Atma Vidya Q n A

What is the message of vedanta?

Vedanta conveys that "brahma satyam, jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiya naparaH"

Brahman is the one reality, the experienced universe is mithya or 'subject to falsification', and the jiva or individual is none other than this brahman.

How can this knowledge be conveyed?

This knowledge is conveyed through the mahavakya, or great statement.

What is a mahavakya?

Any statement in the upanisad and related texts, where the acharyas from the parampara, equate jiva and ishvara is called a mahavakya

What is jiva in a mahavakya?

The jiva refers to the individual with a body mind self complex, who is born of karma

What is ishvara in a mahavakya?

Ishvara refers to the totality of all names and forms and the progenitor of this totality, is ishvara, from whom all the names and forms have come.

Ishvara is abhinna nimitta-upAdana kArana, which means ishvara is both the intellgent cause of the material universe, as well as the materials that make up this universe that we see. So the totality is ishvara, and the individual who is a part of the totality is a jiva.

How can a statement equate the individual and the total, and yet be considered a valid statement?

It is indeed possible to equate jiva and ishvara, by understanding the statement appropriately.

It is not possible to equate a small individual with a limited body - limited strength, limited mind - limited knowledge, as equal to ishvara who is all material, all strength to handle the material ( like krsna lifting govardhana with little finger), and all knowledge that governs and mantains the universe as an order.

An equation of jiva and ishvara is only possible by taking the lakshyartha or implied meaning rather than the direct meanings of jiva and isvara 

What is the lakshyartha or implied meaning of jiva?

It is only in the waking state the jiva says "I am this body". In the dream state, he has a dream body, and in sleep state he is just awareness or consciousness , aware of nothing in particular, and upon waking up says I slept well.

It is established that essentially the body is an incidental addition to who the jiva really is.

Through anvaya-vyatireka, it is seen that awareness or knowerness, i.e "sakshi chaitanyam" is the svarupa of a jiva, while personhood, dreamerhood etc. are incidental and time bound. On the other hand the very nature of jiva awareness, is ever the experiencer consciousness and never the experienced.

Such an awareness is hence not the same as what is "aware of", such as body, mind etc.

Only an object of awareness has attributes, names , forms, is time bound and location bound, as well as subject to arrival and departure.

Awareness on the other hand has no such features. Awareness is simply awareness or chit, and is self existent sat and limitless or anantam.
Hence atma is satchitananta.

Atma is self evident as I, not needing to be known like objects need to be. Self is the very truth of the knower. This is the lakshyartha or implied meaning.

What is the lakshyartha or implied meaning of ishvara ?

Only in the differentiated manifest form ishvara is said to have so many names and forms, materiality etc. The upanisad says that ishvara is brahman, that from which the universe evolved. In brahman, universe was in unmanifest and undifferentiated form. 

This brahman is said to be ishvara.

Even if we take implied meanings, ishvara is brahman from which universe manifests, while jiva is awareness or pure chit. How are both said to be one and same. Since in that case atma is the one that evolves into universe, whereas, we see atma as simply being unchanging awareness or consciousnes? If brahman has manifest into this universe like a seed has become a tree, then the seed is no more present as seed rather is a tree, whereas, atma is very much unchanging consciousness , hence how can atma be brahman that has become manifest?

Atma is indeed brahman, since the nature of manifestation is to be understood. Shastra says that the manifestation is kalpita, or mithya. It is not real . For eg: we say there are gold ornaments like chain bangle etc. however the gold has not undergone any change to become bangle or chain. Same way brahman has not undergone any change to become the manifest universe.

Thus the manifest universe itself is mithya, which means it has no reality of its own. It is just name and form with no reality of its own. The name and form are not intrinsic to brahman, rather they are superimposed on brahman. The genesis or janani of this manifest universe of names and forms is otherwise called maya which is the power of brahman to manifest.This maya sakti is falsified or subject to negation as mithya too.

What is this maya, and how is this subject to negation as mithya?

In the undifferentiated state, when the universe is in pralaya or unmanifest, this state is what we say is brahman with maya shakti. 

This brahman is self existent, and being nimmitta karana has to be  a conscious being as well.

When we say the satchitananta atma is brahman, we understand brahman to be none other than atma, which is unchanging, and which is self existent consciousness. The svarupa of brahman is satchitananta svarupa.

 The whole universe , manifest universe being kalpita or mithya, is having its reality in satyam atma, which is brahman. What makes brahman capable of manifesting the mithya universe from itself is its shakti which is maya, brahmin is called mayin or ishvara.This automatically means that the causal mayin brahman, is also mithya, kalpita alone. Thus the maya shakti powered brahman is the cause, and universe is the effect.The effect which is universe is mithya, and so is the cause which is brahman with maya. A mithya effect can has a mithya cause. The reality of the mithya cause-effect is satyam brahman which is but atma alone.The reality of brahman , is satyam atma, which is neither cause nor effect.

Thus maya is subject to negation , being mithya.

So are we saying that the jiva and ishvara duality is superimposed duality, is mithya, and the reality is one unchanging consciousness principle that is atma alone?

Yes, this is how the mahavakya is to be understood, it reveals the ekatma, which is pure consciousnes as the only reality. The jiva hood and ishvara hood are negated as mithya, and the reality is understood to be the one consciousness/awareness that is atma.