Atma

There is a modern society where we want to fit in. It starts with the erroneous assumption that I am as good as the body, there is nothing modern about that. That is beginingless ignorance. But after that, its a modern. In with the times .

So I would then be a modern samsari.

All of us are modern samsaris. So we start first with in typical indian homes. Where did you finish education. How many marks you got. Its important to get a good job, then to buy a home and get married, have children. So there is a pathway, they make a pathway to be happy. Its a means of security, but in the name of security, it leads to absurdity eventually. here is no line drawn at any point for 'how secure is secure'.

First they want just 1 job. Then higher paying job, then next marriage, then child, then more you have to save for the child also. Then you need a better job and a bigger home.

Now after getting all that also , not yet happy. What the use of being wealthy, if others dont know I am wealthy. So now i need friends, a good circle. One inner circle of similar wealth. In this circle they discuss about the next higher wealth bracket , where to invest, next job etc. Then kids which school and all, so we can train them in he same route as ourself.

We also need an outer circle, preferably those slightly lesser wealth than us. So we can show off . We also do that humbly, in a humble fashion. Indirectly we talk about value of our home.

When and where is the security, its always limit x tends to security, which means there is never any security.

In the peak of ones health there is no security hen as one gets older I dont know what hope there is for security.

Is a sad sad life a sad samasari life it is. The whole world is indeed like this.

It all started with an erroneous assumption, that I am as good as this body. Reality is that I am the consciousness who is aware of this body, And sch as thing as this body doesn't exist, when I say 'body 'is'', the is is the nature of consciousness. So body doesn't really exist, only consciousness exists. Body is superimposed on consciousness. Atma appears as this jagat. Through maya shakti atma projects jagat in oneself, and oneself as witness in a body, appears as an ignorant jiva.

Creating a imaginary world which has no reality. Reality is there only for oneself and not for the world one manifests.

Similar to dream state. One manifests a dream, but dream is totally unreal, only the consciousness in which the dream appears, that consciousness alone is real. Same consciousness is where waking state also appears. This consciousness is ishvara consciousness. Its orderly, its objective. Its content is orderly and objective and connected and as put together, but its reality is just consciousness . What is put together is objects which have no reality as such, unreal objects are put together.

A pot is unreal object. Where is a pot its all clay only. All the way there is only clay. We cant even say pot is made of clay, there is no pot I say. Only clay is. Pot is just word and a form. A name and a form associated with the name. Word and its meaning. Where is pot other than the word and its meaning. Any form is merely meaning given. We say its a round coin. Round is a shape. Is there such a thing as round. There is no such substance as round, its just knowledge that's it. And what is the content of knowledge. There is no knowledge without a knowing being. This knowing being is the only being. Naturally is the content of knowledge also. I the atma itself is what we call as knowledge also. We call as thought form, just a plain thought has no form. Reality of every thought has no form .

What is invariable in every thought is the truth of the thought, and that is not a thought that we can be aware of, that is consciousness or awareness. Tree consciousness is, grass consciousness is, cow consciousness is , I is.

This I is self revealing consciousness. Does not require a pramana to know I am. his I am alone manifests as the truth of thought. Allowing us to say thought 'is'. Thought 'is' due to the isness of I.

Then we say cow is, tree is. There is no such thing as cow or tree, but we can say so. We are able to say so. We are able to see also a cow , it walks and all. And a ree also we are able to see. So we are able to see it despite it being not there, and having just a name anf form given, is enogh for it to be. Because it is unrea, we dont need a real tree or a reaal cow. We dont need a real subantive with a word and a meaning. Word and meaning themself have their being in substantive which is beyond words. Which is the truth of every word. Which cannot be separated from any thought or ibject as thought or object have no being other than is truth, the truth. That is how I see myself as the truth. I see there is an ishvara, and that ishvara is the truth that is me. That is the mahavakya, my nature if anatam or limtless.

Self evident atma - Ishvara

This self evident atma, aham is ishvara.

See, ishvara says, aham ishvara, then aham is none other than this self evident, self shining atma, ishvara does not need a pramana to say I am.

In fact ishvara does not need a pramana for other knowledge also.

This same aham, is available as various names and forms and that is only ishvara.

So only from the standpoint of ajnana, there is a pramata, prameya and a pramana is needed to remove the ignorance, this is the prapancha.

But ishvara is the very prapancha, and at the same time, trancending prapancha, as the pure witnes or truth of the prapancha. 

Tat tvam asi

Bhagavan, is mayavi. The one with maya shakti.

How can the one with maya shakti, and a poor jiva be one.

Is it even possible.

It is possible if maya shakti is kalpita, or mithya, and if the reality is one and the same.

It is brahman with maya shakti that creates the multiplicity, while oneself remaining non dual and without name or form.

