Moment to Speak

The Vedantic scriptures annunciate the unmanifest as Brahman , the Supreme Being. In the Upanishads, Brahman is described as all-encompassing, full in every respect and beyond, unmanifest, Ultimate Reality, Absolute Truth,  Absolute Existence, and experienced Reality. Ishavasya Upanishad (introductory invocation Om Shanti mantra) and Brihadaranyak Upanishad (5.1.1) invoke: oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidam pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate . pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate  oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ .. That is the whole. This is the whole. The whole comes from the whole. When the whole is removed from the whole, the whole remains the same." In essence, it emphasises the advaita (non-dualistic) nature of reality, where the divine is not separate from the manifest but rather permeates it. It highlights the interconnectedness and unity of everything. By removing the concept of separation, the Upanishads emphasise that the unmanifest Brahman is present within all phenomena and nou...

T he concept "I am not the doer" relates to how actions are perceived within the Upanishadic philosophical framework of what Adi Shankaracharya asserts, oneness of Atman (Self) and Brahman (Cosmic Self, or Absolute Existence). The Mandukya Upanishad (1.2) states unequivocally, Ayam Atma Brahma , or meaning, This Self is Brahman . It signifies that the true Self (Atman) does not perform actions. Instead, it is a witness – consciousness , uninvolved in the actions and the consequent results thereof. Actions are considered being carried out by the ego, evolving from the elements of Prakriti (nature's field of activities) intertwined with the body-mind-intellect complex and trayi-gunas ( Sattva -purity, or goodness; Rajas -passion, or activity; and Tamas -ignorance, or darkness). Non-doership is not about ceasing action but about changing one's identification from the transitory body-mind-intellect complex of Prakriti  to Atman , the imperishable, infinite, unmov...

Cosmic ideation is the thought, or ideas germinating from Cosmic Mind (Hiranyagarbha) of Cosmic Self, or Brahman , the Supreme Being. This ever-agitated mind, Swami Sivananda explains, having come into existence out of the ineffable Brahman , creates the universe according to its own Sankalpa (thoughts). He avers that the play of the mind arising out of Chaitanya (pure consciousness) constitutes this universe. Mind is Maya  (illusion). Maya  is the mind. The workings of the mind are nothing but the workings of Maya itself. Attraction or attachment in the mind towards forms is Maya . Identifying one's own self with the mind is considered Maya . There are two powers associated with Maya  – Avarana-shakti (the veiling power, or the power of concealment, or the power of illusion or ignorance that obscures the true nature of reality) and Vikshepa-shakti (the power of projection that superimposes the world over the Atman , or the power that causes distraction and disper...