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2
THE ROAD TO WISDOM

Swami Vivekananda on
Advaitic Manifestation
T he more we grow in love and virtue and

holiness, the more we see love and virtue
and holiness outside. All condemnation of
others really condemns ourselves. Adjust
the microcosm (which is in your power to
do) and the macrocosm will adjust itself for
you. It is like the hydrostatic paradox, one
drop of water can balance the universe. We
cannot see outside what we are not inside. a state to be attained; Jesus and Gautama
The universe is to us what the huge engine were the persons to manifest it. We make
is to the miniature engine; and indication our own environment, and we strike the
of any error in the tiny engine leads us to fetters off. The Atman is the fearless. When
imagine trouble in the huge one. Every step we pray to a God outside, it is good, only
that has been really gained in the world has we do not know what we do. When we
been gained by love; criticising can never do know the Self, we understand. The highest
any good, it has been tried for thousand of expression of love is unification. Man is the
years. Condemnation accomplishes nothing. highest being that exists, and this is the
A real Vedantist must sympathise with all. greatest world. We can have no conception
Monism, or absolute oneness is the very of God higher than man, so our God is
soul of Vedanta. Dualists naturally tend to man, and man is God. When we rise and go
become intolerant, to think theirs as the only beyond and find something higher, we have
way. We divide ourselves into two to love to jump out of the mind, out of the body
God, myself loving my Self. God has created and the imagination and leave this world;
me and I have created God. We create God when we rise to be the Absolute, we are no
in our image; it is we who create Him to be longer in this world. Man is the apex of the
our master, it is not God who makes us His only world we can ever know. All we know
servants. When we know that we are one of animals is only by analogy, we judge
with God, that we and He are friends, then them by what we do and feel ourselves. The
come equality and freedom. So long as you sum total of knowledge is ever the same,
hold yourself separated by a hair's breadth only sometimes it is more manifested and
from this Eternal One, fear cannot go. The sometimes less. The only source of it is
Absolute cannot be worshipped, so we within, and there only is it found.
must worship a manifestation, such a one
as has our nature. Jesus had our nature; he
F
became the Christ; so can we, and so must rom The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
we. Christ and Buddha were the names of (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2016), 7.20-23.
Vol. 125, No. 1
PB RABUDDHA
3
January 2020
HARATA
or AWAKENED INDIA
Managing Editor A monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order
Swami Shuddhidananda started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896
Editor
Swami Narasimhananda
Associate Editor and Design
Swami Shantachittananda
Contents
Production Editor
Swami Chidekananda
Traditional Wisdom: 1
Cover Design
Subhabrata Chandra Ekashloki of Acharya Shankara
Print Production Coordination
Editorial: Practising Advaita 2
Swami Vedavratananda
Internet Edition Coordination What Vedanta Means to Me 4
Swami Jnanishananda
Swami Chetanananda
Circulation
Indrajit Sinha
Tapas Jana Swami Vivekananda’s Vision of Advaita 11
Editorial Office Swami Atmarupananda

Prabuddha Bharata
Advaita Ashrama Advaita in Brief 18
PO Mayavati, Via Lohaghat
Swami Nityasthananda
Dt Champawat · 262 524
Uttarakhand, India
Tel: 91 · 96909 98179
The One and the Many Are Not Two 23
prabuddhabharata@gmail.com Swami Tyagananda
pb@advaitaashrama.org
Printed and Published by Advaita Vedanta: Swami Vivekananda 28
Swami Vibhatmananda and the Global Context
Publication Office
Swami Satyapriyananda
Advaita Ashrama
5 Dehi Entally Road
Kolkata · 700 014 Visions of Advaita Vedanta 34
West Bengal, India Swami Kritarthananda
Tel: 91 · 33 · 2289 0898
2284 0210 / 2286 6450 / 6483 Advaita Vedanta: ‘Living, Poetic in Everyday Life’ 45
production@advaitaashrama.org
—Swami Vivekananda’s Comprehensive Vision
Internet Edition
www.advaitaashrama.org Swami Atmapriyananda
4
54 The Indeterminate Technology

Swami Sunirmalananda
58 The Significance of the Mahavakyas

Swami Atmajnanananda
68 Surrendering the ‘I’ in Advaita Sadhana

Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana
76 Advaita Vedanta: Its Vision and Possibilities

Swami Satyamayananda
81 Advaita: India’s Grand Contribution to the World

Swami Atmajnananda
87 Consciousness and Self in Advaita Vedanta

Swami Sarvapriyananda
98 Brahmasutra-Bhashya-Nirnayah—A Syncretic Study

by Swami Chidghanananda Puri
aka Rajendra Natha Ghosha, an Advaitin Scholar-Monk
108 Sri Krishna in Acharya Shankara’s Bhagavadgita Commentary

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
124 The Body in Advaita and Phenomenology—

Two Non-Dualisms and Three Null-points
Drew Leder
133 Management Lessons from Advaita

Bhavesh A Kinkhabwala
5
Karmic Immortality Versus Personal Immortality in Advaita Vedanta 141
Ovidiu Cristian Nedu
Advaita and the Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object 146
Paul Schweizer
The Advaita Vedanta Critique of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika 155
Category of Inherence
Cameron Wright
Advaita Vedanta and Philosophy of Religion 164
Javier Ruiz Calderón
Revisiting Acharya Shankara on Renunciation— 171
A Fundamental Reversal
Roger Marcaurelle
Swami Vivekananda on Advaita Vedanta 183
Jeffery D Long
Liberating Samvada—Advaita Vedanta 191
as A Tradition of Ritualised Dialogue
Reid B Locklin
Insights on Reality and Sat-Chit-Ananda— 200
An Advaita Vedanta Perspective
Chandrasekaran Veeraiah
Advaita Vedanta in the Hands of Seyyed Hossein Nasr 207
Bharatwaj Iyer
6
219 Acharya Shankara’s Commentaries on the Prayer at the Hour of Death
in the Isha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads
Ivan Andrijanić
228 Advaita Vedanta and the Dadu Panth
Michael S Allen
237 Beyond the Brain—The Impact of Advaita Philosophy
on Consciousness Studies
Dr Sangeetha Menon
244 Advaita Darshanam: The Vision of Oneness
Swami Bodhananda
256 The Flawed Dichotomy of Durga-Mahishasura: An Advaitic Postscript
Deepshikha Shahi
266 Maya—A Conceptual History
Dr Arpita Mitra
276 Young Eyes: Special Needs Children
278 Balabodha: Advaita
279 Traditional Tales: The Best Giver
281 Reviews
283 Manana
285 Reports
7
TO OUR READERS
D
ifference is the prime cause of suf- of the Divine and the transitoriness of this uni-
fering. Perceiving difference makes one verse. With this realisation, the individual and
subject to a vast array of emotions like the collective become one and human suffering
fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, and pride. All the becomes immaterial.
major religions and faith traditions of the world Among the disciplines practised to go beyond
teach the removal of the negative emotions men- distinctions, the discipline of Advaita Vedanta is
tioned above. However, the cause of these nega- the royal road to realising the identity of the One
tive emotions is also the cause of positive emo- and the Many. This issue attempts to understand
tions like love, empathy, and compassion. While this discipline by inspecting the varied Visions of
most faith traditions prescribe the transcend- Advaita. With this issue we enter the 125th year
ing of negative emotions and the cultivating of of Prabuddha Bharata
IMAGE: ADVAITA ASHRAMA, MAYAVATI, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA.
positive emotions, very few traditions stress the We thank our subscribers and readers for
need for transcending all, negative and positive, having supported us for these 124 years. We in-
emotions, and the adherents of most traditions vite them to send us letters or emails, giving their
consider it their goal to be established in these feedback, and also expressing their views on
positive emotions, thereby becoming dependent issues that find place in the pages of this journal.
on a pleasant mental state. We thank the staff of the journal for ensuring a
Sanatana Dharma, through its numerous smooth ride. We are grateful to all the authors,
branches of spiritual discipline, has proven time researchers, reviewers, photographers, artists,
and again that true spirituality is all about tran- publishers who have sent their books for review,
scending the mind. As many gurus have put it, a proofreaders, copyeditors, advertisers, patrons,
chain is a chain, irrespective of whether it is iron donors, webpage designers, and well-wishers.
or golden. Perceiving the inherent divinity of the Their support and encouragement has ensured
universe, both in the living and the non-living, that gems of wisdom and insights of depth have
is the only way to transcend the perception of reached the minds of countless, month after
difference and to embrace the eternal existence month, year after year. P
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Traditional
Wisdom
Wrút²; std{; ŒtËg JhtrªtctuÆt; >
Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached!
Ekashloki January 2020

Vol. 125, No. 1
of Acharya Shankara
Translated by Swami Narasimhananda
आदिशंकराचार्यकृत एकश्लोकी
ु
किं ज्योतिस्तवभानमानहनि मे रात्रौ प्रदीपादिकं
स्यादेव ं रविदीपदर्शनविधौ किं ज्योतिराख्याहि मे ।
षु स्य निमीलनादिसमये किं धीर्धियो दर्शने
चक्स्त दर्शन े
किं तत्राहमतो भवान्परमकं ज्योतिस्तदस्मि प्रभो ॥
Kim jyotis-tava-bhanuman-ahani me ratrau pradipadikam

Syadevam ravi-dipa-darshana-vidhau kim jyotirakhyahi me.
Chakshus-tasya nimilanadisamaye kim dhirdhiyo darshane
kim tatrahamato bhavan-paramakam jyotis-tadasmi prabho.
The guru asks: ‘What is your source of light?’ The student replies: ‘My source of light in the
day is the sun.’ Guru: ‘What is your source of light in the night? Student: ‘Lamp and the
like.’ Guru: ‘Let that be so. Please tell me what is your source of light to see the sun and the
lamp?’ Student: ‘The eyes.’ Guru: ‘What is the source of light in times like when your eyes are
closed? Student: ‘It is the intellect.’ Guru: ‘What is your source of light to see the intellect?’
Student: ‘Then, it is me, the pure Consciousness.’ Guru: ‘Therefore, you are that supreme
light.’ Student: ‘Sir, I realise that I am that supreme light.’
PB January 2020 1
12
EDITORIAL
Practising Advaita
A dvaita vedanta or advaita is first

and foremost a spiritual discipline, a
method of sadhana, a path that can be
taken by anyone wanting to know one’s true na-
a fundamental error in the way we see things. We
could call it a manufacturing defect.
How do we know that we have a manufactur-
ture. Let us see how to practise Advaita. For this, In their essence, nothing or no one is separate
first we need to understand what is Advaita. We from you. You are not separate from me.
also need to understand what it is not and then
we have to see, step-by-step, the method, the way ing defect? Suffering is the indicator that we have
to practise Advaita. some problem by default. If things were working
fine, we should not be suffering. We should not
What is Advaita? be having all the problems like greed, jealousy,
When you stand in front of a mirror, you see anger, pride, and hatred. The way to get around
your reflection there. That reflection is com- this manufacturing defect is the way of Advaita.
pletely dependent upon you. It cannot be there To know that there is no difference between you
if you were not there. You cannot see that reflec- and what you see is Advaita. It goes further. You
tion if your mind was not focussed there. Your see yourself changing with time. You see yourself
mind cannot be focussed if you do not have the changing with place. If you go to Alaska, you will
sense, ‘I see my reflection’. Just look around your- certainly feel cold! You go to the Sahara Desert
self, not just at your reflection in a mirror, but in summer and of course, you will melt! Advaita
everything or everyone around you. You cannot is the knowledge that you do not change with
see anything or anyone if you do not have the time and place. It is the knowledge that you will
sense, ‘I see this or her or him’. not change even if your body stops functioning,
When you see something or someone, even even if you die, or more accurately, even if your
your reflection in a mirror, you see that which is body dies.
seen as something different from you. Though Advaita is the path that will take you beyond
the reflection in the mirror cannot be there with- suffering, beyond separation, beyond distinc-
out you, you see the reflection as something sep- tions, beyond differences. Advaita is the path to
arate from you. It is not separate but you sense the knowledge that there is nothing or no one
a separation because of a wrong understanding. from which you will be ever separate.
We see everything or everyone as separate or
distinct or different from us. In their essence, What is Not Advaita?
nothing or no one is separate from you. I am Advaita is not merging into something. It is the
not separate from you. You are not separate understanding that there is nothing or no one to
from me. We do not understand this because of be merged into just like that there is nothing or
2 PB January 2020
Practising Advaita 13
no one different from you. Advaita is not merely The Step-by-Step Method of Advaita
denying the experiences that you have but it is as- You see everything changing around you. You are
serting that these experiences are not real, but are yourself changing. Your body keeps on changing.
merely factual statements. Advaita is not denying Your mind keeps on changing. For something to
the existence of this universe but it is asserting be real, it should not change. So, whatever you
that this universe is not really what it looks like. see around you is not real. Your body and your
Just like when you see water on a tarred road in mind are not real. What is it in you that has not
an afternoon, you go near it and find that there changed since your birth? Analyse this. You will
is no water, Advaita is going near the true nature understand that the sense of ‘I’ has been con-
of this universe and finding that everything in it stantly in you since your birth. You have this
is only a permutation and combination of that sense while you are awake. You have this sense
one, true, Reality, which is beyond any name of ‘I’ while dreaming. Though you do not know
and form. what happens in deep sleep, when you are not
The mind and the body are not obstacles to dreaming, your ‘I’, your real ‘I’ remains, and that
practising Advaita. The mind will have its ups is why, when you wake up, you say that you had
and downs. That is its nature. The body will have a good sleep. Your real ‘I’ was seeing it all, it sees
its strengths and weaknesses, its health and ill- everything all the time. Catch that ‘I’. Let us see
nesses. That is its nature. You definitely do not how to do that.
blame a pen for not working. Writing is not Your mind has desires. A desire becomes a
there in your pen. It is in you. If the pen does thought. A thought becomes a resolve. A resolve
not work, you change the pen till you can write might turn into an action. That action might
what you want to write. Your true nature, the fulfil your desire. When the desire is fulfilled,
Reality, is in you, the real, not in the body or the there is some time, when your mind is free from
mind. You will keep on changing the body and any thought. This time could be in seconds or in
the mind, till you get that real you. minutes. Be on the lookout for this thought-less
Advaita is not something that cannot be prac- time of the mind. If you increase your alertness,
tised in the body and the mind. You might ask: ‘I you will see that this thought-less state of the
am in a body; how can I understand something mind happens even when no desire is fulfilled. It
beyond the body?’ Advaita answers: ‘The truth could be just after you have woken up from sleep.
is that you are not in a body; you are mistak- It could be just before going to bed. It could be
ing yourself to be a body. How can you under- some other time. Look for this space and just
stand the truth if you insist on believing what watch that moment. Watch for this space while
is false? If you insist that there is water on that you are waking. Try to consciously watch this
tarred road, in the afternoon, and do not go near space even when you are dreaming.
it to examine if there really is water, how can you No thoughts. No prayer. No hymns. No
know the truth that there is no water? And, will chanting. Just watch this space. There is hidden
that water quench your thirst?’ your real ‘I’ in these spaces. The good news is that
Yes, we need the water of Advaita to quench this space of your real ‘I’, this space of thought-
the thirst of suffering. We need to experience less mind is not different from anyone or any-
our non-separate nature to be free. Let us now thing. This space is the real you. This is Atman.
see how to do it. This is Brahman. This is Advaita. P
PB January 2020 3
14
What Vedanta Means to Me

Swami Chetanananda
W
henever someone asks me, the audience replied, ‘Yes’. Immediately the
‘What is Vedanta?’ this reminds me teacher said, ‘You know everything, so I have
of a story. Once a great teacher of Ved- nothing to say’, and he left.
anta was invited by a group of people to give Again the group leaders invited the teacher to
a talk. When he arrived at the lecture hall, he speak, and again they made a plan for the teach-
asked the audience, ‘Do you know what I am er’s visit: half of the audience was to say ‘yes’
going to tell you?’ The people said, ‘No’. and the other half to say ‘no’. When the teacher
‘Then I shall not say anything to you, because came for the third time and he asked, ‘Do you
you have no background.’ He left the hall. know what I am going to tell you?’, the audi-
The group invited him again on the follow- ence responded as they had been instructed. The
ing week—but this time the leaders planned teacher said, ‘Those who have said ‘no’, please
in advance. They told the audience to say ‘yes’ learn from those who have said ‘yes’. He left with-
if the teacher asked them the same question. out another word.
The teacher was escorted to the hall, and sure The people were puzzled and did not know
enough, he asked the same question. This time what to do. They finally decided that the next
time the teacher came, they would simply re-
Swami Chetanananda is the minister-in-charge of main silent. After repeated requests, the teacher
the Vedanta Society of St Louis, usa. came once more. He again asked the same
4 PB January 2020
What Vedanta Means to Me 15
question. This time he did not get any answer: or merges into samadhi, and the universe reap-
the entire audience was absorbed in deep si- pears in the waking state. Therefore, this world
lence. He felt that this was the right time to talk is in the mind.
to them about Vedanta. 3. Human beings are divine. Their real na-
This is the age of jets, rockets, and satellites. ture is the Atman, which is infinite, eternal,
People move speedily and expect to achieve pure, luminous, ever free, blissful, one without
everything quickly, if not instantly. People who a second, and identical with Brahman. Human
are unfamiliar with Vedanta do not realise that beings are not sinners. They make mistakes and
they are trying to learn in five minutes about a suffer for them because of ignorance. As dark-
spiritual tradition that has been handed down to ness dissipates when light dawns, so ignorance
us for the last five thousand years. I know that I disappears with the advent of knowledge. Bond-
am not doing proper justice to Vedanta by try- age and freedom are in the mind. When one
ing to describe it in this short article, but never- thinks of weakness and bondage, one becomes
theless I shall try to answer the question: ‘What weak and bound. When one thinks of strength
is Vedanta?’ and freedom, one becomes strong and free. No
Vedanta is the culmination of knowledge, the human being wants slavery. Joy lies only in free-
sacred wisdom of the Hindu sages, and the tran- dom, which is, as Vedanta declares, the inherent
scendental experience of the seers of Truth. It nature of all beings. The goal of human life is to
is the essence, or conclusion, of the Vedas. As realise one’s true Self, which is one with Brah-
the Upanishads come at the end of the Vedas, man or God, and the purpose of religion is to
so their philosophy is called ‘Vedanta’. Literally, teach one how to manifest the innate divinity in
‘Veda’ means knowledge and ‘anta’ means end. every moment of life.
The main tenets of Vedanta are as follows: 4. How does one manifest the divinity
1. Brahman is the ultimate Reality, the One within? Vedanta suggests four yogas: (a) karma
without a second. It is Existence-Consciousness- yoga, the path of unselfish action; (b) jnana yoga,
Bliss absolute. It is beyond name and form, de- the path of knowledge; (c) raja yoga, the path of
void of qualities, without beginning or end. It meditation; and (d) bhakti yoga, the path of de-
is the unchanging Truth, beyond space, time, votion. The word ‘yoga’ signifies the union of the
and causation. This vast, infinite Brahman mani- individual soul with the cosmic soul.
fests itself as the universe and individual beings 5. Truth is one and universal. It cannot be
through its inscrutable power of maya. Thus the limited to any country, race, or individual. All
One becomes many. When Brahman is associ- religions of the world express the same Truth
ated with its maya, It is called God or ishvara. in different languages and in various ways. Just
2. The universe is apparent, like water in a as the sun does not belong to any one person
mirage, and is continuously changing. We per- or country, so also Truth is not confined to one
ceive the universe through space, time, and caus- particular religion or philosophy. No one can say
ation. Space begins when one gets a body, time that the sun is a Christian sun or a Hindu sun or
begins when one starts thinking, and causation a Buddhist sun or a Jewish sun or an Islamic sun.
begins when one becomes limited. Moreover, Vedanta proclaims ‘Truth is one; sages call it by
this beautiful, tangible universe disappears from various names’1 and promulgates the harmony
one’s awareness when one enters the sleep state of religions. According to Vedanta, as different
PB January 2020 5
16 Prabuddha Bharata
rivers originate from different sources but min- ananda, is only in the Infinite and not in finite
gle in the ocean, losing their names and forms, so objects—‘Nalpe sukhamasti bhumaiva sukham;
all the various religious paths that human beings there is no joy in the finite, the Infinite alone is
take, through different tendencies, lead to God, joy’.3 The Taittiriya Upanishad says: ‘All beings
or the Truth.2 are born from bliss, live in bliss, and at the time
Now if someone were to ask me, ‘What do of dissolution merge into bliss.’4 So, how can
you suggest that I read to learn about Vedanta?’, Vedanta be dry? People are searching for bliss in
it would be hard for me to give an answer. Ved- the wrong places and that is why they complain
anta is a vast subject. Its scriptures have been and suffer. Bliss cannot be bought in a shopping
evolving for the last five thousand years. The mall. It is within us.
three basic scriptures of Vedanta are the Upa- This reminds me of a funny story: Brahma,
nishads, the revealed truths; the Brahma Sutra, the creator, gave everything to his children ex-
the reasoned truths; and the Bhagavadgita, cept peace and bliss. He thought that if he gave
the practical truths. But it is hard for someone those things to them, they would never return to
to get the essence of these scriptures without him. He asked other gods: ‘Where should I hide
the help of a teacher and without studying the peace and bliss?’
commentaries. One suggested: ‘Put them under the ocean.’
Sometimes Westerners complain that Ved- Brahma replied: ‘My children will find them
anta literature is full of non-English technical with the help of a submarine.’
words that they do not understand. I tell begin- Another suggested: ‘Keep peace and bliss in
ners to read Swami Vivekananda’s lectures on the outer space.’
four yogas, especially jnana yoga. Swamiji said: Brahma said: ‘My children will use a space-
‘I have a message to the West, as Buddha had a shuttle to find them.’
message to the East’ (5.314). That message is Ved- Still, another suggested: ‘Bury them
anta. He took the essence of the Upanishads and underground.’
presented that essence to Westerners in simple, Brahma said: ‘They will use dynamite to get
rational, logical, and scientific language that they them.’
could understand. Finally, Brahma decided to hide peace and
Swamiji said that America is a wonderful field bliss in the hearts of his children. As we know,
for Vedanta, because the American people love God dwells in the heart, but it is not easy to re-
democracy and freedom. These two things are alise that Truth.
in their blood. The Vedantic concept of God is As to the second objection—Vedanta is diffi-
democratic: Each person is divine. Moreover, cult—only lazy people talk like that. Such people
Americans are great lovers of freedom—so much have never tried to learn Vedanta from a qualified
so that they installed the Statue of Liberty at teacher. And they are also afraid to read Vedanta
Ellis Island, near the New York harbour, as their literature. Look, coconuts have sweet milk and
presiding deity. meat inside. If you want those things, you have to
Some people complain that Vedanta is dry remove the thick skin and break the shell of the
and difficult. Let me answer the first objection: coconut. One cannot learn Vedanta or any other
Vedanta is not dry. The goal of Vedanta is ananda philosophy by reclining on a lazy chair, smoking
or bliss. How could it be dry? That bliss, that cigarettes, drinking coffee, and watching TV.
6 PB January 2020
Another objection to Vedanta is that it em- that the body is not permanent. This world is a
phasises the unreality of the world, saying, jagat vacation village.
mithya: the world is not real. Such people com- To me, this world is a museum. I have visited
plain: ‘It is foolish to say that my spouse, chil- the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid,
dren, home, car, money, and other things are in addition to museums in London, Vienna,
not real.’ Rome, New York, Tokyo, and Mexico City. In
Let me define reality according to Vedanta: every museum, I saw ‘Do not touch’ signs below
‘Satyatvam hy-asman-mate trikala-abadhyat- the paintings. The paintings are for us to see but
vam; according to our opinion the real is indeed not to touch. If you touch a painting, the guard
that which does not cease to exist in the past, will take you out. In other words, don’t be at-
present, and future.’5 Is there any such thing in tached. Attachment brings misery. Suppose you
this world? are an artist and want to sell your painting of
Anyhow, according to Vedanta, there are two the Grand Canyon. There is a buyer, you are the
kinds of reality: the absolute and the relative. seller, and I am a spectator. Actually, the seller
Brahman is the absolute Reality, while the world and buyer do not enjoy the painting, because
is the relative reality. Yes, your spouse, children, they are attached to it. It is the spectator, who
headache, and stomach-ache are relatively real. has no attachment to the painting, who really
They come and go. Let me tell you my observa- enjoys the painting.
tion: From the absolute standpoint, the world In Hollywood, I once gave a lecture on ‘Non-
is not real. Nonetheless, an unreal doctor can attachment’ in which I said: ‘Everything belongs
remove an unreal disease by providing unreal to God. Don’t claim ownership of anything. Just
medicine to an unreal patient. Similarly, an un- be the caretaker. Live in this world as if you were
real guru can use an unreal mantra to remove the vacationing at a Holiday Inn. Nothing will go
unreal ignorance of an unreal disciple. with us when we leave this world.’ Then I quoted
In this connection, I want to explain two from the Old Testament: ‘I came naked from my
Sanskrit words: asat and mithya. Asat refers to mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.
something that does not exist and that cannot The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has
be seen such as a bandhya putra, a son of a barren taken it away.’7
woman. Mithya refers to something that does After this lecture, an actor came to me and
not exist but can be seen, such as water in a mi- said: ‘Swami, I am practising what you just said.
rage. When the sun reflects on sand in a desert, My home and my car belong to the Bank of
we see something that looks like water. This is as America, [they were mortgaged]; and my body
illusory as the world itself. belongs to Blue Cross and Blue Shield [an insur-
Let me give another example: When you ance company]. I have nothing, Swami.’ I laughed.
are in deep sleep, where do your spouse, chil- In the 1950s I went to see P C Sarkar’s magic
dren, and other things go? They disappear from show in the New Empire theatre in Calcutta. The
the mind. When you wake up in the morning, magician used a chainsaw to cut a piece of wood.
the world reappears in the mind. So, Vedanta Then he placed a young girl in a wooden box
says that this universe is ‘manasah-spandana- and closed the lid. He used the chainsaw to cut
matram; just the vibration of the mind’.6 Our the box in half in front of a thousand spectators.
bodies are our worlds. We understand very well After a few minutes, the girl came through the
PB January 2020 7
back door and walked down the aisle, saying, ‘Hi, However, the screen does not get wet or burn with
I am here’. Now, these one thousand people each the rain and fire; it is unaffected. That screen is the
bought a ticket paying twenty-five rupees. They Atman; the projector is the intellect, buddhi; the
knew for certain that the girl would not be cut pictures on the film are desires; and the electric
in half, yet they still spent money to watch this light is maya. That light makes small pictures ap-
illusion. That is maya—and we love to watch it. pear big and vivid on the screen. Similarly, the in-
My Vedanta teacher told me this story: scrutable power of maya flashes the subtle desires
Aham, the ego, fell in love with Buddhi, the in- of the intellect on the Atman, and they thus form
tellect, and they got married. They were having various scenes. Like the screen in a movie house,
a nice married life, full of fun and excitement. the pure Atman is always unaffected.
One day Buddhi says to Aham: ‘We are In 1982, I asked the following question to the
having such a nice time; we should share our Shankaracharya of Govardhan Math at Puri: Is
joy with the Atman. That poor fellow is sleep- it possible for a Vedantin to perform ritualistic
ing inside.’ worship? He said, ‘Yes’. Later, I found this ex-
Aham replies: ‘My goodness! My sweet honey, planation in Bodhasara by Narahari Acharya:
don’t rouse the Atman. As soon as it awakens, it A newly married girl in India is generally ex-
will destroy both of us. Let the Atman sleep.’ tremely bashful and keeps a veil over her head.
This is happening to all of us. Out of shyness, she does not talk to her husband
My teacher told me another funny story: in front of others, but she feels oneness with her
The world gives pain without being born. A husband in her heart. Still she loves to see her
young woman was sleeping alone in her room. husband from a distance through an opening in
Her father was out of town. Meanwhile, a thief her veil. Similarly, although a jnani, a knower of
entered her room. She became aware of it. She Brahman, experiences oneness with Brahman in
pretended as if she was talking in dream: ‘When her or his heart, the jnani still loves to worship
I shall get married, I will have three sons, and I the beloved Lord with devotion.8
will name them Ram, Shyam, and Chor [thief ]. When I read Vicharasagara, Ocean of Discrim-
They will play outside. During dinnertime, I ination, by Nischaladasa, I found that he could
shall call them loudly, ‘O Ram, Shyam, Chor!’ not find God to bow down. In that connection,
Actually, Ram and Shyam were the names of her my friend referred to this verse from the Vicha-
neighbours. As soon as she shouted out, they rasagara: ‘Bodha chahi jako sukriti, bhajata rama
came and knocked at her door, and the thief nishkam. So mero hai atma, kakun karun pra-
was caught. The thief thought to himself: ‘This nam; one should perform good deeds and de-
woman is not married and has no children, still velop spiritual knowledge to worship Sri Rama-
I have been caught by her neighbours.’ From the chandra without motive. That Sri Ramachandra
absolute point of view, this world does not exist, is my Atman, so how can I bow down to him?’9
but we are bound by maya. In our Vedanta class, sometimes we would
My teacher also used the cinema as an analogy debate on the concept of moksha in the differ-
to explain this world: Every day many pictures ent philosophical systems of India. One day we
pass through our minds. Similarly, in the movie were debating the difference between Acharya
house, many scenes appear on the screen. You see Shankara’s mukti and Lord Buddha’s nir-
rain, fire, love scenes, murder scenes, and so on. vana. Our teacher solved this problem with an
8 PB January 2020
analogy: Lord Buddha and Acharya Shankara

were on the same boat and it left the harbour.
It gradually reached the deep sea; from there
one cannot see the shore. The Buddha looked
upwards and seeing the vast empty space of the
sky, he said: ‘Sarvam shunyam shunyam; every-
thing is void, void.’ Shankara looked downwards
and seeing the expansive water of the ocean,
said: ‘Sarvam purnam purnam; everything is Govardhan Math, Puri
full, full.’ One saw the negative and the other, A monk told me this story of how maya hyp-
the positive. Both were in the same boat on the notises us. We may repeat ‘Aham BrahmasmiI
ocean, and each described their experience dif- am Brahman’, but we forget our true nature
ferently. Some see the same glass of water as half- when we face danger and difficulties.
empty, and some as half-full. This illustration A famous Yatra troupe came to Hardwar to
solved the debate. perform Ramlila, the life story of Sri Rama-
After studying Vedanta-sara, we started to chandra. On that day, the episode was supposed
study Sankhya Karika. Our teacher made the to be the death of the villain, Ravana, but the
class very interesting. He commented: In Ved- actor was sick. The director decided to cancel the
anta, we hear quite often ‘rope-snake, rope- programme. The organisers then suggested that
snake’. This means that we see a rope in the dark- they would supply a Ravana and brought a man
ness and think it is a snake, which is called super- named Budhui, a confectioner who fries jalebis.
imposition. But when one brings a light, we see He was gigantic, with a huge belly, a big mous-
the rope as a rope. This is called de-superimpo- tache, large eyes, and long bushy hair. He told
sition. According to Vedanta, Brahman alone the director that he was illiterate and had no skill
exists, and the jivas, individual souls, and the in acting. The director said: ‘We shall dress you
jagat, world, are superimposed on it by the in- like the demon king Ravana with nice makeup.
scrutable power of maya. You will not have to speak too many lines, only
Now consider Sankhya philosophy: Prakriti, say, ”I am Ravana”, and raise your mace from
the primordial nature, is dancing with the three time to time.’
gunas—sattva, rajas, and tamas. She appears The performance began. Budhui, as Ravana,
to be a beautiful dancing girl entertaining was on stage and began to stride around. Nala,
Purusha, the universal spirit, in an open the- Nila, Angada, and other monkeys in Sri Rama
atre. Purusha is enjoying the wonderful per- chandra’s army ran away upon seeing the terrible
formance. Then all of a sudden, a gust of wind Ravana. Finally, Hanuman arrived and asked,
blows away the dancing girl’s wig and the rain ‘Who are you?’
washes away all of her makeup. Her beauty Ravana replied: ‘I am Ravana.’
disappears. Out of shame, she runs off stage. Hanuman shouted: ‘You rascal! You kid-
After seeing her true unattractive form, Purusha napped our Mother Sita. I shall kill you right now.’
loses interest and renounces her. According to He then moved to attack Ravana, but the
Sankhya philosophy, this separation between actor said: ‘Mahavirji, please do not kill me. I am
Prakriti and Purusha is liberation. Budhui and make jalebi for living. These people
PB January 2020 9
made me into Ravana.’ Terrified, Budhui jumped experiences the Atman in every thought wave,
from the stage into the audience. That ruined the that is true knowledge; one attains immortal-
Ramlila performance. ity by it.’11
Thus, human beings forget their divine nature These are common questions of Vedanta stu-
as they act in this world. dents: Who is God? How does one see God?
Once in Kansas City, Huston Smith and I How does one realise God? These questions are
spoke on Vedanta from the same platform. Hus- answered in the Gita. If you want to know God,
ton had previously been the president of the read chapters seven to ten of the Gita carefully;
Vedanta Society of St Louis. After the lecture, a if you want to see God, read chapter eleven;
young Christian asked Huston: ‘You are a Chris- and if you want to realise or enter into God,
tian Methodist. How can you get involved with read chapter twelve. Sri Krishna clearly tells Ar-
other religions?’ juna that one can know God, jnatum; see God,
Huston answered humorously: ‘Well, young drashtum; and enter into God, praveshtum, only
man, hold on to your faith. You see, I eat my through devotion.12
regular food, and I take other religions in my life What is Vedanta? It is the ocean of wis-
like vitamins, food supplements. They boost my dom. Acharya Shankara’s answer to this ques-
energy and passion for Truth.’ tion is: ‘Brahman alone is real. The world is
On another occasion, Huston told me: unreal. Each individual soul, jiva, is nothing
‘Swami, Christ also taught four yogas. He said: but Brahman.’13
“Love thy Lord with all thy heart”, that is bhakti We are all divine beings but we are unaware of
yoga; “with all thy mind”, that is raja yoga; “with this. We are born in this world to taste the bliss
all thy soul”, that is jnana yoga; and “with all thy of liberation-in-life, and not for the fulfilment
strength”, that is karma yoga.’10 of worldly desires. ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till
I studied various kinds of Upanishadic the goal is reached.’14 P
meditations, but I wanted to know the secret
of meditation according to the Vedantic trad- References
ition. One late evening in Varanasi, I went to 1. Rig Veda, 1.164.146.
the room of an old, wise monk and asked about 2. See The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
meditation. He asked me: ‘Do you know how to 9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
1997), 1.4.
watch sandhi, the junction?’ I could not under- 3. Chhandogya Upanishad, 7.23.1.
stand his question. 4. Taittiriya Upanishad, 3.6.1.
He then explained: ‘Here is a pearl necklace. 5. Madhusudana Sarasvati, Advaita Siddhi, Chap-
A string is holding all these pearls, but you do ter 2, ‘Satyadi-vakya-akhandarthatv-opapattih’.
6. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on Acharya
not see the string. You see only the pearls. If you
Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika, 4.62.
go near and minutely examine the necklace, you 7. Job 1:21.
will see a bit of the string in the junction be- 8. See Narahari, Bodhasara, 13.44–5.
tween the pearls. Those visible pearls represent 9. Nischaladasa, Vicharasagara, 1.5.
innumerable thoughts, chitta-vrittis, that are ris- 10. Mark 12:30.
11. Kena Upanishad, 2.4.
ing on the string, which is consciousness, the 12. See Gita, 11.54.
Atman. Remember this analogy and meditate 13. Acharya Shankara, Brahmajnanavalimala, 20.
on this verse of the Kena Upanishad: ‘When one 14. Complete Works, 3.430.
10 PB January 2020
21
Swami Vivekananda’s Vision of Advaita

Swami Atmarupananda
I n the opening scene of the Bhagavadgita,

Arjuna—ready for battle, confident in him-
self, in his brothers and their army, sure of
the righteousness of his cause—asks Sri Krishna
to take the chariot forward to the middle of the
meant as a corrective, not as a destructive insult.
He tells Arjuna that such weakness is beneath his
dignity as a noble hero. And then he begins to
teach him the glory of the Self, which is birth-
less, deathless, eternal, which neither kills nor
battlefield so that he might survey those who is killed.
dare fight him. There he sees arrayed against Why does Sri Krishna begin by teaching the
him relatives, revered teachers, and those who glorious Atman? Later, he teaches the principles
have been friends since childhood; these are the of action, meditation, bhakti, the nature of the
people he is to kill, some of them dearer to him incarnation of God, and so on. So why start
than life itself. He sees clearly for the first time with the highest truth, which traditionally has
the destruction that this war will bring; destruc- been reserved for the most competent aspir-
tion of family, of tradition, of culture, of society. ants, most often monks who have renounced
And he can’t do it. It would be better to lay down the world?
his arms, allow his enemies to take the kingdom, Because that alone would give Arjuna the
and be reduced to begging his food rather than strength he needed. That alone would lift him
be responsible for such horror due to the selfish to a perspective where even his valid moral and
desire for a paltry kingdom. social objections would be seen as unfounded.
When we read the Gita, we already know the Then alone could he be taught karma yoga,
outcome, and so we begin by thinking Arjuna to meditation, devotion, and other truths. First
be a coward who has lost his way: after all, that’s he had to be lifted to a perspective where the
what Sri Krishna himself says. But we have first whole universe would be relativised, where—
to identify with Arjuna, because we are Arjuna. as Swami Vivekananda would say thousands
His arguments against fighting are noble and co- of years later—he could see all the strife of this
gent. They aren’t the ravings of a lunatic nor the world as the play of puppies, where occasionally
whimpering of a coward; rather they are the ar- one gives a sharp bite to the ear of another and
guments of a good man who realises the horrors causes the other to yelp, but the mother knows
that are about to begin.1 None of the Kauravas all the while that it is just the play of puppies.
would have had such noble sentiments. Arjuna’s Advaita alone could lift him to that perspective.
sincerity shouldn’t be questioned. No relative instruction could.
Sri Krishna begins his response by shaming
Arjuna for his unmanliness. But it is a shaming A New Call to Self-Knowledge
In modern times, Swamiji did the same work as
Swami Atmarupananda is the vice-president of the Sri Krishna. His teaching begins with Advaita,
Vedanta Society of Greater Houston, Texas, usa. rests in Advaita, and ends in Advaita. Even when
PB January 2020 11
teaching bhakti, he bases it on Advaita, where that vast wave of spiritual power to the benefit
love, lover, and beloved become one. of all humanity.
The great Josephine MacLeod’s first acquaint- To do that, Swamiji had to acquire a profound
ance with Swamiji is interesting in this connec- and detailed understanding of the world—his-
tion. She first heard him giving a class in New torical, developmental, cultural, social, intellec-
York City in the winter of 1895. As he began tual, and spiritual. He had to understand the
to speak, she was lifted to a higher level of con- historical forces that had led to the present world
sciousness, where she saw no longer him but situation, and to understand the direction those
Sri Krishna standing there, as though declaring forces were carrying the world into the future.
the Gita.2 Yes, if Sri Ramakrishna was the Sri And he had to understand not simple textbook
Krishna of Mathura and Vrindaban, Swamiji was history but the history of ideas and ideals, of
the Sri Krishna of the Gita.3 religions, of the major institutions of society,
Why does Swamiji begin and end with Advaita? the differences and similarities between the East
Didn’t Sri Ramakrishna emphasise bhakti? and the West, the history of the nation-state and
Let’s answer the second question first. Yes, of civilisations, and the state of the common
undoubtedly there is an emphasis on bhakti in woman and man. It was for this that Sri Rama-
Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings. But if one reads The krishna needed Swamiji.
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna carefully, one finds So again, why did Swamiji emphasise
his teachings permeated by Advaita. Therefore, Advaita? One reason is that Swamiji seems to
Sri Sarada Devi herself could write in support of have seen a period of cataclysmic disruption
maintaining Advaita at the Mayavati ashrama: coming to the world, a period of great difficulty
‘Sri Ramakrishna was all Advaita and preached and suffering before a new civilisation could de-
Advaita. … All his disciples are Advaitins.’4 Fur- velop. That’s another topic, and we won’t de-
ther, it was Sri Ramakrishna himself who trained velop it here, but only note it because Swamiji
the future Swamiji in Advaita, and who taught seems to have taught Advaita for the same rea-
him how to carry his message to the world. Sri son that Sri Krishna taught it to Arjuna: it was
Sarada Devi even said that it was Sri Rama- the only medicine that would be strong enough.
krishna himself who was teaching the world
through Swamiji. Human Being as Sinner
Still, why were the approaches of Swamiji and or Human Being as God?
of Sri Ramakrishna apparently different, even But there is another reason that we will deal with
if it was Sri Ramakrishna that worked through here. Swamiji saw that the old ideas had failed
Swamiji? Swamiji’s role was different from Sri humanity. The assumption all over the world,
Ramakrishna’s. Otherwise, only one of them even in India, had been that ordinary people
would have been sufficient. Sri Ramakrishna’s were weak, limited, prone to unrighteousness,
primary role was the generation of tremendous incapable of understanding higher ideas, and
spiritual power and also the establishment of a dependent. Add to that the teaching of some
grand ideal in himself: a historical tsunami of traditions that the human being is a sinner by
spiritual power washing over the world for cen- nature, due to which the estimation of humanity
turies to come, embodying the highest ideals. has been very low.
The primary purpose of Swamiji was to direct Yes, looking at the phenomenal person, one
12 PB January 2020
Swami Vivekananda’s Vision of Advaita 23
can see the truth of this old assumption: even

the best make mistakes, even the wisest make
errors of judgement, and the vast majority of
people struggle with basic right and wrong. But
Swamiji saw the noumenal person, and therefore
said that to call a person a sinner is a standing
libel against the divinity of man,5 that even the
murderer is perfect God (8.129). So from dif-
ferent levels of perception, both are true—the
weakness of the human being and the divinity
of the human being. Why not, then, emphasise
the higher truth, the eternal truth, the truth be-
yond all illusion? The other is illusion, is a wrong
reading of the human being. Dirt isn’t cleansed
by dirt but by pure water. Darkness isn’t illumin-
ated by more darkness but by light.
Well, say some, we shouldn’t emphasise the The Method of Swamiji’s Teaching
human being’s divinity because it will lead to How, then, did he teach Advaita? What were the
immorality and the breakdown of society if characteristics of his teaching?
everyone thinks themselves to be God. In re- First let us look at his Jnana Yoga, as we have
sponse, Swamiji asked if this teaching of the had it for more than one hundred years. A read-
weakness of the human being had really helped ing of Swamiji’s Karma Yoga gives a good sense
the world. Has it made people moral? No, obvi- of the path of action—what it is and how to
ously not. So he said: practise it. So with a reading of his Raja Yoga
Gradual or not gradual, easy or not easy to the and Bhakti Yoga. Yet when we turn to his Jnana
weak, is not the dualistic method based on Yoga, we find that each lecture is beautiful, pro-
falsehood? Are not all the prevalent religious found, yet the book doesn’t hold together as a
practices often weakening and therefore wrong?
unit, nor does one finish it with the sense that
They are based on a wrong idea, a wrong view of
man. Would two wrongs make one right? … I one now understands what jnana yoga is as a
want to make an experiment. … On the heights path and how to practise it.
of the Himalayas I have a place where I am de- There is a simple reason for that. The other
termined nothing shall enter except pure [non- three yoga books were either written as a text on
dual] truth (8.140–1). the subject like Bhakti Yoga or were made from
Like Sri Krishna with Arjuna on the battle- transcribed classes on the subject given in a sys-
field, Swamiji saw that what the world needed tematic manner like Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga.
was: strength to face the struggles of life, light in Not so Jnana Yoga, which was always a random
the midst of darkness, water in the midst of this collection of philosophical lectures given on a
desert of life, and truth in the midst of a world variety of subjects at different times and in dif-
of falsehood. And so he took his audiences to ferent places. Hence, when read as individual lec-
the heights of Advaita, proclaiming the divinity tures, they are beautiful; but as a systematic text,
of each soul. they don’t hold together. There is not the same
PB January 2020 13
emphasis on actual practices as one finds in his teaching. Unlike Ramana Maharshi and other
other three yogas. great teachers, Swamiji simply pointed to the
There are four main reasons for this absence truth and told people to understand it and then
of specific practices in Jnana Yoga. But first, it affirm it. Ramana Maharshi’s teachings are per-
should be said that Swamiji was always teaching fectly harmonious with Swamiji’s, but the em-
the practice of Advaita; it is found throughout phasis on practice is different. Ramana Maharshi
his Complete Works, and in a concentrated form always emphasised self-inquiry: ‘Who am I?’ If a
in the following works: Discourses on Jnana Yoga, thought arises, ask, ‘To whom does this thought
Inspired Talks, and all of his Northern California belong?’ Seek to know who you are. That’s a
talks. But again, why is there not much focus in good and very effective practice, again, harmo-
his Jnana Yoga on spiritual practice? nious with Swamiji’s teachings.
Firstly, he was teaching a philosophical out- But Swamiji’s primary method was to first
look that was radically new to his audience. understand deeply enough so that the faith in
He was concerned that they get the concepts the teaching is engendered; and then assert that
right; without that, there would be no founda- truth in one’s thinking and behaviour until one’s
tion for practice. The path of knowledge is not very perception changes: ‘Think on it day and
a path of intellectual philosophy, but it must be night. … “I am It. I am the Lord of the universe.
grounded in correct intellectual understanding Never was there any delusion.” Meditate upon it
and so Swamiji’s attention to teaching the ideas with all the strength of the mind till you actually
was essential for practice. see these walls, houses, everything, melt away—
Secondly, his teaching of Advaita was cen- body, everything, vanishes’ (1.501).
tral to his whole mission; so the clarification There is a fourth reason for Swamiji’s man-
of ideas was all the more critical. Swamiji was ner of teaching jnana yoga and it is the most
not primarily teaching some simple jnana yoga important. He had the power to awaken that
disciplines for a few select students to practice. experience in his listeners just by telling them
He was ever conscious of the fact that he was the principles. He didn’t have to teach particular
teaching the world for centuries to come. And methods—that is for ordinary teachers. What
he aimed at nothing less than changing the very need had he for that? He said: ‘Oh, how calm
direction of human thought and hence civilisa- would be the work of one who really understood
tion. He knew, as we have indicated above, that the divinity of man! For such, there is nothing
the old ideas which had governed human soci- to do, save to open men’s eyes. All the rest does
eties around the world had come to the end of itself ’ (8.261). This power of his is documented
their usefulness. He was therefore giving a new in many extraordinary anecdotes.
paradigm for a New Age—a new idea of self, a Josephine MacLeod wrote of the first oc-
new idea of the world, a new idea of God, a new casion on which she heard Swamiji speak: ‘He
philosophy of work, a new understanding of so- said something, the particular words of which I
ciety, a new reading of history, of psychology, do not remember, but instantly to me that was
of science, of language—and one could go on truth, and the second sentence he spoke was
with the list. That is largely what one finds in the truth, and the third sentence was truth. And I
Jnana Yoga of disparate lectures. listened to him for seven years and whatever he
The third reason is Swamiji’s method of uttered was to me truth. … It was as if he made
14 PB January 2020
you realise that you were in eternity. It never intellectual, it expresses itself both as wrong per-
altered. It never grew. It was like the sun that you ception and as wrong understanding. That is, be-
will never forget once you have seen.’6 cause of our metaphysical ignorance, avidya, we
Lillian Montgomary spoke of attending his perceive a material universe peopled by distinct
classes in New York in June 1900: objects and beings rather than the luminous Self;
Listening, veil after veil fell from your mind’s but there is also the element of understanding, of
eye—like a miracle, your concept of the uni- interpretation of what we are perceiving: we not
verse, personality, of the relationship of the in- only perceive a world and living beings but we
dividual soul to God was changing. There was think we are separate from them and from God;
a dawning vision of a new set of values and a we not only perceive this material body and rest-
goal that would be the fulfilment of the heart’s
desire. Most of all it was as if you had heard the less mind but we think that we are the body and
term ‘soul’ all your life, then, there you were mind, that we are born and die. So there is per-
gazing into one highly evolved for the first time, ception and then the interpretation of what we
surprised by the full clearness of its beauty, its perceive, which is based on understanding.
limpid purity, its tremendous power in repose. Changing our perception is difficult. There-
What you had imagined before to be ‘soul’ was fore, we must first change our understanding.
such a poor, petty, insignificant thing (599). Once we have understood the truth about our-
We need specific practices. Swamiji had no selves and the universe and begun practising the
such need. His words conveyed the experiential sadhana-chatushtaya, we must affirm the truth
truth that he was describing. in our thoughts and actions and reactions, both
in meditation and in our daily lives. After our
Special Characteristics of understanding has changed, slowly our percep-
Swamiji’s Teaching tion begins to change also, because the whole
Finally, let us look at some interesting charac- universe is nothing but habits of perception and
teristics of his teaching. As we have mentioned, behaviour tied to wrong understanding. Even
Swamiji taught Advaitic affirmation more than what we call the laws of nature are just habits.
any other practice. But let us examine his prac- The affirmation of truth is not self-hypno-
tical instruction more closely. sis, but dehypnotisation, as Swamiji would say,
In several recorded classes and lectures, and it is powerfully transformative: ‘I will com-
Swamiji taught the traditional sadhana cha- pare truth to a corrosive substance of infinite
tushtaya, fourfold discipline,7 and made it clear power. It burns its way in wherever it falls—in
that, to attain liberation, there could be no com- soft substance at once, hard granite slowly, but it
promise with these requisites. But even as we must.’8 First we notice subtle changes in the way
begin the practise of these disciplines, we must we perceive ourselves and the world around us.
acquire the right understanding as well; other- Then, with prolonged practice, we begin to see
wise, why should we practise these disciplines? the world and everything within it as idea, not
We have already spoken of Swamiji’s emphasis as physical fact. And finally, Swamiji promises us
on explaining the principles. But the need for and the experience of sages assures us, the world
right understanding goes even deeper. Our prob- will vanish and the Self will stand revealed.
lem, our bondage, is ignorance. And though that Over the centuries many traditional Ad-
ignorance is metaphysical or spiritual rather than vaitins tended more and more towards scriptural
PB January 2020 15
study and discussion, shastra-charcha, as their not for a select group of spiritual aspirants. He
main practice. It was always one of the prac- further felt that the truth of the one Self was
tices, but in time it became dominant. That led meant for all, would be helpful to all. He told
to what can be seen as a degeneration, where us to go door to door and tell high and low alike
conviction or jnana-nishtha came to be seen as that they are divine—pure and perfect beings,
the sufficient goal of the Advaitin. Meditation, blessed and eternal.
samadhi, and so on came to be seen as outside So here we see another characteristic of
influences from tantra and yoga. And so we find Swamiji’s Advaita. He severely criticised the doc-
teachers today who say that understanding and trine of adhikara—the doctrine that this teach-
consequent conviction is everything. ‘Just know ing should only be given to the highly qualified,
that you are the Self, and the world is unreal, that to give it to the unfit would be casting pearls
and you are free’, where ‘know’ means not a tran- before swine. It is important to recognise that
scendent experience but ‘be convinced’. That’s Swamiji knew that only the adhikari—the quali-
not what Acharya Gaudapada said, nor Acharya fied spiritual aspirant—could realise the truth
Shankara, nor the Yoga Vasishtha. Look at the in direct, transcendent experience. But he also
Vedantic texts like Vivekachudamani, Upade- said: ‘These conceptions of the Vedanta must
sha Sahasri, Panchikaranam, Vedanta Sara, and come out, must remain not only in the forest,
Jivanmukti-Viveka. For the realised soul, the Self not only in the cave, but they must come out to
stands revealed in its full glory, the universe dis- work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit, and
appears; and if it reappears, it is seen as but an in the cottage of the poor man, with the fisher-
appearance of the Self—not in conviction but in men that are catching fish, and with the students
perception, in reality. that are studying. … If the fisherman thinks that
Swamiji stressed the value of conviction un- he is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if
tiringly, praising Nachiketa as the embodiment the student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a
of faith; but he never ended with it. It was a better student’ (3.245). Swamiji’s criticism of the
means, a practice. The goal was nothing short of doctrine of adhikara or fitness was its exclusion-
the direct experience of the infinite Self, beyond ary element which said, this teaching should not
time, beyond space, free of causation, alone, one be given to ordinary people.
without a second. This brings up another special feature of
Swamiji’s Advaita. Past teachers of Advaita
An Expanded Vision of Advaita taught only those who sought final liberation.
As we have indicated, Swamiji saw the import- But Swamiji, as we have seen, said that this truth
ance of Advaita in a much larger context than would help everyone, here and now. For that, he
just as a path to transcendence for the spiritu- made Advaita dynamic.
ally fit. There are always only a few people who Advaita as a final realisation is beyond all ac-
wholeheartedly seek to realise the Self. What tion, beyond Shakti, power, manifestation, and
about the vast mass of humanity? Are they to be so there is no question of ‘dynamic Advaita’;
left behind as part of the illusion of this world and that is how it has been taught, as an ul-
that is to be renounced and forgotten? timate realisation of transcendence. But when
Not for Swamiji. He felt first of all that Sri the non-dual reality is the principle manifesting
Ramakrishna had come for the welfare of all, through all life, when evolution—personal and
16 PB January 2020
cosmic—is seen as an effort to reach higher and reality without contradiction, where the world
higher manifestations of consciousness, from appearance is experienced as nothing but Brah-
the amoeba to the illumined God-person, then man even when it is still perceived, that state
Advaita has become dynamic. When Swamiji where name and form are realised, perceived in
says that ‘each soul is potentially divine’ and ‘the immediate experience, to be nothing but waves
goal is to manifest this Divinity within’ (1.124, of Brahman itself, no longer a veil hiding Brah-
257), Advaita has become dynamic. The Self is man. Swamiji brought vijnana to the market-
not only all knowledge, all bliss, all blessedness, place, to the realm of practice. It is undoubtedly
and perfection, but also all power, all strength. the last word of realisation, but Swamiji made
Just manifest it. it the first word of practice and a new founda-
Swamiji defines action, karma, thus: ‘Every tion for the civilisation of the future. ‘We can
mental and physical blow that is given to the see God everywhere. Do not seek for Him, just
soul, by which, as it were, fire is struck from it, see Him’ (7.29). P
and by which its own power and knowledge
Notes and References
are discovered, is karma’ (1.29). This is dynamic
1. And the destruction that Arjuna fears in chap-
Advaita. Hence Sister Nivedita says of Swamiji’s ter one actually happens through the course of
teaching: ‘If the many and the One be indeed the war.
the same Reality, then it is not all modes of wor- 2. See Pravrajika Prabuddhaprana, The Life of Jose-
ship alone, but equally all modes of work, all phine MacLeod: Friend of Swami Vivekananda
modes of struggle, all modes of creation, which (Dakshineshwar: Sarada Math, 1990), 12.
3. This is not meant in a technical sense, only in a
are paths of realisation. No distinction, hence- poetic sense.
forth, between sacred and secular. To labour is 4. Swami Gambhirananda, Holy Mother Sri Sarada
to pray. To conquer is to renounce. Life is itself Devi (Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 2001), 452.
religion’ (1.xv). 5. See The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
Conclusion 1997), 1.11.
6. His Eastern and Western Admirers, Reminis-
In the whole of Swamiji’s Complete Works there is cences of Swami Vivekananda (Kolkata: Advaita
only one instance of the word vijnana, and there Ashrama, 2017), 413.
it is used in the conventional sense of ‘science’. 7. The four-fold requisites for spiritual practice are
viveka or discernment between the eternal and
But the state of vijnana was Sri Ramakrishna’s the transient, vairagya or renunciation of the
highest teaching—the state of realisation be- desire to enjoy this world or the next, that is,
yond samadhi. Wouldn’t Swamiji, as Sri Rama the transient, shatsampatti or the six disciplines
krishna’s mouthpiece to the world, be expected that are like treasures, and mumukshutva or the
intense longing for liberation. The six discip-
to mention it?
lines are shama or control of the mind, keep-
He didn’t need to use the word, because a ing it from running after the senses, dama or
close reading of his works reveals that every- control of the sense organs themselves, uparati
thing Swamiji taught was not just a commentary or not thinking of the sense realm, titiksha or
on the state of vijnana; but a universalising of forbearance, samadhana or concentration of
mind, and shraddha or faith. See, for example,
it into the realm of everyday life. In essence, Sri Swamiji’s lectures ‘Steps to Realisation’ and
Ramakrishna’s vijnana is that state of realisation ‘Discipleship’, Complete Works 1.405 and 8.106.
where Brahman and Shakti are seen as the same 8. Complete Works, 5.71.
PB January 2020 17
28
Advaita in Brief
Swami Nityasthananda
S wami Vivekananda identifies three

stages of knowledge: in the first stage,
things appear to be completely different
from each other—unrelated and disparate. How-
ever, close observation reveals that everything in
bheda, difference. The first one is vijatiya bheda,
distinctions between different categories of ob-
jects and species like table and chair, cow and
horse, and the like. The second one is sajatiya
bheda, differences within the same category of
the world is interconnected, interrelated, and objects or species, like distinctions between dif-
interdependent. All things and beings of the ferent tables, or between different cows, and so
whole universe are different strands of the union. The third one is svagata bheda, differences
versal ‘Web of Life’. When we go still further within one and the same object or living entity,
in our intuitive understanding, we realise that like differences between leaves and branches of a
everything is one. If these stages are explained tree. Advaita cannot accept any of these bhedas,
without naming them as Dvaita, Vishishtad- because all bhedas belong to the relative world.
vaita, and Advaita, perhaps, even the Dvaitin There cannot be any room for any kind of differ-
will not hesitate to accept these three stages ences in the absolute Reality, which is infinite,
of knowledge. It is so convincing, for ‘Know- either temporally, kalatah; spatially, deshatah;
ledge is nothing but finding unity in the midst and objectively, vastutah; the last one rules out
of diversity’.1 any other reality other than Brahman.
Advaita is not just monism; there are many If Brahman alone is real, what about the phe-
other philosophical schools, both Eastern and nomenal world? Here the theory of adhyasa is
Western, which are monistic in nature, uphold- taken recourse to, to explain the unreality of the
ing one ultimate reality, but consisting diversity phenomenal world. Adhyasa is superimposition,
within itself. However, Advaita can brook no di- that is, seeing something in place of something
versity within its system. That is why a negative else, say, seeing the rope as serpent. Here it is
term, ‘Advaita’, meaning non-dualism, is used to seeing Brahman as world. Seeing the serpent in
indicate this philosophy. So it is Advaitic mon- place of the rope is understandable because of
ism. Upanishadic statements like ‘Ekameva- the similarity of the two, and both are objective
advitiyam [brahma]; [Brahman] alone exists reality belonging to the sensory world. However,
without a second’2, ‘Neha nanasti kinchana; how is it possible to superimpose the world of
there is no diversity here’3 are expressions of senses on Brahman, which is beyond the senses
Advaitic philosophy at its highest form. and the mind, and moreover, how is it possible to
Indian philosophy speaks of three kinds of see the material world in a non-material Reality?
Is it possible to see darkness in the light or light
Swami Nityasthananda is Secretary, Ramakrishna in the darkness? Acharya Shankara admits that
Mission, Davanagere. it is impossible, but still it is taking place. This
18 PB January 2020
Advaita in Brief 29
inexplicable phenomena—impossible pos-

sibility—is called maya.
Acharya Shankara defines adhyasa as:
‘Adhyaso nama atasmin tad buddhih; see-
ing something in a place where it is not.’4
Explaining it further he says: ‘Smriti-rupah
paratra purva-drishtavabhasah; something
appearing before us, which we have perceived
somewhere else earlier and remained in the
form of memory in the mind’ (ibid.). We
have seen the serpent earlier somewhere else,
which remains in the mind as memory and
it is projected outside when we perceive the
rope, resulting in seeing the rope as serpent.
So here serpent is only a mental projection
on the substratum, here the rope. Similarly,
the world, which is there in the mind with-
out beginning, is projected outside and per-
ceived as existing outside; Brahman being
its substratum here, just as it happens in a
dream where the world of dream within the
mind is perceived as existing outside.
This superimposition is due to avidya
or ignorance of the absolute Reality. This
Acharya Shankara
avidya not only covers the absolute Reality, but
also projects the relative world in place of it. The rather appears as the relative world? Swamiji says
serpent is projected outside due to our inability that the question itself is illogical, for this ques-
to see the rope as it is. Both covering of the real tion or any question for that matter belongs to
and projection of unreal are taking place due the relative world of time, space, and causation,
to avidya. So, ignorance is not just absence of but the Absolute is beyond these things. So the
knowledge, but it is wrong knowledge—seeing idea of causation is not applicable to the absolute
something else in place of something. Reality. Swamiji says:
In fact, there cannot be any absence of know- Thus we see the very question, why the Infinite
ledge regarding anything, for if that ‘anything’ became the finite, is an impossible one, for it
is absolutely unknown, no question of ignor- is self-contradictory. Supposing we knew the
ance about it arises. To say that ‘I do not know answer, would the Absolute remain the Ab-
solute? What is meant by the knowledge in
something’ is also a form of knowledge. So ignor-
our common-sense idea? It is only something
ance really means wrong knowledge, viparyaya or that has become limited by our mind, that we
vivarta, but not absence of knowledge. That is why know, and when it is beyond our mind, it is
Acharya Shankara calls adhyasa itself as avidya. not knowledge. Now if the Absolute becomes
How and why the Absolute becomes or limited by the mind, It is no more Absolute; it
PB January 2020 19
has become finite. Everything limited by the sciences, as chemistry or physics, astronomy or
mind becomes finite. Therefore, to know the biology—study it, push the study forward and
Absolute is again a contradiction in terms. That forward, and the gross forms will begin to melt
is why this question has never been answered, and become finer and finer, until they come to a
because if it were answered, there would no
point where you are bound to make a tremendous
more be an Absolute.5
leap from these material things into the immate-
Acharya Gaudapada calls this ajativada, rial. The gross melts into the fine, physics into
theory of no creation. Creation means causation, metaphysics, in every department of knowledge.’7
that is, cause and effect relationship. That which Now the question arises who is perceiving
is a cause of some effect must also be an effect of the relative world in place of Brahman? Who
some other cause. This world is an infinite chain is the real perceiver? Normally we understand
of cause and effect. If Brahman is the cause of this that senses and mind are involved in the process
relative world, it also comes within this chain of of perception. However, these are only instru-
cause and effect, thereby losing its absoluteness. ments through which perception takes place.
Even if we say that it is the cause of this chain of Eyes themselves cannot see. We see the objects
cause and effect, still we are bringing it down to outside through the eyes. Who is this ‘We’? It
our level of understanding and then it is no more cannot be mind, because mind only creates the
absolute. We cannot even say that it just willed mental modification, chittavritti, of the object
‘Let there be world’, for will comes after creation. perceived by the senses. To see an external ob-
The unreal is always caused by the unreal, there ject means to see its representation as a mental
cannot be any causal relationship between the modification within, chittavritti. Who perceives
real and the unreal. We cannot say that rope is that chittavritti? A similar question is asked by
the cause of serpent, it is only the substratum on neurologists, only they replace the mind with
which the illusion of serpent takes place. Simi- brain. This question is answered boldly by Kena
larly, Brahman is the substratum of this illusory Upanishad thousands of years ago, declaring that
world, but not its cause. the Self is the real perceiver.8
The dualistic schools accept changing reality, Perception and knowledge cannot be attri-
anitya. But for the Advaitin, anitya is also asatya. buted to matter; they belong to the realm of con-
Acharya Shankara says: ‘Sarvo vikarah karana- scious entity. Since the mind and the senses also
vyatirekena anupalabdheh asan; all the modifi- are subtle matter, we have to assume some con-
cations, vikarah, are unreal, as they do not have scious entity to account for perception. It is the
any existence apart from their material cause.’6 light of the Self or Consciousness that illumines
For example, pots do not have independent ex- the chittavritti and again the Self itself is the Seer.
istence apart from the clay from which they are The light of the lamp illumines objects around
made. Even the clay is vikara of something else. it. Suppose the lamp were to be conscious of it-
If this analysis is continued to its logical end, we self, it would perhaps think that ‘I am seeing the
do not get any material substance to account for object with the help of my own light’. Similarly,
the changing reality. the Self sees and knows everything with its own
Swamiji explains this in his own inimitable light reflected through the buddhi—chidabhasa.
language: ‘Take anything before you, the most In other words, what we call knowledge is noth-
material thing—take one of the most material ing but the light of the Self. When we see an object
20 PB January 2020
Advaita in Brief 31
outside through our eyes, what we actually see is identity differently according to the situation
the light reflected through the object. Same is the that serves one’s practical purpose for the time
case with regard to the knowledge of chittavritti. being. Nevertheless, we all feel that we have self-
So, it is the Self that is being revealed through all identity. What is it that gives this sense of self-
knowledge. This reminds us of the famous state- identity, however vague it may be?
ment of the Kena Upanishad, ‘Pratibodha-viditam Acharya Shankara says: ‘Asti kashchit svayam
matam amritatvam hi vindate; Brahman is known nityam aham pratyayalambanah, avasthatraya
when one sees the Self in every state of mind or sakshi san panchakosha vilakshanah; there is
knowledge, for one attains immortality by such some absolute Entity, the eternal substratum of
knowledge’ (2.4). Acharya Shankara expresses the the consciousness of egoism, the witness of the
same idea through a simile: ‘Knowledge shines three states, and distinct from the five sheaths
forth through the senses even as the light of a lamp or coverings.’11
kept in a pot with many holes.’9 Accepting the existence of the individual self
It is possible to doubt the existence of every- beyond the psycho-physical personality, further
thing in this world. However, the denier himself we have to ask the question: ‘Is there really any
cannot be denied. Who is actually the denier? individuality at all?’ The fact that the self is pure
This question leads to infinite regress. So we are consciousness, forbid us to assume any limited
bound to accept some conscious entity behind the existence to it confined to the psycho-physical
subjective factor. To deny the existence of one’s personality, and make us think of it as all-perva-
own self is as ridiculous as to say, ‘I do not have sive and universal.
any tongue’, says Vidyaranya in his Panchadashi.10 The subtle is more pervasive than the gross.
If we ask some person who she or he is or The ice-block is spatially very limited. When it
what is her or his identity, one might mention is melted, it becomes more pervasive. And fur-
one’s name. But this is only a provisional sound ther heated, it becomes still more pervasive as
symbol attributed to one by others, not one’s vapour. Different kinds of subtle radiations are
real identity; and there might be others with the more pervasive than all the gross material ob-
same name. Or suppose that person answers by jects. Since the Self is subtler than the subtlest,
telling her or his designation, even that repre- it must be all-pervasive and universal.
sents the position one holds, and not what one Traditionally, to explain the identity of the
really is. Or if one gives one’s family identity, individual self with the universal Self, Brahman,
then also one is telling about one’s relationship the example of akasha or ether is taken up. Since
with somebody else, and not about oneself. akasha is the finest matter, it cannot be confined
Whatever adjectives or special traits one may within any enclosure, say a pot. The same akasha
mention to identify oneself, they do not really is not only within and without the pot, but it is
represent oneself; one only shares them with pervading the clay from which the pot is made.
others of similar nature. If one says that she or The individuality of the akasha within the pot
he is the body, the mind, or the self, we may per- is an illusion created by the shape of the pot.
haps take that person to be out of one’s mind! Similarly, the individuality of the Self is due to
Whatever appellation one may give as one’s iden- the illusory covering of the psycho-physical en-
tity, it is not possible to zero in on something tity. When one transcends this psycho-physi-
to give one’s real identity. One may give one’s cal personality, one realises the identity of the
PB January 2020 21
thoughts the thoughts of you alone. The sea of

common thought does claim them as her own;
and so do all the thinking beings who share that
sea with you.’12
Are there, then, three levels of reality different
from each other? According to Swamiji:‘There
are no such realities as a physical world, a mental
world, a spiritual world. Whatever is, is one. Let
us say, it is a sort of tapering existence; the thick-
est part is here, it tapers and becomes finer and
finer. The finest is what we call spirit; the gross-
est, the body. And just as it is here in the micro-
cosm, it is exactly the same in the macrocosm.
The Universe of ours is exactly like that; it is the
gross external thickness, and it tapers into finer
and finer until it becomes God.’13
It does not exactly become God, it is always
God; only what was perceived as world, is now
realised as God. At the experiential level, God
alone exists, and there will be nothing to be
called unreal. So Advaita is an experience, not a
logical philosophy. It does not depend on logic,
but logic has to pay homage to it. P
References
1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
individual self and the universal Self. The Upani- 1997), 3.397.
shads express this identity through mahavakyas, 2. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.2.1.
the great sentences. 3. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.4.20; Katha Upa-
In fact, there is no individuality, physically nishad, 2.1.11.
or mentally. According to Swamiji, all our phys- 4. Acharya Shankara’s introduction to Brahma
Sutra, Adhyasa-bhashya.
ical bodies are small ripples in the infinite ocean
5. Complete Works, 2.133.
of matter. And our minds are inseparable parts 6. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
of the cosmic mind. Spiritually, of course, we 2.16.
are one with the universal Self. Mikhail Naimy 7. Complete Works, 3.2–3.
speaks of the same idea in a different language: 8. See Kena Upanishad, 1.2.
‘I say to you, your very flesh and bone are not the 9. Acharya Shankara, Dakshinamurti Stotra, 4.
10. Vidyaranya, Panchadashi, 3.20.
bone and flesh of you alone. Innumerable are the
11. Acharya Shankara, Vivekachudamani, 125.
hands that dip with you in the same fleshpots 12. Mikhail Naimy, The Book of Mirdad (London:
of earth and sky whence come your bone and Watkins, 2015), 52.
flesh and whither they return. … Nor are your 13. Complete Works, 2.16.
22 PB January 2020
33
The One and the Many Are Not Two

Swami Tyagananda
N o one knows how or when ‘reli-

gion’—as we understand it—was born.
But it seems reasonable to assume that
it began with questions and, almost certainly,
those questions were related to this world. The
the world, and me—forever apart belong to the
dualistic, Dvaita, school of thought. Those that
weave a tighter bond among these three, making
them almost one but not quite, are said to belong
to the qualified non-dualistic, Vishishtadvaita,
world, after all, is what we experience from the school. And those that claim that the three are
moment we are born. Even in the twenty-first not really three but one, belong to the non-du-
century, when we seem to know a lot more about alistic, Advaita, school.
the world than our grandparents did, we still Each of these schools is divided into sub-
know very little. We have answers to most ques- schools that provide explanations with a few
tions, but many of these answers provoke fresh minor variations. All of these formulations con-
questions. Every mystery that is solved opens the tain amazing insights and make for a fascinating
door to new mysteries. study. Without direct experience, there is no way
About some of the basic questions—‘Who to verify which of these ways of thinking repre-
made this world?’, ‘Where did its material come sents the truth fully. Every school has its staunch
from?’—we know almost nothing. We have the- supporters as well as fierce critics. People gener-
ories aplenty, but theories, useful as they may be, ally gravitate towards the kind of thinking that
are not really answers. They are, at best, intelli- resonates with their head and heart, usually more
gent guesswork in need of direct evidence and of the heart than the head, it would seem.
confirmation. Take this question, for instance: The most enigmatic of these three schools is
How did this world emerge? One of the the- the non-dualistic school, because its claim—that
ories is that God created this world. The explor- the ‘many’ don’t really exist—is radically con-
ation of how this emergence occurred, or how trary to our present experience. The idea sounds
God created this world, led to the fleshing out of quite audacious if not crazy. How do they jus-
the theory in many different forms. These forms tify their claim? Simply by some commonsense
crystallised, over time and across this planet, into observations and a remarkable ability to think
various religious traditions. outside the box. The rest of this essay is a brief
Each tradition defines and describes the com- statement about why the non-dualistic claim de-
plex relationship between God and the world, serves to be taken seriously.
between the world and me, and between me and It is helpful to begin by examining our under-
God. The traditions that keep these three—God, standing of what ‘real’ means. What makes one
thing real and another unreal? What is the most
Swami Tyagananda is Head, Ramakrishna Vedanta essential ingredient in reality? Existence seems
Society, Boston, usa. to be the obvious answer. For a thing to be real,
PB January 2020 23
it must exist. Only if something exists will I be as we are in it. There is no plausible way to deny
able to experience it. There are, however, things that such is not the case with regard to the wak-
that I experience and yet dismiss as unreal. Take ing world.
the case of dreams. I dismiss my dreams as un- The discovery of these similarities in the wak-
real because the dream world has no stability. It ing world and the dream world may modify our
didn’t exist before I fell asleep and it doesn’t exist understanding of the three states we experience
after I wake up. It seems to have some kind of ex- daily: waking, jagrat; dream, svapna; and deep
istence while I am dreaming, but that’s all about sleep, sushupti. Seeing that, like dreams, they all
it. That interim flash of existence, we conclude, begin and also end, we may find ourselves admit-
has no real existence when we return to the ‘real’ ting that there might as well be three kinds of
world, which we see when we wake up. dreams: waking dream, dream dream, and deep
This is another way of affirming that what is sleep dream.1 Once the mind starts thinking
really real, satya, must also be eternal, nitya. A along these lines, what is there to stop it from
temporary reality—such as that of my dream thinking of death as another dream, of the resi-
or of a mirage in a desert—is no reality. This dence in heaven or hell as another dream, and
doesn’t sound too startling until we apply this of rebirth as another dream? Perhaps our entire
principle to the world around us. If there is no existence is a series of seemingly endless dreams.2
problem accepting that the dream world is not ‘Seemingly’ is the key word, for these dreams
real, why should it be a problem to accept that are not really endless. They do end, but only
the waking world may also not be real? The two when we wake up—when we really wake up. It
are remarkably similar. The dream world didn’t is then that we encounter the reality which is
exist before I slept and it didn’t exist after I woke both really real as well as eternal. According to
up. The waking world didn’t exist before I woke non-dualists, the real reality, distinct from the
up and it doesn’t exist when I sleep. The dream pseudo reality of this world, is indescribable.3
world exists for me only when I am dreaming We can only say what it is not, never what it is.
and the waking world exists for me only when We distort it the moment we try to describe it.
I am awake. Nevertheless, we need to have some word to refer
We might be tempted to say that the two to it, if we must talk about it.
are not quite the same. The world I see every The word, which is most commonly used to
morning is the world I see every day, whereas my refer to what is really real, is ‘Brahman’. It is not
dream world keeps changing every night. This is the name of a person or a state or of anything
an obvious counterpoint but without much sub- in particular. The word simply means vast, all-
stance. When I enter the dream world, I never pervading. Since Brahman is infinite, it has no
think of it as a new world that I am seeing for boundaries, no limitations of any kind, no sub-
the first time. I seem to know everything and jugation to any laws. It cannot therefore be ma-
everyone in it as if the dream world had been terial. The non-dualists identify Brahman with
existing all along. It never feels new every night, consciousness—not in the sense of conscious-
the way the waking world doesn’t feel new every ness of something or someone, but consciousness
morning. From our experience of dreams, we itself, unattached to anyone or anything. Brah-
know, in retrospect, that it is possible to see a man is the real me. The human me is wandering
new world and yet not feel it to be new as long endlessly in these cascading dream worlds. The
24 PB January 2020
real me is the one who is always awake, buddha. far from real. Nothing has happened really. I am
If our experiences while awake, asleep, or still lying in my bed but I am not aware of it. I
dreaming are seen in terms of a series of dreams, am aware of only the dream world before me.
we begin to see the world in a different light. Just as the dream world doesn’t really exist, Brah-
Having cast sufficient and credible doubt on man doesn’t really sleep. But dreams are still pos-
the independent existence of the world, we no sible, so speculation about Brahman’s sleep is
longer need to think of the source, or ‘God’, who also possible.
may have created this world. Which is not to say So, then, what would happen if—and that’s
that God is unnecessary or has no role to play. a big, skeptical if—Brahman slept? Brahman
It simply means that discussion about God can would inevitably be separated from its identity
wait. What is of immediate concern is the per- as the divine being, as one who is infinite and
plexing question: if this world is a dream-like complete in every way. When Brahman’s infini-
experience, whose experience is it? Who is asleep tude is left behind, what emerges is a finite being,
and who is dreaming this dream? vulnerable, and mortal. When Brahman’s com-
We know that when we sleep, our waking pleteness is left behind, what emerges is an in-
identity is left behind and we are, as it were, sep- complete being, filled with desire.
arated from ourselves and the world. As long as In Brahman’s dream world, Brahman is no
we are asleep, we remain unaware of our waking longer Brahman. The dream transforms the
persona and the world. This kind of ignorance divine being into a human being. Brahman is
is necessary for sleep to occur and for dreams asleep and dreams of this universe—‘creates
to begin. I create the dream world after I forget this universe’, if you like—with its galaxies and
who I am—and I become a part of my dream its solar systems, its oceans and its mountains,
world by identifying with someone in my dream its trees and its rivers, its living beings and its
as ‘me’. The real me is asleep, the dream-me is nonliving objects, and everything else that fills
doing all kinds of things in the dream world. the space.4 Brahman identifies with one human
What would happen if Brahman—the real being in the dream, as ‘me’. That’s the ‘me’ you
me—fell asleep? At first glance, the question and I experience in our hearts all the time.5
seems preposterous. We have already identified My sense of being incomplete and never quite
Brahman with consciousness, one who is always fulfilled forces me to do things that I hope will
awake. To imagine Brahman falling asleep is the bring fulfillment. What they do bring is either
same as imagining consciousness becoming un- joy or sorrow, depending on whether my action
conscious, which is not only ridiculous but also is successful or not. Nothing seems to remove
impossible. Impossible things don’t happen. If my discontent totally and permanently. So I keep
they did, they wouldn’t be impossible. But they trying: some of my ventures turn out well, others
can seem to happen. Not really, but apparently— don’t. My ambition and others’ expectations, my
as in sleep. One moment I am lying in my bed, desires and others’ needs, keep pushing me. I can-
turning and tossing, and the next moment I am not stop now. It’s a vicious cycle. Having fallen
enveloped in the warm embrace of sleep, which into the vortex of karma, I—a finite being in
gently guides me into a new world of the type I Brahman’s dream world—continue revolving in
had never seen before. This transition from the an endless circle of alternating experience of suc-
waking world to the dream world is magical but cess and failure, joy and sorrow, birth and death.
PB January 2020 25
materialist, what emerges out of

my thoughts is the creator God—
whose love for me and for the
world sustains us all, and unto
whom, I tell myself, we will all re-
turn.6 Is this creator God a pro-
jection of my mind? Yes and no,
depending on which ‘me’ I am re-
ferring to. Let us remember the ori-
ginal premise: Brahman is asleep
and dreaming. The real ‘me’ of
Brahman is the dreamer, and the
individualised and diminished ‘me’
of Brahman is the me in my heart
at this moment.
The creator God, sensed in the
dream, is obviously the projection
of the ‘sleeping’ Brahman’s mind,
but so is the entire dream world in-
cluding this person whom I see as
me. But—and this is important—
the creator God is not the projec-
tion of my little mind, which is
why many others besides me in
Brahman’s dream world have also
heard, imagined, and experienced
the presence of the God, who cre-
Brahman’s separation from its own divine ates the world and takes care of it. Moreover,
identity—even if the separation is the result of prayer, worship, and meditation directed to-
ignorance or ‘sleep’—has resulted in a dream- wards God produce tangible results. Which
like human identity. This is my present state of wouldn’t happen if God were only a projection
being, very real for all practical purposes un- of my mind. God is real—as real as I am.
less and until I wake up. At the moment, I don’t I am a person and, when I try to think of the
know that I am dreaming. Even when told that I source of this world, a personal God is what my
am, I roll my eyes or shake my head in disbelief. mind imagines, what my heart longs for, and
The cover of ignorance is doing its job remark- what my intellect can grasp. If and when my own
ably well. little personhood will begin to melt, my personal
When I look at the world around me, which God will also begin to melt. Those who talk
is really Brahman’s dream world, I wonder who about the impersonal reality while clinging to
created it. I imagine all sorts of things about the their own personalities can never experience the
cause of this world and, unless I am a diehard impersonal. An empty talk is just that—empty.
26 PB January 2020
When I am no longer a person, my God too 2. ‘What we call life is a succession of dreams—
dream within dream. One dream is called
will no longer be a person.7 My concept of God heaven, another earth, another hell, and so on.
evolves as I evolve. One dream is called the human body, another
The beauty of the non-dualistic thought is the animal body, and so on—all are dreams.’
that, even when it affirms the unity of all exist- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
ence, it still has in its scheme a place for God
1997), 9.243.
and the world. The triad—God, the world, and 3. ‘The nature of Brahman cannot be described.
me who acknowledges their presence—all be- About It one remains silent. Who can explain
long to the same plane of reality. If we accept the Infinite in words? … “Everything else but
any one of these as real, we have to accept the Brahman has been polluted, as it were, like food
other two as well.8 If we question the exist- touched by the tongue.” In other words, no one
has been able to describe what Brahman is.’ M.,
ence of one, we are in effect also questioning The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
the existence of the other two. What would be Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
impossible to do, obviously, is to question the 1980), 218.
existence of the questioner. 4. ‘Tat srishtva tadevanupravishat; having pro-
When the focus turns to the questioner, it jected the world, [Brahman] entered into it’,
Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.6.1.
turns also to the relationships between me and
5. Brahman may identify with any living being as
the world, the world and God, and God and ‘me’ in the dream—I have limited it to human
me. It is then that we discover, as seen through beings because they are the potential readers of
the analysis of dreams, that the world has no ob- this essay.
jective existence apart from me who is experi- 6. ‘This [the human] longing for freedom pro-
encing it. The creator God exists only as long duces the idea of a Being who is absolutely free.
The concept of God is a fundamental element in
the world seems to exist. The personal God exists
the human constitution.’ Complete Works, 1.334.
only to fulfil the needs of the personal me. Look- 7. ‘When Prahlada forgot himself, he found nei-
ing deeply and learning from experience, the ther the universe nor its cause; all was to him
spiritual seeker realises that the three—me, the one Infinite, undifferentiated by name and
world, and God—are not really three. God and form; but as soon as he remembered that he was
me are ‘not two’, me and the world are ‘not two’, Prahlada, there was the universe before him and
with it the Lord of the universe—“the Reposi-
the world and God are ‘not two’. The many and tory of an infinite number of blessed qualities”.
the one are not two. So it was with the blessed Gopis. So long as they
No matter which school of thought—dual- had lost sense of their own personal identity
istic, qualified non-dualistic, or non-dualistic— and individuality, they were all Krishnas, and
when they began again to think of Him as the
provides us the tools to think and to practise, we
One to be worshipped, then they were Gopis
are all like rivers wending our way to the ocean. again’ (3.40–1).
The experience of merging into the ocean is what 8. The Personal God is as real as me—which is how
counts, who cares which path brings us to that the two of us can connect. This makes it pos-
ultimate and total fulfilment? P sible to receive answers to my prayers, to make
offerings when I worship, and meditate on God
Notes and References in my heart. Done properly, all of these things
1. ‘Tasya traya avasthatrayah svapna; of that [the have the potential to shake me out of my illu-
real one] there are three states of dream’, Aitar- sions. The personal God leads me to Brahman,
eya Upanishad, 1.3.12. the transcendent reality.
PB January 2020 27
38
Advaita Vedanta: Swami Vivekananda

and the Global Context
Swami Satyapriyananda
B roadly speaking, there are two ap-

proaches to the study of philosophy: the
Western and the Eastern. Narendranath
[later Swami Vivekananda] was aware that ‘most
philosophical systems are only intellectual dia-
are torn, all questions cease, and all fruits of ac-
tion wither away.’3
The discussion in this article will therefore
bring in personalities and their religious experi-
ence, as ‘it is life that kindles life’.4 Further, India
grams, giving no place to the emotions of man, is a nation that, all along her long history of ex-
thereby stifling his creative and responsive fac- istence, has given enormous freedom to religious
ulties’. So Narendra ‘did not want diagrams of life and thought so much so that there is a huge
Truth, no matter how clever: he wanted the variety of philosophical literature available, from
Truth. True philosophy should be the mother which one can choose that which suits one’s taste
of spiritual action, the fountain-head of creative and temperament. Suited for the present age,
energy, the highest and noblest stimulus to the is the life and message of Sri Ramakrishna, the
will. Short of that, it was worthless.’1 incarnation of the age, and those of his divine
In a letter, Swami Abhedananda gives this consort, Sri Sarada Devi, and his spiritually vi-
note of warning to a devotee: brant disciples, which have not only removed
I am very glad to know that you have a desire to the stigma attached to religious living—that it
read Philosophy. Read copiously. If, however, you is ‘the opium of the people’,5 but also made spir-
do not have realisation then you will get confused itual living real, visible, meaningful, and easy of
in studying Eastern and Western Philosophy. accomplishment. In addition, this treasure is sci-
How will you ascertain which of the various doc- entific and suitable for thinking people all over
trines is true? In the beginning I had such doubt
and I became an atheist. I then stopped reading the globe and addresses the concerns of utility
all Philosophy and started seeking the standard and validity of spiritual living and experience.
of truth through realisation. Afterwards through All this has contributed much to the appeal and
the grace of Sri Sri Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) I relevance of Advaita Vedanta in the global con-
found a yardstick which provided a way to put text even today. The fruit of the pudding is in the
every philosophy in its proper place and then all eating. Too true and it is the community of reli-
my doubts and questions were solved.2 gious practitioners who are the real ambassadors
The Upanishad says: ‘After realisation of the for this global movement. No wonder!
ultimate Truth, the strings of doubt in the heart Swamiji’s depth of fascination for the study
Swami Satyapriyananda is a monk at Ramakrishna of philosophy even in his young days can be
Math, Belur Math, and a former editor of Pra- gleaned from The Life of Swami Vivekananda,
buddha Bharata. by his Eastern and Western disciples:
28 PB January 2020
Advaita Vedanta: Swami Vivekananda and the Global Context 39
The influence of his family … was far-reaching the German philosophers, particularly those of
in its effects. It was his mother who imbued him Kant and Schopenhauer. He studied also John
with the ideals of feeling nobly, thinking highly Stuart Mill and Auguste Comte, and delved
and acting rightly. [If one feels nobly, he thinks into Aristotelian analysis and speculations. For
highly and this results in his acting rightly.] a time he found satisfaction in the Positivist
At her knee he gained his wide knowledge of philosophy of Comte which embraces a wide
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two ethical outlook. But never did his enthusiasm
great Hindu epics, as she read them aloud to for exploration beguile him into accepting any
him in the twilight. [These epics are a record newer and greater vision of Truth without sub-
of the lives of great personalities who lived in jecting it to the same keen-eyed scrutiny he had
the past which give clear insights into several given his earlier beliefs, and comparing it with
aspects of human life.] To his father he owed the systems of his own land.6
his broadmindedness, manliness and respect
for any genuine national tradition. His father’s Sri Ramakrishna, with a view to injecting
influence served to widen the scope of Naren- Advaitic thought into Narendra, asked him to
dra’s learning by directing his attention to the read out to him from the Ashtavakra Samhita
cultures of other lands. This was as it should be, and other Advaitic texts. Narendra could not
for, as Swami Vivekananda in the making, he accept the Advaitic dictum that everything was
needed to develop a sympathetic understanding God. One day going to Pratapchandra Hazra, he
broad enough to include all cultures and all re-
said: ‘How can this be? This jug is God, this cup
ligions. So we find Naren desirous of encom-
passing all knowledge, Eastern and Western, in is God and we too are God: nothing can be more
philosophy and history, in the arts and sciences, preposterous!’ On hearing Narendra’s laugh-
but especially in Western philosophy. He threw ter, Sri Ramakrishna, who was in his room in a
himself into these studies with his usual inten- state of semi-consciousness, came out and said:
sity, determined to discover and master their ‘Hullo! What are you talking about?’ He touched
underlying principles and value. … Narendra and plunged into samadhi. The effect
The philosophy of Herbert Spencer inter- of the touch was such that Narendra really found
ested him particularly, and later on he used the nothing else in the universe but God. This impres-
Spencerian mode of reasoning in his discussion sion lasted for some days! Whether eating or lying
of the doctrines of the Upanishads and the Ved-
down, or going to college, he had the same experi-
anta. From such study Narendra gained a power
of thought, penetrating discrimination, and ence and felt himself always in a sort of trance.
spirit of search for a scientific basis, that stood While walking in the streets, he noticed cabs ply-
him in good stead when delivering his message ing, but did not feel inclined to move out of the
in later years. The philosophy of Spencer is dan- way. He felt that the cabs and himself were of one
gerous to traditional theological conceptions. It stuff. His limbs seemed to have become paralysed.
pulverises the foundations of belief itself. Only He did not relish eating, and felt as if somebody
an innate idealism, and the power of a poetic else were eating. When there was a slight change
and imaginative temperament, could save any in this state, the world began to appear dream-
part of Naren’s former outlook. It was his inher-
like. While walking in Cornwallis Square, he
ent capacity for the broader vision that saved
him from becoming a fatalist and atheist. The would strike his head against the iron railings to
mystic was latent in him, and his spirited soul see if they were real or only a dream. This state of
could not stop its questionings at the agnos- things continued for some days. When he became
tic’s half-way house. He studied the systems of ‘normal’ again, he realised that he must have had
PB January 2020 29
a glimpse of the Advaita state. Then it struck him Though Sri Ramakrishna praised Narendra
that the words of the scriptures were not false. several times in lofty terms, it is interesting to
Thenceforth, he could not deny the conclusions note the impression Narendra made on the mind
of the Advaita philosophy (1.97). of Professor Wright in the West who exclaimed:
Another issue with Narendra was that, ‘To ask you, Swami, for credentials is like ask-
being a member of the Brahmo Samaj, he did ing the sun to state its right to shine!’ (1.405–6).
not believe in the worship of images nor even The professor was acquainted with many dis-
in bowing before them. On the other hand, Sri tinguished people who were connected with
Ramakrishna realised everything through the the World’s Parliament of Religions at Chicago.
worship of images! Such a contrast! One day, it He wrote at once to the Chairman of the Com-
so happened that Narendra’s father passed away mittee for the Selection of Delegates, stating:
leaving the family in huge debts. Narendra, try ‘Here is a man who is more learned than all our
as he might, could not get an employment to learned professors put together’ (1.406). Such
support the family. So circumstances forced was Swamiji! And whatever he spoke was from
Narendra to run to Sri Ramakrishna and request the depths of his personal experience and realisa-
him to pray to his Divine Mother for his sake. tion, and that had a telling effect on the audience.
Sri Ramakrishna asked Narendra to pray to the Swamiji is not alone in accomplishing this gi-
Divine Mother himself and pointed out that all gantic intellectual and spiritual feat in the galaxy
his problems were because of not accepting the of the Ramakrishna Order’s first generation of
Divine Mother. Thrice did Narendra go before monks. Swami Abhedananda, whose pre-monas-
the image of the Divine Mother but instead of tic name was Kali Prasad Chandra, stands out as
praying for material benefit, each time he prayed, a master of this subject. The life of Kali reveals:
beholding the living compassionate image of the His [Kali’s] desire to become a philosopher was
blissful Divine Mother, for knowledge, devo- greatly stimulated when he read for the first
tion, discernment, and dispassion. It leaves an time in Wilson’s History of India that Shankara-
indelible mark on anyone’s mind that an edu- charya propounded the Advaita system of phil-
osophy. His perusal of the Gita served only to
cated Calcutta, now Kolkata, boy, who would
intensify all the more his yearning to follow in
not blindly accept anything without ascertaining the footsteps of the great Acharyas and to study
the truth, accepted both the truth of Advaita and their philosophies. But along with this ever-in-
the worship of images not as idolatry but as the creasing thirst for acquiring spiritual wisdom,
worship of the ‘image of Consciousness’. he felt as well a strong urge to widen the bounds
Towards the end of his mortal existence, Sri of his intellectual knowledge by studying the
Ramakrishna one day called Narendra to his side masterpieces of great savants of the East and the
and looking intently at him in his eyes, passed West. Even at this tender age he finished read-
his spiritual power into him, saying that by the ing not only such abstruse books as John Stuart
Mill’s Logic, Three Essays on Religion, Herschel’s
strength of that power he will do great good and
Astronomy, Ganot’s Physics, Lewis’ History of
that he [Sri Ramakrishna] had thereby become a Philosophy, and Hamilton’s Philosophy, but also
fakir. By ‘becoming a fakir’, it should be under- the great works of Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti, Ba-
stood that he had given Narendra all that was nabhatta, and other eminent poets of India, a
necessary for him to work out the mission of fact which gives ample evidence of his prodi-
spreading spirituality. gious intellect and extraordinary genius.
30 PB January 2020
His intellectual allegiance was not con-

fined to any particular school of thought. He
developed even at an early age a remarkable
sympathy for all faiths. That is why we find
him so intently listening to the illuminating
lectures delivered by the distinguished leaders
and exponents of Christianity, Brahmoism, and
Hinduism. In 1882–83, he attended a series of
public lectures delivered by the noted Hindu
philosopher, Shashadhar Tarkachudamani,
on the six systems of Hindu philosophy. He
was deeply impressed when he heard his preg-
nant discourse on the Yoga system of Patan-
jali and learnt about the infinite possibilities of
the human soul. Thenceforth he made a special
study of some of the most authoritative books
on the subject of yoga and felt a strong desire Swami Abhedananda
to practise Yoga.7
experiences. … Sri Ramakrishna was overjoyed
One day he expressed a desire to learn the to hear the words of the boy and said, ‘You were
Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali from him [Shashad- a great Yogi in your previous birth. This is your
har], but Shashadhar told Kali that he had no last birth. I shall initiate you into the mysteries
time and referred him to another renowned of yoga practices.9
scholar, Kalibar Vedantavagish. Kali’s desire to
learn the scriptures was phenomenal. He went Years later, while at the Baranagore monas-
to Vedantavagish, who was then translating Pa- tery, Kali used very often to shut himself up in
tanjali’s Yoga Aphorisms from Sanskrit into Ben- his own room for intense spiritual practices and
gali. Vedantavagish told Kali that he had no study of Vedanta and Western Philosophy which
spare time to teach him the Yoga Sutras; but he evoked the admiration of all and earned for Kali
could explain the sutras to him in the mornings the epithets, ‘“Kali Tapasvi” (the ascetic Kali)’
while his attendant gave him an oil massage
and ‘Kali Vedanti’ Kali, the Vedantin (244).
before his bath. Kali began to visit the pandit
every morning; while he read the aphorisms, On 27 October 1896, Abhedananda gave his
the pandit would explain them. Thus he com- maiden speech before the learned audience of
pleted his study of yoga philosophy. Kali then the Christo-Theosophical Society at Blooms-
bought a copy of Shiva Samhita and learned bury Square in London. Swamiji was highly
the disciplines of hatha yoga, kundalini yoga, pleased and said: ‘Even if I perish on this plane,
pranayama, and raja yoga. He had a desire to be my message will be sounded through these dear
absorbed in samadhi through khechari mudra, a lips and the world will hear it.’10
special technique of hatha yoga; but he was told Swami Ramakrishnananda, Shashi, also de-
not to practise any of the methods described in
serves special mention. It was in Chennai that
hatha yoga treatises without being properly in-
structed by a competent yogi.8 Swamiji first intimated to eager listeners his plan
The boy now began to search for a suita- of campaign. Some of the citizens approached
ble teacher who would make him a real yogi Swamiji with the request that he should kindly
and teach him how to attain to the Nirvikalpa send one of his brother-disciples to stay in Chen-
Samadhi, the crowning glory of man’s spiritual nai and establish a monastery which would
PB January 2020 31
Swami Ramakrishnananda Swami Saradananda
become the centre of the religious teachings and the passing of years. He got carbuncle on his
philanthropic activities outlined by him in his back for which he had to be operated several
addresses delivered in India and abroad. By way times. In none of the operations did he allow
of reply, Swamiji said: ‘I shall send you one who himself to be under chloroform. He had such a
is more orthodox than your most orthodox brah- wonderful capacity to dissociate his mind from
mins of the South and who is at the same time the body-idea. It was this swami of great erudi-
incomparable in performing worship, scriptural tion and spiritual attainment who declared as
knowledge, and meditation on God.’11 The very life was ebbing out: ‘Brahman is real. The world
next steamer from Kolkata to Chennai brought is real. The world is Brahman. The life-force is
Ramakrishnananda. established in Truth.’14
Swami Turiyananda, Hari, is yet another dis- Swami Saradananda, Sharat, was another
tinguished disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Swamiji accomplished disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He
had a great admiration for this brother-disci- undertook the tantrika form of spiritual prac-
ple. In a letter from America he wrote in 1895: tice being initiated into the practices by Ishvar
‘Whenever I think of the wonderful renunci- Chandra Chakravarty, his uncle and the father
ation of Hari, about his steadiness of intellect of Shashi. The goal of the tantrika discipline is to
and forbearance, I get a new access of strength.’12 see the Divine Mother in all. That he succeeded
At San Francisco, Swamiji told the students: ‘I in this can be understood from what he wrote in
have only talked, but I shall send you one of my the dedication of his illuminating Bengali book,
brethren who will show you how to live what I Bharate Shakti Puja, ‘Mother Worship in India’:
have taught.’13 Their expectation was more than ‘The book is dedicated with great devotion to
fulfilled for in Swami Turiyananda they found those by whose grace the author has been blessed
a living embodiment of Vedanta. In 1911 he de- with the realisation of the special manifestation
veloped diabetes which began to increase with of the Divine Mother in every woman on earth.’15
32 PB January 2020
Trigunatitananda, Saradaprasanna, how to con-

vert even a mundane lecture session into spiritual
activity. A lesson or a lecture was ‘to be taken
sincerely as a spiritual service and religious prac-
tice for one’s own spiritual advancement’. In pre-
paring themselves, the students were to ‘meditate
that the grace of God was being conferred on the
subject, that it was being sanctified by the divine
touch’. The subject was to be received through
prayer and at the time of delivery, the speaker
was to remember that he was ‘talking to God,
that God was the only audience’.16
(To be continued)
References
1. His Eastern and Western Disciples, The Life of
Swami Vivekananda, 2 vols (Kolkata: Advaita
Ashrama, 2004), 1.102.
Swami Turiyananda
2. Complete Works of Swami Abhedananda, 10 vols
Sri Ramakrishna had once asked him: ‘How (Calcutta: Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1970),
would you like to realise God? What divine vi- 10.227.
3. Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.8.
sions do you prefer to see in meditation?’ Sharat 4. Rev. F N Peloubet, The Front Line of the Sunday
had replied: ‘I do not want to see any particular School Movement (Boston: W A Wilde, 1904),
form of God in meditation. I want to see Him 88.
as manifested in all creatures of the world. I 5. Karl Marx, ‘Introduction’, ‘A Contribution to
the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right’, The
do not like visions.’ Sri Ramakrishna smiled
Marx-Engels Reader, ed. Robert C Tucker (New
and told him in reply: ‘That is the last word York: Norton, 1972), 12 <https://www.marx-
in spiritual attainment. You cannot have it all ists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-
at once.’ The response to this was: ‘But I won’t hpr/intro.htm> accessed 01 December 2019.
be satisfied with anything short of that. I shall 6. See The Life of Swami Vivekananda, 1.101–2.
7. The Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, ed. Swami
trudge on in the path of religious practice till Gambhirananda (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama,
that blessed state arrives’ (173). Once an atten- 2010), 241.
dant asked Swami Saradananda casually what he 8. Swami Chetanananda, God Lived with Them
had attained spiritually. At another time Sharat (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2011), 443.
9. The Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, 242–3.
told this very attendant that ‘whatever he had
10. The Life of Swami Vivekananda, 2.136.
written in Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga about 11. God Lived with Them, 283.
spiritual things, he had experienced directly in 1 2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
his own life’ (193). And in that book he has at vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
places delineated the highest experiences of 1997), 6.323.
13. The Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, 298.
spiritual life! 14. God Lived with Them, 392.
Let us consider the expression, ‘spiritu- 15. The Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, 177.
alising everyday life’. We get from Swami 16. God Lived with Them, 509–10.
PB January 2020 33
44
Visions of Advaita Vedanta

