Q&A on brahman

1. Does the universe and the individual (subject and object) have real existence of their own?

No, both subject and object have only borrowed existence. Existence does not belong to either subject or to object. Object and subject both borrow existence from brahman and brahman is neither the subject , nor the object.

2. If brahman is neither subject nor object, then how come we say knowing brahman one crosses sorrow (attains to moksa)?

Knowing brahman , is said so, in the sense of knowing oneself to be brahman, and oneself is already self evident , and need not be known. So in that sense it is said brahman has to be understood, to be oneself. So oneself am this non subject non object brahman , who is the reality that lends reality to both subject as well as object.

3. Does brahman have to do any action to become jagat kAranam brahman?

Brahman is actionless or akarta, existence and consciousness are the svarupa of brahman. The kAranam status of brahman is only when looking at brahman as saguna brahman, with traigunya maya shakti. This maya power of brahman is non separate from brahman , and with this power alone brahman becomes jagat kAranam.
Here brahman being satyam adhistanam and maya sahita brahman being mithya, brahman need not undergo any change.  Hence brahman is known as vivarta kAranam, with the kAranam status being mithya.

4. Does the individual have to do any action to become this brahman?

Individual IS this actionless brahman. When individual says 'I am' so and so, the 'I am' is brahman alone. Not knowing that he is brahman, he identifies with body mind etc. and says 'I am' so and so.
With knowledge and viveka, individual has to separate this 'so and so' as the anatama, and claim oneself to be the 'I am' atma, of the nature of existence and consciousness, and as brahman that lends consciousness and existence to all that is.

5. The individual , the jagat and the ishvara, are all 3 mithya?

Yes individual person with body mind, the physical universe and bhagavan, all 3 are mithya and are manifestations of brahman.

I am brahman who is manifest as all the 3.

6. When I manifest, what part of me changes?

It is the maya part which undergoes change, while I remain as the changeless substratum.

7. By whose will does this maya part change?

By will of brahman alone manifestation happens of unmanifest universe.

8. Does that mean brahman has will and controls the maya part?

Yes with maya part brahman is also the controller and makes use of maya and is the srshti karta.
This is a mithya reality.

9. If this is a mithya reality, then where is the need to realise brahman?

There is no need to realise brahman, as there is only brahman and nothing else.

10. I am, when it is said, is brahman being talked about?
Yes it is a name used for brahman, a pronoun. Aham is the prounoun, idam is also a pronoun. 

Svarupa of atma

Atma is self shining, and self existent.

It shines and with its shine, the mind sees, with its shine the eyes see, with its shine the world is seen.

It is due to the shining nature of atma, that the mind and body gains ability to see, and the world becomes that which is seen.
"Shrotrasya Shrotram, Manaso Manah, Sou prAnasya PranaH."
"Jyotisham JyotiH"

Atma is self existent. It is due to self existent nature of atma, that all that is here, is able to exist, and enjoy existence.

The existence that all things enjoy is the gift of atma.

All the entities that are 'seen' do not enjoy any existence of their own. They receive existence from atma.

isvarah sarva-bhutanam

Question is how do they receive this existence. They receive this existence due to tadAtmaya sambhanda. There is not a real sambhanda, but a projected sambandha. Just like sambandha of snake with rope, even though snake does not exist, it gains an erroneous existence, borrowing its existence from the rope.

Same way the seen objects of the universe gain an existence due to error born association with atma.

The error is an effect of ignorance, like any error is, this is the causal ignorance, mula Avidya.

Ignorance itself exists begininglessly, having its existence itself in atma alone.

While atma is free from ignorance, it is not opposed to ignorance.

The jiva is a person with a body mind, he finds himself bound and in a universe , whose ruler is ishvara the supreme being who has all the wealth, power , control, and great qualities, keeping the universe, its manifestation , resolution and sustenance under his control.

The jiva is a helpless hapless being holding onto strings of hope and looking for means to achieve permanent peace security and happiness.

Permanent peace, security and happiness however is the nature of atma and not of the jiva.

