possible for the same person to be engaged in thoughts of sense-objects and to have the vision of the Self as well.’

~Sri Shankara, commentary on Katha Upanishad 2.1.1

‘The highest truth is that in Brahman, which is Truth by nature, nothing whatsoever, not even a jot or a tittle, is born [ie. no phenomenal appearances arise whatsoever]‘

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 3.48

Shankara makes it clear that in Self-Realisation objects do not even arise as an appearance

These teachings are usually only discernable by people of sharp intellect (or intuitively by those who dive deep within and realise the Self or who experience revelation through Grace of God). Despite the above verses, which make the teachings very clear, some people say that Shankara and Gaudapada are not really saying there are no objects that appear in the Self, but they instead are saying that objects do appear and arise in the Self but are either seen to be the Self, or they are seen to be unreal/illusory arisings and in this sense they do not exist: objects arise and appear, but they are not real, like a dream may arise and appear, but is ultimately not real. This view is known as Dristi-Sristi Vada (DSV), and this view is different from Ajata Vada as expounded by Shankara and Gaudapada – see this article here where this is more clearly explained.

Both Shankara and Gaudapada in various places explicity refute this notion of DSV. Towards the end of Chapter 4 of his Mandukya Karika, Gaudapada makes this very point. He states that in order to explain for purposes of teaching we talk about 2 levels of reality:

1) Vyavaharika – firstly there is the vyvaharika or realm of objects, also called conventional reality, transactional reality (because you can transact objects here), the empirical outlook, the phenomenal realm, the relative world of (living and non-living) things, or maya. We can see from the earlier verses cited above that this is also known as duality or the mind.

2) Paramarthika – and secondly there is paramartikha or the ultimate truth, also known as the Self/Atman, the Absolute reality, Brahman. This is no-mind or non-duality where no duality whatsoever is present.

Both Shankara and Gaudapada state that for purposes of teaching usually these 2 levels are acknowledged, but in reality only one of them, Atman, truly exists, and the first one appears to exist only due to maya or ignorance or the mind. This is akin to saying that for teaching purposes we temporarily or provisionally admit of duality or ignorance as actually existing: we talk as if objects, people and things are real and existent, but in truth these things do not exist whatsoever, not even as an appearance, ie. there is no duality in non-duality, or put differently, there are no objects that arise (or are ‘born’) in the self, nothing ever happened and ignorance or maya never existed at all in any way shape or form. This is the meaning of ajata vada, as explained by Shankara and Gaudapada.

Logically, it should be obvious that there cannot really be two points of view if reality is truly non-dual, for two points of view denotes duality.

This teaching comes to a crescendo in Chapter 4 of Gaudapada’s Karika and Shankara makes clear and highlights this teaching even further. For example starting in verse 4.61 through to 4.70 Gaudapada and Shankara explain the (lower and ultimately false) teaching of Dristi-Sristi Vada, namely that all objects arise in consciousness as consciousness and all objective arisings are one with that consciousness. In verse 4.68 Gaudapda states this conventional reality of objects appearing is like a dream, in which all dream phenomena are a projection of mind and one with the mind-consciousness in which they appear, and in verses 4.69 and 4.70 they state it could also be likened to an illusion created by a magician (4.69) or a hallucination created by drugs, etc (4.70). In both these cases the objects come and go, but the consciousness onto which they are projected or superimposed is constant and unchanging.

But then in verse 4.71 Gaudapada states in the highest truth, ie. in self-realisation, no living being is ever born, as there is no source or cause for it (the cause or source for birth would be ignorance, also known as maya, ego or mind):

‘No creature whatsoever has birth, there is no source for it. This is the highest truth where nothing whatsoever is born’

~ Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 4.71

Shankara then makes this teaching even clearer in his commentary on this verse:

‘It has been said that birth, death, etc of creatures within the range of empirical existence are like those of the creatures in a dream etc, but the highest truth is that where no creature undergoes birth. The remaining portion was explained before [in his commentary on verse 3.48 cited above]’

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 4.71

We can see in this commentary Shankara is clearly refuting the idea that objects continue to appear, like in a dream, in Self-realisation, as in actuality no objects appear (no objects are ‘born’). Shankara refers to his previous comments on verse 3.48 where he writes ‘The highest truth is that in Brahman, which is Truth by nature, nothing whatsoever, not even a jot or a tittle, is born [ie. no phenomenal appearances arise whatsoever]‘.

In the next verse the same teaching is given in a different way: here it is said that objects arise from a vibration of the self, which is the mind or ignorance:

‘The duality of the perceiver and the perceived is the vibration or movement of consciousness or mind (citta-spandikam); yet consciousness itself is always without an object, eternal, and unattached — therefore, it is so described or proclaimed.

cittaspandikamevedaṃ grāhyagrāhakavaddvayam
cittaṃ nirviṣayaṃ nityamasaṃgaṃ tena kīrtitam

~ Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 4.72

Shankara writes in his commentary on this verse:

All duality, which consists of a subject and object, is a vibration of mind/consciousness. But from the Ultimate point of view, consciousness is nothing but the Self, and accordingly it is nirvasayam, without objects…as consciousness is without objects, it is unattached, this is the meaning [of the verse].

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 4.72

We can see that Shankara is clearly stating that unlike a dream or magic show or a drug-induced or otherwise-induced hallucination, in (Ultimate) Reality, appearances or objects no longer arise. In the next verse Gaudapada makes this even clearer:

‘That which exists because of a fancied empirical (relative) outlook, does not do so from the standpoint of the absolute Reality. Anything that may exist on the strength of the empirical outlook, taught by various other schools of thought, does not really exist‘

yo’sti kalpitasaṃvṛtyā paramārthena nāstyasau
paratantrābhisaṃvṛtyā syānnāsti paramārthataḥ

~ Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 4.73

Gaudapada is clearly stating that that which appears to exist from a relative point of view is actually non-existent in self-realisation. In his commentary on this verse Shankara emphasises this same point stating that the empirical outlook is an imagined illusion that certainly has no actual existence.

All of this has already been stated earlier in Chapter 2 of the same Mandukya Karika, eg. 2.17:

As a rope whose nature has not been well ascertained is imagined in the dark to be various things like a snake, a line of water, etc, so also is the Self imagined variously

~ Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 2.17

On his commentary on this verse Shankara states the following:

‘..this is the illustration – similarly the Self is imagined to be such countless diverse objects as an individual creature or the vital force, etc, just because It has not been ascertained in its true nature to be pure intelligence, existence and non-duality, and different from such evils as cause and effects that are characteristics of the world. This is the conclusion of all Upanishads’

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 2.17

Some may argue that unlike the rope and snake in which the snake disappears when the rope is seen, when the Highest Truth (of Self) is seen the appearance of the world does not disappear but it continues, but Gaudapada and Shankara both refute this view in the next verse:

‘As illusion (eg. of the snake) ceases and the rope alone remains when the rope is ascertained to be nothing but the rope, so also is the ascertainment about the Self’

~Sri Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika 2.18

Shankara makes it explicitly clear what exactly this means in his commentary on this verse:

‘As on certainly realising that the rope is nothing but a rope all imaginations disappear and there remains rope alone without anything else, so also from the scriptural text ‘neti, neti’ [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.22] establishing the Self as devoid of all wordly attributes, there dawn, as a result of the light of the sun of realisation certainty about the Self.’