Swami Kritarthananda
S ri Ramakrishna says:
Once a man entered a wood and saw a small
animal on a tree. He came back and told an-
other man that he had seen a creature of a beau-
tiful red colour on a certain tree. The second
This is a well-known illustration cited very
often by the Vedanta teachers in explaining the
inexplicable nature of God. Each person de-
scribes God after his own conception. In this
simile the person living below the tree is the
man replied: ‘When I went into the wood, I Vedantin who clearly knows that the visions of
also saw that animal. But why do you call it red?
all the contenders are partially true. In fact, the
It is green.’ Another man who was present con-
tradicted them both and insisted that it was ‘thing’ all of them saw would at times assume
yellow. Presently others arrived and contended no hue at all, that is, exist beyond all truths also.
that it was grey, violet, blue, and so forth and
so on. At last they started quarrelling among A Great Riddle
themselves. To settle the dispute they all went To all ordinary levels of intellect or reason-
to the tree. They saw a man sitting under it. On ing, Advaita Vedanta is the most complicated
being asked, he replied: ‘Yes, I live under this philosophy among all the six systems in Indian
tree and I know the animal very well. All your philosophy. Not only from the standpoint of
descriptions are true. Sometimes it appears red,
sometimes yellow, and at other times blue, vio- reasoning, but also in points of conclusion, the
let, grey, and so forth. It is a chameleon. And Advaita system excels all other philosophies. To
sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has a a beginner, the final verdict of Advaita reasoning
colour, and now it has none.’1 seems really weird, outlandish. Readers of Swami
Vivekananda’s life are well acquainted with the
Swami Kritarthananda is a monk at Ramakrishna fact how, in his younger days when he came to Sri
Math, Belur Math. Ramakrishna and construed the latter’s saying as
34 PB January 2020
Visions of Advaita Vedanta 45
That all was God—unmeaning talking!

‘God pervades all’, he burst into laughter with his
friends on that issue. He was also a keen seeker But this I say,
of God, albeit a beginner. And although a simple Remember pray,
‘divine touch’ of the Master metamorphosed the
whole world before his eyes instantaneously into That God is true, all else is nothing,
an undivided single Existence, Swamiji’s body This world’s a dream
and mind were not mature enough at that time
Though true it seem,
to hold that ineffable realisation. That being the
case with a spiritual stalwart like Swamiji, whom And only truth is He the living!
Sri Ramakrishna addressed at the first sight as The real me is none but He,
Rishi Nara reborn, it is needless to say how rid-
And never, never matter changing! (8.166).
dling it is to all other intellectual minds.2
But the scenario radically changed in later This is exactly the conclusion of Advaita Ved-
years. Swamiji realised the truth of that great anta: God is true, all else is nothing, and not that
conclusion of Advaita Vedanta to its very depth. ‘all is God’. But this difference between the two
The realisation made him all the more spon- phrases is so subtle as to be lost to the ordinary
taneous, so much so that in every dealing with intellect. When one says that only God is true,
his close friends, even when he was in a lighter none else exists, it emphasises that God only
mood, he continued to give out that truth. In exists—not the visible universe; but when it is
a poetic way, once he jotted down some stan- said that ‘all is God’, emphasis goes to ‘all’—and
zas depicting the song of the free to Mary Hale, not to God. That is why to the realised soul this
one of the daughters in the Hale family. The last phrase becomes ‘unmeaning talking’.
stanza ran thus:
From dreams awake, from bonds be free, Cracking a Riddle
Be not afraid. This mystery, A novice in the Vedanta studies will first find
My shadow, cannot frighten me, oneself surrounded from all sides by the mist of
such riddles. Vedanta may be called a diary of
Know once for all that I am He.3 spiritual realisations of various wise persons of
Sister Mary could not catch the deep signifi- ancient India. It was impossible for them to nar-
cance of it. So she replied in another poem: ‘For rate every phase of realisation verbatim, because
you have made them clearly see / The one main narration is possible only within the range of the
truth that “all is He”’ (8.165). sense world, while the Vedantic realisation takes
In reply Swamiji proceeded to convey the an aspirant beyond sense-organs, mind, and so
truth: on.4 Those realised sages honestly confessed their
So Mary Hale, inability to describe that with all exactitude. No
worldly illustration would suffice to indicate pre-
Allow me tell, cisely that reality. Can one see one’s eyes without
You mar my doctrines wronging, baulking. a mirror or some other medium? Still, as far as
their organ of speech went, they tried to give
I never taught
a verbal sketch of their visions in the form of
Such queer thought worldly similes.
PB January 2020 35
For example, one of the Upanishads says: ‘It are based on unconditional faith, obedience, be-
moves, yet it moves not; it is near, yet far; it exists lief in scriptures, teachers, and the like. Vedanta
in the innermost core of all, as also it covers straightaway points to the truth. Swamiji ad-
everything outside.’5 Statements like this are rife vised the parents and guardians of children: ‘Do
throughout the Vedanta literature. A novice cannot teach these things [fearful ideas] to others
not but find in these apparently contradictory through fear of society and public opinion …
truths, a source of fun or at most a riddle. But to What is there to be taught more in religion than
the expert eye, it all is nothing but truth. Vedanta the oneness of the universe and faith in one’s
is full of visions that can bring us great bliss in self ?’6 In fact, it is scientific reasoning with its
life. When one succeeds in cracking an age-old positive approach that dispels all fears.
riddle, one becomes immensely full of bliss. To Besides, Vedantic teaching allows an aspirant
put it in the other way, as soon as one cracks a to make a full experiment in a laboratory when
riddle, one discovers a vision of Vedanta. it is called for. To illustrate this, the Chhandogya
As a matter of fact, Vedanta is a subject full of Upanishad presents many such examples. In one
visions made by the sages of yore. Some of these of them the Master asks the disciple to bring a
visions are being put below. They help human- glass of water, add a spoon of salt to it, and stir it.
kind solve all problems in this worldly life that After the disciple does so, he is asked to taste the
cause misery. After discussing them in brief, we glass-water from the top, middle, and the bot-
will discuss their utility in human society in re- tom portion successively. The disciple obeys and
spective turns. reports the nature of the taste as equally saline
everywhere. But the brine water being saturated,
Vision 1: Scientific Outlook of Vedanta there was no trace of salt seen anywhere. From
A special trait of Vedanta is its scientific ap- this phenomenon, the preceptor concludes that
proach in all walks of life. It stands on the firm Brahman is in the same way ‘saturated’ every-
foundation of reason plus realisation in addition where in the universe. In fact, there was nothing
to scriptural support. Let us take an example else than Brahman. Brahman is both immanent
from life. We all hear such moral advice from and transcendent. This means Brahman is be-
elders and well-wishers, ‘Do not steal others’ yond nature as well as present intrinsically in it
possessions, do not harm others’, and the like. like the thread all over the cloth. A cloth cannot
All religions corroborate this teaching of being be imagined without thread.
moral. But the moment anyone raises the ques- Similarly, in order to demonstrate how the
tion ‘why’ against such advice, no other religion physical body, annamaya, affects the pranic
but Vedanta can withstand the shock with the body, pranamaya, as well as the mental body,
answer: ‘Because others are none but your own manomaya, one Master bids the disciple to grad-
self, your own reflection; by harming others one ually reduce his food intake in fifteen instal-
harms oneself.’ ments until on the last day he has to go without
Here, it is noteworthy that no incurring of sin food, and on each day of such reduction, he asks
is mentioned, no threat of hellfire that weakens the disciple to repeat whatever Vedic text he had
one’s mind. Isn’t it a scientific approach? In this learnt earlier. The disciple felt the gradual reduc-
context the word ‘scientific’ means a firm basis tion of his memory power until on the last day
of logic or reason. Whereas the other religions he could not remember anything at all. Then,
36 PB January 2020
day by day for fifteen days he is allowed to take out the unshielded truth even risking humiliation
one morsel more than the previous day until on from his fellow friends. But the Master felicitated
the last day he eats to his fill; and the disciple was him saying that only a brahmana boy can speak
again able to reproduce as before all the Vedic out such a bald truth that is damaging to himself.
texts he learnt. What experiment can be more lo- Later, he was entrusted the task of tending five
gical and reasonable than the ones cited herein? hundred cows of the hermitage to the wilderness
Are these in any way inferior to laboratory ex- and not to return until their number swelled to
periments? Thus, it is established that Vedantic double. The boy was left alone in the company
outlook is scientific. of the cows, served them with unflinching devo-
What is the practical utility one gets from this tion and love, and at long last an unearthly voice
vision? It is that religion as explained through spoke through a bull addressing the boy, thereby
Vedanta is actually a combination of religion imparting him a part of the supreme knowledge.
and science, and carries science to the limits that In succession, a bird and other animals also im-
science alone cannot reach. People will discover parted the rest of the knowledge to the boy. Actu-
that science and religion are compatible with ally, it was his purified heart that took the role of
each other and that religion does not consist in various creatures in the outside world who taught
doctrines or dogmas or blind belief, or mere faith him the truth. At last when the boy returned to
in holy books, or on persons with supernatural the Master the latter exclaimed at one glance, ‘My
power. The wrong notion about the abstruseness son, your face shines like a realised soul!’8 This
or complication in religious understanding will anecdote gives a clear picture highlighting the
be dispelled once for all, and more and more fact that a brahmana’s greatest possession is truth-
people will take to religion as an indispensable fulness under all circumstances. Empowered by
necessity of life. truth the aspirant can reach the goal.
The Katha Upanishad also cites the story
Vision 2: Triumph of Truth Alone of a fearless boy of eight years who dared to go
Vedanta boldly declares that truth is the begin- to meet the king of death, Yama, to know the
ning and end, the alpha and omega of spiritual truth. With its characteristic boldness Vedanta
life. It is one of the prime requisites through launches therein the age-old, eternal, existential
which one can ascend the mansion of spiritu- question of humanity in the form of a dialogue
ality. The Mundaka Upanishad boldly proclaims between the little prudent boy Nachiketa and
this very fact: ‘Truth alone triumphs, not false- the king of death. The boy asked: ‘Some people
hood. The path to divinity lies through the path say that the soul endures even after death, while
of truth alone.’7 To uphold this lofty principle some say that it does not. Can you teach me the
Vedanta posits innumerable stories from life dem- secret of this?’
onstrating how far an aspirant should sacrifice This is a timeless question that assails every
everything for the sake of truth. We come across human being from the very dawn of civilisa-
the anecdote of the truthful Satyakama Jabala of tion. No other question has ever been asked a
uncertain parentage in the Chhandogya Upani- greater number of times; no other question is
shad. At the age of five the boy went to the her- so inseparably connected with our existence.
mitage of a sage to live there as a student. As the Whenever we see our near and dear ones die,
preceptor enquired of his lineage the boy spoke this existential question springs up from within
PB January 2020 37
so on. But Nachiketa was quite introspective

and wisely rejected all those offers just for the
sake of that ultimate knowledge for which he
was hankering.
Here we get a very developed idea of renun-
ciation and Vedic morality that until one has
conquered the desire for enjoyment, Truth will
not shine upon him. So long as the vain desires
of our senses are clamouring inside and dragging
us outwards every moment, the Truth will not
come to our hearts. Vedanta is uncompromising
in this respect. Thus, truth is both the end and
the means in the visions of Vedanta.
Thus, the second vision will convince people
to embrace truth so as to solve one’s existential
problem, an unavoidable necessity to live this
life, stick to a new undertaking with steadfast-
ness, and boldly approach new ventures in life in
the face of all obstructions and threats.
Vision 3: Fearlessness
Vedanta is that sort of a religion which, in the
language of Swamiji, ‘does not depend upon
books or teachers or prophets or saviours, and
our hearts, ‘Where do the departed go?’ But that which does not make us dependent in this
the next moment our minds are swept away in or in any other lives upon others’.9 That is why
pursuit of other cares of life and we forget that he further reiterates: ‘There is no question of
important question. believing. … Believe nothing and disbelieve
Thus, the greatest truth of life remains un- everything—that is the first step. Dare to be a
answered to the common folk. But Nachiketa rationalist. Dare to follow reason wherever it
was made of a distinct nature. The king of death leads you’ (9.215). In other words, the Vedantic
felt that Nachiketa had asked the greatest ques- message exhorts everybody to become fearless.
tion in the world. The answer was with the king The moment one believes everything without
of death, but was the student ready to grasp it? question, fear sneaks into his personality.
Was the question a genuine one or just a freak The great Brihadaranyaka Upanishad nar-
of the fleeting mind? Was he ready to renounce rates one such story in which the aspirant, even
all desires of the world for that one Truth? So after renouncing everything for the sake of delv-
it was time for Yama to test the grit of the stu- ing into the greatest truth of life, evinces fear
dent, and he started tempting the student with at one point of a dialogue between a couple,
a number of wants one can covet in this life— Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi. Fear does not
name, fame, power, long-life, enjoyment, and leave one easily, it being an existential problem
38 PB January 2020
of all living beings. When Yajnavalkya con- freedom. In the language of Vedanta, this human
fided to his wife of his desire to renounce the birth is another chance to use up all the effects
world after equally distributing all his wealth of karma to become liberated from this unend-
between her and another wife Katyayani, Mai- ing and painful cycle of birth and death. A per-
treyi said: ‘What shall I do with that which can- son creates his own destiny. A good karma yields
not give me immortality?’ Yajnavalkya became good result, while a bad karma creates bad re-
immensely pleased with his wife and proceeded sult. But one cannot say with all certainty that
to impart her the ultimate knowledge about a good karma yields only good effect. The fact
the Truth. He proceeded step by step towards is that there are always mixed results involved
that end. in all types of work. This has been declared by
At the last stage of advice as Yajnavalkya said Sri Krishna in the Bhagavadgita: ‘All endeav-
that the individual consciousness loses its sep- ours, good or bad, are covered with evil like fire
arateness from the supreme Consciousness and covered by smoke.’10
merges in the latter, Maitreyi said she felt con- Then what is the way out? The way out is
fused by the statement since she was scared to the way in, that is, to dwell on the inner self
lose her individuality which means extinction. and do everything for its sake. This technique
In reply, Yajnavalkya said that it was her mis- to convert all works into a way to freedom has
conception. One does not become extinct after been specially named by Sri Krishna as buddhi-
merging in pure Consciousness. One rather at- yoga. It is a modified form of karma yoga. It
tains immortality thereby. A raindrop falls in the needs only a threefold change in our attitude:
ocean; seeing the vastness of the ocean it cries towards our own selves, towards the world, and
out: ‘Oh no, I am dying.’ Does it actually die, towards the work in hand. All work can be di-
or gets merged in the whole? This knowledge of vinised through such attitude. What good result
oneness with the whole makes one fearless, bold, does such attitude fetch? It encourages one to
and immortal. think confidently in the lines laid down beauti-
The phenomenon of death is always an in- fully by Swamiji: ‘You must always remember
triguing question to us all. What attitude does that each word, thought, and deed, lays up a
Vedanta have towards this event of death? Ac- store for you and that as the bad thoughts and
cording to Vedanta, death means the dissolution bad works are ready to spring upon you like ti-
of the body; the body will go back to its original gers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the
state of matter called the five elements. But the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with
sum total of the actions remains undestroyed in the power of a hundred thousand angels to de-
its subtle form. Each work we do, each thought fend you always and for ever.’11 It is just a cor-
we think produces an impression, called in San- roboration of Acharya Shankara’s message in his
skrit ‘samskara’, upon the mind; and the sum memorable commentary on the Gita that bears
total of all these impressions becomes a tremen- mention in this context: ‘As there is the possi-
dous force called character. Thus, the character bility of the persistence of sins which were in-
of every person is the resultant force of all ac- curred in the past but have not yet commenced
tions one has committed. yielding results, similarly there can be the pos-
Accordingly, one takes birth again in places or sibility of the persistence of virtues which have
surroundings suitable for one’s progress towards not yet begun bearing fruits.’12
PB January 2020 39
So, the third vision of fearlessness gives one impure mind. This is the central idea of all the
the impetus to give up forever age-old super- schools of Vedanta.
stitions in the name of religion. It is seen that This doctrine of Vedanta has also immense
when people meet with success, they feel de- practical value in human life. Firstly, it gives a
lighted and claim all credit to themselves. But new definition of religion. The word ‘religion’ is
when faced with repeated failure and threat- very difficult to define. Semitic religions mean
ened with nature’s frown, they become pessi- by it the absolute rule of the world by a super-
mistic and accept it all as the result of his past natural being called God. The Sanskrit word
sins. This attitude in its turn brings in utter dis- for religion is ‘dharma’. This word gives a wide
appointment and depression. But the moment range of meanings. Kanada, the founder of the
one learns that this world ‘is a great gymnasium Vaisheshika school, defines the word ‘dharma’ as
in which you and I, and millions of souls must ‘that through which abhyudaya, material pros-
come and get exercises, and make ourselves perity, and nihshreyasa, spiritual emancipation,
strong and perfect’,13 all deluded concepts of are attained’.
fate and destiny will take to heels. The aspir- According to the Greek philosopher Aris-
ant will then muster up all courage to brave totle, religion implies well-being, meaning the
through all obstacles, showing the courage to activity of the soul’s powers in accordance with
be human. reason. It can be achieved by the balanced use
of the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic powers
Vision 4: The Potential Divinity of person. This is exactly what the word abhyu-
of the Soul daya conveys in the Indian context. And nih-
The one great idea that comes out through shreyasa means total freedom from all bondage
masses of superstition in every country and in including, not only gross sensual desires, but also
every religion is the momentous conclusion that the subtle desires for name, fame, and the like.
the human being is divine, that divinity is our Swamiji defined religion as the ‘manifestation
real nature. Whatever else comes to us is, in the of the Divinity already in man’ (4.358). Here by
language of Vedanta, mere superimposition. This the word ‘Divinity’ he meant Brahman, which
inherent divinity has to be called out, and it will is inseparable from the individual self or Atman.
work itself out. We have just to seek, and it will In the second place, this potential divinity
manifest itself. All the schools of Vedanta are of the soul gives a new existential philosophy
unanimous in this one matter. They believe that of life. Vedanta does not believe in the concept
there is an ultimate spiritual reality called Brah- of sin, which is ‘a standing libel on human na-
man, which forms the substratum of the universe ture’ (1.11). Swamiji went one step further and
and of all individual souls. However, the schools cried out: ‘Blessed are my sins. Through sin I
differ in matters of the nature of Brahman and have learned virtue. It is my sins, as much as my
its relationship with the individual souls. They virtues, that have made me what I am today. And
agree on the point that every soul is a part or now I am the preacher of virtue. Why do you
reflection of Brahman. This knowledge of one’s dwell on the weak side of man’s nature? Don’t
real nature either remains covered by ignorance you know that the greatest blackguard often has
or is contracted. The evil or bad element in every some virtue that is wanting in the saint?’14 What
individual is not one’s soul or Atman, but the an invigorating exhortation! Even a dead person
40 PB January 2020
will perhaps stand up and start walking on his workshop, the study, the farmyard, and the field
own, enlivened by such message. So this idea of are as true and fit scenes for the meeting of God
potential divinity of the soul gives a person the with man as the cell of the monk or the door of
strength to overcome all weakness. the temple’ (1.xv).
Life is not a prison but a battlefield, and every In fine, this doctrine of intrinsic divinity of
person has within oneself enough strength to the Self saves all souls from self-alienation, feel-
come out of it victorious. Vedanta makes use of ing of uncreative, listless life, and meaningless-
the psychological phenomenon ‘what we think ness. When one discovers one’s real source of
we become’.15 The remedy for weakness is not existence, it becomes a channel for the expres-
brooding over it but thinking of strength. This sion of glory and power of the Atman. Then life
will help one solve the existential problems of will also appear meaningful and worth living.
life. Vedanta says that the only prayer we should The Atman is full of glory, power, and purity. If
have is: ‘I am not under the sway of any super- everyone believes that all power is within, one
stition; I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss abso- can do anything and everything. People of the
lute; I am the blissful One.’ This is the only way West have gained much by developing confi-
to reach the goal, to tell ourselves as well as to dence in their inherent power. Not only so, but
everyone else that we all are divine. As we go a person will also elevate in moral and ethical
on repeating this, strength will come. Gradually standards by this doctrine.
this truth will take possession of our hearts and But how can this idea of potential divinity
course through our veins. Then all delusion will enter all the strata of the society in general?
vanish, loads of ignorance will vanish, all good- Swamiji himself gave out the answer:
ness will come to such a soul when it wakes up These conceptions of the Vedanta must come
to that consciousness. out, must remain not only in the forest, not
In the third place, this idea of potential div- only in the cave, but they must come out to
inity also gives a new philosophy of work. In work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit,
spite of Sri Krishna’s masterly exposition in the and in the cottage of the poor man, with the
fishermen that are catching fish, and with the
Gita, Hinduism had never developed a compre-
students that are studying. They call to every
hensive philosophy of work even as a means, man, woman, and child, whatever be their oc-
much less as a goal. Work was considered at most cupation, wherever they may be. The way has
a dispensable first step in the spiritual path. The been shown. … If the fisherman thinks that he
Mimamsa philosophers had their work phil- is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if
osophy just on the basis of Vedic rituals, which the student thinks that he is the Spirit, he will
they meant by the word ‘karma’. Swamiji took be a better student. If the lawyer thinks that he
hints from the teachings of the Gita and in- is the Spirit, he will be a better lawyer, and so
cluded even the secular activities of a person in on (3.245).
the concept of karma yoga. He made no distinc- This is the utility of this fourth vision.
tion between the sacred and the secular. Accord-
ing to Sister Nivedita, in Swamiji’s views, ‘To Vision 5: Principle of
labour is to pray. To conquer is to renounce. Life Harmony of Religions
is itself religion. To have and to hold is as stern Another salient feature of the Vedantic vision
a trust as to quit and to avoid. … To him, the is its principle of harmony. Vedanta gives this
PB January 2020 41
unique message that we must allow the infinite Vedanta has no difficulty in accepting the ac-
variation in religious thought and not try to curacy of scientific methods, and its authority
bring everybody to the same opinion. The goal over the vyavaharika, empirical, truths of the
of life according to Vedanta is direct spiritual physical universe. But regarding the param-
experience, aparoksha anubhuti. This concept arthika, absolute truth, Vedanta is independent
of the common goal of life tends to foster the of empirical beliefs and follows the subjective
spirit of harmony, because the proof of one re- methods of enquiry and deep introspection
ligion depends upon the proof of all the others. called dhyana and nididhyasana, leading finally
Vedanta accepts three degrees of reality: Vyava- to direct realisation. As a result, Vedanta does
harika, empirical; Pratibhasika, apparent; and not clash with the scientific method. Both deal
Paramarthika, absolute. This view of reality had with different planes of reality and have differ-
formed the backdrop of all creative activities in ent criteria of truth. Science does not derive its
ancient India. authority from Vedanta, nor does Vedanta derive
Acharya Shankara gave this doctrine a philo- its authority from science. Both are independent
sophical basis with his theory of non-dual nature disciplines but they supplement each other in
of consciousness. In modern times, the practical giving the total picture of truth.
significance of this approach in the field of reli- This principle of harmony has two important
gion was Sri Ramakrishna’s discovery. By practis- practical applications: interreligious under-
ing the spiritual disciplines in various religious standing and the creation of a universal religion.
paths, he came to the conclusion that they all lead The former is vitally necessary today for com-
to super-sensuous experiences of bliss and fulfil- munal harmony, which is a major socio-political
ment. Hence, each is equally true. This idea can problem in today’s world. The concept of univer-
set at rest all controversies among the various sects sal religion is based on three principles. The first
in Hinduism, thus bringing about the integration is the principle of direct experience; the second
of Hinduism. Not only so, but it will bring har- principle says that universal religion can be cre-
mony among the religions of the world too. ated only by accepting the best elements of all
Along with the principle of harmony of reli- the religions. Each religion has made a special
gions, Vedanta also envisions another principle contribution to world culture and these contri-
called the principle of harmony of science and butions must become the universal property of
religion. We have already discussed this point in all. The third principle underlying universal reli-
brief in the beginning of this article. Yet, some gion is that it should suit the different tempera-
more points are necessary to mention here for ments of peoples.
clarity of understanding. The term ‘science’ is
used in two senses. (a) It means the scientific Vision 6: Unity in Diversity
method which consists of accurate collection Vedanta tries to find out the ultimate unity of
of facts, their classification, and the discovery of things in the midst of all diversity. It is expressed
their interrelationship based on unbiased judge- in this interrogative way: ‘What is that by know-
ment and experiment. (b) It is used to denote ing which everything else is known?’16 Every
the corpus of systematic knowledge, including science, all human knowledge, is based upon
hypothesis, theories, and laws, concerning the finding unity in the midst of diversity. Nearly
physical universe. every chapter in the Upanishads starts with
42 PB January 2020
dualistic teaching, upasana. God is first taught

as someone who is the creator of this universe,
its preserver, and unto God everything goes at
last. God is the one to be worshipped, the ruler,
the guide of nature, external and internal, yet
appearing as if God were outside of nature and
external. One step further, and we find the same
teacher teaching that this God is not outside
of nature, but immanent in nature. And at last
both ideas are discarded, and the conclusion is:
whatever is real is God; there is no difference.
‘Tattvamasi; you are that.’17
There is no compromise, no fear of others’
opinion. Bold truth has been taught in bold lan-
guage. This boldness is one of the characteris-
tics of Vedanta. It declares openly: ‘This Atman
cannot be reached by mere oratorical skill, not
by the power of intellect, nor even by the study
of the scriptures.’18 No other religion dares to
say that Truth cannot be reached merely by the
study of scriptures, because they are either scrip-
ture-based or personality-based. As we have al-
ready mentioned before, this boldness is one of immanence of the spirit proves the solidarity
the signal visions of Vedanta. of the universe.
This principle of unity in diversity points From the moment we learn to make this prin-
to another cardinal tenet of Vedanta, namely, ciple of solidarity our own property, all sense of
the basic solidarity of the universe. This soli- hatred and jealousy towards each other will van-
darity or oneness of the universe is apparent ish altogether. Even caste problems can be freed
at all levels of existence—material, mental, so- from its sinister effect of disparity in privilege. In
cial, and spiritual. At the material level, sci- practical life, if privilege cannot be completely
ence has discovered the whole universe as one avoided, let the lower class people get more
mass, one ocean of matter, in which we all, the chances, more facilities than the higher ones.
sun and the moon, and everything else are but The latter have been enjoying till now so much
the names of different whirlpools. Mentally of privilege at the cost of their less-privileged fel-
speaking, it is one universal ocean of thought low beings. So, to keep the balance, let the circle
in which we are similar little whirlpools. And be turned the other way round. Swamiji said in
as spirit, it moves not, changes not. It is the this context: ‘Let the poor fellow enjoy himself
one unchangeable, unbroken, homogeneous a little, and then he will raise himself up, and re-
Atman. To put it in another way, the whole nunciation will come to him of itself.’19 These are
universe, in spite of all its diversity, is one in the some of the practical utilities of the sixth vision
supreme Spirit that pervades everything. This of Vedanta.
PB January 2020 43
Vision 7: Principle of Direct Experience magicians, or astrologers. One need not believe
whatever the priest says if one realises the truth
In this short discourse, we limit our scope within for oneself.
only seven visions among many others, which Swamiji wanted to propagate a religion that
Vedanta points to the posterity for its all-round will be equally acceptable to all minds. It must be
welfare. This is only the last of those seven vi- equally philosophic, jnana; equally emotional,
sions we intend to put herein. bhakti; equally mystic, dhyana; and equally con-
In the spiritual history of the world, Swamiji ducive to action; karma. The Vedantic visions
for the first time made direct experience, anu mentioned above point to the fact that such a
bhuti, the sole test and criterion of the validity religion is already there in Vedanta. Even in this
of religious truths. Before him the earlier mystics age of globalisation and consumerism, the Ve-
restricted mysticism to minor movements and dantic concepts will shower in torrents the elixir
groups. Swamiji made mysticism the main cur- of life with a completely new outlook. P
rent of religion and showed that everyone can
References
and should attain superconscious experience, and
1. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
thereby become a prophet, a seer, in one’s own Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
right. In other words, he said that transcendental 2002), 149.
truth can be realised by everybody. This prop- 2. His Eastern and Western Disciples, The Life of
osition at once refutes the mistaken notion that Swami Vivekananda, 2 vols (Kolkata: Advaita
Ashrama, 2008), 95–7.
Vedanta is esoteric, rahasya-vidya, fit for only a
3. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
limited few; and on the other, it infuses great 9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989;
mental strength in an aspirant. The new idea then 9, 1997), 8.164.
dawns upon one’s mind that one need not have to 4. See Kena Upanishad, 1.3.
depend helplessly on any other people for welfare. 5. Isha Upanishad, 5.
In the Brihadaranyka Upanishad the sage 7. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.6.
Yajnavalkya exhorts: ‘Atma va are drashtavyah 8. Chhandogya Upanishad, 4.9.2: ‘Brahmavid iva
shrotavyo, mantavyo, nididhyasitavyah; this vai saumya bhasi, ko nu tvanushashaseti.’
Atman has to be realised by listening to the 9. Complete Works, 8.523.
scriptural verdicts, pondering over them, and 10. Gita, 18.48.
later meditating and relating them to one’s own 12. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
life.’20 If one fills oneself with the thought of 18:66: ‘Yatha purvopattanam duritanam anara-
one’s almightiness, one’s majesty and glory, then bdha-phalanam sambhavah, tatha punyanam
all one’s actions will be magnified, transformed, anarabdha-phalanam syat sambhavah.’
and deified by the very power of that thought. 14. Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in the
And against the wrong notion that Vedanta is West: New Discoveries, 6 vols (Calcutta: Advaita
the personal property of a handful of brahmana Ashrama, 1985), 5.158.
priests, Vedanta itself exhorts that this truth can 15. Complete Works, 8.19.
be realised by each individual, and that each one 16. Mundaka Upanishad, 1.1.3.
17. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7.
of us can become rishis or seers. This will free a 18. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.2.3.
person from the clutches of the priest-class and 19. Complete Works, 3.150.
prevent one from having recourse to sorcerers, 20. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 2.4.5.
44 PB January 2020
55
Advaita Vedanta: ‘Living, Poetic in

Everyday Life’—Swami Vivekananda’s
Comprehensive Vision
Swami Atmapriyananda
T
he following three remarkable I want to give them dry, hard reason, sof-
statements by Swami Vivekananda in re- tened in the sweetest syrup of love and made
gard to his ‘life’s work’, his mission, and spicy with intense work, and cooked in the
ideal are worthy of deep contemplation in order kitchen of Yoga, so that even a baby can easily
digest it (5.104).
to understand his comprehensive vision of
Advaita as a living and vibrant force in life: My ideal indeed can be put into a few words
The dry, abstract Advaita must become living— and that is: to preach unto mankind their div-
poetic—in everyday life; out of hopelessly in- inity, and how to make it manifest in every
IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.PEXELS.COM
tricate mythology must come concrete moral movement of life (7.501).

forms; and out of bewildering Yogi-ism must From these statements, we may derive the
come the most scientific and practical psych- foundational principles of his message of Vedanta
ology, and all this must be put in a form so that
and discuss their ramifications, practical applica-
a child may grasp it. That is my life’s work.1
tions, relevance to the modern age, and above all
Swami Atmapriyananda is Vice-Chancellor, Rama- the secret of its timeless appeal.
krishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Re- The present paper is a rather sketchy attempt
search Institute, Belur Math. in this direction.
PB January 2020 45
microcosm, it means that microcosmic existence

is divine. Principle 2 states that microcosm ⇌
macrocosm. The symbol ⇌ denotes a ‘dynamic
equilibrium’. This will be explained in the next
section. Hence, it follows that all life, both in its
microcosmic and macrocosmic aspects, is divine.
These principles form the core of Swamiji’s
Advaita Vedanta that would make Advaita ‘liv-
ing, poetic, in everyday life’. Sri Ramakrishna
was the pioneer in the modern age as a mas-
ter-teacher of harmony and synthesis. And
Swamiji inherited that genius from his master.
This makes Advaita Vedanta as interpreted and
preached by Ramakrishna-Vivekananda a master
symphony synthesising and harmonising infinite
strains of music.
Swamiji’s genius of synthesis has been por-
trayed in the following memorable words by his
French biographer Romain Rolland:
The Foundational Principles of
In the two words equilibrium and synthesis,
Swamiji’s Message
Vivekananda’s constructive genius may be
Swamiji’s teachings are based upon the following summed up. He embraced all the paths of the
foundational principles: spirit: the four Yogas in their entirety, renunci-
Principle 1: Divinity of all beings.2 ation and service, art and science, religion and
Principle 2: Unity of all Existence or solidar- action from the most spiritual to the most prac-
tical. Each of the ways that he taught had its
ity of the universe.
own limits, but he himself had been through
As a corollary to these may be added the them all, and embraced them all. As in a quad-
following: riga, he held the reins of all four ways of truth,
Principle 3: The essential spirituality of all life. and he travelled towards Unity along them all
Principle 1 is related to the ‘microcosm’ or the simultaneously. He was the personification of
individual aspect of Existence, sat, and is based the harmony of all human energy.3
on the Vedantic equation sat identically = chit, And the magic watchword was Unity. Unity
Consciousness. Principle 2 states that the micro- of every Indian man and woman (and world-
cosm and the macrocosm are two aspects of one unity as well); of all the powers of the spirit—
and the same Existence. In fact, it is a statement dream and action; reason, love and work. Unity
of the hundred races of India with their hundred
about the ‘dynamic equilibrium’ of the micro-
different tongues and hundred thousand gods
cosm and the macrocosm. The corollary, Prin- springing from the same religious centre, the core
ciple 3, is a natural consequence of the Principles of present and future reconstruction. Unity of
1 and 2 as could be seen by the following argu- the thousand sects of Hinduism. Unity within
ment: Principle 1 states, that each soul, jivatma in the vast Ocean of religious thought and all rivers
Vedantic parlance, is divine. Since jivatma is the past and present, Western and Eastern (238–9).
46 PB January 2020
Advaita Vedanta: ‘Living, Poetic, in Everyday Life’ 57
The Microcosm⇌Macrocosm Equation: titles, ‘Cosmos: the Macrocosm’ and ‘Cosmos:

The Concept of Dynamic Equilibrium the Microcosm’.5
The discovery of the oneness of the microcosm The concept of ‘dynamic equilibrium’ is a
and the macrocosm, oneness in the sense of a well-known concept in physics and chemistry.
‘dynamic equilibrium’, was made by Swamiji in In such a reaction, the contradiction between
a flash of illumination. It is this experience that dynamism as opposed to being static is oblit-
authenticated all his statements on such unity. erated. Or, rather, such a contradiction can be
Thus are infused into them the power of his said to have never existed in the first place, and it
own direct realisation, anubhuti. It is this re- is the recognition, pratyabhijna, of this fact that
alisation rather than mere rational power that removes the apparent contradiction.
charges Swamiji’s message with the authority The relation between the Atman and Brah-
and the power to transform the hearts and man, embodied in the equation ‘Atman = that is,
elevate the minds of people everywhere. And identically equal to, Brahman’, called mahavakya,
Swamiji, following the ancient techniques of great dictum, is an identity statement that forms
the Vedantic masters, acharyas, combined rea- the core of Advaita Vedanta. That same Reality,
son and logic, yukti, scriptural authority, shruti, which is called in its individual, microcosmic,
and personal realisation svanubhuti—a three- aspect as Atman, is called Brahman in its col-
pronged attack on the citadel of Truth, leav- lective, macrocosmic, aspect. Even etymologi-
ing nothing unsure. As Romain Rolland puts cally, Brahman means big, vast, immense. This
it beautifully: ‘His claim to greatness lies in the being so, the same equation should hold for the
fact that he not only proved its unity by reason, various dimensions of the Atman-Brahman too:
but stamped it upon the heart of India in flashes at the physical, gross or sthula level, the ‘Atman
of illumination’ (237). = Brahman’ equation translates to vishva, in-
The experience of the oneness of the micro- dividual consciousness associated with matter
cosm and the macrocosm came to him in a flash = Virat, cosmic consciousness associated with
of illumination while meditating under an old matter; at the mental, subtle or sukshma level, it
peepul tree near Almora. After this experience, translates as taijasa, individual consciousness as-
Swamiji narrated his experience to his dear sociated with the mind and higher intelligence
brother disciple, Swami Akhandananda, whom called vijnanamaya or dhi = Hiranyagarbha,
Swamiji used to address as Gangadhar, in the fol- cosmic consciousness associated with collective
lowing words: vijnanamaya; prajna, individual conscious-
Oh, Gangadhar! I have just passed through one ness associated with the causal or unmanifest =
of the greatest moments of my life. Here under Ishvara, cosmic consciousness associated with
this peepul tree one of the greatest problems of the causal or Unmanifest.
my life has been solved. I have found the one- Vedantic texts, of which Mandukya Upani-
ness of the macrocosm with the microcosm. In shad stands supreme, discuss these three states
this microcosm of the body everything that is of the mind, namely vishva, taijasa, and prajna,
there [in the macrocosm], exists. I have seen the as associated with the states of waking, dream,
whole universe within an atom.4
and deep sleep called jagrata, svapna, and su-
This realisation of his seems to be reflected in shupti, and correspond these again with the
the lectures he later gave in the West under the three syllables of Om: a, u, m. Although these
PB January 2020 47
Vedanta Vedas Tantra
Letters The Three The Three The Five The Seven The Six
of Om States The Quarters of the Self Bodies Sheaths Spheres Chakras
Avasthatraya Shariratraya Panchakosha Saptaloka
Microcosm Macrocosm
Vyashti Samashti
A Waking Vaishvanara Virat Gross Annamaya Bhuh Muladhara
Pranamaya Bhuvah Svadhishthana

Manomaya Svah Manipura
U Dreaming Taijasa Hiranyagarbha Subtle
Mahah
Vijnanamaya Janah Anahata
Tapah Vishuddha
M Deep Sleep Prajna Ishvara Causal Anandamaya Satyam Ajna
Bhavamukha (Avatara)
Beyond the Distinct from Beyond All

Amatra Turiya = Atman = Brahman Three Bodies the Spheres Sahasrara
Five Sheaths
ideas appear complicated and technical, it was It is interesting to note how Swamiji dis-
Swamiji’s genius to have brought them to the covered the application of the above Vedantic
level of application to make Advaita ‘living’ ‘in concept of Atman identically = Brahman, the
everyday’ life through his interpretation of the mahavakya of Vedanta at its core and forming
‘Atman = Brahman’ mahavakya as ‘each soul is its bedrock to everyday life and activity by look-
potential divine’. ing upon this core concept as the truth of inter-
The chart given here gives a comprehensive action between the individual, a human being,
pictorial presentation of these concepts giving and the collective, the society. Social sciences,
correspondences between the above Vedantic applied psychology including mass psychology,
ideas, the Vedic concept of seven worlds, sapta group dynamics, and so on are all attempts to
loka, and the tantric concept of six ‘chakras’, shat- study the interaction between the individual and
chakra. In fact, avatars or incarnations of God, the collective. The modern theories of manage-
like Sri Ramakrishna, lived constantly in a state ment science, systems analysis, systems think-
called bhavamukha, which is the threshold of ing, and systems approach, holistic approach,
the finite and the Infinite, relative and the Abso- the science of ecology, the science of cybernetics,
lute, changing phenomenon and the unchanging which is the basis of computer science, network
Noumenon. The state of bhavamukha is said to and interaction study—all these are some of the
be identical with the integral knowledge, sam- fields of application of the microcosm ⇌ macro-
purna jnana, that Sri Ramakrishna calls vijnana. cosm equation.
48 PB January 2020
A detailed study of the wide-ranging appli-

cations of this equation needs to be undertaken
so that the Vedantic magic watchword of ‘unity’
percolates into all of life and existence—unity
that is mystically experienced by avatars like Sri
Ramakrishna in the state of bhavamukha and
explained by him as the complete or integral
knowledge of vijnana, stated as ‘the Many and
the One are the same Reality’ by Swamiji (8.261).
‘The One and the Many

are the Same Reality’
This message of oneness preached by Swamiji is
but an elaboration of the aphoristic statement he
made once: ‘What Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
and I have added to this is that the Many and
the One are the same Reality, perceived by the Sister Nivedita
same mind at different times and in different It is this which adds its crowning signifi-
attitudes’ (ibid.). It is this message of Swamiji cance to our Master’s life, for here he becomes
that forms the basis of his philosophy of work, the meeting-point, not only of East and West,
karma-yoga—karma not opposed to jnana, but also of past and future. If the many and
knowledge, but as expressing jnana and bhakti, the One be indeed the same Reality, then it is
devotion. This has been pointed out in the fol- not all modes of worship alone, but equally all
lowing memorable words by Sister Nivedita modes of work, all modes of struggle, all modes
of creation, which are paths of realisation. No
in her Introduction to The Complete Works of
distinction, henceforth, between sacred and
Swami Vivekananda: secular. To labour is to pray. To conquer is to
It must never be forgotten that it was the Swami renounce. Life is itself religion. To have and to
Vivekananda who, while proclaiming the sov- hold is as stern a trust as to quit and to avoid.
ereignty of the Advaita Philosophy, as includ- This is the realisation which makes Viveka-
ing that experience in which all is one, without nanda the great preacher of Karma, not as
a second, also added to Hinduism the doctrine divorced from, but as expressing Jnana and
that Dvaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Advaita are Bhakti. To him, the workshop, the study, the
but three phases or stages in a single develop- farmyard, and the field are as true and fit scenes
ment, of which the last-named constitutes the for the meeting of God with man as the cell of
goal. This is part and parcel of the still greater the monk or the door of the temple. To him,
and more simple doctrine that the many and there is no difference between service of man
the One are the same Reality, perceived by the and worship of God, between manliness and
mind at different times and in different at- faith, between true righteousness and spiritu-
titudes; or as Sri Ramakrishna expressed the ality. All his words, from one point of view, read
same thing, ‘God is both with form and with- as a commentary upon this central conviction.
out form. And He is that which includes both ‘Art, science, and religion’, he said once, ‘are but
form and formlessness.’ three different ways of expressing a single truth.
PB January 2020 49
But in order to understand this we must have the skies. And Swamiji believed that it should be
the theory of Advaita’ (1.xv–xvi). possible to create a society in which such a com-
bination of intensity and extensity is achieved, for
Advaita or Monism at Three Levels:
if one individual could achieve it, why not a so-
Gross, Subtle, and Causal
ciety, a society being, after all, ‘an aggregate of indi-
Swamiji spoke about three kinds of monism, viduals’ (ibid.). Of course, Swamiji knew that such
Advaita, in his famous ‘Paper on Hinduism’: individuals are few and far between, and cannot be
materialistic monism, philosophical monism, created in large numbers. So he suggested a new
and spiritual monism, at the three levels of type of harmony, a ‘collective harmony’ by a group
gross, subtle, and causal respectively. In other of individuals. In a letter to Kidi, Swamiji writes:
words, the highest Advaita that Acharya Shan- I agree with you so far that faith is a wonderful
kara and other Advaita acharyas before and after insight and that it alone can save; but there is
him applied only at the spiritual level to realise the danger in it of breeding fanaticism and bar-
the oneness or identity of Atman and Brahman, ring further progress. Jnana is all right; but then
atma-brahma-aikya, which was held as the sum- there is the danger of its becoming dry intellec-
mum bonum of life and existence, while Swamiji tualism. Love is great and noble; but it may die
away in meaningless sentimentalism. A harmony
discovered that the same Advaita could be ap-
of all these is the thing required. Ramakrishna
plied at the levels of matter and mind-life, gross was such a harmony. Such beings are few and
and subtle, too so that Advaita percolates, inter- far between; but keeping him and his teachings
penetrates, informs, and transforms everyday life as the ideal, we can move on. And if amongst
into one indivisible wholeness. This is perhaps us, each one may not individually attain to that
what Swamiji meant by saying that ‘Advaita must perfection, still we may get it collectively by
become living—poetic—in everyday life’. counteracting, equipoising, adjusting, and ful-
filling one another. This would be harmony by
The Harmony and Synthesis of Yogas: a number of persons, and a decided advance on
Swamiji’s Contribution all other forms and creeds (4.356).
What is the method that Swamiji desired should Thus, the method, according to Swamiji, of re-
be adopted to achieve this integral, all-round de- alising the innate Divinity of every being, and the
velopment: material, intellectual, mental, and spir- microcosm ⇌ macrocosm equation, is through
itual? In a dialogue with Sister Nivedita, Swamiji a combination of the four yogas, and through
points out his method: ‘You may ask, “What is the them to achieve, at each level or dimension of the
place of Ramakrishna in this scheme?” He is the Self, the cosmic identity or oneness with a larger
method, that wonderful unconscious method! life. Recall in this connection Swamiji’s famous
He did not understand himself. … But he lived statement: ‘Each soul is potentially divine. The
that great life: and I read the meaning’ (8.267). goal is to manifest this Divinity within, by con-
Elsewhere, Swamiji says that such a unique per- trolling nature, external and internal. Do this
sonality as Sri Ramakrishna, who was a remarkable either by work, or worship, or psychic control,
combination of jnana, bhakti, karma, and yoga, or philosophy—by one or more, or all of these—
has scarcely appeared on the earth before (7.412). and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doc-
He combined in one single personality both inten- trines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples,
sity and extensity: deep as the ocean and broad as or forms, are but secondary details (1.257).’
50 PB January 2020
The emblem of the Ramakrishna Mission is transformed our conception of space, time, mat-
Swamiji’s eloquent message to humankind, of ter, and consciousness.
harmony and synthesis of yogas. This is the best The unification of the three forces of Nature,
expression of what he preached, what he wanted weak, strong, and electromagnetic, by Abdus
every person to be, to realise, either in the East or Salam and Steven Weinberg, although a remark-
in the West. The goal is to realise one’s real Self, able breakthrough, has been unable to integrate
the Atman, the swan in the symbol. ‘This is the the gravitational force in the unification scheme.
whole of religion’, according to Swamiji. Einstein himself devoted the evening of his life,
for nearly three decades in the quest of the so-
Swamiji’s Interpretation of Advaita called ‘unified field theory’ vainly attempting to
Vedanta vis-à-vis Developments in unify the strong and weak forces of Nature on
Modern Physics the one hand, and the gravitational and electro-
Certain sweeping changes took place in the magnetic forces on the other on the basis of one
world of science, particularly, modern physics, grand underlying principle.
contemporaneously with Swamiji’s teaching of However, towards the end of the twentieth
Advaita Vedanta beginning to take root. Within century and the dawn of the new millennium,
a few years of the passing away of Swamiji in 1902, ‘superstring theory’, called for short the ‘string
Max Plank’s quantum theory, that was born in theory’, has emerged as the grand unifier of the
1900, began to grow like a gigantic tree shatter- two rival theories—of relativity theory which
ing our conception of matter and throwing up gives us insight into the macrocosm, the world of
fantastic insights into the microcosmic world of stars and galaxies, the universe on the largest of
particles and fields. Close on heels came in 1905 scales, on the one hand, and of quantum mech-
the special theory of relativity due to Albert Ein- anics that explains with stunning precision the
stein and the general theory of relativity a decade microcosm, the world of atoms and molecules
later, all of which thoroughly revolutionised our down to the subatomic elementary particles, the
conception of space, time, and matter. universe on the smallest of scales.
That space-time-matter form a continuum It is in this context that Swamiji’s exposition
was scientifically established and paved the way and interpretation of Advaita Vedanta as a grand
for Swamiji’s Advaita Vedanta as space-time-mat- unification theory, ekatva vijnana, the wisdom of
ter-consciousness continuum getting accepted oneness or unity in the language of the Upani-
and established on firm foundations. Swamiji shads, gain tremendous significance.
anticipated this when he spoke about Advaita
at three levels, physical, mental-intellectual, and Socio-Cultural Application of this
spiritual—Oneness at all these three levels. Dur- Synthesis: Union of the East and the West
ing the one hundred years and more that have At the collective level, the harmony and synthesis
elapsed since then, modern science has thrown of yogas taught by Swamiji has a wide range of ap-
up, particularly through quantum theory and plications. One such application is the union of
relativity theory, and later through biological the East and the West. This was one of his very
sciences—DNA and the gigantic genome project favourite dreams and he would return to it time
at the turn of the twenty-first century—strik- and again. He wanted the synthesis of the ma-
ingly new Weltanschauung, world view, that has terialistic monism achieved by the West with the
PB January 2020 51
philosophical and spiritual monism achieved applied to the collective, that is, society as a
by the East, particularly India. By combining whole, either in the East or the West. This is the
the materialistic advances of the West with the ‘Navina-samaja-tantra; new-social-philosophy’
philosophical and spiritual progress of the East, of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda.
Swamiji wanted to bring about a new world order, Out of principle 2, namely, the unity of all Exist-
which is in the womb of futurity. The following ence or the solidarity of the universe, would come
conversations of Swamiji throw great light on the a ‘new social science’, Navina-samaja-vijnana of
East-West synthesis that he wished to achieve: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, whose first offshoots
I believe that the Hindu faith has developed have already been seen in physics, particularly after
the spiritual in its devotees at the expense of the the unification of the fundamental forces of Na-
material, and I think that in the Western world ture by Salam, Weinberg, and the superstring and
the contrary is true. By uniting the materialism grand unification theory being attempted in elem-
of the West with the spiritualism of the East, I entary particle high energy physics and astro-par-
believe much can be accomplished (7.284).
ticle theory in very recent times.6
India has suffered in its material aspect. Out of the corollary, principle 3, namely, the
Where brute strength and bloodshed has ad- essential spirituality of liife, would emerge a ‘new
vanced other nations, India has deprecated such
social consciousness’ or awareness, in which the
brutal manifestations; and by the law of survival
of the fittest, which applies to nations as well as distinctions between the sacred and the secular,
to individuals, it has fallen behind as a power on between Vedanta and science, between poetry
the earth in the material sense. But will it not and philosophy, between karma and jnana, be-
be an impossibility to find in the great combat- tween a householder and a sannyasin, would
ive Western countries, where such tremendous have been erased: ‘Science and religion will
energy is needed to develop the pressing prac- meet and shake hands. Poetry and philosophy
tical necessities of the nineteenth century, this will become friends. This will be the religion of
spirit which prevails in placid India? May not
the future, and if we can work it out, we may
one combine the energy of the lion with the
gentleness of the lamb? (7.289). be sure that it will be for all times and peoples’,
as Swamiji declared in his jnana yoga lectures
The New World Order: Satya Yuga—the (2.140). This is the navina-samaja-chetana of
Culmination of Advaita Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, in which the Vedic
The three principles of Swamiji mentioned vision of one life, the divine life—not monastic
earlier and discussed briefly in their applications life versus householder’s life, spiritual life versus
and implications, have a further revolutionary worldly life, Eastern life of renunciation versus
implication in the following: Western life of enjoyment—but one undivided
The principle 1: Divinity of Man, would en- wholeness of life, paripurna jivan, will have re-
gender a ‘New Social Philosophy’, as hinted at emerged in full bloom.
by Swamiji when he said that the fact of Div- This was the Vedic ideal of a rishi—a person
inity of man is ‘the explanation of the whole of God, a person of divine wisdom, a full per-
history of human progress in the material, in- son, a world citizen: not merely a householder
tellectual, or spiritual plane … it is the duty or a sannyasin or a scientist or a poet or an art-
of every soul to treat, think of, and behave to ist or a psychologist or a yogi or a social worker
other souls as such, i.e. as Gods’ (4.357), when or a thinker or whatever separately—but yet all
52 PB January 2020
these and much more. Such a person represents land, an open domain of Freedom, ‘broad as the
humanity in its fullness. And this humanity is skies, deep as the ocean’ (6.137). ‘Ye shall know
one and the same as divinity. It is to revive this the Truth and the Truth shall make you free’, as
rishi-ideal that Sri Ramakrishna was born. And Christ said.9
the ‘new world order’ that would emerge out of The following eloquent exhortation of
these three: the new social philosophy, the new Swamiji at the end of his famous lecture ‘The
social science, and the new social consciousness Way to the Realisation of Universal Religion’ is
would uphold the rishi-ideal before all people the fitting finale to this paper, vast as it is as the
in all countries. It is then that the dream of ‘one skies and deep as the ocean:
world’ would come true. It is this ‘new world Is God’s book finished? Or is it still a continuous
order’ that Swamiji called the Satya Yuga. And revelation going on? It is a marvellous book—
in a prophetic utterance he said that Sri Rama these spiritual revelations of the world. The
krishna’s advent marks the beginning of this Bible, the Vedas, the Koran, and all other sacred
Satya Yuga: ‘From the date that the Ramakrishna books are but so many pages, and an infinite
number of pages remain yet to be unfolded. I
Incarnation was born, has sprung the Satya Yuga
would leave it open for all of them. We stand in
(Golden Age). In this Incarnation … the whole the present, but open ourselves to the infinite
world will be unified by means of Bhakti (Devo- future. We take in all that has been in the past,
tion) and Prema (Divine Love)’ (6.327–8). enjoy the light of the present, and open every
And in this Golden Age, Truth will be for all window of the heart for all that will come in
to see and experience and realise—no special priv- the future. Salutation to all the prophets of the
ileges, no esotericism, no exclusivism, no fanatic past, to all the great ones of the present, and to
personality-fixation. Impersonality and impartial- all that are to come in the future! (2.374). P
ity will be the beacon-lights to guide the seeker
on. In a conversation, Swamiji points this out:
Yes, my own life is guided by the enthusiasm 1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
of a certain great personality, but what of that?
1997), 5.104–5.
Inspiration was never filtered out to the world 2. In Swamiji’s own words: ‘Each soul is potentially
through one man! … It is true that I believe divine’ (Complete Works, 1.124, 257).
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to have been in- 3. Romain Rolland, The Life of Vivekananda and
spired. But then I am myself inspired also. And the Universal Gospel, trans. E F Malcom-Smith
you [Nivedita] are inspired. And your disciples (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2009), 234.
will be; and theirs after them; and so on, to the 4. His Eastern and Western Disciples, The Life of
end of time! … Don’t you see that the age of eso- Swami Vivekananda, 2 vols (Kolkata: Advaita
teric interpretation is over? For good or for ill, Ashrama, 2008), 1.250.
that day is vanished, never to return. Truth, in 5. Complete Works, 2.203, 212.
the future, is to be open to the world!7 6. For these latest developments, the reader
may refer to the excellent exposition in Brian
And the same thing he declared more force- Greene, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hid-
fully in a letter to his Madras disciples: ‘No den Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate
shilly-shally, no esoteric blackguardism, no se- Theory (New York: Vintage, 2000).
7. Sister Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him (Kol-
cret humbug, nothing should be done in a cor- kata: Udbodhan, 2004), 207–8.
ner. No special favouritism of the Master, no 8. Complete Works, 4.369.
Master at that, even.’8 Truth will be a pathless 9. John 8:32.
PB January 2020 53
64
The Indeterminate Technology

Swami Sunirmalananda
Y
our eyes deceive you! You see what this: There is something on the ground. You see
does not exist! Yes, this happens. And this that, and it appears to be a piece of shining silver.
article is not about maya. You are about to go for it, but it is actually a lit-
However strong, educated, wealthy, healthy or tle shell or nacre. Nacre is a molluscan shell, se-
powerful you may be, your eyes and other senses creted by molluscs, which becomes a pearl layer.
deceive you. Do you think this hasn’t happened Nacre is formed due, principally, to Araconite
in your life? Of course it has! No philosophy is and other organic material. Nacre confuses be-
necessary to explain the simple fact to you that, at cause it shines like silver. And people confuse
least sometimes, what you see may not be true at it for silver. Philosophers of ancient India have
all. When you saw something in the supermarket, used this nacre extensively in their discussions.
it instantly appeared beautiful to you and you
went for it. Subsequently, you weren’t so happy Why Do Our Eyes Deceive Us?
with that thing. This is just an example. There are several explanations as to why we have
Experiencing or seeing things which don’t this confusion called khyati. Bad light, problem
exist is a plain fact of life. And it is a serious mat- with vision, wrong judgement, clouded mind—
ter also. So all schools of thought born in undiv- these are some ordinary reasons. However, phil-
ided India, called Aryavarta, have taken up this osophers don’t consider them seriously. They are
matter seriously and have called the phenom- rather concerned about an altogether normal per-
enon khyati. son and an altogether normal situation where we
Khyati technically means ‘error’. It is an error of have such a wrong experience. So, each school has
experience. Your eyes may be powerful, your brain a special interpretation of the error, khyati, of our
may be functioning perfectly, and you might be a senses, and that itself has become a huge science.
very intelligent person, with no defects at all. Yet, Of all the schools of philosophy, however, perhaps
sometimes you commit errors in judging things. the Advaita explanation is the best, as it is sympa-
What you saw might not be there at all. thetic to us, straightforward, and exemplary.
Why does such a thing happen? Using the Advaita has a matter-of-fact explanation for
most famous example of silver and nacre, all the question as to why X saw a piece of silver and
schools of Indian philosophy give their opin- then saw nacre. First of all, Advaitins don’t agree
ions about why such a thing happens. This with other schools, which say such things: ‘Oh,
silver-nacre example is like a trademark for ex- come on! The silver was in your mind, and you
plaining philosophical concepts. The idea is like superimposed it on something that was shin-
ing.’ Or, ‘You saw the existence, the basic is-ness,
Swami Sunirmalananda is President, Ramakrishna of silver in the universe, and also the is-ness of
Vedanta Society, Amstelveen, Netherlands. nacre’, and so on.
54 PB January 2020
The Indeterminate Technology 65
Advaita Vedanta simply says, ‘It is possible’. what you saw in the first moment was real, you
It says, ‘Don’t worry. Your eyes saw what it saw should have seen it again, all the time. So, the
at that instant. And the next instant, it saw what silver you saw in nacre is neither real nor unreal.
it saw.’ That is, seeing silver was correct and see- It is inexplicable or indeterminate.
ing nacre also was correct. This simply means Real, not real, and inexplicable. These are the
that your eyes were calling a spade a spade all the three states of name and form. The silver is not
time. It saw silver and then it saw nacre. At dif- fake, because you saw it. Maybe another person
ferent points of time. also saw it and was equally confused, and maybe
We therefore said that Advaita Vedanta is yet another. How can we say the silver you saw
sympathetic to us. People unnecessarily blame was not there at that instant, when you actually
Advaita as mayavada, magic, and so on. In fact, saw it? However, it was not real. Otherwise, even
some people think that Advaitic maya is like after an hour, you would have seen the same silver.
a blanket. It is covering Brahman. Evidently, So, Advaita solves this strange problem of
Advaita is compassionate to us and gives us your eyes deceiving you in a peculiar way: What
strength when we are confused with the issue of you saw is both real and unreal, which is absurd,
silver or nacre. and so it is beyond real and unreal. That is, it is
Both silver and nacre are correct. What is the indeterminable. Advaita, through the theory of
meaning of this strange statement? How can the anirvachaniya khyati, proposes a new concept of
eye see both things in the same locus and how can the third state of things. That is, Advaita Vedanta
both be true? It is possible, say the Advaitin, and proposes the theory of relativity in time-space.
calls it anirvachaniya, indeterminable or inexplic- Before going to that aspect, let’s remind you
able. This is the truest way of explaining why and that another best example of your experiencing
how your eyes deceive you. You saw something khyati or the error of indeterminate experience
shining. You thought it was silver. And then it is dream. Everyday everyone goes to sleep. Every
turned out to be a piece of dead shell. Advaita day everyone sees dreams. When a person is see-
declares that both were true! Thus according to ing a dream, she or he is totally involved in it,
Advaita, you were not foolish, after all, when you and it is real. When the person wakes up, the
initially saw silver in a piece of nacre. dream is gone. The world of waking experience
becomes real then. If we compare silver to dream
How Can Both Be True? state, nacre is the waking state.
How can seeing both things, nacre and silver, Advaita respects all our experiences and states
be correct? of consciousness. It says: ‘Your dream state also
Anirvachaniya khyati is that state when you is real for that duration. And so we call it prati
see something for a second and that is real for bhasika satta, the plane of mirror-image like
that particular moment. Soon things change. existence. It is neither real or unreal but inde-
You next see something quite different. If what terminate. We don’t say it is absolutely real, but
you saw in the first moment was not real, you it is a satta or state of awareness which is real in
couldn’t have seen it at all. If what you saw later that situation of your being. Your waking state is
was not real, you couldn’t have seen that either. also real. Again for that duration. We shall call
What you saw the first moment was not real, this state vyavaharika satta, the plane of waking
because you did not see it continuously later. If existence. Know that everything is relative, in
PB January 2020 55
time-space. Acharya Shankara was the first ever a lion around you. You suddenly see an elephant
propounder of this concept of relativity. Noth- walking towards you. You shout and scream! And
ing is absolute. it’s all gone. A virtual zoo in your hall. This is
Anirvachaniya khyati is a great contribution augmented reality. Did you see the elephant or
of Advaita Vedanta. Especially for this Internet tiger? Did you see the whale? Had someone hyp-
age, this concept is extremely important and notised you? Were you dreaming? None of these.
vital. Engineers are now busy constructing newer You were wide awake, and you saw an elephant or
planes of existence in space-time. Though they whale. So, this is another cosmic web you have
have no idea about Acharya Shankara’s concept been pushed into now. And in space-time, this
of indeterminateness, they are working on the relative world is yet another anirvachaniya khyati.
same principle. What does that mean? The time has come for yet another, still more
glittering and marvellous web. This is the Inter-
Indeterminate Reality in Technology net of things. Rather, let’s call it the Internet of
This is happening now in the new world we are everything. No gadgets, no wires, no headset,
in—the technological world or the Internet uni- no goggles. You just go in the street and every-
verse. The acronym www has indeed become thing is ‘digitised’. All devices are interconnected
a worldwide web in a different sense. Till now, or connected to the Internet. They are storing
we had the waking state, vyavaharika satta, and data and sharing information. Everything has
the dream state, pratibhasika satta, in space-time become alive, so to say. Everything is connected
or nama-rupa. Now, there are more. Thanks to to one another. Buses and trams on the street
technology, you wear a special pair of glasses and talk to each other. Cars converse with one an-
gloves and are transported to Mars or Jupiter. other. You enter the room and your refrigerator
Virtual reality takes you to Mars and gives knows you need a cool drink. It tells the super-
you an experience of that planet, if you so wish, market that you are out of vegetables. Life be-
while you are sitting in your room. This is not a comes easier, faster, more and more accurate, and
three-dimensional movie. In virtual reality, you interesting. So this is still another pratibhasika
altogether forget your mundane existence and satta or dream reality in space-time. Again inde-
are participating in a different universe. It is an terminate, anirvachaniya.
interactive universe. As long as you are there,
that universe is real for you. It is another form What about you?
of pratibhasika satta. It is indeterminate cogni- You are inside a web or net, which is inside a net,
tion. This is one web the Internet has created and which is inside a net. In the name of becoming
around you. free, you are throwing more and more nets around
Then there is another, higher net. That is aug- you. In the end, you are bound to be a machine.
mented reality. For this, you need not sit before While Vedanta tries to see inanimate matter as an
your computer or mobile phone. You need not expression of Consciousness, technology turns
wear any headgear also. This is still more amaz- Consciousness also into a mechanical device.
ing. You are sitting in a hall. You suddenly see a Now you see that there are several sattas or
huge whale jump from the floor into the air and indeterminate realities. You are moving from
water spilling all over you. The floor has become one indeterminate reality to another. That is, for
a little pool of blue water. Next, you suddenly see sometime you live in the dream world, then the
56 PB January 2020
The Indeterminate Technology 67
Internet of things world, then the augmented

reality world. So you are being pushed from one
anirvachaniya world to another.
Now you should ask. What is the Real uni-
verse, if any? Or, amidst all these relative real-
ities, which one is the absolute Reality? Is there
one such?
What is the Absolute?