The fact however is that the jiva is in reality the atma, and due to the same ignorance because of which, the 'seen' objects are both projected AND are erroneously attributed with existence causing a tAdAtmaya sambandha with atma, the jiva inspite of being atma, appears to consider himself as the body, which is just an adhyasa in its enterity and not an entity in itself.

Since atma has no relation with this ignorance which gains existence depending on atma, atma remains also unopposed to adhyasa. This opposition is only within the standpoint of ignorance the cause , as in reality atma is free from the cause also, but within the projections of ignorance we are are talking about relation of ignorance with atma, with whom it has a relationship of mithya sathyam, dependently real and absolutely real.

"vAcharambhanam vikaro nAmadheyam"

Now this ignorance depending on atma, is unoppossed by atma , here atma that is present is known as imminent consciousness, again from consciousnes stanpoint no such immanence is there.

For ignorance to be removed , which is what a jiva should seek, in order to gain amrtatvamam, there needs to be the light of knowledge.

Knowledge can remove ignorance. In this case it becomes knowledge of the adhistAna, such as rope knowledge removing snake knowledge.

The interesting fact in the case of the jiva however is that , there is no need for a new knowledge, such as knowledge of the rope.

When the jiva says I, the I itself is the atma, the adhistana, such as the rope. Atma being self evident, self shining, shines as I. This I, is not known as adhistAna though, due to ignorance.

This adhistAna atma, gains status of seer with respect to body mind, status of seen objects since it is the vivarta kArana adhistAnam of the seen objects, upAdana karanam ignorance  being cause and is also vivarta kArana adhistAnam for the upAdana karanA mula avidya. By itself it is neither the seer, nor the seen, nor the kAranam, it is free from all such statuses, even status of being an adhistAna.

However, the jiva does not know he is this ever free chaitanyam. Due to ignorance he confuses himself to be the adhyaropita , in this case the body mind, limited to a body mind.

So the knowledge he needs is that, he is not the limited projected borrowed existence haverer 'body mind' , rather he is the limitless, self existent, and self shining atman.

So then he becomes the atma (as though ) which he always anyways was is and will be timeless limitless.

So due to this knowledge the ignorance is removed,

In the light of this knowledge, the entire vedanta shastra is seen as within the ambit of an ignorance based projection( mithya).

Atma along with the causal ignorance , has the status of being a srshti sthithi laya kArana, known as ishvara.  We dont say parameshvara in the absolute sense, but in the mithya reality there is parameshvara for sure. The jiva himself has no means of knowledge to remove ignorance. Ishvara who is all knowledge, wielding the mula avidya as his power (the vikshepa shakti of avidya) , can provide the knowledge of the adhistana. He has provided in the form of shruti, as the means of knowledge, and expounded by the guru, he himself being the original guru dakshnimurti, who taught others and initiated the guru parampara. This anadi parampara is what has lord shankaracharya as the link, so hence we say

SadAshiva samArabham, shankarAcharya madhyamAm, asmadAcharya paryantAm,
Vande guru paramparAm.

Doubts

1. Should I avoid experiences after jnanam

This is a question because atma is thought to be as a state. Atma is self evident I, and is not a to be known entity with a name and form. That being so, there is no question of experiencing atma, as atma is the self, as well as every experience is the experience of atma.
This is because atma alone with name and form is available as
seer
seen
knower
known and so on.

But in reality atma is free from these names and forms.
Such is the reality of this atma.

Atma cannot and need not avoid itself or oneself.

2. If shastra says I am ishvara, does that mean I am sthithi laya karana?

Sthithi and laya is definitely controlled by ishvara and this ishvara is not other than atma oneself.
However these are not the reality of atma, rather are the mithya reality. So I can see this ishvaratvam is my form and in reality I am formless, non doer. I appear as the srshti itelf, as well as its srshti karana, sthithi and laya karanam.

3. Is atma the seer?

Certainly seer is atma, but atma is not the seer only, atma is in fact the seen as well as seer of the seen. Atma is manifest and is available as both seer and the seen that is seen by the seer. But atma has not undergone any change, thereby it is only an apparent manifestation, atma has not become anyone or anything.