~ Sri Shankara, commentary on Mandukya Karika 2.18

We can clearly see the analogy between the rope and the imaginary appearance of the illusory snake, is analogous to the Self and the imaginary appearance of objects, and Shankara is clearly stating that the appearances no longer arise in self-realisation. We have already seen that Sri Ramana wrote the same in his text ‘Who am I?’:

If the mind, which is the cause of all [objective] knowledge and all action, subsides, the perception of the world (jagat-drishti) will cease. Just as the knowledge of the rope, which is the base, will not be obtained unless the knowledge of the snake, the superimposition, goes, so the realization of Self, which is the base, will not be obtained unless the perception of the world which is a superimposition, ceases.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’

But perhaps Shankara says it best in his own introduction to the Mandukya Upanishad where he writes:

‘Since the phenomenal world of duality is a creation of ignorance, it can be eradicated through knowledge, and hence this book is begun in order to reveal the knowledge of Brahman’

~ Shankara, introduction to his commentary on Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapada’s Karika

Shankara also makes the following remark in his introduction, this time summarising chapter 2 of Mandukya Karika:

‘The second chapter is concerned with rationally proving the unreality of the phenomenal world of duality, on the cessation of which is attained non-duality, just as the reality of the rope is know on the elimination of the illusion of the snake etc imagined upon it’

~ Shankara, introduction to his commentary on Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapada’s Karika

Lastly I will leave you with a verse from Chandogya Upanishad and Shankara’s commentary on this:

‘The infinite is that where one does not see anything else, does not hear anything else, and does not understand anything else. Hence, the finite is that where one sees something else, hears something else, and understands something else. That which indeed is the Infinite is immortal. On the other hand, that which is finite is mortal’

~ Chandogya Upanishad 7.24.1

Shankara writes the following in his commentary on this verse – note he is making a statement about the entire text. Hopefully given all of the above the meaning is clear without my having to comment any further:

‘Therefore the meaning of the whole text is that phenomenal dealing does not exist in the Infinite…the idea is that this [phenomenal dealing] exists during the period of ignorance. It is like a thing seen in a dream, which only exists in that period, before waking’

~ Shankara’s commentary on Chandogya Upanishad 7.24.1

There are so many more quotes, both from Gaudapada and Shankara, on this same topic that give the same teaching. If we explore Shankara’s other commentaries we see these same teachings given again and again. For example, see this post here on Chapter 1 of Gaudapada’s Karika which explains many things including:

  • the True Self (Atman) is also known as Turiya
  • there are no phenomenal arisings in Turiya/Atman
  • no cause or effect or karma exists in Turiya/Atman
  • in Turiya/Atman there is no consciousness of the waking, dream or deep sleep state
  • in truth we cannot even say the the phenomenal world disappears in liberation, as when truth (self) is realised, it is ‘known’ that the phenomenal world never even arose or appeared in the first place (ie. the radical ajata doctrine is being ellucidated here)

And I haven’t even included this most famous verse from Gaudapa which expounds the highest truth in Vedanta teachings – I hope that after reading the above, you can hopefully understand exactly what the verse does and does not mean!

See here for the rest of this article which provides extensive quotes from Sri Ramana Maharshi, more quotes from Shankara, and other quotes from Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita on this same topic of Ajata Vada

20 key points in this Liberating Teaching | Advaita Vedanta | The higher teachings

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This is one of a series of introductory articles – please see the homepage of tomdas.com for more introductory articles.

This post is also an extract of a much larger post which you can read here which provides extensive quotes from Shankara, Gaudapada, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita to give scriptural backing to the 20 points below.

There was a particular conceptual world-view that great sages such as Sri Ramana Maharshi encouraged us to take on, if we are able to, in order to facilitate our spritual practice and thereby attain self-realisation or liberation.

For lower seekers of liberation, meaning for those whose minds were unable to be open to the higher teachings, Sri Ramana Maharshi and the great sages often did not give the teachings we will outline below, but for those whose minds were ready and ripe, he would often encourage this following view of creation and the world, as it is this conceptual view that most readily allows the seeker’s mind to properly do self-enquiry and thereby realise the Self.

However, rest assured, that regardless of how one conceives of the world, meaning that even if you do NOT agree with the teachings below, if one makes an earnest attempt to understand and carry out Self-Enquiry, liberation will be assured irrespective of your conceptual view on liberation and the world. Then you will discover the truth for yourself.

A warning/disclaimer

The teachings that are given below, whilst they are open to anyone, are very radical in their nature. It is not recommended that you read them if you are not an earnest seeker of liberation or if your mind is likely to be destabilised by a more radical notion of the nature of the universe or what liberation looks like.

We will see that these same exact teachings have been given for many centuries, but traditionally these teachings would only be given to a prepared mind, a mind prepared by devotion, faith and loving surrender. This infuses the mind and heart with an energy of peace, calm and loving kindness and happiness. It is this stable peaceful mind that is most able to receive these teachings, although it is possible there can be some exceptions to this.

Some people can find these teachings quite distressing and destabilising and the author of this post takes no responsibility for providing this information to you that has been traditionally written about and taught for many centuries and is already in the public domain.

Be open minded to receive these teachings

Similarly, the ego-mind will often reject these teachings when it first hears them. Often a person’s ego will only be able to come to these teachings once it has suffered enough. The more insight the ego has into suffering, and the more it is able to contemplate the causes of suffering, then the more likely it is able to appreciate the truth of these teachings.

Usually only a sharp intellect is usually able to discern these teachings. Many people read these types of spiritual teachings and immediately project their own preconceived ideas onto them, and so distort the teachings from the very beginning. If we keep an open mind and read the range of quotes given, we will inevitably see what they are truly pointing too. If we cling to our own preconceived notions then we are less likely to receive these teachings in the way they were intended.

These teachings are rare and often misunderstood

Many prominent spiritual teachers, including prominent teachers of advaita and non-duality, give out distorted versions of these teaching, so it is important to be able to temporarily put aside all you have learnt whilst reading or listening to these teachings if you really want to understand what the intended communication actually is.

It is also important to not assume that all spiritual teachers are teaching their own versions of the Same One Teaching, and be open to the fact that they may be teaching very different things; just because a teaching is helpful, doesn’t mean it is liberating; and just because a teaching isn’t liberating, it doesn’t mean it will not be helpful to you.

My recommendation is that you listen to what Sri Ramana Maharshi has to say, and the best way to do that now that his body has passed is to read his own writings themselves.

The Jnani does not see the world

Sri Ramana often said that the Jnani (self-realised or liberate Sage) is totally unaware of the body, the mind and the world, and that the liberated sage also has no awareness of the 3 states of dream, deep sleep or waking, all of which are a projection of ignorance (aka the mind). We will see below that Sri Shankara says the same, as does his guru’s guru, Sri Gaudapada, as well as his student, Sri Suresvara. The quotes given in the later part of this post will concentrate on demonstrating that this was indeed the teachings of these great teachers.

The Conceptual Teaching Framework for the Teachings

The following conceptual teaching framework is consistently given from the Vedas, the Upanishads, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Gaudapada, Sri Shankara, and Sri Suresvara as well as others such as Ramakrishna, Vasistha and Ashtavakra, and it is this larger framework that the quotes that will be given later fit into. It is essentially a combination of the Ajata Vada and Dristi Sristi Vada views. The reason for different views on how the world is created in explained by Sri Ramana Maharshi in his answer to question 10 in his text Self-Enquiry (click here to download the text) as follows:

Question: If the entire universe is of the form of mind, then does it not follow that the universe is an illusion? If that be the case, why is the creation of the universe mentioned in the Veda?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: There is no doubt whatsoever that the universe is the merest illusion. The principal purport of the Veda is to make known the true Brahman, after showing the apparent universe to be false. It is for this purpose that the Vedas admit the creation of the world and not for any other reason. Moreover, for the less qualified persons creation is taught, that is the phased evolution of prakriti (primal nature), mahat-tattva (the great intellect), tanmatras (the subtle essences), bhutas (the gross elements), the world, the body, etc., from Brahman [Tom: ie. the lower seeker is taught a traditional creation model of the world in which the subtle elements progressively evolve into more complex structures, etc], while for the more qualified simultaneous creation is taught, that is, that this world arose like a dream on account of one’s own thoughts induced by the defect of not knowing oneself as the Self [Tom: ie. the defect of not knowing oneself is ignorance, and this creates thoughts, and these project the world akin to a dream, so the world is a creation of ignorance or delusion]. Thus, from the fact that the creation of the world has been described in different ways it is clear that the purport of the Vedas rests only in teaching the true nature of Brahman after showing somehow or other the illusory nature of the universe. That the world is illusory, every one can directly know in the state of realization which is in the form of experience of one’s bliss-nature

Without understanding the creation framework that the teachings are operating in, the teachings are much more difficult to follow. The opposite is also true, in that understanding this framework may greatly aid our journey to liberation. Please note that all of the following points have strong scriptural support and form the clearest most consistent interpretation of the scriptures according to the great sages who have proclaimed them – see the recommended reading list for books that explain these teachings more thoroughly and in greater detail:

1. There is only the Self and you are That. Self-realisation and liberation are synonyms and they represent the highest possible ‘attainment’ in which duality, suffering and any sense of individuality are competely destroyed never to return again. See a summary of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings here for more on this and how to realise this for yourself.

