Moment to Speak

Ours is one among the perceptibly innumerable parallel ones, asserts Yoga-Vasistha (3.7.1-45), coexisting with myriad others as a projection of the interplay of Maya , or illusion, and Mahat , or the Cosmic Mind. Maya is non-existent, and so also is the mind and anything that comes out from that interplay is of illusionary ones of infinitude. All these manifestly illusionary processes and symbols can manifest only that. All these coexist with similar others of infinite-dimensional multiverses with subsumption under 'Rta', or the cosmic order of Existence One only. It is the fundamental principle of natural, moral, and cosmic harmony. It asserts that every element of manifest and unmanifest existence operates in an interdependent, unified system. And Brahman , or Cosmic Self, is the Ultimate Reality, the singular, unchangeable, eternal and infinite One only that encompasses all multiplicity and diversity across space, time and causation. The concepts of parallel realities, para...

The cosmological descriptions include mind as emerging in the creative process or as a crucial subtle layer and the chain of cause-and-effect from Brahman to the manifest world. The Upanishadic texts often portray creation as a hierarchical emanation from Pure Consciousness, or Brahman , with mind (Manas) arising as an intermediary principle of causation involving Kama , or desire; Ikshana , or sight, seeing, or a look; Aasakti , or attachment; and Maya , or illusionary appearance. However, the same texts emphasise tapas (austerity, will, or concentration) and Dhyana , or meditation, all of which resolve back into the non-dual source. In the exploration of memory and existence, Yoga-Vasistha (3.3.1–3.3.40) establishes that all memories and experiences are mental projections rather than tangible records. Yoga-Vasistha (3.3.1–3.3.40) poses and responds to the fundamental question, "All beings are bound by their Karmas , and desires, gross as well as subtle, but the firstborn Brahm...

A person with an unsteady and uncontrolled mind becomes easily vulnerable to a matrix of psychophysical frameworks. That matrix envelops them in a transient sphere of illusory entrapment, distancing them from their original true Self, which is the eternal, inseparable, and undifferentiated essence of Brahman , or Cosmic Self: " Aham Brahmāsmi ", or "I am Brahman " (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10); " Pragyanam Brahma ", or "Consciousness is Brahman " or " Brahman is the Ultimate Reality" (Aitareya Upanishad, 3.3); " Tat Tvam Asi ", or "Thou art That" (Chandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7); and " Ayam Atma Brahma ", or "This Self is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2). Srimad Bhagavad Gita (2.14-16) expresses this illusionary entrapment, as the contact between the senses and the sense objects gives rise to fleeting perceptions of happiness and distress. These are non-permanent and come and go, like the wint...

Existence is one, nondual, absolute, and eternal. That Existence, or Reality, is Brahman , or the Supreme Self. It needs no expansion or activity, as it is uncaused, transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, omniscient, all-encompassing, full, and complete. Everything is inside It, and nothing is outside of It. It is all-encompassing, both subject and object; eternal and transient; good and bad; existence and non-existence; spiritual and temporal; illusion and real; and the state of opposites. Any name, or form, of externality is manifestly illusory or non-existent. Name and form cannot stand the test of space, time, and causation. In the time scale, they changed in the past, they are changing in the present, and they will go on in the future. This is the Reality, and this is the Truth. In this Reality we are circumventing in the midst of two "I"s, unable to comprehend the eternality and transience of which one of the two. One "I", as Atman , or Self, is eternal, infinite...

Brahman , or the Cosmic Self, is "Existence alone was this in the beginning, one alone without a second" (Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1). It is the non-dual Absolute Existence, or the unchanging complete Whole, or the Truth of the truths behind the apparent diversity of the evanescent world; and the scriptural assertions (Rig Veda, 1.164.46; Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10, 2.1.20; Chāndogya Upanishad, 3.14.1, 6.2.1; Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2; Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1; Aitreya Upanishad, 3.3; and Yoga-Vasistha, Book-II, Chapter-XIX) say so. The scriptures bluntly say the manifest dimensions are illusory with changing appearance and disappearance, and anything that is perceived through the mind's sensual apparatuses has the imprint of that deception and is invalid. Yoga-Vasistha (Book-II, Chapter-XIX) says the only evidential reality is through heightened Self-consciousness, as the only reality is Ātma-sākshātkāra , or Self-realisation, the highest form of evidence. It asser...

The scriptures contain conceptions of the eternal and ephemeral, the permanent and temporary, as well as other related ideas concerning the state of opposites. All these, including the created, derive from the One unified organic whole, or Absolute Existence, or Ultimate Reality. An existence or Reality is One only that is non-dual and beyond time, space and causation. Scriptures say Brahman , or the Cosmic Self, is the Absolute Existence: "ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti, agniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānam āhuḥ" , or Truth is one, though the wise describe it in many ways – as Agni , as Yama , and as Mātariśvan (Rig Veda, 1.164.46 ); " Sarvam khalvidam brahma ", or All this is Brahman (Chāndogya Upanishad, 3.14.1), meaning everything in the universe is, in its true essence, Brahman ; " Satyam jnanam anantam brahma ", or Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1), meaning Brahman is the unchanging Reality; " Prajñānam Brahma ", o...

Salvation lies in following the path of the wise, the virtuous and the scriptures in the Upanishads, and that is a central theme in the Upanishads. The Upanishads categorically state that Moksha, or liberation, is not achieved through mere ritual or intellectual debate but by following the path of Atma-jnana , or Self-knowledge, and Sanatana Dharma, or eternal ways of virtuous living, as delineated by the sages and the scriptures. The wise are those who are Self-realised. They cultivated a virtuous life of discrimination, discipline, detachment, dispassion, devotion, and discard of sensual pleasures by seeing everyone in Atman , or Self, and Atman in everyone. They see Atman as an inseparable essence of Brahman , the Supreme Self, or the Absolute Existence. They are the people who live a life of living liberation, enduring in the world with worldly activities but remaining dispassionately detached. The idea is that by walking in the footsteps of such realised beings, one gradually pu...