The Buddhists don’t have the answer. But Advaita
Vedanta has. When you are tired with pratibha-
sika or dream reality, virtual reality or vyavaha-
rika or mundane reality, augmented reality, and
the Internet of things, you seek the Determinate,
the absolute Reality. It is called paramarthika
satta. This is the eternal ground, the Conscious-
ness, the base, the foundation upon which all
relative realities are built in space-time. We always have the code to the exit door ready.
Anirvachaniya khyati or indeterminate ex- This is the importance of Advaita Vedanta
perience of silver in nacre is only to remind us for this and the future ages. Advaita Vedanta of
that the nacre which we see is also not perman- Acharya Shankara and the Upanishads did not
ently real. And the idea of the nacre-ness too is say everything is magic or maya. It said, every-
not permanently real. Behind everything, there thing you experience through the senses is rela-
is that one Consciousness. tive in space-time. The centre of everything is
the real you. And that real you are Conscious-
Sri Ramakrishna’s Advice ness. Hold on to that and all will be well. Swami
‘Tie the knowledge of Advaita at the hem of your Vivekananda declared: ‘O ye modern Hindus,
cloth and go where you please’, is the simplest ad- de-hypnotise yourselves. The way to do that is
vice of Sri Ramakrishna.1 This is a timely advice found in your own sacred books. Teach your-
for the present and future age. All of us, who are selves, teach every one his real nature, call upon
conscious beings and who do not want to be ro- the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power
bots, should remember this advice constantly. will come, glory will come, goodness will come,
What is this Advaita knowledge? The Advaita purity will come, and everything that is excel-
knowledge is that all the universes we experi- lent will come when this sleeping soul is roused
ence are in space-time, are neither real or unreal, to self-conscious activity.’2 P
but relatively real called indeterminate states of
existence. The solid ground is Consciousness, References
called the Expansive, Brahman in Sanskrit. Ex- 1. Srima, Shri Shri Ramakrishna Kathamrita
(Bengali) (Kolkata: Udbodhan, 2015), 1074.
pansive because it is limitless. We stand firm on 2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
that Consciousness and interact with the maze. vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9,
Then we shall never be bound in the labyrinth. 1997), 3.193.
PB January 2020 57
68
The Significance of the Mahavakyas

Swami Atmajnanananda
Introduction Upanishad, Atharva Veda, with the Jyotirmatha
B efore speaking about the deep

meaning of the mahavakyas, the ‘great
sayings’ of the Upanishads, I thought it
would be helpful to remind ourselves that there
is nothing absolute about the designation of the
Pitha; and ‘Prajnanam brahma; Brahman is pure
consciousness’4 of Aitareya Upanishad, Rig Veda,
with the Govardhana Pitha.
It is probably due to the tremendous influence
of Acharya Shankara that these four mantras
four standard Upanishadic verses as ‘great say- are now considered by many to be the authen-
ings’ or mahavakyas. That is to say, we should tic mahavakyas, but when did the designation
not expect to find an original red-lined version become more or less ‘official’ does not seem to
of the Upanishads with these four verses high- be known. What we do know is that these four
lighted and raised to a special philosophical mantras not only represent some of the most im-
status. For one thing, we know that the early portant teachings of the Upanishads, but also are
tradition was an oral tradition, handed down guidelines for the sannyasis who belong to the
from teacher to student. Furthermore, it is not various sampradayas of the Dashanami Orders
known with much certainty why or when these founded by Acharya Shankara.
four verses, out of the many thousands of verses Despite the historical uncertainty regarding
of the Upanishads, were designated mahavakyas. the origin of the mahavakyas, we cannot deny
The verses in question, at least according to the wonderful philosophical and spiritual signifi-
the Advaitic tradition, are: aham brahmasmi, cance of these four statements—the first three
tat tvam asi, ayam atma brahma, and prajnanam dealing with the ultimate oneness of the indi-
brahma. What we do know is that they were vidual Self, or jivatman, and the supreme Reality
chosen by Acharya Shankara to represent man- or Brahman, while the fourth one dealing with
tras attached to the four mathas, spiritual centres, the nature of Brahman as pure consciousness.
in the four corners of India, each of the four Each of the four speaks to the essential teaching
taken from one of the four Vedas. Thus, we find of Advaita Vedanta: the apparent individual self
that: ‘Aham brahmasmi; I am Brahman’1 of the is none other than the supreme Reality, covered
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajur Veda, is con- with a veil of ignorance or maya.
nected with the Shringeri Pitha; ‘Tat tvam asi;
Thou art That’2 of the Chhandogya Upanishad, Philosophical Significance
Sama Veda, with the Dvaraka Pitha; ‘Ayam atma of the Mahavakyas
brahma; This Self is Brahman’3 of Mandukya One of the reasons we have spent so much time
on the connection between the mahavakyas and
Swami Atmajnanananda is a minister at Vedanta Acharya Shankara is that it has become almost
Society of Greater Washington DC, usa. impossible at present for Advaitins to analyse
58 PB January 2020
The Significance of the Mahavakyas 69
the meaning of these sayings without referring

to some of the main tenets of Advaita Vedanta
as laid down by Acharya Shankara. The final and
absolute identity between the jivatman and Brah-
man, based on the concepts of upadhi, limiting
adjunct, and adhyasa, false superimposition, has
become almost sacrosanct in Advaitic circles. The
mahavakya, ‘tat tvam asi’ has reached the level of
a perfectly formulated mathematical equation.
In fact, there is such a pristine purity to the
mahavakyas as understood today that either we
Shringeri Pitha, Karnataka
forget to look at the actual context in which they
are uttered in the Upanishads, or simply find while the fourth, prajnanam brahma, explains
it unnecessary. Nevertheless, it is instructive to the nature of Brahman. It is interesting to note
view the mahavakyas in both ways, namely as that none of the four mahavakyas touches on the
statements of universal truth, eternal, unchang- unreal nature of the world.
ing, pristine in their philosophical purity, and The one verse that we might have expected to
also as belonging to the highly allegorical, poetic, make the list of the four mahavakyas, especially
symbolic world of the Upanishads, where Brah- since the first three have virtually identical mean-
man itself can be found lonely and wishing for ings, is ‘sarvam khalu idam brahma; all this is
companionship in one of the most beautiful sec- verily Brahman’.6 Perhaps it is too realistic in its
tions of the Taittiriya Upanishad. The former meaning and not in keeping with the ‘falseness’
analysis gives us a feeling of absoluteness and of the universe. Or possibly, Acharya Shankara
finality, while the Upanishads present us with simply wanted to stress the reality of Brahman
a highly nuanced and complex interpretation and its oneness with the jiva for the new mo-
of the mahavakyas and reveal to us the import- nastic orders he had established. And, in fact, a
ance of the mysterious and unknowable in our case may be made that the first and third of these
understanding of the cosmos. And both inter- three Advaitic principles, namely the reality of
pretations have much to teach us. Brahman and its oneness with the individual
soul, are more defining features of Vedanta than
The Basics of Advaita Vedanta the metaphysical status of the universe. Further-
The position of the traditional Advaitic school more, the so-called ‘falseness’ of the world is
of Acharya Shankara is well known and often clearly not as easily substantiated by the teach-
summarised in the famous ‘half verse’: ‘Brahman ings of the Upanishads as the other two.
alone is real, the one absolute reality, brahma As mentioned earlier, there is a kind of math-
satyam; the world is unreal, false, or insubstan- ematical purity to the explanation of the one-
tial, jagat mithya; and the individual soul is ness of the individual soul and the supreme Soul.
none other than Brahman, jivah brahma eva na The interpretation turns on the relationship be-
aparah.’5 The mahavakyas, at least the first three tween the substantial or primary aspects of Brah-
mentioned above, speak directly to the oneness man and jiva and the superficial or secondary
of the individual soul and the supreme Soul, attributes. Put quite simply, if we remove the
PB January 2020 59
non-essential aspects of each, we find that there the Upanishads themselves, we find nothing dry
is nothing left that can be used to distinguish about them at all, compared to which the Brah-
one from the other. And we are free to eliminate man of Advaita Vedanta may not be ‘bloodless’,
these secondary attributes, upadhis, not simply but is certainly a bit anaemic. Or we might say, in
because they are non-essential, but more import- the words of Sri Ramakrishna, with the standard
antly because they do not belong to them. Advaitic interpretation, we are getting the flesh
The Advaitins utilise numerous examples to of the bel fruit but not necessarily the full weight.
drive this point home. The redness we see in the On the other hand, the Upanishadic Brah-
crystal when a red rose is placed behind it really man sometimes appears as pure Being and some-
belongs to the rose, not the crystal. If some sort times as a great Being, the infinite absolute as
of transference of attributes had actually taken well as a more personal concept of God: brood-
place, the redness would remain as the attribute ing, meditating, creating and expanding, magical
of the crystal even after the rose is removed. But and mystical, and even thrilling, in its breadth
of course, the crystal reassumes its pure, colour- and intensity. And here, the context in which
less state as soon as the rose is gone. In the same we find the mahavakyas expressed is of special
way, the coverings of the jiva, often explained interest, as opposed to the formulaic and math-
with the help of the pancha-kosha doctrine, do ematical shape they take in the hands of the
not really belong to it. Their elimination is more Advaitic philosophers.
a question of removing our false sense of identity So, we will examine the mahavakyas, not
with them. Still, their removal leaves us with the simply from the point of view of philosophy,
same pure consciousness that forms the reality of but through the poetry of the Upanishads. Ul-
Brahman. And if we eliminate the cosmic or cre- timately, we will find no real contradiction be-
ative aspect of Brahman, we are left with perfect tween these two views. But I want to show the
identity between the two, ‘ayam atma brahma’. ‘full-blooded’ version of Brahman and Atman,
as well as the pristine version, so that we can get
The Uncompromising Path of Jnana Yoga a glimpse into the vast vision and mystical in-
The main criticism of such a doctrine, aside from sight of the Vedic seers who composed the Upa-
counterarguments by the dualists, is that there is nishads, so that we can, to borrow a favourite
something cold and ‘bloodless’ about the imper- phrase of Sri Ramakrishna, get the ‘total weight
sonal, absolute Brahman posited here. This is a of the bel-fruit’.8
feeling Swami Vivekananda had after reading the
philosophy of Kant, Hegel, and other German ‘Prajnanam Brahma;
philosophers. S Radhakrishnan extended that Brahman is Pure Consciousness’
to Acharya Shankara’s nirguna Brahman, refer- The first of the mahavakyas that we will look at is
ring to it as a ‘bloodless Absolute, dark with the from the Aitareya Upanishad, Rig Veda. It is the
excess of light’.7 only one of the four that does not speak directly
Sri Ramakrishna was somewhat kinder, call- of the oneness of Brahman and the Self, but rather
ing the path of Advaitic knowledge a little ‘dry’. explains the nature of Brahman as pure conscious-
Regardless of what we think about Acharya ness. The section that contains these words begins
Shankara’s interpretation, when we examine the with the question: ‘What is that Self, which we
mahavakyas as we find them expressed within worship?’9 And as part of the reply, we find that
60 PB January 2020
this Self, or absolute Reality, is identified with all

the gods, all the elements, all creatures. ‘All this is
guided by consciousness, prajnanam, is ordered
by consciousness. The ground of the universe is
consciousness. Consciousness is Brahman’ (3.1.3).
This is our first hint that pure consciousness
is something more than we may think it is, for it
forms the source and ground of the entire uni-
verse. It is the guiding force behind the creation
of all living beings and dwells within all sentient
beings as the inner guide and controller. Thus, we
Dwaraka Pitha, Gujarat
can say that Brahman, in addition to being pure
consciousness, is also, when conditioned by the showing how significant he considers these verses
attributes of intelligence and the power of pro- to be. But aside from the importance of the iden-
jection, one and the same as ishvara, the creator. tity of the individual Self and Brahman, we find
two crucial, though perhaps secondary, ideas.
‘Aham Brahmasmi; I am Brahman’ The first is that Brahman somehow becomes
The second mahavakya that we will examine is Brahman by having this knowledge of oneness,
found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and is that Brahman is thought of in both a nirguna
repeated twice. The context in which the state- and saguna sense, capable of ‘thinking’ in a way
ment is uttered is very interesting. The claim is not substantially different from the way the devas
made in the previous verse that through brahma- and human beings think, who were also con-
vidya we shall become ‘all’. Ordinarily, we would sidered qualified to undertsand ‘I am Brahman’.
assume the compound brahma-vidya means The second interesting idea is one that seems
‘knowledge of Brahman’. But here it seems to to remain just slightly beneath the surface in
means ‘the knowledge that Brahman itself pos- most of these Upanishadic verses, and which
sesses’, for the question is asked: ‘What exactly is we also saw in the previous mahavakya, namely
that knowledge which Brahman possessed that the ultimate oneness between Brahman and
allowed Brahman to become ”all”?’10 In reply we the ‘all’, which presumably includes the entire
learn that it was the knowledge, ‘I am Brahman’ universe and its living beings. So, the emphasis
that allowed Brahman to become all. Then it is in these verses is not only on a knowledge that
explained that the gods also became ‘all’ through leads to liberation or enlightenment, but also
that knowledge, as did the saints and sages. And on one that expands one’s sense of Self to a feel-
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whoever, in like manner, knows oneself as ‘I ing of oneness with the entire universe. This as-
am Brahman’, becomes all this, that is, attains sociation between Brahman and expansiveness
to some kind of state of oneness with all beings can be understood simply by analysing the term
and the universe. Even the gods cannot prevent ‘Brahman’, which is derived from the root brhm
this realisation, for such a person has become meaning ‘to expand’. For the early Vedic seers, the
their Self as well. sense of vastness, expansiveness, all-inclusiveness
This verse is then followed by nearly twenty must have formed an important element in their
pages of commentary by Acharya Shankara, understanding of Brahman and the universe.
PB January 2020 61
‘Ayam Atma Brahma; When we read them, we are reminded that the
This Self is Brahman’ Upanishads are as much poetry as philosophy,
The third mahavakya we will look at is from the beautiful imagery and allegory, not always meant
Mandukya Upanishad. This Upanishad is the to be taken literally, for, as we saw earlier, the
most purely philosophical of all the major Upa- authors were kavis, poets, and mystics, divinely in-
nishads, so we should not expect to see Brahman spired and filled with God. They were not merely
presented in any allegorical or symbolic way. The philosophers and intellectuals. We will devote the
Upanishad deals mainly with the three states of majority of our attention to this last mahavakya,
consciousness, waking, dream, and dreamless since it is the final teaching in this rich, colourful,
sleep, as well as the ‘fourth’, which transcends all and insightful section of the Upanishad.
three. It explains the true nature of the Self as the We begin with the story of Shvetaketu, the
witnessing consciousness present throughout all blessed soul who was given the great teaching
of the various states of consciousness. And yet, ‘You are That’. Shvetaketu was the young son of a
even here, we find the same underlying, some- brahmana named Uddalaka Aruni. When the boy
times overlooked, theme of the Upanishads, reached the age of twelve, his father explained to
namely that Brahman manifests as the universe, him the tradition of brahmacharya and how all in
for the Upanishad begins with the words, ‘om iti his family line had followed that tradition. So, Sh-
etad aksharam idam sarvam; the syllable Om is vetaketu left home and spent the next twelve years
the entire visible universe’.11 leading a life of brahmacharya, studying with a
The mahavakya itself, found in the follow- qualified teacher, serving him in his forest retreat,
ing verse, ‘Ayam atma brahma; all this is Brah- and learning the Vedic scriptures from him.
man’, is preceded by the phrase ‘Sarvam hi etat At the end of twelve years, Shvetaketu re-
brahma; all this is indeed Brahman’. None of turned to his father, Uddalaka. His father at once
this, of course, takes away from the principal noted his high opinion of himself, as if he knew
meaning of the mahavakya as indicating the ul- everything. He saw his arrogance and conceit and
timate oneness of Brahman and Atman, but it wanted to cure him of it. So, the father asked his
does hint at the idea of the universe as more of a son, Shvetaketu: ‘My son, since you now think
manifestation of Brahman than an illusory mis- you know all that is to be known, surely you must
reading of Brahman. know that by which one hears what cannot be
heard, by which one perceives what cannot be
‘Tat Tvam Asi; Thou art That’ perceived, and by which one knows what cannot
We now come to the last of the mahavakyas, the be known. Did not your guru teach you that?’12
famous ‘tat tvam asi’ of the Chhandogya Upa- At this, Shvetaketu became humble and ad-
nishad. It is first found in seventh verse of the mitted that he neither was instructed in such
eighth section of the sixth chapter of the Upa- knowledge nor knew the answer to such a
nishad and is repeated at the end of each short strange question. He asked his father to explain
section for the following seven sections. But the it to him, and the rest of the sixth chapter rep-
high Vedantic truths that are taught to the young resents his answer to his son. These teachings of
Shvetaketu begin quite a bit earlier and are some Uddalaka to Shvetaketu represent the mystical
of the most beautiful and profound teachings heights of Vedantic thought regarding the real
found in the Upanishads. nature of reality and the Self. They can be broken
62 PB January 2020
down into two distinct sections: the teachings

regarding the nature of reality, or Brahman, with
some very early ideas about creation, and then
the final truth, the identity of that Reality with
the Self within all beings.
Shvetaketu begins the dialogue by half won-
dering aloud about his father’s statement. How is
it possible to know that which is unknown, hear
that which is unheard, see that which is unseen?
For everything he had been taught belonged to
the realm of lower knowledge, that is, knowledge
gained through the senses or through inference, Jyotirmatha Pitha, Uttarakhand
including even the knowledge of the Vedas. So but Being alone, one without a second, undiffer-
he asks his father to explain, and Uddalaka gives entiated. Some claim that there was non-being,
a very beautiful reply regarding the nature of ul- but how can something arise out of nothing?
timate reality or Brahman, which he calls sat, There had to be being’ (6.2.1, 2).
Being or absolute Existence. Then we find the wonderful allegory, which
From his words we often get the impression we also find in the Taittiriya Upanishad: That
that this sat is not simply the pure consciousness great Being, sat, ‘looked around’. Perhaps it saw
of Vedanta, but a great and powerful being that that there was nothing other than itself. Perhaps
is responsible for the creation of the universe. it felt lonely and had a desire to become mani-
He explains: fest, and so thought to itself ‘bahu syam; may
Why, in this way, my boy: by knowing the na- I be many’, ‘prajayeya; may I grow forth; may
ture of one lump of clay, we can know the na- I propagate, generate, create offspring’ (6.2.3).
ture of everything made of clay, can we not? The Thus began the process of evolution.
shapes of other things, such as a pot, a toy ele- It was not that the universe came into being
phant, and so on, are just names, given to help
at that very thought of creation, though that is
us talk about them. The reality in them is just
the clay, is it not? … By knowing the nature of also one theory, just as the dream world mani-
a nugget of gold, the nature of all gold things is fests instantaneously and fully formed. But here,
known; likewise, by knowing the nature of a nail the manifestation begins with the elements, the
file, we understand everything made of iron. first being fire. And ‘fire’ also looked around
The shapes and names we use for convenience. and thought, ‘May I be many; may I propagate’
The reality is just the gold or the iron (6.1.4–6).
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(6.2.3). And it created water. And the water

Then Shvetaketu replies: ‘This is something looked around and thought, ‘May I be many;
new. Surely, my teachers did not know this. may I propagate’ (6.2.4). And it created anna,
Otherwise they would have taught it to me. food or earth. Then that being looked around
Please explain further’ (6.1.7). Then Uddalaka and thought, ‘Let me enter into these three
explains the nature of creation, which is in reality deities, elements—fire, water, and earth—by
nothing but Brahman manifesting as the visible means of this living self ’ (6.3.2). Then that great
universe, through a process of evolution of the being entered into them and with the help of
elements. ‘In the beginning there was nothing name and form manifested this visible universe.
PB January 2020 63
The remaining portion of this first section ex- that tree’, even so, my dear child, all these created
plains how these three elements evolve and ac- beings, having merged into that great Being, sat,
count for all of creation. [at the time of deep sleep, or at the time of dis-
Now, we come to the more famous portion of solution of the universe] do not realise it and
cannot say, ‘We have merged’. Whether they be
this chapter, the ‘tat tvam asi’ section. And we find
lions or tigers, wolves, boars, worms, flies, gnats,
that it is also far more interesting and challenging or mosquitoes, they become that again [after
than what we might expect from later interpret- waking or after the new cycle begins] (6.9.1–3).
ations of ‘tat tvam asi’. It is not that we find any-
thing to contradict what we see in the Advaitic After Shvetaketu asks, ‘Please explain further’,
interpretations of Acharya Shankara, but never- we get the next illustration (6.9.4):
theless, we are introduced to a fuller, richer, and These rivers all flow, my dear child, the east-
certainly more poetic version of the same truth. ern ones to the east, and the western ones to
And the mere fact that so many different illustra- the west. They arise from the sea through evap-
tions are given to explain this truth is an indication oration and again rain and flow into the sea.
of the subtle nature of this teaching. At the end of They cannot then say, ‘I am this river or I am
that river’. Even so, my child, all these created
each illustration is the line: ‘Sa yah esha anima
beings, though they come from sat, cannot say:
etat atmyam idam sarvam tat satyam sa atma tat ‘We have emerged from sat.’ Then he repeats the
tvam asi shvetaketo; that which is the anima, the line from the earlier example: ‘Whether they be
subtle essence, the entire world has that as its real lions or tigers, wolves, boars, worms, flies, gnats,
nature; that is the Truth; that is the Atman; and or mosquitoes, they become that again [after
you are that, O Shvetaketu’ (6.8.7). Immediately waking]. That which is the anima, the subtle
after hearing this, Shvetaketu, quite understand- essence, the entire world has that as its real na-
ably, requests his father to explain further, and we ture; that is Truth; that is the Atman, Self; and
begin to get a series of analogies and illustrations. thou art that, O Shvetaketu’ (6.10.2).
Next illustration:
Analogies to Explain the Self
Since Shvetaketu had requested his father to If, my dear child, someone were to strike at the
root of this large tree here, it would bleed, that
explain further, we get a variety of illustrations
is, sap would ooze out, but live. If one were to
helping to explain what he means. Each time strike at the middle, it would bleed, but live. If
Shvetaketu asks for more explanations, we get one were to strike at the top, it would bleed but
the same words repeated verbatim, with a slight live. Pervaded by the living self, that tree stands
change the final time. The first instance comes firm, drinking in again and again its nourish-
after a discussion regarding sleep. Uddalaka says ment and rejoicing. But if the living self leaves
that when we are in deep sleep, the individual is one of its branches, that branch withers; if it
merged in Brahman. Then he explains: leaves a second one, that branch withers, and
if it leaves a third one, that branch also with-
Just as bees make honey by collecting juices, rasa, ers. If it leaves the whole tree, that whole tree
the essential portion, from various trees and re- withers. My dear child, in exactly the same way,
duce them into one essential juice; and just as the know that this body will die when that living
individual juices have no ability to discriminate, self departs, but the living self does not die.
making a statement as, ‘I am the juice that came That which is the anima, the subtle essence,
from this tree, or I am the juice that came from the entire world has that as its real nature; that
64 PB January 2020
is Truth; that is the Atman, Self; and thou art

that, O Shvetaketu (6.11.1–3).
Next illustration: Uddalaka says to Shvetaketu:
‘Bring me a fruit from that banyan tree.’ ‘Here it is,
sir.’ ‘Break it open.’ ‘It is broken, sir.’ ‘What do you
see there?’ ‘Seeds, small like tiny particles.’ ‘Break
one open, my child.’ ‘It is broken, sir.’ ‘What do
you see there?’ ‘Nothing at all, sir.’ ‘That subtle es-
sence, my child, which you do not perceive, from
that very essence this huge banyan tree has arisen.
Have faith, my child. That which is the anima, the
subtle essence, the entire world has that as its real
nature; that is Truth; that is the Atman, Self; and
Govardhana Pitha, Puri
thou art that, O Shvetaketu’ (6.12.1–3).
Gandhara region is that way; proceed in that
Next illustration: Uddalaka says: ‘Pour this
direction’, and he, using his commonsense goes
salt in water and then come to me in the morn- from village to village and getting further in-
ing.’ The son did as he was told. His father said structions, finally reaches his home. Even so,
to him: ‘Bring me the salt which you placed in does a person who has found a spiritual guide
the water last night.’ The son searched for it but obtain true knowledge. His delay [in attaining
could not find it, since it had completely dis- final liberation] will last only as long as the body
solved. The father said: ‘My child, take a sip of lasts; then he will attain perfection [will become
water from the top. How does it taste?’ ‘It tastes merged in Being]. That which is the anima, the
subtle essence, the entire world has that as its
salty.’ ‘Take a sip from the bottom. How does it
real nature; that is Truth; that is the Atman,
taste?’ ‘It tastes salty.’ ‘Throw it away and then Self; and you are that, O Shvetaketu (6.14.1–3).
come back here.’ Then Shvetaketu did as he was
told, saying: ‘The salt was present the whole Next illustration:
time.’ Then Uddalaka said: ‘Here also, my dear My child, the relatives of a person who is about
child, you do not perceive sat, but it is neverthe- to die gather round him and ask, ‘Can you rec-
less ever present. That which is the anima, the ognise me; can you recognise me?’ As long as
subtle essence, the entire world has that as its real the person’s speech is not merged in the mind,
nature; that is Truth; that is the Atman, Self; and the mind in the prana, the prana in fire, and fire
in the supreme deity, so long does that person
you are that, O Shvetaketu’ (6.13.1–3).
know them. But when that person’s speech is
Next illustration: merged in the mind, the mind in the prana, the
prana in fire, and fire in the supreme deity, then
My child, suppose some robbers have blind-
that person does not know them. That which is
folded a man and removed him from his home
the anima, the subtle essence, the entire world
in the Gandhara region, and have left him in
has that as its real nature; that is Truth; that is
a desolate place. And suppose he shouts in all
the Atman, Self; and you are that, O Shveta-
directions: ‘I have been brought here and left
ketu (6.15.1–3).
blindfolded; I have been brought here and left
blindfolded.’ Again, suppose someone comes Next and the last illustration. This refers to
and removes his blindfold and tells him, ‘The an early belief regarding truthfulness and how
PB January 2020 65
to judge whether or not someone has spoken when it is active, projecting the universe and sus-
the truth. taining it, we call it Shakti, saguna Brahman.
My child, they [the king’s ministers or the po- The second surprise is that rather than find-
lice] grab a man by the hand and bring him to ing an analysis of the nature of the individual
be judged, saying, ‘He has stolen something; he self, we encounter several examples of how that
has committed robbery. Heat an axe for him to individual self merges and becomes one with
touch.’ If he has committed the robbery but does reality, or sat. We may not be told what exactly
not admit it, he is a liar. His hand will be burnt
the nature of the individual is, but we know that
when he touches the hot axe. This will prove his
guilt and he will be punished or killed. But if he its individuality disappears either at the time of
has not committed the robbery, then he will be deep sleep, at the end of a cycle, or in the state of
protected by truth. When he touches the hot liberation. We are given several illustrations for
axe, he will not be burnt, and he will be released. this: The first ones show how the soul tempor-
Just as the truthful man is not burnt by touching arily attains a state of oneness in deep sleep but
the heated axe, such is the case with the liberated re-emerges as before after waking because it had
person. The entire world has its real nature in not yet attained knowledge.
that; that is Truth; that is the Atman, Self; and The latter ones show the full merging and
you are that, O Shvetaketu (6.16.1–3).
oneness in the state of liberation. And here we
This time Shvetaketu understands the teach- have three illustrations: When the bee goes
ing and the chapter ends. from one flower to another to collect honey and
combines them all together, there is no chance
Conclusion of differentiating one portion from the other.
Now, what are we to make of all this? First of all, Likewise, when the rivers merge into the ocean,
we must admit that this section is extremely dif- they lose all name and form and become indis-
ficult to fully understand, especially the ‘tat tvam tinguishable from the ocean. And finally, when
asi’ portion. It is certainly not what we might ex- salt is dissolved in water, it loses its individuality
pect if we had only heard of this mahavakya as a and cannot be removed. Nevertheless, it leaves its
simple Advaitic formula for the identity of Brah- salty taste as proof of its presence. So, when the
man and Atman. One of the first surprises is that God-realised soul merges one’s individuality in
we do not find even a single mention of the word pure Being, one will not be able to perceive his
‘Brahman’. What we find in its place is the very own separate existence, but will nevertheless taste
generic term sat, and we are not sure whether it the bliss of Brahman, like the salt in the water.
should be translated as ‘Being’ or as ‘a Being’, as But we also find a new theme. Brahman is
in a creator God. My feeling is that it refers to not simply the consciousness found in con-
both, and that the Brahman we are presented scious beings. It is also the life force found in
with here has a very strong personal side. As Sri living things. The jiva aspect of Brahman must
Ramakrishna says, the ‘Nitya and the Lila are be present for life to exist in beings. And with-
the two aspects of the same Reality’.13 The im- out life, there can be no consciousness in them.
personal Absolute and the personal God belong So we find that we may cut the surface of a tree
to one and the same reality; it functions within and let the sap run out, we may cut off a branch
both the nitya and the lila, the absolute and the or two, and the tree will live as long as life re-
relative. When it is inactive we call it Brahman; mains. But once the life force leaves, the tree will
66 PB January 2020
wither and die. And such is the case with human be that after projecting the universe, Brahman
life as well. This causal nature of Brahman with enters into it, sustains it, lives in it, and is present
regard to the universe is also seen in the example within it. And this also seems to be the key to the
of the banyan tree. Without the seeds within the great statement, repeated eight times, ‘tat tvam
fruit, it will not give rise to a new tree. And even asi’. Shvetaketu is told that he is that subtle es-
though the seeds are too small to be seen, subtle sence which dwells within all beings, in the space
like the nature of sat, they give rise to a great tree. within the heart, the size of a thumb and yet as
Then we find a beautiful teaching regarding vast as the sky. That which we foolishly take to be
the need for a guru. We are like victims of a kid- our self is nothing but that reality, the Atman, the
napping, who have been blindfolded and taken Self, the ultimate reality, and the cause of every-
to an unknown region. We require someone thing, sat. It is the source of all that exists, of all
to help remove the blindfold of ignorance and that lives, and of all that is conscious. That is the
point us in the right direction. Then we ourselves true being, that is the real self, and we are that.’
need to start the journey back to our own home, And finally, we learn from Uddalaka’s teachings
asking at each village for further directions until to his son, Shvetaketu, that the real nature of Brah-
we have made our way back. man or Reality is far beyond our ability to compre-
Lastly, we have the illustration of the ordeal hend. On the one hand, it is too large to get our
by fire, touching a heated axe as a test of truth- arms around it, too vast, too all-comprehending.
fulness. Once we are established in truth, that On the other hand, it is too subtle to grasp, too
is, have realised our true nature, we transcend minute, too elusive. And yet, that is our true na-
the ordinary rules of cause and effect. Just as the ture. We are that. It is in essence the same teach-
hand is not burned by the hot axe, so are we not ings that we find in the Advaitic interpretations of
affected by karma. The seeds of past karma are these four mahavakyas, and yet, how full of tran-
burnt up so that we will not have to experience scendent beauty and majesty, how vast in its con-
their results, and no new karma will be formed ception, how vibrant and living are these teachings
for the free soul. The prarabdha karma will con- as found in the poetry of the Upanishads. P
tinue just so the body can continue to live until
we reach the state of final liberation. References
So, this is the Brahman of the ‘tat tvam asi’ 1. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10.
2. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7.
of the Chhandogya Upanishad. Not a mere life- 3. Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2.
less absolute, transcendent, indifferent, inactive 4. Aitareya Upanishad, 3.1.3.
consciousness, but a great Being who willingly 5. Acharya Shankara, Brahma-jnanavali-mala, 20.
projects the universe, or at least the elements ne- 6. Chhandogya Upanishad, 3.14.1.
7. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, 2 vols (Lon-
cessary for the evolution of the universe. It is not
don: George Allen and Unwin, 1958), 2.659.
unlike the Old Testament God who creates the 8. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
sun and the moon, the stars, different creatures, Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
one by one, merely by the thought, ‘Let there 2002), 343.
be light’, and so on. The sat of the Chhandogya 9. Aitareya Upanishad, 3.1.1.
10. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.9.
Upanishad appears to be a great Being, who pro- 11. Mandukya Upanishad, 1.
vides the life force for all living things as well as 12. See Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.1.3.
consciousness. But the main teaching seems to 13. Gospel, 359.
PB January 2020 67
78
Surrendering the ‘I’ in Advaita Sadhana

Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana
A ccording to St Thomas Aquinas,

‘One is liable to think that, because a
man seeks to occupy a higher grade as
to accidentals, which can increase without the
destruction of the subject, he can also seek a
‘Who am I?’ Or, ‘What am I?’ What is this self
that we call ‘I’? If the idea is to negate this self in
order to realise pure Consciousness, the ultimate
Reality, then how do we do that? And can we
really deny our own existence? In fact, what is
higher grade of nature, to which he could not this existence?
attain without ceasing to exist.’1 For those who The problem here is that we invariably
love this world and themselves just as they are, identify our self—that is, our phenomenal ex-
the implications of this could be terrifying. But istence—with the ego. We first have to under-
for spiritual aspirants, it is a fact that must be stand that, from the standpoint of our goal, the
dealt with. Aquinas is not saying here that there ego does not really exist—that it is only a part
is nothing after death, or after attaining realisa- of the framework of illusion. But, because we
tion. He’s simply saying that what we are now is identify our self with the ego so much, it is al-
not our goal. Like a caterpillar that must inev- most as if we are asking, ‘Can the ego surrender
itably make its own cocoon to transform itself itself to non-existence?’
into a butterfly, we must lose our lower self to The ego is a big problem for spiritual aspir-
attain the ultimate Reality. ants—especially for those following the path
Generally, when people start to practise spir- of knowledge. Our ego seems to be our whole
itual disciplines to realise the non-dual Brahman, world. We even carry it into the dream state. We
they follow the path referred to in the scriptures may lose it for the time being in the dreamless
as ‘neti, neti; not this, not this’. That is, Brahman sleep state, but as soon as we wake up, we are
is not this universe, nor is it anything else that again engulfed in it the whole day.
we can see or think of. And such spiritual aspir- The devotees of the path of devotion have it
ants often begin this by considering everything relatively easy. They transform the ego from one
in this universe to be impermanent and there- that is attached to the world to one that is at-
fore not real. Brahman is the sole reality, while tached to a personal and loving aspect of God.
this universe is simply a ‘framework of illusion’, They do this by taking up a personal relationship
a term used by Sri Ramakrishna.2 with God: ‘I am the Lord’s servant.’ ‘I am a friend
But another way to do this, as Aquinas indi- of the Lord.’ ‘I am the Lord’s Mother or Father.’
cates, is to question our own existence. This was ‘I am the Lord’s lover.’ By attaching the ego in
a method often prescribed by Ramana Maharshi: this way to the Lord through meditation, the ego
gradually becomes more and more purified until
Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana is a nun at Viveka- it finally melts away through pure love, and the
nanda Retreat, Ridgely, New York. real Self then shines through.
68 PB January 2020
Surrendering the ‘I’ in Advaita Sadhana 79
Yet there is something similar in the path of five sheaths, just as we can remove the new inner
knowledge. Like the arundhati darshana nyaya, stalk of a blade of grass from the outer stalks.
the maxim of showing the Arundhati star—the And in this way, we can remove our attachment
practice of directing someone’s attention from to them and realise our true Self.
the gross to the subtle and the subtler—we can Let’s see how the Panchadashi does this. First
take the ego from its identification with the it takes up the gross, physical body, the anna-
gross, to more and more subtle levels, until it maya kosha. We all know very well how much
melts away into the real Self. our ego is identified with the body. When the
We should remember too that meditation body is sick, we think we are sick. When the
itself, if done rightly, is the primary process in body is in pain, we think we are in pain. We
surrendering the ego. We practise losing the ego think we are fat or thin, beautiful or ugly, ac-
through our meditation and other spiritual dis- cording to our type of body. As Swami Brahma-
ciplines, but then the real surrender takes place nanda once said, the common mind ‘wakes up
when we have the experience of Brahman. in the body and remains attached to the body
There are many ways to practise surrender- throughout the day’.4
ing the ego like this. Here is one from the Pan- To teach us detachment for the body, the
chadashi that directs us from the gross plane Panchadashi first states that the body had its
of existence to more and more subtle planes: origin in food and also grows through food.
‘As the slender, internal pith of munja grass This is why it is called the annamaya kosha, the
can be detached from its coarse external cov- sheath of food. But as the body did not exist be-
ering, so the Self can be distinguished through fore our conception, and it also decays after our
reasoning from the three bodies (or the five death, it is not eternal and therefore cannot be
sheaths). Then the Self is recognised as the su- our real Self. Moreover, our present body did
preme consciousness.’3 not exist in any previous birth, nor will it exist
Here the three bodies and the five sheaths refer in any future birth. Thus, it was not the doer of
to first, the gross body, or the annamaya kosha, our past actions, nor will it exist in future births
the sheath of food; second, the subtle body, con- to experience the results of our past or present
sisting of the pranamaya kosha, the sheath of the actions. Therefore, the body cannot be the real
vital principle, the manomaya kosha, the mental Self. So, the Panchadashi asks, why do we iden-
sheath, and the vijnanamaya kosha, the intel- tify our self with it?
lectual sheath; and third, the causal body, or the Next the Panchadashi takes up the subtle
anandamaya kosha, the sheath of bliss. The order body. Though the three sheaths of the subtle
here is from the grossest to the subtler, so each body—the vital sheath, the mental sheath, and
of the following bodies and sheaths lies within, the intellectual sheath—are closely related, they
figuratively speaking, the previous one. all have separate functions. The first is the prana-
Because of our identification with these maya kosha, the sheath of the vital principle. The
bodies and sheaths, our ego becomes more or less vital principle pervades the whole body and is
attached to each one of them at various times. particularly associated with our breathing. Yet
So, the Panchadashi is saying here that through it also controls our organs of action, the hands,
discernment we can separate our real Self from the feet, the organ of speech, and the organs of
our identification with these three bodies and evacuation and procreation. Here again, our
PB January 2020 69
intellect which has the reflection of pure con-

sciousness, and which pervades the whole body
up to the tips of the fingers in the waking state,
but disappears in deep sleep, is known as the in-
tellect sheath. It also is not the Self because it too
is changeable’ (3.7).
Swami Satprakashananda explains: ‘Since it
[the vijnanamaya kosha] bears the reflection of
the witness-self it appears to be self-luminous.
Identified with the not-self the reflected self as-
serts itself as the agent. Impelled by self-con-
sciousness in such forms as—“I am the knower”,
‘I am the doer”, “I am happy”, ‘I am unhappy”—
the intelligent sheath [the vijnanamaya kosa]
Swami Satprakashananda (1888–1979)
operates on the mental and the vital sheaths.’6
ego identifies itself with the functions of these The Vedanta-sara lays out the functions of the
organs—that is, I am strong, I am weak, I speak pranamaya kosha, the manomaya kosa, and the
well, and so on—and thus it gets attached to vijnanamaya kosha, which comprise the subtle
them. But, as the Panchadashi says: ‘[The prana- body, in this way: ‘Among these sheaths, the in-
maya kosha, the vital sheath] is not the Self be- telligent sheath, vijnanamaya kosha, which is
cause it is devoid of consciousness.’5 endowed with the power of knowledge, is the
The second and third layers of the subtle body agent; the mental sheath, manomaya kosha,
are the manomaya kosha, the mental sheath, and which is endowed with willpower, is the instru-
the vijnanamaya kosha, the intellectual sheath, ment; and the vital sheath, pranamaya kosha,
which is the locus of the buddhi or intellect. which is endowed with activity, is the product.
Both the manomaya kosha and the vijnanamaya This division has been made according to their
kosha are associated with the organs of percep- respective functions. These three sheaths to-
tion—that is, hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, gether constitute the subtle body.’7
and smelling. Moreover, according to Vedanta, within the
Regarding the mental sheath, the Pancha- manomaya kosha and the vijnanamaya kosa,
dashi says: ‘That which gives rise to the ideas of there are four modes of cognition: deliberation,
“I” and “mine” with regard to one’s body, house, manas; determination, buddhi; egoism, aham-
and so forth, is the mind sheath. It is not the kara; and recollection, chitta. Of these four, ‘the
Self because it has desires and is moved by pleas- first two are considered primary by the Vedan-
ure and pain, is subject to delusion and is fickle tic teachers. The Vedānta-sāra includes citta in
[that is, always changing]’ (3.6). In other words, buddhi and ahaṁkāra in manas. But the Pan-
our desires are always changing, based mostly on chadashi includes citta in manas and ahaṁkāra
our ideas of what is pleasant and what is painful in buddhi.’8 Here, we are following the Pancha
at the moment. dashi. These four modes of cognition are gen-
The Panchadashi then describes the vijnana- erally referred to collectively as the mind, the
maya kosha, the intellectual sheath thus: ‘The antahkarana.
70 PB January 2020
According to the Panchadashi, the mind, catching a reflection of the ātman that is Bliss
antahkarana, is located in the heart. But as we Absolute; whose attributes are joy and the rest;
have seen, the ego extends itself even to the phys- and which appears in view when some object
ical and vital sheaths. This is because the mind agreeable to oneself presents itself. It makes it-
self spontaneously felt to the fortunate during
also extends throughout the psycho-physical sys-
the fruition of their virtuous deeds, from which
tem. But the locus of the ego is in the mind— every corporeal being derives great joy without
specifically the vijnanamaya kosha. According the least effort.
to the Panchadashi, when the manas presents an The blissful sheath has its fullest play dur-
image of a chair to the buddhi, the buddhi deter- ing profound sleep, while in the dreaming and
mines, ‘This is a chair’. Then the ‘I’-sense deter- wakeful states it has only a partial manifest-
mines, ‘I know the chair’. This is how these inner ation, occasioned by the sight of agreeable ob-
organs function, according to Vedanta. jects and so forth (70).
And if we are not yet convinced of the Through the causal body, the ego enjoys the
ephemeral nature of the mind and the ego, we fruits of its actions, and it gets joy from other
have only to remember how much they change. mundane actions and objects. Again, on waking
One moment the mind flares up in anger, and up from deep sleep, the ego says, ‘I have slept
the next moment it expresses love. One moment well’. But this is the extent of its enjoyment. If
it is happy, and the next moment it is sad. The we want the bliss of Brahman, we have to under-
ego too does not stay the same. It presents one stand who the real enjoyer is.
aspect to family members, and another to people As the Panchadashi says: ‘This bliss sheath
one works with. [the anandamaya kosha] also cannot be the Self
Again, we have only to remember how a lit- because it is temporal and impermanent. That
tle boy can put on a Superman costume and for bliss which is the source of this reflection [that
a short time be consumed with the thought that is, the reflected bliss of the anandamaya kosha] is
he is Superman. A little girl, playing with her the Self; for it is eternal and immutable.’9
dolls, will be totally absorbed for some time in Now, how do we get to the point of realising
the thought that she is the doll’s mommy. We can our real Self ? According to the Panchadashi, we
easily see from these things that the mind and first hear or read about these three bodies and
ego are not eternal, and therefore they cannot five sheaths. In Vedanta this is called shravana
be the real Self. As said before, the mind and ego or hearing. Then we use our discerning faculty
also are part of the ‘framework of illusion’ that to understand that these three bodies and five
must be renounced. sheaths are not the real Self, and that our goal
The final and fifth sheath is the anandamaya lies beyond them. This is manana or reasoning.
kosha, the sheath of bliss, and this comprises So far, this is where the Panchadashi has taken
the third and final body—the causal body. This us. The next step is to meditate, nididhyasana,
sheath is the closest to the Atman, so it par- and try to separate the real Self from the not-
takes of some qualities of the Atman. But these self, just as we separate the inner blade of the
qualities are only reflections of the bliss of the munja grass from the stalk. When we achieve
Atman. According to Acharya Shankara: this separation, we attain our goal of realisation
The blissful sheath is that modification of through samadhi.
ajñāna [ignorance] which manifests itself In the words of the Panchadashi:
PB January 2020 71
And, when by shravana and manana the mind and discrimination become much more clear.
develops a firm and undoubted conviction, And we see that, when we have enthusiasm, and
and dwells constantly on the thus ascertained when our willpower is properly directed, our
Self alone, it is called unbroken meditation, mahavakya practice and meditation move us for-
nididhyasana.
ward. For the most part, we are able to forget the
When the mind gradually leaves off the body during meditation and our mind becomes
ideas of the meditator and the act of medita-
focussed for longer periods of time. Still, we feel
tion and is merged in the sole object of medi-
tation (namely, the Self ), and is steady like the that this is all due to our own effort and will and
flame of a lamp in a breezeless place, it is called our ego is very much there.
the super-conscious state, samadhi (1.54–5). Then, perhaps after a very long time, we sud-
denly jump to a higher level—but just for a short
But before we get to samadhi—that is, when time. Perhaps we have an experience of being sub-
we are at the stage of nididhyasana—we need to merged in profound bliss. Awareness of every-
take the help of our will (1.57). Let’s take a look thing is dissolved in this bliss. There is a slight
at these stages of our spiritual practices and ex- feeling that we are the enjoyer of this bliss, so
periences. In this way we can see where we are some ego remains as the enjoyer. Yet that ego is
and where we are going with our sadhana, and not our ordinary ego. It is a purified ego. Our ego
also how our will is used to surrender our ego. is getting a taste of divine bliss. How did we get
In the early stages of our spiritual practices there? Was it grace? Or was it through our own
we are trying to lessen our ego by purifying it. effort and will? We cannot say. But definitely a
Though we are specifically dealing with medi- purification has taken place. And even though we
tation practices here in this article, we have to cannot remain at this level, we have some idea of
remember that all the activities we do with our what divine bliss is like. Moreover, we know that
body, speech, and mind throughout the day are losing our ego to it is not a bad thing at all. With
important for our spiritual development. If we an experience like this, we get hope and renewed
do not try to reduce and purify our ego in our enthusiasm and we long for similar experiences.
daily activities—such as by strictly following the Yet, however wonderful that experience is,
yamas and niyamas and moral and ethical prin- it is temporary, and it does not remove our ego
ciples—then our meditation and other spiritual enough that we become established in the ul-
practices will not take us anywhere. We will be timate Reality. However, we now have some ex-
like a boat that remains anchored at a dock. perience of the bliss that comes with losing the
But here we are taking for granted that the ego in the Self and we know it is possible to at-
spiritual aspirants steadily follow these discip- tain it. And, at the same time, our desire for that
lines. Now perhaps we are practising a particular higher state and our will to attain it, have in-
type of meditation and/or repeating a maha- creased tremendously.
vakya.10 Sometimes our meditation is good, and Now let us turn to Swami Vivekananda’s
sometimes it is not. Depending on our success ‘The Hymn of Samadhi’. At some point our will
or failure in our day-to-day spiritual practices, moves us forward in our meditation, and we ac-
our mind goes to higher or lower levels. Yet, all- tually experience the universe as unsubstantial, as
in-all, as we continue this for a long time, we ‘a framework of illusion’. In the first two verses
see we are making progress. Our understanding Swamiji says:
72 PB January 2020
Lo! The sun is not, nor the comely moon,

All light extinct; in the great void of space
Floats shadow-like the image-universe.
In the void of mind involute, there floats

The fleeting universe, rises and floats,
Sinks again, ceaseless, in the current ‘I’.11
This stage is critical for us. The image-uni-

verse—‘the framework of illusion’, which in-
cludes our ordinary ego—is there, and we see
that it has no substance. And now we are simply
the witness of it. We are now identified, not
with our ordinary ego, but with the witness self,
the Atman. Do we have a choice here? Do we
want this fleeting universe? Here is where some-
thing comes in to move us on towards our goal.
The unconscious force of our will and of our Swamiji then describes in the last verse the
sadhana—for example, our sadhana of a maha- final state, nirvikalpa samadhi, the samadhi of
vakya such as ‘I am Brahman’—are behind us. the total dissolution of everything, including all
This force carries us forward without any con- waves of saguna Brahman:
scious effort. Lo! ’Tis stopped, ev’n that current flows no
Now the witness ‘I’ dissolves in savikalpa more,
samadhi. As Swamiji describes it:
Void merged into void—beyond speech and
Slowly, slowly, the shadow-multitude mind!
Entered the primal womb, and flowed Whose heart understands, he verily does
ceaseless, (ibid.).
The only current, the ‘I am’, ‘I am’ (ibid.).
‘Void merged into void’, as Swamiji says. Yet,
Even the witness-self has melted, and is gone. it is not empty. It is Existence absolute, Con-
There is nothing now but saguna Brahman’s sciousness absolute, and Bliss absolute. But there
awareness that it is saguna Brahman—Brahman is nothing outside it to be aware of it. It is Brah-
with qualities, associated with ishvara, the perman alone, One without a second.
sonal God. But it is not ishvara with form. The ‘I’ But if there is no will in that state, then how
here is the ‘I’ of saguna Brahman, and not of any did we get there? The Panchadashi says: ‘The
individual—not even of the cosmic mind. Yet it mind continues to be fixed in Paramatman in
is still not nirvikalpa samadhi, because there still the state of samadhi as a result of the effort of
exist the waves of saguna Brahman recognising will made prior to the achievement and helped
its own infinite existence. by the merits of previous births and the strong
PB January 2020 73
impression created person who enters a state of samadhi might keep

through constant ef- a thread that connects her or him to the body.
forts (at getting into Swami Ambikananda told the following story:
samadhi).’ 12 Swami One day she [Swami Ambikananda’s mother,
Swahananda explains: Nistarini Ghosh] went to Dakshineswar and
‘Even though during saw the Master seated on his bed in samadhi.
samadhi there is no When she bowed down to him, her bangles
continuous exertion made some noise. Immediately the Master was
of will-power to keep startled and his samadhi broke. He cried out:
‘What is this? Why are you making so much
the mind fixed on the
noise? The soul of a person who has left his
Self, the momentum body and merged into the Divine might not
works.’13 be able to return to his body. When I go into
Here the Pancha- samadhi, I keep a thread between this body
Swami Swahananda
dashi explains the and the Cosmic Being, just as a very fine wire
attainment of this state in terms of our own connects two things. If the connecting thread
willpower. Others might call it the grace of the breaks by some noise I shall not be able to re-
mind or the grace of the Self. Sri Ramakrishna turn to this body.’17
sometimes used the analogy of iron filings being Evidently, this ability to return from samadhi
drawn to a magnet.14 There is a natural attraction is meant primarily for those who are to do some
between the two to become one. In the Shveta special work in this world—or possibly also for
shvatara Upanisad, the sage Shvetashvatara at- those who have strong prarabdha karma that re-
tributes this knowledge partly to the grace of quires them to come back. In another place Sri
God: ‘As it is well known, Shvetashvatara, having Ramakrishna said:
realised Brahman through the power of auster-
When the Kundalini rises to the Sahasrara and
ities and the grace of God [deva-prasadat cha],
the mind goes into samadhi, the aspirant loses
thereafter fully taught to the monks the supreme all consciousness of the outer world. He can no
and the holy Brahman that is duly adored by longer retain his physical body. If milk is poured
hosts of sages.’15 into his mouth, it runs out again. In that state
As the Panchadashi says, ‘Thus a [person] dis- the life-breath lingers for twenty-one days and
tinguishes the Self from the five sheaths, concen- then passes out. … But the Isvarakotis, such as
trates the mind on it according to the scriptural the Incarnations of God, can come down from
injunctions, becomes free from the bonds of re- this state of samadhi. They can descend from
peated births and deaths and immediately at- this exalted state because they like to live in the
company of devotees and enjoy the love of God.
tains the supreme bliss’.16
God retains in them the ‘ego of Knowledge’ or
But can one return from this state? How is it the ‘ego of Devotion’ so that they may teach
possible to return if everything merges into the men. Their minds move between the sixth and
Absolute? For, once we lose the connection to the seventh planes [of consciousness]. …
our psycho-physical system, how can we exist as After attaining samadhi some souls of their
a separate entity anymore? Like a drop of water own accord keep the ‘ego of Knowledge’. But
merging with the ocean, who or what remains that ego does not create any attachment. It is
to return? According to Sri Ramakrishna, a like a line drawn on the water.18
74 PB January 2020
As Sri Ramakrishna says here, there are some

souls who can and do return to the psycho-
physical system they had before the samadhi.
But their mind as well as their ego have been
totally purified, burned in the fire of Brahman.
These souls are like a sword that has touched the
philosopher’s stone and has been turned into
gold. It can no longer be used for any harm. It
can only do good.
Sri Ramakrishna, in fact, says in one place
that God ‘can be known by the pure buddhi,
which is the same as the Pure Self. The seers
of old directly perceived the Pure Self through
their pure buddhi’ (733). So, it comes to a
point where the purified buddhi melts into the
pure Self. They are not two separate entities.
And as the ego, ahamkara, is, according to the
Panchadashi, associated with the buddhi, that
means the ego also has melted into the pure 5. Panchadashi, 3.5.
6. Swami Satprakashananda, The Goal and the
Self and has been purified. It is no longer the
Way: The Vedantic Approach to Life’s Problems
ordinary ego. This is why Sri Ramakrishna can (St Louis: Vedanta Society of St Louis, 1977), 67.
speak of the ‘ego of Knowledge’ and the ‘ego 7. Sadananda Yogindra, Vedanta-Sara, 89.
of devotion’. 8. The Goal and the Way, 80.
It is all a matter of surrender—surrendering 9. Panchadashi, 3.10.
10. Mahavakya, literally, ‘great saying’. There are
the lower self to the higher Self, and allowing our four such mantras, or sayings—such as ‘Aham
higher Self, the pure Atman, to manifest. And brahmasmi; I am Brahman’ (Brihadaranyaka
this is why Swamiji tells us again and again to Upanishad, 1.4.10)—that proclaim the identity
manifest the divinity that is already within us. of the Self with Brahman. They are each to be
It is in our hands. Through right discrimination found in one of the Upanishads.
11. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
and also yearning, we can do it. P 9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989;
9, 1997), 4.498.
12. Panchadashi, 1.57. Emphasis added.
1. St Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologica, 13. Pañcadaśī of Śrī Vidyāraṇya Swāmi, trans.
1.63.3. Swami Swahananda (Madras: Ramakrishna
2. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami Math, 1995), 29.
Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math, 14. See Gospel, 1024.
2002), 243. 15. Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6.21.
3. Vidyaranya, Panchadashi, 1.42. 16. Panchadashi, 1.65.
4. Swami Vijayananda, ‘Memories of Swami 1 7. Swami Chetanananda, How to Live with God:
Brahmananda’, Swami Brahmananda As We In the Company of Ramakrishna, by Swami
Saw Him, comp. and ed. Swami Atmashraddha Chetanananda (St Louis: Vedanta Society of St
nanda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math, 2010), Louis, 2008), 505.
332. 18. Gospel, 500.
PB January 2020 75
86
Advaita Vedanta: Its Vision and Possibilities

Swami Satyamayananda
In Whom is the Universe, Who is in the Uni- accordingly to new circumstances and expansion
verse, Who is the Universe; in Whom is the of secular or relative knowledge. The latest to
Soul, Who is in the Soul, Who is the Soul of do that is Swamiji. He saw Advaita Vedanta as
Man; knowing Him—and therefore the Uni- a panacea for all individual and social problems
verse—as our Self, alone extinguishes all fear,
and preached it as such. There is a tendency in
brings an end to misery and leads to Infinite
Freedom. Wherever there has been expansion in some scholars to call it neo-Vedanta but it is not
love or progress in well-being, of individuals or really so. Swamiji made Vedanta practical.
numbers, it has been through the perception, re- There was always a need for Vedanta but this
alisation, and the practicalisation of the Eternal need has today turned into a conflagration:
Truth—the oneness of all beings. ‘De- a) Individual and social problems are be-
pendence is misery. Independence is happiness.’ coming more chronic and we need a stronger
The Advaita is the only system which gives unto and more modern current of thought to coun-
man complete possession of himself, takes off ter problems. This can justifiably come from
all dependence and its associated superstitions,
thus making us brave to suffer, brave to do, and
Advaita Vedanta.
in the long run attain to Absolute Freedom.1 b) As a species, the human beings, are braver
to dream and dare—not in the old sense of phys-
T
he above quotation for the Advaita ical strength that brought havoc—and we need
Ashrama prospectus, written by Swami a corresponding philosophy that looks far ahead
Vivekananda, sums up the tremendous in the future, and which can, at the same time be
vision and possibilities of Advaita Vedanta. a practical guide.
c) The rise and spread of knowledge is tre-
The Religion of Vedanta mendous and most religions and philosophies
The religion of Vedanta in all its philosophical are feeling the heat and so become fanatical in
phases, called Hinduism, has moulded every as- order to protect themselves. Vedanta can be an
pect of Indian life—its spirituality, ethos, lan- answer to this new human spirit that is emerging
guage, culture, and so on. Vedanta is not a closed as it does not contradict it but fulfils the ancient
philosophical system, and so great sages and religions and philosophies.
saints come, verify, and push Vedanta to newer d) Humanity is gradually heading towards a
grounds. The fundamentals are sacrosanct but new type of civilisation where Eastern and West-
its approaches and applications are reinterpreted ern ideals and values are combining. This new cul-
ture or civilisation needs a universal philosophy.
Swami Satyamayananda is Assistant Minister, Ved- Is this a new attempt? India tried to estab-
anta Society of Southern California, Hollywood, lish a society based on Vedanta for more than
USA, and a former editor of Prabuddha Bharata. 4,000 years. The gist of what was quoted in the
76 PB January 2020
Advaita Vedanta: Its Vision and Possibilities 87
beginning was what was implemented, but it

did not trickle down to the masses. However,
Vedanta had set the goal of life to be moksha,
and based its teachings on the divinity of all
beings. The means is to lift oneself through yoga
into areas of the mind, yet unexplored by or-
dinary knowledge called super-mind or super-
consciousness. Persons who could do this were
called rishis, sages, and yogis. People were sup-
posed to become godlike, protect the treasury
of spiritual knowledge, pass it down to the next
generation, and attain moksha while still alive,
or at least at the time of death.
The basing of society on the reality of the su-
per-mind was not understood by many foreign
invaders, and even today by many modern pun-
dits; that is the reason why there was so much
misunderstanding regarding Hinduism. We see
how basing society on wealth, markets, power,
status, or even tribal or racial deities has killed
millions of people in warfare for the last 5,000
years. Eventually, as history has shown us, such
ideals self-destruct nations. Then we have the in the external world; religion is the search for the
pernicious insane ideologies, whether religious Truth in the internal world. Both will meet and
or secular, that have killed more millions in Gu- combine their powers for the distinction between
lags, concentration camps, long marches, and so internal and external is not absolute.
on. That is why Swamiji says: ‘My Ideal indeed c) The genius of Swamiji expresses his life’s
can be put into a few words and that is: to preach work as follows:
unto mankind their divinity, and how to make To put the Hindu ideas into English and then
it manifest in every movement of life’ (7.501). make out of dry philosophy and intricate
A few contributions of Swamiji in making mythology and queer startling psychology, a
Vedanta practical and living: religion which shall be easy, simple, popular,
a) Everyone is eligible to Vedanta, unlike earlier and at the same time meet the requirements
ages when it was meant for only a certain class of of the highest minds—is a task only those can
people, like monks and pundits. Moreover, we understand who have attempted it. The dry, ab-
stract Advaita must become living—poetic—in
can just follow the fundamental principles given
everyday life; out of hopelessly intricate myth-
by Swamiji in his works. ology must come concrete moral forms; and
b) The world’s religious landscape has been out of bewildering Yogi-ism must come the
the battleground of religion and science, vying for most scientific and practical psychology—and
dominance. Swamiji broke the fight on the philo- all this must be put in a form so that a child may
sophical level. Science is the search for the Truth grasp it. That is my life’s work (5.104–5).
PB January 2020 77
The First Backdrop itself. The steps are tentative. New materials are
The three processes of knowledge are: being fabricated, there is new tinkering with
(1) We go by referring things, from the par- genes, developments are taking place in medi-
ticular to the general and from the general to the cine, biogenetics, gene therapy, we are design-
universal, higher and higher generalisations; and ing new materials, and so on. It has changed the
(2) Vice versa, from the universal to the gen- way we perceive ourselves. After a long time in
eral and from the general to the particular. For human history the responsibility of safeguard-
example, female and male, human beings, fam- ing and developing our destiny is given to us.
ilies, communities, society, races, Homo sapiens, We are now responsible for all human beings,
mammals, living beings, and Existence. These are our environment, as well as the billions of spe-
called the inductive and deductive methods; then cies of life. This is the power of knowledge and
(3) The other process of knowledge is that knowledge comes with tremendous respon-
the knowledge of a particular thing has to come sibility that we have accumulated for 40,000
from the nature of the thing itself; no extraneous generations. Suddenly we are becoming aware
explanations are required for reference. of the great excitement and hope and also the
dangers. Our future depends on how well we
The Second Backdrop understand ourselves and the universe. This is
The human saga of about 1,50,000 years along also a challenge for our sense of pride in being
with the biological evolution of more than four ourselves. How can we save the environment
million years has brought us to this present stage and be trustees to the responsibilities, given to
where humanity is finding its coordinates in us by Nature?
space and time. Thanks to science, we have been ii) Today every science and branch of know-
able to reconstruct our journey of biological evo- ledge speaks of the ‘oneness of the universe’.
lution with the 13.7 billion years of cosmic evo- We know that all life has evolved from a sin-
lution. We can now appreciate our place in the gle cell that could replicate itself; we share our
great story that is unfolding in all its grandeur genetic code with all the other living beings.
and beauty. We also know that we are made of the stuff of
It is a fact that Vedanta, to be truly effective the universe and that the distinction between
collectively, needs a new level of thought, so- the organic and inorganic is a myth. Suddenly,
phistication, and civilisation, and this is coming our mental and physical horizons are stretch-
about by the mighty but inexorable processes of ing to infinity.
evolution. Vedanta teaches that the truth ‘Tat iii) With all this power of knowledge
tvam asi; that thou art’,2 the inherent Divinity and responsibility, humanity today needs an
in all beings, is uncoiling itself and this is the overarching philosophy that will harmonise all
cause of the evolution of matter and manifest- its knowledge and accomplishments, while at
ation of consciousness. the same time be high enough to be an ideal
With these backdrops, we can consider why and lead people to understand their real Di-
the possibilities of Vedanta philosophy for indi- vine nature.
vidual and social life: iv) For about 5,000 years, civilisations in
i) Our species, today, equipped with know- most parts of the world were dragged down be-
ledge, is shaping the world around and also cause of divisiveness. This ominous shadow is
78 PB January 2020
Advaita Vedanta: Its Vision and Possibilities 89
lifting—democracy, human rights, gender equal- unknown one. It is more than known. One does
ity are the norms. not have to go around to temples, or tirthas, to
v) Consciousness is expanding and almost acquire it. It is not in the skies or in the heavens.
all branches of knowledge are trying to study We know everything in and through the Self.
consciousness. Rather, it is proper to say that all The Self is the most known of all things. Swamiji
the branches of knowledge are the result of ex- says that in order to know anything, one has to
panding consciousness. This search of the source know it through the Self.
is the search for our identities and the meaning 5) There are two tendencies in human na-
and purpose of life. All branches of knowledge ture: to harmonise the ideal with the real; and
can be subsumed under Vedanta as a science of to raise oneself to the ideal. Vedanta takes the
consciousness. latter stand, for the former is a compromise, a
Do not think that Advaita Vedanta is some- comfortable religion; it is making excuses for our
thing difficult and outside of us. Advaita Ved- weaknesses. This silly life of silly things will have
anta is our real nature. It is ourselves; and this to be raised to the ideal.
is the best time we can actualise it. This was the 6) Vedanta does not preach an impossible
great work of Swamiji, for like the Buddha, he ideal. The practicality is in the sense of the ideal.
too brought Vedanta down for us all. And today, We misinterpret practicality regarding what
he has become the symbol of Vedanta. we like and what we can do. Or as Swamiji says
1) As Swamiji declared, this philosophy was that a shopkeeper thinks that what he is doing is
practical first, that is, experiential first, and practical. All others are impractical. So we must
philosophical next. But we can go to the general guard against this interpretation. The ideal is
principle of practicality—it is not about how to that you are Divine and this has to be brought
sit, eat, or sleep. The fundamental thing of prac- out. And this same Atman is in everything.
ticality is practice, repeated practice. Vedanta 7) The first step to understand about our-
being a mental science, the practice ought to be selves is to have faith in ourselves. ‘The old reli-
attitudinal. gion said that he was an atheist who did not be-
2) Vedanta as a religion and philosophy has to lieve in God. The new religion says that he is the
enter into every part of life and thoughts and the atheist who does not believe in himself.’3
fictitious divisions between the religious life and 8) All the powers are within oneself. Don’t
the world must go. We tend to compartmen- blame others. Vedanta also says that there is no
talise our life and thoughts and actions. This sin but only error. This positive attitude gives a
tendency is innate and also studied. We may be big boost to our self-confidence and energies.
saints in the temples but devils at the workplace. 9) We tend to live our lives in the past, rem-
The distinctions between the sacred and secular iniscing; or we slip into imaginations of the fu-
must go. ture; but to realise our true nature as the pure
3) Vedanta is not the result of exclusive reclu- Self, we need to keep our minds in the present,
sive meditations but the best parts were taught giving up attachments, aversions, and fears. This
and lived by rulers. They were busier than the is known as yoga.
masses. We see how the philosophy was preached 10) Swamiji says: ‘If matter is powerful,
on the battlefield by Sri Krishna to Arjuna. thought is omnipotent’ (2.302). So by regulating
4) The Reality that Vedanta teaches is not an our thoughts and disciplining our senses, we can
PB January 2020 79
be a master of not only our body-mind complex of the people will be channelised and directed
but also of the external nature. to the good of all.
11) Two thought-forces guide our actions: ‘I’ The whole of nature is going back to its
and ‘not I’; this is due to our love being narrowed source, the Reality, through the mighty processes
and broadened respectively. Vedanta preaches of evolution and involution, and the desire to
oneness and so there are no two forces but one. transform ourselves. We will inevitably get to
The ego either expands the love or contracts it. that point of moksha, freedom, as a species, and
We need to be firm and alert in making the ego the whole of creation too will reach that point.
do what we want, not what it wants. Swamiji gives the example of water in a kettle
We come to the social part: being boiled and the bubbles escaping; not en
1) All religions use symbols and images to masse but gradually till everything has escaped.
represent God—pratikas and pratimas. We We have heard that voice within and are rush-
spoke of the Reality that Vedanta preaches as ing towards it.
more than known. What is better known than The highest truths are simple and that is
the world and humanity? These are the greatest what Vedanta preaches; when truth becomes
symbols. A human being is the highest symbol complex it becomes lies. Swamiji says that
of God. This idea, when properly understood India was saved twice by Vedanta, first by the
and practised, will transform our interactions Buddha and next when Buddhism degener-
with others and bring social changes for the ated, by Acharya Shankara (2.139). This time
good of all. also Vedanta was brought to all people by
2) Vedanta preaches an impersonal Reality, Swamiji in order to save the world culture.
but Impersonality includes all personalities— Today we need to combine the heart of Bud-
from the creator-god to the lowest being crawling dha, the intellect of Acharya Shankara, and
under our feet. This also means that all personal- the power of Swamiji to make Vedanta prac-
ities, whether divine, semi-divine, quasi-divine, tical. Swamiji says: ‘It comes whenever reli-
or human, are all the personalities of Brahman. gion seems to disappear and irreligion seems
It is the Divinity of existence. to prevail, and that is why it has taken ground
3) The world in the future will not listen to in Europe and America’ (ibid.).
limited ideas of Godhead and exclusiveness of Is the path very easy? Yes and no! But we
believers and also not accept the constant reli- must remember that the things we work for the
gious conflicts. Advaita Vedanta will have to do hardest are the very things that cause most pain,
this great task of harmonisation. and these are the things that pay off most in the
4) The Vedantic ideas of oneness and div- end. Swamiji has opened a new path to moksha
inity, while rejecting ideas of contempt for and this is the path of practical Vedanta—the
others, not only helps the spiritual aspirants but worship of the Spirit by the Spirit. P
also brings about the betterment of society. Ved-
anta is meant for all people whether in bond- References
age, misery, happiness, or freedom. It removes 1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
exclusiveness and privileges that divided soci- 1997), 5.435–6.
eties in the old days. All the social, economic, 2. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7.
and gender barriers being removed, the energy 3. Complete Works, 2.301.
80 PB January 2020
91
Advaita: India’s Grand Contribution

to the World
Swami Atmajnananda
India’s Rich Heritage to exploit the believing and simple Indians. ‘It is
T
he contribution of Indian thought about time that a Briton completely took apart
and philosophy to the world is being rec- the imperialist project and showed it for what
ognised very late, especially its relevance to it was—not about civilising savages, but about
the higher dimensions of human personality. In- brutally exploiting civilised humans by treating
dian wisdom held its sway over the minds of the them as savages’, says Zac O’Yeah in his review of
ancient Greeks and other civilisations in the past the book The Anarchy: The East India Company,
just as it continues to attract the modern world Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire
with its yoga and philosophical insight to life’s by William Dalrymple.1
problems. Religion and spirituality were never The contribution of India to world culture
divorced from the mainstream of Indian life all has not been studied properly, and has been
through its available history of 6,000 to 8,000 mostly neglected, and if there has been any na-
years and more. It is well acknowledged today tion that has been exploited again and again, it
that apart from philosophy, the contribution has been India. Arts and sciences flourished in
of India to the numerical system, mathematics, ancient India and ample evidence can be seen
metallurgy, chemistry, and medical science has even today among the ruins that have remained
been significant. Unfortunately, our generation after the destruction by plunderers. The Gupta
is made to believe that Indians were not prag- period and the Mauryan period were far ahead
matic and they did not bother about develop- in all respects when compared to the Western
ment at the social and empirical levels. This is nations at that time. India was rich and famous
far from truth; it is in fact a malicious distortion! like Rome was in the West, not only for its silk,
Indian society was based on knowledge pur- spices, indigo, and other valuable materials but
suits and the whole focus was on arriving at the also for philosophical research with two famous
Truth. Dharma was the means to strike a bal- universities, Nalanda and Takshashila, which at-
ance between external achievements and internal tracted students from distant countries. Indian
poise. The Indian mind, contrary to what our civilisation survived all odds because it adapted
critics say, did not neglect social and scientific itself to changing times externally and held on to
advancement. Here was affluence along with its inner core, spirituality.
philosophical pursuits until the plunderers came
Spirituality at the Core
Swami Atmajnananda is Secretary, Ramakrishna Swami Vivekananda said that the national life-
Mission Ashrama, Chandigarh. breath of India is its spirituality and religion,
PB January 2020 81
just as politics and commercial acumen are of Supreme, then there is nothing apart from it.
the Western nations. ‘This is the theme of Indian The Taittiriya Upanishad says: ‘The Self wished,
life-work, the burden of her eternal songs, the “Let me be many, let me be born”. It undertook
backbone of her existence, the foundation of her a deliberation. Having deliberated, it created all
being, the raison d’être of her very existence—the this that exists. Brahman, having created that,
spiritualisation of the human race. In this her entered into that very thing. And having entered
life-course she has never deviated, whether the there, it became the formed and the formless, the
Tartar ruled or the Turk, whether the Mogul defined and the undefined, the sustaining and
ruled or the English.’2 the non-sustaining, the sentient and the insen-
‘A striking characteristic of Indian thought tient, the true and the untrue. Truth became all
is its richness and variety. There is practically this that there is.’6
no shade of speculation which it does not in- The search for the Reality within and without
clude’, says Professor M Hiriyanna.3 Regarding was the only guiding force behind all sciences.
the expansive penetration of religious thought The very first verse of the Mundaka Upanishad
and philosophy in every aspect of human life in states: ‘Brahma, the creator of the universe …
the Indian context, Dr S Radhakrishnan said: imparted that knowledge of Brahman that is the
‘Every doctrine is turned into a passionate con- basis of all knowledge.’7 The significant question
viction, stirring the hearts of man and quicken- asked in those ancient times was: ‘O adorable sir,
ing his breath.’4 which is that thing, knowing which all this be-
comes known?’ (1.1.3).
Knowledge is One Knowledge, according to the seers, was in-
One important point that needs to be empha- divisible and it is this syncretic approach to all
sised here is that in the Indian tradition, all aspects of life that governs the Indian thought
branches of knowledge were considered as dif- process. Nothing was considered piecemeal!
ferent facets of the one ultimate Knowledge and Everything was seen as an integral part of a
all empirical pursuits were considered as applica- larger whole. One existence behind the many,
tion of that one Truth. Knowledge or vidya was one Truth behind the apparent multiplicity has
divided into two: para, pursuit of brahmavidya, been the Indian chorus from the beginning of its
which was not different from the inner science history. Swamiji, infused with the same idea, in
or atmavidya, and apara, pursuit of external sci- recent times, had discussed with the famous in-
ences. Both these vidyas were considered essen- ventor Nicola Tesla about finding the one force
tial and sacred. The premise that the microcosm that will subsume all the other forces in nature.
and the macrocosm are built on the same lines
was instrumental in removing all apparent con- Advaita, the Search Within
flicts between the two approaches to knowledge Swamiji, a strong advocate of Advaita, learnt at
and everything was sacred to the Indian. the feet of his master Sri Ramakrishna that all
The Upanishads clearly state that the ul- contradictions cease when we have the intui-
timate Reality ‘which is eternal, multiformed, tive experience of the ultimate Reality, which
all-pervasive, extremely subtle, and undiminish- is described as ‘One’ for want of any better
ing, is the source of all (phenomenal creation)’.5 word. Advaita philosophy, as we shall see, is
As a corollary, if everything has come from the the most convincing spiritual explanation of
82 PB January 2020
Advaita: India’s Grand Contribution to the World 93
the ultimate Reality of existence. The human Self by turning one’s

being has been pondering over questions that gaze inwards, de-
have continued to bother the human beings siring immor ta l-
since their awareness of the mind and its cap- ity’, says the Katha
acity to think and reflect. Rising above the Upanishad. 8 Advaita
physical aspects of evolutionary existence, the is defined as non-dual
nagging feeling that there was something that ultimate Reality that
was missing in our understanding of life was cannot be expressed
enough reason to look for a greater existence, through words or sym-
a greater reality, for, there was no satisfaction bols as it is beyond all
in being ordinary anymore. It was an insatiable conceptualisation.
quest and it was not restricted to only the East When we speak of ex- Prof. William Herbert Sheldon, Jr.
or the West. The answer had to be found and in periencing Advaita, let us remember that it is
the process various other dimensions of human not merely an intellectual comprehension of the
personality unfolded. unity of all existence, but an intuitive experi-
Conquering nature and not being bound by ence of the one Reality behind this seemingly
its forces gave humans a taste of freedom and this manifold universe. The Truth must not only be
freedom was extended to all aspects of our per- known but also realised.
sonality; freedom to think, freedom to rise be- Charles Moore paraphrases Prof. William
yond human limitations, and finally a search for Herbert Sheldon, Jr (1898–1977), an American
freedom from death itself. Death was intriguing psychologist: ‘In the West we want to know the
till we found some people, who were not afraid truth; in India, they want to be the truth.’9 Elab-
of facing death and who were blissful in spite of orating on this crucial difference between the
the vagaries of life. So, life had a different dimen- approach of the East and the West, Swamiji said:
sion and this disparity in understanding of the Just as the Greek mind or the modern European
universe and its reality, led to questions regard- mind wants to find the solution of life and of all
ing our perception of the world and questions the sacred problems of Being by searching into
the external world, so also did our forefathers;
about the reliability of sensory data.
and just as the Europeans failed, they failed
Two distinct streams of quest for truth ap- also. But the western people never made a move
peared. The first was the studying of the exter- more … and there they remained, stranded; our
nal world to understand its workings through forefathers also found it impossible, but were
the process of dividing elements, analysing the bolder in declaring the utter helplessness of the
components, and classifying data—a divisive senses to find the solution. … they did not stop
IMAGE: HTTPS://PEOPLEINFO.NET
approach that resulted in various branches of there; they fell back upon the internal nature
science. But in the Indian context, there was al- of man, they went to get the answer from their
ways the idea of a unity behind variety, as stated own soul, they became introspective; they gave
up external nature as a failure, as nothing could
above. The second and more important way of
be done there, as no hope, no answer could be
quest was an analysis into the human personality found; they discovered that dull, dead matter
itself, to find the truth behind all perception would not give them truth, and they fell back
and experience, by going within. ‘A rare bold upon the shining soul of man, and there the an-
and steady discerning person sees the indwelling swer was found.10
PB January 2020 83
Experiencing Advaita categories of thought. It would be direct and

Advaita is an experience that obliterates duality intuitive, an identification of the mind with
once and for all; wherein the experience is not reality’, says Bradley.15
separate from the experiencer, or in other words, It is very important to understand Advaita
an experience wherein the subject alone is and properly as there are many schools of Advaita
the supposed object was never there. What this philosophy. The Advaitic interpretation of Ve-
experience is can never be put into words, as it is dantic texts is also questioned by the other
like trying to clothe the infinite in finite terms. schools of Vedanta. Vedanta or the end portion
The Taittiriya Upanishad says: ‘From where words of the Vedas contain the essence or culmination
return, unable to reach, along with the mind.’11 of the knowledge of Vedas, which itself is a col-
Regarding this Reality, the Kena Upanishad lection of all the revelations that sages had in
says: ‘The eye does not go there, nor speech, nor moments of intuition. It is to be noted that all
mind.’12 The same idea is expressed by the sage these passages that are found in Vedanta are ar-
Yajnavalkya while instructing Gargi in the Briha- ticulations of the experiences of the venerable
daranyaka Upanishad: ‘This immutable, O Gargi, sages. In fact, the variety that is found in these
is never seen but is the witness; it is never heard, first-hand revelations are proof that Reality can
but is the hearer; it is never thought, but is the be experienced in multiple ways and there is
thinker; it is never known, but is the knower.’13 no end to the varieties of religious experience.
Sri Ramakrishna would frequently give the ex- Hence, the most ancient Rig Veda proclaims:
ample of the salt doll that went to measure the ‘Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti; Truth is one,
depth of the ocean. As soon as it entered the the wise call it by various names.’16
ocean, it got dissolved. Who is to tell about the The genius in Acharya Shankara found the
depth of the ocean now? Swamiji explains: nuggets of truth in the vast Vedic literature and
What Advaita says is that God is more than he commented on the Vedantic portions that
knowable. … He is something still higher than are generally known as the Upanishads. He en-
known; that is what is meant by God being un- deavoured to give us a consistent philosophy
known and unknowable. … This chair is known, based on the Upanishads that could stand the
but God is intensely more than that, because in test of time by emphasising on a unitary prin-
and through Him we have to know this chair ciple, which he called the Brahman or Atman,
itself. He is the Witness, the eternal Witness of the basis for all perception; the inner senses and
all knowledge. Whatever we know we have to
know in and through Him. He is the Essence the external organs being merely its instruments.
of our own Self.14 Swamiji says that the innate urge to seek the
Infinite is the reason for religion: ‘Why does
S N Hampshire says that F H Bradley admit- man look for a God? Why does man, in every
ted that ‘ideal and perfect knowledge would not nation, in every state of society, want a perfect
be anything like what we now mean by know- ideal somewhere, either in man, in God, or else-
ledge; it would be more like feeling, in that the where? Because that idea is within you. It was
distinction between the knower and the known your own heart beating and you did not know;
would have disappeared altogether, and know- you were mistaking it for something external. It
ledge would no longer be mediated through is the God within your own self that is propelling
the forms of language or through our limited you to seek for Him, to realise Him.’17
84 PB January 2020
Advaita: India’s Grand Contribution to the World 95
The Katha Upanishad uses the analogy of through the veil of multiplicity and catches the
a chariot to describe the human personality: One, one becomes the One and is no longer
‘Know the individual self as the master of the duped by the endless mirages that the sensory
chariot, and the body as the chariot. Know the world forges on common people. ‘The wise ones,
intellect as the charioteer, and indeed the mind having realised Brahman in all beings and having
as the bridle. They call the organs the horses; the turned away from this world, become immortal’,
organs having been imagined as horses, the ob- says the Kena Upanishad.21 ‘Anyone who knows
jects as the roads. The discerning people call that that supreme Brahman becomes Brahman in-
Self, the enjoyer, when it is associated with body, deed’, says the Mundaka Upanishad.22
organs, and mind.’18
Advaita is a matter of intuitive experience and Advaita, A Unifying Force
does not end with intellectual understanding or Advaita alone can bridge the gap between indi-
reason, which is limited in scope. Reason can viduals, between societies, and between faiths and
only point to the Truth but can lead you no fur- nations. If there will ever be a philosophy that will
ther as it is conditioned by our intellect. The appeal universally, that will be Advaita. Advaita
great advocate of Advaita, Acharya Shankara liberates the human being like none other and
is of the firm opinion that ‘śruti serves as the it mercilessly does away with all limitations by
source of knowledge, while anubhava is the final saying: ‘There is no joy in the finite. The Infinite
result (avasaana) of the pursuit of knowledge. … alone is joy. But the Infinite indeed has to be
Śaṅkara holds that independent reasoning is to sought after. All differences cease in the infinite.’23
be subordinated to intuition. For it is anubhava According to Swamiji: ‘If you go deep enough, all
which represents the true knowledge, derived will be seen as only variations of the One, and he
initially from the sacred texts, that the aspirant who has attained to this conception of Oneness
has made his own through direct experience.’19 has no more delusion. What can delude him?
Swamiji also says that intuition alone can He knows the reality of everything, the secret
give higher insights and take humanity to higher of everything. Where is there any more misery
levels of knowledge and understanding: ‘In all for him? What does he desire? He has traced the
organised religions, their founders, prophets, reality of everything to the Lord, the Centre, the
and messengers are declared to have gone into Unity of everything, and that is Eternal Existence,
states of mind that were neither waking nor Eternal Knowledge, and Eternal Bliss.’24
sleeping, in which they came face to face with Swamiji states the rationale behind his Ad-
a new series of facts relating to what is called vaitic stand in these stirring words:
the spiritual kingdom. They realised things I have no objection to dualism in many of its
there much more intensely than we realise facts forms. I like most of them, but I have objec-
around us in our waking state.’20 tions to every form of teaching which inculcates
A person who has realised the Truth or has weakness. … I know that truth alone gives life,
and nothing but going towards reality will make
had the Advaitic experience, is no longer the
us strong, and none will reach truth until he is
same individual, the whole person is trans- strong. Every system, therefore, which weak-
formed, and life can no longer be the same. ens the mind, makes one superstitious, makes
Unlike the philosopher who only reasons and one mope, makes one desire all sorts of wild
understands truth intellectually, the seer sees impossibilities, mysteries, and superstitions, I
PB January 2020 85
brothers and sisters in the truest sense; and sci-

ence, through anthropology and DNA studies, has
also shown that we have all diversified from the
same ancestral group. Let us then reject the div-
isive forces and care for each other as one family.
That is the only rationale behind all service and
fellow feelings. After Acharya Shankara, it was
given to Swamiji to once again vitalise the greatest
contribution of India to the world, Advaita. P
References
1. Zac O’Yeah, ‘“The Anarchy—The East India
Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pil-
lage of an Empire” Review: What Britain did
to India’, ‘History Reviews’, The Hindu, 14 Sep-
do not like, because its effect is dangerous. … tember 2019 <https://tinyurl.com/t3mhobc>
Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease. accessed 19 November 2019.
… and nothing gives such strength as this idea 2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
of monism (2.201).
1997), 4.315.
Again, Swamiji points out: 3. M Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy
If one millionth part of the men and women (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2005), 16.
4. Dr S Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, 2 vols
who live in this world simply sit down and for
(London: George, Allen and Unwin, 1948), 1.27.
a few minutes say, ‘You are all God, O ye men 5. Mundaka Upanishad, 1.1.6.
and O ye animals and living beings, you are all 6. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.6.1.
the manifestations of the one living Deity!’ the 7. Mundaka Upanishad, 1.1.1.
whole world will be changed in half an hour. 8. Katha Upanishad, 2.1.1.
Instead of throwing tremendous bomb-shells of 9. The Indian Mind: Essentials of Indian Philosophy
hatred into every corner, instead of projecting and Culture, ed. Charles A Moore (Honolulu:
currents of jealousy and evil thought, in every University of Hawaii, 1967), 13.
country people will think that it is all He. He is 10. Complete Works, 3.330–1.
all that you see and feel. … The whole universe 11. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.4.1.
will thus be changed. This is the greatest gain 12. Kena Upanishad, 1.3.
13. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.8.11.
to society (2.287).
To conclude, Advaita is the culmination of all 15. The Nature of Metaphysics, ed. D F Pears (Lon-
philosophical pursuits that the human being has don: Macmillan, 1962), 32.
achieved all through history and in it is a remedy 16. Rig Veda, 1.164.146.
to all the miseries that plague the world. None 18. Katha Upanishad, 1.3.3, 4.
need be rejected, none need be subject to a lesser 19. Jonathan Bader, Meditation in Śaṅkara’s
status. Humanity can stand together and pro- Vedānta (New Delhi: Aditya, 1990), 68.
claim unequivocally that ‘we are all One in spirit’. 20. Complete Works, 2.60.
Let us do away with all limitations and rise be- 22. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.2.9.
yond all petty feelings of race, caste, creed, gender, 23. Chhandogya Upanishad, 7.23.1.
or nationality. We belong to one family, we are all 24. Complete Works, 2.154.
86 PB January 2020
97
Consciousness and Self in Advaita Vedanta

Swami Sarvapriyananda
T
he study of consciousness has be- divide it between before Upanishads and after
come an important avenue of scholastic Upanishads—B.U. and A.U.—because the so-
and scientific inquiry. The central ques- phisticated psychology of consciousness in the
tion in consciousness studies today is known as Upanishads represents a quantum leap forward
the ‘hard problem of consciousness’. This phrase, in human development’ (19).
which was coined by David Chalmers, in 1995,1
addresses phenomenal, first-person, or ‘felt’ ex- Background
periences in sentient beings. This article will The Upanishads are the philosophical founda-
explore how the hard problem of conscious- tion of Advaita Vedanta. All the ancient schools
ness relates directly to the philosophical core of of Indian philosophy, including Advaita Ved-
Advaita Vedanta. anta, were concerned in some way with ideas
Over the last twenty to twenty-five years, the about consciousness and Self. Their focus,
study of consciousness has paved the way for an which differs from that of modern conscious-
exploration of new ideas in a variety of discip- ness studies, is on the problem: ‘How does one
lines, including brain science or cognitive psych- overcome suffering?’ The Buddha’s approach was
ology, the philosophy of the mind, linguistics, very elegant. He posed the question: ‘There is
physics, computer science, and the development suffering; is there a way out of it?’ This ques-
of artificial intelligence. Evan Thompson states tion defines the myriad schools of ancient In-
that the study of consciousness is not new; a dian philosophy, which were all concerned with
rigorous examination began with the Upani- the problem of how to overcome suffering; how
shads more than 5,000 years ago.2 Evan quotes to attain lasting, profound peace and joy, which
his father, William Irwin Thompson, who as- we might today call ‘wellness.’ So, in current par-
serts that this work is so pivotal that rather than lance, their quest was, ‘How does one attain last-
the usual Gregorian labelling of historical ep- ing wellness?’, which they expressed as ‘Atyantika
ochs, AD and BC, it would be more accurate duhkha nivritti, paramananda praptishcha; tran-
in terms of our intellectual development to use scendence or cessation of sorrow and attainment
the terms, ‘before the Upanishads’ and ‘after the of happiness and bliss’.3
Upanishads’: ‘The Upanishads is a watershed Since our notion of the Self has always been
in the evolution of consciousness. Instead of intimately connected with ideas about con-
being ethnocentric and dividing all global his- sciousness, all the schools of Indian philosophy,
tory between B.C. and A.D., we should really including Advaita Vedanta, became interested
Swami Sarvapriyananda is the minister-in-charge of in the concurrent studies of Self and conscious-
the Vedanta Society of New York, usa, and a Nagral ness. There developed a wide diversity of specu-
Fellow for 2019-20 at the Harvard Divinity School. lation in consciousness studies about what
PB January 2020 87
the current, mainstream, materialist-reductionist

view of consciousness.
A preoccupation with consciousness is not
limited to ancient Eastern thought; the issue also
permeates Western philosophical inquiry. In this
connection, the Oxford University has identi-
fied the ‘Five Great Questions’, or five salient,
unsolved problems in philosophy. The first is, do
we really have a free will? The second concerns
the issue of epistemological skepticism, which
challenges the validity of human knowledge it-
self. Third is the question at the core of Advaita
Vedanta: Who or what am ‘I’? Fourth, what is
death to the psychological or sentient being?
The fifth question is, what would ‘global justice’
David Chalmers (b. 1966), Australian Philosopher
look like?4 It is significant that four of these five
consciousness is and how it arises and functions. great questions are directly related to the nature
In modern consciousness studies, views range of consciousness.
from those of Chalmers, who conceives of con-
sciousness as a fundamental reality of the uni- The Hard Problem of Consciousness
verse, to academics such as Daniel Dennett or Chalmers argues that for us to understand the
Patricia and Paul Churchland, who would go so hard problem of consciousness or the source of
far as to deny that there is a phenomenon that the subjective phenomenon of ‘felt’ experience,
may be called consciousness. we must contrast it with the ‘easy problems’ of
Each of the ancient Indian philosophical consciousness. ‘Easy’ problems are defined as
schools had its own approach to the relationship certain functional cognitive abilities such as the
between Self and consciousness. The orthodox focusing of attention, thinking, recall, percep-
Hindu schools such as Nyaya, Vaisheshika, tion, and so on, which are activated by specific
IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.PREPOSTEROUSUNIVERSE.COM
Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta, each holds a dis- physiological mechanisms. The study of these
tinct position on the nature of consciousness mechanisms is, by definition, a science of cor-
and Self. The Buddhist Schools developed very relation in which subjective experience is correl-
sophisticated models of consciousness and a very ated with specified neuronal activity in the brain.
different approach to the Self. The fundamental Thus, it is consistent with the modern, material-
difference between the Buddhist approach and istic conception of natural phenomena.
the orthodox Hindu approach is that though as Central to modern consciousness studies is
opposed to the Hindus, the Buddhist Schools the mapping of neuronal activity, which is ac-
accept the existence of a Self, they consider it complished using a new technology called an
impermanent and so not persisting across time. fmri scan. An fmri enables the researcher to
The disparity of approaches is evident in the study the firings of neurons during specific cog-
views of the Charvakas or ancient Indian ma- nitive functions. For example, certain areas of
terialists, whose ideas conform in principle to the brain will light up during the activities of
88 PB January 2020
Consciousness and Self in Advaita Vedanta 99
listening to music or drinking a cup of coffee, brain and our subjective experiences? What is
demonstrating a correlation between the act of the relationship between the physical substrate
listening or tasting and the concomitant neu- of our existence and this conscious being we find
ronal activity. As Chalmers observes, this re- ourselves to be?
search is producing new understanding of brain I have used the word ‘consciousness’ so far
function. But he asks: How can a physical sys- in a very general sense. It will subsequently be
tem, such as the brain and nervous system gen- varied with ‘awareness,’ or ‘sentience’, because
erate first-person experience? the Vedantic term, chaitanya, is not what is pre-
Take, for example, the perception of colour: cisely addressed in consciousness studies. The
We know that our visual perception is contin- hard problem of consciousness is currently the
gent on the firing of neurons in the brain and subject of an enormous amount of discussion
nervous system. But we do not perceive the firing that promotes a wide range of views. On the one
of neurons during the act of seeing colour. Simi- hand, Chalmers asserts that scientific inquiry
larly, our perception of sound is concomitant will never reveal anything other than informa-
with a specific neuronal activity. The materialist tion about the physiological aspects of the brain
claims that all conscious, first-person experiences itself; therefore, an empirically-based connection
such as speaking, thinking, remembering, lov- between brain function and consciousness is ul-
ing, hating, understanding, and forgetting, are timately impossible.
generated by the brain, which is a physical sys- But there are many who disagree. For ex-
tem. This idea is so difficult to understand be- ample, Kevin Mitchell, a leading neurosurgeon
cause our current understanding of every other and cognitive researcher, contends that there is
system in the world is objective and based on in fact no hard problem of consciousness, and
our specific perceptual framework. For example, that all perceptual experience or consciousness
a biologist’s understanding of the composition itself, can be solely attributed to brain function.5
of a table will reflect its origin as part of a tree. There is a plethora of opinion on this topic, most
Conversely, a chemist will describe its chemical of it reducing the phenomenon of consciousness
configuration. Further down the scale, a physi- to the brain, brain states, quantum mechanics,6
cist will define its molecular, atomic, and sub- or information science. The majority are logical,
atomic structures, down to the level perhaps of well-organised discussions, until an anomaly
quarks or superstrings. crops up.
But no one would claim that there is a sub- This ‘explanatory gap’,7 has been starkly ex-
jective way of describing a table—what it is like pressed in a cartoon: The caption is, ‘Mystery of
to be a table from inside, or how is the table Consciousness Explained’. Pictured at a black-
feeling right now? Only we humans speak of board are a graduate student and his advisor. The
subjective experience. As Chalmers states, de- student has scribbled on the blackboard, ‘steps
scriptions of our physical system vary accord- 1–5’. Steps 1, 2, 3, and 5 present detailed math-
ing to the conceptual agenda of the observer, ematical notations. Conversely, step 4 consists
and are, by definition, objective. We, as sentient of large letters that read, ‘a miracle’. The advisor
beings, each inhabiting a physical system, have is shown as saying: ‘I think you need to work on
an entirely non-objective, subjective experience. step 4!’ The explanatory gap is also illustrated
What is the connection between the two—the by the Biblical analogy of the changing of water
PB January 2020 89
into wine. We know that produces it. More specifically, I mean psy-
much about water and chologism to involve the doctrine that two sys-
much about wine, but tems could have actual and potential behavior
no one has explained typical of familiar intelligent beings, that the
two systems could be exactly alike in their actual
how the former changes
and potential behavior, and in their behavioral
into the latter. If water dispositions and capacities and counterfactual
is taken as analogous to behavioral properties (i.e., what behaviors, be-
the physical system— havioral dispositions, and behavioral capacities
the brain and nervous they would have exhibited had their stimuli dif-
system—our knowledge fered)—the two systems could be alike in all
is extensive. Conversely, these ways, yet there could be a difference in
if we take wine to be the the information processing that mediates their
internal, first-person ex- stimuli and responses that determines that one
is not at all intelligent while the other is fully
perience, which each of intelligent.8
Ned Block (b. 1942) us is having at this mo-
ment, our knowledge is again extensive. The Psychologism is anathema to that of pure be-
hard problem, as identified by Chalmers and an haviourism, which attests that our psychological
increasing number of experts, is how ‘water’ and development and experience is generated by en-
‘wine’ are related. How does the ‘water’, neuronal vironmental factors operating within a model
activity, change into ‘wine’, consciousness? of operant conditioning. Thus, we are said to be
There is presently a robust discussion in the products of stimulus and reinforcement.9 Our
study of the philosophy of the mind around two attempts to explain the existence of conscious-
dichotomous paradigms, psychologism and be- ness—which as an ineffable reality, will always
haviourism. Psychologism, which addresses the exclude objectification—through the applica-
epistemological problem of the validity of human tion of reductionist methodologies, creates a
knowledge, alleges that conditions for knowledge logical conundrum. This conundrum is a stum-
are produced by certain subjective perceptual fac- bling block in our search for the origins and na-
tors. Taken to its logical extreme, psychologism ture of consciousness.
eschews the principles of absolute mathematics, Chalmers promotes as a solution the re-
stating that they become invalid without the me- vival of panpsychism in analytic philosophy, a
dium of our shared cognitive framework. view that was pervasive in early Greek thought.
For example, 2 + 2 = 4 becomes an invalid Panpsychism, which asserts that mentality, or in-
proposition without our conceptual framework. telligence, is fundamental and ubiquitous in the
Psychologism is thought to originate with John natural world, offers a more unifying alternative
Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Under- to the question of the emergence of conscious-
standing (1690). Ned Block, Professor of Phil- ness.10 According to Chalmers, while at present
osophy at New York University, proposes in a it seems to defy logic, we may ultimately have to
seminal discussion of the topic: accept consciousness as a fundamental, univer-
Let psychologism be the doctrine that whether sal reality that is as irreducible as matter, energy,
behavior is intelligent behavior depends on the time, and space. Thus, it is a ubiquitous, inde-
character of the internal information processing pendent element that defines our perception of
90 PB January 2020
the physical world through the medium of our you as the body; not you as the mind; not even
nervous system and brain. Numerous opponents you as the person that you think yourself to be,
to panpsychism argue that its acceptance would but as an underlying consciousness that shines
contradict the present, materialistic view, and through, functions through, and expresses itself
defer the question of consciousness until such a through this body-mind complex. As Swamiji
time when our scientific apparatus can support often said: ‘Oh, if only you knew yourselves! You
a more cogent answer. are souls; you are Gods. If ever I feel like blas-
pheming, it is when I call you man.’13 Not as a
The Advaita Vedanta body, bound to age, decay, and death; not even
View of Consciousness as a mind, a changing, limited personality, but
More than 5,000 years ago, the Sankhya School, as an unlimited consciousness expressing itself
one of the most ancient schools of Indian phil- through a mind and a body.
osophy, proposed the existence of two fundamen- In the Advaitic aphorism, ‘That’ represents
tal, universal realities; nature or prakriti, time, God, or saguna Brahman, which roughly cor-
space, energy, and consciousness or purusha. We responds to the ‘God’ of theistic religions, and
are sentient beings experiencing a universe. The ‘you’ stands for the jiva, or the individual, sen-
entirety of our perceived universe is nature, in- tient being. This is not to say that the sentient
cluding our bodies, brains, and nervous systems. being is God in a literal sense. Nonetheless, the
Sankhya also considers mind and all its mani- dualistic religions, both Hindu and non-Hindu,
festations—thoughts, emotions, and so on—as ask, ‘this is blasphemous; are you claiming to
nature. Conversely, that which experiences the be God?’ The Advaitin answers that when the
external world and the internal world of the limited personality is transcended, the divinity
mind, is consciousness or the Self. This insight within is revealed. This is an insight that mystics
is attributed to Kapila, considered by Swami in every religion have had throughout the cen-
Vivekananda to be ‘the father of all philosophy’.11 turies, as when Meister Eckhart—a profoundly
Sankhya is a dualistic system in which prakriti non-dualist, medieval Christian mystic—ob-
is thought to be distinct from purusha—the serves: ‘God’s ground is my ground and my
eternal, indestructible, formless, and all-perva- ground is God’s ground.’14
sive universal principle. But Advaita, a monistic Each of us, as spiritual seekers, and each of
system, eradicates the dichotomy between con- the great religions of the world can be classified
sciousness and its object. The central teaching of as belonging to one of two categories, ‘That’ and
Advaita Vedanta is: ‘Tat tvam asi; you are That.’12 ‘you’. The ‘That’ category in spiritual seeking is
The term for consciousness is Brahman, ‘the vast’, centred around God. When young spiritual as-
or ‘the limitless’, which is considered the funda- pirants are asked, ‘why do you want to become a
mental reality of the universe. To give a fuller monk?’, their replies fall neatly into two groups.
designation, Brahman is not only consciousness, One group will give the That-oriented response,
but existence and bliss absolute, or Sat-Chit- ‘we are searching for God’. The other, you-ori-
Ananda. Rather than conceiving of prakriti as a ented response is, ‘I’m searching for the mys-
transformation of purusha, in Advaita Vedanta, tery of my own existence: Who or what am I?’
prakriti is considered an appearance of purusha. Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism within
You are that underlying reality, Brahman. Not Hinduism, and the great Abrahamic traditions,
PB January 2020 91
The process of the That-centred religions con-

cerns the question of the existence of God. If God
does in fact exist, the That-centred religions assert
that she or he or it is omnipotent, omniscient,
and omnipresent. Conversely, for the you-cen-
tred religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, or
in the Hindu traditions, Sankhya or the Patan-
jali yoga system, which are not dependent on a
conception of God, this is not a problem. These
religions emphasise inquiry directed towards
the self; and nobody—even the Buddhist, who
denies a specific view of the Self—has seriously
challenged our existence. So, the subject matter
of the you-centred, self-inquiry-based religions—
I, me, myself—undeniably exists in some sense.
The problem of course is that our existence
Meister Eckhart
itself is fraught with suffering; we surely exist but
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are all That-ori- we are surrounded by misery and death, we suf-
ented religions, which are focused on ideas about fer from loss, desire, and frustration. If God does
God. Many Westerners find it difficult to accept exist, she or he or it has none of these problems,
a you-oriented religion such as Buddhism, which because God is omnipotent, omniscient, and
eschews a concept of God. And yet, both types omnipresent. The existence of God is perfect,
of religion have proliferated in India for millen- but doubtful. Conversely, our existence, while
nia. Buddhism is 2,500 years old; Jainism, an- certain, is imperfect.
other you-oriented religion, is even older. The beauty of Advaita is that by combining
Each approach has its strengths and weak- the dichotomous you- and That-centred belief
nesses. That-centred religion involves temples, systems, it synthesises the advantages and re-
or churches, or mosques, and would generally moves the disadvantage of each. The Advaitic
have a mode of devotion or bhakti along with maxim ‘You are That’, implies a certain perfect
rituals. The problem with That- or God-cen- existence, which is also certain. The Self, qua
tered religion is, as is argued by scholars such as self, is certain and beyond doubt, and as infinite IMAGE: HTTPS://THEVALUEOFSPARROWS.COM
Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher existence-consciousness-bliss, is beyond imper-