2. In the Self there are no objects or arisings or appearances at all (this is the doctrine of ajata vada – no phenomena are created or born in it, not even as an appearance, see link for more). The Self is:

  • homogenous (the same throughout, without any variation whatsoever)
  • unchanging (without possibility of change arising within or being projected upon it)
  • ‘one without a second’
  • formless (ie. without form and without the possibility of any form arising in it)
  • without karma (without action or movement, also known as ‘silence’ or ‘stillness’) or the possibility of karma/action (karma literally means action or change, more commonly refering to the chain of cause and effect)
  • without thoughts or the possibility of thoughts
  • non-dual (without duaity)
  • devoid of time and space and therefore devoid of samara (the cycle of birth and death)
  • blissful – it is heaven, the culmination of all desires, everything you have ever wanted and more, devoid of suffering and without any problems or questions or doubts.
  • Peace, Silence and Stillness. See here for what it really means to be still according to Sri Ramana Maharshi.
  • Infinte unconditional Love – the Self is the only infinite unconditional love, infinite unconditional love not being possible in the realtive realm of objects, people and things, all of which are conditional, under the sway of cause and effect and temporary.
  • Divine, heavenly, godly
  • devoid of the appearances or arising of the 3 states (waking, dream and deep sleep)
  • devoid of body and mind and thought
  • without ignorance or the possibility of ignorance or any arisings ever arising in it
  • without describable characteristics; although it is often said to be Sat Chit Ananda, this is a metaphorical description, all descriptions of the Self ultimately fall short and can only be metaphorical at best
  • unable to be conceived, understood or thought about. All metaphors ultimately fall short when trying to describe or explain the Self, even though they may be provisionally be used as a pedagogical device (teaching aid).
  • The Self is also known as Turiya (the fourth), Samadhi, Nirvilkalpa Samadhi, Pure consciousness (the word ‘pure’ refers to the absense of arisings), Pure Being, Truth, Reality, True Nature, Jagrat-Susupti (waking-sleep), God, Heaven, the Abosolute, Brahman, etc.
  • In truth Deep Sleep is the Self

See Mandukya Upanishad verse 7 where much of the above is described in concise form.

3. The self is both the only ‘thing’ that is real and the only ‘thing’ that exists, although it is not actually ‘a thing’ at all. To know the Self is to know all, and there is no real ‘knowing’ of the self, the word ‘knowledge’ being a metaphor for the removal of ignorance or another word for the Self. To know the Self is just to be the Self devoid of any phenomenal arisings. See here for more on this teaching which explains the true nature of Jnana, or self-knowledge, according to Shankara, Ramana and the scriptures. Reality and Existence are in fact synonyms and the idea that something can be both unreal but still appear or arise is fallacious (a false teaching) and not a teaching found anywhere in the Vedanta scriptures or the Upanishads – see here for more on this teaching. Also see this article here: The Meaning of Real and Unreal in Advaita Vedanta

4. It is due to ignorance that the range of phenomenal appearances appear to arise – ie. the appearance of one’s apparent body-mind, apparent other people and living beings, and apparent things such as tables, chairs, cars, trees, plants, planets, celestial bodies and stars,etc – all of these are a mere projection of ignorance, as explained by Sri Ramana Maharshi in his answer to question 10 in his text Self-Enquiry which you can read here. This projection is known as ‘duality’. In the Self or in non-duality, there is no duality. We will see Shankara and others clearly give this teaching below many times. It is also explained in this video here:

5. This root ignorance also goes by other names such as ego, mind, maya (illusion), imagination, hallucination, nescience, delusion, the I-thought and the I am the body-mind idea. (See the text Self-Enquiry by Sri Ramana Maharshi where this is explained in the answer to question 3) Therefore it could equally just as well be said that the world (ie. body, mind and world) are a projection of any of the above words.

In some teachings it is said that there are 2 forms of ignorance, the macro-form called maya which projects the body mind and world, and the micro-form called ignorance which gives rise to the individual sense of being a person, and that vedanta teachings removes only ignorance, the limited sense of being a jiva, but not maya, and so the body-mind world continues after liberation. Please note this is not the teaching given in the Upanishads or by Shankara at all and is a later development by later commentators who were not able to understand the radical nature of the original true and liberating teachings, and changing the teachings in this way renders a potentially liberating teaching potentially non-liberating. We repeatedly see how the terms ignorance and maya are used interchangably throughout the scriptures.

6. It is also explained that ignorance creates the subtle sense of being identified as a seperate entity (ego), and then this subtle entity (ego) itself projects the body and mind and identifies with this, which is called being a jiva (a living embodied entity). Subsequently, or simultaneously, depending on how it is expounded, the ego also projects the appearance of an environment for the body-mind entity which we call the world, and within this world the body-mind entity roams and experiences various sense objects via the body and subtle objects via the mind (thoughts, feelings, emotions, imaginings). This is explained succinctly in the text ‘Who Am I?’ by Sri Ramana Maharshi – I recommend the Sri Sadhu Om version which is the more accurate of the main translations.

7. In this same way the ego or ignorance projects the 3 states which it then experiences in turn. This is all the realm of ignorance. When objects arise, it is called either the dream or waking state, and when objects temporarily cease, that is called deep sleep. In fact the scriptures go on to explain here that we could say there are only 2 states, one called dream, when object appear, and another called sleep, when there are no objects, and that what we call the waking state is merely another form of dream. These refer to ignorance and reality respectively, or maya (illusion) and satya (truth or reality) – see here for this rare teaching.

8. This ignorance or ego or maya is itself not a real entity and in truth (ie. in self-realisation) it is ‘seen’ to have never actually occurred at all. Nothing (phenomenal) ever really happened at all. This is the ajata teaching, that nothing was ever created or arose at all. There was never any ignorance/maya or even any appearance of ignorance.

9. Within the waking dream, there is a specific way for the apparent ego to apparently remove ignorance (self-enquiry, also known as surrender; these are analgous to the paths of knowledge, jnana, and devotion, bhakti), and when ignorance is removed, the entire effects of ignorance, namely all phenomenal arisings, also cease, the effects no longer having a cause to sustain them. Karma or action refers to movement which can only occur. This specific method is clearly explained in the The Path of Sri Ramana – part 1 and in the book The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss by Michael Langford, which you can download for free from the links given. The method specifially involves discovering who or what you really are – this is done by allowing the mind to quieten, allowing the attention to no longer go towards gross and subtle objects, and with attention inward turned discovering the true nature of the ‘I’ or ‘I Am’. Importantly no objects/ phenomena arise at the time of the discovery – it is Pure Self alone, devoid of duality/objects. The method is also explained in brief here and supporting quotes from Shankara and others can be found here.

Just because the waking dream is ultimately an illusion, it doesn’t mean there is not a specific method to escape it. Effort on this specific path is required for liberation.