4. Why is there a tendency to search for atma inside the seen?

This is due to the search for completeness. I want to be complete and whole, and am seeking that which would make me complete and whole. I seek due to non awareness of myself being the whole, being all that is. I think, how can I be all that is, I cant do a little thing even.
This is due to total identification with body mind. From atma jnanam it is clear that I am the whole, all that is here is me. The moment I say that, I am not on one side , to be able to find me on the other side. If I am only the seer, I can try to see me, but given seen is me and seer is me, where is it that I am not, or what is it that I am not , so that should really mean an end to any kind of searching.

5. If I am manifest as all this, does that include all the good and bad, so wont that make me impure?
Not it wont, as I transcend all this.

6. If I say transcend, how to know the transcendental self, as self wont be seer or seen?
There is no need to know self, as self is self evident as I.

7. Isnt the self evident nature of I, mithya or a status, due to the presence of the mind
The self shiningness is not an attribute of I, it is atma svarupa. However the thought I am, or I is, is certainly due to presence of mind alone.
In the presence of mind, mind shines with the thought I , and the witness of this I thought is sakshi chaitanyam, which is self shining, the I thought refers to this or points to this sakshi chaitnayam only. This  self awareness gives the possibility of removal the causal ignorance which is beginning-less, as atma is now made available for knowledge as I, which even though is a thought shining in the mind, can be eventually used to make one understand the sakshitvam or self shining nature of oneself. Only its limitlessness and adhistAnatvam has to be communicated then via the mahavakya.

8. In spite of atma jnanam, so much is unknown, then how am I ishvara.

So much unknown is present in the mind, and is a limitation of the mind, and not of atma.
And so many are projections with various names and forms. Even if all names and forms do not reflect in the mind, its a fact cannot reflect in a limited mind that can know only 1 by 1, and not simultanously all at a time. However I can be all at the same time, since all known plus unkown has the adhistAnam as myself, I am the satyam brahma

9. Despite this clarity there is a desire to be unlimited

The desire is natural, as unlimitedness is ones own nature. There needs to be clarity that atma is not merely the seer at one end, but is in fact brahman, who is manifest as ishvara as this universe and as the seer, with maya shakti in a mithya reality that he rules and manifests as,  in reality is the reality that is brahman on dual. Also clarity that I am sakshi chaitanyam unmixed with the ego and so on.

10. If I am not even the seer, then I dont have a name and address?

Yes name and address are for the body mind, and not for atma, all names and addresses are in atma, and atma is free from any name or address.

11. How does one achieve jnana nishta

By resolving the entire universe, as being nothing but a kArya of atman, resolve the world in atman, and thereby also drop the causal status of atman, this will leave atman and atman alone. Thus enjoy oneself alone as atma samrajya the whole I am. This jnanam application via mananam and nidhidhyasanam leads to jnana nishta, which is nothing but sa svarupa jnanam, in ones own svarupa one naturally abides ever a brahman which oneself is .

Atma jnanam

Actually atma jnanam, is not really a jnanam in the traditional sense. There is no new object that is known or understood, as " ok, this is the atman", in the sense of pointing out some object or understanding .

Atman is already self evident as I, but totally mixed up due to beginingless ignorance that has its existence in atman.

This ignorance or avidya, with avidya there are two powers, power to conceal and power to project.

Atma along with the power to project component of avidya, is called as parameshvara, and he projects a universe based on karmas of jivas.

Atma with the ignorance component mixes up himself with a limited body mind self complex, and takes himself to be a doer and an enjoyer, and undergoes birth and rebirth based on his actions as a doer, and this is also beginingless given begininglessness of avidya.

With the projecting power also known as maya shakti,, ishvara also has the power to grant jnanam, which destroys this avidya, by correcting the mistaken identity.  So while the mix up leads to problems, the ability to correct the mix up is available and totally removing avidya is available (ignorance component is removed or destroyed).

In case of isvara the ignorance component is not operative, the projecting power is available, and even if we say vealing is available its available to facilitate the act of srshti, and has no power over ishvara.

Jiva being tamo guna pradAana is under the spell of this veiling power.

