Philosophy of Vedanta - "Advaita Vedanta"
According to Sages and Seers, what appears before us has a mysterious hidden dimension, which is not visible to human eyes and yet it is immediately present in every experience. The physical world is said to have an underlying foundation or substratum, a fundamental reality that is the very fabric of existence from which the universe is woven. It is very surprising like the threads out of which embroidery is woven. The rishis said everything in this world including all creations derives its existence from an underlying fundamental reality which is called Brahman. The world we experience is a mere appearance or form of Brahman, like the clothes, are just a form of threads or like a pot is a just form of clay. Everything in this world is merely a form of manifestation of "Brahman". “Advaita Vedanta,” says that there is only one reality, not two and negates the existence of anything else other than Brahman. The goal of “Advaita philosophy” teachings leads us to personally realise “Non-Dual Brahman” as the essence of our being as our own "true selves". Attaining this impressive wisdom can profoundly reshape our lives. When we find our essential nature is unborn and limitless, untouched by the afflictions of daily life will result in calmness and contentment. This resoluteness at a time of crisis and suffering is called enlightenment. This “Advaita Vedanta” is considered to be the epitome of Hindu philosophy. Generations of deeply contemplative thinkers explored the truth of Non-Duality and it had undergone further evolution due to the historic encounter between Indian spiritual wisdom and modern scientific thought and applications. “Sage Sankaracharya” presented this lofty vision of Sages and Seers down from the mystic heights to create comprehensive and systematic teaching called “Advaita Vedanta”.
There are five concepts in “Advaita Vedanta”
and they are:
1. Brahman: The
“Ultimate reality”.
2. Atman:
The Self”.
3. Maya:
Power of illusion.
4. Avidya:
Ignorance of the truth.
5. Moksha:
Liberation while living.
Even though most of the Vedic teachings are
dualistic in nature, some texts of the Upanishads are dedicated to non-dual wisdom.
Chandhoghya Upanishad is like that and it is 4000 years old and it comes under
“Sama Veda ''. The famous saying “Thath thwam assi'' which means “That thou
art” comes from its sixth chapter. In the 6th chapter, there is a marvellous
story about Sage Uddhalaka Aruni and his 12-year-old son named “Swethakethu
Aruneya”. Though the father was a sage he decided to send a lone child to
another great Sage to learn the Vedic scriptures. In those days schooling
was done through “Gurukula '' education in which students are residing with the
teacher or “Guru”. “Swethakethu Aruneya'' learned and memorised all the texts
through a rigorous process of chanting and repetition. After 12 years of study
and at the age of 24 he returned home. After studying the Vedic scriptures, he
became arrogant and full of pride. Father and Sage noticed his smugness and
wanted to instil humility in their son. He decided to test his knowledge and
wisdom through questions. Therefore, the father asked his son during his
studies whether he had learned that “by which thing everything unknown
becomes known?”. Have you perceived that perceiving which you know cannot be
perceived nearly by the senses by which you give complete fulfilment? By
knowing one substance you know the essential essence of everything in this
world of manifestation. His father Uddhalaka Aruni was a Sage and he was
referring to the non-dual fundamental reality of “Brahman ''. Swethakethu Aruneya
dismissed his father’s question irreverently saying that he has not learned
anything like that. Uddhalaka Aruni started testing his knowledge by adding and
mentioning some metaphors. By knowing one lump of clay all that is made out of
clay is known. The essential content is clay and it in a particular formation,
name and function is called the pot.
The pot is made of clay and pot and clay are
not two different things, it is a different perceivable form of clay. When a
pot is manufactured from clay it has a name and a form and the mass of the clay
and pot are equal. Similarly knowing gold (Au) with atomic number 79 (79Au) all
that ornaments made out of gold are known. Moreover, a pot cannot independently
exist without clay and at the same time clay can independently exist without a
pot. If you take out the substance clay from the pot it cannot exist. There is
nothing wave apart from water and there is nothing colour apart from
electromagnetic radiation. The things which have independent existence are said
to be real (“Satyam”) and the things which do not have any independent
existence are called “Mithya” in Advaita Vedanta. By knowing “Brahman” the
non-dual substratum of all that exists, the entire universe becomes known.
Brahman is Satyam and this world is “Mithya” for the reason that its existence
is entirely dependent on its underlying reality “Brahman”. To bring
more lucidness, Uddhalaka Aruni explained as follows,
“Vacharambhanam vikaranamadheyam”
This means that the forms and names are based
merely on words. Any form or shape (“Vikarah”) like pot or ornament is
“Vacharambhanam” and it is based on words, ideas or concepts. Similarly, any
name (“Namadheyam”) like the name of a pot or ornament is also based merely on
words and ideas. Names and forms (“Nama-Rupa”) we refer to are not tangible things.