Hitchens, that God is difficult to prove. In all the fection. As Swamiji declares, each soul is poten-
That-centered religions of the world, we find a tially divine, and the process of all religion is the
strong theological tradition of argumentation in manifestation of that divinity within.16 So, the
favour of the existence of God, as in the writings non-dualist, Advaitic answer to the central onto-
of the Christian priest and philosopher Thomas logical question, ‘give us irrefutable proof of the
Aquinas (1225–74),15 and the great Hindu logi- existence of God’, is, ‘your own existence’. This
cian, Udayanacharya (tenth century CE). This is answer sustains the Advaita Vedanta paradigm
because the concept of God is based on faith and because, as Meister Eckhart intuited, our own
there have always been sceptics. existence is the existence of God.
92 PB January 2020
Chalmers observes that the study of con-

sciousness differs from other scientific endeav-
ours in salient ways. For example, the exploration
of black holes, or of quantum mechanics, or
string theory, is not a quotidian endeavour; that
data is not normally available to the ordinary
person. But every one of us constantly has the
direct experience of consciousness. We all think,
remember, desire, see, hear, smell, taste, and
touch. In fact, that which we call ‘life’ is just a
series of conscious experiences, or we might say,
experiences in consciousness; consciousness is
the fundamental datum of life.
While we might insist that we are only the
body, we make that claim only because our con-
scious mind can affirm it. Everything that we
know—what we agree and disagree on—every-
thing is in consciousness. All our science, reli-
gion, art, literature, music—everything that we
have done in human life is in consciousness. It
is the single most important thing for us. Why,
then, was the exploration of consciousness
undertaken so recently? It should have been the
first thing to be studied—and in fact, as is evi-
dent in the Upanishads, it probably was. religion posits an unconscious God! Since all
What is the relationship between conscious- theistic religions assume that God is conscious,
ness and its objects? There are four distinct ap- they hold that a sentient being created the uni-
proaches to relating awareness to the world, verse of space, time, matter, and energy. The
which includes our own body and mind. The third paradigm, which is consistent with Chal-
prevailing reductive, materialist, scientific world mers’s panpsychist thesis, is that neither matter
view gives primacy to matter, or the object, and nor consciousness created the other. Rather, they
a subordinate status to consciousness, as an epi- are fundamental realities interacting with each
phenomenon. In this paradigm, life is generated other. The interaction between the independent
in matter; living matter evolves into more so- realities of consciousness and matter is exactly
phisticated forms evolving brains and nervous what the ancient Sankhya and Yoga philosophies
systems; and in those brains and nervous sys- proposed. Take, for example, the interaction of
tems, somehow the appearance of consciousness consciousness and its object in Sankhya, purusha-
miraculously occurs. prakriti. Where do they interact? The interaction
The second possible world view, which is that is us—sentient beings. We are the interaction of
of all religions, is the opposite: The universe is consciousness and the universe of matter and en-
created by God, who is, of course, conscious—no ergy, through our bodies and minds.
PB January 2020 93
The fourth, radical paradigm, that of Advaita of Vedantic inquiry. There are three steps in this
Vedanta, is that there is only one non-dual method. First, the eyes are the seer and the forms
reality, which is consciousness. The term ‘non- are seen; the seer and the seen are two different
dual’ is added to reinforce the idea that although entities. The limits of the eyes are the eyes them-
we perceive the existence of two realities—con- selves; we cannot directly see our own eyes. The
sciousness and the universe—it is consciousness seen or experienced objects are many and per-
alone that appears as the objective universe. The petually changing, but the seer or experiencer re-
most familiar analogy, which is found in the mains the same. So, the first stage of the inquiry
Mandukya Upanishad, is the generation by the is the distinction between the seer and the seen.
mind of objects in the dream-state. Similarly, The seer is one and relatively unchanging, while
consciousness appears as the entire universe, as the seen are many and changeable.
the body and as the mind itself.17 The second, inward step is that the eyes them-
According to Swamiji, one alone exists, ap- selves become seen, in the sense of ‘known’. I am
pearing as the soul of nature.18 Advaita Ved- aware that my eyes are open or closed, or that
anta claims that this non-dual consciousness is I need glasses or do not; my mind is aware of
available here and now, that it is you; and that all these things about my eyes. At this stage,
it can be directly experienced. The journey in the mind is the seer and the eyes are the seen.
Advaita Vedanta is not a journey in space; there Similarly, the mind is aware of the ears, nose,
is no need for a journey to another place called skin, and tongue; the five senses and indeed,
‘heaven’. Neither is it a journey in time; one will the whole body is perceived as an object of ex-
not attain Brahman after the next incarnation, perience. Clearly, the mind is distinct from the
or the coming of the Christ, or the Apocalypse, physical body, as will be confirmed by even the
or after death, or even after enlightenment. The materialist-reductionist, who will say the latter
Advaitic journey is undertaken by means of cer- is a by-product of the former. The same mind
tain methodologies or protocols particular to experiences different states of the body and the
Vedanta, which are called prakriya. world, which fluctuate continuously.
For example, we have the text, Drig Drishya The third and final stage of Vedantic inquiry
Viveka (c. 1350), which is a rigorous inquiry into is meticulous introspection, which culminates
the seer and the seen. Another methodology, in the objectification of the modifications of the
avastha-traya vichara, the inquiry into the three mind. All thoughts and emotions are now ex-
states, explores the three states of waking, dream- perienced as ‘known’ entities that are distinct
ing, and deep sleep. In addition, we have pancha- from the sakshi, or witness-consciousness. The
kosha vichara, the inquiry into the five sheaths, witness-seer is conscious because it is clearly
in which one methodically examines the five lay- aware of the mind. So, the world is seen through
ers of the human personality to see if any one of the senses; the body and senses are seen through
them is the Self. These various techniques take us the mind; the mind itself is seen by the sakshi
step by step in our understanding and guide us to or witness-consciousness. It is incorrect to say,
the ultimate Reality that Advaita claims we are. ‘my witness-consciousness’. You are the witness-
Advaita Vedanta is not based on faith; rather, it consciousness; you watch your mind; you experi-
is based on understanding. ence your mind.
Let us take drig drishya viveka as an example When this notion is carefully considered, a
94 PB January 2020
small, luminous psychological space opens be-

tween you and your thoughts, feelings, emo-
tions, desires, prejudices, and the like, and the
mind instantly relaxes. You are the untouched
witness of the peace or disturbance of the mind.
And that witness is never affected; it is per-
manently at peace. That undisturbed peace is
known as shantam; you are not peace-ful; you
are peace itself. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad
states: ‘Tameva bhantam anubhati sarvam
tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati; that shin-
ing, all these shine; through its lustre all these
are variously illumined.’19
The sakshi is svaprakasha or self-luminous,
and everything in your world shines by that
light. All things, good and bad, are revealed Samuel Benjamin (Sam) Harris (b. 1967)
by you, the light. Therefore, the concepts, ‘my forgetting, waking, dreaming, and sleep. These
consciousness’, and ‘my witness’, are erroneous. states of mind are revealed by consciousness,
The correct understanding is, ‘I the witness, I which itself is immutable and immortal. All
the consciousness’. The sakshi can never be ob- thoughts and emotions occur at the body-mind
jectified. You cannot know it in an epistemo- level, and do not exist at the level of conscious-
logical sense, as an object of the instruments of ness, which cannot itself be objectified.
knowledge. We usually consider that which we Sam Harris, one of the most bitter critics of
cannot objectify, or know, to be non-existent. theistic religion, admits that Advaita Vedanta
But the sakshi is that which makes all know- and the Tibetan tradition of Dzogchen Bud-
ledge possible. All first-person experiences such dhism20 contain a core of truth that is worthy of
as seeing, hearing, tasting, thinking, remember- investigation. Harris says: ‘The empirical differ-
ing, questioning, understanding, not under- ence between the central teachings of Advaita
standing, or forgetting, are illumined by the Vedanta and Buddhism are difficult to overstate.
witness-consciousness, or the light within. First One can traverse the Eastern paths simply by
person, subjective experience is the proof of this becoming interested in the nature of one’s own
witness-consciousness. mind … the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and
Buddhism are best viewed as lab manuals and ex-
Conclusion plorers’ logs detailing the results of empirical re-
Concisely, Advaita Vedanta’s answer to the hard search on the nature of human consciousness.’21
problem of consciousness is that there is a funda- I propose that the concept of consciousness as
mental Reality that reveals itself and everything understood in Advaita Vedanta and some forms
in the universe, which generates our first-person of Buddhism is valid, efficacious, and entirely
experiences, or qualia. Bodies are born, change, verifiable. Swamiji said:
age, and die. Minds are subject to the spectrum Is religion to justify itself by the discoveries
of misery, depression, elation, remembering, of reason, through which every other science
PB January 2020 95
2. Evan Thompson, Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self

and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation,
and Philosophy (New York: Columbia Univer-
sity, 2015), 18–9.
3. See Acharya Shankara, Vivekachudamani, 44–5.
4. For a discussion of the five great questions, see ‘5
Great Unsolved Philosophical Questions’, oup-
blog <https://blog.oup.com/2018/01/5-great-
unsolved-philosophical-questions> accessed 26
November 2019.
5. See Kevin Mitchell, Innate: How the Wiring of
Our Brains Shapes Who We Are (New Jersey:
Princeton University, 2018). Daniel Dennett
gives a seminal overview of modern views of
consciousness in Daniel Dennett, ‘The Zom-
bic Hunch: Extinction of an Intuition?’, Phil-
justifies itself ? Are the same methods of inves- osophy at the New Millennium, ed. Anthony
tigation, which we apply to sciences and know- O’Hear (Cambridge: Cambridge University,
ledge outside, to be applied to the science of 2001), 27–44 <http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/
Religion? In my opinion this must be so, and dept/philo/courses/consciousness/papers/DD-
I am also of opinion that the sooner it is done zombie.html> accessed 26 November 2019.
the better. If a religion is destroyed by such in- 6. See for example, Bruce Rosenblum and Fred
vestigations, it was then all the time useless, un- Kuttner, ‘Consciousness and Quantum Mech-
worthy superstition; and the sooner it goes the anics: The Connection and Analogies’, The
better. I am thoroughly convinced that its de- Journal of Mind and Behavior, 20/3 (Summer,
1999)’ 229–56. There are also many online
struction would be the best thing that could
presentations on this topic, which are too nu-
happen. All that is dross will be taken off, no merous to mention. An important one, submit-
doubt, but the essential parts of religion will ted by bbc Earth, can be found here: Philip
emerge triumphant out of this investigation. Ball, ‘The Strange Link Between the Human
Not only will it be made scientific—as sci- Mind and Quantum Physics’, bbc Earth, 16
entific, at least, as any of the conclusions of February 2017 <http://www.bbc.com/earth/
physics or chemistry—but will have greater story/20170215-the-strange-link-between-the-
strength, because physics or chemistry has no human-mind-and-quantum-physics> accessed
internal mandate to vouch for its truth, which 26 November 2019.
religion has.22 7. This phrase was first introduced by Joseph Lev-
ine in ‘Materialism and Qualia: The Explana-
Because ultimately, that which is false is not tory Gap’, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 64/4
conducive to the ultimate good. I offer that (October 1983), 354–61.
Swamiji’s conviction is significant. When Swamiji 8. Ned Block, ‘Psychologism and Behaviorism’,
The Philosophical Review, 90/1 ( January 1981),
states that religion has an internal mandate, which 5–43; 5. For a cogent study of the relationship
is absent in science, it is likely that he was referring between psychologism and phenomenology, see
to the direct, first-person experience that is medi- David Pitt, ‘Intentional Psychologism’, Philo-
ated by the witness-consciousness. P sophical Studies, 146/1 (October 2009), 117–38.
For a discussion of these paradigms in relation
Notes and References to mathematics, see Richard Tieszen, Phenom-
1. See David J Chalmers, DJ, ‘Facing Up to the enology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics
Problem of Consciousness’, Journal of Conscious- (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2005). Fur-
ness Studies, 2/3 (March 1995), 200–19. ther reading is available in Phenomenology and
96 PB January 2020
Mathematics, ed. Mirja Hartimo (New York: 12. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7.
Springer, 2010). 13. Complete Works, 5.417.
9. A systematic approach to understanding observ- 14. The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart,
able human and animal behaviour was devised trans. Maurice O’C Walshe (New York: Cross-
by John B Watson in 1913. It was extended by B F road, 2009), Sermon Thirteen (b); 109.
Skinner in the 1930s to include subjective human 1 5. The quinque viae, five ways, sometimes called
thoughts and feelings. Behaviourism assumes ‘five proofs’, are five logical arguments regard-
that all behaviours are either reflexes produced ing the existence of God, summarised by the
by a response to certain stimuli in the environ- thirteenth-century Christian philosopher, St
ment, or a consequence of that individual’s his- Thomas Aquinas, in his book Summa Theolog-
tory, including especially reinforcement and ica. For a concise overview, see Theodore Gra-
punishment, together with the individual’s cur- cyk, ‘St. Thomas Aquinas: The Existence of God
rent motivational state and controlling stimuli. can be Proved in Five Ways’ <http://web.mn-
The behavioural model has become the crux of state.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/
cognitive therapy, with clinical applications in aquinasfiveways_argumentanalysis.htm> ac-
the treatment of phobias, ptsd, ocd, depression, cessed 26 November 2019. For a discussion of
anxiety, substance abuse, and family interven- Aquinas’s views on St. Anselm’s Ontological Ar-
tion therapies. For information on the spectrum gument (Proslogion, 1078), see Kenneth Einar
of behavioural interventional strategies, see The Himma, ‘Anselm: Ontological Argument for
Oxford Handbook of Research Strategies for Clini- God’s Existence’, Internet Encyclopedia of Phil-
cal Psychology, ed. Jonathan S Comer and Philip C osophy <https://www.iep.utm.edu/ont-arg> ac-
Kendall, (Oxford: Oxford University, 2013). For cessed 26 November 2019. This article also gives
a thorough study of the history and philosophy of Kant’s views on Anselm.
behaviourism, see B Thyer, The Philosophical Leg- 16. Complete Works, 1.124, 257.
acy of Behaviorism (New York: Springer, 1999). 1 7. This concept is to be distinguished from the
10. For a discussion of the history and modern subjective idealism of George Berkeley (1685–
applications of panpsychism, see Philip Goff, 1753), whose term for the theory was immate-
William Seager, and Sean Allen-Hermanson, rialism. Subjective idealism is a philosophical
‘Panpsychism’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Phil- view based on the idea that nothing exists ex-
osophy (Winter 2017 Edition), ed. Edward N cept through a perceiving mind. In this view,
Zalta <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/ the natural world has no real existence as such.
win2017/entries/panpsychism/> accessed 26 It only exists in the mind of those who perceive
November 2019. Panpsychism is not to be con- it and ultimately in the mind of God. From the
fused with animism, which is considered the point of view of subjective idealism, the ma-
oldest belief system in the world. While ani- terial world does not exist, and the phenomenal
mism asserts that all natural objects have a spirit, world is dependent on humans.
panpsychism focuses only on consciousness. For 18. See Complete Works, 2.130, 175.
a detailed comparison of the two belief systems, 19. Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6.14.
see Fizan, ‘Panexperientialism Vs Panpsychism 20. Dzogchen Buddhism, whose conceptual
Vs Animism—Outlined in a Table’, Metascien- framework is similar in salient ways to that of
tist, 9 July 2017 <https://metascientist.com/ Advaita Vedanta, is considered the most ad-
panexperientialism-vs-panpsychism-vs-ani- vanced form of Tibetan Buddhism, as prac-
mism> accessed 26 November 2019. For a re- tised by the Dalai Lama. See H H The 14th
cent overview of the subject, see Panpsychism: Dalai Lama, Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the
Contemporary Perspectives, eds Godehard Brun- Great Perfection (New York: Snow Lion,
trup and Ludwig Jaskolla (Oxford: Oxford Uni- 2000).
versity, 2016). 21. Sam Harris, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality
1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9
1 Without Religion (New York: Simon and Schus-
vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9, ter, 2014), 32.
1997), 3.395 22. Complete Works, 1.367.
PB January 2020 97
108
Brahmasutra-Bhashya-Nirnayah—A
Syncretic Study by Swami Chidghanananda
Puri aka Rajendra Natha Ghosha, an
Advaitin Scholar-Monk
S wami Chidghanananda Puri (1872–

1947), known in his pre-monastic life as
Pandit Rajendra Natha Ghosha, was a great
Advaita scholar and had translated many texts
into Bengali. He was initiated into monastic
I argue that Chidghanananda presents the
Brahma Sutra as a hermeneutic to understand
the import of the Vedas. He also brings out
the important features of the dexterous style of
Acharya Shankara. Chidghanananda presents
vows by Swami Virajananda, the sixth president a table of sutras, where he gives for all the 555
of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis- sutras, the topics dealt, the text of the sutra, and
sion. Chidghanananda wrote the Sanskrit book the exact numbering of the sutras for all the re-
discussed in this paper, Brahmasutra-bhashya- ferred commentaries.
nirnayah, which was published in 1943 by the In this paper, I argue that Brahmasutra-
Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Varanasi. In bhashya-nirnayah needs to be studied and re-
this paper, I attempt a brief analysis of this book, searched in depth.
which is a comparative study of the commen-
taries on the Brahma Sutra by Acharyas Shan- The Author
kara, Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Madhva, Chidghanananda was born Rajendra Natha Gho-
Shrikantha, Shrikara, Vallabha, Vijnanabhikshu, sha. He was an erudite Sanskrit scholar and an in-
and Baladeva. I show how Chidghanananda es- defatigable worker in the field of Hindu religious
tablishes the supremacy and validity of Acharya literature. He authored many valuable books and
Shankara’s commentary over the others. He also was a great teacher of Hindu scriptures to both
establishes that Acharya Shankara’s commentary the monastic and the lay. He received spiritual
is closest to the original intent of Vyasa, who initiation from Swami Achyutananda. He learnt
composed the Brahma Sutra. I also show how Sanskrit scriptures under the tutelage of Acharya
Chidghanananda analyses all the other commen- Pramathanatha, Yogendranatha Tirtha, Parvati
taries dealt with in this book to see how close charana, and Shri Lakshmana Shastri.1 He was
they are to Vyasa’s intent. initiated into sannyasa by Swami Virajananda of
the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis-
Swami Narasimhananda is the present editor of sion on 11 March 1940, the birthday of Sri Rama-
Prabuddha Bharata. krishna as per the Hindu calendar that year, at
98 PB January 2020
Brahmasutra-Bhashya-Nirnayah 109
Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, District Champa- 1. Wrote the Bengali book Acharya Shankar
vat, Uttarakhand. He joined the Ramakrishna O Ramanuj.
Math and Ramakrishna Mission in 1940 at the 2. Wrote the Sanskrit book Brahmasutra-
advanced age of sixty-eight years. He passed away bhashya-nirnayah.3
on 30 August 1947 at 4.30 p.m. at the age of sev- 3. Wrote the paper ‘Biography of the Late Dr
enty-five years at Ramakrishna Mission Home of Mahendra Lal Sirkar’.4
Service, Varanasi. 4. Translated into Bengali the Brahma Sutra.
Swami Virajananda was a disciple of Swami 5. Translated into Bengali the Bhagavadgita.
Vivekananda, whose another disciple Swami Shud- 6. Translated into Bengali Tarka-samgraha of
dhananda was a classmate of Chidghanananda. We Annambhatta.
find this mention about the sannyasa ceremony of 7. Translated into Bengali Advaitasiddhi of
Chidghanananda by Swami Shraddhananda: Madhusudana Sarasvati.
The second week in March [1940], Sri Rama 8. Translated into Bengali Vyapti Panchakam
krishna’s birthday was celebrated with the usual of Gangesha Upadhyaya.
reverence. Late that night the Samgha Guru 9. Translated into Bengali in three volumes
[Swami Virajananda] bestowed Sannyasa on the works of Acharya Shankara. This work is
several Brahmacharins, and Brahmacharya on titled Shankara Grantha-ratnavali.
a number of novitiates. Among the newly in-
10. Translated into Bengali Nyayapravesha.
vested Sannyasins was Chidghanananda Puri. A
former classmate of Swami Suddhananda, this 11. Translated into Bengali Vedantasara of
monk was an erudite Sanskrit scholar who had Sadananda.
previously borne the name Pandit Rajendra- 12. Translated into Bengali Tarkamrita of Ja-
nath Ghosh and who through the years had gadisha Tarkalankar.5
translated several books from Sanskrit into 13. Edited the Bengali book Vedanta Darsha-
Bengali. … Chidghananandaji spent the last ner Itihas by Swami Prajnananda Sarasvati.6
seven years of his life in Varanasi Sevashrama It is highly possible that Chidghanananda’s
and used to conduct scripture classes for Sadhus oeuvre was much more than what we are aware
and Brahmacharins. He died in 1947.2
of today.
The fact that Chidghanananda was given
sannyasa at an advanced age caused another The Beginning of the Work:
old person to ask for sannyasa as recorded by Mangalacharana
Shraddhananda: ‘A certain devotee of the Math, The book Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah is div-
having learned that the Swami [Virajananda] had ided into two parts. The first part consists of two
granted Sannyasa to the elderly Pandit Rajendra- padah or sections. The first section is an intro-
nath Ghosh, begged to become a monk. … the duction to the book and the second section is
Samgha Guru [Swami Virajananda] did not ac- adhika-sammaty-anusarena nirnayah, conclu-
quiesce’ (227). sion according to the majority of concordance
with Veda Vyasa, the author of the Brahma Sutra.
Scholarly Work by Chidghanananda The second part of this book consists of only one
Chidghanananda authored, translated, and section, the third section titled adhika-sammata-
edited many scholarly books in Bengali and San- niyamanusarena nirnayah, conclusion according
skrit. His following scholarly writings are known: to the rule of the majority agreement with Vyasa.
PB January 2020 99
The work begins Deva’s Bhatta Dipika: ‘Vishayo vishayashchaiva

with a mangalacha- purvapakshastathottaram. Prayojanam sangatish-
rana, a traditional cha prancho’dhikaranam viduh; the wise say that
invocation, where an adhikarana has a subject, a doubt, the oppo-
Chidghanananda nent’s objection, the reply to the objection, pur-
salutes his initiation pose, and connection to the subject.’8
guru, sannyasa guru, Chidghanananda applies this definition of
and shastra guru, an adhikarana to the first adhikarana of the
apart from salut- Brahma Sutra, which is called ‘Jijnasadhika-
ing his five deities rana’, the section on inquiry. Chidghanananda
of worship, the line mentions different kinds of sangati: 1. Shruti-
of acharyas start- sangati, the connection with the Shruti. 2.
ing from Vyasa Shastra-sangati, the connection with the con-
to Totapuri, Sri templation on Brahman described in the Shruti.
Acharya Ramanuja Ramakrishna, and 3. Adhyaya-sangati, the connection of Brah-
Swami Vivekananda. He stresses that among man with the statements of Shruti. 4. Pada-
the five deities of worship, Dakshinakali holds sangati, the connection between the Shruti
a special place. This is the same deity that Sri statements explicitly mentioning Brahman. 5.
Ramakrishna worshipped at Dakshineswar. Adhikarana-sangati, the connection between
Keeping with the tradition of scriptural analysis, the different adhikaranas. Since now the first
Chidghanananda seeks the blessings of all the adhikarana is being discussed, it will not have
commentators, whose commentaries he attempts adhikarana-sangati.
to critique in this book. Chidghanananda goes on to give the other
five features of the first adhikarana. The vi-
Situating the Work shaya, subject, is the discussion of the Vedanta
Chidghanananda places the date of the Brahma sentences. The vishaya, doubt, is whether or not
Sutra at ‘about five thousand years ago’ from Brahman should be enquired into. The purva
the date of this book.7 He says that since among paksha, opponent’s objection, is that Brahman
the extant commentaries on the Brahma Sutra, should not be enquired into. The siddhanta-pak-
the one by Acharya Shankara is the oldest, writ- sha, the reply of the Advaitin, is that Brahman
ten ‘1250 years before’ this book, ‘it is proper to should indeed be enquired into. The prayojana
first give some introduction of the book called or purpose for the opponent is that this text
Brahma Sutra on the basis of the commentary’ should not be studied and the purpose for the
by Acharya Shankara. Chidghanananda men- Advaitin is that Brahman is to be enquired into.
tions that according to Acharya Shankara, the Chidghanananda points out that while there
Brahma Sutra has 555 sutras in 191 adhikaranas is no disagreement among the ten commentators
or sections while according to some others there about the fact that in the Brahma Sutra there
are 556 sutras in 192 sections. are four chapters, four sub-sections or padas for
Chidghanananda quotes the six features of each chapter, and sixteen padas in total, ‘there
an adhikarana from Shri Vancheshvara Yajvan’s is a great disagreement about the numbering of
Bhatta Chintamani, a commentary on Khanda sutras, meaning of the sutras, the division of the
100 PB January 2020

adhikaranas, the attribution of sutras to the pur- Vyasa and logically establish the consonance of
vapaksha and its reply’.9 Acharya Shankara’s commentary with Vyasa.
Chidghanananda says that ascertaining
Agreement of Acharya Shankara’s the original intent of Vyasa is ‘extremely dif-
Commentary with Vyasa and ficult’ and ‘if it is attempted by anyone other
The First Speciality of the Brahma Sutra than Vyasa, they will be deluded, because a per-
Chidghanananda ventures to establish that the son’s thought cannot be completely understood
commentary on the Brahma Sutra by Acharya by anyone other than the Omnipresent’ (1.5).
Shankara is the closest to the intent of the Chidghanananda wonders why Acharya Shan-
author of the Brahma Sutra, Vyasa. Chidgha- kara has not referred to any earlier teachers like
nananda says that since all the commentators Bodhayana (c. 500 CE), the author of a vritti
of the Brahma Sutra claim their commentaries on the Brahma Sutra. Probably the only time
to be the closest to the original intent of Vyasa, Acharya Shankara refers to an earlier teacher is
one might have doubts about Acharya Shan- when he refers to Upavarsha in his commentary
kara’s commentary being in consonance with on the Brahma Sutra.10 Apart from this, he refers
Vyasa’s intent. Hence, Chidghanananda analyses to Acharya Gaudapada.
the consonance of each of the commentaries he Chidghanananda shows how the other com-
discusses in this book with the original intent mentators too have not quoted pre-Shankara
of Vyasa. teachers and how Acharya Ramanuja only
Chidghanananda says that though there is quotes the version of Bodhayana as cited by a
no sign of any tradition or standpoint or school previous teacher and concludes that Acharya
of thought that could be called as ‘this is Vyasa’s Ramanuja did not have access to the original
school of thought’, still ‘analysing the sutras with vritti of Bodhayana.11 Chidghanananda states
great care with the aim of arriving at the truth’, that there are different views about the name
it is not proper to conclude that Vyasa had no and purpose of the text popularly called Brahma
standpoint of his own as no author desires that Sutra, and about the identity of its author. He
one’s words be incomprehensible or that there be says that instead of trying to explain the sutras
debates about the meaning of one’s words. Prob- with the aim of establishing one’s doctrine, one
ably, Vyasa wanted his standpoint to be taught should concentrate on understanding the mean-
by the guru to the disciples (1.4). ing of the words of the sutras.
Vyasa does not give the name of the chapters Chidghanananda argues that since Vya-
and does not classify sutras into various adhi sa’s main aim in authoring the Brahma Sutra
karanas. Perhaps, says Chidghanananda, Vyasa was to explain the meaning of Vedanta or the
wanted the guru to teach the name of the chap- Upanishads, the commentary on the Brahma
ters and adhikaranas and also teach which sutra Sutra that has been written on the basis of
denotes the standpoint of the purvapaksha, op- the authority of the Upanishads, with the
ponent and which sutra denotes the standpoint aim of explaining their meaning is the com-
of the siddhantin, the proponent. However, ac- mentary that is in most consonance with the
cording to Chidghanananda, it is possible to intent of Vyasa.12 In order to follow the Upa-
follow some general rules of authoring sutras nishads, Acharya Shankara has sometimes in-
and find out the original purport and intent of terpreted the Brahma Sutra in order to follow
PB January 2020 101

the meaning of the Upanishads, even though Hence, Vyasa’s words should not be interpreted
the prima facie meaning was opposite to that in a manner that the obvious meaning is avoided.
given by the Upanishads. For instance, he does Chidghanananda responds to this objection by
so while commenting on ‘Anandamayadhika- saying that following the maxim that ‘when-
rana; the section on bliss’. Thus, it is evident ever there is a conflict between the Shruti and
that Acharya Shankara follows Vyasa and does Smriti, the Shruti should be followed’,15 even
not propound his own philosophy. if Vyasa contradicts the Shruti, the meaning of
Chidghanananda presents the opinions of the Shruti should be followed. When Acharya
Mahamahopadhyaya Ramamishra and George Shankara gives an interpretation to some sutras
Thibaut: ‘Acharya Ramanuja’s commentary on that is closer to the Shruti and not the prima
the Brahma Sutra alone follows the obvious facie meaning of the words of the sutras, he cor-
meaning of the sutras and thus follows Vyasa. rects the errors of his guru’s great-guru, Vyasa,
While Acharya Shankara’s commentary con- and ‘loosens the knots of the book’ Brahma Su-
forms to the meaning of Vedanta, it does not tra.16 Moreover, Acharya Shankara merely fol-
follow the obvious meaning of the sutras, and lows an extant tradition of interpretation as was
therefore does not conform to Vyasa’ (1.13). done by Shabarasvami and Kumarila Bhatta in
Thibaut argues on these lines in his introduction the case of the Mimamsa Sutra. This has been
to his English translation of the Brahma Sutra.13 explained by commentators on Kumarila Bhatta
Chidghanananda argues that both Rama- like Sucharita Mishra.
mishra and Thibaut are followers of Vishishta Chidghanananda posits an objection that it
dvaita and hence are biased against Advaita. could be that Vyasa has intentionally introduced
However, by doing so they unwittingly accept complexities into the Brahma Sutra ‘to avoid
the consonance of Acharya Shankara’s commen- the misuse of the meaning of the sutras’ (ibid.).
tary with the intent of Vyasa, because they estab- Chidghanananda draws a parallel with the
lish that Vyasa authored these sutras with the author of Khandana-khanda-khadya, Shrihar-
purpose of analysing the meaning of the Shruti. sha, who says: ‘In this book I have purposefully
Thus, both the opponents and supporters of introduced knots in certain places so that the ig-
Acharya Shankara’s philosophy accept that the norant and wicked might not read this book and
intent of the author of the Brahma Sutra is to play with it. Only the noble, who have loosened
expound the teachings of Vedanta by analysing these knots through the help of the teachers who
the meaning of the Shruti. Hence, the first spe- are worshipped through faith and sincerity of
ciality of the Brahma Sutra is that it follows the purpose, may experience the joy of bathing in the
purport of the Shruti. waves of the nectar of this reasoning.’17
Chidghananda opines about Vyasa: ‘Bhaga- Chidghanananda argues that in reality
vad-avataro vyasa ishvaravat sarvajnah, tan- Acharya Shankara has presented only the mean-
matancha smritireva; the Lord’s incarnation ing of the sutras according to Vyasa’s intent, be-
Vyasa is like ishvara and is omniscient, there- cause Acharya Shankara nowhere says that he is
fore, his opinion is like Smriti.’14 Following the differing from the meaning intended by Vyasa.
maxim that dharma consists of Shruti, Smriti, ‘Thus, it has to be accepted that whatever the
and good conduct, it might be objected that Shruti has intended has only been authored by
Vyasa’s words should be considered as Smriti. Vyasa, and whatever has been intended by Vyasa
102 PB January 2020

has only been expounded by Acharya Shankara prachinah; according to many scholars Upavar-
in his commentary and there is no ground for sha is older than even Gautama Buddha’ (1.23).
any objection.’18 Chidghanananda discusses the antiquity of
Buddhist thought and explains the dependence
Has Buddhism Influenced Acharya of Buddhist philosophy on reason alone and not
Gaudapada and Acharya Shankara? on the Shruti. He mentions different Buddhist
Chidghanananda states that the proponents of philosophers and he mentions those Vedantic
other philosophical systems like Kapila, Patan- teachers who quashed Buddhist standpoints.
jali, Gautama, Kanada, and Jaimini know the im- Chidghanananda points out that many Western
port of the Shruti and are unanimous in the idea thinkers and even some Indian thinkers like Hara
that the ‘knowledge of truth alone is the means Prasad Shastri (1853–1931) believed that the Vedas
to moksha, the aim is moksha in the form of and Puranas are post-Buddhist, because these
cessation of all suffering’ (1.17). They differ only thinkers are ignorant of the apaurusheyatva, im-
in the prescription of the methods and for this personal or authorless nature, of the Vedas (1.27).
they have to follow the six means of knowing or Chidghanananda argues that the allegation
pramana, that is, pratyaksha, direct perception; that Gaudapada’s thought is influenced by Bud-
anumana, inference; upamana, comparison; dhism is untenable and that the Buddhist ref-
arthapatti, presumption; anupalabdhi, non-ap- erences in Gaudapada’s texts are mainly given
prehension; and shabda, verbal testimony. Since to reject or quash them. Chidghanananda says
the Shruti is not the final authority on empirical that the word vijnana as used in Vedanta and
knowledge, these teachers have differences of as used in Buddhist thought have completely
opinion that are essentially dualistic. different meanings. In Vedanta, vijnana refers
Further, Chidghanananda posits the objec- to the knowledge of the true Reality or sat-chit-
tion that since Buddhist and Jaina standpoints ananda, whereas in Buddhist thought, vijnana
are quashed in the Brahma Sutra, this text is of refers to the kshanika, the transitory. The mean-
a much recent origin. He says that this objec- ing of vijnana according to Buddhist thought is
tion is untenable because it is accepted by all dualistic while the meaning of the same word in
that Buddhist and Jaina thoughts were present Advaita Vedanta is non-dual. Chidghanananda
even before Gautama Buddha and Mahavira calls this a ‘great difference’ (1.28).
Jaina, about five thousand years ago, when the Chidghanananda makes a pertinent point:
Brahma Sutra was written. This is so because If Gaudapada was indeed influenced by Bud-
there were many Buddhist and Jaina incarna- dhist philosophy and followed it, why is it that
tions before Gautama Buddha and Mahavira no Buddhist philosophical text mentions that?
Jaina and the ideas quashed in the Brahma Sutra Also, the Vedantins who oppose Acharya Shan-
existed more than five thousand years ago (1.20– kara also do not state that he follows Buddhist
1). Also Buddhistic thought and traditions are thought. On the other hand, Acharya Madhva
mentioned in Puranas and other texts older than says that Acharya Shankara follows the Shruti.
Gautama Buddha. Buddhistic thought has also Countering the objection that Gaudapada has
been quoted by teachers older than Gautama used many words used by Buddhist thinkers,
Buddha. Chidghanananda says: ‘Upavarshacha- Chidghanananda says that the Buddhist did not
ryyastu bahunam matena Gautama-buddhadapi invent the Sanskrit language and one can use
PB January 2020 103

Tattvasangraha of the seventh-eighth century

Buddhist Shantarakshita. There, it is seen that
the author of Tattvasangraha, Shantarakshita
and the author of the gloss on this work, Ka-
malashila cite the four famous Buddhist teach-
ers, Vasumitra and others, and quash their
standpoint. … Therefore, the quashing of Bud-
dhist thought is similar to the quashing of the
thoughts of the followers of Sankhya, Vaishe-
shika, and others. … The Vedantic standpoint
of the falsity and indescribability of the appar-
ent has alone been followed by Buddhists while
propounding shunyavada. … We certainly see
many Vedic gods and the like in Buddhism.
Nimbarkacharya
Their worship too is according to the Vedic and
words as one wishes and that these words have tantric customs. Their spiritual practices have
been found in many texts predating Gaudapada. evolved from the yoga philosophy. Thus, it is
Further, Chidghanananda says that the Bud- concluded that Buddhism is only a distorted
dhists are considered deluded and are hence form of the Vedic philosophy (1.33).
insulted by those following the Shruti like the The True Purpose of the Brahma Sutra
famous Nyaya philosopher Udayanacharya does and its Second Speciality
in his Nyaya-Kusumanjali. Chidghanananda
argues that when those following the Shruti Chidghanananda says: ‘Evam cha yavad alocha-
insult Buddhist thinkers in such a manner, it nam karishyate, tavadetat spashtam bhavet, yad
‘only behoves the insane to hold that Buddhist granthenanena granthakartra bhagavata vyasa-
thought has been introduced by these thinkers devena shrutyartha-mimamsachchhalena sarvam-
into Vedic wisdom’ (1.30). ula-alaukika-tattvavishaye vedantasiddhanta eva
Regarding the objection that Gaudapada has prakatikritah; it is clear by the discussion done
used the word shunya and hence is a proponent till now that in the Brahma Sutra, Lord Vyasa
of shunya, Chidghanananda says that Gaudapada has, in the guise of analysing the meaning of the
does not accept any of the Buddhist definitions Shruti, only revealed the principles of Vedanta,
of the word shunya and that the Maitriyani and which is the root of everything and is the subject
Nrisimhatapaniya Upanishads use the word to of all that is extraordinary’ (1.35). Chidghanan-
denote Brahman. Hence, Gaudapada does not anda argues that the other or second speciality of
follow the shunyavadins as held by scholars like the Brahma Sutra is the ‘classification and the like
Haranachandra Shastri (1.31). Chidghanananda of the chapters and padas, and the composition
argues that apart from not accepting the validity of adhikaranas and the inclusion of [appropriate]
of the Shruti, the Buddhists do not have any new sutras in them, completely following logic’ (ibid.).
thought other than a mixture of some tenets of Chidghanananda then proceeds to demonstrate
the Nyaya, Vaisheshika, and Vedanta philoso- how there are four chapters in the Brahma Sutra,
phies. He says: each chapter for quashing the opponents, describ-
That the Buddhists follow the Sankhya ing the means, describing the results, and finally
philosophy can be proved by the book to harmoniously establish one’s own standpoint.
104 PB January 2020

Chidghanananda states that Badarayana and 10. This ignorance is destroyed upon the forma-
Krishnadvaipayana are different names of the tion of the brahmakara-vrittih, the tendency or
same person. The name ‘Badarayana’ came because inclination for Brahman (1.44–7).
he had an ashrama in Badrinath and performed Chidghanananda then proceeds to analyse
austerities there. Krishna is his given name and he the first four sutras of the Brahma Sutra and
got the name ‘Dvaipayana’ because he was born establishes that the abovementioned teach-
in a dvipa, island. He is the son of Parashara and ings are expounded by each of these sutras. He
Satyavati. He is Vyasa. Chidghanananda quotes notes that not all opponents of Advaita fol-
the Mahabharata to support his statement.19 low the Shruti. Many follow the Puranas and
direct perception. Some consider the Tamil
The Authorship, Date, and the Main texts of Shaivas and Vaishnavas to be on a par
Teachings of the Brahma Sutra and its with the Vedas. Some others consider some
Third Speciality Gurumukhi, Bengali, and other language re-
Chidghanananda asserts that the author of ligious books having an author, on a par with
the Brahma Sutra is Krishna-dvaipayana Vyasa the Vedas. However, the Advaitins accept only
also called Badarayana, Parasharya, and Satya- the Shruti or the Vedas as the authority. ‘Here
vata. He argues that this text is of the time of again, only Advaita has more probability of
the Mahabharata and adduces quotations from being the standpoint of Vyasa’ (1.56).
the Bhagavadgita, Panini’s Ashtadhyayi, and the Chidghanananda argues that if Vyasa in-
Puranas to prove his point. He states that the tended other paths like the worship of gods to
third speciality of the Brahma Sutra is the ‘regu- be the means of the knowledge of Brahman, he
lation of the meaning of the sutras, adhikaranas, would have explicitly said so. Thus, one can infer
padas, and chapters according to the subject of that the path of worshipping gods is not accepted
the book’ (1.42). by Vyasa. He states that Vyasa-tatparya-nirnaya
Chidghanananda explains that the Brahma of Ayanna Dikshita establishes that Vyasa in his
Sutra has ten main teachings: 1. Only through Brahma Sutra follows the philosophy of Advaita
the knowledge of Brahman can one attain (1.57). This is the opinion of Shandilya too when
moksha. 2. The direct result of this knowledge he says thus in his Bhakti-sutra: ‘Atmaikaparam
is the destruction of ignorance. 3. The first and Badarayanah; Badarayana advocates the identity
the last sutras of the Brahma Sutra establish that with the Atman.’20 Hence, only the Advaita phil-
only through the knowledge of Brahman does osophy is closest to the intent of Vyasa and there-
the jiva get freedom from the cycle of birth and fore Acharya Shankara’s commentary is closest
death. 4. This freedom is the freedom from ig- to Vyasa’s intent and also is the oldest.
norance and freedom from this universe. 5. This However, Chidghanananda says, all dualistic
universe is unreal. 6. The ignorance is about the interpretations of the Brahma Sutra, while con-
identity of Brahman and Atman. 7. Both ignor- tradictory to the meaning of the Shruti, are use-
ance and the universe came because of ignorance, ful because they help increase the devotion of the
and they have no beginning but have an end. 8. devotees of the respective schools of thought.
This ignorance is not the absence of knowledge. And, ‘God removes the delusions and errors of
9. This ignorance has Brahman in the form of these devotees’.21 Chidghanananda explores the
the jiva covered by ignorance as its substratum. subject of each chapter of the Brahma Sutra.
PB January 2020 105

1. Kumarila Bhatta: 544–624 Shakabda

2. Dharmmakirtih: 570–630 Shakabda
3. Acharya Shankara: 608–640 Shakabda
4. Acharya Padmapada: 610–690 Shakabda
5. Acharya Bhaskara: 600–650 Shakabda
6. Vachaspati Mishra: 800–880 Shakabda
7. Acharya Udayana: 866–946 Shakabda
8. Acharya Ramanuja: 941–1061 Shakabda
9. Acharya Nimbarka: 950–1030 Shakabda
10. Acharya Shrinivasa: 930–1040 Shakabda
11. Devacharya: 977–1057 Shakabda
12. Acharya Madhva: 1121–1201 Shakabda
Vallabhacharya and His Son
IMAGE: VALL ABHACHARYA AND HIS SON SEATED IN PAVILIONS IN A L ANDSC APE, NATHDWARA, NORTH INDIA, 19TH CENTURY
Fourth and Fifth Specialities of the Critical Analysis of Ten Commentaries
Brahma Sutra on the Brahma Sutra
Chidghanananda argues that the fourth spe-
ciality of the Brahma Sutra is the consonance Chidghanananda critically analyses the com-
between the chapters and the padas (1.58). The mentaries on the Brahma Sutra by Acharyas
consonance among different padas is the fifth Shankara, Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Nimbarka,
speciality of the text (1.68). Madhva, Shrikantha, Shrikara, Vallabha, Vi-
Chidghanananda gives the probable dates of jnanabhikshu, and Baladeva.
the writing of the ten commentaries: Chidghanananda gives the subject of every
1. Commentary of Acharya Shankara: pada of each one of the ten commentaries. He
624 Shakabda analyses these commentaries and finds out the
2. Commentary of Bhaskara: 630 Shakabda inconsistencies in the formation of adhikara-
3. Commentary of Acharya Ramanuja: nas and classification of sutras and concludes
990 Shakabda that Acharya Shankara makes 24 errors, Bhas-
4. Commentary of Nimbarka: kara makes 65 errors, Ramanuja makes 83 er-
1050 Shakabda rors, Nimbarka makes 91 errors, Madhva makes
5. Commentary of Acharya Madhva: 170 errors, Shrikantha makes 81 errors, Shrikara
1170 Shakabda makes 99 errors, Vallabha makes 104 errors, Vi-
6. Commentary of Shrikantha: jnanabhikshu makes 31 errors, and Baladeva
1192 Shakabda makes 44 errors. By this account too, Acharya
7. Commentary of Shrikara: 1322 Shakabda Shankara’s commentary is proven to be the best
8. Commentary of Vallabha: 1422 Shakabda as it has the least errors. Further, after carefully
9. Commentary of Vijnanabhikshu: analysing the overall schema of the ten commen-
1522 Shakabda taries in keeping with the rules of forming an
10. Commentary of Baladeva: adhikarana, Chidghanananda concludes that
1637 Shakabda Acharya Shankara makes no errors, Bhaskara
Chidghanananda also gives the dates of many makes 3 errors, Ramanuja makes 49 errors, Nim-
Acharyas: barka makes 69 errors, Madhva makes 121 errors,
106 PB January 2020

Shrikantha makes 44 errors, Shrikara makes 42 Darshaner Itihas (Bengali), Pratham Bhag, ed.
Rajendra Natha Ghosha (Barishal: Shankar
errors, and Vallabha makes 88 errors. Math, BS 1332, 1925) <https://archive.org/de-
One of the special features of the book being tails/in.ernet.dli.2015.336405/page/n3> ac-
discussed is the detailed table—comparing each cessed 06 October 2019.
one of the 555 sutras of these commentaries— 7. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.2.
8. Vancheswara Yajwan, Bhatta Chintamani, ed.
having twelve columns, the first two contain the
T Venkatasubba Sastrigal (Madras: Venkatasu-
number of the sutra, the text of the sutra, and bba Sastrigal, 1928), 5 <https://archive.org/
the following ten columns contain the number details/in.ernet.dli.2015.368362> accessed 07
of that sutra according to each one of the com- October 2019.
mentaries analysed (1.88–197). 9. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.3.
10. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
In the end of this work, Chidghanananda Brahma Sutra, 3.3.53: ‘Ata eva cha bhagavata
analyses these ten commentaries by every adhi upavarshena prathame tantre atma-astitva-
karana and establishes Acharya Shankara’s com- abhidhanaprasaktau sharirake vakshyama
mentary as the best and the closest to Vyasa’s ityuddharah kritah; and that is why the great
intent. Upavarsha quoted, “We would discuss this in
the Brahma Sutra” while discussing the exist-
In his unique manner of analysing these ten ence of Atman in Purva Mimamsa.’
commentaries, Chidghanananda provides us 11. See Acharya Ramanuja’s introduction to his
with a hermeneutic tool that could be used in commentary on the Brahma Sutra: ‘Bhaga-
evaluating any commentary of any text to check vadbaudhayana-kritam vistirnam brahmasu-
tra-vrittim samchikshipuh tanmatanusarena
its consistency and validity. P sutraksharani vyakhyasyante; the extensive
References commentary on the Brahma Sutra written by
the revered Baudhayana has been abridged
1. See R Thangaswami, Advaita-Vedānta Lit- [by my earlier teachers]. According to that
erature: A Bibliographical Survey (Madras: abridged version, the words of the Brahma
University of Madras, 1980), 340. Also see Sutra are explained.’
Chidghananandapuri, Brahmasutra-bhashya- 12. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.12.
nirnayah (Sanskrit) (Kashi: Ramakrishna 13. See The Vedānta-Sūtras with the Commentary by
Sevashrama, Samvat 2000, Shaka 1865, 1943), Saṅkarācārya, trans. George Thibaut (Oxford:
1.1. All translations from Sanskrit are mine. Clarendon, 1890), xvi–xxxi.
2. Swami Shraddhananda, The Story of an Epoch: 14. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.13.
Swami Virajananda and His Times (Madras: 15. Jabala quoted in Kulluka’s commentary on
Ramakrishna Math, 1982), 218. Manusmriti, 2.13: ‘Shrutismritivirodhe tu shruti-
3. See Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah. reva gariyasi.’
4. See Rajendra Nath Ghose, ‘Biography of the 16. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.14.
Late Dr Mahendra Lal Sirkar’, Satgop Patrika, 17. Shriharsha, Khandana-khanda-khadya,
1/2 (1928), 44. Quoted in John McGuire, The 4.205: ‘Grantha-granthiriha kvachit kvachi-
Making of a Colonial Mind (Canberra: Austra- dapi nyasi prayatnanmaya, prajnammanya-
lian National University, 1983), 139. mana hathena pathiti ma’smin khalah khelatu.
5. See Jagadisha Tarkalankar, Tarkamrita (Ben- Shraddha’raddhaguru-shlathikrita-dridha-
gali), trans. Rajendra Natha Ghosha (Cal- granthih samasadayat, tvetat-tarka-rasormmi-
cutta: Rajendra Natha Ghosha, Shaka 1840, majjana-sukheshvasanjanam sajjanah.’
1918) <https://archive.org/details/in.ernet. 18. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.15.
dli.2015.324579/page/n3> accessed 06 Octo- 19. See Mahabharata, 1.1.10, 1.63.86, and 1.63.88.
ber 2019. 20. Shandilya Bhaktisutra, 30.
6. See Swami Prajnananda Sarasvati, Vedanta 21. Brahmasutra-bhashya-nirnayah, 1.57.
PB January 2020 107

118
Sri Krishna in Acharya Shankara’s

Bhagavadgita Commentary
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
T
he challenge that is posed to The Gita centres on Sri Krishna, not only what
Acharya Shankara in undertaking a com- is said to and of him by Arjuna and of him by
mentary on the Bhagavadgita is the pres- Sanjaya, but in a significant sense, what is said
ence of Sri Krishna at the heart of the narrative. by Sri Krishna to Arjuna and us. We see how
In simple terms, what is God doing here? And of theologically effective Acharya Ramanuja found
course, those are simple terms indeed, for what this divine directness, but for Acharya Shankara
‘God’ means and how Sri Krishna is that ‘God’ it presents a different challenge. There is a vast
are questions that can be answered only by going and complex task on hand for him, namely, an
through Acharya Shankara’s actual treatment of exploration of how Brahman is to be understood
the Gita. But the tension between the sweeping in all and as all. But this is to be approached only
transmetaphysics of Brahman and an inescap- through the persona of Sri Krishna in the Gita.
able theology of Sri Krishna is what provides the No quick answer is available as to what
hermeneutic energy to Acharya Shankara’s com- Acharya Shankara does in his commentary in re-
mentary on the Gita; and furthermore, there sponse to this exegetical situation. The quick an-
is the intriguing fact that he chose to so com- swer we must not be tempted by is that Acharya
ment, and indeed, render the Gita one of the Shankara, uninterested in the divine person who
three sources, prasthanatrayi, of all subsequent is Sri Krishna, sought to simply subordinate the-
Vedanta schools.1 ology to philosophical metaphysics, leaving a
personal god as a prop for the gnoseologically
Speaking of Sri Krishna and Sri Krishna challenged, while all the while striving for an
Speaking of Himself understanding of an impersonal absolute. Per-
The central theological challenge of Acharya haps this is true of other commentaries; per-
Shankara’s reading of the Gita: the inescapabil- haps there is a germ of truth in it with regard
ity of a divine person who speaks and is spoken to this commentary. But no more than a germ,
to throughout. In other commentaries, Acharya for given many opportunities to simply read Sri
Shankara has the freedom to sustain an inquiry Krishna as a formal symbol of limited under-
into Brahman as the metaphysical exploration of standing, Acharya Shankara does not quite do
all dimensions of the existence of consciousness. so. In other words, we should not think that the
task before Acharya Shankara is to somehow
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad is the Distinguished Profes- get around the fact of Sri Krishna’s first-personal
sor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lan- presence in order that he can work out the uni-
caster University and a Fellow of the British Academy. versality of Brahman. The more painstaking task
108 PB January 2020

Sri Krishna in Acharya Shankara’s Bhagavadgita Commentary 119
that Acharya Shankara takes up is to read the

former in such a way as to make it an integral
part of the latter.
Sri Krishna first invokes divinity in first-per-
sonal terms in the third chapter of the Gita: ‘In
all the three worlds, Partha [Arjuna], there is
nothing at all yet to be done by me; nothing re-
mains unachieved or to be achieved, and yet I
continue to act.’2 From then on, he gradually dis-
closes himself in the Gita, becoming ever-clearer
about his divine selfhood in the tenth chapter,
preparatory to the cosmic vision he provides
Sri Krishna’s Image on the Wall of Hazara Rama Temple, Hampi
in the eleventh chapter. Thereafter, while he
continues his teaching, its reception is imbued seem for Acharya Shankara to relate this prolif-
with our knowledge that Arjuna has been trans- eration, naturally personalistic, because they are
formed by his vision. In comparativist perspec- derived by definition from qualities understand-
tive, this disclosure could not be more radically able only by virtue of being human, to Brahman.
different than the Mosaic God of the burning Acharya Shankara has to work out how Sri
bush who is said to say: ‘Ehyeh “asher” ehyeh; I Krishna—robustly limited as the very specific
am the Being, I am who I am, I will be that I will being at the heart of the narrative, using lan-
be, I am that I am.’3 guage, even at its limits, necessarily structured
Now, Acharya Shankara does not face the in his disclosure through the grammatical im-
direct and deep mystery of what an aniconic perative of the first person—can yet advert to
God’s apparently tautological first-personal de- Brahman as Acharya Shankara understands it.
scription can mean. In the Gita, the first-per- How to handle this being who speaks not just of
sonal speaker says at great length, rather than being but what permits being as such, to be, and
in an enigmatic pinpoint, what ‘I’ am. Rather identifies himself thus?
than permitting description to collapse into the The Gita does not, whether problematically or
mystery of divine self-proclamation, the Gita helpfully, allow easy identification of Sri Krishna
allows it to flourish exuberantly, seeking to ex- and Brahman or smooth passage between the con-
haust language in order to indicate the divine fusing if conventional categories of the personal
presence, who is in excess of language. In this, it and the impersonal. Where Sri Krishna declares
more naturally follows the via eminentiae, relat- anything about himself in relation to Brahman,
ing qualities that spring from the human, in the much depends on how he is read; and indeed,
automatic sense that they are expressed in lan- the vivid contrasts between Acharya Shankara
guage, pre-eminently or perfectly in Sri Krishna.4 and Acharya Ramanuja on the divine self turn on
The striking point, in comparativist terms, is not such exegetical divergence. But Sri Krishna does
so much that Arjuna so approaches Sri Krishna not call himself Brahman as such in the Gita it-
but that the text takes Sri Krishna to describe self; of course, saying that Sri Krishna is Brahman
himself in this manner. And the more detailed is nothing notable, for Brahman is all. So what
these descriptions, the more challenging it may he means in relation to Brahman is something
PB January 2020 109

Acharya Shankara has to bring out through his Vasudeva’, brahmavasudevakhyam, that inserts an
glossing of relational terms. Acharya Shankara awareness of the necessary limitation of language
uses a range of names for Sri Krishna, some dir- in the usage of a name, nama, even the name of
ectly found in the Gita, which he uses freely, and God. Let us look at these in turn.
others derived from the tradition that developed Let us provisionally understand the ‘self ’ as
in the intervening centuries, by which Sri Krishna the abstract, core or inner consciousness. It is
was identified with Vishnu or Narayana. the linguistic signifier of the subject that renders
Sri Krishna is ishvara, a term drawing on root inquiry meaningful and possible. It is through
meanings of capability and sovereignty, and there being self that there is both the misunder-
therefore most familiarly translated as ‘God’; standing of the nature of being and the capacity
and also, maheshvara, ‘great God’, sometimes im- for realising the way that there is being at all. It
plying a distinction from other smaller gods, but is, to start with, who is. Sri Krishna declares that
dominantly, indicating maximal ownership of the cognisant one, jnani is ‘indeed the self ’, at-
divine qualities. He is also bhagavat, a term also maiva.5 Here, Acharya Shankara explicates the
used for the Buddha, with a root meaning of implicit reflexivity: he glosses it as ‘not another’,
‘the dispenser’ or ‘patron’, and usually translated nanyah. This would be emptily tautological, if
as ‘the Lord’. Then there are the epithets for Sri we did not consider the import of ‘self ’ here.
Krishna that arise from the narrative surround- The cognisant one, he explains, focuses on the
ing the Gita, where he is Vasudeva, the son of thought: ‘I myself am the Lord Vasudeva, none
Vasudeva, and the like. There is, then, not only else.’6 Therefore, the true implication of self, the
the task of interpreting the first-personal uses of only self that is self, is Sri Krishna. Seen this way,
Sri Krishna about himself, where he adverts to Sri Krishna’s statement in the following verse,
his divinity, but also the second-personal uses by that the cognisant one realises that ‘Vasudeva
Arjuna in describing him. Sri Krishna speaking is all, sarvam’7 indicates that such a one ‘realises
of himself and Arjuna speaking of Sri Krishna, me as the self of all’.8 Later, Sri Krishna says: ‘I
both provide opportunities for talking of God am self, one who has conquered sleep, dwell-
or rather, translationally, what ‘God’ means; the ing as the resting-place of all beings.’9 Acharya
question is how such talk relates to the Brahman Shankara reads Atman here as the innermost
with which Acharya Shankara is concerned. self, pratyagatman, by which time we have be-
come habituated to his repeated and anticipa-
To Brahman via Sri Krishna: Two Tactics tory equation of Sri Krishna with Atman. As
Generally, Acharya Shankara uses two hermen- we explore the use and range of Atman, we will
eutical tactics to get to Brahman via Sri Krish- gradually come to see the universal scope of this
na’s first-personally articulate presence. First, he equation.
notes the rare occasions that Sri Krishna says The rigorous selfhood of Sri Krishna is
he is the Atman; and much more often, empha- driven home in Acharya Shankara’s brief com-
sises many of Sri Krishna’s self-declarations by mentary, where Sri Krishna says that people
identifying him with Atman or the supreme deprived of wisdom ‘resort to other deities’,
self, paramatman. Second, he often uses a locu- prapadyante’nyadevatah (ibid.). Acharya
tion when talking of Sri Krishna, ‘God, called Shankara expands this as ‘resort to deities
Narayana’, narayanakhyam, or ‘Brahman, called other than, anyat, Vasudeva who is self,
110 PB January 2020

vasudevad-atmano’nya’.10 The hierarchy of deities ontological distance of otherness between the

emerging in the composition of the Gita is not divine and the human is always preserved. But
the point here for Acharya Shankara;11 the dis- the God who is in excess of both visible and in-
tinction between the gods of ritual worship and visible being, as we have already noted in the first
Sri Krishna comes through the latter’s identity section, is the supreme construal of selfhood, for
with the selfhood of all who worship in the first self is nothing to become known, as in the third-
place. The source of the possibility of worship is personal story of a manifest God hitherto hid-
the subject who worships, and that subject is, al- den, but that which is always and unquestionably
though not in any experientially or linguistically established for itself.
transparent way, Sri Krishna. All other deities, The second tactic found in Acharya Shan-
devatah, are objects of worship, and therefore kara’s curious formulation, ‘called Vasudeva’, one
elements of that world, different from and yet might even say, ‘so-called Vasudeva’. Right in the
not-other than Brahman, self, or Sri Krishna. introduction to his commentary on the Gita, he
Sri Krishna, then, is centred by Acharya Shan- offers a potent precis of how he will approach
kara through the identification with self, so that the whole matter of the Gita. This sacred text, he
Sri Krishna’s ‘I’ preserves layers of meaning that says, reveals the supreme reality, called Vasudeva,
peel away to reveal the very notion of self, the the being that signifies Brahman in the high-
self of all. Acharya Shankara’s tactic is to take est as its subject matter.13 Let us note the first
Sri Krishna’s speaking of himself at face value, occurrence of this locution, ‘called Vasudeva’.
not challenging the routine self-proclamation Why not, we can ask ourselves, just ‘Vasudeva,
of a personal God but reading it as the map- the supreme reality’? Ramanuja conspicuously
ping of self on self. Sri Krishna as self becomes does not use this locution. In another instance,
the key that unlocks statements of Sri Krishna’s Sri Krishna declares: ‘I am the source of all.’14
self-statement of divinity. Sri Krishna says: ‘The Acharya Shankara glosses ‘I’ as ‘the supreme
unintelligent think of me as having become Brahman called Vasudeva’.15
manifest even though I am unmanifest, not At first, we may think that this is indicative of
knowing of my being in the highest, which is im- an apophatic move, calling him ‘Vasudeva’ does
mutable and unsurpassable.’12 Acharya Shankara not actually name God, it is only a name for God
explains this as the undiscerning not being aware that we use as ‘Narayana’ and the like. So one
of Sri Krishna’s being in the highest, that is, Sri might think that Acharya Shankara is indicating
Krishna’s being of ‘the very form of the high- that God escapes naming; God alone properly
est self ’, free of mutability, none more eminent, uses the ‘I’,16 but when we attempt to describe
taking Sri Krishna to be the hidden that has be- God, we are left with names, which we give. But
come the revealed now, although Sri Krishna is there is nothing else in what Acharya Shankara
‘the ever-established’ God. says that suggests that he was concerned spe-
Acharya Shankara therefore asserts the great- cifically with the unnameability of Sri Krishna.
est intimacy possible between us and another, This is because of the extremely significant fact
that of identity. Dull-wittedly, people inter- that Sri Krishna speaks in the first person in the
pret the physical presence of Sri Krishna in that Gita; he has, as it were, named himself for us.
time as a manifestation of the hidden God, an It is God’s declaration that he is so named; we
interpretation in whose narrative sequence the begin with it. So we must look for some other
PB January 2020 111

explanation for of these ideas that we can understand an occa-

Acharya Shanka- sion where Acharya Shankara brings the two tac-
ra’s locution. tics together. Where Sri Krishna says, ‘I am the
My suggestion origin of all’, Acharya Shankara glosses the ‘I’ as
is that the locution ‘supreme Brahman, called Vasudeva’.
points to some-
thing deeper than Who and/or What is God? Acharya
the limitation of Shankara’s Sri Krishna Theology
our speaking of The two broad tactics considered in the previous
God. It points to section can therefore be identified as Acharya
the limitation of Shankara’s reading of Sri Krishna within his ex-
God as that of position of Brahman, brahmavada. They are
which we speak. meant to permit Sri Krishna’s declarations to be
We speak here of received theologically, but without disturbing
Acharya Shankara’s Image at
Kutajadri Sarvajnapith
God—Sri Krishna, Acharya Shankara’s understanding of Brahman
Narayana, Vas- as the terminus ad quem of the non-dualist task.
udeva—so-called. What we speak of is God, but But, for the purposes of enunciating a theory of
God is what can be spoken of Brahman, about Brahman, which is also a guide to the re/attain-
which, profoundly, we cannot speak. God be- ment of Brahman by the theorist and his adher-
comes the way language mediates consciousness’ ents, the Gita is a difficult text. It has to be read,
understanding of itself, self that it is, as Brah- first and foremost on its own terms as offering a
man. God is, of course, Brahman; there is noth- theology of Sri Krishna. Acharya Shankara does
ing other than Brahman. God is also what we not seek to discard, or even deflect the theo-
can call Brahman, since, Brahman, we cannot logical promise on offer. It is only obliquely that
call anything, but only realise as self. We must be we come to see what he does with the theology,
careful here, as I do not want to lurch back to one in its location within a brahmavada.
conventional understanding of Acharya Shan- So, we must first look at how Acharya Shankara
kara, namely that he thinks God is a limitation, reads the theology of Sri Krishna. Understanding
a distraction, a construct to be transcended—in how Acharya Shankara understands Sri Krishna
the Gita, at any rate, he makes no such move. will help locate Sri Krishna within Acharya Shan-
What I am trying to say is that Acharya Shankara kara’s theory of Brahman, brahmavada, not just
uses the locution, ‘so-called’, to indicate how the as something he had to attend to, perhaps for the
phenomenological inquiry into Brahman, to- historical reason that Sri Krishna or Vishnu and
wards which the exegetical authority of the Gita the Gita had become too important to ignore, but
points, is made possible only through language, as vital to his exploration of reality. In this section,
and Sri Krishna is the self-signifier of the prom- we will discuss various things that Sri Krishna says
ise that such inquiry can be undertaken. about himself in the Gita and how Acharya Shan-
In these two ways, then, Acharya Shankara kara receives him theologically.
indicates how Sri Krishna is central to the non- Acharya Shankara does not see Sri Krishna
duality of self and Brahman, of God and Brah- as a creator god, a being whole and distinct be-
man, and world and Brahman. It is in the light fore there is creation, bringing beings and things
112 PB January 2020

into existence ex nihilo, and continuing to have Here, Acharya Shankara’s aim is to iden-
a being distinct from all beings thus created. He tify precisely what it is about Sri Krishna that
reads Sri Krishna’s statements about his power in prompts our seeking refuge in him; and yet
relation to beings and things in a way that does again he does this by saying who and what the
not challenge Sri Krishna’s divinity, yet subtly Sri Krishna is who speaks thus of himself. The
re-presents it within a metaphysics of non-du- ‘I’ of Sri Krishna, he says, refers to ‘the conjur-
ality. Sri Krishna talks of his evolutive nature, ing master of maya, the being that is itself the
prakriti17 as having an inferior and a superior self of all’.21 It should also be added that he reads
form.18 The former is material and includes the ‘to take refuge’ to be ‘to forsake all ritually en-
elements, as well as the mind and the ‘I’-maker, joined action’; its full significance can be seen in
ahamkara, which is to say, the physical condi- Gita’s last chapter’s consideration,22 but we can
tions of individuation. The latter consists in the see that this austere and disciplinary gloss is an
individual beings, by which the world is upheld. unobvious way to understand the devotional im-
Acharya Shankara accepts these declarations plications of taking refuge. Without denying Sri
with only a little exposition. He glosses Sri Krishna’s theological claim, Acharya Shankara
Krishna’s mention of ‘this other, higher nature nevertheless presents what is going on in these
of mine’ (7.5) as ‘my pure, self-being’, so that the verses as essentially a gnoseological project of
individual beings are not taken as other than Sri self-realisation expressed through the mediating
Krishna’s own being.19 This then casts the next reality of Sri Krishna.
verse, in which Sri Krishna says he is the womb Acharya Shankara’s theology of Sri Krishna
or origin of all beings and their birth and dissol- therefore is not some simple denial or even mar-
ution, in a rather different metaphysical light; for ginalisation of theology itself: nowhere in his
what Sri Krishna is saying is therefore not to be commentary on the Gita does he suggest that
understood as a story of creation and destruction God is a conceptual construct driven by human
of beings separate from him, but a cosmogonic need; he does not even say that God, Sri Krishna
narrative of the self-expression of being itself, in or Vishnu or Narayana, is the provisional goal of
its coming forth in a manifold of individuation the cognitively underdeveloped, a sort of cultur-
and its going back to being alone—pure Being, ally conditioned penultimate absolute. At the
being as such, being beyond the phenomenology same time, Sri Krishna is not the culminating
of individuated beings.20 point of his inquiry, nor is a devotional love of
Sri Krishna says soon after that people are de- God the ultimate human mode of fulfilment. Let
luded by the qualitative diversity of the world in us look further at his treatment of Sri Krishna,
which they find themselves, and this manifold especially Sri Krishna’s self-declarations, before
becomes difficult for them to go beyond; there- we sum up what Acharya Shankara takes Sri
fore, Sri Krishna says, they ‘cross over’ by taking Krishna to be.
refuge in him (7.13–4). Acharya Shankara does
not here directly take up maya’s metaphysical Sri Krishna’s Role in
status according to Advaita, as the phenomenal Acharya Shankara’s Theology
appearance of changeful things that is less than What is the role of a theology of Sri Krishna
real, a construal that Ramanuja, of course, expli- for Acharya Shankara? We can say, broadly, that
citly rules out in his commentary on the verse. his answer clusters around two types of answers.
PB January 2020 113

One concerns loving devotion, bhakti, towards that the supreme person ‘within whom stand all
the self-declared God who is found in the per- beings’, is reached through singular devotion.24
son of Sri Krishna, and is interesting because of First, he analyses ‘purusha’ as ‘residing or resting
the way Acharya Shankara takes such passages in the whole of the fortress, of the body, or heart
in the Gita and makes them point to something or intellect, that is, the human being’.25 In other
else, even while never denying devotion and the words, the supreme person, God, is that which is,
complex of ritual life. The other is the invocation supremely, the self of beings. Second, he crisply
of Sri Krishna’s selfhood that Acharya Shankara states that the singular ‘devotion’, bhakti, encour-
sees as key to the rationality of spiritual life, what aged here is that which is characterised as gnosis,
we might call, in a cumbersome way, a gnoseo- jnana-lakshana: ‘Bhaktya labhyastu jnana-lak-
phenomenology of consciousness. Let us look shanaya ananyaya atmavishayaya.’ So, the love
at each in turn. of God is a signifier of insight into non-duality.
Acharya Shankara’s location of devotion That is its true and ultimate function. One role
within a larger spiritual project of inquiry is not for the theology of Sri Krishna is to transmute
a simple denigration of the former. The second devotion into gnosis: the presence and promise
chapter of the Gita is given over to gnostic dis- of Sri Krishna permits the human response of
cipline, jnana yoga, and the discipline of ethico- love to become a path to self-realisation, while
ritual action, karma yoga. Sri Krishna says that, Sri Krishna’s grace is itself to be understood as
having taught of the discernment that comes the prompt for that realisation.
from Sankhya, which here stands for the path of This gnoseological re-reading of devotion
knowledge, and therefore for gnostic discipline, permits Acharya Shankara to discipline all lov-
he will now talk of what comes from yoga—here, ing worship within that inquiry into Brahman
the system of consciousness-controlling practice, that brings about the realisation of non-dual-
and implying the path of action, and therefore ity. The worship that he takes to be of greatest
of ritual and worship—which will lead to free- value can be framed as a gnostic undertaking.
dom from bondage (2.39). But Acharya Shan- He reads the fifteenth verse of the ninth chap-
kara goes out of his way to say that disciplined ter of the Gita as: ‘Others do homage to me by
action, karma yoga, is not only the discipline of offering the sacrifice of the knowledge of one-
spiritual absorption, samadhi yoga, but also the ness; others worship my diversity; yet others,
performance of rites with detachment, for ‘the worship me variously as facing in all directions.’
adoration of God’.23 This act of adoration leads As a contrast, in Laurie Patton’s translation of
to the discarding of all action itself, by the at- this verse, we have: ‘And others, through the
tainment of ‘the gnosis caused by God’s grace’, sacrifice of wisdom, worship me as the oneness
ishvara-prasada nimitta jnana. Such gnosis is, which is multiple, placed in many ways, facing
of course, the realisation in consciousness of the all sides.’26
non-duality of self, God, and Brahman. Acharya In other words, this can be read quite natur-
Shankara therefore maintains that the gnostic ally as a single, cumulative description, whereas
path is also a devotional one. Acharya Shankara takes Sri Krishna to be talking
But for all that, the devotional path is more of three classes of worshippers. The three classes
importantly also a gnostic one. Acharya Shankara of worshippers are: those whose sacrificial per-
reconstructs as gnoseology Sri Krishna’s teaching formance is the attainment of the knowledge
114 PB January 2020

that ‘brahman is one’; those whose worship In the exegesis relevant for our present pur-
takes the form, ‘Lord Vishnu alone abides in all pose, Acharya Shankara maintains that intellec-
the distinct forms, like the Sun, the Moon, and tual gnosis accompanied by reflection surpasses
the like’; and those who worship in many ways, gnosis alone. In the commentary, he argues that
thinking, ‘Lord Vishnu alone resides variously the disciplinary practice ‘characterised by focus-
in his omni-directional cosmic form’.27 So, the ing thought on the cosmic form of God’ and the
most exalted form of worship is one in which it performance of actions with God as objective are
is taken that Brahman is one; in the next level premised on ‘a difference between self and God’.
down, it is taken that Vishnu abides in all; and So the discipline of action is the result of ignorance
finally, that is, at the most accessible and the least and its practitioner is incapable of seeing non-dif-
spiritually valuable level, there is the belief that ference. The discipline of action is unsuitable for
Vishnu abides in many forms. While preserving the one who meditates on the imperishable.29
a form of monotheism, Acharya Shankara hier- So, when Sri Krishna says, ‘I am their sa-
archises the forms of worship according to their viour’, he is talking of those who are depend-
cognitive sophistication, as he sees it. ent on God.30 Those who have become Godself
Another striking example of his view that should be considered as having the form of the
worshipful action directed at Sri Krishna should imperishable, since they would have seen the
only be taken to lead to insight into non-duality non-difference between God and self. In that
comes in his commentary on the twelfth verse case, it would not be sensible to talk of their
of the twelfth chapter of the Gita. There, Sri being objects of the saving act of God.31 In this
Krishna says that intellectual gnosis is superior superbly imaginative passage, Acharya Shankara
to permanent exercise; sustained reflection sur- demonstrates that a rigorous and uncompro-
passes gnosis; renunciation of the fruit of action mising form of mystical ontologism or unitive
is better than reflection; and from such renunci- mysticism is central to his theology. He nei-
ation comes peace. The verse’s apparent assertion ther rejects theological value in the spiritual life
of the renunciation of the fruit of action as the nor expounds a theology of salvific grace that
culminating form of the spiritual life, superior, sits within an unquestioned onto-theological
as it were, to gnosis, should be understood as the framework. Acharya Shankara’s Sri Krishna is
most powerful path, in the sense that it is the one the God through—and, given ultimate non-du-
that is to be followed by those who are not able ality, with—whom Atman or Brahman-realisa-
to do anything else. The power of the path does tion is sought.
not lie in its spiritual exaltation, but rather in its This brings us to the other role that Acharya
being the most accessible and easily enabling. In Shankara discerns for a theology of Sri Krishna,
the preceding verses, Sri Krishna talks of those namely, the attainment of non-duality rendered
who fix their mind on him alone; advises those possible (only?) through Sri Krishna’s universal
who cannot do that to practise repeatedly fixing selfhood. Sri Krishna’s grace is attained through
their mind on a single object; if they are unable gnostic realisation and is expressed non-dual-
to do that, then to strive for him through dis- istically. Sri Krishna promises yogakshema, at-
ciplined action; and finally, if they are unable tainment and preservation, to those who
even to discipline their action, then to at least worship him while ‘thinking of none else but
renounce the fruit of their action.28 me’.32 Acharya Shankara interprets yogakshema
PB January 2020 115

as two interrelated things: ‘Yoga is attaining methodology. In Thomas Aquinas, it seems plaus-
the unattained, and kshema is the protection ible to think that there is a worked out doctrine
of it.’33 The attainment, of course, is non-dual- of theosis, a mystical union that is the final goal of
ity, since ‘thinking of none else but me’ means, the human being.35 As Williams says, for Aqui-
for Acharya Shankara: ‘Aprithagbhutah param nas the love that brings about union with God is
devam narayanam atmatvena gatah santah; be- meditation on God’s nature, a theological activity
coming non-separate, having realised the su- that is sharing in God’s being. Of course, this
preme deity, Narayana, as the very self.’ Acharya union is between the human and God through
Shankara by no means denies the role of worship God’s self-giving, a theme much more appropri-
and divine grace, albeit within a gnostic tele- ately comparable to Acharya Ramanuja’s vision
ology. We also see now how these two things, of God’s love, although he permits inquiry into
while in apparent tension with each other, actu- being as no more than preparation for a loving
ally fit together: the gnosis is that confluence of relationship with God. Two things strike us here
consciousness—guarded and guaranteed by Sri in relation to what we have been learning about
Krishna for the worshipper—which is the reali- Acharya Shankara. One is the idea that loving de-
sation of non-duality. votion, bhakti is noetic, the thinking of God by
The connection between examination of the the worshipper, and therefore directed towards
self and the exploration of being is, of course, gnosis on the worshipper’s part; the other is that
an integral part of Christian theology’s assimi- such a relationship is possible because of the map-
lation of Greek philosophy; in fact, it is one of ping of self and God through being.
the dominant characteristics of onto-theology, Even while pointing out the centrality of this
onto-theology understood, not necessarily in the theosis to Thomism, Hemming has argued that,
way Heidegger did in order to establish his own for a Heideggerian, there might well be a prob-
self-proclaimed originality, but plainly as the lem with the enquiry into the being of oneself
conception of an intimate connection between becoming the inquiry into God’s being. Such
God and being, of at least an understanding of an attempt is metaphysical, for it ‘makes the
being in and through God, although not ne- being of God the ground of the being of being
cessarily taking Being to name God. Francis S human’. If so, this ‘displaces the ground of the
Fiorenza and Gordon D Kaufman point out: being of being human from the very self that I
The idea of God as Spirit, pure Being without am, whose being I can then enquire into, onto a
material parts, led classical Christian authors being whose being is not transparently interro-
to approach the understanding of God largely gable for me, namely God’.36
through reflection on the self. In his On Free The response to this, although perhaps not
Choice of the Will, Augustine holds that human
by a Thomist, has to be, I think, that the suc-
intelligence is the highest and best of human
attributes. This intelligence is dependent upon cess of the inquiry lies, not in the attainment
a reality that is higher than itself, the spiritual, of a metaphysical grasp of God’s being but in
eternal and unchanging God (2:37–15:39). The God’s self-giving. However, we have a very dif-
soul’s knowledge of itself leads to knowledge of ferent situation with Acharya Shankara. It is
God, and to a true idea of being.34 not so much that Acharya Shankara rules out
Understood in this way, later Christian devel- Sri Krishna’s grace as playing a role in realisa-
opments appear to point to a deepening of this tion. The Gita’s communications of Sri Krishna’s
116 PB January 2020

declarations of gracious giving are too many for Self, God, and Brahman:
that line of interpretation to be sustainable. And Acharya Shankara, Theology, and
it is certainly the case that our love of Sri Krishna Non-dualist Metaphysics
is, at any rate, noetic for Acharya Shankara; we In contrast to his commentaries on the Upani-
have seen that often enough. What is important shads and on the Brahma Sutra, which latter,
is that Acharya Shankara is not talking of a after all, presents itself as concise aides memoire
union of God’s being and the self, but the non- to the teachings of the former, the Gita offers
duality of the two. Acharya Shankara the unique challenge of in-
The inquiry, in Advaita, is already rendered terpreting the presence of a robustly immanent,
possible only because there is no ontological densely subjective, and clearly self-declarative
difference between God and self, ‘ontological’ being, Sri Krishna, whose declarations advert to
both in the standard sense of constitutive nature his supreme divinity. This is because, by contrast,
and in the Heideggerian sense of having the na- the other texts on which he comments locate
ture to comprehend, reflexively and recursively, Brahman as the nodal point of all explanation,
one’s own being. It is precisely gnosis, turning and permit him to develop his broad theme of
the attention of consciousness to illuminate con- the non-duality of conscious presence condensed
sciousness itself, that is rendered possible by the in the individuated self and the singular, perme-
fact that the conscious self is also the self that is ating, and originary principle that is Brahman.
God. God’s selfhood is the self of all being, and Since Brahman clearly occupies a significant
that is why, at one and the same time, immedi- position in the Gita, it is not as if Acharya Shan-
ately and without transition, to attain God and kara is unable to extend his non-dualist concep-
to attain gnosis of true selfhood is also to (re-) tual vocabulary to it, but he has to do so via Sri
attain non-duality. Krishna. My argument is that Acharya Shankara
In the middle of the famous commentary should not be seen as trying to explain away Sri
concerning Sri Krishna’s culminating promise Krishna within the working out of the signifi-
of salvation, which occupies us in the Gita’s last cance of Atman-Brahman. We have an account
chapter, Acharya Shankara states that freedom that is distinctive of Acharya Shankara, and that
from entanglement with the less than real world too, the Acharya Shankara of the Gita commen-
of action comes to those ‘who have taken refuge tary: a highly intellectual reading of devotion
in the oneness of the Lord’s quiddity and the that nonetheless wholeheartedly endorses devo-
self ’.37 This, then, is Acharya Shankara’s theology tion to Sri Krishna; a sophisticated and balanced
of Sri Krishna, and his account of its role within account of the nature of Sri Krishna as both the
gnoseology. But it has always to be remembered subject who is supremely being and as being itself
that theology does not exhaust Acharya Shanka- which founds all beings; and circumscribing this
ra’s system; there is Brahman. The Atman seeks theology, an overarching understanding of Brah-
to realise its non-duality with Brahman, not just man as the ground or fount of being and non-
with God; but the person prays to God and God being, that which ontologically permits beings
is Atman, is Brahman. The gnoseological search, and the ultimately non-being world to be what
jijnasa, is not for God even with a theology, but they are or are not.
for Brahman. This combination, of course, has We have, therefore, two radical steps in
no Christian parallel. Acharya Shankara’s reading of the Gita. The first
PB January 2020 117

is the non-duality of divine and human being asserts, the absolute difference between beings
through Sri Krishna’s proclamation of his univer- and the supreme God. How so? The change in
sal selfhood; and the second is the location of this the state of being described as ‘birth’ is the root
non-duality within the overarching non-duality of all other modifications; and all changes in
of Brahman and being or non-being, which is states of being end in death. Beyond death there
not, as it were, spoken of but ineluctably reached is no change. By saying that this final change in
through inquiry into the conditions for the pos- the state of being is absent in the supreme God,
sibility of gnosis. Let us look at these in turn. all modification is denied of such God. ‘There-
fore, it is established that the supreme God is
Self and God: Acharya Shankara’s completely other to all beings, is without par-
Mapping and Sri Krishna’s Declaration ticularity, is One.’39
Since the Gita often has Sri Krishna say that he One who sees the supreme God thus, truly
is the self of all beings, Acharya Shankara inter- sees. This is contrasted with those who see con-
prets all the other statements of the relationship trarily. Just as when, compared to those with the
between God and human beings through this eye-defect called timira who see many moons,
essential declaration. As we have seen, worship is the one who sees the single moon correctly is
understood as an epistemic quest, the attainment said to ‘see truly’, so too, ‘the one who sees the
of knowledge of non-duality through systematic one undivided self as described is distinguished
thinking of the nature of God, prompted here by from those who contrarily see many selves div-
Sri Krishna’s own assurance of that nature. It is ided, by saying, “he alone sees”’.40
also teleologically gnostic; such understanding This is another of those tightly crafted pas-
is meant to dissolve the phenomenology of ex- sages of Acharya Shankara, where what appears
istence, from the variegated experiences of the to be a conventional point about God’s other-
individuated and agonistic person into the con- ness, signified by eternality, is quickly reconfig-
sciousness of pure presence that is the truth of ured in terms of non-dual, not-other selfhood.
selfhood. But it is not just the ontological truth If God is simple, without particularity, free of
of the non-duality of Sri Krishna and selves that modifications to the conditions of being, and
prompts worship and permits gnosis, for it is therefore free of temporality, then obviously the
Sri Krishna’s grace that renders worship suc- world and worldly beings are other than God.
cessful. Let us look again at the first half of the God’s otherness is from the states of all beings,
circle, which is Acharya Shankara’s mapping of their changefulness that ends in the destruction
divine and human selfhood, before we turn to of their particularity. But this otherful God is
the other half, namely, Sri Krishna’s assurance also not other, abiding alike in all beings. What
that the mapping has salvific potency. is common to all beings is their being, which is
Sri Krishna says: ‘He sees truly who sees the Sri Krishna’s presence in and as self in them. As
supreme God abiding alike in all beings, not the one self that is the self of all being, God is to
dying even as they die.’38 Acharya Shankara be distinguished from the manyness of beings,
glosses parameshvara as the supreme God with but is not different from their oneness.
regard to apekshya, body, senses, mind, intellect, Such an interpretation permits Acharya Shan-
the unmanifest, avyakta, and the self, who undy- kara to read Sri Krishna as himself guaranteeing
ingly abides equally in all beings. This shows, he the culmination of non-dual gnosis in Brahman,
118 PB January 2020

for Sri Krishna affirms: ‘When one sees the di- involves a fundamental Advaitic claim about
versity of states of being abiding in the one, and beings in their limited being.
their expanding from that alone, one attains Acharya Shankara responds to the objection
Brahman.’41 Acharya Shankara underlines this by saying that Sri Krishna himself has already
affirmation by echoing the Upanishadic teach- pointed out that what ‘sets out’ or acts is essen-
ing of non-dual Brahman. ‘One attains Brahman’ tial nature;45 and, Acharya Shankara says, that
simply means ‘one becomes Brahman itself ’, and essential nature—the essential nature of beings
one does so when one sees that the self is breath, in the world, who are stained—is ignorance.
hope, memory, space, light, water, manifestation As we see in his account of the self in human
and de-manifestation, and food.42 So, for Acharya being, ignorance is the taking of oneself to be
Shankara, God is self, and self is Brahman. an individuated being among other beings, the
Acharya Shankara is aware that this non-du- world as ultimately existent, and God as utterly
alism makes for a curious theodicy, and attempts other. Worldly transaction is possible only be-
to provide an answer. Our concern is not really cause the human being’s essential nature is just
about the effectiveness of this theodicy but the ignorance; it is this clouded sense of separate
commitment to non-duality evident in it. Sri beingness within a body that generates action,
Krishna asserts: ‘The immutable supreme Self, thereby constructing an individuated entity that
although in the body, does not act and is not becomes stained. The supreme Self, that is to say,
stained.’43 The mention of ‘stain’ leads to an ob- the Self as the essential presence of Sri Krishna,
jection, as posited by Acharya Shankara: ‘Who being itself rather than particular being, is not
acts in the body and is stained or affected nega- ultimately the acting, stained entity. So, it is by
tively? If it is another than the supreme Self, inscribing all empirical reality to this primal ig-
who, as the embodied one, acts and is stained, norance of being as such that Acharya Shankara
then what becomes of the statement, “Know me offers a non-dualist theodicy for Godself.
as the knower of the field” (13.2), which shows The non-duality of God and self is only one
the oneness of the knower of the field and God? half of what Acharya Shankara says about Sri
However, if there is no other embodied being Krishna; the other half, which completes his the-
than God, then who acts and is stained [for it ology, is that the attainment of non-duality is
could then not be God]? Or is it that there is no guaranteed by God’s grace. Sri Krishna promises:
supreme One?’44 ‘Those who adore me with devotion, they are
In a few swift steps, Acharya Shankara sums in me and I in them’ (9.29). Acharya Shankara
up the problem. That something is stained, makes clear the relationship involved here. He
through moral and existential failures, evil and understands Sri Krishna to be saying, ‘I exist in
suffering, is undeniable, and it is the body that is them not through the constraint of attachment;
so identified. Sri Krishna contrasts this with the but by their own-being’.46 This is the ontological
supreme Self that is not stained thus. A theodicy core of the salvific promise. The essential nature
concerning a God, who is completely other to or own-being of beings is both characterisable as
worldly being, would seek to answer how such ignorance and the locus of Sri Krishna’s presence.
a God permitted the stain. For Acharya Shan- Where we are most chained to the world, there
kara, the problem is strikingly different, as can be Sri Krishna is, in us, but more significantly, as us,
seen in his honest presentation of it. His answer so that we may be free.
PB January 2020 119

As we have seen before, it is striking that containing but exceeding being and non-being,
Acharya Shankara neither concedes that our the immutable and the mutable (2.16). But Sri
telos is anything but gnostic non-duality nor Krishna also undeniably characterises himself as
asserts that Sri Krishna’s grace alone takes us immutable; modification characterises beings,
to our self-realisation. An Advaitic reading of while it cannot apply to God (13.28).
the Gita requires Brahman to be the final ex- Divine immutability, of course, is the corner-
planation, but Sri Krishna is required to pro- stone of most pre-modern theologies. Compare
vide it. Sri Krishna declares himself, whereas with Augustine, who says: ‘When the words of
Brahman is anonymous to the world of revela- God reach holy Moses through the angel, to his
tion. Sri Krishna, as paradigmatic self that en- question concerning his name … the answer was
selves being, offers the right balance to human “I am who I am” … as if, when compared to him
inquiry, for in the Gita according to Acharya who truly is because he is immutable, the things
Shankara, the gnosis that results from inquiry which do change were not; this was vigorously
is guaranteed only after it is acknowledged defended and recommended with the greatest
that God has provided the means to inquiry, possible care by Plato.’47 Yet Acharya Shankara
by a self-declared presence, that prompts, for takes reasonable care to say that Brahman ex-
Acharya Shankara, the only proper devotion, ceeds both the mutable and the immutable, and
namely, the noetic worship through which gno- this despite the fact that he does write loosely
sis is attained. and sometimes contradictorily across the length
But still, it all ends, as it began, with Brah- of the commentary.
man, or else there would be no Advaita. Acharya Acharya Shankara’s God is not a philosopher’s
Shankara does not shirk from accepting a salv- God, but a theologian’s, and yet the theology is
ific theology of Sri Krishna; but nevertheless, subjected to a transmetaphysics of Brahman. Of
there is something beyond the theology that cir- course, Sri Krishna is not to be dis-identified
cumscribes it and makes his Advaita ultimately from Brahman, for Brahman is all, and we have
an inquiry into reality beyond the theology. In seen how the realisation of Brahman can be ap-
the end, Acharya Shankara is looking for a sort proached only through and in Sri Krishna. But
of transmetaphysics, which seeks to get to the non-duality is asymmetric: Brahman cannot be
ground that renders being possible. exhausted by non-duality with Sri Krishna or
Atman. Acharya Shankara’s Sri Krishna speaks
Sri Krishna’s Signification of Brahman: of Brahman but indirectly. Sri Krishna points
The Asymmetric Mystery of Non-duality to, rather than identifies with, Brahman: ‘When
At the heart of Acharya Shankara’s Gita is the elu- one sees the diversity of states of being abiding
siveness and mystery of the relationship between in the one, and their expanding from that alone,
Sri Krishna and Brahman, for there is no direct one attains Brahman.’48
equation in the Gita between the two, and none Now, if Brahman were to be understood as
in Acharya Shankara’s commentary apart from the free self, distinct from and subordinate to Sri
one intriguing occasion (14.27). Over the course Krishna, as Acharya Ramanuja does, that would
of the commentary, the general impression accu- be a different matter. But if, as Acharya Shankara
mulates of Brahman encompassing but exceeding does, the Upanishadic non-duality of Atman
God. Acharya Shankara points to Brahman as and Brahman is preserved even while Sri Krishna
120 PB January 2020

is repeatedly identified as the Atman of all, then support the principal. In similar manner, the
either Brahman is, symmetrically, Sri Krishna, or inmost self supports, in the sense of express-
exceeds him. Sri Krishna can seem, for Acharya ing in its being, the supreme self. So Acharya
Shankara, to be ‘sending’, cognitively, as it were, Shankara inverts our expectation of the dir-
the Atman through him to Brahman, implying ection in which the asymmetry of ‘support’
the latter option. runs. God’s being blesses being, and thus the
But there is one passage in which Acharya interpersonal relationship at the heart of a the-
Shankara struggles to express the very limits ology is secured. But God derives from Brah-
of language in the striving towards Brah- man, for God supports Brahman in the sense
man, even when that striving is graced by Sri of being the personal bridge to beings. God is
Krishna. Sri Krishna says: ‘I am the support the power of Brahman by which being is being
of Brahman, the immortal and imperishable, and beings have being and are blessed to so
and of the everlasting dharma, and of absolute realise themselves. But, as the tenet of non-
joy’ (14.27). Acharya Shankara’s first step is duality affirms, there is no difference between
to point out that the ‘I’ of Sri Krishna is the God and Brahman, for there is nothing other
inmost self. The implication is that, while the than Brahman.
authority of the claim comes from its being This is a radical circumspection of Godliness,
spoken by Sri Krishna, it applies as much to for God is not the ultimate point of Advaitic in-
each human being as it does to him. This is quiry; but Acharya Shankara makes the point
made clear soon after. Explaining the phrase in quickly and circumspectly. He then rounds off
the previous verse, ‘becomes competent to be- the commentary on this verse with another enig-
come Brahman’, Acharya Shankara says: ‘Since matic interpretive alternative, because he cannot
the inmost self is the support of the supreme leave the vanishing point of ultimacy so robustly
Self, which is intrinsically eternal, and so on, described as this verse does, as immortal, as ab-
through complete gnosis, it is ascertained as solute joy, and the like. He therefore takes Sri
the supreme Self.’49 Krishna to be saying, ‘Or the reference of the
But the trickier point here is the notion of word “Brahman” [in this verse] can mean the
‘support’ or ‘the underlying place’, ‘the base’. Brahman that is conceptualised. Of that Brah-
This becomes acute when Acharya Shankara man, unconceptualised, I myself, and none else,
then goes on to explain the relationship be- am that which is the support.’51
tween God and Brahman, the nearest he gets Even the Brahman described as immortal, of
to it, while stressing non-duality: ‘The power everlasting order and absolute joy, while reach-
of God through which, to bless devotees and ing the limits of language, remains within those
so on, the Brahman that is supported, comes limits, so the role of Sri Krishna in being the
forth, I am that power which is Brahman, the support for our attainment of such a Brahman
power and the possessor of the power not seems somehow to be limited too. If God is the
being separate.’50 power through which we realise our supreme
For Acharya Shankara, God’s supporting Self, it is that Self that is none other than Brah-
Brahman is not a matter of Brahman having man that must escape our language. God should
God as its foundation; on the contrary, God take us beyond language, bound as language is
supports Brahman as an auxiliary might to the forms of our current being. So, Acharya
PB January 2020 121

Shankara takes Sri Krishna to be saying that 5. Gita, 7.18.

6. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
what can be said of Brahman as we conceptual- 7.18: ‘Ahameva bhagavan vasudevah na anyo’smi.’
ise it, in our language and our imagination. But 7. Gita, 7.19.
that which God supports for our realisation is 8. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
Brahman beyond understanding, beyond lan- 7.19: ‘Sarvatmanam mam pratipadyate.’
9. Gita, 10.20.
guage, beyond concepts. The gnosis by which
the inmost Self is realised as the supreme Self, 7.20: ‘Prapadyante’nya-devatah prapnuvanti va-
who is God, is also more than just the realisa- sudevad-atmano’nya devatah.’
tion of reality at maximal understanding, for 11. Acharya Shankara is more concerned with the
that takes us only to the conceptualised Brah- ontology of other deities elsewhere, primarily
in his commentary on the Brahma Sutra. For an
man. God, and God alone, takes us beyond our insightful analysis of the mediatory role of such
understanding, beyond our becoming, to Brah- entities, invoking too striking a comparison
man—that which we feebly call the unconcep- with angels in Aquinas, see Francis X Clooney,
tualised Brahman. SJ, ‘Śaṁkara’s Theological Realism: The Mean-
The great mystery of the God of Advaita’s ing and Usefulness of Gods (devatā) in the Ut-
tara Mīmāṁsā Sūtra Bhāṣya’, New Perspectives
inquiry into Brahman still remains, although on Advaita Vedanta: Essays in Commemoration
we have tried to draw out what we can from of Professor Richard De Smet, SJ, ed. Bradley J
Acharya Shankara’s ingenious, often breathtak- Malkovsky (Leiden, Brill, 2000), 30–50.
ingly unconventional, and to this day, hardly 12. Gita, 7.24.
1 3. Acharya Shankara’s introduction to his com-
understood and much misinterpreted, reading mentary on the Gita: ‘Imam dviprakaram
of the nature of Sri Krishna in the Gita. We have dharmam nihshreyasaprayojanam, paramartha
to make what we will of the interpretive conun- tattvam cha vasudevakhyam param brahmabhi
drum in Acharya Shankara’s description of Sri dheyabhutam visheshatah abhivyanjayat.’
Krishna as the signifier of Brahman, in the intro- 14. Gita, 10.8.
duction to his commentary on the Gita: ‘This 10.8: ‘Aham param brahma Vasudeva-akhyam.’
sacred text, the Gita, while particularly reveal- 16. Compare with Meister Eckhart, who says: ‘The
ing the … ritual cosmic order having the high- word “I” is proper to none, but to God in His
est good as its purpose and the supreme reality oneness’ (The Complete Mystical Works of Meister
Eckhart, trans. Maurice O’C Walshe (New York:
called Vasudeva, being that signifies Brahman
Herder and Herder, Crossroad, 2009), Sermon
in excess, as its subject matter, is shown to have Seventeen; 132.
a special purpose and connection.’52 P 1 7. Generally, and correctly, prakriti is translated
as ‘material nature’, especially in the Sankhya
Notes and References school whose early ideas heavily influence the
1. This essay has been extracted from Chakravarthi Gita, but at 7.5, the Gita itself, quite apart from
Ram-Prasad, Divine Self, Human Self: The Phil- Acharya Shankara, talks of the higher prakriti
osophy of Being in Two Gita Commentaries (Lon- being of individual beings, who bear up the
don: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013). world; therefore, prakriti is not materiality
2. Gita, 3.22. alone but all limitation.
3. Exodus 3:14. 18. See Gita, 7.4–5.
4. For a study of the exemplary Christian use of 19. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
via eminentiae in Thomas Aquinas, see Leo J El- 10.5: ‘Itah asyah yathoktayah tu anyam vishud-
ders, svd, The Philosophical Theology of St. Thomas dham prakritim mama atmabhutam viddhi.’
Aquinas (Brill: Leiden, 1990), Chapter 6; 174–185. 20. See Gita, 7.6.
122 PB January 2020

21. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita, 36. ‘In Matters of Truth: Heidegger and Aquinas’,
7.14: ‘Tatra evam sati sarvadharman parityajya 88.
mameva mayavinam svatmabhutam sarvatmana 37. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
ye prapadyante.’ 18.66: ‘Bhagavat-svarupa-atmaikatva-sharana-
22. See Gita, 18.66. nam.’
23. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita, 38. Gita, 13.28.
2.39: ‘Tat-prapty-upaye nihsangataya dvandva- 39. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
prahana-purvakam ishvara-aradhana-arthe kar- 13.28: ‘Tasmat sarvabhutah vailakshanyam-
mayoge karma-anushthane samadhiyoge cha.’ atyantameva parameshvarasya siddham nir-
24. Gita, 8.22. visheshatvam-ekatvam cha.’
25. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita, 4 0. Ibid.: ‘Ekam avibhaktam yathoktam atmanam
8.22: ‘Puri shayanat purnatvadva.’ yah pashyati sah vibhakta-aneka-atma-viparita-
26. The Bhagavad Gita, trans. Laurie L Patton (Lon- darshibhyah vishishyate saiva pashyatiti.’
don: Penguin, 2014), 9.15; 105. 41. Gita, 13.31.
27. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita, 42. See Chhandogya Upanishad, 7.26.1 and Acharya
9.15: ‘Kechichcha prithaktvena, adityachandra Shankara’s commentary on the Gita, 13.31.
dibhedena sa eva bhagavan vishnuh avasthitah 43. Gita, 13.32.
iti upasate. Kechit bahudha avasthitah sa eva 44. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
bhagavan sarvatomukhah vishvarupah iti tam 13.32.
vishvarupam sarvatomukham bahudha bahu- 45. Gita, 5.14.
prakarena upasate.’
28. See Gita, 12.8–11.
9.29: ‘Svabhavata eva na mama raganimittam
29. Acharya Shankara’s introduction to Gita, 12.13:
vartante.’
‘Atra cha atmeshvarabhedam-ashritya vishvarupe
4 7. Saint Augustine, The City of God, 8.11. I have
ishvare cheetah-samadhana-lakshanah yogah
slightly altered the translation in Jean-Luc Mar-
uktah, ishvarartham karmanushthanadi cha.’
ion, ‘Idipsum: The Name of God According to
30. Gita, 12.7.
Augustine’, Orthodox Readings of Augustine, eds
31. Acharya Shankara’s introduction to Gita,
Geoge E Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papa
12.13: ‘Yadi hi ishvarasya atmabhutah te matah
nikolaou (New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary,
abheda-darshitvat, akshara-svarupah eva te iti
2008); 167–88; 171.
samuddharana-karma-vachanam tan prati ape-
shalam syat.’ 48. Gita, 13.30.
32. Gita, 9.22. 49. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita,
33. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Gita, 14.27: ‘Amrita-adi svabhavasya paramananda-
9.22: ‘Yogakshemam yogah apraptasya prapanam rupasya paramatmanah pratyagatma pratishtha
kshemam tadrakshanam tadubhayam.’ samyag-jnanena paramatmataya nischiyate.’
34. Francis S Fiorenza and Gordon D Kaufman, 50. Ibid.: ‘Yaya cha ishvara-shaktya bhakta-anugra-
‘God’, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, ed. hadi prayojanaya brahma pratishthate pravartate
Mark C Taylor (Chicago: Chicago University, sa shaktih brahmaivaham shakti shaktimator-
1998), 136–59. For the relevant passage of Saint ananyatvat.’
Augustine, see Augustine, Free Choice of the 51. Ibid.: ‘Athava brahma shabda vachyat-
Will, trans. Thomas Williams (Indianapolis: vat savikalpakam brahma. Tasya brahmano
Hackett, 1993). nirvikalpako’hameva nanyah pratishtha
35. See A N Williams, The Ground of Union: Deifi- ashrayah.’
cation in Aquinas and Palamas (Oxford: Oxford 5 2. Acharya Shankara’s introduction to his com-
University, 1999), 149–61 and Laurence Paul mentary on the Gita: ‘Imam … dharma-nih-
Hemming, ‘In Matters of Truth: Heidegger and shreyasa-prayojanam paramartha-tattvam cha
Aquinas’, Contemplating Aquinas: On the Var- vasudevakhyam param brahmabhidheyabhutam
ieties of Interpretation, ed. Fergus Kerr, (Lon- visheshatah abhivyanjayat vishishta-prayojana-
don: scm, 2003), 85–104. sambandha-abhidheyatvat gita-shastram.’
PB January 2020 123

134
The Body in Advaita and Phenomenology—

Two Non-Dualisms and Three Null-points
Drew Leder
Introduction one examine ordinary experience, the other
F
irst, an autobiographical note. extraordinary experiences obtainable through
Through much of my personal and profes- spiritual disciplines?
sional career I have had a foot in two camps. I In short, have we pure opposition; or modes
have been a student and scholar of contemporary of agreement; or complementarity? If the latter,
Continental European ‘philosophy of the body’, can we explore more clearly what one system has
most centrally using the work of French philoso- to contribute to the other?
pher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. On the other side, Needless to say, this is a huge topic, or really
I have also been a student and college teacher set of topics. I narrowed down my question first
of Advaita Vedanta, which has emphasised dis- by focusing on one contemporary representative
associating from one’s identification with the of Advaita teachings to whom I was drawn, the
embodied self in order to realise a transpersonal British author, speaker, and professional pot-
union with the Divine. ter, Rupert Spira.1 He tends to define himself
I am here exploring the relationship of these as a non-dualist, representing a ‘Consciousness-
two ways of thought, each of which has found only’ point of view, but discarding the textual,
resonance in my own experience and practices. terminological, and cultural accretions associ-
If one is correct, is the other simply wrong? After ated with Advaita Vedanta, or indeed any other
all, one emphasises the inescapable nature of em- mystical tradition. Along with his own teacher,
bodiment; the other says this is precisely the de- Francis Lucille,2 he is somewhat in the lineage of
lusion we must escape. Yet, are there also points Ramana Maharshi,3 employing that what can be
of commonality between these two systems? referred to as ‘direct path’ teachings. Coming to
Each deconstructs our ordinary dualistic sense the point, ‘Who am I?’ is a key question, access-
of self and other, of mind and matter. Each offers ible through a mode of self-inquiry available to
a non-dualistic revelation, which is phenomeno- us at any moment.
logically accessible—that is, founded on, and Examining our own experience, we realise we
available to, our immediate experience. never perceive the external, separate material ob-
Finally, or alternatively, is there a way these jects either as defined by science or by our com-
systems complement each other? Does one ad- monsense world view. In actuality, we uncover
dress relative truths, another, the absolute; does a field of unbounded Awareness that underlies
but transcends the specific contents that appear
Drew Leder is a professor of philosophy at Loyola within it. Along with what Spira terms ‘the in-
University, Maryland, USA. ward path’, in which we dis-identify from our
124 PB January 2020

The Body in Advaita and Phenomenology—Two Non-Dualisms and Three Null-points 135
immersion in the world, he also supports ‘the The Cartesian and

outward path’ wherein we see the oneness of Self Phenomenological Null-point
and world revealed as through experiences of In Ideas II, Husserl writes: ‘All spatial being ne-
love and beauty. cessarily appears in such a way that it appears
One illustrative analogy Spira uses for the either nearer or farther, above or below, right or
play of Awareness is that of a TV, computer, or left. … Body then has, for its particular Ego, the
movie screen which allows an indefinite range unique distinction of bearing in itself the zero
of images to flash across it. The world we experi- point [nullpunkt] of all these orientations. One
ence, including our own body, thoughts, and of its spatial points, even if not an actually seen
indeed all of space and time, are such images. one, is also always characterised in the mode of
Awareness is like the open screen upon which ultimate central here.’4 That is, wherever we go,
these images appear and disappear. In this meta- there we are. As we change positions, the life-
phor, the screen is also self-aware, capable of world rotates around us, what was left is now
viewing itself. To use classical language, which right, but our body ever remains as the orienta-
Spira usually doesn’t, one discovers the Atman, tional zero point of the sensorimotor field.
the true Self, as one with Brahman, and all of As the American phenomenologist Edward
its creations. It is maya to perceive a multipli- Casey writes: ‘Husserl adverts to the geometric
city of independent objects and subjects, rather idea of the null or zero point in a deliberate if
than to understand all of this as lila, the play of ironic borrowing from Descartes. Just as the zero
divine Awareness. point in analytic geometry (i.e., the point where
Focusing on Spira’s books and workshops the X, Y, and Z axes coincide) is posited as sta-
helped me bore down to central teachings that tionary and invariant, so my body as Nullpunkt
engaged me on the Advaita side. On the side of has the peculiar property of seeming always un-
bodily phenomenology, with all its richness, ambi- moving in relation to the surrounding world.’5
guity and complexity, I narrowed things down as We thus have two related but contrasting
much as possible by focusing on a single point, in conceptions of the null-point. That employed
fact a null-point. Edmund Husserl, the twentieth- in Cartesian geometry relates to the physical
century German philosopher who founded the world in which everything has measurable ex-
‘phenomenological’ approach of examining the tension. Any point in the mathematical world,
structures of lived experience, did groundbreaking or the material world it represents, can be chosen
work on the living body, seen as radically different as the zero point of orientation. For example, in
from other material objects. For example, he wrote hanging a painting, I can measure my zero point,
on how the body serves as a nullpunkt, a null-point perhaps one equidistant between two side walls,
in the perceived world, a notion developed further make a pencil dot there, and use this to position
by Merleau-Ponty. In this paper, I will examine my artwork. This is a geometric procedure div-
three different ways of understanding the idea of iding up the material world.
a ‘nullpoint’. These divergent meanings will help But in hanging that painting, I probably
clarify what phenomenological and Advaitic non- chose to place it at or near eye-level. And thus we
dualisms have in common, how they differ, and in are reminded of the lived body, my null-point of
what ways they might complement and contribute orientation for the experienced world. Of course,
to one another. the eyes with which I see the painting and its
PB January 2020 125

surroundings never themselves appear within reference to a third. Advaita suggests that our
the visual field they subtend. This is another primordial Awareness can neither be captured
meaning present in the metaphor of the null- by a strictly physicalist description of the world,
point. The eyes, so to speak, nullify themselves. nor identified with the lived body. Our body
Putting aside for a moment mirror phenomena, can and does change over time, but Awareness
the eyes are what we see from, and thus we can- remains throughout all these changes, like that
not see to them as objects appearing within my empty screen that underlies all the images that
visual field.6 They are not visible to me, although, appear and disappear upon it.
because, they are the very origin and structuring Interoceptions and kinesthesias identified
principle of my sightline. with our embodied experience form one part
Descartes’s null-point of analytic geometry of the contents of consciousness, and are often
is embedded in his dualist metaphysics. Exclud- identified as belonging to ‘me’. Other parts of ex-
ing all attributes of consciousness, which be- perience—the book over there, the sky glimpsed
long to res cogitans, the physical world is left through a window, we label as ‘outside world’,
as sheer res extensa, that which can be charac- and therefore ‘non-self ’. But from the Advaitic
terised mathematically.7 In this world, which perspective, all of these objects of consciousness
later becomes the Newtonian world of absolute are Self, and in another sense, none are.
space, there is no natural zero point, insofar as Spira doesn’t explain this through referenc-
any point can equally so serve. Of course, the ing mystical awakenings, but through a careful
notion of a ‘point’ is itself a mathematical ab- examination of simple ordinary experience. In
straction; it has nullity at its heart for it has no the field of awareness, we see that one’s body ap-
physical dimensions. pears, the book appears, interoceptions appear,
The phenomenological notion of the embod- the window appears, the sky appears. Who am
ied null-point is appreciably different. It undoes I? I am all of it insofar as I am essentially a field
the dualism of res extensa and res cogitans insofar of experience which underlies and shines forth
as it is a null-point associated with physical pos- through all these contents. In another sense,
ition, yet orienting an experiential, not a strictly I am none of these things. After all, the field of
material, life-world. Subjectivity is corporeal, Awareness, like a movie screen, is non-identical
embedded in what Merleau-Ponty will call the to any temporary images projected on it, includ-
‘corps propre’, or ‘lived body’.8 This body is not ing the interoceptions and positions associated
simply a physical object in the world, nor a math- with the lived body. The screen is not one with
ematical abstraction. In Casey’s words again, the movie’s protagonist, nor the point-of-view
this phenomenological null-point represents a shots taken from that protagonist’s perspective.
‘deliberate if ironic borrowing from Descartes’, The lived body might be compared to the cam-
taken from analytic geometry yet now used in a era through which the film of an individual’s life
way that is non-mathematical, non-dualist, and is shot, but not the transpersonal Consciousness
therefore anti-Cartesian. that is ultimately creating and viewing it.
The screen or the viewer will never show up
The Null-point in Advaita as any image portrayed on the screen. In fact,
So we now have two different null-points, but the play of images tends to make us forget about
turning back to Advaita we discover implicit the blank screen upon which they are projected.
126 PB January 2020

Absorbed in the film, and suspending disbelief, room, city, region, I awoke in, which was hard to
we think we are watching heroes and villains keep track of, I was nonetheless always right here
fight, or lovers kiss. All we are really looking at is each morning as I sat up in bed. In such ways,
actually the movie screen, yet paradoxically that we ever find ourselves dwelling in the now-here;
screen is what we most lose sight of when caught yet, again to Advaita, this now-here is also a no-
up in the movie. This is then another null-point where, not simply a point within the Newtonian
at the heart of experience, one associated with or Cartesian space-time grid. Rather, this is the
delusion and maya. eternal, infinite field of Awareness that permits
Just as the notion of lived body as null-point space-time to manifest within it, always presenc-
drew on, but ironically reversed the Cartesian ing as the now-here.
meaning, here too this Advaitic null-point can Let me clarify this challenging notion fur-
be said to draw on, but ironically reverse, the ther, with specific relation to the here. We saw
phenomenological form. Phenomenologically, that for Husserl and Merleau-Ponty this is ori-
the embodied perceiving ‘eye’ orients but absents ented by the lived body as null-point, the ‘here’
itself from the visual field precisely because it is around which all perceptual objects near and
limited, inserted within the material world. We far, right and left, are arrayed. But for Spira, all
always see from a particular perspective, thereby that is experienced is equally near, in fact here,
viewing one side of an object, but not its back- relative to witnessing Consciousness. Again,
side, what is near in more detail than what is far, using a movie metaphor, an actor we see in the
what lies in front of us, but not what is behind foreground of a scene, or a tree pictured in the
our back. There is no ‘view from nowhere’. But background, is actually appearing on the same
what of the Advaitic ‘I’? It is an experiential null- plane of the screen, in truth equidistant from
point not because it is a limited body, but precisely the observer. Seeming near and far are in fact
because it is unlimited, beyond all bodies. It is a illusions created by the magic of movies. Simi-
screen, space, field, Awareness, Consciousness, larly, as I sit in my room, the feeling of fatigue I
Brahman, Emptiness—choose your metaphor— am experiencing, the thoughts running through
which is formless, but thereby can allow all forms my mind, the nearby phone I see, the houses I
to manifest. It is everywhere and nowhere, a null- notice outside my window, are all equally here,
point that we may also call an all-point, because that is immediately part of and present to me
it permeates all experience. as experiencer.
It is then, in a sense, a ‘view from nowhere’ But if we are this Awareness, why don’t we
despite the perceptual limitations of any par- simply have a transcendent view from nowhere?
ticular perspective. By a pleasing coincidence, As Spira says, for infinite consciousness to enter
the English word nowhere can be alphabetically into experience it has to limit itself, localise it-
broken down into now and here. Our experi- self, dualise itself into self and other.9 This ne-
ence always unfolds ‘now’. No one has ever lived cessarily involves ignor-ance—that is, we must
a single moment in the past or future, though ignore, forget, conceal, much of our infinite
memory and anticipation may form part of our Being, thereby introducing what would clas-
now. Similarly, we always find ourselves here. sically be called maya, identification with the
Travelling through China on a whirlwind trip, limited self. This is the price we pay for the di-
I became particularly aware of this. Whatever vine lila of experience.
PB January 2020 127

Commonalities and Differences the boat docked. I step onto solid land and get
So what is the relation between these two phil- on a train, which I then discover is going in the
osophies, one phenomenological, the other Ad- wrong direction, and so the dream proceeds with
vaitic? First, commonalities. Both notions reject all the anxious vividness of life.
our current ruling paradigm of scientific, even Upon awakening I realised that the entirety
eliminative, materialism. Both also are mean- of the dream, all the people and events within it,
ingfully non-dualist portraits of the world. They were the product of my one dreaming conscious-
do away with the notion of consciousness and ness. I produced ‘myself ’, the dream-Drew, but
materiality as independent substances, and even also the others sitting near me, and the boat, and
undercut any firm dualism of subject and object, the Indian setting. It was all equally the creation
self and other, perceiver and perceived. Both en- of my mind. And yet there was one part of the
gage in a careful examination of experience and scene with which I particularly identified—the
both build something of an experientially-based dream figure I felt myself to be me. I seemed to be
ontology. Merleau-Ponty, in his later unfinished that person, occupy that specific seat on the boat,
work, moves in this direction through his sug- and to witness everything from that perspective.
gestive notions of the ‘flesh of the world’ and the Hence this dream body served as a null-point
circuit of ‘Visibility’.10 Spira, though focusing on around which the dream-space was oriented.
realising the ‘I am’ as our eternal, infinite, Aware- But on awakening I realised that there had
ness, nonetheless honours how this Awareness been another experiential null-point, hitherto
opens up an experiential world through using concealed—that is, myself, the actual dreamer
the vehicle of a localised body-mind. who was fast asleep in my bed the whole time.
Yet we also see clear points of opposition be- This was the true origin of the dream world,
tween these two non-dualisms. Merleau-Pon- but was nowhere to be found within the dream
ty’s phenomenology and later ontology, centers world either as an object or subject. From the
on the corporeality of the lived body and flesh. Advaitic view this is a metaphor for our true
To imagine some transcendent, immaterial con- state. We remain stuck in the dream of maya
sciousness with a ‘view from nowhere’ is to fall until we awaken to discover this world as the
into delusion. Spira and Advaita might say the product of a Atman or Brahman, or to use an-
opposite—identification with the limited body other phrase, the mind of God.
is itself the core delusion that keeps us trapped We thus might arrive at a ‘two truths’ per-
in ignorance and suffering. spective, which accepts a relative and an abso-
lute description of experience, both of which
The Dream Body: A Reconciliation? have value. Within the world of multiplicity,
Let me introduce a last body that may affect a the phenomenological account of lived embodi-
certain reconciliation between these views. Con- ment would hold. Husserl and Merleau-Ponty
sider the dream body. This is a traditional image help clarify the many ways in which the corps
from Advaita and Buddhist teachings that Spira propre, my own body, is differentiated from
utilises repeatedly as metaphor. Say, you have other objects. Moreover, in recognising that we
fallen asleep. You dream you are on a boat travel- live in an experienced world, and one in which
ling through India, strangely enough, a dream I subjects and objects, selves and others, are not
recently had. Other people board, or leave, when isolated things, but intimately intertwining in
128 PB January 2020

a perceptual, motoric, and emotional bond, Awareness, is the null-point that is everywhere
this non-dualistic world picture verges on what and nowhere.
might be called the spiritual.
From the point of view of Advaita, bodily How Can Phenomenology
phenomenology would be something of a mid- Contribute to Advaita?
way point towards awakening. It is an advance A last question arises: if one takes the Advaitic
on materialism in that it recognises the experien- perspective on the world, must we dismiss the
tial nature of the life-world and the bonded na- phenomenology of the body as yet another rela-
ture of subject-object in the perceptual relation, tive, and somewhat delusive, account, or does it
and ultimately the ‘flesh of the world’. Nonethe- have something valuable to contribute to Ad-
less there is a way in which a further awakening vaitic understanding and practice? I would argue
step is needed, wherein one understands this for the latter position.
lived body as something like a dream-body, not I believe many Advatic teachers, in their zeal
the ultimate source and locus of consciousness. to help students dis-identify with the limited
When we trace back the ‘I am’ experience, for body, which must grow old and die, end up
example using Ramana Maharshi’s method of minimising or even mischaracterising, our ex-
self-inquiry, we arrive at the Atman, the divine periential relation to our body. The body is
Consciousness that is the ultimate source of any sometimes compared to other material objects.
and all localised modes of awareness. For example, my body is a certain measureable
As a closing metaphor for the three null- age, size, and weight like any other physical en-
points we have surveyed, imagine a physical eye. tity, yet I don’t feel my conscious awareness as
From the Cartesian point of view, we could look limited and measureable in the same way. This is
at it as material object and choose its physical true, but still characterises the body as if it were
centre as the zero point of orientation. Some- simply an external object. Our experience tells
thing like this happens when an eye doctor aligns us otherwise—for example, we have an intero-
the ophthalmoscope precisely for retinal exam- ceptive awareness of our corporeal inside, as we
ination. But switching to the perspective of the don’t for outer objects like tables and chairs.11
one whose eye it is, the point of view becomes Therefore, many Advaita teachers, includ-
the phenomenological null-point at the heart of ing Spira, also focus on such interoceptive ex-
his visual field; gazing around the exam room, periences as core to our identification with our
one’s eyes orient one to what is to the right or bodies. These experiences—the tinglings, the
left, above or below. And yet what if this is some- pains, the heaviness, the flutterings—can also
thing like a dream-body, not ultimately real as be thematised as simply transitory objects in our
separate entity? From the Advaitic point of view, perceptual field. It is pointed out that I iden-
there is a third null-point, the absent or present tify certain experiences, say, the rumblings in
transcendental gaze that creates, and subtends my stomach, as part of ‘me’ and call other ex-
the entire dream of human existence. One might periences, say, a birdsong I hear, as ‘other than
imagine the eye of God, looking out through me’. This division, though, is artificial. All of
the eye of the patient, and the eye of the doctor, these, rumblings, songs, are equally objects of
and all the eyes, I’s, of the world, upon a world experience appearing to the Subject. The mis-
that is also made of God. This God or Atman or take comes, it is said, when the subject, really, the
PB January 2020 129

unlimited Subject, identifies with any object in with its series of interoceptive sensations, ob-
its field, creating the self-other dichotomy and jects of the experiential field. But at other times
the experience of limitation and mortality. he acknowledges the role of the lived body or
Yet, those exploring Advaitic teachings may often he speaks of the ‘body-mind’, in the subject
still feel less than fully convinced by this account, position. Here, for example, is a transcription of
and the injunction is frequently given to ‘not ac- Spira speaking at a retreat: ‘Although you have
cept any teachings until you have validated them understood that consciousness is not limited to
through your own experience’. For the lived body your body, it does perceive through your body
is not just like any other material object, nor is it and therefore you feel, quite rightly so, that your
simply a set of interoceptive sensations that ap- body is full of consciousness. But just because
pear as objects in the experiential field. As out- this room is full of space doesn’t mean that the
lined earlier, phenomenology reveals that the space is limited to or generated by the room. …
body is also very much the ‘subject’ of its life- that doesn’t mean that the consciousness that
world. As a null-point of orientation, the body your body is full of is limited to your body or
places me within an organised life-world. generated by it. … if awareness goes to its own ex-
For example, my eyes reveal an array of objects perience of itself it finds no limitations there.’13
with colour, form, solidity, and personal mean- Herein, a phenomenological sense of the
ing, all arrayed within a rich environment—for lived body doesn’t entail rejecting the Advaitic
example, the office in which I am now working. position, or vice versa. As Spira says, the ‘body
This totality refers back to what Husserl and is full of consciousness’; it is not just a material
Merleau-Ponty call the ‘I can’ structure of my object like a table or chair. It is something we
practical abilities.12 I am writing this article using perceive through, not simply an object of percep-
fingers on a keyboard, fingers that have learned tion. The Advaitic perspective can account for
the placement of keys so well that I have no need this without abandoning its sense of a transper-
to think about their location. You, who are read- sonal Awareness. This Awareness is expressed
ing the article are using your eyes, relying on through localised bodies, but ultimately both
their effortless grasp of marks on page or screen. incorporates and transcends all limited perspec-
Human activity, including the realms of the intel- tives. As Spira says, a room limits and structures
lectual, practical, desiring, expressive, and on and space, and yet infinite space is unconfined by this
on, are all structured by our embodied powers. temporary encasing. It is there before, during,
I would suggest then that Advaita teaching and after; in fact, the sense of limitation is never
would do better to incorporate, rather than ig- ultimately real, as space ever stretches beyond
nore or deny, the rich account of embodiment boundaries. So, too, may an infinite Awareness
offered by phenomenology. Otherwise, Advaitic choose to experience itself through the vehicle
teachings that ‘you are not your body’ may re- of embodied, perspectival consciousness; this
main unconvincing or misleading. In everyday doesn’t prove that the body is either the source
life, the lived body is subject as well as object, that or limitation of Consciousness.
which filters, guides, and structures our experi-
ence of the world. Practical and Metaphysical Implications
Here I think Spira has valuable teachings to If it were to take the phenomenology of
offer. At times, he does identify the body simply the lived body seriously, are there then, any
130 PB January 2020

practice-oriented, even metaphysical, implica- Bringing Advaita and phenomenology into

tions for Advaita? I would say yes and yes. On dialogue yields not only practice-oriented im-
the level of practice, Spira provides a suggestive plications, but also metaphysical suggestions. Let
example. While honouring the Advaitic separ- us hypothesise that there is a unitary Awareness,
ation between the ‘I am’ and the limited objects Atman-Brahman, that underlies the multiplicity,
of the world, he also honours an ensuing move- maya, of the world. Yet, let us also hypothesise
ment back towards the world—the discovery that in order for this unitary Awareness to have
that the One shines radiantly through its multi- experience, it needs to divide itself up and enter
plicity of subjects and objects. He calls this the into a kind of delusive play, maya-lila, that enables
‘tantric’ or ‘outward path’. Realising the power of it to encounter itself through the subject-object
our identification with the body, and the need dichotomy. As a subject, it sees the world from a
to loosen it up, he uses a series of what he terms particular limited perspective. This is correlated
‘yoga meditations’ with names like ‘permeating with its appearance as a seemingly limited object
the body with luminous awareness’, ‘the sacred in the world. I see you using my physical eyes, but
essence of the body’, ‘the world is your body’, my eyes are also, therefore, material objects you
and ‘dissolving the body in God’s dimensionless can see. Advaita honours the non-dual Awareness
being’. For example, in one meditation the prac- that lies behind all manifestation. Phenomen-
titioner is invited to breathe into a space in front ology honours the non-dual subject or object re-
of and behind the body, allowing the feeling of lationships that ground the world of perception
one’s embodiment to expand and dissolve into a and action. Can you put them together and arrive
healing, luminous, loving space.14 Spira says that at a metaphysics that honours the full range of ex-
it is not enough to cognitively know the truths perience, both relative and absolute?
of Advaita; one also has to begin to feel them ex- I find myself thinking of two systems, one
perientially, which includes dissolving the sense Western, one Eastern, and will close with but
that we are a limited, constricted body. a suggestive mention of each. The Western one
This is not necessarily counter to phenomen- is the ‘process philosophy’ of Alfred North
ological perspectives. Therein, the lived body is Whitehead.16 This famous twentieth-century
understood as naturally ‘ecstatic’, from the Greek mathematician and philosopher constructed a
root ek-stasis, meaning to ‘stand outside’. The speculative cosmology that tried to take into ac-
lived body, through its powers of perception, count the full range of human experience as well
motility and desire, is always leaping beyond it- as the findings of science, even the relativistic
self to perceive and act upon an external world.15 and quantum mechanical theories recently de-
Yet, phenomenology does not focus on libera- veloped when he was writing in the 1920s. For
tory practices in the way of Hinduism and Bud- Whitehead, every entity, really every atom of
dhism. The yoga meditation presented above is space-time, is both a subject taking in, prehend-
but one example of how one might explore and ing, all influences from the world around it, and
extend this ecstatic nature of embodiment. Spira on the way to becoming an object for the pre-
believes this is an intermediary step on the way hension of the rest of the universe. Thus, a kind
to experiencing the infinite unbounded Aware- of consciousness is present in all being, includ-
ness that shines through the body-mind, like an ing that which we ordinarily consider inanimate,
eye looking through a keyhole. down to the subatomic level.
PB January 2020 131

Some sense of all beings as both subject and Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Phil-
osophy: Second Book, trans. Richard Rojcewicz
object, is present as well in Hua-yen Buddhism. and André Schuwer (Dordrecht: Kluwer Aca-
This school of thought and practice is perhaps demic, 2000), 166.
best-known for its use of the image of Indra’s 5. Edward S. Casey, The Fate of Place: A Philosoph-
Net.17 This net has, at each of its infinite num- ical History (Berkeley: University of California,
1997), 218.
ber of interstices, a jewel which in turn reflects
6. See ‘The Logic of Tacit Inference’, Michael Po-
all the other jewels of the net, ad infinitum. Look lanyi, Knowing and Being: Essays by Michael
into any one jewel and you perceive the entirety Polanyi (1959–1968) (Chicago: University of
of the universe, all the other jewels, albeit re- Chicago, 1969), 138–58.
flected from its own particular perspective. Thus 7. See René Descartes, Meditations on First Phil-
osophy and René Descartes, The Principles of
the One is not other than the Many reflecting Philosophy.
upon itself, experiencing itself, from an indefi- 8. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Per-
nite multiplicity of vantage points. As humans, ception, trans. Donald A Landes (New York:
our jewel-like nature is found in the lived body, Routledge, 2012), xlviii.
that subject through which we experience the 9. See Rupert Spira, ‘The Full Spectrum of Ex-
perience’, audio recording, 16 November 2018
world, while also appearing within it as an ob- <https://non-duality.rupertspira.com/listen/
ject for others. the-full-spectrum-of-experience> accessed 27
Are such notions still identifiable as Advaitic? November 2019.
Maybe not in a classical sense—after all, here 10. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the In-
visible, trans. Alphonso Lingis, ed. Claude Le-
I am taking as a reference point an East Asian fort (Evanston: Northwestern University, 1968),
form of Buddhism. Yet the image of Indra’s Net 137–55.
originally derives from the Atharva Veda.18 I 11. See Drew Leder, ‘Inside Insights: A Phenomen-
think it can be employed in a phenomenolog- ology of Interoception’, The Interoceptive Mind:
ically-enriched Advaita. The play, lila, of the From Homeostasis to Awareness, eds Manos Tsa-
kiris and Helena De Preester (Oxford: Oxford
divine Awareness, Atman-Brahman, takes the University, 2018), 307–22.
embodied form that phenomenology insight- 12. Phenomenology of Perception, 139.
fully describes. Our lived body is not simply an 1 3. Rupert Spira, ‘An Impulse of Love’, audio re-
object to be dis-identified with, but also the pre- cording, 18 November 2018 <https://non-dual-
ity.rupertspira.com/listen/an-impulse-of-love>
cious vehicle through which the Self perceives
accessed 27 November 2019.
itself, that is, a jewel in Indra’s Net. P 14. See Rupert Spira, ‘Permeating the Body with
Luminous Awareness’, audio recording, 18 Oc-
References tober 2018 <https://non-duality.rupertspira.
1. See Rupert Spira, The Transparency of Things: com/listen/permeating-the-body-with-lumi-
Contemplating the Nature of Experience (Ox- nous-awareness> accessed 27 November 2019.
ford: Sahaja, 2016) and Rupert Sira, Presence, 15. See Drew Leder, The Absent Body (Chicago: Uni-
Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness (Ox- versity of Chicago, 1990), 11–35.
ford: Sahaja, 2016). 16. See Alfred North Whitehead, Process and
2. See Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence (Te- Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (New York: The
mecula: Truespeech, 2010). Free Press, 1978).
3. See Ramana Maharshi, Be As You Are: The 17. See Francis H Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism: The
Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, ed. David Jewel Net of Indra (University Park: Penn State
Godman (London: Penguin, 1988). University, 2001).
4. Edmund Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure 18. See Atharva Veda, 8.8.6.
132 PB January 2020

143
Management Lessons from Advaita

Bhavesh A Kinkhabwala
Introduction Acharya Shankara is a thorough, outright one.
T
he word ‘Advaita’ is very beautiful. It As indicated by him, whatever is, is Brahman.
literally means ‘non-dual’. Dvaita means Brahman itself is totally homogeneous. All dis-
‘dual’ and the prefix ‘a’ negates the exist- tinctions and plurality are deceptive.3
ence of duality so, there is no ‘two’ but, ‘one’. It Dualism, Dvaita; qualified monism, Vish-
could be simpler, if we said ‘one’, but then, the ishtadvaita; and Monism, Advaita; are the three
next question would be, is there ‘two’; so by say- different fundamental schools of metaphysical
ing non-dual, it conveys the clear and firm mes- ideas. They are altogether different stages to the
sage of being just one, that is non-dual. final stage of the ultimate Truth, namely, para-
Acharya Shankara’s ‘philosophical stand- brahma. They are the steps on the stepping stool
point can be tried to be summed up in a sin- of yoga. They are not in any manner conflicting
gle word “Advaita”—NonDuality. The objective but, in actuality, they are complementary to one
of Advaita is to is to make an individual under- another. These stages are amicably orchestrated in
stand his or her fundamental (profound) char- an evaluated arrangement of spiritual experiences.
acter with the preeminent realty [sic] “Nirakar Dualism, qualified monism, pure monism—all
Brahm” and reality that there is no “two” yet one these come full circle inevitably in the Advaita
and only. Advaita shows us to see the substance Vedantic acknowledgement of the Absolute or
of oneself in each one and that nobody is sep- the supra-normal trigunatita ananta Brahman.
arate from the Supreme Power The god.’1 Individuals have various personalities and
What essentialness does it have for the regular various limits. Thus, various schools of theory
daily life of an ordinary person? Advaita in- are additionally fundamental. The most elevated
structs us to see the essence of oneself in each step is Advaita theory. A dualist or qualified
one and that nobody is independent from the su- monist in the long run turns into a kevala-ad-
preme power or authority, God, Nature, the Di- vaitin. A Dvaitin needs to serve the Lord as a
vine power. The teachings and lessons of Acharya worker. The Dvaitin wishes to attend and serve
Shankara can be summed up in a refrain: ‘Brahma the Lord. A Visishtadvaitin needs to end up like
satyam jagan mithya jivo brahmaiva na aparah; Lord Narayana and appreciate the heavenly. One
Brahman, the Absolute, is alone real; this world doesn’t wish to combine oneself or become in-
is unreal; and the jiva or the individual soul is distinguishable with the Lord. One wishes to
non-different from Brahman.’2 This is the core stay as a flash. A jnani blends oneself in Brah-
of his way of thinking. The Advaita educated by man. One wishes to end up indistinguishable
with Brahman.
Bhavesh A Kinkhabwala is a company secretary The primary orderly proponent of the Advaita
from Ahmedabad. was Acharya Gaudapada, who is the grand guru
PB January 2020 133

of Acharya Shankara. Acharya Govindapada was Just as a swan lives in water, yet its quills are
the disciple of Acharya Gaudapada. He was the never grimy by water, likewise an Advaitin lives
guru of Acharya Shankara. Acharya Gaudapada on the planet, however, she or he is free from
has given the focal teaching of Advaita Vedanta the influence of illusion. Advaita Vedanta is in
in his Mandukya Karika. Be that as it may, it the meantime, a school of reasoning, a religion,
was Acharya Shankara who delivered the final a religious philosophy, and a tenet of moksha.
delightful form or version of Advaita theory and Its essential reason is all that eventually exists is
gave a rightness and completing tone to it. Cau- the absolute Reality, nirguna Brahman, without
tiously studying Acharya Shankara’s commen- characteristics.
taries on the important Upanishads, the Brahma The phenomenal world has experiential le-
Sutra, and the Bhagavadgita, one will obviously gitimacy. Be that as it may, it has no supreme
comprehend his Advaita reasoning.4 reality. It is at last maya, an enchanted show, and
Maybe the most significant school of Indian mithya, false, neither genuine nor stunning. All
spiritual way of thinking, Advaita is viewed as that exists is only Brahman. One’s individual self
the most powerful and most overwhelming sub- is at last, the same as Brahman, consequently
school of Vedanta, one of the six standard schools the significance given to the Upanishadic state-
of Hindu way of thinking. Advaita Vedanta says ments like ‘I am Brahman’7 and ‘You are that’.8
that the one constant Reality, Brahman, alone It is just a kind of powerful numbness, avidya,
exists and that changing elements don’t have ab- that keeps us from understanding our actual na-
solute presence, much as the sea’s waves have no ture as one with the Absolute, in certainty, the
separate presence in division from the sea. The Absolute itself.
waves ascend inside the sea and there would be Once avidya is evacuated, there emerges the
no waves without the sea. In a similar way, the experience of the Atman’s identity with Brah-
transient world ascents inside the Reality and man. One moves towards becoming jivan-
owes its reality to the ultimate Reality.5 mukta, freed while in the body, and after death
The world has no autonomous presence from achieves moksha, identity with the Absolute.
Reality and that is the reason why it is said to be Advaita metaphysics coordinates the later Man-
an illusion. What is changing must be depend- dukya Upanishad, Sankhya, and various thoughts
ent on something else and thereby unreal. This around that time. The Advaita thought of edifi-
wonderful universe of names and structures is cation or freedom depends on an extremely sig-
consistently evolving. Names and structures are nificant knowledge. Not ‘merging with God’, as
liable to rot and demise. Subsequently, they are is normally misconstrued, yet realising the Ab-
incredible or ephemeral. What is consistent or solute. By realising the Absolute one rises above
changeless should dependably be the Real. The the cosmic order; one is never again a limited
Atman or the Eternal, all-pervading Self, ever being, rather, one rises to the level of the absolute
exists. It permeates all items like ether. Regard- Reality, Atman-Brahman identity. The limits of
less of whether the pot is broken, the ether that oneself vanish and one emerges into the infinite.9
is inside and outside it can’t be decimated.6
Essentially, if the bodies and all other things Management Lessons
die, the eternal Self that swarms them can’t be A management expert says: ‘The central chal-
crushed; it is the living Truth and just Reality. lenge in all management is realizing the nature
134 PB January 2020

Management Lessons from Advaita 145
of oneself. The advancement of humankind is item; Brahman isn’t another. It is all-full, un-
best served when a human being connects with bounded, constant, self-existent, self-amuse,
his or her own divinity. This is in sharp con- self-learning and self-joy. It is svarupa, nature;
trast to the Western view where helping others nirakara, formless. It is the pith of the knower.
is viewed as the penultimate purpose of human It is the seer, drashta; transcendent, turiya; and
existence. In Indian spirituality, the world is best silent witness, sakshi.
served when self-understanding precedes help- Maya is the complex illusory power of Brah-
ing others. The world is changed for the better man, which makes Brahman to be viewed as the
when we change ourselves. The key to a better material universe of independent structures: nir-
world is self-realisation.10 guna Brahman seems to be saguna Brahman.
As Acharya Shankara has clarified, nirguna
Dimensions of Advaita Vedanta Brahman is generic. It turns into an individual
Acharya Shankara says that whatever exists is God, saguna Brahman, just through its relation-
Brahman, only pure consciousness. All differ- ship with maya.
ence and plurality are illusory, just as you see Saguna Brahman and nirguna Brahman are
plurality in the ocean, in the waves, but the waves not two unique Brahmans. Nirguna Brahman
are water and the ocean is water. The pot is not isn’t the differentiation or inverse of saguna
the clay. If the pot is the clay, when the pot disap- Brahman, and neither the other way around; if at
pears the clay must also disappear, but it doesn’t. all They were, it would be totally opposing to the
This is very important to understand. Essence Advaita Vedanta. The equivalent nirguna Brah-
can exist without the form, but form cannot exist man shows up as saguna Brahman for the devout
without the essence. When we say ‘neti, neti’, it love of enthusiasts. It is a similar Truth from two
does not mean that this form is Brahman. The unique perspectives. Nirguna Brahman is the
form is never Brahman, but it never exists apart higher Brahman, the Brahman from the supra-
from Brahman. normal perspective, paramarthika; saguna Brah-
As indicated by Acharya Shankara, Brah- man is the alleged lower Brahman, the Brahman
man, the supreme cosmic Spirit, is separated from the relative perspective, vyavaharika.
from everyone and is the ultimate truth. Other Maya has two primary functions—one is to
than Brahman, everything else, including the ‘conceal’ the Brahman from common human
universe, material articles, and people, is unreal. discernment and the other is to show the ma-
Brahman, depicted as the One who is omni- terial world in its place. Maya is additionally said
present, omnipotent, and omniscient, is the to be incredible, since the major reality of basic
heavenly ground of all Being. Brahman is like- tangible recognition is totally covered up, des-
wise depicted as ‘neti, neti’, signifying ‘not this, pite the fact that all sense information entering
not this’, as it is adrishya, past the compass of the one’s mindfulness through the five faculties are
materialistic eyes. It is the premise of the material maya. Another motivation behind why it said
world, which thus is its illusionary change, maya. to be odd is that it is neither totally genuine not
Brahman isn’t the impact of the world while, totally stunning.
this world is only crafted by Brahman. Brahman Maya’s safe house is Brahman, however Brah-
is said to be the source of limitless information man itself is safe by the hallucination of maya;
in its most flawless structure. Brahman isn’t an simply like the swan and the lotus, unaffected by
PB January 2020 135

its environment, which that bondage and suffering because of maya and
is a delineation of the just knowledge, jnana, of Brahman can obliterate
Advaita Vedanta. maya. When maya is expelled, there exists posi-
The Upanishads tively no distinction between the jiva and the
broadcast, ‘Brahman Brahman. Such a condition of joy, when accom-
alone is genuine’, how- plished while living, is called jivanmukti.
ever we see this material While one is in the even-minded dimension,
world to be genuine. one can revere God in any capacity and in any
In what manner or structure. Yet, Acharya Shankara accepts that
capacity? while Vedic penances, puja, and reverential wor-
Acharya Shankara ship can lead one towards jnana, genuine learn-
clarified this peculiarity ing, they can’t lead one straightforwardly to
by the idea of maya. moksha. One needs to endure the outcomes of
As indicated by one’s past activities. Regardless of what number
Steve Jobs
Advaita Vedanta and as of good deeds an individual does to conceal one’s
clarified by Acharya Shankara, when a person at- wrongdoings, despite everything, one needs to
tempts to know or comprehend the amorphous, confront them some day.11
the unbelievable Brahman, with one’s psyche
and affected by maya, the Brahman that one sees, Management Lessons
is ishvara. Ishvara is the impact of the reconcilia- Steve Jobs said: ‘Your time is limited, so don’t
tion of maya with Brahman. waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be
Adi Shankara utilises an analogy wherein trapped by dogma—which is living with the re-
he says that when the impression of the cosmic sults of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the
Being is seen through the reflection of maya, the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own
supreme Being, ishvara, shows. inner voice. And most important, have the cour-
Ishvara is saguna Brahman or Brahman uti- age to follow your heart and intuition. They
lising maya as the apparatus or instrument. The somehow already know what you truly want to
ishvara can be acknowledged or seen by the pro- become. Everything else is secondary.’12
foundly edified. Ishvara might be even respected A management teacher says:
to have a character. The ishvara is the subject of The ‘inner voice’ which Steve Jobs talks about
worship. The ishvara is the premise of profound is the Atman or Self and the ‘heart or intuition’
quality and supplier of the products of one’s symbolizes the Brahman (Universal Self or God
karma. Notwithstanding, ishvara is beyond the consciousness). When you follow your heart and
intuition and listen to your inner voice, you ac-
past wrongdoing and legitimacy. Ishvara’s rela-
tually link your ‘Atman’ with the ‘Brahman’ and
tionship with maya does not influence the flaw- hence can unleash the infinite power to succeed.
lessness of ishvara. Ishvara dependably knows No doubt, Steve Jobs above quote is in tune with
the solidarity of the Brahman substance and the the Advaita philosophy of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’
maya-nature of the world. which means ‘I am the Brahman or God’.
Advaitins likewise have faith in the hypoth- To really manage ourselves and connect
esis of rebirth of jivas as plants, creatures, and with our Atman, we need to first gain complete
people according to their karma. They accept control over our senses. For that we need to
136 PB January 2020

completely detach ourselves from all material Management Lessons

temptations through self-abnegation. As the
great Indian mystic sage Ramakrishna (who was The vision or goal of an organisation should be
the ‘guru’ or master of Swami Vivekananda) holistic and above all the diversities, adversities,
said: “The world is water and the mind milk. and limitations. All efforts should be oriented
If you pour milk into water they become one; for the overall growth and development and for
you cannot find the pure milk any more. But the betterment of society and sustainable living.
turn the milk into curd and churn it into but- Continuous development, learning, upgradation
ter. Then, when that butter is placed in water, it with a focussed energy, and a dynamic leader-
will float. So, practice spiritual discipline in soli-
ship to overcome the diversities, adversities, and
tude and obtain the butter of knowledge and
love. Even if you keep that butter in the water limitations makes an organisation a vibrant en-
of the world the two will not mix. The butter tity being an asset for the economy and society.
will float.”13 …
Five Tenets of Practical Advaita
In the context of modern management it
means that every manager should be focused on The five tenets of practical Advaita are:
his work and at the same time be “in-sync” with 1. The belief, ‘I am not this body, mind, and
the organization’s vision and mission. When intellect’.
every worker and manager is in-sync with the 2. The belief, ‘I am not the doer.’
Organization’s Vision and mission, then it ul- 3. The belief, ‘I am not the experiencer’.
timately leads to excellence. This is the true es- 4. Efficiency in action.
sence of management by objectives as preached
5. An equanimous view.17
by Drucker.14
Acharya Shankara’s preeminent Brahman Management Lessons
is nirguna, without the gunas; nirakara, form- These are five key policies to be followed for
less; nirvisesha, without qualities; and akarta, sustainable management practices:
non-doer as expressed previously. Brahman is 1. Participative-style management.
over all needs and wants. Adi Shankara says, 2. Team work, giving credit to teammates and
this Atman is plainly obvious. The Atman is the taking responsibilities and challenges for team
premise of a wide range of insight and wisdom. building and getting work done.
Advaita basically alludes to the character of 3. Alignment with the organisational vision
the Self, Atman and the Whole, Brahman. He and goals.
stated: ‘Ekameva advitiyam brahma; Brahman 4. World-class managerial practices.
is only one, without a second.’15 There is no sec- 5. A holistic approach.
ond, yet there is the presence of a huge variety.
There might be numerous stalks of sugarcane, The Impact of Advaita Vedanta
however the juice from every one of them has Advaita is interesting as it claims to our obliga-
a similar sweetness. Creatures are many, how- tion to locate an immediate knowledge into our
ever their breath is the equivalent. Countries unique nature through the intensity of insight
are many, however the earth is one. As such, and comprehension. Advaita is a statement of
Acharya Shankara announced to the world that extraordinary spiritual intellectualism, which has
it is solidarity that underlines the obvious de- anchored our soul and imaginative knowledge to
cent variety.16 non-double authoritative opinion, blocking us
PB January 2020 137

fantasy and profound rest states. Thus, it isn’t

genuine, as indicated earlier. Along these lines,
the world is said to be mithya by Acharya Shan-
kara. Be that as it may, numerous individuals
appear to be hypersensitive to mithya, when it
is utilised to allude to the recognisable world.
Consequently, maybe, Acharya Shankara calls it
vyavaharika satta, relative reality or pratibhasika
satta, imaginative reality, as though to suit them.
Jiva alludes to the aware rule in every single
living being, including human beings. In the pro-
found rest state, sushupti, the body, psyche, and
keenness are altogether discredited, rendered ab-
solutely insufficient or insentient. Subsequently,
the jiva is unified with the aware, internal life-
standard, which restores the body, brain, and
Shankaragaurishvara Temple at Patan
mind after rest. This life-guideline is the un-
from finding the living truth of higher duality. adulterated cognisance that is equivalent in all
Advaita revived quite a bit of Hindu idea and creatures. The all-invading Brahman of the Upa-
reasoning and furthermore affected discussion nishads is that unadulterated cognisance present
with the two fundamental mystical schools in all jivas as their antaryami, inward soul.
of Vedanta theory that were formalised later,
namely, Vishishtadvaita, qualified non-dualism Management Lessons
and Dvaita, dualism. Managers and ceos can practise, rehearse, and
Advaita Vedanta further helped the converge implement the lessons of Advaita by considering
of the old Vedic religion with famous cliques an association with oneself and partners as one
or divinities, henceforth framing a connection and the same, and not two distinct substances,
between higher kinds of training, for example, which means considering in this manner the ob-
jnana yoga, kriya yoga, and so on. jectives, objects, or vision of an association and
In Vedanta, satyam, Reality, is in all respects avoiding segregation between people. Besides,
obviously characterised and has a particular es- Advaita trains managers to conduct themselves
sentialness. That is to say, what exists in all the properly and treat their subordinates in such a
three timeframes, past, present and future, with- manner that they do not feel they are subordi-
out experiencing any change; and furthermore nates and find no distinction between the vision
in all the three conditions of awareness, wak- or objective of an association and herself or him-
ing state, dream state, and profound rest. It is in self. There must be an extraordinary synchroni-
this manner that the supreme Reality—birthless, sation between every one of the components of
deathless, and unchanging—alluded to in the organisational dynamics and working personnel.
Upanishads as Brahman.
The world seems genuine just in the wak- Conclusion
ing state; yet it is invalidated, it vanishes, in the Acharya Shankara ‘was not only a great thinker
138 PB January 2020

and the noblest of Advaitik philosophers, but

he was essentially an inspired champion of
Hinduism.’18 He set a model in thinking and ex-
position which subsequent philosophers in India
have striven to follow. His Advaita reasoning is
grandiose, brilliant, and special. It is an arrange-
ment of intense way of thinking and sensible nu-
ance. It is exceedingly fascinating, rousing, and
lifting. No other way of thinking can remain be-
fore it in strength, profundity, and unobtrusive
reasoning. Acharya Shankara’s way of thinking
is finished and flawless.
Acharya Shankara was a compelling, heavenly
virtuoso. He was the greatest logician. He was
a significant scholar of the principal rank. He
was a sage of the most astounding acknowledg-
ment. He was an avatara of Lord Shiva. His way
of thinking has brought comfort, harmony, and
Entrance to Acharya Shankara’s Cave, Srinagar
enlightenment to endless people in the East and
the West. The Western masterminds bow their the Upanishadic philosophy so that even today
heads at his lotus-feet. His way of thinking has Sanatana Dharma can face modern challenges.
relieved the distresses and burdens of the most Indian philosophy has always come to be identi-
pitiful people, and brought trust, delight, know- fied with Acharya Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta.19
ledge, flawlessness, opportunity, and comfort to A philosopher says:
many. His arrangement of theory commands the Advaita system(s) can be divided on the basis
profound respect of the entire world. of four doctrines 1. Nirguna-brahmavada, 2.
Acharya Shankara was a scholarly and pro- brahma-vivartavada, 3. anirvacaniya-khyati-
found genius. He could encounter that radi- vada and 4. jivanmuktivada. In post-Shankara
Advaita, these four doctrines go hand in hand.
ant, supernatural state, turiya, wherein the jiva
The first two doctrines have metaphysical im-
realises its identity with Brahman, simply like plications, the third has both metaphysical
the Upanishadic soothsayers. Along these lines, and epistemological implications and the
the incomparable Acharya Shankara could af- fourth has great soteriological significance.
firm and legitimately outline the vision of the The works of Shankara and post-Shankara
old rishis of Sanatana Dharma, the reality of Advaitins are meaningful only when viewed
Advaita. Before he left his human loop, he im- against the metaphysical background of the
movably settled this way of thinking by his skil- nature of the self and the theory of the iden-
ful discourses on the prasthanatraya, the three tity of self and Brahman.20
essential branches of Vedanta, namely, Upani- Acharya Shankara believed that all the
shads, Gita, and the Brahma Sutra. Acharya schools, except Advaita Vedanta, had misinter-
Shankara made the edifice of Hindu religion preted the Upanishads and missed their actual
strong and sturdy by his scientific exposition of spirit. Shankara’s main intention was to produce
PB January 2020 139

the correct interpretation of Upanishads. In order 1

2. ‘Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement
Address: “Your Time Is Limited, So Don’t
to do this, Shankara skilfully drew from the reli- Waste It Living Someone Else’s Life”’, Huff-
gious and philosophical concepts of his predeces- post, 5 October 2011 <https://www.huffpost.
sors as well as his opponents. In this manner, he com/entry/steve-jobs-stanford-commence-
created a varied and complex philosophical struc- ment-address_n_997301> accessed 02 De-
cember 2019.
ture of his own, the Advaita Vedanta system. Thus,
13. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami
Adi Shankara is best characterized not as a Hindu Nikhilananda (Chennai: Ramakrishna Math,
thinker or a ‘crypto-Buddhist’ but as an Upani- 2002), 82.
shadic Indian philosopher.21 P 14. Anindo Bhattacharjee, ‘Modern Management
Through Ancient Indian Wisdom: Towards a
References More Sustainable Paradigm’, Purushartha 4/1
1. K Rajan, ‘Life and Message of Adi Sankara’, (March–August 2011), 14–37; 22–4.
Speaking Tree, 1 May 2018 <https://www.speak- 15. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brahma
ingtree.in/allslides/life-and-message-of-adi- Sutra, 3.2.21.
sankara> accessed 02 December 2019. 16. See Dr Surendra Pathak, ‘Adi Shankara-
2. Acharya Shankara, Brahma-jnanavali-mala, 20. charya: Contributions and Influences on
3. See ‘Advaita Vedanta’, Inner Quest <http:// Sanatana Dharma and Indian Culture’,
www.inner-quest.org/Advaita_E.htm> ac- May, 2016 <https://www.researchgate.net/
cessed 02 December 2019. publ ication/303408886_Ad i_Shankara-
4. See Anand Abhay Shankar, ‘Advaita Vedanta as charya_Contributions_and_Influences_on_
Explained by Adi Shankara’, 28 February 2010 Sanatana_Dharma_and_Indian_Culture>
<http://shankaracharyavedanta.blogspot.in> accessed 02 December 2019.
accessed 02 December 2019. 1
7. See V Krishnamurthy, ‘I am Neither the Doer
5. See ‘Saints of India—A comparison of two Nor the Experiencer’ <http://www.krishna-
schools of thought—Adi Shankaracharya and murthys.com/profvk/gohitvip/Doer-Experi-
Kabir’, Class Resources <http://vedic-class. encer.pdf> accessed 02 December 2019.
blogspot.com/> accessed 02 December 2019. 18. Swami Chinmayananda, Śaṅkara: The Mission-
6. See ‘Advaita Vedanta’, Kheper <http://kheper. ary (Mumbai: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust,
net/topics/Vedanta/AdvaitaVedanta.htm> ac- Mumbai, 1998), 1.
cessed 02 December 2019. 19. See Dr P I Devaraj and Dr Syamala K, ‘Is
7. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10. Sankara A Philosopher, Theologian, or A So-
8. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7. cial Reformer?’, International Journal of Multi-
9. See Swami Sivananda, All About Hinduism (Shi- disciplinary Education Research, 1/1 (April 2012),
vananda Nagar: Divine Life Society, 1997), 256–62.
133–6. 20. Dr Godavarisha Mishra, ‘A Journey through
10. Ramnath Narayanswamy, Ramnath, ‘The Mir- Vedantic History—Advaita in the Pre-Sankara,
acle of Self Realization: Why God, Guru and Sankara and Post- Sankara Periods’, Oxford
the Self Are One and the Same?’ IIM Ban- Centre for Hindu Studies, Lecture Two, 16
galore Research Paper, 434 (25 November October 2003, 12 <http://vedicilluminations.
2013) <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers. com/downloads/Philosophy/2Advaita%20his-
cfm?abstract_id=2359289&download=yes> tory%20(gmishra02mmas04).pdf> accessed
accessed 02 December 2019. 02 December 2019.
1 1. See Swami Swaroopananda, ‘An Introduction 21. Kencho Tenzin, ‘Shankara: A Hindu Re-
to Sankaracharya’s Advaita Vedanta’, Sivananda vivalist or A Crypto-Buddhist?’ MA thesis,
Yoga Life, Autumn 2003, 9–11 <https://drive. Georgia State University, 2006, 53 <https://
google.com/file/d/1Wi5LwCk7nAwLGI6mHt scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.
TNiNqYjvGZdPyj/view> accessed 02 Decem- cgi?article=1003&context=rs_theses> accessed
ber 2019. 02 December 2019.
140 PB January 2020

151
Karmic Immortality Versus Personal

Immortality in Advaita Vedanta
Ovidiu Cristian Nedu
The Speculative Exaltation of preeminence of human being over other beings

Personhood in on the earth, allowed the speculation that the
Judeo-Christian Civilisation human personal pattern could be considered as
T
aking its stand on the most basic the privileged pattern not only here but also at a
human instinct, that of survival, many sys- cosmic level. The theistic religions take over this
tems of thought, mainly related to Judeo- suggestion and state that the principle of the en-
Christian spirituality, speculated upon the status tire universe is a supreme person, a ‘God’. With
of human person and bestowed it ontological iden- this assumption, the exaltation of personality
tity. The human condition was awarded its own achieved its highest form.
substantiality, consisting generally of an immortal
‘soul’. It was seen not as much as a part of the cos- The Person as a Series of Experiences
mos but rather as something special in the cosmos, Apart from these approaches that overrated the
not equalled by anything else in the universe. personal condition, within the religious trad-
Hence, a biological and instinctual matter, itions of humankind, we can also encounter
the instinct of survival, was turned into an onto- more moderate approaches, which refrain from
logical issue. The continuity of the personal con- the speculative exaltation of the person. These
dition was much overrated, not being considered approaches cling closer to the phenomenological
as the continuity of some experiences, but as the data which reveal, first of all, ‘personal’ experi-
persistence of some individual substance. The ences and only to a little extent, or rather not
individual substantial entity underlying all per- at all, an alleged personal ‘entity’. Hence, there
sonal experiences also allowed many specula- are religious traditions that consider the human
tions regarding a possible and much longed-for being not as ‘somebody’ but rather as ‘some-
postmortem continuation of life. The substan- thing’ that happens in the universe. As a mere
tial persistence of the individual entity could phenomenon, as a mere experience, human con-
continue even after its separation from earthly dition rather ‘takes place’, ‘happens’ than ‘exists’.
experiences and hence the issues of individual Considering the person as a phenomenon,
immortality and afterlife were opened. as a series of experiences taking place within the
The exaltation of human personality went large context of the cosmos, these approaches
even further, taking ‘theological’ shapes. The stressed less on the inner values of personhood
Ovidiu Cristian Nedu is a graduate student in the
and more on its connections with the medium
department of theoretical philosophy and logic at where it occurs. Once the status of ontologi-
the University of Bucharest, Romania. cally autonomous entity is denied to it and it
PB January 2020 141

is considered as a phenomenon that takes place Therefore, personal existence is rather an

in the universe, the human being cannot have experience of individuation, which starts even
its own independent reason to be, but it is con- from the very basic stage of male’s semen. No
nected to the cosmic process and to its teleology. ‘being’ whatsoever is involved in the evolution
The human goal is somehow dependent on the of life, from semen to death; it is all about more
cosmic goal. In Vedanta, this unifying goal is the and more defined experiences of personal indi-
consumption of karmic energy. viduation. The issue of individuation is not as
much an ontological matter, is not about the
Vedanta and the Gradual Experience of alleged apparition of a ‘being’ in the world but
Human Individuation rather a phenomenal issue. The phenomenon
According to Vedanta, the individual person is a of individuation even admits various degrees of
mere experience, a phenomenon, something that ‘quantity’, of intensity, not representing the mere
rather ‘happens’ than ‘is’. Personal experiences and compact existence of a given entity.
do not represent the experiences undergone by It dimly starts in the early stage of semen; it
an alleged ‘person’ but a phenomenon of self- gets a slightly defined form as the foetal experi-
restriction undergone by the universe, in its full ence; it becomes more complex and endowed with
entirety. Human lives do not pertain to some more awareness as a baby. As life advances, this ex-
alleged ‘individual beings’, who would experi- perience becomes more complex and more aware,
ence them, but to the universe, to its substratum, until the old age when it simply starts diminish-
Brahman, which equally ‘host’ all these lives. The ing, vanishing, until completely fading away at
person is not a being, is not some kind of sub- the moment of death. All along this process, we
stantial entity. All along the personal experience, don’t meet with any given substantial individual,
no individual ‘entity’ or ‘being’ is involved but which appears at once and dies at ones, but only
only experiences, more or less defined, of indi- with more or less intense experiences of personal
viduation, undergone by the universe itself. continuity. Human experience doesn’t involve any
The experience of individuation starts from sudden ‘birth’ of an entity but only the gradual for-
the very early stage of the semen. The most basic mation of a more and more coarse and defined ex-
forms of the phenomenon of individuation are perience. The human being is not born at once, as
to be found in a man’s body. An overwhelming a novel entity, and also does not disappear at once,
part of them don’t go further in their individu- at the moment of death, but gradually appears and
ation process, being terminated from this very fades, like any other phenomenon in the universe.
early stage. The privileged cases are those when The individual condition is survived not
such a primary form of individuation gets ferti- by an alleged ‘soul’ but only by the impersonal
lised and its series of experiences continues in a karmic energy. The karmic energy, which en-
female’s body, as a foetus. gendered and maintained into being the actual
The Upanishads say: ‘At the outset, this em- personal condition, is enhanced or diminished
bryo comes into being within a man as semen. through the experiences that take place at the in-
This radiance gathered from all the bodily parts dividual level. When the personal condition gets
he bears in himself, Atman, as himself, Atman. terminated through death, the karmic energy
And when a man deposits it in a woman, he gives projects another personal condition. All trans-
birth to it. That is its first birth.’1 migration is rather a matter of energy taking
142 PB January 2020

various personal shapes than of a personal ‘soul’

travelling through various bodies.
‘And this person—this self, Atman of this per-
son, is appointed to carry out holy rites, while the
other self, after it has done all it has to do, becomes
old and dies. As soon as it departs from this world,
it is born again. That is its third birth’ (2.1.4).
The Foetal Condition as a

Dim Form of Individuation
Western civilisation has usually envisaged human
being as an ‘entity’; therefore, especially dur-
12th Century Vedic Gods and Goddesses, Karnataka
ing the last decades, it had to face the difficult
problem of deciding, which is the moment this but only takes various shapes. Vedanta claims that
‘human entity’ begins. The issue is important illusion, maya and ignorance, avidya or ajnana are
mainly in abortion related debates. For Vedanta, eternal, nitya, but not under their various individ-
things are much more simple.2 All along the uations as human persons. The cosmic mechanism
human experience no ‘human entity’ is ever in- is eternal, but none of its various shapes, not even
volved but it is only series of ‘human’ experiences. the human ones, partake of its eternity.
Therefore, the problem regarding the beginning Vedanta cosmology deals rather with the
of the ‘human person’ is simply dissolved. universe, which only occasionally manifests as
The status of the foetus is highly disputed humans. Thus, it is different from the Judeo-
these days, especially in the Judeo-Christian Christian world view, which is mainly focused
world, which tries to determine whether the foe- on some alleged autonomous human beings,
tus has a ‘soul’ or not. More broadly speaking, on human ‘souls’, and on their eternal destinies.
the problem is to determine when a person starts The universe and its karmic energy are the main
to exist by oneself, as an autonomous being. For ‘subjects’ of the cosmic story; humans are just
Vedanta, the status of the foetus doesn’t pose temporary shapes assumed by the cosmos. No
any special problem; the foetus is simply a stage human traits and values are the main reasons to
within the series of personal experiences, just be of the universe, like in Judeo-Christianity, all
as the semen and the adult. A foetus is only a these being only fleeting manifestations stirred
dim form of humanity. It is human, yet, not fully by the all-pervading karmic unrest.
human. It is just a more defined phenomenon as Brahmanism consecrates the eschatological
the semen but less than the adulthood. But, in doctrine of metempsychosis or transmigration,
itself, it is nothing but a mere karmic experience. which states that life is a serial experience, con-
sisting of a succession of limited ‘incarnations’.
Transmigration of Karmic Energy The force that engenders and propels these em-
In Vedanta, immortality does not pertain as much bodiments is the karmic energy. Every such series
to the human personality or to the ‘soul’, but rather of life experiences ceases when the stream of kar-
to the cosmic process stirred by the karmic energy. mic energy is terminated, usually as a result of
It is just this impersonal energy that never dies out, religious practice.3
PB January 2020 143

In one of its classical formulations, Vedantic the father will place this new individual within
eschatology claims that, after the death of one a mother’s womb and, only after the months of
individual, there are two possible courses things gestation, the personal experience takes place
can take: devayana, the path of gods and pitri- within a body of one’s own.
yana, the path of the ancestors. Both are rather
‘karmic’ paths, courses karmic energy can take Karmic Transmigration as Precluding
and not destinies assumed by a personality. Personal Immortality
Devayana is the course of karmic annihila- The doctrine of transmigration rather precludes
tion, of liberation, of absolute dissolution into personal immortality, the postmortem survival
Brahman. The person liberated through the of the person itself. The only thing that survives
knowledge of the true reality, Brahman, ‘burns’ death is the impersonal karmic energy that can
all the karmic energy that propels her or him materialise under the most diverse individual
into being and, at the moment of death, when conditions. Therefore, the chain of reincarna-
even the prarabdha karma, karma already ‘solidi- tions displays a high degree of heterogeneity, of
fied’ as the body, vanishes, she or he simply dis- typological discontinuity. The individual con-
appears as a ‘person’, being re-absorbed into the ditions assumed along transmigration are very
ultimate reality. Devayana is not as much a path diverse, there being almost no continuity of a
taken by an individual to any paradise but rather personal typology.
a path of ‘cleansing’ reality, of totally purifying it ‘But whoever answers it not, the person
from a previously assumed personal condition. It having become rain, it rains down here. Either
is not as much the individual person, which gets as a worm, or as an insect or as fish or as a bird, or
purified, but rather reality itself gets rid of one as a lion, or as a boar, or as a snake, or as a tiger, or
previously existing illusion, of one illusory indi- as a person or as some other in this or that condi-
vidual. The limited and egocentric person and all tion. One is born again according to one’s deeds,
the tarnish it involves simply vanish. This process according to one’s knowledge.’4
is rather undergone by reality than by the per- The subject, the substratum of the metempsy-
son; the person is that which is cleansed of, not chotic process is not an individual or a person;
that which is cleansed. any particular person is rather a mere stage of
Pitriyana means the continuation of trans- this process. Therefore, this process is not mainly
migration. It is the path taken over by the kar- driven by personal values and causes; the person
mic energy accumulated by an individual person only collaterally occurs all along it. A personal
which didn’t liberate through the karma-burning condition means just a simple stage integrated
knowledge. Hence, within such an individual in the broad metempsychotic process, without
condition, karmic energy kept on being pro- being the ultimate ‘beneficiary’ of this process.
duced and, at the moment of death, the accu- The human condition is not superior to
mulated karmic energy takes over the path of the rest of the universe; it is rather integrated
pitriyana, towards a new incarnation. within the universe, participating in its evo-
The name of this path is explained by the fact lution. The universe is not a mere scene for
that the first body where a new individual stream the human destiny; rather, the universe, as a
of experiences exists is the body of her or his whole, is the ‘subject’ of the cosmic process,
father, where she or he exists as semen. Later on, in which human beings have a limited karmic
144 PB January 2020

participation. Human values, personal deter- impact. There is no postmortem destiny, no post-
minations are nothing but temporary mani- mortem reward or punishment allowed to the
festations of karmic energy, without being able individual person; it is all about the karmic im-
to expand beyond biological death. Their only pact a human life has upon the deployment of
postmortem continuity consists merely in the the cosmic process, brahma-chakra. The karmic
karmic energy that personal life engenders. energy accumulated during a life, impersonal
What matters in this whole process is the kar- in its own nature, is the one that goes beyond
mic balance, the karmic economy and not the death. Life is rather about karmic energy than
‘salvation’ or the ‘immortalisation’ of the per- about individual salvation.
sonal condition. The meaning of life does not consist in an indi-
The problem of the postmortem fate of the vidual accomplishment but only in the individual
individual, of one’s ‘afterlife’ cannot be even participation to the great karmic process unto
raised. All personal determinations, including which everyone has a certain impact. The natural
memories and individual traits, cease at the mo- task of a person is to ‘burn’ the karma gathered
ment of death. There is nothing individual to within one’s personal condition. The ‘reward’ for
go beyond death, since there is no support that accomplishing one’s task is not reaching an alle-
could ‘carry’ the personal determinations to ano- ged superior individual postmortem condition; it
ther incarnation. is all about consuming karma, about the optimi-
zation of this ever-going process. P
Karmic Economy Instead of Personal
Posthumous Exaltation Notes and References
The limitation of the personal condition to 1. Aitareya Upanishad, 2.1.1.
earthly life, where it goes on for a while, makes 2. For an account of the foetal condition accord-
it impossible to exhort any ‘heavenly’ values and ing to Indian folklore and culture, including
tribal communities, see Christoph von Fürer-
prospects to the human being. Even if humans Haimendorf, ‘The After-Life in Indian Tribal
participate in a vast cosmic process, in a broad Belief ’, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological
metempsychotic process, as individuals, all they Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 83/1 (Jan-
can do is to have a certain impact upon this uary-June, 1953), 37–49.
process, upon its karmic economy. But it is im- 3. A discussion on transmigration, as it dimly ap-
pears in Vedic literature, can be found in Paul
possible that a human, as an ‘individual’, may ap- Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads,
propriate for one’s own personal condition, for trans. A S Geden (Edinburgh: T and T Clark,
the exaltation of one’s individuality, something 1906), 324–32. Accounts of Devayana and Pitri-
from the ‘divinity’ of the cosmic mechanism. yana can be found in The Philosophy of the Upa-
nishads, 334–8. Also see Hermann Oldenberg,
The individual condition is nothing but a
The Doctrine of the Upaniṣads and the Early Bud-
stage comprised in a cosmic scale process and its dhism (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991), 64.
role is not to accede to an alleged superior post- For a critical approach of the theory of trans-
mortem condition but only to ‘burn’, to exhaust migration, which stresses upon the difficulties
some karmic energies. What survives the death involved by identifying the subject who trans-
migrates, see Brian Hodgkinson, The Essence of
of an individual is the cosmos, the great metem- Vedanta: The Ancient Wisdom of Indian Phil-
psychotic process, in which all individual lives osophy (Hertfordshire: Eagle, 2006), 157–9.
participate, with a particular and limited karmic 4. Kaushitaki Brahmana Upanishad, 1.2.
PB January 2020 145