By hearing the mahavakya explained by a sampradayavit guru coming from sadshiva parampara, who elucidates the means of knowledge 'the shruti', which is the direct cause of removal of this veiling power on the jiva, jiva is liberated (it is said so).

The mix up of the atma with the body mind is corrected by removing the adhyasa, or the mix up with a projection.

This is via hearing, reflecting on the mahavakya.

Jiva and isvara as equated, as tat tvam asi.

Tat refers to maya upadhi sahita atma (atama with power to project a srshti), pure existence consciousness with the power of maya has all names and forms and manifests as this universe and its ruler (manifestor, preserver , resolver).

His presence is throughout the srshti, as he is the existence consciousness principle that serves as the material , he himself is the material the existence conscouisness, and srshti has no existence that is other than him.

Now jiva on the other hand is the conscious sakshi witness, who is the seer, hearer, doer etc. inhering in his body, and making it consciousness, and giving existence to his body.

Now the two cannot be equated in terms of the upadhi of body mind or maya power, but are equated as one and the same existence consciousness principle. So atma is understood as the pure consciousness existence principle, who with incidental maya shakti is manifest as universe.

The conclusion is that I alone exist as all that is here , I am the pure consciousness existence who has manifested as all that is here with the upadhi of maya shakti, and by wielding this maya, I with the unversal ego component of maya,  I can claim this power to be mine and act as well as am able to act as bhagavan, while at the same time being free from maya,

 and as the sakshi chaitanyam , the illuminor of body mind, with the individual ego I can claim this body mind to be mine and act as doer, while being free from doership or enjoyership .

Satyam is the pure consciousness existence I, and the roles and costumes are mithya, having their existence lent from I. From my standpoint I am asangaH, untainted and unassociated with any costume, but the costume is not independent of me.

Abheda Gnanam

Bhedam is very well known, we need not teach, there is nothing to understand.
We know there is differences.

There is knower, known, knowledge the triad. Knower is not the known, and not knowledge.

This is when there is absence of atma jananam,

We say atma IS. What is this atma, it it knower, if so who is doing things. Its body, then am I the known. Am I the knower or the known. Am I both, in that case am I made of parts? Then I am a conglomeration of cells, then what about the knower? The knower cannot be known, is knower outside, it cant be. So our intellect hits a conundrum, so ignorance can be proven logically, because we cannot reconcile our experience of self as a conscious principle , based on what we know via pramanas such as pratyaksha , anumana etc.

So veda pramana has to walk in. It talks about atma, it gives atma jnanam via maha vakya bodhanam.

Maha vakya has 3 parts, tat pada, tvam pada and asi .

Tvam is the individual, in terms of vAchyartha, and its lakshyArtha here is consciousness.

Tat is ishvara, the srshti sthithi laya kArana, entire jagat is resolved in ishvara, even knower known knowledge all are resolved in ishvara this is the vAchyartha. Lakshyartha is satchitananda brahman, the anubhuti svarupa , the knowers svarupa, when looking at svarupa, it jnana svarupa brahman.

Knower is jnana svarupa brahman. Known is anubhava svarupa brahman, or jnatr jneyam, so basically ananata jnana svarupa brahman. Ananta asti svarupa brahman. So minusing the jnatrtvam, jnanatvam, jneyatvam, is jna brhaman, the pure consciousness. This pure consciousness is equated to tvam consciousness I, and said as asi, IS .

So I, the atma IS this ananta ekatman, which is advaitam.

Advaitam is satyam, and jagat ishvara is mithya, jiva is in fact not there at all it is a avidya kalpita jiva, and so on.

giving up association with body mind

Atma is not associated with body mind self complex. Due to error we lump atma with body mind , and creates for us a host of problems. The body is highly limited and bound by prakrti, while the self is eternal and limitless. By identifying with body mind, one is totally at the mercy of devatas, and of yagna and of action and results. Disidentifying with body mind, one is free, limitless, pure presence, and lends ones existence to all names and forms, thereby becoming the substratum of all this is here. I is then ishvara, the reality of all that is here, which has manifested as jagat, as ishvara the controller and as sakshi chaitanyam the witness consciousness. 