It is important to listen not only to our own hearts and inner knowing, but to also listen to the words and teachings of the Guru who has already crossed over to the other shore of liberation. Why? Because even though the same teaching the True Guru (Sat Guru) gives is already shining and being sung in our hearts, due to ignorance our minds are turned outwards and emeshed with thoughts, we are often not able to truly listen to our Hearts (the True Guru Within) and instead our ego distorts the teachings. Therefore the Guru’s words are supremely important in aiding us who are genuinely interested in liberation and this is why tradition exaults the value of the Guru on the path to Self-Realisation.

There is no other newer or quicker way that can be discovered to know or realise the Self. This is not a dogmatic assertion, but should become clear once you start to understand the teachings and why Self-Enquiry is the only way to liberation, although the same process can go by other names. Similarly there is no different way for men versus women, for this, like any other science, is universal and is applicable for all.

10. This removal of ignorance is not a real thing at all, ignorance itself being unreal, the whole thing being an imagination that never happened. This paradoxical teaching only appears paradoxical to the mind, which is unable to understand it, the mind being a product or the nature of ignorance. In truth there was only the Self, which cannot even be said to be called the self, as it is beyond all words and concepts, but it is called the Self or witness (the self is not truly a witness) for the purpose of the teaching only – see here for more on this teaching.

11. In self-realisation only the real remains, and the false or unreal no longer appears or exists; only the Self remains and what was previously called non-self, ie. all objects, these no longer remain or appear/arise. When the scriptures say that the jnani sees all phenomenal arisings and objects as being unreal or being illusory, this is a lower teaching for those whose minds are unable to fathom that the jnani is (and themselves are) not a body-mind entity at all. In truth the illusory appearances no longer appear at all and the jnani is not a person.

12. Similarly, the self cannot be known by a body-mind entity or by the mind or the ego. There is no such thing as a ‘person who is self-realised’, although it may appear that way to a person (the ignorant onlooker). There is only the Self and you are that. This also means that, relatively speaking, a jnani cannot be identified by the way they act or behave in the world – what is important is the teaching they give – are they giving a liberating teaching either verbally or non-verbally?

13. Is is the ego or ignorance that creates or projects the world, so the ego is also known as Brahma (the creator deity) or Hiranyagarbha (the cosmic womb or cosmic egg that gives rise to the world) or Isvara (the creator and ruler of the world) or Maya (the magical power that creates the appearance of the world). Sometimes it is said that all creation proceeds from the Self, but this is a simpler or lower teaching for those who consider the world to be real. See here for more on levels of the teaching and how they are taught.

14. Whilst all phenomenal arisings are ultimately illusory, as long as the body mind and world appears, ‘you’ (ego) will think yourself to be a person (a body-mind entity, ie. a jiva) living in a world of people places and things (the world or jagat in Sanskrit). This world is governed by apparent rules and forces which can be personified as a ruler deity (Isvara, which means ruler or Lord). These three, jiva, jagat and isvara, are all illusory.

15. As long as the body mind and world appear, we will consider ourselves to be a jiva (person) living in a jagat (world), we will suffer accordingly, as these appearances are downstream from the root ignorance. Whilst this is the case, there is a clear method, often called Self-Enquiry, also known as the Path of Knowledge, that can be followed to attain liberation – this involves effort and application of the mind (as explained in the video above at point 12). Note that this means it is therefore not possible for appearances to arise and be experienced and simultaneously not indentify as a person/jiva or identify with what is arising. It is not possible for objects to arise in our consciousness and for ignorance to not be fully present. This is explained further in this video here:

16. The self only has to be realised once, and can only be realised once, and then that is the end of the spiritual journey. Then illusion and ignorance ends once and for all. Then all duality and suffering end once and for all, duality being another term for the arising of phenomena. There is no possibility of sadhana after realisation or integration after realisation, for there is no action or entities that exist after realisation. There is also no possibility of falling back into duality again – if that occurs, then it means the self was never truly realised to being with. The self can only be ‘experienced’ once, it can only be ‘abided’ in once, it can only be ‘known’ once (it cannot be truly experienced or known or abided in as it is not an object or container and no words truly apply, all words just being metaphors or pedagogical devices), and then the entire house of cards that is duality and maya and ignorance ends.

Expositions that advise repeated abidance or resting in the Self are just teaching devices to encourage repeated efforts in sadhana, for if we ‘rest’ in the Self just once, then Self is known in its entirely, that is all that is needed. Then there will be no question, no doubts, nor will there be possibility of questions or doubts. Whilst there can be degrees of ignorance and delusion, there are no degrees of liberation or self-knolwedge, which is one. Similarly ideas of different forms of liberation such as jivanmukti (liberation in the body whilst alive) and videhamukti (liberation after the body has died) are ultimately false view given as lower teachings for those requiring explanations on the level of ignorance – this is explained in Sri Ramana Maharshi’s answer to Question 40 in the text Self-Enquiry.

17. The idea that the sage is a person living in the world is only from the view of the ignorant ‘onlooker’ who considers themselves to be a peron, and so projects their own jivahood onto that of the ‘sage’. What we call the body-mind of a sage is in fact a projection of our own self/ignorance. The true Jnani is the self, devoid of thoughts or arisings. See here for more on this teaching. Ideas such as the ego of a Jnani being like a burnt rope or some kinds of karma persisting in liberation are lower teachings, as Sri Ramana Maharshi has explained here.

Relatively speaking, this also means that we are unable to tell who a True Jnani or Sat Guru is by outward signs such as the behaviour of their body-mind; the apparent Jnani can appear and manifest to us in a multitude of ways, according to what suits our own needs and our own ideas.

18. The parts of Maya (the appearance or waking dream) that lead us towards bhakti and self-enquiry and therefore self-realisation or liberation are called the teaching and the teacher. The teaching and the apparent teacher are themselves projections of ego, manifested by our desire for liberation, hence when the student is ready the teacher will appear. See here for more on this teaching.

19. Just as there is in truth only One Self, there is actually (if we concede to the existance of ignorance, which is truly non-existent, like the snake in the rope – see the quotes below for more on this) only one ignorance or one ego. There is only one jiva, just like in a dream. This is called Ek Jiva Vada (the doctrine of one jiva) – see here for more. Similarly, just as there is One Self and one ignorance, there is only One Teacher in truth (and you are That).

20. Note that whilst it is often said that it is the Self that witnesses or perceives the world, the Self, as we will see from the quotes below, is not a perceiver or a witness at all. To be technically correct, it is the ego or mind that sees the world. The self never sees any objects or any things, these objects and things being duality, and the self never admits of any duality or ignorance or multiplicity whatsoever. The self cannot see, hear, feel, think, etc, these all being unreal effects of ignorance only. Even to say the Self knows itself is mere poetic sentiment – the most we can say about the Self is that it IS.

Much of this teaching is given in the book Sadhanai Saram by Sri Sadhu Om, which bears repeated reading and study for those who need it, as well as in the book The Path of Sri Ramana which also explains much of the above but in less detail and can be found on the same link as Sadhanai Saram above.

This teaching is also given in Ribhu Gita, Yoga Vasista and many other places too – please click on the links for texts which concicely summarise these teachings in a wonderful way. See the recommended reading list for more.

Also see: Does the Sage (Jnani) see the world? Does the world appearance exist after liberation?

Now, in the following multitude of quotes we will concentrate on the nature of the world, and how the Jnani doesn’t see the body mind or world because they are all non-existant in truth, as explained by Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Shankara, Sri Gaudapada (the Guru of Shankara’s Guru) and Sri Suresvara (Shankara’s student).

See here for the rest of this article which provides extensive quotes from Shankara, Gaudapada, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita to give scriptural backing to the 20 points above.

May you attain liberation!

May you make contact with the Grace of God!

May you be lovingly ferried to the shore of liberation, which is just your own Self!

May your mind be turned inwards and thereby find Peace!

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: in self-realisation there is no perception of a body, mind or world | Ajata | Advaita Vedanta | Maya and illusion

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

The following quotes are all from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (NM), taken from the book ‘I Am That’ by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

NM gave many different teachings, depending on the level of the seeker and the context. The ego-mind often clings to the lower teachings for safety and security – here only the higher teachings are included, so please only read the following if you have a deep and sincere interest in liberation.