156
Advaita and the Philosophy of

Consciousness Without an Object
Paul Schweizer
T
his paper explores Acharya Shanka- controversies within Hinduism between its
ra’s position on autonomous conscious- six rival darshanas, and additionally between
ness or chit, as the fundamental reality. orthodox Hinduism and the two heterodox
As such, chit transcends subject-object duality schools of Buddhism and Jainism. On the topic
and Acharya Shankara holds that consciousness of consciousness, one of the traditional issues
is ultimately nirvishayaka or non-intentional. of controversy revolved around the question of
I compare and contrast the Advaita view with whether or not consciousness, by its essential na-
the contemporary phenomenological account, ture, must be of an object. In the conventional
wherein consciousness is held to be essentially terminology of disputation, this is the question
intentional, so that consciousness is always of or of whether it is savishayaka or nirvishayaka, that
about some object or content, and where con- is, intrinsically intentional or not. In addition,
sciousness without an object is deemed concep- the debate concerned the issue: does conscious-
tually impossible. ness belong to someone—does it have a ‘place’,
or is it ‘placeless’, belonging to no one? In dispu-
Absolute Consciousness tational terms, is it ashraya or nirashraya?
The ontological monism of Acharya Shanka- According to Acharya Shankara’s analysis,
ra’s Advaita Vedanta philosophy holds that pure chit is both nirvishayaka and nirashraya, ultim-
consciousness or chit, is the one fundamental ately both non-intentional and belonging to no
substance. Thus, reality is held to be ultimately one. And because chit is held to be nirvishayaka,
singular in nature, only pure consciousness pure consciousness itself is not dependent on
genuinely exists and is ontologically autono- any specific content or thing towards which it
mous, while all other phenomena that appear to appears to be directed. Consciousness of an ob-
exist are metaphysically dependent upon pure ject is a secondary and dependent mode, while
consciousness. On the Advaita analysis, chit is the metaphysically fundamental mode is pure
characterised as absolute and unconditioned consciousness without an object. Hence, in
awareness, as immutable and inactive, formless sharp contrast to the notions of consciousness
and without limiting characteristics. prevalent in the Western philosophical trad-
The history of Indian philosophy has been ition, chit is intrinsically independent of any
dynamically shaped by the longstanding particular objects that may appear to occupy the
Paul Schweizer is a senior lecturer in the Institute for
field of consciousness.
Language, Cognition, and Computation, School of In common with the Advaita Vedanta
Informatics, University of Edinburgh. stance, various forms of metaphysical idealism
146 PB January 2020

in Western philosophy also maintain a seemingly

related form of ontological monism. However,
it is important to highlight a crucial distinction
here, since in contrast to Western idealism, it
would be incorrect to attribute to Acharya Shan-
kara the view that reality is essentially mental in
nature. For Acharya Shankara, the mind is not
to be identified with pure consciousness or chit,
and as noted above, he not only maintains that
chit is not intrinsically directed towards an ob-
ject, but also that it is nirashraya, it has no place
and belongs to no one. Hence, it belongs to no
particular mind and pure consciousness itself
must be sharply distinguished from that which
is properly mental.
Although non-dualistic, Advaita ontology is
nonetheless committed to a radical discontinuity
between unqualified, immutable, inactive chit
on the one hand, versus the manifest world of
Kapila Muni’s Statue in Nashik, Maharshtra
attributes and form on the other. It is to this lat-
ter realm that the mind belongs. According to governed by the unconscious and mechanical
Acharya Shankara, pure unconditioned aware- forces of the material realm, and to this extent
ness, as such, must be distinguished from the mental phenomena are viewed in purely ‘natur-
particular ‘states of consciousness’ associated alistic’ terms. The unfolding of thought forms is
with individual agents at specific times. It is these simply the result of appropriate transformations
particular mental states that are directed towards of the unconscious material world, the turning
objects and where the apparent subject-object of the wheels of maya.
duality arises. Dualistic ontologies have the pronounced
difficulty of accounting for the seeming inter-
Conscious Mental States action between the two independent realms
Advaita monism holds that the multifaceted, ka- of existence. In Western forms of mind-matter
leidoscopic and ever-changing material world is dualism, the relation between material and men-
not ontologically autonomous, but rather is ul- tal substance drives the long-standing and deeply
timately an ‘illusion’ sustained by maya. The indi- recalcitrant mind-body problem. Cartesian
vidual human mind and body are manifestations interactive dualism posits a causal link between
of this illusory material realm. Movement and mind and matter, and is thus seen to be at odds
form are attributes of matter, and they are also with physical conservation laws; while the non-
attributes of thought, which is a manifestation interactive model of Leibniz and Locke requires
of matter. In stark contrast, pure consciousness is divine intervention to maintain a ‘pre-estab-
intrinsically formless and unchanging. The cog- lished harmony’ between independent realms. In
nitive processes that characterise the mind are comparison, on the mind-consciousness dualism
PB January 2020 147

of the Sankhya-yoga philosophical tradition, accurate to observe that it is the combination

there is the concomitant difficulty of explaining of both manas and buddhi that roughly corre-
how the absolute and unconditioned conscious- sponds to the objective or impersonal mental
ness of purusha can ‘interact’ with the uncon- faculties in Western philosophical discourse,
scious material-mental structures of prakriti to and, as will be exposited below, it is buddhi that
yield conscious mental states.1 is centrally involved in the occurrence of par-
The Advaita philosophy of consciousness ticular conscious experiences.
monism has a not dissimilar problem in account- Manas is viewed essentially as an organ, the
ing for the metaphysical status of the manifest special organ of cognition, just as the eyes are
world, and the relation between maya and pure the special organs of sight. Indeed, manas is
consciousness that makes it seem as if there are held to be intimately connected with percep-
real conscious mental states. Acharya Shankara tion, since the raw data supplied by the senses
invokes the subtle notion of ‘superimposition’, must be ordered and categorised with respect
adhyasa, to explain the general projection of at- to a conceptual-linguistic scheme before various
tributes and form onto unqualified and uncon- objects can be perceived as members of their re-
ditioned basic reality. In the current discussion, spective categories, and as inhabiting a world
I will not delve into this recondite topic per se, characterised by the systematic and distinguish-
but will instead just touch on the phenomenon able attributes with which sense experience is
of ‘conditioned’ consciousness in the context normally imbued. This imposition of concep-
of individual mental states. As viewed from the tual-linguistic structure on the field of raw sen-
perspective within the phenomenal realm, pure sation is one of the basal activities of manas, and
chit is both transcendent but also immanent. In forms the distinction between brute sensation,
terms of immanence, pure consciousness persists nirvikalpaka, as opposed to differentiated per-
in phenomenal experience as the inner self or ception, savikalpaka.
‘witness’, sakshin, that constitutes the ultimate In addition to its perceptual activities, manas
seat of awareness, the ground of sentience.2 In is held to be responsible for the cognitive func-
this aspect, chit is compared to a light, which tions of analysis, deliberation, and decision. It
is self-luminous and self-revealing. Thus chit is closely allied to buddhi, which is somewhat
dwells ‘inside’ the mind as the self-luminous roughly translated as the faculty of ‘intellect’ or
witness consciousness. ‘reason’. Buddhi is a subtler and more powerful
From a more ‘outside’ or external perspec- faculty than manas, and is responsible for higher
tive, when explaining how conscious mental level intellectual functions, which require intu-
states and events are possible, pure conscious- ition, insight, and reflection. The Indian buddhi
ness is again standardly compared to a light, is in some ways comparable to the Greek nous,
which in this case illuminates the particular ma- while manas is responsible for lower level discur-
terial configurations or ‘shapes’ assumed by the sive thought and analysis. But buddhi is still re-
mind. Hence, on the Advaita account, thought garded as a manifestation of unconscious maya,
processes and mental events are conscious only albeit the subtlest and refined form that material
to the extent that they receive ‘illumination’ patterns can assume.
from chit. The Sanskrit term manas is often So, to return to the interplay of consciousness
translated directly as ‘mind’, although it is more and matter, resulting in apparently conscious
148 PB January 2020

mental events, it is the subtle ‘thought forms’ of ordinary awareness not only has an object but
the buddhi that allow mental events to appear also requires it as the occasion for that specific
conscious, because the refined buddhi substance piece of awareness or judgment, pure conscious-
is held to be ‘transparent’ to the light of con- ness has no more relation to its objects than does
sciousness. Thus, in order for conscious thoughts the sun that shines on everything without being
and perceptual experiences to take place, the in the least affected by or dependent on things’.3
‘translucent’ buddhi receives representational
forms, both perceptual and conceptual, from Consciousness and Space
manas, the ‘organ of cognition’, and it receives Potter thus appeals to sunlight as an appropri-
conscious ‘light’ from chit. So, the cognitive ate metaphor for the non-intentional nature of
structures received from manas are illuminated pure consciousness. But an even more fitting
by an external source, and in this manner specific analogy is introduced in the following passage
mental structures can appear conscious. from Acharya Shankara, which begins with
To fully exploit the optical analogy, the con- the use of light and progresses to a comparison
scious representational structures involved in, with space: ‘Pure and changeless consciousness
say, visual perception, can be compared to trans- I am by nature, devoid of objects to illumine. …
parent photographic slides. The photographic Beginningless and devoid of attributes, I have
image stored in the film is composed of matter, neither actions nor their results. … Though in
but it is both representational and translucent. a body, I do not get attached on account of my
Therefore, when the film is held up to an external subtleness, like space which, though all pervad-
light source, such as the sun, the illuminated rep- ing, does not get tainted.’4
resentation is analogous to the structures of per- Indeed, space provides an extremely apt
ceptual experience that glow with the sentience metaphor when trying to address the concep-
of chit. Only the subtle thought-forms of buddhi tual question of ‘how is pure consciousness it-
are translucent with the light of chit, while other self to be understood; what would provide an
configurations of matter are opaque to this radi- appropriate structural model for such a phe-
ance. And this is why minds appear to be the loci nomenon?’ And the highly abstract notion of
of sentience in the realm of maya, while stones physical space supplies a fascinating answer. To
and tables cannot assume conscious guise. the ancient Greek classification of the world as
Pure consciousness illuminates the material consisting of the four ultimate components of
thought-forms of the buddhi, thereby yielding earth, water, fire and air, the Indians added a
the appearance of sentient states that are dir- fifth and all pervasive element, akasha, which
ected towards particular objects and cognitive is more or less equivalent to classical ‘ether’ or
contents. But from the perspective of pure con- ‘space’. As a basic metaphysical substance, pure
sciousness, this directedness is merely an ap- consciousness is held to possess several essential
pearance. Consciousness as such is not directed features in common with this most subtle, and
towards these objects, it has no intention to il- in some respects most fundamental of the phys-
luminate the limited material structures in ques- ical elements.
tion, and it is completely independent of the Consciousness, like space, is ontologically in-
mental phenomena upon which its light hap- dependent of the objects that may happen to
pens to fall. As exposited by Karl Potter, ‘whereas fill or occupy it. Thus consciousness of an object
PB January 2020 149

is a secondary, non-funda- that this highly abstract notion of akasha or

mental mode, analogous to space, rather than air, is used as the structural
space that is occupied. In metaphor for consciousness. Clearly, the Indian
normal circumstances, we notion of akasha is in many ways comparable to
are mostly concerned with the Newtonian conception of ‘absolute space’,
and cognisant of space with and hence on this view, consciousness itself is
things in it, and this can structurally analogous to Newton’s classical con-
hide the fact that space it- ception of space as an independently real, ob-
self is not ontologically de- jective, and fundamentally detached manifold.5
pendent on its occupants.
Similarly, in normal cir- Comparison with
cumstances, we are mostly Western Phenomenology
Franz Brentano (1838–1917)
concerned with the field of In sharp contrast to the Advaita view, the phe-
consciousness only insofar as it is directed to- nomenological tradition of Western philosophy
wards particular things and contents, insofar as maintains that all mental states, by their very na-
it has an intentional object. And, according to ture, must be directed towards something, and
the Advaita view, this can obscure the fact that hence pure, non-intentional consciousness is
pure consciousness itself does not depend on the ruled out as theoretically impossible. According
things that we happen to be conscious of. to the phenomenological account, consciousness
Another related aspect in which conscious- is essentially intentional, conscious states are al-
ness is held to resemble space is that, in addition ways of or about something, although this ‘some-
to being ontologically self-sustaining, space can- thing’ may well be a non-existent object, such
not, even in principle, be affected by the objects as Pegasus or Meinong’s ‘Golden Mountain’.
which fill it. Space itself remains detached and Husserl’s analysis stems from his modification
unalterable, even when there are things ‘taking it and development of the notion of intentional-
up’. Space is totally inert; it cannot be displaced ity as revived by his teacher Franz Brentano, who
or disturbed, and it does not react in any way adopted the notion as a basic criterion for dis-
with its contents. This is very much in contrast tinguishing the properly mental from the purely
to air, for example. Objects occupying a place physical phenomena. And for Brentano as well,
in the atmosphere must displace the fluid that consciousness is viewed as essentially intentional,
would otherwise occupy the same spatial loca- so that the very notion of consciousness without
tion. And objects moving through a gaseous mean object is seen as self-contradictory.
dium cause turbulence and friction, propagate Thus, the phenomenological stance on the in-
sound waves and generate heat. The atmosphere tentionality of consciousness is in opposition to
will chemically interact with the surface of these the Advaita analysis on two major points. First,
objects, resulting in corrosion, weathering, and the latter claims that the mind and the pro-
the like. cesses by which it is directed to external objects
In contrast, space is absolutely detached, pas- are essentially physical in nature, while Bren-
sive and inert. Space cannot be touched or altered tano uses directedness as the key feature dis-
by the things that fill it. And conversely, space tinguishing minds from mere physical systems.
cannot affect its occupants. So it is significant Second, Acharya Shankara holds that, far from
150 PB January 2020

being self-contradictory, consciousness without consciousness is in many ways

an object is indeed fundamental, while directed comparable to Leibniz’s com-
states of awareness comprise a secondary and peting views on physical space.
dependent mode. In contrast, Husserl maintains In opposition to the Newto-
that there is an indissoluble link between con- nian camp, Leibniz and his
sciousness and ‘meaning’, where this meaning followers put forward an alter-
encompasses both the semantical directedness native and rather deflationary
of Frege’s Sinn, which does the essential work account. They deny that space,
of linguistic reference, as well as a perceptual as such, has any independent
form of directedness to account for conscious ex- reality. The only things that
periences of, for example, the-tree-as-perceived, properly exist are material en-
that is, as seen from a particular perspective on tities and physical events. All
a particular occasion. In phenomenological ter- spatial assertions should be Edmund Husserl (1859–1938)
minology, it is the noema that comprises this interpreted not as attributing features to space
structured mode of presentation inherent in all itself, but rather as attributing spatial relations
episodes of consciousness. between material existents. So objects ‘occupy’
Husserl’s position is notoriously intricate and space only to the extent that they bear the sali-
complex, and in the following discussion I will ent geometrical relations to other bodies and to
rely heavily on Aron Gurwitsch’s elucidation. subparts of themselves as extended objects.
Regarding Husserl’s stance on the intentionality As with the Leibnizean notion of relational
of consciousness, Gurwitsch states: ‘It pertains space, on Husserl’s model of intentional con-
to the essential nature of acts of consciousness sciousness, there is no provision for a substantive
to be related and correspond to noemata … con- or real structure, over and above conscious states
sciousness must be defined as a noetic-noematic that are directed, that is, that are determined by
correlation, that is to say, a correlation between the relation of subject to object.
items pertaining to two heterogeneous planes:
on the one hand the plane of temporal psycho- The Vedantic Theory of Intentional States
logical events, and on the other hand that of … According to Acharya Shankara, pure uncondi-
ideal entities that are the noemata, or meanings tioned awareness, as such, must be distinguished
understood in the broader sense.’6 from the particular ‘states of consciousness’ as-
Indeed, according to Gurwitsch, conscious- sociated with individual agents at specific times.
ness is then to be characterised by an intrinsic Though the underlying story is quite different,
duality between psychological events and the these states of consciousness are meant to cap-
correlated ideal objects, where this duality takes ture the same basic set of phenomena as that
the place of Descartes’s schism between thinking which Gurwitsch calls ‘acts of consciousness’,
substance and extended substance. namely, particular instances of directed con-
Thus, while Acharya Shankara’s views on scious experience. However, the Indian view
metaphysically autonomous chit are highly diverges from the phenomenological analysis
analogous to the classical Newtonian concep- with respect to the fundamental status of these
tion of absolute space, the contrasting phe- ordinary states. It argues that the more basic ab-
nomenological stance on the intentionality of solute consciousness is a necessary precondition
PB January 2020 151

for these directed respective object, which cognitive modifica-

states, if they are to tion is then transferred to the vitreous bud-
appear conscious. dhi substrate. And this component of the
Conversely, if these hybrid state is purely mechanical or ‘natural-
directed states are istic’, a direct consequence of the causal trans-
taken on their own, formations governing the physical domain. In
they remain both un- a more contemporary raiment, this could be
conscious and purely seen as a physically implemented formal rep-
material. But, as the resentation or form of information processing.
following section will Then this structural modification of the mental
maintain, in spite of substrate, a kind of essentialist representation,
their extreme differ- is passively illuminated by pure consciousness,
Aron Gurwitsch (1901–1973) ences, there is still far resulting in a ‘directed’ configuration of mat-
wider scope for agreement between the two ter that appears to be sentient. Hence, on this
frameworks than might first be suspected. account the mind is held to be in motion and
In a marked contrast to the contemporary actively extends into space, rather than remain-
Western stance, Vedantic philosophy takes an ing passive in its cognitive container, merely the
extremely non-metaphorical approach to inten- recipient of causal impingements from the out-
tionality. The paradigmatic case is sense percep- side world. The Vedantic view does not posit an
tion, where the mind is said to literally ‘go out’, ontological gulf separating mind from matter,
‘prapya-kari’,7 through the sense organs into the and thus the mind can actively ‘pervade’ objects
world and ‘assume the form’ of the objects of and modify itself in response to the structures
perception and knowledge. Thus intentional di- it contacts.
rectedness is founded on a veritable ‘noetic ray’, In contrast, phenomenological views in par-
normally described as ‘of the nature of light’ or ticular, and Western views in general, tend to be
tejas, which itself makes actual contact with the highly metaphorical about intentional ‘powers’.
external objects on which the mind is focussed. The mind is said to be ‘directed towards’ ob-
IMAGE: HTTPS://BIBLIOFILOSOFIAMIL ANO.WORDPRESS.COM

When the mind thus assimilates the form of its jects, it has an intentional ‘aim’, and the like, but
external object, this results in an appropriate these locutions tend to lack explicit force. To
modification of manas, the organ of cognition. be sure, on Husserl’s view, the noema serve as
This modification of manas, this structural re- the vehicle by which the mind is directed. It is
flection or mental likeness, then becomes mani- thus the correlation with the salient noema that
fest in the buddhi substance and is illuminated gives the mind intentional access to an external
by pure consciousness, thus resulting in a par- realm. According to Gurwitsch, ‘the perceptual
ticular directed conscious state. noema must not be mistaken for an Idea in the
So a conscious state of an individual agent, Cartesian sense—that is to say, the substitute
directed towards a specific object, is treated as for, or representative of, a reality only mediately
a metaphysical hybrid. The properly intentional accessible’.8 And again: ‘Because of the inten-
aspect of this hybrid is seen as an alteration of tionality of consciousness, we are in direct con-
the ‘inner instrument’, namely, a modification tact with the world’ (66). Thus, for Husserl, there
of manas effected by its literal contact with its is a strong attempt to repudiate the Cartesian
152 PB January 2020

heritage that preconditions so much of Western modifications of matter intrinsic to such states.
philosophical thought about the mind. So the critical differences obviously emerge
According to Gurwitsch: ‘The temporal events with respect to the status and role of pure con-
called “acts of consciousness” have the peculiarity sciousness. The distinctively phenomenological
of being actualizations or apprehensions of mean- claim that pure, undirected consciousness itself
ings, the terms “apprehension” and “meaning” is theoretically impossible seems much less com-
being understood in a very general sense beyond pelling than the weaker assertion just deline-
the special case of symbolic expressions’ (65). It is ated, namely, that all conscious mental states
certainly worth noting that these ‘actualizations must be intentional. What are the underlying
or apprehensions of meanings’ are highly analo- grounds for this additional claim, and what
gous to the Vedantic ‘modifications of manas’, is the force of the ‘impossibility’? Actuality is
where both types of structured event are meant generally accepted as a proof of possibility, and
to characterise the internal or subjective-mental in the final section, I will examine some trad-
reality of perceiving and understanding. itional notions regarding the experiential reality
Indeed, Gurwitsch’s talk of ‘consciousness’ of pure consciousness.
as a correlation between items from different
planes, the psychological and the noematic, Mystical Experience
looks more like the characterisation of par- Ultimately, the Advaita stance on pure, object-
ticular, content-laden mental states, rather than less consciousness cannot be established or de-
a characterisation of consciousness simplicitor. rived as the conclusion of a deductive argument
Apparently, both of these correlated items, when or intricate chain of philosophical reasoning. Ac-
taken separately, remain unconscious. In this cording to Acharya Shankara, the real nature of
manner, ‘apprehensions of meaning’ and ‘modi- consciousness does not follow from mere argu-
fications of manas’ are reasonably compatible, mentation or rational speculation. And similarly,
except that in the Indian model there is only one empirical investigation and scientific method-
plane, the material, involved. But in terms of in- ology will also not yield this knowledge.
tentional structure and the unconscious status Especially in the past 400 years, Western sci-
of the elements invoked, there is a fair degree ence has made remarkable progress and should
of resemblance between the two analyses of dir- in no way be downplayed or underestimated,
ected mental states. empirical investigation and scientific theorising
Both perspectives could still agree that par- are extremely powerful tools. However, it is es-
ticular mental states with specific content or sential to note that empirical methods cannot
form must, by their very nature, be intentional. in themselves underwrite a theoretical closure
To deny this would seem to be committing a kind principle. Physics provides us with a deep and
of self-contradiction. And Acharya Shankara rigorous grasp of physical reality, but it cannot
could potentially agree with the phenomenolo- support the further metaphysical claim that phys-
gist insofar as the Vedantin’s pure, autonomous ical theory is fully exhaustive, and that there is
consciousness is not properly a mental state. In nothing beyond its scope. Such a closure prin-
this regard, all conscious mental states are inten- ciple does not follow from empirical investi-
tional for Acharya Shankara as well, because pure gation or scientific experimentation, and it is
consciousness is said to illuminate the ‘directed’ entirely consistent with physical theory that the
PB January 2020 153

closure principle is false. Thus, if one defines ‘em- underlying the external universe, is identical
piricism’ as the doctrine that we should only ac- to Ᾱtman, the ultimate Reality underlying the
cept that which can be empirically established, inner self. ‘Ayam atma brahma; this Ᾱtman is
then the closure principle is in fact inconsistent Brahman.’10 ‘Tat tvam asi; you are That.’11 The
with empiricism. non-duality of pure consciousness without an
Similar considerations also apply to the scope object thus closes the circle, inner and outer are
and limits of human reason itself. Without the experienced as one. And although it is held to
prior intellectual resources of advanced math- transcend conceptual understanding or linguis-
ematics, there could be no physics. The a priori tic characterisation, this singular reality is canon-
knowledge gained through logic, mathematics, ically depicted as sat, chit, ananda—existence,
and conceptual analysis provides the essential consciousness, bliss. P
foundation upon which our mighty scientific
edifices are constructed. But these abstract dis- References
ciplines are equally incapable of underwriting 1. For further discussion, see Paul Schweizer,
their own theoretical closure principle. It is en- ‘Mind/Consciousness Dualism in Sāṅkhya-Yoga
Philosophy’, Philosophy and Phenomenological
tirely consistent with logic, mathematics, and Research, 53/4 (December 1993), 845–59 and
human reason that there are truths which tran- Paul Schweizer, ‘Sankhya-Yoga Philosophy and
scend the scope of these intellectual methods. the Mind-Body Problem’, Prabuddha Bharata,
Thus, if one defines ‘rationalism’ as the doctrine 124/1 (January 2019), 232–42.
that we should only accept that which can be 2. For a detailed exploration, see Bina Gupta, The
Disinterested Witness: A Fragment of Advaita
established on the grounds of reason and logic, Vedānta Phenomenology (Evanston: Northwest-
then the closure principle is in fact inconsistent ern University, 1998).
with rationalism. 3. Karl H Potter, Encyclopedia of Indian Philoso-
Hence, the Advaita stance on pure, object- phies, 25 vols (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2019),
3.93.
less consciousness is entirely compatible with a 4. Acharya Shankara, Upadesha-sahasri, 2.10.2, 7.
‘hard-headed’ acceptance of all the truths that 5. For further discussion, see Paul Schweizer, ‘Ab-
can be legitimately derived on the basis of both solute Space and the Structure of Conscious-
science and reason. But according to Acharya ness in Advaita Vedanta Philosophy’, Dynamics
Shankara, the ultimate nature of conscious- of Culture, ed. S Kumar Sarma (Delhi: Param
Mitra), 32–46.
ness cannot be accessed by empirical or rational 6. A Gurwitsch, ‘Husserl’s Theory of the Inten-
methods. It transcends mental processes in gen- tionality of Consciousness’, Husserl, Intentional-
eral and cannot be grasped via an act of cog- ity, and Cognitive Science, eds Hubert L Dreyfus
nition, since all cognitive activity incorporates and Harrison Hall, (Boston: mit, 1982), 65.
7. William M Indich, Consciousness in Advaita
the subject-object duality. Pure, autonomous
Vedanta (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), 71.
consciousness can only be accessed through the 8. ‘Husserl’s Theory of the Intentionality of Con-
mystical experience of direct realisation. Be- sciousness’, 68.
cause pure, absolute consciousness is held to be 9. For an insightful cross-cultural defence of the
self-luminous, it can be directly and immedi- epistemic value of mystical experience see Ayon
Maharaj, Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality (New
ately self-realised.9 Delhi: Oxford University, 2018).
According to those who have attained this 10. Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2.
realisation, Brahman, the ultimate Reality 11. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7.
154 PB January 2020

165
The Advaita Vedanta Critique of the Nyaya-

Vaisheshika Category of Inherence
Cameron Wright
T
he development of metaphysics in inherence are the most important for their defeat
India is broadly characterised in Western of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika ontological system.
scholarship by a debate between two gen- By attacking inherence, the Advaitins not only
eral categories, one being Realist and the other show that inherence fails to explain the relations
being Idealist or anti-Realist in orientation. The between the various ontic categories but they
most characteristic school of realist thought is also demonstrate that inherence does not help
the combined tradition of the Nyaya-Vaishe- prove distinctness, but rather that the Vaishe-
shika. This school provides a detailed ontology shika philosophers already assume distinctness
of categories, each of which defines a distinct in positing inherence. The category of inherence
type of existing reality to which words corre- is the keystone category that provides a sort of
spond. Accordingly, this school holds an absolute ontic glue by which the other distinct categories
realist position regarding the objects of percep- are combined or related. If the category of inher-
tual awareness. The world consists of a plurality ence fails to sufficiently explain how the various
of parts, ultimately reducible to minute atoms. ontological categories are related, the edifice of
By contrast stands the tradition of Advaita the Realist’s ontology collapses.
Vedanta. Vedanta is broadly committed to a The Vaisheshika school of philosophy dates to
strict reliance and interpretation of the Vedas possibly as early as 150 CE, with the Vaisheshika
and the Upanishads, the ancient Hindu scrip- Sutra of Kanada. As a realist school, Vaisheshika
tures. Advaita indicates the commitment to a is closely allied with the Nyaya school, which
non-dual metaphysics which seeks to establish originated with the Nyaya Sutra of Gautama
that Brahman is the unified and undifferentiated around 200 CE (38, 41, 325). The Vaisheshika
ground of the world. Advaita Vedanta is mo- philosophers engage primarily in metaphysical
tivated by a soteriology or theory of liberation, investigations and posit a theory of the world
which through the mystical realisation that per- consisting of atoms or vaishesha, ultimate par-
ceptual experience and the distinct objects of the ticulars.2 Nyaya is predominantly a school of
world are illusory, leads to the awareness of the logical investigation into the correct means of
unity of one’s self with Brahman.1 knowledge. It could be aptly called the science
What I wish to argue in this paper is that the of correct reasoning.3
Advaitin refutations of the relational category of Originally distinct, the two schools grad-
ually merged into a shared tradition, as Nyaya
Cameron M Wright is a graduate student of phil- accepted the metaphysical theories of atom-
osophy at the University of South Florida, USA. ism and Vaisheshika utilised the logical and
PB January 2020 155

epistemological theories of Nyaya. A core text These atoms are the ultimate constituents of
of this shared tradition is the Padarthadharma- the material world. The atoms are eternal, exten-
samgraha of Prashastapada. In this text, which sion-less and un-produced. The composite sub-
serves as a commentary on the Vaisheshika-sutra, stances which consist of atoms are not eternal.
Prashastapada delineates a system of categories, Spatial extension arises with the conjunction of
or padartha. These padartha are the things and atoms, as one finds with the extended composite
classes of things to which words refer, the units substances of common experience. Atoms are of
of predication that form the basis of the onto- four types, earth, water, fire, and air, all which
logical commitment of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika.4 combine to form the varying and multiple types
Here I will present the theory of ontological of objects found in the world. Other non-com-
categories in detail. This will not only show the posite substances include ether, selves, minds,
reader the various ontic types indicated by the cat- space, and time. Not only are these not com-
egories but will also reveal why it is necessary for posite substances, but they are also not atomic.6
the Vaisheshika to explain how these categories Prashastapada provides examples of how the
are related to one another, which leads them to existence of non-composite substances is in-
posit the category of inherence. The categories are ferred from the relationship between experience
contributed specifically by the Vaisheshika part of and the acts of speech and naming. He speaks
the tradition, for which reason I will most often of time as ‘the cause of the [relative] notions of
refer to the positions I present as Vaisheshika. As “priority” “posteriority”, or “simultaneity” and
Realists, both Nyaya and Vaisheshika are com- “succession”, and of “late” and “soon”.’7 The exist-
mitted to the reality of the objects of experience. ence of time also accounts for the observations
Perceptual awareness is veridical awareness. The of substantial change whereby things come into
distinctions found in experience are real distinc- being and go out of being. From the existence of
tions among objects which exist independently space ‘arise the ten notions [the ordinal direc-
of the experiencer and the properties of those tions] … Below and Above—with regard to one
objects. In particular, the Nyaya-Vaisheshika are corporeal (material) object considered with ref-
realists about the referents of words.5 erence to another material object as the starting
Three of these categories identify referents point or limit. Specially so, as there is no other
which are said to actually ‘exist’ or possess sat or cause available for these notions’ (ibid.).
being. The first of these is dravya or substance. According to Prashastapada, without the ex-
Substance is identified by the grammatical sub- istence of these substances, such concepts and
ject of speech. Substance is the basis of predica- words would have no real referents, and would
tion, the subject in which qualities inhere and to be rendered meaningless. This is particularly so
which changes occur. There are two types of sub- in regard to the self, as Prashastapada writes: ‘We
stances: composite and non-composite. Com- find the word “I” used in the Veda as well as in
posite substances are generally any objects of ordinary parlance, by learned persons; and this
experience one may encounter in everyday life, word could not be without something that it
such as persons, plants, animals, and artificial would denote’ (407).
objects. Composite substances consist of com- Along with substance, the categories of guna
ponent parts, such as atoms. Atoms are minute, or quality, and karma or motion, have causal
non-composite substances. efficacy. Both are found only to be present in
156 PB January 2020

The Advaita Vedanta Critique of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika Category of Inherence 167
substances. Broadly, qualities

and motions are both dharmas
or properties. Qualities are those
things which inhere in substances,
or more specifically qualify sub-
stances. Qualities such as size,
shape, texture, colour, extension,
smell, and so on, qualify particular
substances. There are also qual-
ities which are relational, such as
conjunctions. In this ontological
context, the word ‘conjunction’
Acharya Kanada
indicates a relation between substances, which
is a mere combination or proximity. This com- The category of samanya or universal, is what
bination is not like the inseparable relational tie makes multiple distinct things members of the
of inherence. same kind. A universal could also be thought of
Conjunctions qualify multiple substances as a ‘natural kind’, even though universals apply
in their relation to one another. Conjunctions to human-made artefacts as well. Universals are
may qualify substances as qualities, but motions directly cognised from the objects perceived ac-
are responsible for bringing about conjunctions. cording to the Vaisheshikas. As Prashastapada
Motions are the activity of substances. Move- explains, ‘When we cognise [all] individual
ments up or down or in any direction, any ac- objects as belong [sic] simultaneously to a par-
tivity, or change in position belong to this ticular class, and we have such cognitions re-
category. The causal power of bringing about peatedly, then there is produced in our minds
conjunction and disjunction are exclusive to mo- an impression; and when in view of this impres-
tions. Motions are non-material causes, which sion we review those past cognitions, we come
are capable of producing effects in other sub- to recognise a certain factor that inheres in every
stances beyond the single substances in which one of the objects cognised; and it is this factor
they inhere.8 that constitutes the universal’ (420).
The next three categories—universal, indi- The Vaisheshika take this observation as the
vidualiser, and inherence—are said to be present basis of their view that universals are directly
IMAGE: HTTPS://RAFZEN.WORDPRESS.COM
but not to exist independently in the way sub- cognised from experience.11 For a given object,
stance and its properties do. They are present in being a member of a species among substances is
that they are available to perception and can be granted by the universal of that species. For all
referred to in speech.9 As Prashastapada puts it, vehicles, the universal of ‘car-hood’ inheres, for
these have ‘the character of having their sole being all circles ‘circularity’, for all trees a certain ‘tree-
within themselves, having … the cognitive faculty ness’ or ‘being a large-sized, woody plant’, or for
as their sole indicator, of not being an effect, of humans perhaps ‘being a rational animal’.
not being a cause … of being eternal, and of not Given that universals are directly cognised
being expressible by the word “artha” ‘thing’.10 in experience; universals likewise provide the
Let’s consider each of these categories in turn. basis for linguistic expressions which utilise
PB January 2020 157

general or universal terms. The ideas of inclu- before one can compare them to establish their
sion or universality would be empty if it weren’t resemblance. The individualiser is also the basis
for the existence of universals as real referents, of counting, and therefore numbers, as members
as Prashastapada illustrates: ‘It [universality] of the same kind remain distinct and can be dis-
brings about the idea of its own form in one, tinguished in the act of counting (47).
two or many things; and it is the cause or basis The category of samavaya or inherence is, ac-
of the notion of inclusion, inhering as it does cording to Stephen Phillips, the most important
in all is substrates simultaneously.’12 The Nyaya of the categories. Inherence ensures the insepar-
philosophy further demonstrates the linguistic able relation of one ontic category to another.
motivation for positing the reality of univer- Qualities and motions are related to substances
sals, as Gautama writes in the Nyaya Sutra: ‘The by inherence. Universals and individualisers are
meaning of a word (noun) is, according to us, attached to substances and their properties by in-
the genus, form and individual. An individual is herence. The category of inherence allows for an
that which has a definite form and is the abode explanation of why a given property or category
of particular qualities. The form is that which inheres in a particular substance, perhaps at a
[indicates or] is called the token of the genus. given time, and not another. Qualities and mo-
The “universal” is the cause (or basis) of compre- tions also cannot in any way exist on their own,
hensive cognition (2.2.66–9; 370). independent of substances. Inherence allows a
The use of a word such as ‘cow’ refers to in- means for qualities and motions to be bound to
dividual cows only because the universal ‘cow- the substances which exhibit them.
hood’ inheres in each cow. This reference theory As with the other categories, the Vaisheshika
of meaning grounds the reality of universals posit inherence as a distinct category, which in-
through the experience of particulars, which dicates the practical, linguistic need to explain
guarantees the true meaning of words.13 The how it is that the other categories are related to
categories previously mentioned also partake of each other. Whereas other categories are avail-
universality. Every substance possesses the uni- able to perception, or they ‘bring about notions
versal ‘being a substance’, every quality ‘being a of ’ themselves, inherence must be inferred from
quality’, and every motion ‘being a motion’ (46). the observation that categories like properties
The vaishesha or the individualiser, is the cat- subsist in a necessary and dependent relation on
egory which enables members of the same kind substances. Prashastapada introduces the cat-
to be numerically distinct things. This category egory of inherence as one which proceeds from
is particularly important to the Vaisheshika in the concept that ‘this subsists in this’, that one
that it ensures that all non-composite substances, thing, namely some property, resides in an insep-
such as atoms, space, time, and selves, are all of arable relation of dependence on another thing,
the same type without being identical to each namely a substance.14 Inherence also explains
other. Not only does the individualiser ground how substances are related or combined with
the distinctness of similar things, but it likewise other substances. Composite substances con-
grounds the notions of similarity and resem- sist of non-composite or other composite sub-
blance. If one recognises that two or more par- stances which are said to ‘nest in’ each other. It is
ticulars are members of the same class, one must through inherence that such nesting is possible.
presuppose the particularity of each individual An organism can be said to nest in its organs,
158 PB January 2020

organs nest in tissues, tissues nest in cells, and

cells nest in atoms. Cells are combined with
tissues, and tissues with organs, and so on, by
means of inherence.15
A seventh and final category of the Vaishe-
shika ontology is abhava or absence, but which
can be literally translated as ‘negative fact’. Ab-
sence is said to be real, but not present nor ex-
istent. Absences can be known and given name
but are not present in objects. This category is
supposed to provide a referent to make mean-
ingful statements of negation. A denial would
be a statement like any other which names some-
thing. The act of naming requires an object to be
named, and absences provide such an object. If
one does not see the delicious banquet of food
one expected to encounter at the family reun-
ion, this absence is named by the denial of the
banquet, and perhaps a denial of any legitimacy
for having come to such reunion. Absence is also
Acharya Shankara Temple, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
a relational category, which allows the distinc-
tion between a point in time when an object is to refute … other systems which are obstacles in
present, and when an object is no longer present, the way of perfect knowledge.’16
or after an object no longer exists at all. Mutual Acharya Shankara sets out to dismantle the
exclusion also entails absence, in that one ob- realist position of Nyaya-Vaisheshika and each
ject cannot be one and the same as a different of the theoretical categories which support it.
object (50–1). It is the proposed distinctness which stands
In positing their ontology, the Nyaya- as an obstacle in the way of the knowledge of
Vaisheshika philosophies seem to assume that Brahman. He emphasises an attempt to un-
the distinctness and reality of their categories dermine the relational category of inherence.
is guaranteed by perception. From the position In the atomic theory of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika,
of Advaita Vedanta, it is vital to establish that inherence serves the mereological function of
the apparently distinct aspects of perceptual ex- explaining how atoms or other substances are
perience are in fact illusory. The philosopher bound together. The more important function
Acharya Shankara explains in his commentary of inherence is to explain how the various ontic
on the Vedanta Sutra or Brahma Sutra: ‘Al- categories are bound to each other. Inherence
though it is the object of this system to define broadly serves a foundational role for this realist
the true meaning of the Vedānta texts and not, ontology, particularly for maintaining the dis-
like the science of Logic, to establish or refute tinctness of each ontic type indicated by the cat-
some tenet by mere ratiocination, still it is in- egories. Shankara argues against both functions
cumbent on thorough students of the Vedānta served by inherence.
PB January 2020 159

The Vaisheshika find the appearance of dis- from the two things which it connects, requires
tinctness in the world and set out to explain another relation of inherence to connect it with
it. Taking the world as a plurality of parts, the them, there being absolute difference in both
Vaisheshika analyse the world into impercep- cases. For this second relation of inherence
tible ultimate substances or atoms. The atoms again, a third relation of inherence would have to
comprise the material constitution and cause be assumed and so on ad infinitum’ (2.2.13; 389).
of the manifest world. As regards the atoms The goal here is to establish that the atoms
being the cause of the world, they must be con- cannot be the ultimate causes of the world. By
joined in some way. Motion is required to bring showing how positing inherence leads to an in-
the atoms into conjunction with one another. finite regress of inherences, Acharya Shankara
Acharya Shankara argues that motion requires eliminates the explanatory power of the posited
the purposeful action of an agent to ensure the relation, arguing that it cannot suffice to explain
conjunction and organisation of the atoms. The how atoms are held together. If an infinite num-
non-intelligent atoms cannot themselves be the ber of connections is required to explain how a
originators of the motion required for their own single inherence relation relates two atoms, then
conjunction. The order of the manifest world there is no justifiable need for the Vaisheshika to
could not arise from the mere conjunction of posit a single relation of inherence. Inherence ul-
non-intelligent atoms. Brahman is the intelli- timately has no explanatory power and needs to
gent source of motion and the material cause of be replaced by a stronger mereological theory.
the world.17 From the Advaita position, there are no mereo-
Even if the Vedantin were to allow the exist- logical relations to explain. The world does not
ence of atoms, these atoms would not be fun- consist of atoms or any other parts at all.
damentally basic; such atoms would still be Consider how all the categories, those predi-
reducible and decomposable into the primary cated of substances, for example, such as qual-
cause, which is Brahman. Acharya Shankara ex- ities, motions, universals, and individualisers,
plains: ‘Just as the hardness of ghee [butter], gold, are entirely dependent upon substances and only
and the like is destroyed in consequence of those found present in substances. The Vaisheshika
substances being rendered liquid by their contact posit these categories as all being completely dis-
with fire, no separation of parts taking place all tinct and separate from each other. It is the cat-
the while; so the solid shape of atoms may also be egory of inherence which binds or predicates
decomposed by their passing back into the indif- the other categories to others, such as qualities
ferenced condition of the highest cause.’18 and motions to substances, or universals to sub-
Acharya Shankara defeats the mereological stances and qualities.
function of inherence by inciting the problem of Acharya Shankara argues that these two views
an infinite regress of inherence relations between about the categories, that they are both distinct
atoms. He directly addresses the Vaisheshika and from substances, and that they depend on sub-
explains: ‘For just as a binary compound, which stances, are contradictory. He explains that the
is absolutely different from the two constitu- categories, taken as distinct things, ‘just as or-
ent atoms, is connected with them by means of dinary things, such as animals, grass, trees, and the
the relation of inherence (samavāya), so the rela- like, being absolutely different from each other
tion of inherence itself being absolutely different do not depend on each other, so the qualities, etc.
160 PB January 2020

also being absolutely different from substance,

cannot depend on the latter’ (2.2.17; 395). Given
that the categories like quality, motion, and uni-
versality are only present inhering and depend-
ent upon substance, the Advaitin observes that
only substance exists. Inherence would here not
be needed to explain how distinct properties in-
here in substances. Properties partake of the same
being as their respective substances.
Another problem that arises from a theory
which posits inherence as a separate real category,
which relates properties, is a regress problem
similar to the one above regarding atoms. In the
same way that an infinite regress results from in-
herence relating the ultimate substances, if prop-
Francis Herbert Bradley
erties must be related to substances by means of
inherence, nothing explains how inherence is re- said nothing. Or we have to make a new relation
lated to properties or substances itself. The later between the old relation and the terms; which,
Advaitin, Shriharsha (c. 1150), argues that for any when it is made, does not help us. It either itself
attempt to posit an inherence, which relates a demand a new relation.’20
property to a property-bearer, there must be fur- Shriharsha and Bradley both further iden-
ther relations of inherence to combine inherence tify the only other option available: properties
with either term of the relation.19 It is useless to and property-bearing substances partake of the
posit a discrete relation of inherence to connect same being and are combined by the very nature
properties with their respective substances. of their unity. Bradley takes a similar position
Yet another worry voiced by Shriharsha is to the Advaitin’s, arguing that reality is a uni-
the concern that property might be unrelated tary whole and that the world of distinct experi-
to the property-bearer (221). The nineteenth- ences is a mere appearance or illusion. Bradley
century British idealist Francis Herbert Bradley takes the whole as serving the relational func-
(1846–1924) addresses a similar problem of a tions, as properties are ‘all different, and on the
property being unrelated to a property-bearer other hand, because belonging to the one whole,
as the consequence of the infinite regress of re- are all forced to come together’ (19). Shrihar-
lations. Positing a relation of inherence does sha similarly explains that properties and sub-
not explain how properties are related to substances in combination display an unified nature,
IMAGE: HTTPS://ARTUK.ORG
stances. If an independent relation is ascribed to for ‘if at the beginning or the end the relation
two terms, being independent, a further relation is admitted to be of the very nature of one of
must be ascribed between the independent and the terms (property or property-bearer), then
each of the terms. From this, Bradley claims that since even the other term of the relation would
the ‘problem is not solved by taking relations as enter into the very nature of that (the combined
independently real. For, if so, the qualities and relate-relator), nothing but non-distinctness
their relation fall entirely apart, and then we have would result’.21
PB January 2020 161

gives rise to the need for identifying and explain-

ing the relations between such distinct aspects.
By observing things which are connected in
some way, such as properties which are prox-
imate to each other within an object, one infers
such ideas as connection, relation, or inherence.
Melpazhur Mana, Veliyanad, Kerala: Acharya Shankara’s According to the Vaisheshika, the need to utilise
Mother Aryamba’s House a word to indicate such a relation indicates that
As I have stated above, the Vaisheshika system such a relation must actually exist independently.
is motivated by realism regarding the referents This enables the word to meaningfully refer to
of words. As Ruth Reyna explains, the ‘Vaishe- the relation.
shika thinkers, aware of the intimate relation be- Acharya Shankara clarifies that the experi-
tween name and form, include in their categories ence of distinct things or properties entails some
all thinkable objects and not only those things relations is apparent from experience. Relations
predicable of another, but also subjects capable like inherence are conceptual and linguistic in
of having things predicated of them.’22 Acharya origin.25 Inherence is just a useful way of refer-
Shankara recognised the relation between name ring to ways in which properties are configured
and form as well, but argues against the Vaishe- in experience. Similarly, Bradley characterises
shika for the opposing position. Distinctions of the delineation of the world into qualities and
form found in experience, which are indicated relations in terms of mere practical necessity. To
by name, do not indicate true distinctions. Using posit their actual existence becomes unintelli-
clay as a metaphor, Acharya Shaṅkara demon- gible upon analysis.26 Considering the Vaishe-
strates that, despite whatever form clay may be shika’s categories, this mirrors the brunt of the
moulded into to make vases, bowls, ashtrays, and Advaitin objection: the Vaisheshika take the
the like, all of these truly consist only of clay. Dis- mere qualitative aspects of experience to be the
tinctions which apparently indicate an object’s ingredients of the world. In doing so, they ultim-
properties or what type of object it is, are only ately fail to account for how these ingredients are
the products of naming. bound together.
The same is true with the nature of Brahman. Ultimately, for the Vaisheshika, the category
All the effects and distinctions of the manifest of inherence helps establish and maintain within
world partake of the unitary existence with Brah- their ontological theory their belief in distinct-
man. Insomuch as they are distinct, named ob- ness. Distinctness is the basis for their detailed
jects, they do not represent true reality.23 From model of categories and relations, which suppos-
Shriharsha comes the same attack, charging that edly map onto the world. These categories how-
the realist categories are supposed to match real- ever do not help delineate the real nature of the
ities which are ultimately illusory. Phenomenal world. According to Shriharsha, the proof given
experiences are not to be taken as ultimately real, for the actuality of distinctness, and thus the jus-
but instead are distinguished and solidified in tification for the categories, is perception. Per-
theory by practical and customary needs.24 ception, however, does not prove distinctness,
For the Realist Vaisheshika, to distinguish since distinctness is indeterminable from percep-
distinct aspects of experience as ultimately real tion alone, as Shriharsha argues. The Advaitin
162 PB January 2020

view, which regards the world as nothing other of “New Logic” (Chicago: Open Court, 1995),
28–9.
than the unitary existence of Brahman, does not 2. See Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, eds
deny that perception presents distinct proper- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A Moore
ties, nor does it fail to endorse an asymmetri- (Princeton: Princeton University, 1989), 386.
cal relation between properties and substances. 3. See Ruth Reyna, Introduction to Indian Phil-
osophy (New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 1971),
Even still, this view is compatible with the non-
126.
dual nature of Brahman.27 4. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 38, 44.
Taking the apparently distinct properties in 5. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 133 and Intro-
experience as indicating real distinctions is a duction to Indian Philosophy, 132.
step the Advaitin does not take. For every ob- 6. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 45–6; Source-
book in Indian Philosophy, 398; and Introduction
jection made by the Advaitins to the category of to Indian Philosophy, 134.
inherence, we find that the Vaisheshika depend 7. Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 404.
on the assumption that distinctness is real to es- 8. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 45–6 and
tablish that inherence relates what they wish to Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 399, 419.
claim it does. Their goal, however, is to prove 9. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 46.
10. Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 399–400.
that distinctness is real. Inherence is supposed 11. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 46–7.
to explain how atoms are combined with one an- 12. Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 420.
other. After all, inherence is supposed to explain 13. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 46, 58.
how various qualities, motions, or universals are 14. Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 422–3.
15. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 48.
united with particular substances. Inherence is 16. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brahma
supposed to provide meaning for referring to Sutra, 2.2.1; The Vedānta-Sūtras with the Com-
relational aspects between properties. mentary of Saṅkarācārya, trans. George Thibaut
Inherence is supposed to help prove and (Oxford: Clarendon, 1890), 363.
maintain the belief in distinctness. The Advaitins 17. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
Brahma Sutra, 2.2.12; The Vedānta-Sūtras with
challenge that by positing inherence, the Vaishe- the Commentary of Saṅkarācārya, 386–8. Also
shika grant one more unnecessary entity in an see Surendranath Dasgupta, Indian Idealism
already excessive list of categories of existing (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1933), 164.
types. By attacking the category of inherence, 18. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brahma
Advaitins like Acharya Shankara and Shrihar- Sutra, 2.2.18; The Vedānta-Sūtras with the Com-
mentary of Saṅkarācārya, 400.
sha help weaken the threat that an ontological 19. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 98, 221.
commitment to multiplicity and distinctness 20. F H Bradley, Appearance and Reality, (Oxford:
may pose to belief in a unified and fundamental Oxford University, 1893), 18.
reality. This threat is more than a mere difference 21. Classical Indian Metaphysics, 221.
22. Introduction to Indian Philosophy, 133.
in belief, but a difference about fundamental 23. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
principles. Belief in multiplicity and distinctness Brahma Sutra, 2.1.14; The Vedānta-Sūtras with
pose a threat to the personal realisation of the the Commentary of Saṅkarācārya, 320–1.
reality and unity of Brahman and the ultimate 24. See Indian Idealism, 188.
liberation which this realisation affords. P 25. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
Brahma Sutra, 2.2.17; The Vedānta-Sūtras with
References the Commentary of Saṅkarācārya, 397–8.
1. See Stephen H Phillips, Classical Indian Meta- 26. Appearance and Reality, 21.
physics: Refutations of Realism and the Emergence 27. See Classical Indian Metaphysics, 99.
PB January 2020 163

174
Advaita Vedanta and

Philosophy of Religion
Javier Ruiz Calderón
T
he only way to understand cor- Vedanta within the descriptive and critical
rectly any cultural product is to compare framework of the specific philosophy of religion
it with other members of the same class. in which I have been working in recent decades.2
That way, you can see what it has in common For this purpose I will summarise telegraphically
with them and what is specific, unique in it that some of the most important ideas of my phil-
distinguishes it from the others. The application osophy of religion and will verify how they fit in
of this general principle to the field of religious with the tradition of Advaita Vedanta.3
studies has given rise to the comparative study of
religions. One of its founders, Max Müller, said The Divine and Religious Attitude
in a well-known sentence: ‘He who knows one We must distinguish two facets of the religious
[religion], knows none.’1 phenomenon: the personal and the institutional.
Among the sciences of religion that cannot We may call them, respectively, ‘religiosity’ and
avoid the use of the comparative method is the ‘religion’. Religiosity is a personal attitude to-
philosophy of religion. Philosophy is the attempt wards life that includes the belief in one or more
to describe the general structure of reality, the- ‘divine’ realities. Religions are traditions—cul-
oretical philosophy, so that we can orient our tural, social, historical—of religiosity. Both
life in it, practical philosophy. Theoretical phil- aspects are inseparable: there is no personal religi-
osophy always includes two parts: 1) description osity without institutional religion or vice versa.
or analysis of the phenomenon to be studied and In Advaita Vedanta we find both aspects: the
2) exposition of the relations of that phenom- non-dualist tradition, which arises in the Upani-
enon with human life and the whole of reality. shads, was institutionalised first in the lineage of
Consequently, the task of philosophy of religion teachers and disciples which transmitted it and
consists in 1) describing the essence and forms then in the monastic order, whose foundation is
of religious phenomena, the phenomenology of attributed to Acharya Shankara.
religion and 2) showing the relationships that Religious attitude, religiosity or spirituality is
religion has with human life and with reality as the heart of religion; but it needs to be expressed
a whole, the critique of religion. through external mediations such as beliefs,
The aim of this article is to place Advaita rules, institutions, symbols, rituals, and the like.
The knowledge of the Absolute, which is an im-
Javier Ruiz Calderón is an independent scholar of mediate experience, is the essential aspect of Ved-
religion and a member of Sociedad Académica de anta; but without the words, ideas, conventions,
Filosofía, Toledo, Spain. and the like, which accompany its transmission,
164 PB January 2020

it would remain as something merely subjective,

mute, and without relevance to humanity.
Every religious tradition transmits an alleged
experience or revelation of the Divine. The ori-
ginal experience that gives rise to Vedanta is the
self-revelation of Brahman in the intellect of
the knower.
In all religions, the Divine is conceived as
something transcendent to ordinary experi-
ence; it is beyond the world, it is ‘supernatural’.
But we would not know anything about it if it
did not reveal itself in the world, if it were not
also immanent.
In Vedanta the idea of the Divine is Brahman,
the Absolute, which is transcendent to the world
and immanent in it.
Besides, the Divine is always conceived as that
reality whose intervention is vital for the fulfil-
ment of human needs, on which depends the
Adi Shankara Keerthi Sthambha, Kalady, Kerala
good of human beings.
According to Vedanta, the knowledge of Religious attitude consists in surrendering
Brahman is what causes the annihilation of ig- to the Divine, having the faith that it is the only
norance and suffering. And moksha is the ul- reality that can assure us the attainment of what
timate goal of human existence. is good for us.
From the religious point of view, ‘worldliness’ That self-surrender may be linked either to
is the realm of finitude, desire, action, pleasure, the worship of personal divine beings or to the
and pain. The Divine is also believed to be be- contemplation of non-personal divine realities.
yond the world in this existential sense. In return, the Divine grants the humans the
Brahman is eternally free. It has always been good to which they aspire.
beyond the cycle of worldly existence, samsara. In Vedanta, surrender to the Divine consists
The oldest forms of religion had a relative idea in the contemplation of Brahman or Self-en-
of Divine transcendence; the idea of an abso- quiry, through the concrete steps of study, reflec-
lutely transcendent reality was reached later in tion, and meditation on the Absolute. The final
the history of religion. knowledge of Brahman is the same as moksha.
Vedic hymns worship a number of rela- The relationship between the human and
tive gods, deities who are partly dependent on the Divine is completely asymmetric: the initi-
worldly processes. Gradually, there was an evo- ation, development, and consummation of this
lution towards the idea of one Divine reality ab- relationship depend on the Divine reality. The
solutely independent of the world. This idea only role of human beings consists only in the as-
ended up prevailing in the Upanishads with the sent, not merely theoretical but also vital, to
concept of Brahman, the Absolute. that Divine offer.
PB January 2020 165

knowledge of Brahman shine. These are the two

levels of religiosity in Vedanta.
Religiosity of salvation or liberation started
in what Karl Jaspers called the ‘Axial Age’ of the
history of humankind, in which individuals of
some advanced cultures started to live as autono-
mous beings and raised philosophical questions.
In India this happened at the time of the
Vedic Upanishads, which are the foundations
of Vedanta.
Religiosity of worldly goods belongs to and
unites the individual exclusively with the specific
community to which she or he belongs; religi-
osity of salvation or liberation is universal, open
to all humanity.
The dharma shastras, treatises on right action,
like the Manu Smriti, explain the duties of each
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969)
person according to the social group to which
Brahman reveals itself in the intellect in the they belong, their gender, and their age. For the
form of discernment between the eternal and most orthodox ones, only male individuals of
the transitory. The whole path of knowledge is the three upper castes were entitled to practise
nothing but the gradual deepening and assimi- Vedanta. Contemporary Vedanta, supported by
lation of this discernment that is there from the the authority of many traditional texts, states
beginning of the path. that all human beings are called to the search for
spiritual liberation.
Forms of Religion Religiosity of worldly goods is static: it pro-
Older religions want the divinities to meet their vides psychological and social order and safety;
worldly, relative needs; the subsequent ones that of salvation or liberation is dynamic: it trans-
aspire to ‘salvation’ or ‘liberation’, that is, they forms people and directs them towards holiness.
aspire to the final overcoming of finitude and The practice of dharma provides that psycho-
the irreversible achievement of the supreme, social order, which is the first function of reli-
absolute Good. gion; the practice of Vedanta, or any yoga or any
Vedic deities are relative beings and, there- spiritual path, leads to moksha.
IMAGE: HTTPS://ALCHETRON.COM
fore, can only provide relative goods. On the Among the religions of salvation or liber-
contrary, Brahman, the Absolute, can provide ation some are more ‘prophetic’, centred on the
the absolute good, moksha. transformation of history, which is conceived
Both levels of religion often go together, and linearly; others more ‘mystical’, aspiring to the
the religion of salvation or liberation is usually transcendence of time, that is conceived as cyclic.
based on the previous religiosity of worldly goods. In this classification, all religions born in
The practice of right action, dharma, puri- India, also called ‘dharma religions’, are con-
fies the mind. Only in a purified mind can the sidered mystical religions, together with Daoism.
166 PB January 2020

Concepts of the Divine believe that the supreme good can only be ob-
There are different concepts of the Divine. They tained after death; for others, it is possible to
can be either 1) unitary or multiple; 2) personal achieve it in this life. But all of them offer as the
or impersonal; 3) entitative or potential; 4) of ideal goal for this life ‘holiness’ or religious per-
worldly goods or of salvation or liberation; and, fection, that is, a maximum of or even a complete
among the latter, 5) prophetic or mystical. Com- surrender to the Divine.
bining these five factors, result many different For Vedanta, it is possible to achieve liber-
possible concepts of the divine, such as mono- ation in life, before the death of the physical
theism, polytheism, monism, animism, and so on. body. The liberated in life is one who has assimi-
For Vedanta, the Divine is nirguna Brahman, lated completely the knowledge of the identity
the Absolute without relative to the world at- of one’s self with Brahman. When such a person’s
tributes. Brahman is akhanda sat-chid-ananda, body dies, she or he will never be reborn again.
the indivisible Reality-Consciousness-Bliss, the The full surrender of the Self-realised per-
only Existence. This is a unitary, impersonal, son to the Divine frees one from attachment to
entitative, liberating, and mystical idea of the worldly things. This allows such a person to over-
Divine. The world does not exist apart from come selfishness, empathise with other beings
Brahman. But when we think of the world as and live altruistically, loving and serving others.
something really existing, emerges a lower idea One who has been liberated in life has over-
of Brahman as a personal God, ishvara, or an come ignorance, attachment, and pleasure or
Absolute with relative to the world attributes, pain. Such a person perceives the unity of all
saguna Brahman. In this relative sense, Brahman things in the Atman and, consequently, spontan-
is the ruler of the universe, who governs, creates, eously loves all beings and, depending on one’s
maintains and destroys it, distributes the fruits character, either serves them actively or simply
of actions, and the like. The worship of Brah- radiates one’s wisdom and love without seem-
man with attributes concentrates the mind and ingly doing anything, like the sun.
facilitates the emergence of the knowledge of There are various spiritual paths which lead
the attributeless Brahman. to holiness. Prayer, meditation, and other com-
plementary practices, moral, ascetic, and the
Eschatology and Spirituality like, allow the spiritual aspirant to increase one’s
Many religious traditions have beliefs about a awareness of and surrender to the Divine. In
possible survival of a person after death, which many traditions, faith, based on trust in the tes-
help them to explain the meaning of the appar- timony of others, is transformed gradually into a
ent injustices of human life. direct experience of the Divine, that is, into mys-
Indian religions believe in the law of karma, ticism, whose higher degree is the continuous
the actions we perform determine the future cir- and spontaneous awareness of the Divine.
cumstances in which we will find ourselves; re- The essential practices of Advaita Vedanta
ciprocally, everything that happens to us is due are: listening of teachings on Atman-Brah-
to our past actions. The individual soul is born man, reflection on such teachings, and deep
again and again in circumstances corresponding meditation on what has been understood
to the actions it has performed previously. in the previous stages, with the purpose of
Some religions of salvation or liberation fully assimilating it. Finally, the knower only
PB January 2020 167

perceives Brahman, directly, spontaneously, The three kinds of world views that may
and continuously. seem plausible in the twenty-first century are
naturalism, only the material universe exists;
Metaphysical Critique of Religion monotheism, there is a personal God who is the
Most religious traditions affirm the existence of foundation and Lord of the universe; and mo-
entities that are transcendent to the world: di- nism, there is an absolute non-personal reality
vine beings, souls, heavens and hells, a postmor- that is the foundation of the universe; but it is
tem life, and so on. What can we know about not possible to justify either the truth or the
them? Subjective experience of the supernatural falsehood of any of them.
is not valid as a common form of knowledge. Sci- Advaita Vedanta would be classified within
ence and philosophy cannot say anything about the ‘monisms’; but the term ‘non-dualism’, a-
the transcendent, since they do not reach be- dvaita, is more accurate, because nothing can
yond the mundane realm. All religiosity incorp- be said about Brahman, not even that it is ‘one’,
orates an element of faith in the testimony of since, being beyond all dualities, it is out of
a tradition that conveys a religious experience. the scope of speech and thought. Literally, we
Faith based on the testimony of certain scrip- can only say about Brahman what it is not: it
tures and traditions is reasonable or plausible is neti, neti, not this, not this; nothing of all
when it does not contradict common experience this: it is not finite, it is in-finite, an-anta; it
and reasoning. is in-divisible, a-khanda; it is time-less, nitya;
As we have seen above, Vedanta asserts the there are no dualities in it and so, it is non-
existence, at least relative, of the individual soul, dual, a-dvaita.
which is immersed in the cycle of births and According to our agnostic philosophy of reli-
deaths ruled by the law of karma, and in the pos- gion, nothing can be asserted or denied about the
sibility of its liberation through the knowledge truth or falseness of the metaphysics of Vedanta.
of Brahman. It also asserts, here from the high- The form of religiosity that is most consistent
est point of view, the existence of the Atman- with this metaphysical agnosticism is a religi-
Brahman as the Absolute and non-dual reality. osity without metaphysical beliefs in supermun-
According to Vedanta, neither perception dane entities, processes, and the like. But, can
nor reasoning can say anything about metaphys- there be religion without metaphysical beliefs?
ical or transcendent realities such as the soul and Yes. For there to be a religion, there must be faith
its destiny, Brahman, and the like. Only the par- in the Divine, that is, in a transcendent and bene-
ticular verbal testimony that we find in the re- factor principle. But that transcendence need
vealed scriptures, the Vedas, allows us to know not be an entity located beyond the world; it
those realities. Therefore, Vedanta begins, like is enough to believe in the possibility of a sub-
every religious tradition, by faith in revelation; jective, existential, transcendence of worldly
and this indirect knowledge is transformed into limitations; that is, in the possibility of religious
direct knowledge and mystical experience by perfection or holiness.
Vedantic practice. These Vedanta doctrines are How to apply this to Vedanta? Is the practice
plausible, for they do not contradict perception of Vedanta possible without literally believing in
and reasoning, that is, they are compatible with karma and rebirth and, what is more serious, with-
science and ordinary knowledge. out believing in the existence of Brahman? We
168 PB January 2020

think so. It seems to us that for practising Vedanta,

it is enough to believe in the possibility of liber-
ation and that it can be reached through study,
reflection, and meditation on Brahman. For such
practice, even if one understands Brahman not
as a metaphysical reality, but merely as a symbol
or fiction expedient for spiritual practice—or, as
Buddhists would say, as a ‘skillful means’, upaya,
practical, although not literally true—one even-
tually would realise one’s identity with Brahman.4
Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, Kalady
Ethical Critique of Religion Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and now
Someone who believes that religion is true, will is followed by many Hindu spiritual masters, as-
believe as well in its goodness; someone who be- serts firmly the equality of all human beings and
lieves it is false, will think it is not good; and there combines the great spiritual tradition of Vedanta
is no more possible rational debate. But at least with modern rationality, taking the best of both
it will seem reasonable that, if there is religion, and abandoning what is incompatible.
it should be up to the times, that is: it should be
consistent with the philosophical and scientific For A Critical Religiosity
rationality and with the humanistic and univer- In this last section, we shall not write philosoph-
salist values that emerged in the ‘axial age’ of the ically, from mere reason, but religiously, from
history of humanity and in Western modernity. faith in the Divine; but from a critical faith, en-
We must combine faith with reason by taking lightened and without metaphysical beliefs. For
the best of each side. And, consequently, we must a critical religiosity, the Divine cannot still be a
abandon so many enslaving irrationalities, in- hypothetical supermundane reality, but a name
justices, superstitions, and the like, that religious for the experience of self-transcendence in the
traditions have been dragging for millennia. The world, that is, of holiness. The other ideas of the
present-day religion must be integral: it must sur- Divine are symbols of that potential for religious
render to the Divine but without rejecting the perfection that we all have.
world. The holiness sought should not be an es- For the interpretation that I defend of
cape from the world but a full life in the world. Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the idea, the sym-
Advaita Vedanta is consistent both with sci- bol and the supreme experience that guides and
entific and philosophical rationality and with culminates the spiritual practice, although its ex-
modern humanism and universalism. It is true istence as a real entity cannot be asserted.
that in its most orthodox versions it has been The same goes for the other metaphysical,
linked to inequalities of caste, gender, and the eschatological, and other beliefs of religious
like, and with the consequent social injustices; traditions: they are useful fictions for religious
but some traditional texts, from the Upanishads practice. It is not necessary to throw overboard
and the Bhagavadgita onwards, already asserted religious traditions and their enormous wealth of
the essential equality of all human beings. And institutions, stories, ideas, and pragmatically use-
contemporary Vedanta, which arose from Sri ful practices. They will have to be reinterpreted
PB January 2020 169

In this respect, Hinduism has been a pion-

eering tradition. Sri Ramakrishna experienced
in himself that the different ideas of the Divine
are different names for the same experience and
that all spiritual paths lead to the same goal. And
Swami Vivekananda proclaimed this message
to the world, boldly stating in the 1893 World’s
In Sharada Devi Temple, Shringeri
Parliament of Religions held at Chicago that all
by adapting everything that is necessary to mod- religions are true. I believe that this humanistic
ern rationality, but being careful not to throw and universalist neo-Hinduism or neo-Vedanta
the baby out with the bathwater. has become, despite the opposition of the more
The doctrines of karma, rebirth, the indi- conservative, orthodox, and dogmatic sections
vidual soul, and so on, may be kept as metaphors of Hinduism, the most pluralistic, dialogic, and
or expedients useful for motivating, articulating, open religious tradition, and fortunately this atti-
and guiding the religious practice. tude is also gradually entering into other religions.
On the other hand, critical religiosity must Deep down, the Divine is a mystery of which
have, in addition to the individual dimension, almost nothing can be said. This reflection must
a social dimension: the struggle for individual culminate in silence. But not in and empty si-
holiness must be inseparably linked with the lence, but in that of a Plenitude that transcends
struggle for the common good and social justice. all limits, concepts, and words.
The necessary social dimension of spiritual That is why Dakshinamurti, the prototyp-
practice is already clear from the Gita. But this ical master, symbol of Brahman, teaches silently.
has come to the fore in contemporary Vedanta, Only when the ignorant mind is silenced and ab-
according to which the best way to worship God sorbed in the contemplation of the Absolute, the
is to serve God in suffering beings. For that rea- non-dual experience dawns and the individual
son, in many of the ashramas and monasteries merges into pure Consciousness, the love with-
that follow this version of Vedanta, in addition out subject and object. P
to the temple and the study room there is also
a charity hospital, free schools, and the like, in
1. Max Müller, ‘The Science of Religion: Lecture
which monks and devotees can both serve others One’, The Essential Max Müller On Language,
and purify themselves so that the knowledge of Mythology, and Religion, ed. Jon R Stone (New
Brahman can dawn in them. York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 113.
From this critical religiosity, there is not only 2. I summarise it in my recent book La Entrega a
lo Divino: Esbozo de una Filosofía de la Religión
one true religion, but many true religious trad-
[Surrender to the Divine: Outline of a Phil-
itions in the pragmatic sense that they can lead osophy of Religion] (Madrid: Herder, 2019).
humans to holiness. For each one, her or his 3. From now on, when I use the term ‘Vedanta’
own tradition and the symbols it includes are without qualification, I will always be referring
the best; but one must not think dogmatically specifically to Advaita Vedanta.
4. On this pragmatist reinterpretation of Advaita
that what is best for me is best for everyone. In Vedanta, see Javier Ruiz Calderón, ‘Advaita
fact, we should not only tolerate other traditions Vedānta Without Transcendent Metaphysics”,
but we should be open to learning from them. Indologica Taurinensia, 41–2 (2015–16), 7–17.
170 PB January 2020

181
Revisiting Acharya Shankara on

Renunciation—A Fundamental Reversal
Roger Marcaurelle
R
enunciation plays a crucial role monastic way of living represent a sine qua non
in Acharya Shankara’s teachings and in for complete Self-knowledge and liberation is ex-
the Advaita Vedanta tradition which pressed quite radically by the late Chandrashek-
traces back to him. A close analysis of Acharya hara Bharati, who was the pontiff of the Shringeri
Shankara’s writings shows however that a major Matha, one of the seats of spiritual learning
misinterpretation of his teaching concern- founded by Acharya Shankara himself. First,
ing renunciation has occurred within his own following Acharya Shankara, Chandrashekhara
tradition and among modern scholars. This mis- Bharati states in his commentary on the Viveka-
interpretation holds that, according to Shankara, chudamani that brahmanas alone have access to
physical or monastic renunciation was a sine qua physical renunciation of rites and to the monastic
non for full Self-knowledge and moksha. But life which follows. But, still presenting his point
this erroneous understanding of the founder of of view as Acharya Shankara’s, and referring to
the Advaita tradition superimposes a significant all other possible aspirants, Chandrashekhara
limitation to the path, sadhana, proposed by him Bharati adds: ‘As they are disqualified for samn-
for people who wish to reach the full experience yasa, which alone invests one with the right for
of Advaita. This clarification of Acharya Shanka- Vedantic inquiry, in their present life itself, they
ra’s philosophy of renunciation was developed in cannot know and realize Brahman.’2
full-length in my book Freedom Through Inner Thus, for this modern representative of
Renunciation.1 In this paper I propose first to Acharya Shankara’s tradition, monasticism is
recall my main arguments and then to make use undoubtedly a sine qua non for liberation. Fol-
of this reinterpretation for a consistent under- lowing a field research on the Shringeri Matha,
standing of Acharya Shankara’s introduction Yoshitsugu Saway comes to a similar conclu-
to his commentary on the Aitareya Upanishad, sion: ‘For Shankara, moksa [liberation] is not
which deals mainly with renunciation. possible without jnana [Self-knowledge], and
the road par excellence to jnana is karma-sam-
Physical renunciation Viewed as A Sine nyasa. This samnyasa, in turn, is possible only for
Qua Non brahmanas. It was they for whom Shankara’s in-
The viewpoint that physical renunciation and the struction was intended.’3 Sengaku Mayeda writes
along the same lines that ‘Shankara’s teachings
Roger Marcaurelle is a clinical psychologist and
adjunct Professor of psychology from Lorraine, were meant only for selected samnyasins’.4 Pat-
Canada, and has taught in religious studies at the rick Olivelle goes so far as to declare that ‘by
University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada. limiting renunciation to Brahmins, Shankara
PB January 2020 171

has in effect restricted enlightenment and even Shankara’s acknowledgement of attainment of

the aspiration to enlightenment to Brahmins’.5 Self-knowledge without being a physical re-
According to this interpretation of Acharya nouncer. The first explanation is that attainment
Shankara’s works, any aspirant to liberation must of Self-knowledge and moksha without physical
become a physical renunciant immediately after renunciation is an exception; the second is that
studies or must go through the following steps in one must have taken physical renunciation in a
the course of either one or many lives: the yoga previous life.
of action, that is, performance of regular and In her book Tilak and Shankara on the Gita,
occasional rites without attachment to their re- G V Saroja writes for instance: ‘This is the rea-
wards; purity of mind brought about by the yoga son for Shankara’s repeated emphasis of jnana
of action and giving rise to the intellectual con- [knowledge] preceded by samnyasa as the only
viction that the means to moksha is not ritual means to realization. Exceptional cases like
action, but direct knowledge of the actionless Janaka can never be considered as the general
Self; physical renunciation of all rites as part of case.’8 But this explanation has no scriptural or
initiation into monastic life; full-time practice of even logical basis. First, it must be noted that nei-
the discipline of knowledge consisting of hear- ther the Upanishads, nor the Gita, nor Acharya
ing, reflection, and meditation, applied mainly Shankara say that Janaka’s process of enlighten-
to the Upanishadic literature. ment, for instance, is to be taken as an exception.
In other words, as summarised by Kalya- Second, Saroja should have identified the scrip-
nasundara Sastri, ‘one has to practice karma-yoga tural rule with respect to which Janaka’s case is to
for the purpose of attaining the purification of be considered an exception. She has not.
the mind. This is the preliminary discipline, the The fundamental flaw in the exception argu-
ground work for spiritual progress. After attaining ment is this: given that from Acharya Shankara’s
the purification of the mind, and after renouncing viewpoint, the prescription of physical renunci-
all karma, one treads the path of knowledge.’6 ation as a subsidiary for Self-knowledge is ad-
This interpretation of the necessary steps dressed to the brahmanas only, non-brahmanas
to moksha seems to contradict many passages such as King Janaka cannot be exceptions to an
of Hindu literature which suggest that people injunction that does not even apply to them in
have reached moksha without taking recourse the first place. Thus, for non-brahmanas, the ex-
to physical renunciation. One may recall, for in- ception argument explains nothing at all. Theor-
stance, King Janaka referred to in the Bhagavad- etically, it could be relevant only for brahmanas.
gita and other non-sannyasins, who are said in At least one thing is sure at this point: the excep-
the Upanishads to teach the knowledge of the tion argument provides no consistent explan-
Self from father to son.7 ation for all cases of enlightenment without
physical renunciation.
Absence of Renunciation as an Exception
In the context of the tradition of Advaita Ved- The Postulation of
anta, two explanations are often given to solve Renunciation in A Previous Life
the apparent contradiction between the Upa- Other commentators of Acharya Shankara have
nishadic prescription of physical renunciation tried to solve the apparent contradiction of
as a means of Self-knowledge and Acharya achieving liberation without the subsidiary of
172 PB January 2020

Revisiting Acharya Shankara on Renunciation—A Fundamental Reversal 183
physical renunciation, by assuming that it has

been resorted to in a previous life. This argument
is found as early as Sarvajnatman (c. eighth-ninth
century), who may have been an immediate dis-
ciple of Acharya Shankara.
According to Purva Mimamsa, rituals en-
joined by the scriptures generate an unseen po-
tency, apurva, which continues to operate after
the performance of the ritual in order to bring
about the reward of the latter, heaven for in-
stance. Sarvajnatman understands the unseen
potency generated by physical renunciation to
be necessary for achieving the result consisting of
Appayya Dikshita and A Disciple
liberation.9 His viewpoint is well summarised by
Appayya Dikshita in Siddhanta-lesha-sangraha: potency argument cannot claim to support phys-
Since the sins that obstruct the rise of know- ical renunciation as a sine qua non for all cases
ledge are infinite, some are removable by the of enlightenment.
practice of sacrifice and the like, some are re- Let us now evaluate the argument of the pre-
movable by the unseen potency [apurva] from vious-life renunciation as a possible solution in
renunciation. … And thus, for those house- the case of brahmanas attaining liberation with-
holders, who practice hearing, and so on, in
out physical renunciation. First of all, Acharya
the intervals of karma, there is attainment of
knowledge, not in this life, but only after attain- Shankara does not even accept the concept of
ing renunciation, in another life. As for those unseen potency. ‘And there is no valid proof of
like Janaka and others, who attain knowledge, its existence’, says he in his commentary on the
even while being householders, their attain- Brahma Sutra.11 Second, when he refers to the
ment of knowledge is due to renunciation in effect of practices in previous lives leading to
a prior life.10 enlightenment in a future one, he never talks of
Thus, through unseen potency and unseen the production of unseen potency but only of
lives, prominent post-Shankara Advaitins have the purification of the mind.12
constructed a rationale for physical renunciation It may be argued that the means of knowledge
IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.HINDUSCRIPTURES.COM
as a sine qua non of Self-knowledge. known as postulation, arthapatti, allows one to

Let us first observe that, from a logical view- infer renunciation in previous lives because of
point, the need of an unseen potency from re- its absence in the one where enlightenment has
nunciation in a previous life would arise only been reached. Postulation is assuming the exist-
with respect to brahmanas. Since, according to ence of a fact or principle in order to explain an
Acharya Shankara, no prescription of physical undeniable fact, which otherwise cannot be ac-
renunciation is ever addressed to a non-brah- counted for. A stock example of postulation goes
mana in a given life, there is no need to justify a as follows: ‘Devadatta is fat. But he does not eat
non-brahmana’s enlightenment without physical during the day. So it must be assumed that he
renunciation during that life, by one’s renunci- eats at night.’ Most important to note here is that
ation in a previous one. Therefore, the unseen the first two statements, before the conclusive
PB January 2020 173

postulation as such, are understood to be visible, Shankara’s hermeneutics from a rule provided
undeniable facts. by Purva Mimamsa Sutra: ‘[Opponent:] The
Now, here is how one would construe the pos- act should be undertaken (pravrittih syat) only
tulation of renunciation in a previous life: ‘Phys- when the performer has the capacity to perform
ical renunciation is necessary for enlightenment. all [the accessory details]; as the act has been
But some people attain enlightenment in a given laid down as such. [Reply:] No. There should be
life without physical renunciation. So, it must performance (pravritti) even if only part [of the
be assumed that they took up physical renunci- accessory details] can be performed. For the ful-
ation in a previous life.’ One cannot but notice filment of the purpose (arthanivritti) proceeds
here that the first statement is not an undeni- from the principal action. All the rest is [simply
able fact or injunction. It is simply an unproven not essential], because it subserves the purpose
statement. Thus, the assumption of physical re- of the act.’14
nunciation in a previous life is not even formally Applying this rule to physical renunciation as
acceptable as a postulation. Rather, it amounts to a subsidiary for Selfknowledge, we could say that
a circular argument. if, as an exception, a brahmana cannot take to
Even if it were possible to properly construe physical renunciation, one can still fully actualise
a postulation in favour of physical renunciation Self-knowledge, the main means, corresponding
in a previous life, it would not be valid from to the ‘principal action’, and obtain liberation, its
Acharya Shankara’s viewpoint since, contrary ‘purpose’, because the latter does accrue mainly
to later Advaitins, he does not use and even ac- from Selfknowledge. Being indirect means,
cept postulation as a valid means of knowledge. other factors are ‘simply not essential’.
Unconvinced by an opponent’s recourse to pos- We may also take recourse to the manner in
tulation, Acharya Shankara retorts in his com- which Acharya Shankara explains the fact that
mentary on the Brahma Sutra: ‘But this is not people are reported to reach Self-knowledge and
logical. This queer assumption of something un- liberation without having practised the rites pre-
known is sheer dogmatism.’13 He also points out scribed as remote subsidiaries for the discipline
in his commentaries on the Brahma Sutra and of knowledge. According to Acharya Shankara’s
the Gita that when something is known from interpretation of the Brahma Sutra, the claim
scriptures, postulation can have no claim. that people are qualified for Self-knowledge
even when deprived of qualification for rites is
Understanding Renunciation in Acharya explained by the fact that Shrauta and Smarta
Shankara’s Own Terms texts provide indicatory marks, linga, suggesting
If we wish to understand in Acharya Shankara’s that, even though unqualified for rites and thus
own terms the relationship between prescrip- not practising them, some people, among whom
tion of physical renunciation as a subsidiary were the widower Raikva and women such as
and acquisition of direct Self-knowledge, we Gargi, did acquire immediate knowledge of the
have to use something other than postulation Self.15 Applying the same exegetical rule to the
or unseen potency. subsidiary consisting of physical renunciation, we
The possibility that a brahmana attains en- may infer from indicatory marks found in Upani-
lightenment without physical renunciation can shadic passages referring to brahmana household-
be accounted for without violating Acharya ers, that they are said to reach mediate as well as
174 PB January 2020

immediate Self-knowledge without fulfilling the

auxiliary requirement of physical renunciation.
But this does not render the prescription of
physical renunciation useless or unimportant.
Its value is again analogous to that of the pre-
scription of rites even when Self-knowledge is
accessible without them. According to Acharya
Shankara’s understanding of the Brahma Sutra,
even when Self-knowledge and moksha are avail-
able without rites, it is preferable for people of
the first three modes of living, student, house-
holder, and hermit, to carry on with their ritu-
alistic duties (3.4.39). It can be said in a similar
fashion that even if direct Selfknowledge is avail-
able for brahmanas without physical renun-
ciation, it is preferable for them to adopt the
latter. This exegetical principle explains quite
simply why Acharya Shankara can, on the one
hand, very naturally accept that brahmanas are
qualified for the discipline of knowledge even
without taking to physical renunciation, and,
Elephanta Caves, 8th Century, Colossal Head
on the other hand, strongly advocate the latter
for them. Arguing in favour of physical renunci- renunciation of all actions, sarva-karma-san-
ation as a sine qua non by taking recourse to as- nyasa; steadfastness in the right perception, sa-
sumption, hypothetical lives and unseen potency myag-darshana-nishtha; and moksha.
clearly turns out to be out of place in the context It is usually understood by commentators
of Acharya Shankara’s hermeneutics. that, in these summaries of the path to liber-
ation, ‘attainment of knowledge’ does not refer
Renunciation of All Actions in the to direct Selfknowledge. It means a deep intel-
Householder’s Path Towards Moksha lectual conviction, arising usually from both the
One may still argue that, in a few places in his purity of the mind and the study of the scrip-
commentary on the Gita, Acharya Shankara tures that the ultimate goal of life is liberation
does prescribe physical renunciation as a neces- from all limited and impermanent states, includ-
sary step on the path to Self-knowledge and lib- ing sojourn in heaven and that the means of this
eration. Let us examine one of these passages liberation is not action or its combination with
that constitute quite complete summaries of Self-knowledge, but immediate knowledge of
the whole path to liberation. In his commen- the actionless Self alone. This conviction inspires
tary on the fifth chapter of the Gita, Acharya the seeker to take up physical abandonment of
Shankara gives the following sequence:16 yoga of rites, sarva-karma-sannyasa, which is considered
action, karma yoga; purity of mind, sattvashud- to be a necessary condition for entry into the
dhi; attainment of knowledge, jnana-prapti; Advaita discipline of knowledge, ‘steadfastness
PB January 2020 175

in the right perception’. However, this interpret- what happens with actions after enlightenment,
ation contradicts Acharya Shankara’s viewpoint. he refers to two possible cases, that is, that of
Let us first contextualise the sequence of the the person who did not renounce physically and
relevant verse of Gita in more detail.17 When that of the one who did: ‘The person, the one pos-
presenting this outline, Acharya Shankara sessing the perception described in the previous
specifies that ‘on every occasion’, pade pade, Sri verse, whose undertakings—they are called un-
Krishna has mentioned and will be mentioning dertakings because all actions are undertaken—
this sequence. Thus, this summary of the spir- actions undertaken, are all, as many as they are,
itual path seems quite basic in Acharya Shan- devoid of desires and of their incentives, of desires
kara’s eyes. Yet, before giving the sequence, he and of their causes, [and] accomplished without
mentions another possible way of attaining purpose, as mere movements, for the guidance of
moksha: ‘It has been said that the renouncers people if one leads an active life, and for the bare
who are steadfast in the right perception obtain maintenance of life, if one abstains from active
moksha directly, sadyomukti.’18 life’ (4.19).
This statement seems to account for those Since Acharya Shankara acknowledges here
who adopt physical renunciation immediately the possibility that one continues rites after at-
after their studies, that is, ‘even before starting taining liberation-in-life, in his eyes, at least
with rites’ (4.21). These physical renouncers are some people followed the discipline of know-
contrasted with people who ‘started with rites’ ledge and even attained direct Self-knowledge
(4.20), that is, who married after their studies without physical renunciation, that is, without
and became householders. It is as an alternative the physical ‘renunciation of all actions’ of the
to the direct way of physical renouncers that the above householder’s sequence as usually under-
sequence given immediately after also leads to lib- stood by Acharya Shankara’s interpreters. And
eration, but ‘through stages’, kramena. Thus, ac- we saw that, if we want to remain consistent with
cording to Acharya Shankara, the sequence of the Acharya Shankara’s own position, neither the
relevant verse of the Gita accounts for the moksha notion of exception nor the postulation of phys-
of all people, who did not take up physical renun- ical renunciation in a previous life can justify
ciation immediately after studies. We will call it physical renunciation as a universal requirement.
the ‘householder’s sequence toward moksha’. Then the questions are: What people does the
One could argue that, in this sequence, re- sequence proposed by the above summary really
nunciation of all actions, sarva-karma-sannyasa, account for? And what is the meaning of ‘renun-
does mean physical renunciation and since only ciation of all actions’, sarva-karma-sannyasa, and
brahmanas are allowed to adopt it, these stages of the other steps in the sequence?
are addressed only to them. But we will now see The most significant clue is found in the
that ‘renunciation of all actions, sarva-karma- various passages, where Acharya Shankara ac-
sannyasa or karma-sannyasa, is also attributed by counts for people who attained enlightenment
Acharya Shankara to nonbrahmanas, although without physical renunciation and who con-
not in the sense of physical renunciation as a pre- tinued the performance of rites even after that.
requisite for the discipline of knowledge. As he says in his commentary on the second
When, in his commentary on the fourth chapter of the Gita: ‘Now, as for the person who,
chapter of the Gita, Acharya Shankara describes [after] engaging in actions out of ignorance or
176 PB January 2020

out of imperfections such as desire, had his mind possibility of physical renunciation after reaching
purified by sacrifices, gifts, or austerity, and in a Self-knowledge that is already direct in nature.
whom arose knowledge of the supreme truth Acharya Shankara comes back with a similar
that all this is simply the One, the Brahman, the description in his introduction to a verse in the
non-doer, what may appear, even after action and fourth chapter of the Gita: ‘On the other hand,
its motive have disappeared, as one’s involvement one having started with action and having gained
in action for the guidance of people and with the the right perception of the Self later on, surely
same assiduity as before, is no action’ (2.11). abandons actions along with their accessories,
A little further, explaining the verse which as one does not see any purpose in action. If for
says that King Janaka and others attained liber- some reason it is impossible to abandon actions,
ation through action alone, Acharya Shankara one remains involved in actions as before, in
adds that, even though these enlightened per- order to guide people, without attachment to
sons did not renounce physically at any point action and its rewards, as one has no purpose of
in time, they did reach a stage which he calls ‘re- one’s own. Yet one does nothing at all, because,
nunciation of actions’: ‘If, even though knowers being burnt by the fire of knowledge, one’s ac-
of Reality, Janaka and others of old were en- tion turns out to be inaction’ (4.20).
gaged in actions, they did so for the guidance of Again the idea conveyed by Acharya Shan-
people. They attained perfection only through kara is that the most logical behaviour after en-
the knowledge that “the gunas act upon the lightenment is to abandon rites physically. And
gunas”. The idea is that, even though [the stage even when this is impossible, absence of doer-
of ] renunciation of actions had been reached, ship, ‘one does nothing at all’, is maintained by
karma-sannyase prapte’pi, they attained perfec- the enlightened person. This suggests that ab-
tion through action alone, that is, they did not sence of doership or the renunciation of do-
renounce rites [physically]’ (3.20). ership is already achieved along with direct
What then is the meaning of ‘renunciation of Self-knowledge when the stage of physical re-
actions’, karma-sannyasa, here? All of the three nunciation referred to in this context is attained.
quotations above describe enlightened people Thus in the householder sequence towards
who have direct Self-knowledge and are beyond moksha, ‘renunciation of all actions’, sarva-
the realm of the gunas and activity. In other karma-sannyasa, would refer to physical re-
words, they are liberated in this very life. Because nunciation of prescribed actions not before
they have attained direct Self-knowledge and enlightenment, as is usually interpreted, but
reached the ultimate spiritual goal, all prescribed after it has been attained. And the stage of ‘at-
actions have certainly served their purpose. tainment of knowledge’ would not refer to a
Therefore, the meaning of Acharya Shankara’s mediate knowledge or conviction about the Self,
comment is that these liberated people were no but to a Self-knowledge that is already immedi-
doubt justified in renouncing these prescribed ate and experiential.
actions physically, but they did not, for the sake A first observation on this hypothesis con-
of providing an exemplary behaviour to people cerning the householder’s sequence is that the
around them. It also follows that the level of re- meaning it gives to ‘renunciation of all actions’
nunciation of actions, karma-sannyasa, which and ‘attainment of knowledge’ in the house-
they are said to have attained, must refer to the holder’s sequence is much more consistent with
PB January 2020 177

Acharya Shankara’s basic doctrinal position. In- rites alone or their combination with medita-
deed, when we understand that, in this sequence, tion. It equally points out that even those who
‘renunciation of all actions’ means physical re- could stop the physical performance of rites after
nunciation after enlightenment, the three in- attaining direct Self-knowledge, and who, how-
consistencies raised by the usual interpretation ever, choose to continue with it, are also devoid
of the sequence simply disappear. of all activity in their experience of the transcen-
First, inasmuch as, in the sequence, phys- dental Self and therefore liberated through Self-
ical renunciation is done after enlightenment, knowledge alone.
mediate and immediate Self-knowledge have
necessarily been gained before physical renun- Clarifying Acharya Shankara’s
ciation, which avoids the inconsistency of mak- Introduction to the Aitareya Upanishad
ing the latter a universal necessary step before Acharya Shankara’s introduction to his com-
mediate or immediate Self-knowledge. Second, mentary on the Aitareya Upanishad is one of
since direct Self-knowledge is present even the passages of his works where he can easily ap-
before physical renunciation, it follows that pear to promote physical and monastic renunci-
moksha is attainable while not being a physical ation as a universal requirement for the purpose
renunciant. Third, since the physical renunci- of moksha and even following moksha.19
ation of this sequence pertains to the person The context is crucial in understanding
who is already enlightened, since the latter is Acharya Shankara’s stand here. The context is the
beyond the scope of prescriptions, it is fair to opponent whom Acharya Shankara brings up
assume that enlightened non-brahmanas also for argument’s sake in his commentary. From the
could physically renounce without violating the very start of the introduction, the opponent tries
prescription of renunciation as a means of Self- to prove that the means of enlightenment is the
knowledge for the unenlightened brahmanas uninterrupted combination of ritual actions and
alone. Thus, according to our interpretation, the Self-knowledge, which here essentially means
householder’s sequence has a universal applica- meditation, and that there is no such thing as a
tion with respect to cases of moksha without scriptural prescription of the abandonment of
prior physical renunciation. ritual actions, a prescription that would contra-
Yet the following objection could be raised: dict the necessity of the combination of rituals
If, in this sequence, ‘attainment of knowledge’ is and Self-knowledge.
already immediate in nature, then ‘steadfastness In brief, Acharya Shankara’s reply to the op-
in the right perception’, which follows renun- ponent is that: the means of liberation is direct
ciation of all actions and which is the last level experiential Self-knowledge alone and this
before moksha, becomes redundant. Our reply knowledge is devoid of any action, even medi-
is that although in both ‘attainment of know- tative activity, being one with the actionless
ledge’ and ‘steadfastness in the right perception’, Brahman; the scripture’s prescription of phys-
the said knowledge is direct and experiential, ical renunciation for Self-knowledge in the case
‘steadfastness in the right perception’ is meant of the unenlightened person is proof that the
to emphasise that the means of moksha is steadi- ritual-knowledge combination for life is not ne-
ness in direct Self-knowledge alone, rather than cessary for enlightenment; the mention of phys-
any kind of ‘steadfastness in action’ comprising ical renunciation of ritual actions in the case
178 PB January 2020

of the enlightened person

is not a prescription but a
kind of confirmation of a
natural tendency follow-
ing from the realisation
that ritual actions serve no
further purpose.
Renunciation of the
Enlightened Person
Let’s first examine Acharya
Shankara’s viewpoint on
renunciation of the en-
lightened person in his
Hindu Monks, 1913
introduction to his commentary on the Aitareya
Upanishad. In the course of his demonstration, rituals. Acharya Shankara replies that involv-
Acharya Shankara defines domestic life as in- ing oneself in these stages is still based on desire
duced by desire. From this perspective, domestic because they imply doing some rituals involv-
life is first of all a state of consciousness governed ing agency and a desire of a particular result,
by desire towards domestic life and its rewards. It heaven for instance, and a means, ritual actions,
follows that the enlightened person cannot con- towards that. In contrast, the enlightened one is
tinue in the domestic state of consciousness and in a state of consciousness that is beyond agency
life because such person’s level of consciousness and desire.
is devoid of action and desire.
Defining in this way what seems to be a social Domestic Life as Desire-based
condition in terms of a state of consciousness is One could argue that Acharya Shankara con-
not uncommon in Acharya Shankara’s commen- tradicts himself because it seems that for him
taries.20 Making it even more explicit, Acharya only certain actions count as desire-based, those
Shankara states: ‘Action is inconceivable in one of the householder in his domestic life, whereas
who has the knowledge of Brahman as such a one should also include as desire-based, actions
person’s self as comprised in the realisation, “I such as begging which are also triggered by a
am the supreme Brahman in which all desires desire, namely the wish to quench one’s thirst
are fulfilled and which is above all the worldly and hunger.
shortcomings”, and who has no idea of results Here we have to specify what Acharya Shan-
because one feels no need for anything to be got kara means by desires that are connected with
for oneself from actions done or to be done.’ domestic life. After stating that ‘domestic life is
The opponent then argues that inasmuch as a product of desire’, Acharya Shankara quotes
the enlightened person is beyond the purview of the following passage from the Brhadaranyaka
scriptures, one could resort indifferently to the Upanishad: ‘This much indeed is desire.’ The
life of the householder or of the vanaprastha, whole passage from this Upanishad is: ‘He de-
the hermit, which means without renouncing sired, “Let me have a wife, so that I may be born
PB January 2020 179