Reality

I am the all pervading reality. Other than I, no being exists.
All beings with names and forms are, and what IS, is atma.

Atma is the truth, atma is the reality. In atma all that is here arises and subsides, all that is here is pure conscious being. When I say table is, table is conscious being, chair is conscious being, The name is incidental. It appears.

So people take the name to be the thing, and they go after it, and they fight, and there is an emotion an order sorrounding that, there is a person who keeps this in order, the whole thing is due to avidya. The order keeper is also within avidya, but is not affected by the avidya ,as he knows the truth, but even his power and so on is due to avidya having a overlordship.

So bhagavtvam is due to the overlordship of avidya, and jivatvam is due to the avarana shakti of avidya. Avidya itself is mithya , has its being in satyam atma. And with this avidya as bhagavan manifests, and jivas manifest and they go after things, and they fight over things, and avidya projects those, bhagavan projects these things as per order, as per the karma phala, and maintains order as visnu and resolves as rudra, and all this with total power and control over what is projected for whom, including projecting time and so on. It is all the play of avidya with which he conducts this srshti.

That he is non separate from I, that he is I, and I am free from heness, but He is I.
She or He anything could be said to be bhagavan.

Knowing thus, there is nothing else to be known. There is no one else to be known, there is no other thing to be gained. All that is is me. What can I gain?

Gain and loss is due to avidya, its the play of avidya alone, and one is attracted due to avidya again.

Liberation or Moksa

From years of vedantic shravanam from pujya swamiji and all of the mahatmas and gurus I have concluded that the vision of vedanta is real. Even though it appears contradictory when self is equated to ishvara, that's due to ajnana , which itself is said to be beginingless. 

The shruti  through words of masters such as pujya swamiji and all of the gurus who are following his words , is revealing , in the manner as it is supposed to be taught, that despite the seeming 'implausibile' ness of the mahavakya, I am the chaitanya svarupa chidatman who is sadatman..

That I am the only source of existence, is an undeniable experience , that I can find in every experience ( that I AM , as the listener, the seer, the knower in all sense organs and the mind). 

And that I am indivisible, without borders, without limitations, is revealed by shastra. My experience and knowledge from other pramanas, has nothing to say about myself the pramata, so there is no contradiction there to shruti, shruti being an independent pramana.

That this jagat, is the manifestation of bhagavan, is also a very evident truth, and pujya swamiji in his inimitable style which is again steeped in the tradition, has explained how this manifestation is pure knowledge and order. I knock on a table, there is a sound, and I am instantly in touch with the knowledge of the maker. I am instantly in touch with the material who is the maker himself. And this maker material ishvara being mithya , both clear when you apply a little bit of logic (that any entity can be resolved into is substantive) , and also this being told in the shruti as well, this jagat, which I now see as ishvara (material and maker), is mithya. Mithya means totally non separate from the satyam, all the way, it is maya sahita chaitanyam, and I am that chaitanyam, consciousness.

So when I speak there is speech , as I speak, there is devi the goddess of speech, there is the organ of speech, there is a mind I have accumulated, all this due to the shakti that is , I can see non separate from me the consciousness, whilst in svarupa I remain the non doer , with maya shakti I alone appear as though as this jagat, and as ishvara , and all its beings. including this my own body mind. Body mind with its own prarabdha karma, I alone appeared as a ignorant jiva, and through shravana phala, I alone am enjoying the truth of myself, and such is the power of a guru.

It is often a valid question, when how a totally useless, powerless, tapas less, pitiful creature , could even dream of attaining such a lofty goal as moksha. For that it can be said is that all he needs is the punya to reach a teacher. It is then the greatness of the teacher that can give this moksa. So that lofty goal is impossible as such for a pitiful jiva, but in association and acceptance of a teacher, the greatness of the teacher is able to make this a possibility for the student. Such is the greatness of the guru. So kabirdas was not a fool when he said , 

"Guru Govind dono khade kake lagu paay. Balihari Guru aapki Govind diyo batay. "

Tasmai shri gurave namaH.

OM