Moment to Speak

The Upanishads describe Brahman as Supreme Self, or Cosmic Self, or Ultimate Reality, or Absolute Existence, or the infinity of infinitude that is the sole cause and essence of all existence. It is Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam Brahma , or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity ( Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1 ; Sat-Chit-Ananda , or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss ( Tejobindu Upanisha, 3.11 ); and Vijnanam-Anandam-Brahma , or Knowledge-Bliss-Brahman ( Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.28(7) . That great, birthless Self is undecaying, immortal, undying, fearless and Brahman . Brahman is indeed fearless. He who knows It as such becomes the fearless Brahman ( Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, 4.4.25 ).  Brahman is also described as Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesa (impersonal), Nirguna (attributeless), Nirvikalpa (non-duality), Adrishta (invisible), Akarta (non-doer), Paramatma (Supreme Self), and various other descriptions indicating Its completeness, fullness, imperishability, infinity, omnipotence, omniscie...

Every one of our actions emanates from a locus within our awareness. However, such actions result from the cumulative self-effort we invest in either manifesting or unmanifesting them. All actions are ways of sacrifices, and those are directly intertwined with the elevation of our life processes. Sacrifice is internalised, transforming outward Yajnas , or ritual offerings, into a symbolic, internal process. Actions cease to be merely external offerings and become processes of inner sacrifice, where the practitioner surrenders the fruits of their deeds and their own psychophysical ego to realise Moksha , or liberation. How is it of relevance whether that action evolves from a higher point of our awareness, when one identifies with the innermost core of our Self, or with the outermost one to our body-mind-intellect complex that is the transient aspect of our phenomenal dimension? One goes up in the elevatory journey of life process when one sees through his eye consciousness all the act...

Ashtavakra Gita , a dialogue between Sage Ashtavakra and King Janaka, emphasises that true freedom comes from detaching oneself from the material world and its transient nature. It addresses those seeking direct, non-dual insight into Absolute Truth. Sage Ashtavakra's teachings articulate the fundamental principles of the exclusivity of Jnana marg (path of knowledge), Advaitavada (non-duality), Atma-vichara (self-enquiry), Atma-sakshatkara (self-realisation), Santosha (contentment), Karuna (compassion), Arjava (simplicity and straightforwardness), Satyatvam (truthfulness) and Kshama (forgiveness), aiming to illuminate the intricate nature of the essentiality of our existence as one inseparable from Absolute Existence. It is the way to be happy and free forever. Ashtavakra Gita says and insists that you are nothing but Atman , or self of yours only. Recognise that you have your own identity, one with Cosmic Self or Brahman and nothing more or less. You are pure awareness; ...

Atman , or Self, is "I", the very essence of Brahman , the entirety of Existence , the Absolute, or the Ultimate Reality. Everything is myself, or All as Self; euphemisms for Atman is one with Paramatman , or Self with Supreme Self. This propounds that the world we perceive, which is filled with names and forms, is actually an illusion known as Maya . The more one moves outward, the deeper the chances of entrapment under the veil of Maya . Perception through sensual organs is the illusionary role of Maya that keeps everything under its veil of illusion. A practitioner of Self needs Self-experiencing to realise Self as well as eye consciousness to visualise the real and unreal. Ashtavakra Gita teaches that Self is pure, unbound consciousness, and that liberation is achieved by recognising this inherent oneness, thereby transcending the distractions of the phenomenal world and the insatiable desires of the mind. This perceptive idea dissolves the limitation of duality emana...

The Ultimate Reality is Brahman , or Cosmic Self, but the perceived world is Mithya , or an illusion, avows Adi Shankaracharya. It does not have any independent existence, other than as a Maya , or illusion of Brahman, or Ultimate Reality ( Brahma Jnanavali Mala , (20), Adi Shankaracharya). Maya (illusion) plays with Avidya , or ignorance, by blurring the subject with objects, or Atman with the phenomenal world. Duality, according to Swami Sivananda , consisting of subject and object, is a creation of the mind and the sensual nerve senses. In deep sleep, one has no experience with the world because there is no mind. This clearly shows that there will be a world only if there is a mind and that the mind alone creates this world. This world, he says, is a play of colours and sounds. This sensory universe is a complex interaction of Maya , or illusion, the mind, and the nervous system. Their jugglery keeps the false show going. One enjoys swimming in the transience as long as the sensua...

Living liberation (Jeevan mukti, or Sadyo-Moksha, or Videha mukti) is a state of experiencing awareness, knowledge, and realisation of Atman , or Self, in this very life process while still alive, bereft of desire, attachment, and affliction but in a steady state of solitude and quietude. It involves recognition of one's true self as Brahman , or Cosmic Self. The pure-natured person, according to Ashtavakra Gita (18.21-27), is desireless, peaceful, self-reliant, independent, and free of bonds; he has neither joy nor sorrow nor pride nor false humility, and his joy is in himself. He is beyond mental stillness and distraction, for one who has transcended Samsara (birthand death, or worldly existence) does not think, know, hear, or see. He is the one who acts without being able to say why, but is not thereby a fool; he is one liberated while still alive, happy, and blessed. It represents living liberation, where one embodies divine consciousness and continues to exist in societ...

Bondage and release highlight the struggle between the entrapment of Atman , or Self, within material existence and its potential for liberation. This cycle reflects the impact of actions and desires, with bondage stemming from Avidya , or ignorance. Conversely, release is realised through self-knowledge and self-realisation . It elevates one to freedom from the repetitious Samsara chakra , or cycle of birth and rebirth and ultimately understanding one’s true nature. The mind alone is the cause of bondage, as well as liberation, asserts Amritabindu Upanishad (2). The mind is the entire set, explains Acharya Prashant , the whole universe of objects that the ‘I’ has a relationship with. It does not encompass everything that exists in the universe. One does not have a relationship with everything. However, anything with which one develops a relationship becomes part of the mind. The ego is just an object untouched by the self. But the moment the object is touched by ‘I’, it becomes vis...