[as a child]. And let me have wealth, so that I enlightened person as follows: Because of the
may perform rites.” This much indeed is [the complete fulfilment provided by the tran-
range of ] desire.’21 scendental state of Self-consciousness, the en-
In his commentary on this passage, Acharya lightened one cannot have desires for lesser,
Shankara explains that this desire occurs in an non-transcendental, spiritual goals. This absence
unenlightened student before marriage. He of desire for the goals of domestic life as defined
mentions that the student’s ignorance of the Self by the abovementioned passage from the Briha-
is the root of his desire for a wife and so forth. daranyaka Upanishad and Acharya Shankara’s
He adds that having a wife qualifies one for rites, introduction to his commentary on the Aita-
so that one may attain the worlds of the gods, reya Upanishad makes the means of the said
heaven, and the like. Acharya Shankara then domestic life completely irrelevant for an en-
specifies what is meant by the statement, ‘This lightened person. It is in that sense that it makes
much indeed is [the range of ] desire.’ He says: no sense for such a person to stay physically in
‘Desirable objects are only these—the things the domestic life. This is additional to the fact
comprised by the desire for means, namely, wife, that such person is in an actionless state of con-
son, wealth and rites. The three worlds, namely, sciousness and therefore it cannot be said that
those of human beings, the manes and the gods, this person is involved in domestic life wherein,
are but the results of the above. For the desire for by definition, in the context of the abovemen-
means namely, wife, son, wealth and rites, is for tioned texts, one does not experience the tran-
securing these.’ scendental Self. Seeing no usefulness in rituals as
This portrays the broader context of Acharya a means for a further spiritual goal, the enlight-
Shankara’s commentary on the Aitareya Upa- ened one stops using them. As Acharya Shan-
nishad, that is, the prevailing Vedic ritualistic kara writes, then, ‘renunciation consists in mere
system of means and goals which are all short cessation of activity’.
of the realisation of the transcendental Self. For
the enlightened person, both renunciation and From Renunciation as a Sine Qua Non
begging are not part of this ritualistic system to the Refutation of Rituals
of means necessary for further spiritual goals as a Sine Qua Non
such as the worlds of gods or heaven. That is why Acharya Shankara does seem to hold inflex-
Acharya Shankara treats the actions of renunci- ibly to the requirement of physical renunci-
ation and begging separately in the case of the ation when one reads in the English translation
person of realisation with respect to their mo- of his introduction to his commentary on the
tivation by desire. Agnihotra and so forth are Aitareya Upanishad that ‘monasticism is obliga-
for heaven, as part of the ritualistic system, beg- tory’. But this translation can be misleading.
ging is for assuaging one’s physical hunger and The Sanskrit words translated as ‘monasticism
thirst which is not a spiritual goal. So, begging is obligatory’ are parivrajyam kartavyam. They
is not based on desire of a non-transcendental would be better translated as ‘wandering men-
spiritual goal and of its ritualistic means, as do- dicancy is to be resorted to’ or ‘has to be re-
mestic life is. sorted to’. This statement does convey the sense
This allows us to make sense of Acharya of an injunction, but not the meaning of re-
Shankara’s position on renunciation of the nunciation as an indispensable way for direct
180 PB January 2020

self-knowledge and liberation. The context is The Need for a Broad Contextualisation
important here. The opponent says that accord- At first sight, Acharya Shankara’s introduction
ing to scriptures physical renunciation should to his commentary on the Aitareya Upanishad
not be done, because rituals are prescribed for does seem to be inflexibly enjoining physical re-
life. Acharya Shankara responds by quoting nunciation to both the enlightened and the un-
many scriptures that do prescribe it for Self- enlightened. But this first impression has to be
knowledge. He does not say that for the pur- corrected by resorting to the broader context
pose of proving that physical renunciation is of Acharya Shankara’s works. Otherwise we are
‘obligatory’ as a sine qua non for enlighten- left with elementary contradictions that are un-
ment, but first of all in order to prove that it is likely from such a philosopher. In what sense? If
prescribed, and that, as a logical consequence, there is such a statement of a sine qua non phys-
ritual actions are not a sine qua non for enlight- ical renunciation after enlightenment, it applies
enment and liberation. to cases where one has reached enlightenment
before and without physical renunciation. Thus,
Renunciation for the we are left with the contradiction that physical
Unenlightened Person renunciation is indispensable for enlightenment
According to Acharya Shankara, the scriptures but that, while having dispensed with it, some
prescribe physical renunciation and the atti- people did reach enlightenment. Summarising
tudes of a renunciant as a way to devote one- Acharya Shankara’s position on renunciation in
self completely to the means of enlightenment his introduction to his commentary on the Aita-
‘in their totality’. Physical renunciation can thus reya Upanishad by such an elementary contradic-
be viewed as a condition for a full-time meditation would not do justice to it.
tive job that is not possible for the householder, None of Acharya Shankara’s statements on
given the many occupations. The intent here renunciation in his introduction to his com-
seems pragmatic: if you aim at a goal, applying mentary on the Aitareya Upanishad can be held
the means intensively, full time, will increase logically as proof that he contradicts himself.
your chances to get to the goal more quickly. The statements found in other commentaries
The main means of the unenlightened renun- that only brahmana seekers are eligible to phys-
ciant is meditation and according to Acharya ical renunciation or that the enlightened one
Shankara, it should also be the main means of may pursue rituals for the guidance of others,
the householder.22 The main difference is the are not contradicted by the fact that he doesn’t
type of focus, exclusive or mixed, and the time mention these aspects of his teaching in the
available, full- or part-time. abovementioned text. Not mentioning some-
Yet all that does not mean for Acharya Shan- thing is not contradictory to the meaning of
kara that without physical renunciation one that something. Reading of Acharya Shankara’s
cannot access Self-knowledge and liberation. In commentaries shows that one cannot expect
other words, there is only one way to get to lib- that his whole doctrine be contained in any
eration and that is direct Self-knowledge, which one commentary.
is by nature devoid of activity; but there are One must be aware that his introduction to
many means and ways of living to get to direct his commentary on the Aitareya Upanishad does
Self-knowledge. not give a full picture of Acharya Shankara’s view
PB January 2020 181

of renunciation. Acharya Shankara emphasises Guru’, Interpreting Across Boundaries: New Es-
says in Comparative Philosophy, eds Gerald
different things according to context: he gives James Larson and Eliot Deutsch (Princeton:
more emphasis on physical renunciation in his Princeton University, 1988), 184–202; 199.
introduction to his commentary on the Aitar- 5. Patrick Olivelle, The Āśrama System: The History
eya Upanishad in the context of the refutation and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution (New
York: Oxford University, 1993), 197.
of the action-knowledge combination theory,
6. V R Kalyanasundara Sastri, ‘Shankara on Jnana
and more emphasis on continuing rituals after Yoga’, Perspectives of Shankara: Rashtriya Shan-
enlightenment in his commentary on the Gita kara Jayanti Mahotsava Commemoration Vol-
because the latter refers to that.23 For a proper ume, ed. R Balasubramanian and Sibajiban
understanding of renunciation in Acharya Bhattacharya (New Delhi: Government of
India, 1989), 297–306; 299.
Shankara’s thought, we have to take into account 7. See Freedom Through Inner Renunciation, 35–7.
both Acharya Shankara’s understanding of the 8. G V Saroja, Tilak and Shankara on the Gita
context and his overall purpose as a philosopher. (New Delhi: Sterling, 1985), 126.
9. See Sarvajnatman, Sankshepa-shariraka,
A Fundamental Reversal 3.359–61.
10. Appayya Dikshita, Siddhanta-lesha-sangraha,
As I showed in full extent elsewhere, Acharya 3.2.11.
Shankara’s prominent followers came to make 11. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brahma
physical and monastic renunciation a sine qua Sutra, 3.2.38: ‘Tad-astitve cha pramana-abhavat.’
non for full Self-knowledge and liberation.24 12. Freedom Through Inner Renunciation, 48–9.
13. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brahma
And they did it in the name of their founding Sutra, 3.2.32: ‘Hatho hi aprasiddha-kalpana.’
master. That is why Acharya Shankara unduly 14. Jaimini, Purva Mimamsa Sutra, 6.3.1–2. See
acquired the reputation of a dogmatic thinker Francis X Clooney, Thinking Ritually: Rediscov-
concerning renunciation in the eyes of many ering the Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini (Vienna:
thinkers in India and abroad. Hopefully, this De Nobili Research Library, 1990), 108.
15. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
reinterpretation of his philosophy of renunci- Brahma Sutra, 3.4.36–7.
ation will help in restoring in the eyes of scholars 16. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
and spiritual seekers an unrestricted access to his Gita, 5.12, 17, 27.
Advaita philosophy and discipline. P 17. See Gita, 5.27.
References 5.12: ‘Samyag-darshana-nishthanam sannyasi-
nam sadyah muktih ukta.’
1. Roger Marcaurelle, Freedom Through Inner Re- 19. I express my warm thanks to Akilesh Ayyar for
nunciation: Shankara’s Philosophy in a New Light his stimulating feedback on the theme of re-
(Delhi: Satguru, 2002). nunciation in Acharya Shankara’s introduction
2. Sri Samkara’s Vivekacūdāmani with an Eng- to his commentary on the Aitareya Upanishad.
lish Translation of the Commentary of Śṛī 20. See Freedom Through Inner Renunciation, 97–
Candraśekhara Bhāratī of Śṛṇgeri, trans. P 104.
Shankaranarayanan (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya 21. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.17.
Bhavan, 1988), 6. 22. See Freedom Through Inner Renunciation, 112–
3. Yoshitsugu Saway, The Faith of Ascetics and Lay 24.
Smārtas: A Study of the Śaṅkaran Tradition of 23. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
Śṛṅgeri (Vienna: De Nobili Research Library, Gita, 4.20.
1992), 133. 24. See Freedom Through Inner Renunciation, 165–
4. Sengaku Mayeda, ‘Shankara and Narayana 208.
182 PB January 2020

193
Swami Vivekananda on Advaita Vedanta

Jeffery D Long
Advaita Vedanta through History institutions established by Acharya Shankara, or
A s all readers of Prabuddha Bharata

will know, Advaita Vedanta is the non-
dualistic system of Vedanta philosophy
most prominently associated with the figure of
Adi Shankaracharya, or Acharya Shankara, to
Adi Shankaracharya, which literally means ‘the
first Shankaracharya’.
In the modern period, too, there have been
many prominent Advaita Vedanta teachers or
teachers who are clearly inspired by or who teach
whom scholars typically assign the dates 788- ideas which are clearly akin to or drawn from
820 of the Common Era (though there is some Advaita Vedanta. These include Sri Ramana
dispute about these dates).1 Although there are Maharshi (1879–1950), Nisargadatta Maharaj
certainly precedents to Acharya Shankara’s non- (1897–1981), and Swami Dayananda Saraswati
dual interpretation of the Upanishads, such as (1930–2015), as well as more unconventional
the interpretation of the Mandukya Upanishad teachers of non-duality, including some hail-
given by his parama-guru, Acharya Gaudapada, ing from the West, such as Eckhart Tolle, Ken
as presented in the Mandukya Karika, it is with Wilber, and Andrew Cohen.
Acharya Shankara that this philosophy is most The first prominent teacher of Advaita Ved-
often connected. anta, though, who travelled from India to spread
Just as there were other thinkers who pre- the teaching of non-duality was, of course,
ceded Acharya Shankara in offering a non-dual- Swami Vivekananda. Taking inspiration from
istic reading of the Upanishads, there similarly his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, Swamiji left India
exists a whole succession of thinkers who have in 1893, sailing to America and presenting at the
commented upon his thought, as well as offering World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago, as
innovative interpretations of their own. These well as establishing the first Vedanta Society in
include such figures as Vacaspati Mishra (841– New York in 1894. In 1897, having returned to
900), Vidyaranya (1350–86), Madhusudana India, he established the Ramakrishna Mission.
Sarasvati (1565–1650), and Appayya Dikshita
(1520–93). The Advaita Vedanta teaching lin- ‘Neo-Vedanta’?
eage, or guru-shishya-parampara, that traces back Advaita Vedanta is understood by its adherents
to Acharya Shankara and beyond continues to to be a presentation of eternal truths. It is not
the present, in the persons of the Shankaracha- seen as a philosophy that changes, fundamen-
ryas who head the various mathas or monastic tally, over time. Indeed, the illusory nature of
time itself is one of its central teachings.
Jeffery D Long is a professor of Religion and Asian Nevertheless, it is not the case that each
Studies at the Elizabethtown College, Pennsylva- Advaita teacher simply restates, in a mechanical
nia, USA. fashion, what has been said before. The eternal
PB January 2020 183

truths themselves do not change; but the form be made amongst various historical phases of
in which they are presented must necessarily be the expression of Advaita Vedanta by various
adapted to changing conditions in the material teachers and commentators and while features
world. If this were not the case, then the entire of modern Advaita certainly exist which dis-
lineage of Advaita teachers would be superflu- tinguish it from its previous iterations, recent
ous. It would not be necessary for Vidyaranya scholarship has now begun to show that the
or Madhusudana Sarasvati or Swamiji or Sri Ra- divide between earlier and later expressions of
mana Maharshi to say or write anything. One Advaita Vedanta has been overstated, and that
could simply read the philosophical writings this overstatement was originally deliberate and
of Acharya Shankara in order to get the gist of done with polemical intent, out of a concern
Advaita Vedanta. Or even Acharya Shankara over the popularity of Swamiji’s teaching in the
would be superfluous, because one could simply West. The term ‘neo-Vedanta’ was coined by a
read the Upanishads. Roman Catholic Indologist named Paul Hacker
The truths of Advaita Vedanta can be diffi- (1913–79). Hacker, as James Madaio states, ‘influ-
cult to understand, though. They are very pro- entially argued that Neo-Vedanta was a national-
found and subtle. Explanation is thus required. istic movement dependent on the “assimilation”
As times change and the message is carried to of Western ideals. The category “Neo-Vedanta”,
different cultures and climates, to people with in that way, entered mainstream academic dis-
different kinds of religious and philosophical course as a pejorative term—indiscriminately
background, and as the levels of human insight used in reference to a number of different Hindu
also change in time, the message is presented thinkers who held variant theological views—
and nuanced in different ways, appropriate to and connoting a sense of inauthenticity because
the audience to whom it is delivered. One can “continuity with the past has been broken”.’2
therefore speak of change and innovation in the Hacker’s dichotomy between ‘neo’ and ‘au-
expression of Advaita Vedanta through history: thentic’ Vedanta depends on viewing Acharya
change in the ways in which the eternal ideals are Shankara’s expression of Advaita Vedanta as de-
presented to new audiences and new generations. finitive of authentic Vedanta, thus rendering all
Over the course of the last few decades, aca- other thinkers’ expressions of this philosophy
demic scholarship on Advaita Vedanta has had inauthentic. If a scholar were to make an analo-
a tendency to affirm a sharp distinction between gous move with regard to Hacker’s own Roman
‘classical Advaita’, essentially the Advaita taught Catholic tradition, it would render all Roman
by Acharya Shankara, and ‘neo-Advaita’ or ‘neo- Catholic thought since Thomas Aquinas ‘neo-
Vedanta’, which is either traced to Swamiji or to Catholicism.’ Catholic thinkers of the modern
the reformers of the Brahmo Samaj who influ- period, like Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl
enced him in his early years. Often, this divide Rahner, not to mention Paul Hacker himself,
and the prefix ‘neo’ in front of ‘Advaita’ or ‘Ved- would thereby become ‘neo-Catholic’.
anta’ is taken to imply some inauthenticity, as if As Madaio argues, the artificial bifurcation
the Vedanta of the modern period is not the ‘real’ of the Hindu tradition into authentic Acharya
Vedanta. The assumption is that the only ‘real’ Shankara’s Advaita and inauthentic ‘neo’ Advaita
Advaita Vedanta is that of Acharya Shankara. depends on an ignorance of post-Shankara Ve-
While legitimate distinctions can certainly dantic thought; for Swamiji did not simply
184 PB January 2020

appear from nowhere. Nor can it be honestly schools which affirm that there is both a differ-
said that his thought could be reduced entirely ence and an identity between the multitude of
to Western influence, even if such influences can beings making up the universe and the ultimate
certainly be discerned there. There are trends Oneness. In Sanskrit, these schools can be cat-
in Advaitic thought that can be traced from egorised as bhedabhedavada, affirming differ-
Acharya Shankara and through figures such as ence and identity. Amongst these schools, the
Vidyaranya and Madhusudana Sarasvati straight one with the largest following is certainly the
to Swamiji himself. Vishishtadvaita school or ‘qualified non-dual-
ism’, promulgated by Acharya Ramanuja (1017–
Swamiji’s Contributions to Our 1137). And at the other end of the conceptual
Understanding of Advaita Vedanta spectrum from Advaita Vedanta is Dvaita, or
A number of distinctive themes can be observed dualistic, Vedanta, which affirms that the differ-
in Swamiji’s presentation of Advaita Vedanta. ences amongst beings are quite real—particu-
These include: (1) an interpretation of the re- larly the distinction between an individual soul
lationship between Advaita Vedanta and other or jiva, and ishvara or God.3
Vedantic systems; (2) an emphasis on overcom- Following the lead of his Master, Sri
ing our identification with the false self, which Ramakrishna, Swamiji does not regard only one
he identifies as the source of all suffering; (3) type of Vedanta to be true and the others false.
the idea of non-duality as the basis of morality; Rather, he sees truth as advancing in a progres-
and (4) the scientific nature of Advaita Vedanta, sion from one system to another:
which makes it a particularly suitable philosophy System after system arises, each one embodying
for the modern era. a great idea, and ideals must be added to ideals.
Many other themes can certainly be dis- And this is the march of humanity. Man never
cerned in Swamiji’s Complete Works as he expli- progresses from error to truth, but from truth
cates Advaita Vedanta. These, however, shall be to truth, from lesser truth to higher truth—
but it is never from error to truth. The child
our primary focus, particularly to the extent that may develop more than the father, but was the
these themes are often seen as marking his dis- father inane? The child is the father plus some-
tinctive contributions to the expression of non- thing else. If your present state of knowledge is
dualistic thought. much greater than it was when you were a child,
would you look down upon that stage now?
Advaita Vedanta and Will you look back and call it inanity? Why,
Other Vedantic Systems your present stage is the knowledge of the child
Advaita is, of course, not the only conceptual plus something more.4
matrix for interpreting the teachings of the Upa- According to Swamiji, each of the three major
nishads. These texts and the Vedanta philosophy types of Vedanta philosophy reflects a stage of
which they present can be viewed in a variety of consciousness. Each is based on the way reality is
ways, each of which corresponds to a specific Ve- perceived at a certain point in the spiritual jour-
dantic school of thought. ney to awakening and liberation. Amongst these
In addition to Advaita Vedanta, which em- three, he sees Advaita as the final, highest stage:
phasises the ultimate oneness of existence— ‘These are the three steps which Vedanta phil-
the idea that all is Brahman—there are various osophy has taken, and we cannot go any further,
PB January 2020 185

because we cannot go beyond unity. When a sci- non-dualists are comparatively few in number’
ence reaches a unity, it cannot by any manner of (1.359. Emphasis added.).
means go any further. You cannot go beyond this According to Swamiji, the fact that compara-
idea of the Absolute’ (1.403). tively few people are adherents of Advaita Ved-
He sees each of these forms of Vedanta as pro- anta is not simply an historical accident. It is a
gressing from one stage to another, beginning function of the relative difficulty of pursuing
with dualism and culminating in non-duality, this particular path: ‘All people cannot take up
with qualified dualism being an intermediate this Advaita philosophy; it is hard. First of all,
stage between these two: ‘Thus there have been it is very hard to understand it intellectually. It
various interpretations, and to my mind they requires the sharpest of intellects, a bold under-
have been progressive, beginning with the dual- standing. Secondly, it does not suit the vast ma-
istic or Dvaita and ending with the non-dualistic jority of people. So there are these three steps
or Advaita’ (1.357). [dualism, qualified non-dualism, and non-du-
In endorsing Advaita Vedanta as represent- alism]. Begin with the first one. Then by think-
ing the highest stage of Vedantic philosophy, ing of that and understanding it, the second will
Swamiji did a great deal to influence how the open itself ’ (1.404).
Western world perceived Hinduism. In the In affirming the relative difficulty of the non-
minds of many, Hindu philosophy came to be dualistic path, Swamiji is echoing the teaching of
seen as simply equal to Advaita Vedanta. This the Bhagavadgita that both the non-dual path
is, of course, not a true reflection of how most of knowledge or jnana yoga and the dualistic or
Hindus conceive of their spiritual practice. For qualified non-dualist path of bhakti yoga are to
the average Hindu, bhakti or devotion to the be affirmed, but that the non-dualist path is the
personal supreme Being, in some specific form more difficult of the two:
like Lord Vishnu or Lord Shiva or the Goddess Arjuna spoke: ‘There are some who are con-
Shakti, and so on, is absolutely central. Bhakti, as stantly disciplined, devotees who worship you
a relationship, requires a distinction between the [the personal form of the Supreme Being].
supreme Being who is worshiped and the indi- There are others who devote themselves to the
imperishable, the unmanifest [the impersonal
vidual devotee, the worshipper. Advaitic dissol-
Brahman]. Who among them have the best
ution of all such distinctions is therefore not a knowledge of yoga?’
central focus of most Hindu practice. The Blessed One spoke: ‘I consider them to
It is important to point out, though, that be the best disciplined who focus their minds on
Swamiji himself never misrepresented Advaita me, who, constant in their discipline, worship
Vedanta as reflecting the majority view among me with the greatest faith. But those who wor-
most Hindus. He, in fact, pointed out just the ship the imperishable, the unmanifest, which is
opposite. Describing the three main forms of beyond words, which is found everywhere and
Vedanta, he said: ‘One [system of Vedanta] is is inconceivable, sublime on the mountaintop,
unmoving and firm, who have gained complete
the dualistic, or Dvaita; a second is the qualified
control over the senses and equanimity toward
non-dualistic, or Vishishtadvaita; and a third all beings, rejoicing in the welfare of all beings,
is the non-dualistic, or Advaita. Of these the they also attain me. There is greater distress for
dualistic and the qualified non-dualistic include those who have set their thoughts on the un-
the largest number of the Indian people. The manifest, because it is difficult for those who are
186 PB January 2020

embodied to reach a goal that is itself unmani-

Being who pre-
fest. But those who surrender all of their actions
to me and who are focused on me alone, who sides over every-
meditate on me with yoga, and worship me, I thing, followed
will lift them up out of the ocean of the cycle by the many
of death and rebirth, Arjuna, once they have set souls or jivas, in-
their thoughts on me.5 habiting the uni-
Indeed, echoing Sri Krishna in the Gita, verse and then
Swamiji also recommends that his listeners material nature
‘Begin with the first one’, namely, the first step in itself, prakriti,
the threefold progression from duality, to quali- a term derived
fied non-duality, to non-duality. Sri Krishna says from the Sankhya
of those who take the dualistic, devotional path, system of phil-
‘I will lift them up out of the ocean of the cycle osophy. Dualism,
of death and rebirth’. in short, is a
According to Swamiji, by focusing on this common-sense
first stage, ‘the second will open itself ’. By start- approach to ex-
ing with duality and devotion to the personal istence, based on our common experience of
God, we gradually ascend to the next stage, the being individuals in a universe made up of other
stage of qualified non-duality, in which we see individuals.
ourselves, the whole universe, and the personal Qualified non-dualism arises from the
God as part of one greater spiritual Reality: the realisation that all of the diverse beings making
reality of Brahman. And from there, the next up the universe collectively form a whole, a to-
realisation is the realisation of the sole reality of tality. And, as Swamiji says, ‘in this sense it may
Brahman alone. be said that God and the whole universe are one’.
Swamiji summarises the basic world views of Non-dualism, however, is the view that ex-
these three philosophies as follows: istence itself—that which underlies the total-
Dualistic Vedantists … say there are three exis- ity of being—is ultimately all that can be said
tences in this universe—God, soul, and nature. to be truly real. ‘Real’ here means subsisting at
Nature and soul are, as it were, the body of God, all times. Other beings change. They come and
and in this sense it may be said that God and the
go out of existence, or their qualities alter from
whole universe are one. But this nature and all
these various souls remain different from each moment to moment, or across eons of cosmic
other through all eternity. … The Advaita Ved- time. But existence itself, sat, the Real, persists
antists—the non-dualists—reject this theory of through all of these changes. Everything else is
the soul, and, having nearly the whole range of ultimately asat or unreal. The aim of non-dual-
the Upanishads in their favour, build their phil- ism as a spiritual practice is to move, in the words
osophy entirely upon them.6 of the Upanishads, ‘from the unreal to the real,
Dualism, in other words, begins with the from darkness [that is, ignorance] to light [wis-
premise that the universe contains diversity and dom], from death [and the cycle of death and re-
that this diversity is a real, fundamental fea- birth] to immortality [or moksha]’.7 According
ture of existence. Specifically, existence is div- to Swamiji, it is non-dualism that best captures
ided into God or ishvara, the personal supreme the import of the Upanishads, taken as a totality.
PB January 2020 187

must go. Then alone can death cease when I am

Swamiji characterises the teaching of the
one with life, then alone can misery cease when
Upanishads as follows: I am one with happiness itself, then alone can
All the books contained in the Upanishads have all errors cease when I am one with knowledge
one subject, one task before them—to prove itself; and this is the necessary scientific con-
the following theme: ‘Just as by the know- clusion. Science has proved to me that physical
ledge of one lump of clay we have the know- individuality is a delusion, that really my body
ledge of all the clay in the universe, so what is is one little continuously changing body in an
that, knowing which we know everything in unbroken ocean of matter; and Advaita (unity)
the universe?’ The idea of the Advaitists is to is the necessary conclusion with my other coun-
generalise the whole universe into one—that terpart, soul (1.14).
something which is really the whole of this uni-
verse. And they claim that this whole universe Our true, infinite and universal individual-
is one, that it is one Being manifesting itself in ity is not the self as we conventionally conceive
all these various forms. They admit that what of it—the ego, whose history and traits are very
the Sankhya calls nature [prakriti] exists, but much tied to the perishable physical body. The
say that nature is God. It is this Being, the Sat, true Self—with a capital ‘S’—is the Atman. And,
which has become converted into all this—the as the Upanishads teach, the Atman and Brah-
universe, man, soul, and everything that exists. man are, in the end identical.
Mind and Mahat [the original, collective mind
What is it like to experience one’s true nature,
from which all individual minds emerge, the
first manifestation of prakriti] are but the mani- to realise one’s true, universal individuality and
festations of that one Sat.8 shed the illusory ego? According to Swamiji:
When the Vedantist has realised his own na-
By ‘God,’ Swamiji here means Brahman, the ture, the whole world has vanished for him. It
infinite Reality, Being, or sat, from which all else, will come back again, but no more the same
including the personal God, emerges. According world of misery. The prison of misery has be-
to this interpretation, God alone is real. All else come changed into Sat, Chit, Ananda—Ex-
istence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss
is a temporarily appearing manifestation of what
Absolute—and the attainment of this is the
is, in reality, infinite, unmanifest Being. This in- goal of the Advaita Philosophy (1.365).
finite Being is therefore the true identity of all
Even in this life, he will feel that he is one
living beings. We feel we are separate beings, but with the universe. For a time, as it were, the
in reality we are one Being. This realisation is a whole of this phenomenal world will disappear
central one for Swamiji. for him, and he will realise what he is. But so
long as the Karma of this body remains, he will
Realizing the True Self have to live. This state, when the veil has van-
According to Swamiji, the misperception that ished and yet the body remains for some time,
we are separate individuals is the source of all of is what the Vedantists call the Jivanmukti, the
our suffering. Correspondingly, he affirms that living freedom (ibid.).
the way to true happiness is the realisation of It is interesting to note the parallel between
our true nature as one absolute, universal, and Advaita as understood by Swamiji and the phil-
infinite Being: osophy of Buddhism. Buddhism also teaches
Therefore, to gain this infinite universal individ- that self, at least as conventionally conceived,
uality, this miserable little prison‐individuality is the root of all evil, and that when we shed
188 PB January 2020

all concepts of self, we shall be happy and free, willing to see the other’s interests as no different
entering the bliss of nirvana. Advaita, though, from our own and to practise compassion. Harking
teaches that when the false self is shed, the true back to his emphasis on overcoming the false self in
Self emerges. It is arguably the case that these order to realizse the true Self, Swamiji continues:
traditions are speaking of the same experience, From this also springs that principle of Advaita
beyond ego. morality which has been summed up in one
word—self-abnegation. The Advaitist says,
Non-Duality as the Basis of Morality this little personalised self is the cause of all my
misery. This individualised self, which makes
A very strong emphasis in Swamiji’s teaching and
me different from all other beings brings hatred
in his interpretation of non-dualism, is the idea and jealousy and misery, struggle and all other
that non-duality is the ultimate scientific basis evils. And when this idea has been got rid of, all
for morality. By realising that we are finally one struggle will cease, all misery vanish. So this is
with all other beings, we learn to regard them as to be given up. We must always hold ourselves
ourselves and to see their joys and sorrows as our ready, even to give up our lives for the lowest
own, which is, of course, the very definition of beings. When a man has become ready even to
compassion. Similarly, if we cultivate, according give up his life for a little insect, he has reached
the perfection which the Advaitist wants to at-
to Swamiji, a state of unselfish compassion, we
tain; and at that moment when he has become
will quickly realise our true Self. Swamiji calls thus ready, the veil of ignorance falls away from
selfless service as a path to realisation the karma him, and he will feel his own nature.10
yoga, and gives it just as much prominence in his
teaching as bhakti yoga and jnana yoga. He says: Just as the idea of self as the source of all
‘Behind everything the same divinity is existing, misery resonates with Buddhism, the idea of a
and out of this comes the basis of morality. Do person who ‘has become ready even to give up
not injure another. Love everyone as your own his life for a little insect’ calls to mind the intense
self, because the whole universe is one. In injur- and profound commitment to nonviolence in
ing another, I am injuring myself; in loving an- thought, word, and deed, to ahimsa, found in
other, I am loving myself ’ (1.364). the Jain tradition, even to the point where some
Swamiji’s interpretation of Advaita Vedanta Jain ascetics give up their lives in a fast to the
provides a metaphysical basis for the Golden death, known as sallekhana or santhara. The idea
Rule, versions of which can be found through- is very close to that expressed by Swamiji, that
out the world’s religious traditions—that we our unselfishness, if we are to realise our true,
should treat others as we, ourselves, wish to be infinite Self, must be diminished to nothing,
treated—in Christian language, that I should love even to the point where we would be willing to
my neighbour as myself. Advaita Vedanta grounds give up our lives for the welfare of any other liv-
this principle. I should love my neighbour as my- ing being. The morality that takes non-duality as
self because my neighbour, on a fundamental its basis is universal, not discriminating among
level, is myself: or rather, we share the same Self.9 different beings: ‘According to the Advaita phil-
I should treat others as I would wish to be treated osophy, then, this differentiation of matter, these
because they and I are not, in the end, different. phenomena, are, as it were, for a time, hiding the
When we realise that there is no ultimate dis- real nature of man; but the latter really has not
tinction to be made between self and other, we are been changed at all. In the lowest worm, as well
PB January 2020 189

as in the highest human being, the same divine shravanam; intellectual reflection, mananam;
nature is present’ (1.364). and direct realisation, nididhyasanam.
The Scientific Nature of Advaita Vedanta Conclusion

Another distinctive emphasis of Swamiji’s in- Advaita Vedanta is an ancient philosophy with
terpretation of Advaita Vedanta is his perception many facets and aspects. Its subtle depths con-
that, because the Absolute it affirms is of an im- tinue to be explored and its profound truths un-
personal character, this philosophy is, in many folded by new generations of thinkers who have
ways, akin to science. Its teachings are based on committed themselves to understanding it, and
a non-arbitrary analysis of the nature of experi- realising its truths for themselves.
ence, rather than on the proclamations of an his- Swamiji’s contributions to this process have
torical prophet or even a personal God: ‘If any been many, far too many, to list or explore in a single
theory of religion can stand the test of modern article. But it is hoped that this brief examination
reasoning, it is the Advaita … It is the highest might give some insight both into Advaita Vedanta
generalisation, beyond even personality, general- as such, as a philosophy, and into the unique stamp
isation which is common to every being’ (1.376). which Swamiji has placed upon it through his in-
Like science, Advaita Vedanta generalises terpretation and explication of its ideals. P
from the particular to the general. In science,
this is the process of developing hypotheses and Notes and References
theories, generalisations, to explain specific phe- 1. For an overview of some of the issues involved
in these disputes, see Swami Tapasyananda’s
nomena. At a certain point, when these gener- introduction in Madhava-Vidyaranya, Sankara
alisations have been found to work consistently Digvijaya: The Traditional Life of Sri Sankara-
over a long enough period of time, we come to charya, trans. Swami Tapasyananda (Madras:
think of them as ‘laws of nature’. But the highest Ramakrishna Math, 1992), xv-xxxv.
2. James Madaio, ‘Rethinking Neo-Vedānta:
generalisation of all, the ultimate abstraction,
Swami Vivekananda and the Selective Histor-
is the idea of Being itself, existence itself, sat. iography of Advaita Vedānta’, Religions, 8/6
What is the reality behind all of reality? What (June 2017), 101; 3.
makes a real thing real? It seems impossible to 3. The specific details of the various systems of
conceive of anything beyond the concept of ex- Vedanta outside of Advaita and the biographies
of their founders are well documented by Swami
istence itself. Tapasyananda in his book, Bhakti Schools of
This is a continuation of the Upanishadic Vedānta: Lives and Philosophies of Rāmānuja,
theme of knowing all particular things made Nimbārka, Madhva, Vallabha, and Caitanya
of clay by knowing the nature of clay itself, of (Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1990).
knowing all particular things made of gold by 4. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989;
knowing the nature of gold itself. The very thing- 9, 1997), 2.365–6.
ness of a thing, the quality of reality that under- 5. Gita, 12.1–7.
lies all that exists, is existence itself. And it alone 6. Complete Works, 1.361–2.
is our true nature, according to Advaita Ved- 7. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.3.28.
anta. The claims of this philosophy are not ul- 9. See Pravrajika Vrajaprana, Vedanta: A Simple
timately meant to be taken on faith, but are to be Introduction (Hollywood: Vedanta, 1999), 14.
realised directly, through the process of hearing, 10. Complete Works, 1.364–5.
190 PB January 2020

201
Liberating Samvada—Advaita Vedanta as

A Tradition of Ritualised Dialogue
Reid B Locklin
I first encountered the teaching of

Advaita Vedanta by reading various texts. But
I only became a sadhaka through dialogue.
A little over two decades ago, when I began
my doctoral studies in Catholic theology with the
Advaita teaching, it is due to my contact with
this living tradition. But this contact has also
provoked an insight about the essential character
of Advaita, in history and in practice. It slowly
dawned on me that the kind of importance that
comparativist Francis X Clooney, S J, I had read Catholics like me or many of my Vaishnava
and even written essays on Adi Shankaracharya. I friends might ascribe to religious ritual would
was struck, however, by the great teacher’s insist- be ascribed by Advaitins more typically to a dis-
ence that liberating truth requires the personal ciplined practice of discourse, to satsang, to the
mediation of a guru and this also cohered well free exchange of questions and answers between
with my own Catholic convictions about the teachers and students, that is, to dialogue.
benefit of reading Christian scriptures in con- This is not to say that Advaitins do not per-
versation with the living tradition of the Church. form rituals: I have appreciated pujas in the
So I sought out instruction. First, I attended Ramakrishna tradition and the various ashramas
retreats at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, a quiet of the Arsha Vidya tradition nearly always in-
ashram in the foothills of the Appalachian clude a consecrated image for devotees’ worship.
Mountains in the US state of Pennsylvania. These, however, are generally accorded only sec-
Next, I was privileged to receive tutorial instruc- ondary importance and are sometimes subject to
tion and to attend the public presentations of critique. According to Swami Chinmayananda,
an acharya from the same tradition in Chen- as just one example, prayers and ‘ritualistic in-
nai, India. Since that time, I have continued to junctions’ cannot bring about moksha, absent
attend discourses, retreats, and lectures in the Vedantic study in conversation with a guru or
Chinmaya Mission and the Ramakrishna Math in the small study groups that are a signature
and Ramakrishna Mission, as well as listening feature of the Chinmaya Mission. The primary
to recorded teaching sessions, and occasionally religious activity of most contemporary Advaita
watching them online. movements is dialogue and it is ordinarily only
I have no doubt that, insofar as I have any through such dialogue that one can achieve lib-
true understanding of Acharya Shankara and the erating self-knowledge.
From these observations, I formed a simple if
Reid B Locklin is associate professor of Christianity somewhat counter-intuitive conclusion, namely,
and the Intellectual Tradition at the University of that dialogue is a kind of ritual in Advaita trad-
Toronto. ition and Advaita Vedanta itself can be fruitfully
PB January 2020 191

interpreted as a tradition of ritualised dialogue. the text’s final form, the three prose chapters fol-
This insight has guided my reflection and study low a clear logical sequence, whereas seventeen
of the tradition for at least the last decade and it of the nineteen verse chapters are arranged in
received its fullest expression in my 2011 book order of increasing length. The exceptions are the
Liturgy of Liberation, a theological commen- first and last verse chapters, which thereby lend
tary on the Upadesha-sahasri or one thousand coherence to the verse portion and perhaps also
teachings of Acharya Shankara.1 For this issue to the Upadesha-sahasri as a whole.
of Prabuddha Bharata dedicated to ‘Visions of The strong impression given by this work,
Advaita’, therefore, it seemed suitable to offer a then, is that of a loose collection of writings,
vision of Advaita in terms of ritualised dialogue, likely composed on different occasions and for
with specific reference to the Upadesha-sahasri. a variety of purposes, but eventually gathered
Most of the exposition has been adapted from together into a single work by a later disciple or
a parallel discussion in the first chapter of my possibly by Acharya Shankara himself. Given
book. To this exposition, I have added a conclud- this fact, there is little reason to read it from be-
ing reflection. Approaching Advaita Vedanta in ginning to end. Instead, we can enter at USP 8,
terms of its distinctive commitment to, and per- traditionally entitled ‘The Merging of the Mind’,
formance of, liberating dialogue, I want to sug- following, with small modifications, the transla-
gest, helps us both engage the tradition itself at tion of Swami Jagadananda. The chapter begins
a deeper level and to draw insight from it for with a kind of protest made by the true self,
fostering closer relationships even in the midst Atman, against the mind and personality with
of genuine disagreements on matters of truth which it is so persistently confused: ‘The connec-
and liberation. tion of enjoyment and the like with me, oh my
mind, who am by nature consciousness itself is
‘I Composed this Dialogue’ due to the delusion created by you. As I am free
To develop an initial sense of Advaita as a trad- from all attributes, there is no result accruing to
ition of ritualised dialogue, we can do no better me from your efforts.’2
than to take a close look at the texture and con- The next three verses develop this idea, first
tent of the Upadesha-sahasri. This independent enjoining the mind to overcome its vain striving
treatise is a very distinctive work, both among and ceaseless activities (2.8.2) and then expound-
Acharya Shankara’s certainly authentic writings ing the true nature of the ‘I’ as none other than
and in the wider corpus of classical Advaita. Un- highest Brahman, ever-present in all beings yet
like the very popular treatise Vivekachudamani, entirely free from action, impurity, and any form
‘The Crest-Jewel of Discernment’, no single dom- of relationship (2.8.2–4). ‘I have, therefore, no
inant theme emerges from this compilation of ‘a benefit to be derived from anything done by you’,
thousand teachings’, and there is no overarching declares the ever-present and ever-free Atman.
narrative to bind it into a single whole. ‘As you are not other than myself, you can have
The work consists of two major components: no effort nor its results’ (2.8.4).
a ‘verse portion’, padya-bandha, of nineteen chap- The themes introduced in this short account
ters and a ‘prose portion’, gadya-bandha, of three clearly echo most traditional interpretations of
chapters. Each of these twenty-two chapters re- Acharya Shankara’s Advaita teaching, setting
veals evidence of independent composition. In out the ultimate non-difference of Atman and
192 PB January 2020

Liberating Samvada—Advaita Vedanta as A Tradition of Ritualised Dialogue 203
Brahman and inveighing against

identification with such phenom-
enal realities as the individual
mind or personality. What makes
the present chapter stand out is its
rhetorical point of view, speaking
in the ‘voice’ of Atman, as well as
its final two stanzas, in which yet
another authorial voice provides a
brief gloss on this distinctive literary
form: ‘Considering that people are
attached to the ideas of cause and
effect, I have composed this dia-
logue leading to the understanding
of the real nature of the self in order
Kedarnath Temple 2007
that they might get freed from this [bondage]. A
person gets liberated from ignorance, the cause repetition in the third chapter of the first section,
of great fear, and roams, free from desires, free and especially in the dialogue which concludes
from grief, a knower of the self, the same in all the verse portion in the nineteenth chapter of
beings, and happy, if one ponders over this dia- the second section. The ultimate reality that per-
logue (2.8.5–6). vades and grounds all our experience is, it turns
In this gloss, Acharya Shankara speaks dir- out, rather chatty.
ectly to the hearer about his intention in com- If we expand the term ‘dialogue’ to include
posing these verses. Having observed people in any form of conversation or debate, moreover,
bondage, he says, he has devised a helpful instru- it emerges as a very prominent feature of the
ment to be used in seeking release from it. What Upadesha-sahasri as a whole. The first two chap-
sort of instrument is likely to accomplish this all- ters of the first section can be described as sam-
important goal? This too is specified, and even vadas in a very literal sense. In each, a student
emphasised by repetition: only a samvada, a ‘dia- approaches a teacher to inquire about liber-
logue’ or ‘conversation’, fits the bill. ation and a lively debate ensues. And, through-
The dialogue represented in the eighth chap- out the verse chapters, Acharya Shankara’s voice
ter of the second section is, of course, one that is merely one of many voices debating issues of
could never actually occur in ordinary life. Ac- bondage and liberation. At one point in the
cording to Advaita teaching, the speaker, Atman, middle of the first chapter of the first section,
is ‘one without a second’, beyond the slightest Acharya Shankara dismisses the position rep-
trace of distinction or relation with any other resented in preceding verses with the phrase,
reality. Yet Acharya Shankara depicts Atman ‘some people hold this view’, before launching
engaging in conversation at various points an extended refutation (1.1.11). In another place,
throughout the Upadesha-sahasri, as he does, after a series of verses presenting Buddhist ar-
for example, in the previous chapter, the seventh guments, he exclaims: ‘Please tell me who will
chapter of the second section, in the practice of attain liberation … according to you who hold
PB January 2020 193

that everything is annihilated?’ (2.16.30). Some- of pedagogical situations, re-enacted and re-in-
times it is difficult to discern the precise bound- vented each time a new conversation begins.
aries between Acharya Shankara’s own verses and Perhaps the best example of such scripting
those offering the positions of adversaries. can be found in the Upadesha-sahasri’s prose
Less difficult to discern is the central import- portion. All three chapters of the first section
ance given by Acharya Shankara to such dialogue could stand as independent compositions. In
itself. Freedom from bondage, the text implies the first, for example, Acharya Shankara presents
in all its parts, necessarily involves something what he describes as a ‘method of instruction’, an
more than ‘inquiry’ or ‘study’ as conventionally idealised narrative in which a Brahmin disciple
understood, at least in the West. It involves vi- who has already taken up the life of a wander-
brant interactions, conversations, and debates ing ascetic, approaches an anonymous teacher, is
on a number of related levels—between student examined, found fit to receive instruction, and
and teacher, between the teachers of this trad- immediately trained in the important Upani-
ition and rival teachers, even between the true shadic sentences, which establish the unity of
self of all beings and the ultimately unreal mind Atman and Brahman (1.1.1–8). The subsequent
and personality of the seeker. Hence, it may not discussion takes these scriptural texts as its point
introduce too great a distortion to see in the final of departure and the teacher reminds the student
verses of the eighth chapter of the second sec- of them at key points.
tion, a good characterisation of the Upadesha- Such scriptural citations are notably absent
sahasri and, by extension, Advaita tradition as in the second chapter of the first section. In the
a whole. It is a samvada, an extended and varie- place of the first chapter’s ‘disciple’ and teacher’,
gated ‘conversation’ or ‘dialogue’, composed to it begins with a ‘life-long student’ approach-
help both seekers and teachers in the ongoing ing a ‘knower of Brahman’ later identified with
communication of a liberating truth. the term ‘guru’, and this is followed by a highly
technical question about the experience of pain
The Boat of Knowledge (1.2.45–6), all narrated in the past tense. In the
If we take ‘dialogue’ as a useful point of entry third chapter of the first section, the teacher
into the Upadesha-sahasri, however, we also face himself falls away, leaving only a sole ‘seeker after’
a point of tension internal to the text. For this moksha and a ‘method of repetition’ to bring
‘dialogue’ is also something that ‘has been com- this seeker to one’s goal (1. 3.112). None of these
posed’ (2.8.5). On the one hand, it seems highly chapters makes direct reference to the others.
likely that the preserved writing has its roots in Each has a unique narrative structure, a definite
actual verbal exchanges. On the other hand, in beginning, and a definite conclusion. At the end
the process of composition and compilation, of the second chapter of the first section, in fact,
these living conversations have been scripted in a the disciple is declared to have attained moksha,
fixed form, or better, a fair variety of fixed forms, there and then (1.2.110). What further need of
now bound together, set in order, and thus or- the meditative practice prescribed in the third
ganised into a kind of curriculum in liberation. chapter of the first section?
The text does not stand alone as an independent One can easily imagine that these three chap-
composition; instead, its various scripted teach- ters had their origins in different teaching situ-
ings draw our attention to an ongoing network ations, with different students, and even possibly
194 PB January 2020

in different phases of Acharya Shankara’s devel- This hypothesis receives some support from
opment, as has been suggested by such histor- the traditional title of the chapter, ‘Right Know-
ical scholars as Paul Hacker and Tilmann Vetter. ledge’, as well as from the sheer scope of the
Nevertheless, once joined together into a single scripted discourse it provides.
script, they come to embody a canonical three- Whereas the three chapters of the prose por-
fold vision of Advaita study: ‘hearing of the tion depict various moments or aspects of the
Vedic scriptures, shravana; disciplined ‘reflec- traditional teaching practice, the seventeenth
tion’ on their content, manana, and sustained chapter of the second section renders this same
practice of ‘contemplation’, nididhyasana. The practice into a tightly organised treatise, with
continuous numbering of all three chapters in a preliminary introduction (2.17.4–6), a thesis
the manuscript, as well as textual cues such as statement (2.17.7), an account of what must be
‘now’ to mark the beginning of the script (1.1.1) rejected (2.17.14–31) and what must be accepted
and repetition of its final word to punctuate its fi- (2.17.32–50) in the pursuit of ‘right knowledge’,
nality (1.3.116), merely ratify a more basic insight a practical description of the concrete means
into its essential coherence as different moments to undertake such pursuit (2.17.51–8), a vivid
or dimensions of one Advaita teaching practice. portrait of the transformation such knowledge
A second, rather different example of such brings (2.17.59–81), and a final summary and
scripting can be found in the seventeenth chap- conclusion (2.17.82–5).
ter of the second section of Upadesha-sahasri. Along the way, Acharya Shankara also offers
Again, there are good reasons to regard this a grab bag of analogies and explanatory devices
chapter as having its own integrity, even among that occur frequently throughout his writings:
the nineteen chapters of the second section. First analysis of the three experiential states of wak-
of all, as already noted, chapters two to eight- ing, dream, and deep sleep (2.17.14–5, 17–8,
een of the second section are not arranged in 26–8, 39, 65–6); separation of clarified butter
any logical order, but only by length: the seven- from milk as an image of liberation (2.17.61);
teenth chapter stands where it does simply be- and various pedagogical strategies to explain our
cause it is longer than the sixteenth chapter and experience of the created world, such as the ap-
shorter than the eighteenth chapter. Moreover, pearance of objects in a clear jewel (2.17.16), re-
like the eighteenth chapter of the second sec- flections of sun or moon on the surface of water
tion, but unlike any of the other chapters in this (2.17.27–8, 34–5, 56), magician and magical il-
section, the seventeenth chapter is bounded by lusion (2.17.29–31), and the stationary magnet
opening and closing salutations (2.17.1–3, 88–9). that draws or repels other objects by its mere
This mirrors the introduction and conclusion of presence (2.17.80). Each of these images sheds
the second section itself (2.1.1, 2.19.28), and thus light on one or another aspect of the Advaita
offers another cue to suggest that the chapter teaching and each thus finds a place in the struc-
can be read entirely on its own. We might even tured argument of the seventeenth chapter of the
hypothesise that the seventeenth chapter of the second section.
second section, as a self-contained unit within If one wanted to understand Advaita as a sys-
the Upadesha-sahasri, offers a kind of microcosm tem of thought, this verse chapter would be a
or précis of the verse portion and possibly even good place to start. For all its comprehensive-
of the whole Advaita teaching. ness and organisation, however, it is no more
PB January 2020 195

than yet another scripted dialogue. It is not to Upadesha-sahasri, only to be unfixed again in a
be confused with the living conversations it un- living and continuous oral performance.
doubtedly both reflects and intends further to
generate. Indeed, at the climax of his argument Orality and Ritualisation
in this chapter, Acharya Shankara points beyond The kind of textual inter-connection we wit-
its verses to a more primary, extra-textual reality: ness in the first and second sections (1.1.3 and
The seeker after truth should withdraw into 2.17.50–2) both drawing on the same scriptures
the Self the love for external things. For this and offering the same basic image in different
love, secondary to that of the Self, is inconstant literary contexts, is certainly striking. But it is
and entails pain. This seeker should then take by no means unique. We might say that such
refuge in a teacher, a knower of Brahman who intertextuality represents yet another persistent
is tranquil, free, bereft of actions, and estab- feature of the Upadesha-sahasri in its final form.
lished in Brahman, as the Shruti and Smriti say, We discover overlapping themes and con-
‘One who has a teacher knows’ and ‘Know that’
nections among the Upadesha-sahasri’s various
(2.17.51–2).
teaching scripts first and foremost in what ap-
That teacher should immediately take the
pears to be a well-travelled fund of explanatory
disciple … in the boat of knowledge of Brah-
man across the great ocean of darkness within devices, many of which reappear not only in the
(2.17.53). Upadesha-sahasri, but throughout Advaita trad-
ition. This includes such illustrations as the clear
This image of the ‘boat of knowledge’ also ap- jewel that appears to be red in the presence of a
pears in the third verse of the first chapter of the red flower, to which we have already alluded in
first section and thereby frames the dialogues of our treatment of the seventeenth chapter of the
the first prose chapter and indeed of the entire second section, as well as the ubiquitous piece of
prose portion, at least in its final form. Through rope mistaken for a snake. Beyond such recur-
this shared image, these two scripts—one depict- ring examples, a smaller set of shared themes and
ing a series of external and internal dialogues, the tropes can establish resonances between other-
other mapping and structuring the content of wise disparate texts. Sometimes the connec-
such dialogues in poetic form—begin to over- tion between two passages is so strong that one
lap, interpenetrate, and qualify one another. suspects borrowing, such as when a particular
Like the various illustrations of the seventeenth grammatical argument about ‘knowing’ and the
chapter of the second section itself, neither of status of ‘knowledge’ in Atman is employed by
these scripts offers a complete picture. Bound to- the model teacher (1.2.76–7) and by Acharya
gether and juxtaposed in the Upadesha-sahasri’s Shankara himself (2.18.53–4). In at least one case,
final form, they each illumine one or another intertextuality shades into identity, when the
aspect of what should surely be regarded as a same line of Sanskrit verse appears verbatim in
single ‘boat of knowledge’, a teaching tradition two different stanzas of two different chapters
and instructional method designed to carry dis- (2.7.1, 2.18.94). The trope, used to address two
ciples across an ocean of ignorance to a farther different points of interpretation, acquires a dif-
shore. The boat of knowledge can be identified, ferent meaning in each context, but the words
in a certain sense, as nothing other than sam- and rhythm of the Sanskrit verse are essentially
vada, fixed in various scripts like those of the the same.
196 PB January 2020

Determining the priority of one or another It has long been recognised that ancient
occurrence of a shared image, argument, or line South Asian texts such as the Vedic scriptures
of verse would, in most cases, be a nearly impos- and the sutra literature are primarily oral in char-
sible feat. The first chapter of the first section acter. The Vedas in particular were likely pre-
may offer the only exception. Here, concluding served in oral memory long before they were
an argument about the proper locus of pain, the written down, and Acharya Shankara identifies a
teacher states: powerful memory as one of the requisite charac-
The impressions of pain must have the same seat teristics of the ideal teacher (1.1.6). It thus seems
as pain itself. As they are perceived during the reasonable to suppose that the intertextuality of
time when memory is possible, these impres- the Upadesha-sahasri is rooted in a deeper oral-
sions must have the same location as pain. The ity, by which a common repertoire of images
aversion to cuts, burns and the like, the causes and examples, along with certain highly effective
of pain must also have the same seat as the im- lines of argument and of verse, might have been
pressions [of pain]. It is therefore said, ‘Desire, memorised and deployed in a variety of ways
aversion and fear have a seat in common with
and contexts.
that of the impressions of colours. As they have
for their seat the intellect, the knower, the self, When the teacher of the first chapter of the
is always pure, and devoid of fear (1.1.35). first section quotes one of the chapters of the
second section in conversation with a student,
At one level, this is just a technical argument he may not so much cite an authoritative ‘text’
about pain, memory, and perception, the nuances as rehearse an alternative ‘script’ drawn from
of which would surely be lost on many readers. this repertoire. We can well imagine that the
More important than the content of the account, stanza quoted by the teacher pre-dates the com-
however, is the specific manner in which it is re- position of the first prose chapter, but the kind
solved: that is, by quoting a stanza from else- of dialogue depicted therein pre-dates both
where in the Upadesha-sahasri with the marker, texts, and can therefore claim a deeper kind of
‘it has been said’ (2.15.13). A number of scholars priority. The intertextuality of the Upadesha-sa-
have concluded, from this citation, that the verse hasri, in other words, becomes another pointer
portion of the Upadesha-sahasri probably existed to that broader, predominantly oral and dialogi-
in textual form by the time Acharya Shankara cal tradition we have already identified as the
composed the first chapter of the first section, ‘boat of knowledge’.
such that one of its stanzas could be quoted There is no doubt that the Upadesha-sahasri is
with the words, ‘it has been said’. But this may the product of a highly literate social world. The
presume a model of authorship that ill suits the mere preservation of the manuscript traditions,
Upadesha-sahasri. If, as I have suggested, this text depending as they did upon continual re-cop-
can be regarded as a complex tapestry of scripted ying, bears this out. Acharya Shankara himself
dialogues, then we can imagine that many of its almost certainly emerged from and was comfort-
teachings may have been in wide use in discourse able in this culture. Nevertheless, the Upadesha-
and debate before ever being committed to writ- sahasri is a teaching text, the fruit of what were
ing. The Upadesha-sahasri, in other words, may probably innumerable lived conversations and
well have been brought into written form at a debates. Its teachings seem designed more to be
relatively late moment in its ‘composition’. heard than to be read, to be concretely enacted
PB January 2020 197

reading, can be as formal as a high

Latin Mass, as chaotic and spontan-
eous as a festival procession, or as ap-
parently secular as a cricket match, so
long as it sets itself clearly apart from
other, more ordinary ways of acting in
that social context.
When we consider the dialogues
that dominate the pages of the Upade-
sha-sahasri, it seems obvious that these
are not ordinary conversations. They
enforce standards of adhikara or fitness
to restrict those who can participate in
them, they follow a specific protocol,
and they aim for a result that is, by def-
inition, entirely apart from the desires,
Badrinath Dham
goals, and activities of conventional social life.
in the dynamic process they themselves reflect These dialogues are ritualised. Insofar as they
and, especially in the prose portion, explicitly define the practice of Advaita, from the time of
model. The twenty-two chapters and two major Acharya Shankara to the present day, they define
portions of the Upadesha-sahasri may thus be this tradition as an ongoing performance of ritu-
said to enshrine a kind of oral textuality or tex- alised dialogue.
tualised orality, whose full expression lies outside
and beyond the pages of the text. They are not Concluding Reflections
meant primarily to be read. They are meant to be The Upadesha-sahasri is just one text in a uni-
performed, or at least to provide a model for the verse of many texts of classical Advaita Vedanta.
kind of dialogical performance that most con- At the same time, there are a number of rea-
duces to human persons’ highest good. sons to give its portrait of the tradition special
Considered in this light, the various scripts of weight. First of all, as one of the non-commen-
the Upadesha-sahasri resemble the performance tarial works accepted as the work of Acharya
guidelines or rubrics that historians and anthro- Shankara by a nearly unanimous consensus of
pologists often associate with ritual. In the study historical scholarship, it would seem to offer
of religion, the category of ‘ritual’ has been inter- a privileged glance into the social dynamics of
preted in various ways. For some theorists, only Advaita Vedanta at a key moment in its devel-
those scripted practices that imply worship of a opment. Second, and perhaps more importantly,
deity, such as a Catholic Eucharist, a Vaishnava the basic contours of its vision of liberation
puja or a Vedic yajna, count as ritual. Others, through a disciplined performance of dialogue,
such as Catherine Bell, suggest that many other samvada, receives further support from texts
activities can become ‘ritualised’ when they are such as the Vivekacudamani, from the image of
conducted in such a way that they stand apart Acharya Shankara traveling across the subcon-
from everyday life. Ritualised practice, on Bell’s tinent in a dialogical conquest of the quarters,
198 PB January 2020

dig-vijaya, in the traditional hagiographies, and Certainly, Advaita Vedanta and Catholicism dis-
above all in the many living dialogues of Advaita agree about many things, not least the source
teachers and disciples across the ages. The ritual- and means of final liberation. Acharya Shankara
ised dialogue modelled in the Upadesha-sahasri suggests a way to adjudicate these disagreements:
continues well into the present, in ashramas, samvada, conversation, dialogue. And not any
temples, lecture halls, and public squares, not conversation, but one that is performed in a
only in India but now also in North America and way that communicates its seriousness and its
throughout the world. great promise. Jesus too engaged in formal prac-
But how does it help to describe the tradition tices of dialogue, with Samaritans and others
this way? What is the benefit of this particular regarded as outsiders in the religious culture
vision of Advaita? I believe that there are two he claimed as his own, with Sadducees, Phari-
useful clarifications that follow from a (re)de- sees, and others with whom he disagreed, with
scription of Advaita Vedanta as a practice of ritu- his own disciples and even, as I profess by faith,
alised dialogue. with those of us who continue to follow his path
First, it suggests a way past the fruitless de- in the contemporary Church. Most Christians
bates of an earlier generation, about whether affirm that salvation comes through faith, but
Advaita should be considered as a form of phil- experience suggests that faith most frequently
osophy or a theological system, a religious trad- comes through sustained dialogue.
ition, a mystical spirituality, or a vision of life. Still, dialogue does not have the prominence
I would contend that Advaita Vedanta is all of in Catholic tradition that it has in Advaita, nor
these things, but only insofar as it embodies an is it given such central importance in the attain-
identity that is more primary, as a teaching, as a ment of divine freedom. Hence, I would suggest
path to liberation, as a boat of knowledge con- that samvada, ritualised dialogue, is one of Ad-
sisting above all, of disciplined conversation vaita’s great gifts to the spiritual advancement of
and dialogue. Joël-André-Michel Dubois’s 2014 humankind. We may not agree about religious
study of Advaita teaching and learning was en- truth or final liberation, but many of us would
titled The Hidden Lives of Brahman in part be- still benefit from taking some time to sit at the
cause he wanted to bring out the hidden reality feet of an Advaita teacher and to learn something
of Vedanta as it is performed and lived at the about the inestimable value of dialogue. P
great matha, monastery, Shringeri.3 Similarly, I References
believe that approaching Advaita as a distinctive 1. See Reid B Locklin, Liturgy of Liberation:
practice of ritualised dialogue helps us to come A Christian Commentary on Shankara’s
to a new appreciation of its uniqueness and com- Upadeśasāhasrī (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2011).
plexity, in both the past and the present. 2. Acharya Shankara, Upadesha Sahasri, 2.8.1.
Second, as a specialist in Hindu-Christian See Upadeśa Sāhasrī of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, trans.
studies and a Catholic theologian, I find the Swāmi Jagadānanda (Madras: Ramakrishna
commitment to samvada that I have discerned Math, 1941).
in the Upadesha-sahasri and witness regularly in 3. See Joël André-Michel Dubois, The Hidden
Lives of Brahman: Saṅkara’s Vedanta Through
the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis- His Upaniṣad Commentaries in Light of Contem-
sion, the Chinmaya Mission, and many other porary Practice (New York: State University of
Advaita movements today a source of great hope. New York, 2014).
PB January 2020 199

210
Insights on Reality and Sat-Chit-Ananda—

An Advaita Vedanta Perspective
Chandrasekaran Veeraiah
Introduction Advaita Vedanta conveys the idea of total
R
eality is baffling. It escapes human unity. In short, Advaita Vedanta ‘deals with a
comprehension. ‘The human mind has philosophy centred around a unity so great, so
been, from time immemorial, in the complete, so basic that all duality is ruled out’.5
quest of a universal and absolutely certain This school of thought asserts that the summum
knowledge of Truth and Reality; and the re- bonum of human existence is the union of indi-
sult has been the emergence of so many systems vidual consciousness with the immutable, non-
of philosophy.’1 divisible supreme Brahman.
In this light, Acharya Shankara, a mystic and According to Hindu metaphysics, ‘the Eter-
saint, expounded the monistic school of Advaita nal, self-effulgent, Non-dual Absolute Reality
Vedanta—the school of Hindu thought that called the “Brahman” or “Atman”,’6 is the attrib-
propounds that the end of Vedas is non-dual- ute-less ultimate reality. Advaita Vedanta indi-
ity—encapsulating the Hindu’s ‘adventure’ into cates that Brahman is of the essence of sat, pure
non-duality. ‘Vedanta is the end or gist of the Being, chit, consciousness or intelligence) and
Vedas.’2 The Advaita Vedanta of Acharya Shan- Ananda, bliss or happiness.
kara means the non-dual Vedanta of Acharya According to Reza Shah-Kazemi, ‘since
Shankara (ibid.). Brahman has been provisionally designated as
‘Reality, according to its [Advaita] insight, Sat-Chit-Ananda, realization of identity with
is non-dual, not-two.’3 Despite, inherently em- Brahman must entail bliss as an inseparable con-
ploying elaborate and systematic pedagogy and comitant’ (ibid.).
reasoning, Advaita does not profess to formulate Satchidananda, often referred to as sat-chit-
conceptually what reality is. It advertently pre- ananda, a metaphysical concept which is taken
pares genuine seekers to break asunder the veil from the Upanishads, ‘is the unchanging centre
of ignorance and to take a plunge into reality. of all manifestation’.7 Metaphysically, Advaita
In this attempt ‘It does not reject any view of indicates that sat-chit-ananda is the permanent
reality: it only seeks to transcend all views, since substratum of existence and that the innate
these are by their very nature, restricted, limited reality of human existence essentially is of the na-
and circumscribed.’4 ture of transcendental being-ness, sat, conscious-
ness, chit, and blissfulness, ananda. It employs
Chandrasekaran Veeraiah is a lecturer in the School the logic of neti-vada, via negativa, employing
of Communication Studies at SEGi University, Pet- the ‘neti, neti’ negating method of ‘it is not this,
aling Jaya, Malaysia. not that’, leading to satchidananda.8 In the words
200 PB January 2020

Insights on Reality and Sat-Chit-Ananda—An Advaita Vedanta Perspective 211
of Swami Siddheswarananda, ‘the formula sac- macrocosmic gradations. In the words of Swami
cidananda is not a definition but an indication’.9 Krishnananda, ‘Brahman is Existence which is
Advaita Vedanta proclaims Brahman as infinite Consciousness of the nature of Bliss’.12
imbued with the essence of sat-chit-ananda. Des- Pure Being is Existence. Existence includes
pite the Sanskrit terminologies and concepts em- the phenomenal and the transcendent. Advaita
ployed to give expression to the unexplainable posits the concept of pure Being as Atman in
non-dual reality of Brahman, ‘Words are to be the individual human being and Brahman as
used only where language of silence is not under- universal consciousness. The essence in a person
stood; but even then, words are not to be taken and the essence in the Universe are one and the
in their express sense, but as indicators in an im- same—and it is ‘ “Brahman” … the Universe has
plied manner’.10 The nature of human mind is to come of “Brahman” and will also return to it.’13
seek fulfilment through expression. In this con- Conjectures or verbal explanation of sat can ap-
text ‘the teachers of Advaita, recognising this, pease one’s urge to unravel the mysteries of sat
use words in such a manner that they will lead or being-ness, but ‘logically, attribute or quality
to the transcendent, without the words insist- itself becomes an unsound concept when it is
ing that they should go all the way, which they extended to the Absolute’.14
cannot’ (ibid.) Agnostics are bound to assert that this sat
Human language is inadequate to decipher is merely an idea in abstraction that bears no
the unknowable, transcendental realities of semblance to physical reality. Inferentially, sat
Advaita Vedanta. ‘All language belongs to the is metaphysical and it defies any comparison or
realm of duality … but the human mind can- elucidation. Defending the need to exercise a
not be, and will not be silent; it must express it- person’s metaphysical imaginative faculties when
self in words; it needs must speak even of things dwelling on experiential reality and truth, Sri
which go beyond the reach of words and con- Aurobindo asserts that the ‘supreme truths are
cepts’ (ibid.). As such, this paper aims to pro- neither the rigid conclusions of logical reason-
vide a cursory attempt at elucidating the Advaita ing nor the affirmations of creedal statement, but
Vedanta perspective on sat-chit-ananda in the fruits of the soul’s inner experience’.15
context of transcendental reality of Brahman. According to Advaita, the substratum of
existence, including human existence is Being
Sat—Existence or Being or sat. This Being is qualitatively transcendent
Sat really implies an uncreated existence which and immanent or phenomenal. Being is funda-
is imperishable, timeless and all-pervading, and mentally inclusive, in terms of a person’s micro-
is the very ground of all other apparent being.11 cosmic existential consciousness and exclusive as
Sat is Existence, not limited by any systems, the macrocosmic existential consciousness. To
structure or substance. It is wholeness, devoid this effect, Reza Shah-Kazemi points out that
of divisions, immanent and permanent. Advaita ‘the Absolute, then, must be understood to be
indicates that this beingness or sat, the unseen real, and thus to “be”, even while it is divested
metaphysical principle underlying creation, is of the relativity entailed by the attribution of
the bedrock of existence. It proclaims that this Being to it, remembering that whatever is an at-
uncreated and all-pervading existence is es- tribute of the Absolute is not the Absolute, and
sentially the same, both at microcosmic and that, by being attributed to it, Being necessarily
PB January 2020 201

constitutes an attribute of it’.16 However, Shah- It is ‘existence which is consciousness’.22 ‘The

Kazemi indicates that ‘Sat can be Brahman inas- difficulty of language is such that no word can
much as no element in the causal chain of being be used at all to designate what Sat-Cit means.
can be divorced from the one Reality, that of They are not two different things or states. It is
Brahman; but the converse does not hold: Brah- Being which is Consciousness; or Conscious-
man is not reducible to Sat’ (ibid.). ness which is Being. Being is Consciousness, and
Sat or Pure Being is transcendent yet im- Consciousness is Being’ (ibid.)
manent. All forms are shadows of ‘pure Exist- Consciousness presupposes intelligence as
ence’, which alone endures in the past, present, what is identified as consciousness has to in-
and future, while the shadows perish like bub- herently display an awareness, which is pure
bles in the ocean.17 The urge to live is the urge Awareness. However, this does not mean that
just to be, to exist.18 No one wants not-to-be, it is a subject and it needs to be conscious about
everyone wishes to exist, in some form or the something outside as an object. Chit is exclusiv-
other (ibid.). Paradoxically, innate human nature ity and inclusivity. ‘Consciousness in the sense of
seeks to unravel the mysteries confounding one- Reality does not imply that outside it something
self and express them in verbal testimonies. The must exist as its object. It is only in empirical
irony is that Being or sat is Reality and it cannot cognition that consciousness needs an object’
be grasped or expounded. ‘The only recourse (71). This reinforces Aitareya Upanishad’s aph-
to be taken is to admit the failure of intellect in oristic dictum, ‘Prajnanam brahma; Brahman
determining the nature of Reality and resort to is Consciousness’.23 ‘Consciousness cannot be
negative propositions.’19 conscious of Consciousness, even as one cannot
Advaita posits pure Being as depicting the ab- climb on one’s own shoulders. Eternal conscious-
solute transcendent nature of Reality. ‘The Abso- ness is Being itself.’24
lute transcends all finites, but includes everyone Advaita finds that Consciousness is devoid
of them. It does not become. It is. … Existence is of intentionality. There is no volition as Con-
the most universal concept which leaves nothing sciousness is self-luminous and not compelled
whatsoever outside it’ (69). Crediting the an- to act. ‘However, consciousness becomes inten-
cient rishis or seers for their prophetic Vedantic tional because of its association with the mind
statements, C Rajagopalachari asserts that ‘the and senses’ (71). Advaita posits that mind and
Hindu Rishis of yore exhorted humankind to senses are outward-bound and externalises in-
believe that … the causeless beginning was Sat teriority, thus strengthening the experience of
i.e., being with consciousness’.20 This then leads duality. For earthly existence, a person’s intelli-
the discussion into the second aspect of the tri- gence mingles with the mind and the senses and
adic sat-chit-ananda. projects reality in the externals, thus creating an
intention for action. In this context, Advaita as-
Chit—Consciousness serts that ‘when the mind and senses, which are
Advaita Vedanta indicates that ‘consciousness the external adjuncts, are absent, consciousness
or knowledge is the very nature of the Self ’.21 remains in its pure and uninvolved state’ (73).
Chit or Consciousness is not entirely a single en- Taking a deeper insight into the essence of chit,
tity, so to speak. It is pure Existence, sat, reflect- Advaita looks at the individualised conscious-
ing as pure Consciousness, chit or Intelligence. ness in human existence as operating via three
202 PB January 2020

states—the waking, dream, and the deep-sleep Brahman, but as his peculiar essence … Brahman
states. ‘The whole world is objectively busy, and is not Anandin, possessing bliss, but Ananda, bliss
therefore, Brahman is unknown to the world. We itself ’.30 The elements of Existence, Conscious-
are always conscious of something other than the ness, and Bliss seem to be seen as inseparable from
Self, both in the waking and the dreaming con- the whole gamut of existence. Kaji is concord-
sciousness. It is only in deep sleep that we prac- ant in asserting that ‘the urges to exist, to be con-
tically become one with the Absolute’ (ibid.). scious, and to be happy, permanently and without
‘At the deep-sleep level, where the mind is in its limitation, are universal and instinctive for all
causal or latent state, consciousness remains pure human beings everywhere and at all times’.31 He
and undifferentiated. At the absolute level or par- continues to stress that they ‘are natural and do
amarthika level, consciousness is pure, non-inten- not have to be learnt or copied from others. It
tional and non-relational. It simply is.’25 does not seem reasonable to dismiss them as in-
In the scheme of Existence, Consciousness valid or incapable of fulfilment’ (ibid.).
cannot be a separate quality or entity. Krish- Advaita Vedanta finds that every phenom-
nananda says, it is sat-chit, a united whole.26 enal activity or action that a person under-
Advaita is emphatic on this and the Upanishadic takes is intrinsically one that is undertaken in
aphorism ‘Prajnanam brahma; Brahman is Con- the pursuit of joy, happiness, or bliss, however
sciousness’ lends credence to this. ‘Pure Con- misdirected it might be. In this context, phe-
sciousness (cit) is beyond all forms of experience nomenal existence projects different shades of
and yet, all the perceptions of our daily life as- reality. Siddheswarananda finds that the ‘Reality
sociate and mingle intimately with the con- never ceases to be present in each entity of the
sciousness of “I am”’, says Siddheswarananda.27 phenomenal universe. The appearances of the
This brings the discussion to the third aspect of sensory world are only the refraction or conden-
ananda, bliss, or unalloyed happiness. sation of Pure Being, seen in terms of Ananda.’32
However, Advaita enjoins that one needs to
Ananda—Bliss understand, through inquiry, the difference be-
Advaita propounds that consciousness presup- tween unitive supreme Reality and the evanes-
poses existence and existence incorporates bliss. cent, ever-changing forms of multiplicity. ‘The
‘Existence (Sat) which is Consciousness (Cit) it- surging movement that arises, continues and
self is Bliss (Ananda).’28 Principally, even the pur- completes its cycle by engulfing all forms of em-
suit of lower levels of worldly happiness, joy, or pirical existence in Pure Bliss, the Supreme Love
bliss is generally said to be a misdirected effort at (ananda), but the spectator tastes the fullness of
pursuing unlimited joyfulness. ‘While dualistic it only when the differences, distinctions arising
worldly bliss is lower, it is measure of, and points out of multiplicity are all wiped out’ (212).
to, the inherent non-dual bliss of brahman.’29 In the context of human pursuit of happiness
That innate human need to feel fulfilled at all or bliss, the crucial issue of effort and effortless-
levels of mundane or phenomenal existence is ness needs to understood in its proper perspec-
self-evident in all human pursuits, even in the tive. ‘Anything that involves effort, anything that
search for the noumenal. The noted German phil- involves change, anything which is becoming
osopher Paul Deussen finds that ‘in the Upani- something other than what we already are can
shads bliss appears not as an attribute or a state of never be a solution.’33 The human mind is always
PB January 2020 203

in search of ever expanding or infinite happiness. three different descriptions or three properties
‘We learn from our experiences with things of predicated of brahman, but rather as the unitary
the external world that we will never achieve essence of the undifferentiated absolute”.’35
infinite and eternal sat, chit, and ananda by our Advaita Vedanta emphasises that the actions
finite and time-bound efforts. Efforts can take us or activities undertaken by the embodied self
a long way and are absolutely, essential for several is nothing but an innate urge to express its ex-
preparatory matters, but can never take us to the panse and freedom and unfold its nature as su-
boundless and to the unchanging’ (73). Advaita preme knowledge, supreme consciousness, and
postulates that unalloyed happiness or bliss hap- supreme bliss. It posits that Bliss is not one that
pens only when duality ceases. It forsakes be- can be pursued but a person is essentially en-
coming and propounds the idea of being-ness. dowed with the essence of bliss. It conclusively
Its shining truth is ‘that the true nature of our asserts that Self or Atman is enlightened and
own self is sat, chit, and ananda here and now for blissful by nature.
every one of us. This is the only possibility which
excludes any effort, any change, any becoming— Conclusion
because what can be required to become what we Advaita Vedanta, propounded by Acharya Shan-
already are?’ (ibid.). kara, is not a futile exercise in argumentation,
Happiness is the state of the mind while Bliss speculation, or negation. It is an invitation to an
is the quality of the Being. Explaining Acharya experiential mode of one’s identity with the cos-
Shankara’s Advaitic perspective on bliss, Krish- mos—the identity of the individual soul, Atman,
nananda, quoting the Chhandogya Upanishad, to the supreme Soul, Brahman. The physical
7.23.1, asserts that the ‘great Infinite alone is Bliss, human existence, surrounded by the ensnaring
there is no bliss in the small finite’.34 He goes on natural forces outside and the enslaving micro-
to add that ‘the world appears to be real, intel- cosmic constitutional inhibitions resulting from
ligent and blissful, because it projects itself on the operations of the mind, intellect, and the
the background of something which is essen- ego, will not stay contented with puny pleasures
tially Reality-Intelligence-Bliss’ (ibid.) In this and joyful endeavours during one’s lifespan. A
context, Advaita Vedanta exhorts one to have a human being is always seeking for expansion and
clear understanding of reality and realise that the merger into the expansive ethereal dimensions
inherent quality of the Atman or the embodied not bound by time, space, and causation. It is
self is Brahman which is infinite Being, infinite based on this truth that the Vedas proclaimed
Consciousness, and infinite Bliss. human beings as the offspring of immortality,
This sums up the Advaitic view on bliss as worthy of higher dimensions and merger.
one which is an inherent and inseparable essence Advaita propounds that the personalised self
of Brahman. It cannot be seen in isolation. Es- and its concordant projection of personalities
sentially, Being is Consciousness exuding Bliss. have blurred the human faculties to see through
When ‘later Advaitins define brahman in the the delusional darkness created by maya, a con-
positive, as undifferentiated, pure consciousness cept that Advaita explains as depicting the en-
or Being-Consciousness-Bliss (sat-cit-ānanda), ergy field that is perpetually at work to keep the
they are following Śaṅkara’s essential description entire microcosmic and macrocosmic elements
of brahman in not taking sat-cit-ānanda “to be evolving through its dynamic force. Relying on
204 PB January 2020

Vedic and Upanishadic scriptural authorities, before the Graduate Philosophical Society of
mainly on the prasthana-trayi, the triple texts, Harvard University on 25 March 1896:’The Ad-
namely the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra, and vaitist says, this little personalised self is the cause
the Bhagavadgita, Advaita attempts to propose of all misery. This individualised self, which
an embryonic methodology via its uncompro- makes me different from all other beings, brings
mising theory of monism. hatred and jealousy and misery, struggle and all
Shankara’s monistic school posits its cardi- other evils…So when the Vedantist has realised
nal theory that ‘there is one Absolute Brahman his own nature, the whole world has vanished
who is Sat-chit-Ananda, who is of an absolutely for him. It will come back again, but no more
homogenous nature’.36 Advaita does not negate the same world of misery. The prison of misery
the existence of the world but maintains that the has become changed into Sat, Chit, Ananda –
‘appearance of the world is due to Maya—the il- Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss
lusory power of Brahman which is neither Sat Absolute – and the attainment of this is the goal
nor Asat’ (ibid.). of the Advaita Philosophy.’40
Advaita Vedanta indicates that the triadic Conclusively, Advaita surmises that the tri-
aspect of Brahman, sat-chit-ananda, is funda- adic sat-chit-ananda, which reflects Existence or
mentally not a quality but Reality—the essence Reality, is a unitive force, both immanent and
of Brahman. They are not separate entities, so transcendent and is Brahman or Reality’s innate
to speak, but a conglomeration of unitive exist- nature. In this context, relying mainly on Upani-
ence. Chit or bliss is the innate reality of Being or shadic revelations, Advaita Vedanta propounded a
Existence. It is Brahman. Swami Krishnananda, methodology to guide the embodied human exist-
points out that ‘Brahman is Existence which is ence to claim one’s rightful status as the offspring
infinite Consciouness of the nature of Bliss’.37 of immortality, unveiling the principles of Brah-
‘Existence which is Consciousness, itself if Bliss’ man, Atman, maya, and moksa or release. It has
(65). In reassuring words, Mahadevan concludes, provided an unfailing, systematic methodology
‘it is not that the self has consciousness or is bliss- of precise reasoning leading individual beings to
ful; the self is consciousness-bliss’.38 unitive mergence into Reality. While Advaita at-
Using human language, which is basically tempts to express these fundamentals in intelligi-
inadequate, Advaita Vedanta has codified its ble language patterns, its exhilaration at touching
teachings to exhort serious seekers to unravel the essence cannot be expressed but in silence.
the mysteries of the unknowable. ‘Even thus, it Reality or in Advaitic parlance, Brahman, is
is not proper to regard the self ’s nature as consti- the unknowable. ‘This is the important thing to
tuted of three factors, being-consciousness-bliss. understand: however hard we may try, we could
Language is here useful, not in describing what is never succeed in placing Reality in front of us
real or what is value, but in drawing us away from as a specimen to be analysed.’41 Reality is only
what is non-real and what is non-value’ (Ibid.). understood, so to say, using the faculty of higher
It treats creation as a process not an end and ‘the intuition and in that state, fundamentally, there
creative activity of God is the overflow of joy’.39 is no perceiver, the act of perceiving, or the per-
The unfailing adherent of Advaita Vedanta ceived. Advaita Vedanta negates duality at all
and Hindu sage, Swami Vivekananda, explains in levels and modes and lets the seeker unravel
his lecture on the Vedanta philosophy delivered life’s mystery.
PB January 2020 205

The skilful use of limiting language in cap- Culture (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram,
1959), 142.
turing the significance of silence advocated by 16. Paths to Transcendence, 9.
Advaita can be better understood through the 17. See The Realisation of the Absolute, 63.
words of the eminent Western philosopher Lud- 18. See Common Sense About Uncommon Wisdom,
wig Wittgenstein: ‘My propositions are eluci- 66.
19. The Realisation of the Absolute, 17.
datory in this way: he who understands me
20. C Rajagopalachari, Hinduism: Doctrine and
finally recognises them as senseless, when he has Way of Life, (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bah-
climbed out through them, on them, over them. van, 1970), 57.
(He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after 21. ‘Contemporary Relevance of the Insights of
he has climbed upon it.). He must surmount Advaita’, 123.
22. The Realisation of the Absolute, 64.
these propositions; then he sees the world 23. Aitareya Upanishad, 3.3.
rightly. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one 24. The Realisation of the Absolute, 73.
must be silent.’42 P 25. Paul Y F Loke, Tat Tvam Asi (Thou Art That)
(Chennai: Rajan, 2005), 61.
References 26. See The Realisation of the Absolute, 73.
1. D B Gangolli, The Perfect and Unique Method of 27. Some Aspects of Vedanta Philosophy, 191.
Shankara’s Non-Dualism (Wadakanchery: Hind 28. Tat Tvam Asi (Thou Art That), 61.
Navotthana Pratishthan, 2001), lxix. 29. Andrew O Fort, ‘Beyond Pleasure: Śaṅkara on
2. Dhruv S Kaji, Common Sense About Uncommon Bliss’, Journal of Indian Philosophy, 15/2 ( June
Wisdom: Ancient Teachings of Vedanta (Hones- 1988), 177–89; 179.
dale: Himalayan Institute, 2001), 10. 30. Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads,
3. T M P Mahadevan, ‘Contemporary Relevance trans. Rev. A S Geden, (Delhi Motilal Banarsi-
of the Insights of Advaita’, Contemporary Indian dass, 1999), 141.
Philosophy (Second Series), ed. Margaret Cha- 31. Common Sense About Uncommon Wisdom, 71.
tterjee (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1998), 109. 32. Some Aspects of Vedanta Philosophy, 213.
4. Common Sense About Uncommon Wisdom, 10. 33. Common Sense About Uncommon Wisdom, 72.
5. The Perfect and Unique Method of Shankara’s 34. The Realisation of the Absolute, 81.
Non-Dualism, xii. 35. Leesa S Davis, Advaita Vedānta and Zen Bud-
6. Reza Shah-Kazemi, Paths to Transcendence: Ac- dhism: Deconstructive Modes of Spiritual Inquiry
cording to Shankara, Ibn Arabi, and Meister Eck- (London: Continuum, 2010), 29.
hart (Varanasi: Indica Books, 2009), 37. 36. Brahma Sutras, trans. Swami Sivananda (Shi-
7. R N Chopra, Spiritual Peregrinations: Place, vanandanagar: The Divine Life Society, 1999),
Purpose and Pursuit of Man on this Earth, (Bom- 6.
bay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1994), 158. 37. The Realisation of the Absolute, 64.
8. See Swami Krishnananda, The Realisation of the 38. ‘Contemporary Relevance of the Insights of
Absolute (Shivanandanagar: The Divine Life So- Advaita’, 128.
ciety, 1972), 63. 39. Ninian Smart, The Yogi and the Devotee: The
9. Swami Siddheswarananda, Some Aspects of Ved- Interplay Between the Upanishads and the
anta Philosophy, (Puranattukara: Ramakrishna Catholic Theology (London: George Allen and
Ashrama, 2000), 158. Unwin, 1968), 152.
10. ‘Contemporary Relevance of the Insights of 40. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
Advaita’, 110. 9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989;
11. See Paths to Transcendence, 9. 9, 1997), 1.365.
12. The Realisation of the Absolute, 58. 41. Some Aspects of Vedanta Philosophy, 29.
13. Spiritual Peregrinations, 158. 42. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Phil-
14. The Realisation of the Absolute, 60. osophicus (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and
15. Sri Aurobindo, The Foundations of Indian Trubner, 1922), 189.
206 PB January 2020

217
Advaita Vedanta in the Hands of

Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Bharatwaj Iyer
Introduction In studying the tradition of Advaita Vedanta
R
usmir Mahmutćehajić writes: ‘As and analysing the long history of debates, com-
such, the openness of the self and the mentaries, and elucidations revolving around it,
world to Unicity make it possible for is it necessary, for instance, that we look only
different languages, meanings and symbols to within the formal institutional tradition estab-
speak of Reality in another manner.’1 The his- lished by Acharya Shankara? If so, where exactly
torian and philosopher of Indian Philosophy, ought we to put the tremendous mystical and
Daya Krishna in his seminal text Indian Phil- philosophical output of the doctrinally diver-
osophy: A Counter Perspective makes the very gent sixteenth century Advaitin Appaya Diksh-
cogent point that the conventional way of stud- ita? Or ought we to restrict our gaze within the
ying and presenting Indian thought, as divided medieval and late medieval periods? What then
neatly into the orthodox and heterodox schools, should we do with the unique and diverse Ad-
is unhistorical and results in overlooking the dis- vaitic syntheses worked out by Sri Ramakrishna
tinctness or uniqueness of the individual think- or Swami Vivekananda or Sri Aurobindo, who
ers that are subsumed under the school’s broader flourished in the broad daylight of the nine-
rubric. It also leads, he maintains, to the ossifica- teenth and twentieth centuries?
tion of our perspective of the history of ideas in In search of our revered Advaitic teachers and
India because the framework makes us look for commentators ought we to contain ourselves
continuity and sameness in this history rather within the Indian tradition? If so, what are we to
than for discontinuous creativity and variety.2 do with the fact that Schopenhauer’s metaphys-
One might ask whether Daya Krishna’s cri- ical system comes strikingly close to the Advaitic
tique still holds water; one might ask if recent one, which he himself points out in the preface to
studies in the history of Indian Philosophy con- his The World as Will and Representation?3 Also,
tinue in this error. Be that as it may, one could at how do we square the fact that Swamiji repeatedly
least agree that Daya Krishna’s warning against uses Immanuel Kant’s metaphysical division of
treating Indian thought in this way is well worth reality into phenomena and noumena, employ-
keeping in mind. This essay heeds this warning. ing constantly what is now called the Kantian
But in doing so, it attempts to go way further Boundary in order to explore the central tenets of
than Daya Krishna. Advaita Vedanta? This is clear, to take but one ex-
ample, in his introduction to Jnana Yoga,4 which
Bharatwaj Iyer is an economist, blogger, and thinker is arguably the most distilled and cogently argued
from Mumbai. exposition of non-dualism in his whole oeuvre.
PB January 2020 207