If you read carefully, you will see the following themes stated and expounded by NM:

  1. The self-realised jnani has no consciousness of having a body.
  2. The self-realised jnani has no consciousness of a world or phenomena arising.
  3. The apparent consciousness of the world is only due to ignorance, also known as the ‘I thought’ or the ‘I am the body sense’. This ignorance is also known as ‘imagination’, ‘illusion’, ‘ego’ or ‘the mind’.
  4. Ignorance of what you truly are projects the (false) appearance of a world, which includes the appearance of the body-mind and world. These do not appear to a jnani.
  5. All conversation, teachings, words and thoughts are in illusion only, as are all teachers. Similarly, birth and death only (appear to) exist for the ignorant.

These are of course the Ajata teachings, and you can read about them here in this article and also in the introductory articles on the tomdas.com homepage.

Some may say that this notion of liberation is not appealing at all (for the ego-mind), but of course it is actually everything you are looking for and more. It is the treasure found within, this is the ‘kingdom of God’ within us. Anything less and the seeking, the doubts and the sense of ego will not end, and so suffering and duality will continue; hence the value of these teachings in reminding us to continue to go further with our sadhana until all objective phenomena have dissolved rather than stop prematurely.

Many of these quotes below are also found in the wonderful book The Seven Steps to Awakening, one of the best books ever written on self-realisation and liberation. This book goes much further than this article and clearly describes other aspects of the teaching including the method by which self-realisation can be attained.

Here are the quotes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:

The body and mind are only symptoms of ignorance, of misapprehension.

——-

He who knows the state in which there is neither the world nor the thought of it, he is the Supreme Teacher.

——-

What do you know of me, when even my talk with you is in your world only?

——-

NM: The body appears in your mind; in my mind nothing is.
Q: Do you mean to say you are quite unconscious of having a body?
NM: On the contrary, I am conscious of not having a body.
Q: I see you smoking!
NM: Exactly so. You see me smoking. Find out for yourself how did you come to see me smoking, and you will easily realize that it is your ‘I am the body’ state of mind that is responsible for this ‘I see you smoking’ idea.

——-

Nothing dies. The body is just imagined. There is no such thing.

——-

In my world nothing happens

——-

Without imagination there is no world.

——-

If you seek real happiness, unassailable and unchangeable, you must leave the world with its pains and pleasures behind you.

——-

You are neither the body nor in the body – there is no such thing as body

——-

NM: My world is real, while yours is made of dreams
Q: Yet we are talking.
NM: The talk is in your world. In mine – there is eternal silence. My silence sings, my emptiness is full, I lack nothing. You cannot know my world until you are there.

——-

It is not at all as you imagine and I am not bound by your imaginings.

——-

Q. If all that passes has no being, then the universe has no being either
NM: Who ever denies it? Of course the universe has no being.

——-

In reality, nothing ever happens.

——-

No doubt imagination is richly creative. Universe within universe are built on it. Yet they are all in space and time, past and future, which just do not exist.

——-

In pure consciousness nothing ever happens

——-

The moment you allow your imagination to spin, it at once spins out a universe.

——-

There is no body, nor a world to contain it; there is only a mental condition, a dreamlike state, easy to dispel by questioning its reality.

——-

All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me.

——-

To take appearance for reality is a grievous sin and the cause of all calamities

——-

It is by your consent that the world exists. Withdraw your belief in its reality and it will dissolve like a dream.

——-

What is real is nameless and formless.

——-

Do understand that what you think to be the world is your own mind

——-

I take my stand where no difference exists, where things are not, nor the minds that create them. There I am at home.

——-

All thinking is in duality. In identity [Tom: ie. self realisation] no thought surives

——-

Now go within, into a state in which you may compare to a state of waking sleep, in which you are aware of yourself, but not of the world. In that state you will know, without the least trace of doubt, that at the root of your being you are free and happy.

——-

To know yourself, turn your attention away from the world and turn it within.

——-

The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.

——-

To see what Sri Ramana Maharshi thought of the same Ajata teachings please see this article here.

This article here also goes into what Shankara wrote on these Ajata teachings.

Why is man born, only to die? Why does God create, only to destroy? | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Q.: Why is man born, only to die? Why does God create, only to destroy? Is it not absurd? If one is going to die one day, why is he born? If everything is going to be destroyed one day, why create anything?

B.: All creation is mental hallucination or delusion. In Reality there is no creator and no creation.

Q.: I desire to know the reason for the existence of the world I see around me.

B.: The apparent perceiver is the reason for the apparent perceptions.

Q.: I do not understand.

B.: Perceiver perceived and perception are all completely fictitious.

Q.: For Bhagavan it might be so. I see a solid world around me. I desire an explanation for it.

B.: What of your own apparent existence in the form of this perishable body?

Do you desire no explanation for that?

Q.: Yes, that too.

B.: Any number of theoritical explanations may be given to satisfy the craving of the intellect for the time being; but there will be no permanency in your satisfaction. Soon new doubts will arise and your old intellectual standpoint or belief will collapse. Then you will set about searching for a new explanation.

This goes on happening until the mind becomes disgusted with temporal life as a whole; then, it plunges into the Heart and loses itself there – that is the final dawn of wisdom.

Q.: So, the world is something that appears to exist only because I am engaged or involved in perceiving?

B.: Quite so.

Q.: So, now, if I close my eyes for two minutes, during those two minutes do Bhagavan, the sofa he is sitting on, this Hall and Tiruvannamalai, all totally disappear or vanish into thin air? [closes his eyes seriously for sometime] There, now, was Bhagavan not there in this Hall, were the other people in this Hall not present, even whilst my eyes remained closed? If I ask anyone, ‘Excuse me, did you exist whilst my eyes were closed, or not?’ will they not think I have gone mad?

What is the explanation?

B.: You are confusing implicit existence with implied existence. No doubt corroboration is available from the ‘others’ seated in this Hall including Bhagavan, but naturally in a dream everything is in spontaneous synchronisation. It is [your] one mind that has become all this. So, naturally confirmation is available. What is the surprise in it? You think you are taking corroboration from others, and therefore asking this question. The one whom you are asking is [also] your own mind only. Of course he would corroborate.

The idea that things exist, and then you perceive them, is implied exixstence.

It derives its strength from the principle of intellection, which in turn from the buddhi [faculty of reasoning], which in turn from the mind. Implicit existence is swayam-pratyaksham. It shines by its own light, not by any borrowed light.

Therefore it is the one thing Real.

Q.: Will sriramanamasmaranam [Tom: repetition of the Holy Lord’s name ‘Sri Rama’] help me Realise?

B.: If and only if it be accompanied by intense devotion. The devotion must be so intense that even the thought ‘I am engaging in sriramanamasmaranam’ must not find it possible to arise

The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 20th July 1936, see here for more information on this text.

If told ‘Everything is an illusion’ people may find it disturbing | The analogy of ‘toxic gas’ | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Gajapathi Aiyyer: If told, ‘Everything is an illusion’, people may find it disturbing…

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: Thus they are told, ‘Find your Self’ or ‘Gnothi seauton’ [Tom: Greek for ‘Know thyself’], leaving them to make the discovery themselves that there is no world to see, but only the Self. Actually saying ‘Everything is an illusion’ or ‘There is no anything’ is more meaningful.

Strictly speaking, ‘Know thyself’ is absurd. The Self has nothing to know. It cannot be known by anything. People may say, ‘Bhagavan teaches that the Self is Self-aware, or that the Self knows Itself.’ It is not correct. Knowledge implies vritti [Tom: thoughts]. There are no vrittis in the Self. It is Purity Itself. The Self does not need to know Itself, because it is Knowledge Itself.

