Moment to Speak

  Mahapralaya is the cosmic dissolution of the entire universe, where all projected manifestations of Brahman , or the Supreme Self, reverse back to the original unmanifestation. The Upanishads teach that the ultimate reality, Brahman , remains untouched beyond this cataclysm. It is a realm of Pure Consciousness, Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss), and  where all limited adjuncts of space-time, name and forms cease to operate and exist. Ultimately, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states that dissolution is merely the recognition that the universe is conceptually ideational. Yoga-Vasistha, (Book 3, Utpatti Khanda, Chapter 10, Description of the chaotic state, or Mahapralaya, or universal dissolution) explaining that our perception of the world is a mental construct. To achieve ultimate liberation, one must transcend the conditioned mind. Yoga-Vasistha (3.10.46-54) contends that the visible universe is merely a projection of Brahman , or Supreme Self, or Pure Consci...

Moksha , or liberation, is intertwined in the relationship between the observer (the seer) and the observed (the world). Yoga-Vasistha (3.1.1-48) delves into the causes of bondage to it. It says the root cause of suffering is the bonding, or the relationship between the observer (mind) and the observed (manifest objects). The mind paints its world and then gets lost in the painting. That is the relationship between the mind and the objects. That relationship is a mental trap; when the mind fastens itself to an object of sight, sound, or desire, it becomes tethered to it. This mental attachment to the external world through the sensory organs is the root cause of bondage. The sensory organs constantly feed exterior information to the mind, provoking desires, attachments, and egoism. The mind acts like a mirror. When it reflects external objects and mistakes those reflections for Ultimate Reality, it enters into the myriad nets of Maya , or a state of illusion. This cycle keeps the Jivat...

Brahman is “Real, Consciousness, and Infinite", asserts Taittiriya Upanishad (Book II-Brahmavalli, Chapter IV). The Upanishad says Brahman is infinite in three respects—in respect of time, in respect of place, and in respect of things, respectively. Akasa , or space, for example, is infinite in space; for there is no limit to it in space. But Akasa is not infinite either in respect of time or in respect of things, because it is an effect (Kārya) . Adi Shankaracharya in his introduction to Taittiriya Upanishad says, "From whom is born the whole universe, in whom alone it is dissolved, and by whom alone is this upheld— to that Self who is Consciousness be this bow!" Before the creation of the universe, "Being alone was," or "Existence alone was," proclaims Chandogya Upanishad (6.2.1-2). The Upanishad states: sadeva somyedamagra āsīdekamevādvitīyam |  taddhaika āhurasadevedamagra āsīdekamevādvitīyaṃ tasmādasataḥ sajjāyata || kutastu khalu somyaivaṃsyā...

You are Atman (Self), the imperishable, eternal Witness Consciousness. You are that eternal Witness Consciousness, the changeless and self-luminous Ultimate Reality. You are the unchanging observer of the body-mind complex, its actions, and thoughts. The Jivatma , or the individual self, is identical to Brahman , or the Universal Self. It is beyond attributes and untouched by birth, death, time, space, and causation. You need to be aware of the Ultimate Reality that you are an inseparable essence of Brahman . You need only to arise, awake to the goal of realisation of Self, so says Swami Vivekananda in his clarion call to humanity. He says to arise, awake, and shake off the deep sleep of ignorance, weakness, and self-doubt. the sharp edge of a razor is that path. Swami Vivekananda popularised the assertion of Katha Upanishad (1.3.14): ' Uttishthata Jagrata ' – 'Arise! Awake!' from the slumber of Avidya , or ignorance. Realise that Atman having approached the exalted te...

An enquirer is an earnest seeker of Self-knowledge, who asks fervent questions to the speaker, or preceptor, to clear his doubts clouded by Avidya , or ignorance. Both the seeker and the preceptor are persons of perceptive virtues unparalleled in humility, transparency, honesty, tranquillity, dispassion, discipline, endurance and equanimity. The only difference between the two is that the teacher, or speaker, is a person who has realised Self and seen Truth, and the other is a seeker of Self-knowledge, and of Truth. The seeker seeks to dismantle the veil of ignorance and the illusionary edifice of Maya , or illusion, by asking questions not out of mere curiosity, pride, or intellectual vanity but to remove the Avidya , or ignorance, for Atma-jñāna (Self-knowledge) or Ātma-darśana (Self-realisation). Those whose minds are turned from this world, emphasises Swami Sivananda, and who have become indifferent towards the objects of this world and who are thirsting for liberation are real s...