Maya exists with brahman as adhistAnam, so there is only brahman, is the mula shakti, the total shakti of brahman. Then with this shakti , brahman is reponsible for the 3 tasks of srshti, sthithi and laya.

The upadhi of human body mind, is a making of brahman using this shakti alone, a portion of this shakti is manifest as body mind, and the consciousness that inheres the body mind, is strictly all pervading non dual chaitanyam, brahman.

Tat tvam asi, is possible, only when looking from standpoint of truth consciousness as oneself, which is the reality of every person, and lends existence and consciousness to all that is here.

So to this body, this mind, which is kalpita, brahman lends existence, and brahman lends existence to the creator of this body and mind, to the manifester of all names and forms, and also to the unmanifest. 

Attribute is kalpita

The attributes of air, water etc. and the cause for all that, all of it is kalpita, or mithya in terms of reality. With this kalpanA shakti, brahman is ishvara. All that is here, is tat brahman, and tat brahman , is you, tvam asi. This is the teaching of advaita vedanta.

Advaita vedanta, makes it clear that there is an ishvara, and this jagat is an expression of this ishvara.

An Attribute doesnt limit the subtantive

Brahman or atman is the subtantive, and any name and form is an attribute to brahman. An attribute is not another vastu, rather it is the same vastu. But with attribute we all it in different name and form.
Same way truth brahman is one, we call it with different names and forms. 

Sakshi Chaitanyam, is brahman

Brahman is ishvara, or cause of the universe. Brahman by itself, am is simply atma.
Brahman is also ishvara only when looked from the standpoint of the upadhi, and not from ones own standpoint.

The standpoint is key here.

Ishvara is a point of view. From the point of view of maya shakti, brahman or atman is parameshvara.

Here the powers are all not dividing atma, into many, atma remains one, and with the power, appears as many beings, and as controller of all beings. 

Tat Tvam Asi

The vidya that shastra guru gives is tat tvam asi.

The person I, is equated to tat, ishvara.

It hence becomes the commitment of shAstra and guru to unfold how that could be possible.

Shastra and guru follow a methodology to unfold this knowledge.

Tvam is the self, the person, who is a born , lives , goes etc.
In deeper terms, he is the transmigrating jiva, who travels from one body to another, and has a sukshma sharira or subtle body.

In human form, he accumulates karma, due to kartrtvam, he is the doer, and for karma he gains bodies as karma phala.

This jiva is eternally appearing to be engaged in karma and karma phala experience, over and over again.

The jiva gains the desire to be free from this endless cycle of karma and karma phala, and gain fulfilment.

He sees it is not possible to be fulfilled via karma, the non fulfilment is not satisfied by some kind of karma, and some experience of temporal joys,  even if it continues to cyclically happen over and over again and again.

It is only via self knoweldge this jiva can be permanantly fulfilled.

That is because per shAstra, the jiva is himself limitless.

Now shastra has to unfold this.

Shastra says jiva is , in fact the sakshi chaitanyam, the witness consciousness who is the observer or witness of the 3 states of waking dreaming and sleeping, and the witness of gross subtle body, and causal body in the form of ignorance.

The jiva is told, that he is ishvara, which seems unebelievable, given ishvara has infinite wisdom, power, and all names and forms belong to ishvara.

This is unfolded, by making it clear, that the truth of the jiva is the witness consciousness, which happens to be sakshi chaitanyam. Sakshiness being a status assigned to the self shining consciousness, which of its own light happens to reveal objects.

Ishvara is the non different material and intelligent cause of the universe. The universe is present in unmanifest form and manifests, universe meaning ishvara with form.

So this unmanifest ishvara, manifests, in the manifest state, this same ishvara chaitanyam is indeed the sakshi chaitanyam.

But there is a difference in terms of the body, the total wisdom and names and forms, make the ishvara chaitanyam as parameshvara, while the individual ignorance, makes the ishvara chaitanyam to be taken to be jiva.

The ignorance results in the mistaken identity of oneself as the doer, and there being a doer, there would need to be an experiencer, and that lays the seed for varied experience as per karma of the one who considers himself as doer due to ignorance.

However when I see that I am ishvara chaitanyam, I am no more bound in terms of time or space, and in me there is no time or space.

The ishvara chaitanyam is in fact satyam , while the objects in the universe, or body of ishvara is in fact mithya, which has its reality in ishvara chaitanyam.

One can retain ones understanding of any name and form, and realise that the "is" when we say space is, time is, air is, water is etc. , is refers to sakshi chaitanyam, while space , air etc. refer to form with which ishvara appears. It can be seen to be ishvaras vibhuti.

Jiva identifying with self as ishvara chaitanya, is free from karma, and the individual body , mind that remains, is merged with total ishvara, and individual ego remains as a part of ishvara.