It cannot know Itself or anything else, because it is in Motionless Timeless Realisation of Actionless Reality, which is Itself; therefore it is Nescience Itself [Tom: here Bhagavan is saying the Self is actually Nescience or Ignorance, as it knows nothing, which is the literal meaning of nescience or ignorance].

Yet the Self transcends Knowledge and Nescience. Nothing can know the Self, because there is nothing besides it; therefore there is no such thing as not-Self. That day on which man awakens into Living Realisation of the fact that knowledge of the not-Self or nescience of the Self is impossible is the day on which he awakens into his true imperishable nature of Immortality. This teaching alone is verily the nectarous ambrosia which rouses man from the sleep of his illusory mortality.

Chadwick was swimming in tears by the time Bhagavan had finished enunciating these words.

G.: While the teaching sounds simple, practising the state of effortless-and-volitionless-thoughtlessness does not seem to be so easy…

B.: The biggest tragedy is that people, instead of giving up everything, think that by doing some practise they are going to go somewhere or attain something. If everything is thrown away, only Jnana remains. Supposing you want to make space inside a room – how do you go about it? Hurl away the useless objects taking up space in the room – as simple as that. There is no question of importing space from elsewhere. If all ideas or vrittis [mental modifications or conceptualisations] are thrown away or given up, only the Self remains.

If you are able to realise the truth that what you are giving up is indubitably more obnoxious than the egesta in your intestines and what you gain is indubitably worthier than your life in this ephemeral body, you will be able to give up everything in your mind one, neat, simple stroke; to such a one Jnana comes in a trice; then what awaits is only the Kingdom of Heaven from which there is no return possible.

Chadwick: We are unable to develop the conviction that the world is worthless or mirage-like – that is the problem.

B.: There is no need for any [new] convictions to be cultivated. Give up even your existing convictions.

C.: The conviction that the world is unreal can be used to combat the conviction that the world is real.

B.: [laughing] Oh! Is that so? Have you heard the story of the monkey that kept chasing its own tail?

C.: No.

B.: You would not have, and you cannot. Why? Because the story is yet to conclude. The monkey started at the beginning of Krita-yugam. Still he is going on.

C.: He must be a very energetic monkey. Bhagavan must have fed him peanuts with his own hands… [All 3 of us laugh.]

G.: What is the analogy?

B.: That will be the perverse fate of one who endeavours to counteract concepts with concepts. The fetid odour of concept-gas can be eliminated only by diverting the gas away from the mind-room. Instead, some want to release into their own originally odour-free, pristine and blemishless mental environment more and more poisonous, odious concept-gases, thinking, ‘Aa haa! This concept-gas will fight [all] the previous one[s]!’. If this should keep on happening, as it does indeed in the case of many unfortunate beings on this Earth, what will the result be? [laughs] Will not everyone suffocate unto death? What has caused the absurd mentality which prompts man to go on releasing one mephitic concept-gas after another? HE HAS FORGOTTEN THE BLISS OF HIS ORIGINAL ODOUR-FREE ENVIRONMENT.

He thinks being surrounded with the miasmic fumes of his own concept-gas is his natural state. When it has all become patently and obviously unmanageable, he goes to a charlatan, who says unto him:

[Tom: in all the following examples Bhagavan is referring to thoughts and concepts as being like toxic gas, and various false teachers as handing out these toxic-gas concepts]

‘Sir! Be certain that your anxities end with today. What I have with me is the most precious concept-gas in the world, released by the Self-Realised Sages of the Himalayas. Here I have captured it in this areca nut-coloured bottle. You are indeed fortunate that you have met with me today, sir, have not the least doubt about it. Forthwith take this invaluable gas into your room and release the same. Then you will come back and thank me till your mouth aches.’

Delighted, the man rushes back into his noisome room and with tremendous eagerness does as told. What is the result? He ends up burning his nostrils. He thinks his delicate nostrils are to blame and thus harbours no ambition to pick any quarrel with the charlatan.

What does he do next? Go to another charlatan. This time the gas has been released by the Sages of the Vidhya Hills. And then another – perhaps this time the Podhigai Hills. And so on and so forth. Finally he decides these foreign gases are only making his room more olid, and, abjectly resigning himself to his miserable fate of having to put up with his putrid mental environment, gives up hunting after newer and newer exotic nocuous concept-gases to release.

Then a friend of him chances to meet him and asks why he should look so despondent, whereupon the man confesses unto him his malodorous problem. ‘Oh! Is this all?’, says the other, ‘Don’t worry. I know just the thing to set you aright. In the Arunachala Hill there is one koupeenadhâri-swami; he-‘.

[Tom: koupeenadhâri means one who wears a kaupina or loin cloth]

The next moment the vexed man catches hold of his friend by the scruff of the neck and shouts wrathfully into the alarmed man’s face, ‘I shall have no more of it, I tell you. It is all a grand fraud; I realised the fact just some time prior. ALL GAS STINKS’.

‘Pray, do not enrage yourself, my good man.’, says the calm friend, shaking himself free from the first man’s irate grip, ‘This swami will neither demand any money from you nor will he give you any gas to release.’

‘Then what is he a swami for?’ ‘He never announced himself as a swami. People understand him to be this or that depending upon their individual tempraments of mind. I am sure you will benefit by visiting him…’ The man reluctantly makes the trip, telling himself, ‘At any rate I don’t have anything to fear from possibility of disappointment, since this time I have no expectations. What is probably going to happen is this: he will try to sell me a bottle of his gas, and I shall refuse to buy it and come away peacefully, after telling him, “Thank you very much for the kind offer, sir, but you see, my nostrils have been assaulted with enough gas for this one lifetime.”. If he tries to persuade me [into making a purchase] I shall slap him and run away from the place.’.

When he puts his difficulty before the koupeenadhâri-swami, he expects to as usual be handed with a bottle of concept-gas and demanded money, but the swami, being no gas-releaser, merely decorously says, ‘Open the windows’. The man is stunned. Can it really be that simple?, he wonders. For a time the man is reluctant to give up the rancid odours to which he has been for a long time now acclimatised. Then he begins to yearn for the odour-free state. Finally he abandons altogether his penchant for concept-gases and throws the windows open as per the advice of the koupeenadhâri-swami of Arunachala Hill. Then sweet, fresh air, which he has not experienced in [his] living memory, bursts into the room and he dances for ecstatic joy. He remembers all his various exploits with the different charlatans he had encountered and enjoys a hearty laugh at his own expense…

Chadwick is unable to contain himself. He has already collapsed against the wall of the Hall in laughter at hearing Bhagavan’s ‘gas-analogy’. His paroxysmic convulsions, which are yet to abate, are now observed with a curious eye by early inmates and visitors trickling into the Hall. ‘Shoo! Shoo!’ says Bhagavan, smiling and putting a finger to his lips. Chadwick – with difficulty – manages to straighten himself up. He wipes away the tears trickling down his cheeks and tries to look serious.

G.: Concept-gas stands for vrittis, the bottles stand for instructions on sadhana, releasing them in one’s room means trying to practise any mental activity as sadhana, and opening the windows is summa iruththal [Tom: ‘Be still’ or ‘just be’]. Am I correct?

C.: Hey, boy! Isn’t it obvious?

G.: I still want to make sure. So I am corroborating my understanding with Bhagawan. What does Bhagavan say?

B.: Yes. Also, the reluctance to abandon one’s age-old mental predilections is exclusively the handiwork of – But at that moment the brahmins enter the Hall. It is time for the chanting of the vedas. For now the conversation is at an end.

The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 14th August 1936, see here for more information on this text.

You also are a Jnani; only, you think otherwise! | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

Questioner: For Jnanis it is different; what of the common man?

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: You also are a Jnani; only, you think otherwise!

Q.: How could that be?

B.: The option of turning inwards and quietly allowing the mind to plunge and dissolve in the Self is equally available for all. It is not the fiefdom of a select few. All are verily only the Self.