They are ideas or concepts rooted in thoughts and words and not in physical
reality. For example, “Pot” is merely a name and form (“Nama-Rupa”) and it has
no physical existence whatsoever unless it is associated with a substance like
clay. The implications of this are amazing if we take everything in this world.
Take the case of a wooden table and it is
made of wood. Therefore, we can say that table is the form and wood is the
substance. We can further analyse it and find that wood is made of cellulose
fibre hence wood is merely a form and cellulose fibre is the substance. Again
cellulose fibres are made of microscopic cells here cellulose fibres are the
forms and microscopic cells are the substance. In further analysis, we find
that cells are made of various kinds of molecules and here molecules are
substances and cells are the forms. Again molecules are made of atoms and so
molecules are the forms and atoms are the substance. Atoms are made of
subatomic particles like electrons, protons and neutrons. So atoms are the
forms and subatomic particles are the substance. Further analysis leads to the
following conclusions. Subatomic particles are made of quarks so subatomic
particles are simply forms and quarks are the substance. Quarks are the
fundamental and elementary particles which combine to produce hadrons.
Many researchers think that this scientific
inquiry will continue indefinitely because whatever is invented can be further
subdivided. If science can never find a truly indivisible fundamental
substance, then we cannot conclude that there is no real underlying reality.
The forms cannot exist without some kind of substance like a pot can’t exist
without clay. This is true for the entire series of forms that we witness and
experience in this world. There is some kind of underlying reality in all these
forms and without this, the world can’t exist. The Sages and Seers called this
“Brahman”.
Now let us go to the principle of non-dual
Brahman and Sage Uddhalaka Aruni in "Chandhogya Upanishad" explains that,
“Sadevah soumya idhamagre aseeth ekameva
athvaitheeyam”
In the beginning, the entire universe was
existence alone. Everything in this world emerges from an underlying reality
called “Brahman” which is one and non-dual. “Brahman” is the primordial first
cause, the uncaused cause and the fundamental reality because of which the
world exists. It is described in the Chapter 6th volume 8th
(“Khanda”) and 7th verse as “Thath satyam sa Atma” which defines as
the reality of non-dual “Brahman”, the fabric of existence is the “true self”
and the “self” of all the essence of all that exists. Further in the chapter 6th
volume 6th and the verses from 8th to 16th
contain the famous precept “Thath Thwam Assi” and are stressed nine times. It
is stated as follows,
” Sa ya eshonimaitdatmyamidam sarvam
tatsayam satatma tattvamasi shvetketo”
This states that the reality of non-dual
Brahman is not different from Brahman, the substratum of the universe. These
are the most important teachings and declaration of the highest truth of the Upanishad. This “Thath Thwam Assi'' means “that thou art”. This is regarded by
scholars as the “Mahavakya '' and leads us to recognize our true non-dual
nature. This will free us from suffering and establish us in a state of
contentment. This will happen only if we can grasp and assimilate its
profound meaning. There are no shortcuts and it is not very easy to achieve
this path. Sage Uddhalaka Aruni taught his 24-year-old son “Swethakethu
Aruneya” nine times and finally, he attained enlightenment.
According to Sage Sankaracharya, the one
changeless entity “Brahman” alone is real, while changing entities do not have
absolute existence. Sage Sankaracharya’s primary objective was to explain how
liberation (“Moksha”) is achieved in this life by recognizing the identity of
Atman and Brahman. The right knowledge of Atman and Brahman is the accomplishment
of eternal life. This will guide us to liberation (“Moksha”) from sorrows and
the cycle of rebirth (“Samsara”). This is stated by Sage Sankaracharya in his
text “Upadesha Sahasri) in 11.7 as follows:
“I am other than name, form and action. My
nature is ever free, I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman. I am pure
Awareness, always non-dual”.
In the Bhrihadaranyaka Upanishad composed by
Sage Yajnavalkya in the first chapter, the fourth Brahmana state that Atman and
Brahman are identically the same and assert that “I am Brahman” (“Aham Brahma
Asmi”).
Long before Sage Sankaracharya and Sage
Gaudapadacharya, the ancient sages and seers composed their brilliant works on
Advaita Vedanta and revealed the highest "truth of Brahman". Later
generations of sages explained it more clearly and comprehensively and brought
the lofty vision down to the rest of the human race. Sage Sankaracharya and
Sage Gaudapadacharya pioneered this vision in the modern world. Sage Sankaracharya’s
teacher was Sage Govinda Bhagavadpada and his teacher was Sage Gaudapadacharya
who lived at the beginning of the 7th century CE. Sage Gaudapadacharya composed
a profound explanation of the Upanishad of Mandhukhya. This scripture is known
as Mandhukhya Karika and is an exceptional work on Advaita Vedanta. On the
other hand, Sage Shankaracharya wrote commentaries with critical insights on
the ten Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and many independent texts. These
compositions unfold the mysteries of “Non-Dual Brahman”. These are not
revelations alone; it has a solid foundation and is erected on three powerful
pillars of Scriptures (“Shruthi”), rational inquiry and logical analysis
(“Yukthi”) and Experience (“Anubhava”). Our own experience and experience of enlightened
Sages are also vital for these conclusions. Even though the wisdom of “non-dual
Brahman '' is very difficult to comprehend and lies outside of the scope of
human knowledge, the repeated study will yield desired results. If we blindly
accept these revelations as true and dogmatically insist on their acceptance of
others will lead to religious fundamentalism. The rejection of knowledge by
those who cannot grasp and assimilate it is common in today’s world. The
ancient sages using the deep meditative technique were able to propagate these
ideas and were able to transfer them to their disciples. Besides these, they
have employed reasoning and logical analysis. They had rejected the idea of
heaven and hell as eternal because anything which has a beginning eventually
has an end. Therefore, according to ancient sages’ heaven and hell are finite
lifetimes of pleasures and miseries which “Advaita Vedanta” out rightly
rejects. Moreover, that which has no beginning is truly eternal and endless.
For any teachings to be unconditionally accepted they must not only be
consistent with a reason but also has to be experientially confirmed. Advaita
Vedanta adopts extensive use of scriptures, logical reasoning and experience to
solve the critical issue of the possibility of how this world of duality
emerges from the non-dual substratum of “Brahman”. Scriptural revelation is
both consistent with reason and confirmed by experience and can be accepted as
true. So these three pillars of Advaita Vedanta are very robust and for that
reason, these teachings have been able to face any challenge from other schools
of thought. Over the centuries many scholars and philosophers have criticised
the truth of this knowledge, nevertheless, it stands solidly and firmly through
the centuries.
Advaita Vedanta distinguishes three
independent levels or orders of reality.
1. The lowest order is the projected reality,
the level of imagination and illusion that we experience in our dreams each
night. We experience the duality of the dream world that our mind projects. As
long as we are deeply immersed in our dreams the world projected seems to be
real. When we wake up, leave that projected dream world behind and return to
the empirically real waking world. As soon as we wake up we realise that everything
in the dream was merely a projection and nothing truly existed.
2. The middle order is empirical reality, the
level of our everyday experience of the world when we are awake. We wakefully
conduct the daily activities of the empirically real world.
3. The highest order is the level of non-dual
Brahman which corresponds to the state of deep sleep without dreams. In this
state, our consciousness and capacity to know whatever is happening in our mind
continue to be fully present. In deep sleep awareness is present and our
mind is silent like we are sitting in a perfectly dark room with our eyes wide
open. The experience of duality comes to an end.
Advaita Vedanta defines that due to the sleep
of ignorance we become deeply immersed in the empirical reality of day-to-day
life in this empirical world and assume that everything is absolutely real. If
we eradicate ignorance we realise that this empirical world is nothing and it
is just name and form. This empirical world is not truly existing and it is merely
a form of the underlying reality of “Brahman”. This is described by Sage
Gaudapadacharya in the scripture "Mandhukhya Karika",
In chapter 2nd verse 32nd
says that,
“Nannirodho na chothpatthi na bandho na chah
sadhaka namumukshurna vaimuktham ithyesha paramarthathah”
This is the concise translation of this verse
“Neither the world ever really originated nor will it go dissolution. There is
no one who is bound, no one seeking enlightened and no one who becomes
enlightened”.
Whatever we are experiencing in the waking
state, dream state and deep sleep state together are called this empirical
world and this universe grows subtle causal. The entire universe has never been
created and will never be destroyed. This is called the Non-origination theory
of the universe (“Ajatha Vada”) of Sage Gaudapadacharya. He says that this
universe never originated and it will never come to an end. This universe has
no origin and no cessation. Individuals are never in bondage and nobody ever is
a spiritual practitioner. Nobody ever is a spiritual seeker and nobody ever
gets spiritual freedom (“Moksha”). This is the ultimate truth (“Ithyesha
Paramarthathah”).