Q.: That does not satisfy me. I am unable to Realise it for myself.

B.: So long as worldly attachments are present the mind cannot be succesfully turned inwards.

Q.: How to eliminate worldly attchment?

B.: By turning the mind inwards.

Q.: Really!

B.: The more you hold on to the Self or retain the mind in its native state of subjective-awareness-sustained-effortlessly-and-volitionlessly, the more the mental tendancies and worldly attachments wither off; the lesser the mental tendancies and worldly attachments, the easier does become retention of the mind in its native state of subjective-awareness-sustained-effortlessly-andvolitionlessly.

Q.: Which comes first?

B.: The sadhaka [Tom: seeker] recognises and reflects upon the ephemeral nature of the objective world and the transient nature of his own body. He gets fed up with material pleasures, because they eventually lead only to sorrow, when their enjoyment becomes, for any reason, impossible. He asks himself if a more permanent experience of life might not be possible.

Then he discovers the Ajata-advaita doctrine. Initially he is not convinced, and argues that if it were a dream there would be no possibility of corroboration, but that here his relatives and friends are able to confirm the evidence provided by his senses; he also asks why the same dream should be repeated everyday, were it all only a dream – according to him, here he sees the same sun, moon and earth everyday, whereas in his dreams he finds himself in new worlds moment to moment.

Eventually it dawns upon him that everything he thinks he knows, including an understanding of the apparent permanency of the world he believes himself to live in, is only thought or imagination. Then at the intellectual level he understands the truth – that the names and forms constituting the world are fictitious. This sparks a search for the substratum said to be underlying them, which alone is said to be Real by the wise.

He hears the teaching that the source of the mind, Beingness, is the gateway to the Real Self. Then he begins the practice of quietening the mind by vichara or any other method, tackling various distractions as and when they arise, by withdrawing attention from them and fixing it on Beingness or the Self. The beginning is only becoming fed-up with the evanescent nature of the world and the fugacious attractions it has to offer.

Q.: The boubts Bhagavan mentioned – they are my doubts also. Why is everyone witnessing the same dream? The sun, moon, etc. are seen by all.

B.: In turn those “all” are seen by you only. In deep slumber when there is no mind, nothing is available to be seen, but your existence is a constant.

Q.: Why do I dream the same dream everyday? For instance yesterday I came to the ashram and had darshan of Bhagawan; he was sitting on the same sofa in exactly the same manner. Today I am seeing Bhagawan and tomorrow also it is going to be the same Bhagawan.

B.: The future is a mere mental projection. The past is a mere memory. Have you not had dreams where the places you visit look extremely familiar?

Q.: At least is the present real?

B.: Anything seen cannot be Real. What is seen is not Pratyaksha. It is not self-evident, because there is a subject-object relationship involved. It is merely sensory information that is fed into the mind by the strength of its own evil faculty of avidya maya. That alone is Real which shines by its own light.
You are asking about the objects of the world. Can such objects exist without a YOU, a perceiver? When there is no perceiver, as in swoon or deep slumber, is there anything to be perceived? No. What is the inference? The objects owe the appearance of their apparent existence to you only. They are merely mental creations. The appearance of this enormous cosmos around you is merely a mental information. The mind is fiction. Therefore the ‘objects’ manufactured by it are also fictitious. Have not the least doubt about it.

Q.: If everything is unreal, can we conclude that bondage and liberation are also unreal?

B.: Yes.

Q.: Then why should I try to obtain Liberation? Let me remain as I am.

B.: Exactly!

Q.: I do not understand.

B.: Remaining as you are is the loftiest Sadhana.

Q.: How can remaining in ignorance be sadhana?

B.: You think that you are in ignorance. When you do not think at all, what remains is only wisdom. Removal of the screen of thought is all that is required for Reality to be revealed. Since you want a sadhana by means of which you may reach this thought-free state, vichara is suggested. Actually there is no need for any sadhana for one who has mastered the art of remaining as he is – the art of Being. That is the import of the advice Summa Iru. People generally misunderstand it. It does not mean keeping the body idle. It means keeping the mind still or free from thought. Remain perpetually absorbed in the thought-free I-Current. This will automatically lead you to the Sahaja-stithi [Tom: the natural state] without requirement for further effort.

Q.: Is even desire for Liberation an obstacle to Liberation?

B.: Yes.

The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 17th July 1936, see here for more information on this text.

AJATA: Ramana Maharshi, Shankara and Upanishads | Does ego becomes like a burnt rope? Prarabdha karma destiny and self-knowledge

~ Tom Das ~ 7 Comments

This post is only for those who are deeply interested in liberation, and it was originally posted here on Facebook

There is a teaching that says that after liberation, the liberated sage’s ego becomes dead, like a burnt rope, in that it continues to exist in superficial appearance, in name and form, but doesn’t actually have any robust structure or power.

Similarly, the same teaching says that the liberated sage’s body & mind continues after liberation, but there is no longer any individual will at play, and it is just the destiny of the body mind (known as prarabdha karma in Sanskrit) that plays out. An analogy is given of how a fan continues to rotate even when the power has been turned off, the idea being that in a similar way the sage’s body continues to act in the world according to its pre-existing energy and destiny but without anybody’s individual will or ego being present any longer..

Sri Ramana often gave this teaching himself, but he also said this was a lower teaching for those who were unable to accept the higher teachings. In his writings, and to his closest devotees, he often explained that in truth, in liberation there is no karma (action or activity) whatsoever, and there is no body or mind or world for the Jnani. It only appears this way due to the ignorant view of the ignorant onlooker.

33. The statement that the jnani retains prarabdha while free from sanchita and agami is only a formal answer to the questions of the ignorant. Of several wives none escapes widowhood when the husband dies; even so, when the doer goes, all three karmas vanish.
~ Supplement to the 40 verses on reality, written by Sri Ramana Maharshi

and

The Self-Realised Sage knows not whether the transient body comes and stays, or dies and leaves, even as a senseless drunkard knows not what happens to his clothes.
~ Guru Vachaka Kovai, Sri Bhagavan 24 (a verse written by Sri Ramana Maharshi)

AJATA

This teaching is known as Ajata, which is the teaching that the appearance of the body mind and world only appear due to ignorance or ego, and that the world, including the body and mind, never really appeared or existed in the first place. Ignorance never really came about at all. Duality, meaning the appearance of any rising phenomena whatsoever, never actually occurred.

SHANKARA & UPANISHADS

This is why the scriptures describe the truth, the true self, as being homogeneous, without multiplicity or variety, devoid of appearances, objects, forms and imagination. The scriptures say in Brahman there are no hands or feet or eyes or ears or thoughts, etc etc, and this is the meaning of those verses, as Shankara has also explained in his commentaries.

eg. Shankara writes the following:

‘Because I am without an eye*, I have no sight. As I have no ear either*, how could I have hearing? As I have no voice I can have no speech. As I have no mind, how could I have thought? There cannot be action on the part of that which does not have life force (prana). There cannot be knowership on the part of that which has no mind. Neither can there be knowledge or ignorance on the part of me who am the Light of Pure Consciousness
~Sri Shankara, Upadesa Sahasri 13.1, 13.2

*Shankara is quoting from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.8.8

BUT HOW CAN THERE BE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF A NON-DUAL TEACHING?

Here is how Lakshmana Sarma (LS), a direct devotee of Sri Ramana’s, describes this in Maha Yoga pages 59-60; here LS speaks of 2 levels of the teaching, the higher (true) and lower (ultimately untrue); note that LS uses the English word ‘revelation’ to refer to Shruti (the revealed scriptures consisting primarily of the Vedas and Upanishads):

‘The ancient lore is twofold. One part of it is addressed to those who are not conscious of being in ignorance, and therefore have no use for a teaching intended to dispel that ignorance. The other part of the ancient lore is addressed to those that are conscious of the ignorance and are in earnest to escape from it. These two parts are quite distinct. But this feature of the ancient Revelation is not known to these believers. Besides they are offended by the inevitable corollary that theirs is a lower position; they also feel it a grievance that the world, which they believe to be real, should be dismissed as unreal, and often want to quarrel with us who are followers of the Sages; we however have no quarrel with them, as the Sages have pointed out, because we realise that for them it is all right to believe as they do, and, so believing, to make the best of the world while it lasts. They are like dreamers who are persuaded that their dreams are real, and do not want to awake. We have begun to see that this worldly life is only a dream, because the Sages tell us so; and we want to awake.’

See this post below for more on this topic – I share more quotes from Sri Ramana and Sri Shankara which further explains the above in more detail:

Does the liberated Jnani or Sage see the body, the mind, the world or the 3 states of deep sleep, waking and dream according to Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Adi Shankara?

Ramana Maharshi on people ‘Mutilating’ the Truth | The 2 levels of non-dual teachings | Advaita Vedanta

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

(SEE PENULTIMATE PARAGRAPH FOR THE ‘MUTILATING TRUTH’ PART)

One devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s, a certain Lakshmana Sarma (LS), was unhappy about how Sri Ramana’s teachings had been misrepresented – even by other devotees – so after consulting with Sri Ramana Maharshi he wrote several texts aimed at correcting these distorting teachings.

Lakshmana Sarma, who was with Sri Ramana for over 20 years, was uniquely qualified to comment on Sri Ramana’s teachings as he was one of only 2 people who received personal 1 to 1 tuition from Sri Ramana on the deeper meaning of Sri Ramana’s teachings which went on for several years. He was also a Vedic and Sanskrit scholar, having studied the Upanishads and Shankara’s vast works as well as many other works too. Many of his books were published during Sri Ramana’s lifetime and were recommended by Sri Ramana himself. Ramana Maharshi said that LS’s commentary on Ramana’s work ’40 verses on reality’ was the best one availabile. Being fluent in English, LS translated his books himself into English so we can be sure the English translations are accurate.

In LS’s book entitled ‘Maha Yoga‘, he explains Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings in the context of the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta; and he also gives Sri Ramana’s view on how the Sage sees the world.

In Maha Yoga LS explains there are 2 levels of the teaching, the higher (true) teachings for those who can accept there the world is not real and lower (ultimately untrue) teachings for those who cannot. Note that LS uses the English word ‘revelation’ to refer to Shruti (the revealed scriptures consisting primarily of the Vedas and Upanishads). Here is Maha yoga pages 59-60:

‘The ancient lore is twofold. One part of it is addressed to those who are not conscious of being in ignorance, and therefore have no use for a teaching intended to dispel that ignorance. The other part of the ancient lore is addressed to those that are conscious of the ignorance and are in earnest to escape from it. These two parts are quite distinct. But this feature of the ancient Revelation is not known to these believers. Besides they are offended by the inevitable corollary that theirs is a lower position; they also feel it a grievance that the world, which they believe to be real, should be dismissed as unreal, and often want to quarrel with us who are followers of the Sages; we however have no quarrel with them, as the Sages have pointed out, because we realise that for them it is all right to believe as they do, and, so believing, to make the best of the world while it lasts. They are like dreamers who are persuaded that their dreams are real, and do not want to awake.’

LS testifies about how he often saw Bhagavan Sri Ramana ‘water down’ the teachings to suit those who were unwilling or unable to hear the true teachings. Even many devotees of Sri Ramana were often not able to accept the higher teachings. See here in Maha Yoga pages 160-161:

‘Even among the Sage’s disciples, there are some who cannot understand the answer [that the world is not real and has never even actually appeared]; but that is so because they are believers in a fascinating, but complicated creed, in which the chief tenet is that the world is real as such; it is therefore quite natural that they should refuse to understand the Sage’s teachings, of which the essential part is that the world is not real as such. They are dualists in fact, and as such violent haters of Advaitic teaching.

‘In this connection we may take note of the tenderness the Sage shows for the weaknesses of believers. The Sage observes the rule enunciated in the Gita (3.26) that no one’s faith should be disturbed. Therefore when ardent dualists are present, the Sage is very careful in what he says. He does not, while they are present, give out clear Advaitic teaching. But as soon as the dualists go out, he turns round to the Advaitis that remain, and apologetically explains to them that he had to water down the teaching to suit the dualists.’

This is important to note, as Sri Ramana’s closest devotees were all in agreement about this point, that Sri Ramana’s highest teaching to those who knew him best was Ajata Vada (see here for more on this) and that the body-mind-world does not even appear to a Jnani, not even as an appearance. Lower teachings stating that the world still remained were often given out to those who were not willing or able to receive these higher teachings.

In the Bhagavad Gita verse 3.26, referred to above by LS, Lord Krishna recommends that we do not disturb the minds of the ignorant who are attached to a life of doing and action (karma) and who are not yet ready to hear the higher teaching:

3.26 Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action, they should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion

LS continues:

‘He thus treats the latter as immature ones, and the Advaitis as adults who can understand that allowances have to be made to the immature. But he leaves us in no doubt at all, that the Advaitic teaching is the highest there can be.

‘On many occasions the Sage has clearly testified to this. One such occasion was this. Somebody had written in a book, that the Truth would be whole only if the world be real as such – with all its variety – not else. When this writer was reading this, the Sage [Sri Ramana Maharshi] exclaimed: ‘As if the Truth would be mutilated otherwise.’’

How many times have we heard the (false) teaching that true non-duality would and must include the world! Here above Sri Ramana is clearly refuting this.

🙏🙏🙏

For those attached to the world, the world is considered to be a divine manifestation. For the advanced seeker, the world is considered to be an illusion | Advaita Vedanta | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Ajata Vada

~ Tom Das ~ 3 Comments

For those seekers who are attached to the world, the world is considered to be a divine manifestation. For the more advanced seeker, the world is considered to be an illusion. Many teachers teach this the wrong way around – this, of course, is itself due to their attachment to the world, ie. this wrong teaching is due to ignorance.

This is why Sri Ramana says, right at the start in the beginning few verses of The Garland of Gurus Sayings (Guru Vachaka Kovai), in verse 21:

21. For those who take the world appearance as real and enjoy it, it is the Lord’s creation. But for those who, free from fear, have known the Truth, the undeluded Self, it is no more than a mere mental image projected by desire.

For those who are fearful of the world, Sri Ramana gives the following even more radical advice in the same text, verse 28:

28. Ye who in fear shrink from the world, know that the place has no existence. Fear of this phenomenal world is like being frightened by a rope mistaken by you for a snake.

In verse 35 he uses the same analogy as Gaudapada (in his commentary on Mandukya Upanishad, Mandukya Karika), of a glowing flame whirled in a circle:

35. The empirical world of jostling names and forms is false and has no real existence in bright, full Awareness. Like a ring of fire formed in the dark when one whirls fast a glowing joss-stick, ’tis an illusion, mind-created.

The idea here is that in the dark (ie. in ignorance), a whirling flame appears as a world (that is a body, a mind and a world), but in the light (ie. in self-knowledge or self-realisation, also known as liberation), it is not seen at all.

Sri Ramana explains this in page 193 of Day by Day with Bhagavan when he states:

‘In reality, saying ‘We must see Brahman in everything and everywhere’ is also not quite correct. Only that state is final, where there is no seeing, where there is no time or space. There will be no seer, seeing and an object to see. What exists then is only the infinite eye.’

Similarly, Sri Ramana says in Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 87:

‘…just as the snake is, on scrutiny, found to be ever non-existent, so is the world found to be ever non-existent, even as an appearance‘

And in Guru Ramana Vachana Mala, verse 21, Sri Ramana gives us the Ajata teaching, that no-thing ever really came into existence at all:

‘There is no mind, nor body, nor world, nor anyone called a soul; the One pure Reality alone exists, without a second, unborn and unchanging, abiding in utter Peace’

For more on this teaching see here and here

Namaste