Kant, of course, never explicitly spoke philosophy, of which the mystical experience is
about Vedanta like Schopenhauer did. But we but the phenomenological and experiential side.
understand and express better the principles of This is as much as to say that our chosen path
Advaita, and the rationality that upholds and here is jnana, knowledge.
undergirds it, by allowing this Kantian interven- Let us add one more to the string of questions
tion. Doesn’t this make Kant an important figure in our second paragraph. Do we have to restrict
in the history of Advaita Vedanta? The twentieth ourselves only to Hinduism? One might com-
century philosopher K C Bhattacharya couldn’t plain that this whole stage-setting introduction
have erected his vast and rather intricate system is unneeded. No one has claimed that Advaita
of metaphysics, phenomenology, and psych- be limited to either India or Hinduism, to either
ology without a rereading of Advaita using the the past or the present, to either the West or the
lens provided by Kant. All of this must compel East. Yet, this overlooks the scope and serious-
us to think about the very meaning of Advaita ness of the questions raised. What these ques-
and the Advaitic tradition. tions are asking in effect is this. Could someone
The answer to the above string of questions de- like Seyyed Hossein Nasr (b. 1933), a philoso-
pends on how we define the contours of Advaita pher and historian of Islamic philosophy and
as a philosophical system. I here take Swamiji’s an ecological thinker, who has both drawn im-
view, which is so finely portrayed in Stephen mensely from Vedanta and contributed to it in
Gregg’s recent book, Swami Vivekananda and return, ever be made part of a general summary
Non-Hindu Traditions, as one that bases its ‘Ad- of the history of Vedantic thought? Only when
vaitic primacy’ in the ‘universal human religious we think along these lines do we see really how
condition’.5 In this view, non-dualism is not just difficult and paradoxical is any universalist pro-
a spiritual school or tradition or method. It is all ject really. This paper will attempt to do just that;
of that but is also more than that, Gregg argues. it shall attempt to introduce Seyyed Hossein
It is an attitude towards reality, a frame of refer- Nasr as a teacher of Advaita Vedanta both in the
ence, a peculiar form of envisioning the world, general sense of having a non-dualist vision or
no matter the variety of ways in which this atti- intellectual attitude and in the particular sense
tude is solidified in theory and praxis. of using and moulding the Advaita tradition as
A universal Advaita, to use Gregg’s phrase, passed down from Acharya Shankara.
will have to be unsystematic in itself but ame-
nable to systematisation depending on the cul- Shedding Ink for the Sacred:
tural and intellectual atmosphere in which it is His Life and Works
handled. The number of teachers and commen- Seyyed Hossein Nasr is an Iranian Islamic phil-
tators of this universal Advaita and the diverse osopher, historian, and ecological thinker. Born
traditions from which they hail are bound to to a family of scholars in the year 1933 in Tehran,
be considerably expanded. But a caveat is here he was introduced to poetry, philosophy, litera-
important. We are not putting together a peren- ture, and indeed, science at a very early age. In
nial philosophy of the type that Aldous Huxley his conversation with Ramin Jahanbegloo,6 he
did. Mysticism has its place, but our concern in relates how he was immersed in the Persian poets
this study shall be the intellectual route to the Rumi, Hafez, and Firdawsi in early childhood.
Absolute, our concern shall be with systematic Around the age of ten, he was already engaging
208 PB January 2020

with Pascal and Descartes in Persian translation. is a part of a galaxy of prominent intellectual fig-
His father’s broad and open outlook meant that ures, with a vision of reality at once universalist
the young Seyyed Hossein was introduced to and traditionalist, like René Guénon, Frithjof
both Islamic and Western texts and thinkers. Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, James
In 1945 he left Iran for the United States Cutsinger, and so on. Apart from these two,
where he pursued his education further. How- there is another area, overlapping with them,
ever, it is interesting to note that before that, where his contributions have had immense im-
for his fourth grade he went to Jamshid Jam Zo- pact: ecological theology and philosophy. In
roastrian School. For the fifth and sixth grades fact, he is arguably among the first thinkers to
he went to schools where there seems to have bring to the ecological crisis a solution, and pre-
been a lively and open intellectual culture. This ceding that a diagnosis, wholly anchored in the
both explains the breath of mind and openness spirit and letter of traditionalist spirituality and
of heart that Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s very mode metaphysics, thereby founding a veritable the-
of thinking displays in later life, and especially osophy of nature.
in matters of religious and cultural distinctions
and differences. Anyway, for our purposes here, The Sacred, the Unifier
these are useful facts. Around this time, he was We have been using terms that might require
also introduced to Mahatma Gandhi, whom his some elucidation to prevent misunderstanding.
father regarded as a great role model to follow By ‘tradition’ or ‘traditionalist’ in the perennial-
in life (24). ist school is meant a perspective that considers
First a student of Physics at the Massachu- all the dispensations from the dimension of the
setts Institute of Technology (mit), he quickly sacred as being equally authentic, salvific, and
shifted to philosophy and that remains to this true. This is the reason that in the last paragraph,
day his field of excellence. The reason for the the apparently contrary terms ‘traditional’ and
shift was his perception of the fact that the whole ‘universalist’ were juxtaposed. We spoke earlier
enterprise of modern science is founded on cer- about the foundation of science being certain
tain presuppositions that, themselves not amena- philosophical presuppositions, paradigms, dar-
ble to proof, need to axiomatically be accepted shanas, or views or visions of reality.
for the enterprise to get going in the first place. It is the teaching of the traditionalist school,
These presuppositions are the subject of meta- also Latinised as philosohia perennis, that the rise
physics and epistemology rather than theoretical of the modern world coincided with the drop-
science. His books like Man and Nature, Know- ping from importance of the intellect or aql, and
ledge and the Sacred, Science and Civilization in the reduction of the human epistemic poten-
Islam, are excellent examples of his work in the tial to mere ratio. The intellect was subsumed
philosophy of science.7 under mere rationality. The intellect can best
There are two broad areas where Dr Nasr’s be understood in comparison with the Sankhya
influence is significant. One is the realm of Is- concept of buddhi. Paul Schweizer, of the Uni-
lamic philosophy, where he is both a prominent versity of Edinburgh, explains that the buddhi in
teacher and historical exponent, with contribu- the Sankhya system stands for a reflective sieve,
tions of his own as an original thinker. The other through whose sattvic transparency the light
realm is that of perennial philosophy, where he of consciousness, the Purusha principle, shines
PB January 2020 209

on the objects, causing cognition to take place.8 of most of the ills of modern life—extending all
The cognitive faculties of the human being are the way from psychological, sociological, and
indeed also involved in rational activities, or- ecological catastrophes to spiritual calamities
ganising and presenting thoughts, but they can that the world is currently labouring under. The
do this only because of their connection to the way out of the problem of course is exactly the
seat of pure consciousness and pure subjectivity, way into it.
Purusha. The intellect is best described by Nasr Taking the ecological catastrophe first, it is
as follows: the view of nature as a storehouse of intellec-
The Logos or Buddhi or ‘aql’, as the Intel- tual and natural resources, instead of as a mani-
lect is called in various traditions, is the lu- festation of the Transcendent and Sacred, that
minous center which is the generating agent resulted in its maltreatment and which is likely
of the world—for ‘it was by the Word that all to destroy it. The solution is to view nature as
things were made’—of man, and of religion. an ensemble of God’s signs or ayat. Indeed, in
It is God’s knowledge of Himself and the first
in His creation. Moreover, as there is a hier- the Sufi understanding of Nature, the cosmos
archy of cosmic existence, so are there levels of itself is conceived as a Quran. Henry Corbin
consciousness and degrees of descent of the In- considers the notion of the Cosmic Script or
tellect through various levels of existence until the Cosmic Quran as an important aspect of
man is reached, in whose heart the ray of Intel- Sufi hermeneutics. The Quran states this concep-
lect still shines.9 tion in the fifty-third verse of chapter forty-one,
Modernity, achieved by the irreparable Car- which reads: ‘We shall show them Our signs in
tesian split between the subject and the object, every region of the earth [on the far horizons]
brought about with it the corollary split between and in themselves, until it becomes clear to them
knowledge and being. About the latter, we shall that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your
be discussing further. The split, however, resulted Lord witnesses everything?’10
in the dethroning of the intellect as a luminous The far horizons and the depths of the self
centre of consciousness deriving its cognitive are signs from God. ‘Far horizon’, which is the
potency from the transcendent. Instead, the in- translation of the Arabic ‘afaq’, and the ‘selves’,
tellect, or what Nasr also terms as buddhi, was translated from ‘anfus’ which is the plural of
reduced to a mathematical and logical tool with ‘nafs’, combine in this verse to form the two cos-
which the human being could manipulate and mic polarities over which God is the witness. We
control its environment after forcing nature to here also get the Vedantic triad of the Atman,
reveal her secrets. This modern predicament ul- nafs, jagat, the universe or afaq, and Brahman,
timately leads to the viewing of Nature herself allah, or al-haqq. It is here that, according to
as nothing more than what Heidegger called a Seyyed Hossein Nasr,11 all the traditional cos-
Bestand or standing reserve, a vast storehouse of mologies come together in their vision of na-
cognitive and material resources. ture. And it is in their recovery that ecological
The breaking of the tie between the human survival depends.
heart and the Transcendent, caused by reducing The catastrophes that have impacted both the
the human intellect, and with it the human being conception of human nature and of knowledge
as well, into a manipulative tool bent on self-ag- stem also from the same severance of the intel-
grandisement is also according to Nasr the cause lect’s link with the Sacred. With the advent of
210 PB January 2020

scientific modernity, the human capacity for en- about the salvific role of spiritual knowledge
visioning the ultimate reality was substituted or bodha: ‘Just as fire is the direct cause for
with a human incapacity that restricts us to the cooking, so knowledge is the direct means of
merely calculative and organisational, with the liberation. Compared to all other forms of dis-
changing and the ephemeral. As Nasr puts it in cipline, knowledge or jnana is the only direct
his Living Sufism: ‘Man, who during the Renais- means of liberation.’15
sance considered himself a secular being, began In his most important text on this subject
to develop a science that considered the chang- written in 1989, Knowledge and the Sacred,
ing aspect of things alone, a science that was con- Seyyed Hossein Nasr considers this liberating
cerned solely with becoming rather than being.’12 form of knowledge to be Sapiential Wisdom,
The confinement of knowledge and its possi- hikmat al-khalida, or in Latin, Scientia Sacra.
bilities to that which is transient and changing, This sacred science allows the intellect to see
what is measurable and can be manipulated has things as they are, without superimposition or
led to ‘the destruction of the immutable aspect false ascription. Indeed, in the fourth verse of
of both man and Universe’ (ibid.). the Atmabodha, Acharya Shankara says that the
Guénon in his The Reign of Quantity con- Self—the imminent self that is non-different
siders this materialist and reductionist paradigm from the transcendent self—shows itself as itself.
as being blinded to one aspect of things and fo- The form of knowledge here is that of prakasha
cused entirely on the other.13 It focusses on the or illumination.
quantitative at the expense of the qualitative, What is prerequired for this is the removal of
the substantive at the expense of the essential, ignorance, and as ignorance is a negative thing,
the material at the expense of the formal. The a mere non-substantial adhyasa, a false ascrip-
ability to look at both these aspects at the very tion of being on to that which has no being,
same time is an important contribution that what this means is that there is but a need for
both Advaita Vedanta and Sufi metaphysics, a shift in one’s vision of reality. Reality doesn’t
as we shall see, can make to solve our present need change, it doesn’t need adjustment, it just
global predicament. needs to be viewed properly, and knowledge will
The point that these perennial cosmologists shine forth. In this, Sufism is in total concur-
and philosophers are making, Seyyed Hossein rence. Mansoor al-Hallaj says, and Nasr trans-
Nasr especially among them, is that despite ex- lates it from the text of Ibn al-Arif ’s Mahasin
ternal differences, in these core and deeper mat- al-Majalis, ‘Thou art the veil which hides from
ters, in these esoteric aspects, all the authentic thine heart the secret of His mystery’.16 Meister
spiritual traditions in the world are united, for Eckhart put this idea in his advice to strip ‘your-
their source is the same. The more inward the self of your own self ’.17 It is when the Atman is
aspect we are looking at, the closer the religious not ignorantly viewed as a finite self that its in-
traditions! Martin Lings, in his What is Sufism, finity is revealed. Indeed, that which is veiled, or
describes this using the symbol of a circle.14 is the object of adhyasa, is verily the same as that
which veils.18
Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s Jnana Yoga Seyyed Hossein Nasr formulates this quintes-
In the second verse of his Atmabodha, ‘Self- sentially Advaitic idea thus: ‘Intelligence is a di-
Knowledge’, Acharya Shankara has this to say vine gift which pierces through the veil of māyā
PB January 2020 211

and is able to know reality as such. It is a ray of be the removal of this superimposition, the false
light which pierces through the veils of cosmic and the true must be broken separate from each
existence to the Origin and connects the per- other, before you can realise that they were non-
iphery of existence, upon which fallen man lives, different to begin with. As Nasr puts it: ‘He has
to the Center wherein resides the Self.’19 This realized that ultimately Māyā is Ātman.’24 This
piercing ability of the intellect is called viveka, task is that of viveka.25
the faculty which discerns between the true and Acharya Shankara defines viveka, discern-
the false, the real and the apparent, the relative ment, as the ability to discern the Self from the
and the absolute. In short, it is the instrument of non-Self or the being from the non-being (71).
knowing a thing for what it is.20 To quote Nasr Every student of Advaitic epistemology must
again: ‘Discrimination between the Real and the however be aware of the startling paradox in-
unreal terminates in the awareness of the nondual volved here. This paradox is captured most
nature of the Real, the awareness which is the succinctly by Seyyed Hossein Nasr in his The
heart of gnosis and which represents not human Need for a Sacred Science: ‘If a critic asserts, as
knowledge but God’s knowledge of Himself.’21 in fact has been done, that according to this or
In his commentary on the Bhagavadgita, that Oriental sage māyā is Ātman or samsāra is
Acharya Shankara explains the nature of super- nirvana, one can answer that such an assertion
imposition and the way out of it: ‘The mundane is only possible if one first realizes that māyā is
state, consisting of agentship and enjoyership māyā and samsāra is samsāra.’26
pertaining to the objects of knowledge, is super- One has to inevitably begin with maya, with
imposed on the knower through ignorance. … the relative, with the non-self. That becomes the
Since ignorance has the nature of covering, it is ground on which discernment must work. In his
indeed a notion born of tamas; it makes one per- Living Sufism, Nasr says something much more
ceive contrarily, or it arouses doubt, or it leads to radical, while beautifully bringing together the
non-perception. For it disappears with the dawn Vedantic and the Islamic conception of this: ‘To
of discrimination.’22 have understood that the world is maya is to have
It is very interesting in this comparative an- understood the meaning of Atman or Brahman,
alysis of ours to note that Acharya Shankara which transcends maya … the very realisation of
regards ignorance as a form of veiling. To the the character of the world as al-khalq implies the
Advaitin, khyati23 or falsity in cognition doesn’t awareness of al-haqq.’27
have any positive reality nor a temporally iden- There is no way out of that. It must be like that
tifiable cause. It is a beginning-less condition of if one’s conception is Advaitic or non-dualistic.
being itself. It is not a positive reality in the sense Knowing the one must mean knowing the other,
that ignorance is merely the seeing of a thing as for there is only one. The relative must be known
it is not, it is to ascribe reality to what isn’t real. as relative, as dependent on the Absolute, and not
Yes, the snake, which is a khyati, is a covering as irreducibly final or we risk making the relative
or veil over the rope, which is the real. Yet, the into an absolute, which is logically impossible. On
snake is the rope, the false is the real, the veil is the other hand, our aim is indeed to say that the
the veiled if only one could shift one’s vision. relative is the absolute, that maya is Brahman. This
Because the problem is that of false ascription, must come, as Nasr says, after first considering the
or superimposition, adhyasa, the solution must relative as relative and the absolute as absolute.
212 PB January 2020

So, the intellect and its capacity for discern- Coupled with this hadith, one also needs
ment, for piercing through the veil or hijab of to consider the twenty-sixth verse of chapter
cosmic existence and reaching the truth beyond fifty-five of the Quran which reads: ‘Everything
is the fundamental starting point, and at this thereon is passing away (fān); and there subsists
point Vedanta and Islam are united in their goals (yabqā) only the Face of your Lord, Owner of
and intent. The failure of modernity also con- Majesty and Glory.’29 Reza Shah-Kazemi in his
sists in the divorce between epistemology and book discussing the commonalities between
ontology, between knowledge and being. One Islam and Buddhism presents us the theologian
of the other functions of the intellect, the losing Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s interpretation of this
of which Nasr laments, is the recognition of a verse. Ghazali twists the verse a little into mean-
qualitative hierarchy of knowledge, attendant ing that everything, kulli shay, is by nature per-
on a qualitative hierarchy of existence. This latter ishing, non-existent, unreal except his face which
will take us into the metaphysical constructions is present in everything, which is the only real in
of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) and Sadr the cosmos. So, to know a thing or to know the
ad-Din Shirazi (1571–1640), who are crucial to Self is to know his face. With this comparative
Nasr’s intellectual development and thereby also reflection, we can now go to Advaita Vedanta.
crucial to his understanding of Advaita Vedanta. Patrick Laude when discussing the concepts
of Atman and Brahman views the former as the
The Nature of Reality supremely subjective and the latter as the abso-
Before we can introduce Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s lutely objective. This translation of the problem
presentation of Advaita Vedanta and explore a into the Subject-Object poles, and then the sub-
dimension which hasn’t been explored before— sequent equation of these poles is very useful.
that is, the situating of Nasr’s interpretation of For in Advaita, ultimate reality is either Exist-
Advaita within the matrix of the concepts of ence, sat, or Consciousness, chit, and both. The
wahdat al-wujud, transcendent unity of Exist- Vedantic tradition has evolved teaching meth-
ence, and tashkik al-wujud, the gradation of Ex- odologies that either focus on the ontological or
istence—we need first to go over some Advaitic the epistemological side of things, both arriving
metaphysical grounds that need not be new but at the same point.
are essential. Let us begin with an Islamic source. The Hindu—and specifically Advaitin—no-
A hadith qudsi is a hadith or prophetic say- tion of Māyā may be approached from a variety
ing that is placed on his tongue by God, and so of perspectives that ultimately involve either an
such hadiths are almost, but not quite, equal to ontological, or an epistemological emphasis.
the Quran in their importance. One such had- It could be said that, in principle, the first ap-
ith, which is fundamental to the Sufi tradition, proach pertains to a metaphysical description of
goes: ‘I was a hidden treasure and I wanted to be reality, or the doctrinal dimension of Advaita,
whereas the second is mostly relevant to the
known, therefore I created the world.’28 What
‘subjective’ realm of method, or the way of spir-
this hadith is suggesting, and what the Sufi itual realization.30
philosophical tradition took from it, is that God
is manifesting his own Self through the cosmos, Interestingly, in our search for the Object we
and in the case of Self-knowledge or realisation, realise that the Object, the ultimately Real in its
it is God who is knowing God. objective metaphysical mode, cannot be reached
PB January 2020 213

through reaching particular objects. Indeed, we manifestation of subjectivity. The viveka we need
find something even more radical. When we go here is that we keep in mind that a subject is that
looking for them, we actually find it impossible which cannot be objectified. It is straightforward
to reach particular objects either! Take a pot for logic, even a useful tautology, to say that subject
instance. The pot itself is not a substantial entity is not an object; it cannot be objectified, and if
but merely a shape and a name given to the clay it is objectified it becomes an object and that
that underlies and substantiates it; it is merely which is doing the objectification becomes the
pot-shaped clay. Look at how the noun quickly subject instead.
turned into an adjective. Suppose there is an eye that is seeing a rock.
Now, what about the clay? It too is but the Here, the eye is the subject and the rock is the
name given to certain shapes and formations perceptive or cognitive object. But the eye is not
that the underlying molecules have assumed. the Subject because it too can be cognitively ob-
Does the clay exist on top of or in substantial jectified, say by the mind which can think about
addition to the molecular formation? No. It is it. The mind also is not the Subject because in
just clay-shaped molecules, if the expression is the case of self-reflection, the mind becomes an
allowed. The same with the molecules, which are object of cognition. As in the case of the object,
nothing more than certain combinations of the here too one risks entering an infinite regress, un-
underlying atoms. So, when I take hold of a pot, less we reach the very floor of pure consciousness
is it the atomic structure that is real and which I which is the subject of every perception, every
name ‘pot’? No, for even here one can go down cognition, every act of understanding without
to the subatomic structure, to the world of quan- itself becoming the object of cognition. What-
tum reality and, if the string theorists are right, ever faculty cognises it then, gets the mantle of
down even to strings as the ultimate substrate of the Subject; we are not concerned about who
reality, as the Object. gets this mantle, whatever that final cognisant
But one cannot logically halt in this analysis. is—that is pure consciousness. Advaita’s teaching
Anything that has a form is the form of some- is the finding of final unity between this Object
thing underlying it. To avoid this infinite regress, and this Subject, and the recognition of the joy
the final substance underlying everything must or ananda31 that results from it.
be formless. It must have an existence without Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s texts like The Garden
requiring something underlying it, something of Truth, Three Muslim Sages, and Sadr ad-Din
supporting it to give it existence and reality. That Shirazi and His Transcendent Theosophy make
which fulfils this condition is Existence itself. it clear that his own philosophical views and
What in Sanskrit we call sat and which in Islamic his understanding of Vedanta depend on Ibn
philosophy is called, in Arabic, al-Wujud. Arabi’s notion of Wahdat al-Wujud and Sadra’s
The same analysis can be done to the other notion of Tashkik al-Wujud.32 The former no-
side of the polarity set up by Patrick Laude: the tion is the result of taking the Islamic testimony,
Subject. Indeed, one of the cardinal texts of the ‘there is no God but God’, to its logical extreme.
Vedanta tradition, drig-drishya-viveka or the Tawhid or Unity is the declaration of God’s one-
Seer-Seen-Discernment, does just that. Just as ness, of the uniqueness of God’s divinity. But
the Object cannot be a particular object or set to Ibn Arabi, it also means the declaration of
of objects, the Subject cannot be a particular his unique Reality, considering God as the only
214 PB January 2020

Real. Everything else receives its reality or its ex- against God, while we just saw that ‘there is no
istence, wujud, from the only Wujud that there wujud but God’. The world cannot be independ-
is. William Chittick, the foremost expert on Ibn ent of God; indeed, it has no reality whatsoever
Arabi, puts it comprehensively: ‘Tawhid is ex- apart from being a reflection or borrowing of
pressed most succinctly in the formula, “There God’s reality. In less theistic terms this is exactly
is no god but God.” God is wujud, so “There is what we saw above in the pot analysis. There is
no wujud but God.” Everything other than God no substantial or additional and independent
is not wujud and can properly be called “nonex- reality to the various forms that the underlying
istence” (‘adam). Wujud is the Hidden Treasure, substance assumes. The only reality that they
and all things derive their existence from it, for have is adjectival, formal, qualitative. Here our
they possess none of their own.’33 Vedantic analysis meets at the very heart of Ibn
In a sense, there is nothing but un-objectified Arabi’s Sufism.
pure Being or Existence. Everything is nothing It is the qualities and acts of God that are re-
but this Wujud, even disparate entities that act flected in the world. God is the repository of all
as veils of this pure Being. As Ibn Arabi puts it the qualities and properties that this manifold
in his Risalat al-Ahadiyah, Treatise on Unity: world displays, and every quality in the world
‘None sees Him other than He, and none per- reflects God’s attributes. Here is the right place
ceives Him other than He. His veil is [only a to mention that Islamic philosophy begins with
“consequence” and effect of ] His oneness; noth- a fundamental ontological distinction. In its an-
ing veils other than He. … His prophet is He, and alysis, it is concerned with two things, under
His sending is He, and His Word is He. He sent which objective reality can be divided, and they
Himself with Himself to Himself.’34 are wujud and mahiya. They result from two
There is however a risk in this, which students questions that can be asked of any object: ‘Is it?’,
of Advaita also must be wary of. One can, by hiya, and ‘what is it?’, ma’ hiya. Every single ques-
deprecating the relative for the absolute, enter a tion which reason deals with is a variation of one
position of implicit duality. Seyyed Hossein Nasr of these two. The first question deals with the
pre-empts this error in his commentary on the existence or non-existence of a thing. The sec-
above passage; and in fact, his Vedantic analysis ond deals with the thing’s properties, qualities,
also never falls into that mistake. He is helped in and relations.
this by the view of the cosmos as a Divine The- In the cosmic picture that we painted a few
ophany, which is a common theme across Sufism. lines ago, we see how God is both the reposi-
Nasr says: ‘What Ibn Arabi wishes to assert is tory of wujud, being the only existent Real,
that the Divine Reality is distinguished from its and of mahiya, being the locus of every mani-
manifestations and is transcendent with respect fested quality or attribute. Let us track back for
to them, but that the manifestations are not in a moment to our pot. Are we saying that the
every respect separate from the Divine Reality substance that coagulates into a usable and tan-
which somehow encompasses them’ (ibid.). gible pot is Existence itself ? How do we come
Therefore, maya can never be regarded as to terms with that? Here Advaita Vedanta can,
sheer illusion, appearance as purely false, the if not learn from or situate itself within, at least
unreal as a total nullity. For that would mean take a look at Sadr ad-Din Shirazi’s transcendent
setting up an independent and equal principle as theosophy, as Nasr calls it.
PB January 2020 215

Schools of Islamic philosophy diverged on understandable, one could say, but what about
one fundamental issue: whether to regard exist- something formless and intangible becoming
ence, asl al-wujud, or essence, asl al-mahiya, as a thing with attributes. There are, at least at the
principal and foundational. The Ishraqi school level of paramartha satya, no attributes in any
of Shihab ud-Din Suhrawardi considered es- real sense. This is exactly what Advaita Vedanta
sences involving properties, attributes, qualities, maintains as well. For if you tried to grasp the at-
and so on to be the truly, foundationally, real. tributes of the pot, you will fall into an infinite
The Iranian philosophical tradition continued in vortex, as we saw. Muhammad Kamal gives us
this till Mulla Sadra’s own teacher Mir Damad, a succinct summary of Mulla Sadra’s position
who denied the reality of existence as a substan- in these words: ‘The systematic ambiguity of
tial category in favour of essence. This matter is Being [tashkik al-Wujud] is the particulariza-
wholly unique to Islamic philosophy, so it would tion of Being in which Being becomes manifest
help if we translate this and situate it in the Ve- in its own individual modalities.’35
dantic paradigm. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who follows directly
In our pot example, the ultimate substance we in this line, lays special emphasis on the mode
arrived at was the formless sat or Existence. The of knowing Being. Because it can’t be object-
trouble an Advaitic analysis must always face is ified and grasped by the hand, Being must reveal
to explain how this pure Existence could congeal itself to us. This revealment of Being is termed
and coagulate into something so tangible and fi- hudhur. This and the acceptance of wahdat al-
nite as a pot. The concept of maya has been use- wujud and tashkik al-wujud colours his reception
ful in explaining this, but the very physics and and interpretation of Advaita beautifully, and
mechanics, as it were, of the process needs expli- in ways that are theistically tinged. He doesn’t
cation if the theory of maya is not to become a deviate from the traditional understanding of
deus ex machina. What exactly is the difficulty in the concepts of maya and Atman, but his way of
sat becoming a pot? The problem is that of some- interpreting these becomes a welcome new ap-
thing formless becoming endued with properties proach to them.
and attributes. We spoke about the gradations of Being in
Mulla Sadra’s ontology helps to rescue us Mulla Sadra. In his The Garden of Truth, Nasr
from this problem. To him it is no longer Es- puts it in Sufistic terms like this: ‘The Sufi doc-
sence that is primordial but Existence. Pure trine of ḥijāb or veil is very similar to that of
Wujud can become a pot composed of differ- māyā. In essence, there are levels of reality or
ent attributes because attributes don’t exist in being ordered in such a manner that the lower
any real sense at all. They are nothing more than is less real than the higher, which is veiled from
the modulations of Being, just like light, a single it. The higher contains all that is positively real
unified substance, can vary in its frequency and in the lower, but the lower does not possess the
intensity, assuming various forms and properties same degree of being or the same level of reality
while being always the same substance. This vari- and perfection as the higher.’36 A few lines be-
ability in Being is called tashkik al-Wujud. fore this in the same paragraph, Nasr makes the
Are the waves different from the sea? They comparison more explicit: ‘The Advaita Ved-
are apparently! But they aren’t because waves are anta states that only Ātman, or the Divine Self,
mere modulations of the sea. About the sea it is the Divine Ipseity, is Real and everything else
216 PB January 2020

is māyā, not ultimately real. But this does not see it as divine, as ayat of God. In his book Man
mean that māyā is simple illusion. The relative is and Nature, Nasr asserts:
not as real as the Absolute, but the relative does A simplistic interpretation … especially as prev-
possess relative reality on its own level. It is only alent among modern pseudo-Vedantins, would
from the point of view of Ātman that nothing conclude that the world being maya, usually
else is real’ (ibid.). translated as illusion, it matters little whether
one lives in virgin nature or the ugliest urban en-
This theistic impulse to not regard maya as il-
vironment, whether one surrounds oneself with
lusion, for God’s creation cannot be demeaned, sacred art or the worst trash produced by the
helps his case a lot. In Knowledge and the Sacred, machine. But this view is itself the worst pos-
Nasr emphasises the notion of God’s lila, to view sible delusion. … But maya is not only illusion,
manifestation as a play of the Divine. His con- which is its negative aspect, but also the divine
cern for nature and the impending global envir- play or art. It veils the Supreme Self, the Abso-
onmental crisis in books like Man and Nature lute Reality, but also reveals and displays it.37
and Religion and the Order of Nature brings out He writes further, after considering aspects
his views on how Vedantic philosophy and cos- of Islamic and Christian spiritual conceptions
mology relate to the natural and spiritual crisis of nature, that: ‘Only the revival of a spiritual
of modern times. conception of nature that is based on intellectual
and metaphysical doctrines can hope to neutral-
In Conclusion: the Human Being, ize the havoc brought about by the applications
Nature, and the Future of modern science and integrate this science it-
According to the Quran, the human being is a self into a more universal perspective’ (106).
representative of God on earth. He is here both Seyyed Hossein Nasr calls us, not just here
to protect God’s creation and to learn from it but throughout his work, to construct a Vedan-
and perfect his soul. The world is, in Swamiji’s tic ecological philosophy, something that has
words, a gymnasium. In Sufism, this doctrine is not been seriously tried so far. This ecological
carried further with the concept of the Universal philosophy of his comes, to use Stephen Gregg’s
Person or the Insaan al-Kāmil. He is like an isth- term, from a vision of the ‘universal human con-
mus between the material and the divine realm, dition’ as one of God’s vicegerency. And this
a being with one hand clasping the earth and human condition, in his mind, is not just the
with the other hand clasping the hem of the di- Muslim’s but also the Vedantin’s.
vine cloak. This, however, is a subject that would We began by asking if Seyyed Hossein
require a separate treatment of its own. Within Nasr could be accepted as a teacher of the Ad-
the limits of space, we can only taste a few more vaitic tradition, and how far the definition of
drops, before we conclude, of how Nasr sees the the ‘Advaita tradition’ can be stretched. Our
recovery of both the realised human being and lengthy analysis of that question seems to sug-
his engagement with Nature in Vedanta as ur- gest not only that Seyyed Hossein Nasr is indeed
gent needs in the current world crisis. a teacher of Advaita Vedanta but also that in his
We will begin first with nature. Seyyed Hos- own way he enriches the tradition, coming as he
sein Nasr’s understanding of maya helps him cre- does from an Islamic metaphysical perspective,
ate a distinct Vedantic ecological theory. Seeing and thus becomes himself an isthmus between
maya positively, and not just as illusion, means to the Islamic and Vedantic philosophies. P
PB January 2020 217

Notes and References 19. Knowledge and the Sacred, 130–1.

20 The rope is known as a rope and not as a snake.
1. Rusmir Mahmutćehajić, Sarajevo Essays: Pol- In the twelth verse of the Vivekachudamani,
itics, Ideology, and Tradition (Albany: State Uni- Acharya Shankara says: ‘By adequate reasoning,
versity of New York, 2003), 1. the conviction of the reality about the rope is
2. See Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy: A Counter gained, which puts an end to the great fear and
Perspective (Delhi: Oxford University, 1992). misery caused by the snake worked up in the
3. See Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will deluded mind.’
and Representation, trans. E F J Payne, 2 vols 21. Knowledge and the Sacred, 122.
(New York: Dover, 1958). 22. Bhagavad Gītā with the Commentary of
4. See The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Śankarācārya, trans. Swami Gambhirananda
9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9, (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2018), 13.2; 395–6.
1997), 6.41–5. 23. Khyativada is a technical study of wrong or
5. Stephen E Gregg, Swami Vivekananda and Non- false cognition in the Indian philosophical trad-
Hindu Traditions: A Universal Advaita (New itions.
York: Routledge, 2019), 1, 6. 24. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Need for a Sacred Sci-
6. Ramin Jahanbagloo’s In Search of the Sacred ence (London: Taylor and Francis, 2005), 20.
(2010) is the best source for a biographical 25. See Acharya Shankara, Vivekachudamani, 47.
introduction to Seyyed Hossein Nasr. 26. The Need for a Sacred Science, 29. Emphasis
7. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Man and Nature: The added.
Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man (London: Man- 27. Living Sufism, 75.
dala, 1990); Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Knowledge 28. Patrick Laude, Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and
and the Sacred (Albany: State University of New Spiritual Understanding (New York: Palgrave
York, 1989); and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science Macmillan, 2005), 9. The first and second chap-
and Civilization in Islam (Cambridge: Harvard ters of this book offer very interesting accounts
University, 1968). on the concept of maya, from which the present
8. See Paul Schweizer, ‘Sankhya-Yoga Philosophy study has greatly benefited.
and the Mind-Body Problem’, Prabuddha 29. Reza Shah-Kazemi, Common Ground between
Bharata, 124/1 (January 2019), 232–42. Islam and Buddhism (Kentucky: Fons Vitae,
9. Knowledge and the Sacred, 131. 2010), 52.
10. M A S Abdel Haleem, The Quran (Oxford: Ox- 30. Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, 12.
ford University, 2004), 310. 31. A purely metaphysical analysis might run
11. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Religion and the Order the risk of ignoring ananda altogether, being
of Nature (Oxford: Oxford University, 1996). wholly focused on sat or chit. One must not for-
12. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Living Sufism (London: get that Advaita is ultimately a system aimed at
Unwin Paperbacks, 1980), 73. moksha and the end of suffering.
13. See René Guénon, The Reign of Quantity and the 32. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Garden of Truth
Signs of the Times (Hillsdale: Sophia Perennis, (New York: Harper Collins, 2008); Seyyed Hos-
2001). sein Nasr, Three Muslim Sages (New York: Cara-
14. See Martin Lings, What is Sufism? (Cambridge: van Books, 1997); and Seyyed Hossein Nasr,
Islamic Texts Soceity, 1993). Ṣadr ad-Dīn Shīrāzī and his Transcendent Theos-
15. Acharya Shankara, Atmabodha, 2. ophy: Background, Life, and Works (Tehran: Im-
16. Living Sufism, 59. perial Iranian Academy for Philosophy, 1978).
17. The Complete Works of Meister Eckhart, trans. 33. William C Chittick, Ibn Arabi: Heir to the
Maurice O’C Walshe (New York: Crossroad, Prophets (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005), 40.
2009), 51. 34. Three Muslim Sages, 107.
18. Naz Khilavi put this succinctly in his qawwali 35. Muhammad Kamal, Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent
‘Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho’, in the words Philosophy (England: Ashgate, 2006), 67.
‘Aap hi apna purdah ho; you are indeed your 36. The Garden of Truth, 48.
own veil’. 37. Man and Nature, 88.
218 PB January 2020

229
Acharya Shankara’s Commentaries on the

Prayer at the Hour of Death in the Isha and
Brihadaranyaka Upanishads
Ivan Andrijanić
T
his article examines commentaries in the same form in both texts of the Kanva re-
on the ‘Prayer at the Hour of Death’ trad- cension. The commentary on the Brihadaran-
itionally attributed to Acharya Shankara, yaka Upanishad, which is traditionally ascribed
which appear in the same form in the Isha Upa- to Acharya Shankara, must be his genuine work
nishad and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in the as ascertained by both tradition and Acharya
Kanva recension.1 A comparison of these two Sureshvara, traditionally held to be Acharya
commentaries reveals their striking resemblance Shankara’s direct disciple, who explicitly claims
on (a) the broader level of the interpretation of in his varttika, sub-commentary on Acharya
the meaning of the Upanishadic passage in ques- Shankara’s commentary on the Brihadaranyaka
tion, and (b) on the more specific level, where Upanishad that Acharya Shankara, his teacher,
remarkably similar expressions and wording ap- is the author of the relevant commentary on the
pear. These commentaries show no real differ- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
ences, except that the commentary on the Isha For the commentary on Isha Upanishad,
Upanishad’s version of the prayer is more exten- which is also traditionally attributed to Acharya
sive than the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad version Shankara, there is no such direct evidence for
and thus contains some additional information. Acharya Shankara’s authorship. However, in a
Although the similarities cannot be used as a recent article, I argued that this commentary
valid means to prove they were written by the is a genuine work of Acharya Shankara on the
same author, they still may support this thesis. ground of Hacker’s (1950) terminological criteria
for determining Acharya Shankara’s authorship
Introduction and a stylometric statistical approach according
In the Isha Upanishad and the Brihadaranyaka to the General Imposters framework.2 In this
Upanishad we find the ‘Prayer at the Hour of article, the commentaries, which I believe to be
Death’ that is uttered by a dying person to ob- Acharya Shankara’s, on this same passage that
tain a safe passage after death. The prayer appears appears in both Isha Upanishad and Brihada-
ranyaka Upanishad will be examined closely to
demonstrate how much they have in common.
Ivan Andrijanić is an assistant professor in the
Department of Indology and Far Eastern Studies, This article presents the Upanishadic text of
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the the ‘Prayer at the Hour of Death’ according to
University of Zagreb, Croatia. Patrick Olivelle’s translation, followed by my
PB January 2020 219

translation of the commentaries on the relevant Sometimes Acharya Shankara’s commen-

passages from the Isha Upanishad and the Bri- taries feature a dialectically structured discus-
hadaranyaka Upanishad, which are attributed, sion following glosses. Such passages usually
justly in my opinion to Acharya Shankara. Later contain philosophical discussions, in which ob-
on, similarities between the commentaries will be jections, purvapaksha, are raised in order to be
highlighted alongside a brief analysis of the text. immediately exposed to criticism, uttarapaksha.
This pseudo-dialogue form appears after glosses
Translation of the Prayer from the Isha in the commentary on the eighteenth verse of
and Brihararanyaka Upanishads the Isha Upanishad, where the commentator
This is the prayer from the Isha Upanishad: Acharya Shankara criticises objections raised by
The face of truth is covered with a golden dish. the proponent of the teaching that the combin-
ation of ritual and knowledge leads to moksha.
Open it, O Pushan, for me, a person faithful to
the truth. Open it, O Pushan, for me to see.3
In the translation, words from the Upanishad
text are emphasised with single quotation marks
O Pushan, sole seer! Yama! Sun! Son of Praja- to distinguish them from Acharya Shankara’s
pati! Spread out your rays! Draw in your light! explanations, which follow immediately there-
I see your fairest form. That person up there, I after. Upanishadic quotations used for the pur-
am he! (16). poses of argumentation are marked with double
The never-resting is the wind, the immortal! quotation marks together with the reference to
Ashes are this body’s lot. Om! Mind, remember the Upanishadic passage in the endnotes. This is
the deed! Remember! Mind, remember (17). Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the relevant
passages from the Isha Upanishad:
O Fire, you know all coverings; O god, lead us
to riches, along an easy path. Like ‘golden’, this one here is golden, that is, it
Keep the sin that angers far away from us; And the consists of light. With that ‘dish’, which appears
highest song of praise we shall offer to you! (18).4 as a cover, ‘the face’, or door ‘of the truth’, that is,
of Brahman, which stands in the solar orb [‘the
Now we will see Acharya Shankara’s com- face’] ‘is covered’. ‘Open it, O Pushan’, remove
mentary on these passages.5 It should be noted it; ‘for me, a man faithful to the truth’, for me
that Acharya Shankara’s commentary mostly whose duty is truth, because I devoutly medi-
consists of glosses, that is, Acharya Shankara first tate on you as the truth. I am he whose duty is
quotes a word from the Upanishad and then ex- truth; ‘for him’ means ‘for me’; or it means to
one [me] who performs one’s duties according
plains the word with a synonymous word or ex-
to the truth;7 ‘for me to see’, to perceive you,
pression, which is a gloss, in order to explain the whose Self is truth.8
meaning of the commented word. The word or
expression that is quoted serves as a part of the ‘O Pushan’: Pushan is the Sun because he
nourishes [poshana] the world; the ‘sole seer’
sentence structure, together with its gloss. There-
[rishi] flows [rishati] or goes alone, that is why
fore, the commentary represents an extension of he is a ‘sole seer’; Yama, because he binds [sa-
the commentated text. This technique is typical myamana] everything together; that is why he
for the functional style of scholastic Sanskrit and is ‘Yama’; ‘Surya’, because he appropriates [svi-
is often employed in commentaries with a cer- karana] rays, that is, breaths and essences; that
tain degree of variety.6 is why he is ‘Surya’. ‘Prajapatya’ is a descendant
220 PB January 2020

Acharya Shankara’s Commentaries on the Prayer at the Hour of Death 231
of the Lord Prajapati, that is why he is ‘Praja-

patya’. ‘Spread out’, separate ‘your rays’. ‘Draw
in’, unite; it brings together ‘rays’, heat or light.
Through thy grace, I see ‘your fairest’, endlessly
magnificent ‘form’. However, I do not pray to
you like a servant; I am the person, the one situ-
ated in the orb of the Sun whose limbs are ut-
terances [vyahritis];9 a ‘person’, because such a
person has the appearance of a human being;
the whole world is filled [purna] with gusts that
consist of breaths and intellect, that is why ‘per-
son’; or ‘person’ [purusha], because he resides in
the city [puri].10
At this moment let the ‘wind’, the breath
of me who is going to die, give up the limita-
tions of individual personality, and attain its di-
vine nature, which is a ‘never-resting, immortal’
thread-soul [sutratman]11 contained in every-
thing; the word ‘attain’ is a vakyashesha [a part
of a sentence that must be supplied in elliptic
expressions]. Let the subtle body that is puri-
fied by knowledge and rites ascend; this is how
it must be considered, through the strength of
prayer for the path [by which the subtle body
will ascend]. Thereupon, let this body that is
Death of the Buddha (Gouache painting)
sacrificed to the fire be turned into ashes. ‘Om’,
according to the devout meditation [performed the magnificent road where there is no repeated
by the dying person], it is said that Brahman, departing and returning. ‘To riches’, to the for-
whose name is sacrificial fire [Agni], whose Self tune, to the enjoyment of the fruits of action;
is truth, is no different from Om since Om is its [lead] ‘us’, who are distinguished by the fruits
symbol. ‘Mind’, whose Self is determination, ‘re- of religious merit as indicated before;14 ‘all’,
member’, the time has come to remember what I every ‘covering’, act or cognition, ‘O god, you
have remembered; therefore ‘remember’ every- know’, you recognise as such. Moreover, ‘keep
thing that has appeared through all this time; us away from’, deliver us from, destroy ‘the sin
IMAGE: HTTPS://WELLCOMECOLLECTION.ORG
O Fire, remember ‘the deed’, the deed I have that angers’, a sin that is crooked, and has the na-
performed since childhood, this is what you ture of deception. Thereupon, when we shall be
must remember. ‘Mind, remember the deed! purified, we shall obtain what we desire, such is
Remember!’—repetition implies zealousness.12 the meaning. However, we are now not able to
The person prays one more time for the path attend ‘you’. ‘We shall offer you’, we shall hon-
with another sacrificial formula, ‘O Fire, lead our you with ‘the highest’, the most abundant
us’, conduct us towards ‘an easy path’, along the ‘song of praise’, statement of homage; such is
magnificent road. The distinction ‘along an the meaning. “Knowledge and ignorance, a
easy path’ means avoiding the southern path.13 person who knows them both together, passes
I am disgusted with the southern path charac- beyond death by ignorance.”15 “Passes beyond
terised by departing and returning [constant death by the destruction and by the becom-
rebirth]; hence I pray to you to lead me along ing attains immortality” (14). Upon hearing so,
PB January 2020 221

some [people] are in doubt. Therefore, we shall [Purvapaksha] And if knowledge and ignor-
shortly consider [this topic] in order to remove ance take place in one recipient gradually?
it [the doubt]. In this manner, it is stated what [Uttarapaksha] No, because it is unreason-
the reason for the doubt is: able to suppose that ignorance exists in the re-
[Purvapaksha] Why is the knowledge cipient of that [knowledge], because ignorance
of the highest Self in its principal meaning vanishes with the occurrence of knowledge. It
not conveyed by the words ‘knowledge’ and is reasonable to suppose that, in the same re-
‘immortality’? cipient in whom the cognition ‘fire is bright
[Uttarapaksha] Has it not been determined and hot’ arose, an ignorant [cognition], doubt,
that the combination of knowledge and the act or non-cognizance ‘fire is cold and dark’ cannot
is unreasonable, because the knowledge of the arise; and from the scripture [it is seen that]
highest Self is in contradiction to the act? there is no possibility of sorrow, bewilderment,
[Purvapaksha] This is true. But the contra- and the like: “When in the self of a discerning
diction is not recognised here, because con- person, one’s very self has become all beings,
tradiction and non-contradiction are proved what bewilderment, what sorrow can there be,
valid by the scripture. Just as performance out regarding that self of the person who sees this
of ignorance [rituals] and devout meditation oneness” (7). We said this because ignorance
on knowledge are proved valid by the scrip- cannot arise [in a recipient of knowledge], an
ture, the case is the same with their contradic- act that has arisen out of that [ignorance] is
tion and non-contradiction. Just as we learn also unreasonable. “Attains immortality” (14),
from the scripture that no living being should immortality is conditional here. If the word
be killed, while on the other hand the scripture ‘knowledge’ presumes a knowledge of the high-
contradicts it with [the claim] that an animal est Self, then the prayer for the path “with a
should be killed in a sacrificial ceremony. The golden” (16), and the like, is inapplicable. There-
same is possible with knowledge and ignor- fore, devout meditation can be combined [with
ance, and knowledge and [ritual] action can ritual], but not with the cognition of the high-
be combined.16 est Self; the sense of the mantras is exactly as we
[Uttarapaksha] No; because the scripture explained; in this way it is concluded.
claims that “Far apart and widely different are Now, let us look at Acharya Shankara’s com-
these two: ignorance and what is known as mentary on the relevant passage from the Briha-
knowledge.”17 daranyaka Upanishad:
[Purvapaksha] What if there is no contra-
diction on account of the words [of scripture] The one who practised the combination of
where it is said that “knowledge and ignorance, knowledge and action at the time of death
a person who knows them both together”18? prays to the sun. And this is contingent because
(Isha Upanishad 11)? it [the sun] is the fourth foot of the Gayatri
meter. Worship of it [the sun] is under discus-
[Uttarapaksha] No, because there is a contra- sion, therefore it [the sun] is being prayed to.
diction in cause, one’s own form and the fruit. ‘With a golden’, ‘with a vessel’ consisting of
[Purvapaksha] And if there is no contradic- light; like with some beloved thing concealed
tion because there is an injunction to combine within a vessel, Brahman, known as the Truth,
them, and because it is impossible to accept ei- is concealed within the orb consisting of light
ther contradiction or non-contradiction be- because it is not fit to be seen by a mind that is
tween knowledge and ignorance? not concentrated. ‘The face’, the principal in its
[Uttarapaksha] No, because it is unreason- own form, ‘[the face] of truth is concealed’; the
able for them to co-exist. ‘vessel’ is like a cover, which is the cause of the
222 PB January 2020

hindrance to vision; ‘O Pushan’, O Savitri, the

nourishing sun of the world, ‘remove’, make it
open, remove the cause of the hindrance to vi-
sion; such is the meaning. ‘To one faithful to
the truth’, such person’s, that is, my duty is truth.
I am that person, the one whose duty is truth;
for one who had become your Self, such is the
meaning, ‘to see’, in order to see. ‘Sole seer’, that
person is the only seer; and that person is the
‘sole seer’ because of [one’s] vision. That is the
Self of the whole universe, the Eye that sees the
truth of all; or the ‘sole seer’, goes alone because
the mantras teach: “The sun roams alone.”19 O
Yama, binding everything in the world is your ‘The Death of Casagemas’, Picasso, 1901
deed. O Surya, fitly, who subdues the essences;
because a desirable goal is attained through thy
or rays; or breaths; or thoughts of the world.
recollection at the time of death; hence I pray
‘Son of Prajapati’, descendant of the Lord Pra-
to thee: Recollect all that I have done. The repe-
japati or Hiranyagarbha; ‘Son of Prajapati!
tition implies earnestness. Also, ‘O Fire, lead us’,
Spread out’, separate ‘your rays!’. ‘Draw in’, con-
make us reach ‘an easy path’ along the magnifi-
tract ‘light’ so I can quickly see thy form. Just
cent road ‘to riches’, to wealth, that is, to the at-
like lightning [hides] forms; therefore, bring
tainment of the fruits of action. Not along the
together ‘light’.
southern dark [path] that leads back to worldly
What is ‘yours’, thy ‘form’ among all that is existence, but along the bright ‘easy path’; ‘O
eminently fair, fairest, this is what I see, with God’, the knower of everyone’s ‘covering’, know-
a change to ‘we see’. That person, who has the ledge of every living being. Also, ‘keep’, that is,
utterance “bhur [earth], bhuvah [sky], svah remove or detach from us the ‘sin’, crooked evil,
[heaven]” as its limbs, and because that person everything born from evil. Freed us from this
has the shape of a human being, it is a person. sin, we shall go along the highest path through
‘I am he.’ “Day and I”20 because it is said in the thy grace. However, we cannot worship you;
Upanishad that they [ahar, ‘day’ and aham, ‘I’] we only utter repeated salutations to thee; ‘the
reside in the eye [‘I’] and in the sun [‘day’]; here, highest’, to thee ‘to you’ ‘song of praise’, utter-
it is said that I am that immortal, this is the rela- ance of salutations ‘we shall offer’; let us serve
tion. When this body of mine decays, although you with an utterance of salutations, such is the
I am immortal in reality, the wind that is breath meaning; we are unable to do anything else.21
that resides in the body returns to the outer
wind. In this manner, other divinities should Similarities Between the Commentaries
go to their respective origins. Then this body It is possible to distinguish similarities between
that is reduced to ashes should go to the earth. these two commentaries on different levels. On
At this moment, the person prays to the fire- the first level, we can recognise a general agree-
god Agni, born from one’s own volition, which
ment as to the main idea underlying both com-
is situated in the mind, ‘Om Mind’. ‘Om’ and
‘Mind’ are both vocatives here. Or ‘Om’ be- mentaries. The main idea of both commentaries
cause the syllable ‘Om’ is his [Agni’s] symbol. is that the Upanishadic passage in question is
And ‘mind’ because he is the one who consists a prayer in which a dying person prays to the
of mentality. ‘Om! O Mind!’ ‘remember the sun in order to avoid the ‘southern path’ that
deed!’ at the end of times one must remember, leads back to the world of transmigration. In
PB January 2020 223

the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the Chhan- has practised the combination of knowledge
dogya Upanishad, the southern path is described and action, jnana-karma-samucchayakarin. The
as a lower path that leads the deceased back to same is stated in the commentary on the prayer
earthly existence when the beneficial fruits of in Isha Upanishad, where Acharya Shankara
ritual action are exhausted.22 claims in the seventeenth verse, that the subtle
The other path is the northern path of gods body purified by the combination of rites and
that leads to the world of lower Brahman or knowledge ascends to the [northern] path. In
Hiranyagarbha. In his commentaries on both the eighteenth verse, Acharya Shankara makes
these passages, Acharya Shankara claims that a detailed distinction between the combination
the world of lower Brahman or Hiranyagarbha, [of knowledge and rites] and the knowledge of
brahmaloka, to which the northern path leads, the highest Self.
is not a final liberation; that is, the world of In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, we find
lower Brahman is a result of the combination Acharya Shankara’s critique of the jnana-karma-
of ritual action, karma, and devout meditation, samucchaya view, which is attributed by Ananda-
upasana. In Acharya Shankara’s interpretation, giri to the ancient Advaitin Bhartriprapancha.24
(1) the southern path of the fathers is followed He was an adherent of an ancient Vedantic
by those who practise Vedic rituals and it leads teaching called bhedabhedavada, the view that
to the world of fathers; after the results of ritual the world is not an illusion and that the world
actions are extinguished, they return to the is simultaneously different and non-different
world of transmigration. (2) The northern path from Brahman, just like the sea, highest Brah-
is followed by those who combine Vedic ritual, man, and the waves, multiplicity of the world,. In
karma, with devout meditation upasana, and it this respect, the ritual portions of the Vedas, cor-
leads to the world of lower Brahman or Hiran- responding to the manifested world and Upani-
yagarbha. (3) The final release is, however, com- shads, corresponding to the highest Brahman, do
pletely different from both these paths, because carry the same importance, and should be com-
liberation is knowledge of the highest Self. bined in order to achieve liberation. Acharya
Now, the question is, if liberation is only Shankara’s commentary on the eighteenth verse
knowledge of the highest Self, what is the case of the Isha Upanishad is similar to his commen-
with the northern path of the gods that leads to tary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 5.5.1, where
the world of Hiranyagarbha? This answer can Bhartriprapancha’s idea of bhedabhedavada and
be found in Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the combination of ritual and knowledge is criti-
the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where he expli- cised by Acharya Shankara.
citly claims that, in the world of Hiranyagarbha, For Acharya Shankara, ritual action belongs
a person lives for as many kalpas as a lifespan of to the sphere of ignorance, because it is driven by
Hiranyagarbha. When a life-span of the lower desire, and cannot remove ignorance; ignorance
Brahman or Hiranyagarbha is finished, they do can be removed only by its opposite, knowledge,
not return to the world.23 and not by action.25 Acharya Shankara also re-
At the beginning of his commentary on the moves the doubt raised in the eighteenth verse
‘Prayer at the Hour of Death’ in Brihadaran- of the Isha Upanishad that the process of know-
yaka Upanishad, Acharya Shankara explicitly ing arises gradually and that rites deal with the
claims that the prayer is uttered by one who first stages of the rise of knowledge leading to
224 PB January 2020

liberation. Acharya Shankara asserts that, when

knowledge arises, fire is hot, no ignorance re-
mains, fire is cold.
In his commentary on the Isha Upanishad,
Acharya Shankara criticises the view that know-
ledge can appear gradually and his reasoning
is found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.26
Here, Acharya Shankara criticises the teach-
ing of the gradual appearance of knowledge of
the Self, which is again attributed by Ananda-
giri to Bhartriprapancha, who taught that the Shraddha Ceremony
combined path of ritual and knowledge leads to
the gradual process of liberation. According to jyotirmaya, ‘consisting of light’; the word patra,
Acharya Shankara, the combined path of ritual ‘vessel’ is glossed in both commentaries with the
and knowledge can lead only to the world of same word apidhana, ‘cover’. Furthermore, both
lower Brahman, Hiranyagarbha. In his commen- commentaries derive the name Yama, the god
tary on the eighteenth verse of Isha Upanishad, of death, from samyamana, ‘binding together’.
he even specifies that ‘knowledge’, in the com- The word rashmi, ‘ray’ is glossed in both com-
bination of ritual and knowledge, means devout mentaries with the words prana, ‘breath’ and
meditation, upasana, most probably a delibera- rasa, ‘essence’.
tion on a particular Upanishadic passage that Prajapatya is a descendant, apatya, of the lord
deals with the lower Brahman. Prajapati. The imperative vyuha, ‘spread out’ is
On this general philosophical level, we thus interpreted in both texts with vigamaya, ‘sep-
see a significant agreement between the com- arate’. The case is the same with the imperative
mentaries on the relevant portions of the Isha samuha, ‘draw in’, which is glossed with upas-
Upanishad and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. amhara, ‘bring together’. In both commentaries,
On the other hand, the consistency of both of purusha from the prayer consists of limbs, avay-
these commentaries with Acharya Shankara’s ava, that are seven utterances, vyahriti. In his
commentaries on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,
and the Chhandogya Upanishad is also obvious. Acharya Shankara elaborates somewhat fur-
The second level of agreement of both these ther by first enumerating three great utterances,
commentaries exists on the level of glosses, the vyahritis; bhur, bhuvah, and svar. The Upani-
explanatory expressions used to interpret par- shadic raye, ‘to riches’, is glossed in both com-
ticular Upanishadic words and phrases. On this mentaries with the synonymous word dhanaya,
level of interpretation, both commentaries are in ‘to fortune’.
remarkable agreement, although the commen- There are also similar expressions in both
tary on the Isha Upanishad is longer and con- commentaries. For instance, when commenting
tains more information. on the repetition of the words, ‘Krato smara kri-
At the beginning, for instance, the Upani- tam smara krato smara kritam smara; mind, re-
shadic word hiranmaya, ‘golden’ is glossed in member the deed! Remember! Mind, remember’,
both the commentaries with the same expression Acharya Shankara says, ‘punar uktir adarartha’
PB January 2020 225

in the commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upa- Notes and References

nishad and ‘punar vachanam adarartham’ in the 1. See Isha Upanishad, 15–8 and Brihadaranyaka
commentary on the Isha Upanishad, both mean- Upanishad, 5.15.1.
ing, the ‘repetition implies earnestness’. 2. See Ivan Andrijanić, ‘Acharya Shankara and the
Also in his commentary on the Brihadaran- Authorship of the Īśā-Upaniṣad-Bhāṣya and
yaka Upanishad, we find: ‘He’gne naya prapaya Kaṭha-Upaniṣad-Bhāṣya’, Forthcoming.
3. Isha Upanishad, 15.
supatha shobhanena margena; O Fire, lead us, 4. Patrick Olivelle, The Early Upanisads (New
make us reach an easy path, along the magnifi- York: Oxford University, 1998), 141–3, 409–11.
cent road.’ And in the commentary on the Isha 5. For convenience sake I offer here my translation.
Upanishad, we find: ‘He’gne! naya gamaya su- My translation does not bring anything new
except that it highlights in the endnotes, the
patha shobhanena margena; O Fire, lead us,
parallels with Acharya Shankara’s commentary
conduct us towards an easy path, along the mag- on the relevant passage from the Brihadaran-
nificent road.’ Also, there is a remarkable simi- yaka Upanishad. Fine translations of the same
larity in the interpretation of the Upanishadic commentary can be found in Eight Upaniṣads,
passage that appears as the seventeenth verse in with the Commentary of Śankarācārya, trans.
Swami Gambhirananda, 2 vols (Kolkata: Ad-
the Isha Upanishad and as 5.15.1 in the Brihada- vaita Ashrama, 2006), 1.26–32 and Īśopaniṣad:
ranyaka Upanishad, where it states ‘Om krato’, The Secret Teaching on the Lord, trans. Neal Del-
which is interpreted in both commentaries as a monico and Lloyd W Pflueger (Kirksville: Blaz-
hail to Agni, whose symbol is Om.27 ing Sapphire, 2017), 99–118.
6. For an explanation of the glossing technique in
Conclusion scholastic Sanskrit, see Gary A Tubb and Emery
R Boose, Scholastic Sanskrit: A Manual for Stu-
Both commentaries on the ‘Prayer at the Hour dents (New York: The American Institute of
of Death’ contain striking similarities (a) on the Buddhist Studies, 2007),19–31.
broader level of understanding the sense of the 7. Two possible interpretations are presented here:
according to the first one, a dying person prays
Upanishadic passage in question and (b) on the to Pushan to remove the cover so that the face
micro-level of glossing Upanishadic expressions, of Brahman residing in the solar orb can be re-
where the same or similar expressions appear moved. The dying person performs a devout
and the Upanishadic words are glossed with the meditation, upasana, on Brahman as truth. The
same synonyms. No remarkable differences ap- second possibility is that the dying person is
acting rightfully according to one’s duty.
pear in these commentaries, although the com- 8. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Isha
mentary on the Isha Upanishad version of the Upanishad, 15.
prayer is longer and it contains some additional 9. The seven worlds are called vyahritis. The large
information. It is quite understandable that, no vyahritis are bhur, earth; bhuvar, atmosphere;
and svar, heaven; the others are mahar, janar,
matter how similar the passages are, the similar-
tapar, and satya.
ities cannot be direct proof that the same person 10. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Isha
composed both texts. Although I, in a forthcom- Upanishad, 16. Here, Acharya Shankara pres-
ing paper, have argued on different grounds that ents two interpretations of the word ‘purusha’
the commentaries on the Isha Upanishad and the or ‘person’. According to associative resem-
blance, the word ‘purusha’ is connected to (a)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad were indeed com- purna, full, or (b) puri, city.
posed by Acharya Shankara, the similarities in- 11. We find the term ‘sutra’ or ‘thread’ in the Bri-
dicated here may support this thesis. P hadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.7.1–2. This thread is
226 PB January 2020

designated as vayu, wind, by which this life, the 17. Katha Upanishad, 1.2.4.
next life, and all beings are held together. In his 18. Isha Upanishad, 11.
commentary on this passage, Acharya Shan- 19. Taittiriya Samhita, 7.4.18.
kara designates sutra as the innermost by which 20. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 5.5.3.
the earth, gods, and Vedas are held together. 21. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Briha-
Also, in Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the daranyaka Upanishad, 5.15.1.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 5.5.1, the birth of 22. See Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 6. 2.16 and
Brahman as truth, satya-brahman is the birth of Chhandogya Upanishad, 5.10.10.
sutratman, who is the same as hiranyagarbha or 23. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
the manifestation of avyakrita, the undifferenti- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 6.2.15. It is inter-
ated universe. In Acharya Shankara’s commen- esting to note that Acharya Shankara finds a
tary on the Aitareya Upanishad, 3.3, sutratman philological argument for this interpretation in
is again the same as hiranyagarbha. This means the Madhyandina version of the text, where the
that sutratman is a lower Brahman, an all-per- particle iha ‘here’ appears. Acharya Shankara
vading entity closely connected to vayu, wind. argues that the Madhyandina text ‘tesham iha
12. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Isha na punar avrittir asti; they do not return here’
Upanishad, 17. Also compare the statement in with iha, which does not appear in Kanva text,
Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brihada- indicates that they will not return; otherwise,
ranyaka Upanishad, 5.15.1, ‘punar-ukti adarartha’ the word iha would be meaningless.
with the statement in his commentary on the Isha 24. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
Upanishad, 17, ‘punar vachanam adarartham’. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.4.22. For more
13. The southern path in the Brihadaranyaka Upa- on Bhartriprapancha’s view on jnana-karma-
nishad, 6.2, and the Chhandogya Upanishad, samucchaya and further reading material on
5.10.3, is a path of fathers. Bhartriprapancha, see Hajime Nakamura,
14. I have translated dharma here as ‘religious A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy, 2 vols
merit’, because Acharya Shankara is not refer- (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2004), 2.149–51;
ring only to the fruit of ritual action, but also to Ivan Andrijanić, ‘Quotations and (Lost) Com-
the fruit of devout meditation, upasana, which mentaries in Advaita Vedānta: Some Philolo-
leads towards the path of gods. gical Notes on Bhartṛprapañca’s “Fragments”’,
15. Isha Upanishad, 11. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 43/2–3 (May 2015),
16. The same problem is discussed in Acharya 257–76; and Ivan Andrijanić, ‘Bhartṛprapañca
Shankara’s commentary on the Brihadaran- and the Eight States of Brahman’, Revista Cientí-
yaka Upanishad, 5.1.1. The opponent identified fica Guillermo de Ockham, 14/1 (April 2016),
by Anandagiri as Bhartriprapancha claims that 57–67.
Brahman is simultaneously different and non-dif- 25. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
ferent from the manifested world, like the ocean Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.2.13; his com-
and the waves. The case is the same with ritual, mentary on the Brahma Sutra, 1.1.4; and his
analogous to the world, and the Upanishadic, introduction to his commentary on the Briha-
analogous to Brahman, portions of the Vedas, daranyaka Upanishad, 3.3.1.
which are equally important to moksha. The 26. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Bri-
opponent in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 5.1.1, hadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.2.13. The view of the
presents the same example of hurting animals, en- gradual attainment of liberation, kramamukti,
joined in the ritual portions, and the example of is also criticised in Acharya Shankara’s com-
not hurting animals, enjoined in the Upanishads, mentary on the Brahma Sutra, 1.1.12. See also
which co-exist. From the bhedabhedavada point his commentary on the Brahma Sutra, 1.3.33 and
of view, this is not a contradiction, that is, this 3.2.21, where kramamukti is not final liberation.
apparent contradiction is analogous to the differ- 27. The phrase is ‘omkara-pratikatvad’ in the com-
ence—or ritual portions enjoining the sacrifice of mentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and
animals—and non-difference—the Upanishads ‘om-pratikatmakatvat’ in the in the commen-
prescribing the non-hurting of animals. tary on the Isha Upanishad.
PB January 2020 227

238
Advaita Vedanta and the Dadu Panth

Michael S Allen
T
o what extent should the north that traces its founding to Dadu Dayal in the
Indian sants, nirguna bhakti poets such as sixteenth century.
Kabir, Ravidas, and Dadu be considered Dadu was one of the most influential nirguna
popularisers of Advaita Vedanta? This essay fo- bhakti poets in north India, alongside other sants
cuses on the place of Advaita Vedanta within such as Kabir, Ravidasa, and Guru Nanak. Any
the Dadu Panth, the community that traces its attempt to write the history of Advaita Vedanta
founding to Dadu Dayal in the sixteenth cen- in north India must take account of the trad-
tury. I argue that while Dadu’s own views are itions of these sants. But the relationship of the
open to interpretation, the Dadu Panth came early sants to Advaita Vedanta is itself a matter
to see his teachings as fully compatible with of debate. They are sometimes viewed as having
Acharya Shankara’s metaphysics, and Advaita popularised Vedantic teachings in a language
Vedanta became an important lens through ordinary people could understand. This was the
which Dadu’s works were read. Thus Dadu him- position of Swami Vivekananda, for example,
self, if not the historical Dadu, then at least who mentions Dadu and Kabir by name in his
Dadu as interpreted by his followers, can indeed ‘Reply to the Madras Address’.1
be considered a part of what I have elsewhere re- More recently, S K Shrivastava, in a chapter
ferred to as ‘Greater Advaita Vedanta’, or Advaita on ‘Advaita in Hindi’, has written: ‘Through cre-
Vedanta as expressed outside the standard canon ative writings in Hindi also Advaita, especially
of Sanskrit philosophical works. in its practical aspect, reached the common folk.
Advaita Vedanta is often thought of as a San- Kabir, Nanak, Ravidas, Dadu Dayal, Sundaradas
skrit tradition, but there are also rich, centuries- … imprinted true Advaita on the minds of the
old traditions of Vedanta in regional languages masses.’2 Shrivastava goes on to note, however,
throughout India. These vernacular traditions that ‘the saint-tradition of North India … is in
played an important role in the spread of Ve- many ways different from the orthodox Indian
dantic teachings in late medieval and early mod- philosophical tradition’ (ibid.). The sants, he ob-
ern India, yet they remain understudied when serves, downplayed the authority of the Vedas,
compared with Sanskrit traditions. The present they did not distinguish sharply between nir-
essay focuses on Advaita Vedanta in Hindi, guna and saguna Brahman, and they emphasised
and more specifically on the place of Advaita bhakti rather than jnana. This raises the ques-
Vedanta within the Dadu Panth, a community tion: is it accurate to speak of the sants as having
popularised Vedanta or would it be better to treat
Michael S Allen is an assistant professor in the De- them as having their own distinctive philosophy?
partment of Religious Studies at the University of This in turn raises broader questions: what do we
Virginia, USA. mean by Vedanta? Who counts as a Vedantin?
228 PB January 2020

Advaita Vedanta and the Dadu Panth 239
Elsewhere I have argued that there is no rea- own views are open to interpretation, the Dadu
son to restrict the label to the well-known canon Panth came to see his teachings as fully compat-
of classical Sanskrit writers—Acharya Shankara, ible with Advaita Vedanta and the conceptual
Acharya Sureshvara, Acharya Padmapada, Va- framework of classical Advaita Vedanta became
chaspati Mishra, Prakashatman, Vidyaranya, a lens through which the Dadu-vani was read.
Madhusudana Sarasvati, and so on—nor is there Thus Dadu himself, if not the historical
any reason to insist on affiliation with a lineage Dadu, then at least Dadu as interpreted by his
tracing itself back to Acharya Shankara. In order followers, can indeed be considered a part of
to trace the popularisation of Advaita Vedanta, the history of Greater Advaita Vedanta. In what
it is important to focus not only on the classical follows, I will attempt to trace the steps through
tradition, but also on what might be termed which the ‘Vedanticisation’ of the Dadu Panth
‘Greater Advaita Vedanta’ or Advaita Vedanta as took place. After considering Dadu’s own poems,
expressed in vernacular works, in non-scholastic I will discuss the works of Sundaradasa, a direct
works, and in works that mix Vedanta with other disciple of Dadu, whom his biographer Raghava-
traditions.3 On the other hand, we must be cau- dasa referred to as ‘a second Shankaracharya’.4 I
tious not to use the label too freely. Seeing non- will then draw attention to the Vichara-sagar of
duality everywhere might be a sagely virtue, but the Dadupanthi pandit Nishchaladasa, a work
it is not necessarily a scholarly virtue. once referred to by Swamiji as having ‘more in-
In the case of the early sants, there is no doubt fluence in India than any that has been written
that many of their poems show the influence of in any language within the last three centuries’.5
Advaita Vedanta; but they also show the influ- Finally, I will consider modern editions of the
ence of Nath Yoga, Vaishnava bhakti, and Su- Dadu-vani that interpret Dadu’s poems through
fism. Moreover, the early sants were poets and the lens of Advaita Vedanta.
mystics, not systematic thinkers, and as a result
their works are often open to more than one Dadu (c. 1544/5–1604)
interpretation. Although many of their verses Dadu Dayal was born near Ahmedabad in the
express Advaita, others seem to favour some mid sixteenth-century, but he spent most of his
form of bhedabheda. Should the early sants life in Rajasthan, which remains the centre of
be considered a part of Greater Advaita Ved- the Dadu Panth to this day.6 Like Ravidasa and
anta or should we limit the category to think- Kabir, Dadu seems to have been of low caste;
ers whose works express Vedantic teachings early sources identify him as a cotton-carder,
unambiguously? dhuniya.7 Dadu is said to have been initiated on
In this essay I will explore this question by the spiritual path by a mysterious old man he met
focussing on the case of Dadu and his poems, when he was eleven years old. Seven years later
which were compiled by his disciples in a work he had a vision of God that left him completed
known as the Dadu-vani. As with other early disinterested in the things of this world. After
sants, scholars have argued over the extent to a period of wandering, he eventually settled in
which the Advaita taught by Dadu corresponds Sambhar, where he is said to have had a vision of
to the Advaita taught by Acharya Shankara. I Kabir, who removed his remaining doubts.
do not intend to enter this debate here. What Like Kabir, Dadu encountered resistance
I wish to argue instead is that while Dadu’s from local religious authorities, whose orthodoxy
PB January 2020 229

was threatened by his rejection of outward rit- again: ‘Fearlessness is there and no dread, one
uals; but he is said to have overcome their op- sports there for ever … grant your sight, face to
position through his miracles and his evident face, O Creator!’10 Elsewhere, Dadu describes
sanctity. Though inwardly detached and devoted the state of union in non-dualistic terms:
to meditation, Dadu kept up the appearances Where Rama is, there I am not; where I am,
of worldly life; he continued to card cotton for there Rama is not;
some time, and he had a wife and children. He
travelled and taught throughout Rajasthan until The mansion is delicate; it has no place for two.
his death at Naraina in 1604. His eldest son, Gar- Where I am not, there have I betaken myself,
ibdasa, became his first successor as head of the where is One alone, no second.
Dadu Panth or the Path of Dadu. For that which ‘is not’, there is ample room in
Over the course of his life, Dadu composed the true abode.11
a great number of sakhis and pads, which were
compiled by his disciples in the generation after For Dadu, this non-dualistic state is ultim-
his death. Today the Dadu-vani or ‘speech of ately beyond expression:
Dadu’, as this compilation is known, is avail- There, is neither silence nor speech, no ‘I’ nor
able in multiple printed editions in Hindi and ‘thou’;
selections from the Vani have been translated
into English by W G Orr, K N Upadhyaya, and No self or other, neither ‘one’ nor ‘two’.
Ṁonika Thiel-Horstmann.8 The central themes If I say ‘one’, there are two; if I say ‘two’, there
of Dadu’s spiritual vision emerge clearly in the is but one.
Vani. The present life is infinitely precious, since Thus is Dadu perplexed. As He is, so do thou
it gives us a chance of uniting with God; noth- behold Him.12
ing else truly matters. God, variously referred
to by Dadu as Niranjan, ‘the stainless’, Ram, These verses could easily be interpreted as
Parabrahm, the Creator, Hari, Keshava, Go- teaching the same non-dualism that Acharya
vinda, is the highest, ultimate reality, beyond Shankara teaches. As we shall see momentarily,
all forms and yet present within the heart of the this is exactly how the Dadu Panth itself came to
devotee. God can be reached through the grace interpret them. But even these verses, and there
of a guru and through reciting the divine Name. are many more like them, are not entirely unam-
Dadu teaches a path of devotion and self-efface- biguous. Dadu has taught that the soul merges
ment, a path that embraces both the pangs of with God, but he has not necessarily affirmed the
separation and the joy of union. absolute identity, atyantabheda, of the jiva with
How exactly Dadu envisioned the state of Brahman. It might be possible, for example, to
union is not entirely clear, however. Many of his read these lines as expressing something like the
poems speak of a ‘face to face’, sanmukh, meeting Sufi doctrine of fana, or extinction of the ego
between the soul and God, rather than an iden- within God, a doctrine which has not always
tification of jiva and Brahman: ‘Merged in the been interpreted along the lines of absolute iden-
word he remains face to face with the supreme tity.13 Consider, for example, the explanation of
Self / At the sight of him he, Dadu, becomes per- this state by Shaikh Sharaf ud-Din Maneri (fl.
fect, he embraces the imperishable One.’9 And 14th century):
230 PB January 2020

The fourth stage consists in the pouring

forth of the Divine Light so profusely
that it absorbs all individual existences
in the eyes of the pilgrim. As in the case
of the absorption of particles floating in
the atmosphere in the light of the sun,
the particles become invisible—they do
not cease to exist, nor do they become
the sun, but they are inevitably lost to
sight in the overpowering glare of the
sun—so, here, a creature does not be-
come God, nor does it cease to exist.
Ceasing to exist is one thing, invisibility
is another.14
It might also be possible to read

Dadu’s verses through the lens of the
Shree Dadu Dayal Dham, Kankariya, Ahmedabad
other schools of Vedanta. Shantiswarup Trip-
athi, in a book-length study arguing for the in- sphere of absolute identity. Moral and spiritual
fluence of Acharya Shankara’s Vedanta on the oneness involves some kind of distinction, rela-
nirguna bhakti poets, cites several passages in tive or absolute, between the two made one.’19
which Dadu’s views on the jiva and Brahman
seem to be aligned with Acharya Shankara’s.15 Sundaradasa (1596–1689)
But S K Mishra argues that such passages might While Dadu’s views are open to interpretation,
instead be read along the lines of Vishishtad- later thinkers within the Dadu Panth not only
vaita.16 He suggests that Dadu, like Ramanuja embraced Advaita Vedanta unambiguously,
and other Vaishnava acharyas, maintained the they used it as a lens through which to inter-
non-duality of Brahman and the jiva, but did pret Dadu’s thought. The process of Vedanti-
not believe that all differences between them cisation began in the generation immediately
were erased. after Dadu, when Sundaradasa, who had been
W G Orr, for his part, acknowledges that initiated by the elderly Dadu while still a boy,
Dadu declares ‘the essential oneness of the human was sent to Benares to study Sanskrit. He spent
soul and the supreme Brahma’ in numerous pas- nearly twenty years there studying Puranas and
sages in his Vani.17 He quotes, for example, the Vedanta, and when he returned to Rajasthan, he
lines: ‘Thus speaks the Self, Niranjana, the Source wrote works which synthesised Dadu’s teachings
of every excellency: / I and my worshipper are with Sanskrit traditions. In Sundaradasa’s view,
not two: We are wholly one’ (157.).18 But almost Dadu and other sants were spiritual heirs to the
immediately he goes on to argue: ‘It is equally pan-Indian traditions of bhakti yoga, hatha yoga,
clear, however, that a real distinction is implied, and, most importantly for our purposes here,
not only in isolated expressions which might be Advaita Vedanta, which Sundaradasa saw as the
freely cited from the Bani, but in Dadu’s whole highest of these teachings.20
conception of the relation of the human soul to Sundaradasa was the most influential system-
God. Obviously there can be no union in the atic thinker within the early Dadu Panth. In his
PB January 2020 231

major doctrinal work, Jnana-samudra, ‘Sea of Acharya Shankara; his earliest biographer, Ra-
Knowledge’, Sundaradasa expresses the central ghavadasa, writes:
teachings of Acharya Shankara’s Vedanta leaving Sundar[dasa], [the disciple] of Dadu, was a sec-
no room for interpretation: ond Shankaracarya,
You are that very Brahman who is pure con- Removing the sense of duality, he sang of non-
sciousness and bliss; duality alone.24
Jiva-hood, or union with the body, is an error. Nishchaladasa (c. 1791–1863)
Know this entire world to be non-existent. Sundaradasa’s elevation of Advaita Vedanta in
Regard birth and death as a dream.21 turn laid the groundwork for the most famous
representative of Advaita Vedanta in the Dadu
The Jnana-samudra includes chapters on Panth: Nishchaladasa, about whom T R V
bhakti yoga, hatha yoga, and Sankhya yoga, but Murti once wrote: ‘The great popularity that
the culminating chapter is devoted to Advaita, the Advaita Vedanta enjoys in the non-scholarly
which Sundaradasa sees as the ultimate goal of world of sadhus, house-holders and other in-
the spiritual path. Sundaradasa describes the formed laymen is, in great measure, due to the
non-dual state in unmistakably Vedantic terms, two Hindi works of Santa Nishcaldasa’s [sic]
referring to it as turiyatita or ‘beyond the Fourth’, Vicara Sagara and Vṛtti Prabhakara.’25 Nish-
and speaking of its realisation, sakshatkara, as re- chaladasa’s biography parallels that of Sunda-
sulting from the practice of shravana, manana, radasa in many ways. Both were initiated as
and nididhyasana.22 Dadupanthi renunciates as children; both were
For Sundaradasa, there was no conflict be- sent to Benares, where they studied for many
tween Dadu’s teaching and the metaphysics of years with Sanskrit pandits; and both went on
Advaita Vedanta; indeed, he identifies the two. to write vernacular works that were widely read
Consider the following verse from Sundarada- in their day.26 Here I will focus on Nishchala-
sa’s Guru Upadesh-jnana-ashtaka, ‘Eight Verses dasa’s Vichara-sagara, ‘Ocean of Inquiry’, which
on the Knowledge from the Guru’s Teaching’, offers a comprehensive introduction to Advaita
which purports to describe the teachings of Vedanta. His other major work, the Vritti-prab-
Dadu, but which could just as easily be describ- hakara, ‘Light on Cognition’, is a more advanced
ing the teachings of Acharya Shankara: work on Vedantic epistemology.
Just as a snake appears in a rope, or silver in Whereas Sundaradasa’s works present a syn-
mother-of-pearl, thesis of many different teachings, Nishchala-
Just as the mind perceives water in a mirage, so dasa’s Vichara-sagara is strictly a work of Advaita
the world is false (mithya). Vedanta. Indeed, were it not composed in Hindi,
and were it not for verses in praise of Dadu at
To him who reached the state of the undivided
(akhanda) Brahman, [perceiving] non-duality the end of each chapter, it would read much like
everywhere, any shastric-style work of classical Advaita Ved-
anta. In the course of establishing the identity
To the famed sadguru Dadudayal I bow.23
of the jiva and Brahman, the unreality of the
The Dadu Panth itself seems to have recog- world, and the path to liberation through know-
nised Sundaradasa’s affinity with the school of ledge, Nishchaladasa touches on virtually every
232 PB January 2020

major topic in the classical tradition: theories outside the Dadu Panth. The Vichara-sagara was
of error; the differences between abhasa-vada, translated into many languages. Ramana Maha-
pratibimba-vada, avachcheda-vada, and drishti- rshi made his own abridged version of the Tamil
srishti-vada; the interpretation of mahavakyas; translation, which has been published in Eng-
the nature of jivan-mukti; and so on. Nishchala- lish as the Jewel Garland of Enquiry.29 Nishcha-
dasa’s work is steeped in the technical vocabulary ladasa’s work was even translated into Sanskrit
of the Sanskrit scholastic tradition. Consider, for and eventually published with the blessing of the
example, his definition of the jiva: ‘The (illusory) Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Chandrashekharen-
reflection of consciousness (chidabhasa) in the dra Sarasvati.30
intellect (buddhi) together with the conscious-
ness [that serves as] the substratum (adhishthan- Modern Editions of the Dadu-vani
chetan) for the intellect.’27 Through Nishchaladasa’s influence, as well as
In style and content, Nishchaladasa’s works through the synthesising work of earlier Dadu-
are far removed from Dadu’s poetry. Yet Nish- panthi authors such as Sundaradasa, the con-
chaladasa, like Sundaradasa before him, sees ceptual framework and technical vocabulary
no contradiction between Acharya Shankara’s of Advaita Vedanta came to be used as a means
teachings and Dadu’s teachings. Indeed, in his of interpreting Dadu’s original works. The first
verses to Dadu at the end of each chapter, he scholarly edition of the Dadu-vani was pre-
even invokes Dadu as a form of Brahman. The pared by C P Tripathi and published in 1907.
final chapter of the Vichara-sagara concludes In his introduction Tripathi writes: ‘A know-
with these two verses: ledge of Vedanta is extremely important if one
The one with whom the sage, in liberation at is to understand Dadu’s Vani. The Dadupanthi
death, is non-different sadhu and pandit Nishchaladasa has set forth
Is Dadu, whose original form is spoken of in the system of Vedanta in a most excellent way
the Vedas. in his works Vicar-sagar and Vritti-prabhakar.
Name and form are inconstant, the incompara- … He who understands the system of Vedanta
ble One is pervasive. will have no difficulty understanding the import
(tatparya) of Dayal-ji’s Vani.’31
The implied referent of the word Dadu is being,
To aid the reader in drawing out this tatparya,
consciousness, bliss.28
Tripathi sometimes includes glosses explaining
Both Sundaradasa and Nishchaladasa en- Dadu’s ideas using Vedantic vocabulary. Con-
gaged with Advaita Vedanta explicitly, in a way sider one of Dadu’s well-known opening mangala
that Dadu himself never did. Sundaradasa began verses, in which the supreme Brahman is referred
the process of Vedanticisation, building on hints to as paraparam. Tripathi glosses the term as
and openings already present in the works of parat param, ‘higher than the highest’, which is
Dadu himself, which allowed him to present straightforward enough, but he then goes on to
Dadu’s teachings as fully compatible with those explain: ‘Karan-rup maya vishisht chetan (ish-
of Advaita Vedanta. With Nishchaladasa, the var) se pare shuddh chetan so parabrahm hai; the
process reached a culminating point, and Ni- supreme Brahman is pure consciousness, which
shchaladasa’s works came to be accepted as au- is higher than consciousness-qualified-by-maya-
thoritative expositions of Advaita Vedanta even in-its-causal-form (ishvara) (1).
PB January 2020 233

The 1951 edition of the Dadu-vani prepared his metaphysics. By Swami Narayandas’s day,
by Swami Mangaldas similarly interprets Dadu’s however, Dadupanthis felt no hesitation in inter-
works with terms and concepts from scholas- preting Dadu’s thought with the help of Advaita
tic Advaita Vedanta. Consider, for example, the Vedanta. In explaining the verse, Swami Naray-
line, ‘The self, atama, is Ram’s throne, there the andas writes: ‘Brahman and the jiva are one,
Lord, bhagavan, dwells’, in which Dadu describes since they both are consciousness, chetan, and
the intimate connection between God and the the world, samsar, which is non-conscious, jad,
soul.32 This verse does not seem to speak of iden- and something seen, drishya, is [merely] an illu-
tity, but that is nonetheless how Swami Mangal- sory transformation, vivart, of consciousness, so
das interprets it, using the vocabulary of Advaita duality cannot be established.34
Vedanta. He glosses ‘the self ’ as ‘the inner fac- Certainly this is a possible reading of Dadu;
ulty once purified’, antahkaran vishuddh kar, but it is equally undeniable that ideas have been
and he glosses Ram as ‘one’s own nature’, svas- introduced here, which are nowhere explicitly
varup, leaving us with the arguably quite differ- set forth in Dadu’s works.
ent reading, ‘The purified inner faculty is the Again, it is not my intention here to argue ei-
throne of one’s own nature’.33 Examples such as ther for or against these Vedantic interpretations
this can be found throughout Swami Mangal- of Dadu’s works. Still less do I wish to enter into
das’s glosses. a debate about the appropriateness of authorial
Let me cite just one more twentieth-century intent as a criterion for literary interpretation. I
edition of the Dadu-vani, this time by Swami hope instead to have shown that a gradual pro-
Narayandas, a prolific and highly respected cess of Vedanticisation took place within the
Dadupanthi scholar. Swami Narayandas’s edi- Dadu Panth. Dadu’s works themselves can be
tion of the Dadu-vani includes not just glosses read in different ways, and although they cer-
but a full explanatory commentary. Now it is tainly teach a form of non-dualism, it is not
important to remember that Dadu’s songs were clear to what extent this non-dualism should
composed in an early form of Hindi and they are be identified with the non-dualism of Advaita
not always accessible to modern Hindi speak- Vedanta. After all, there have been many dif-
ers. A work like Swami Narayandas’s, which in- ferent forms of Advaita in the history of Indian
cludes an interlinear commentary that doubles thought: for example, Yogachara Buddhism,
as a modern Hindi translation explaining the Madhyamaka Buddhism, and Trika Shaivism
meaning of each verse, is therefore bound to in- all teach different versions of non-dualism; and
fluence readers of the text. And Swami Naray- even within the Vedantic fold, the schools of
andas regularly interprets Dadu’s verses through Ramanuja and Vallabha lay claim to the label
the lens of Advaita Vedanta. of Advaita, though their views are at odds with
Examples could easily be multiplied, but for Acharya Shankara.
the sake of space I will give just one. Recall the But when Dadu’s disciple Sundaradasa set
verse quoted above, in which Dadu concludes: out to formulate a systematic metaphysics for
‘Thus is Dadu perplexed. As he is, so do thou be- the Dadu Panth, it was to Advaita Vedanta
hold him.’ Dadu himself is content to leave his that he looked. In this sense he may be said to
readers with the rasa of astonishment. He clearly have Vedanticised the Dadu Panth. As I have
teaches non-dualism, but he does not spell out argued elsewhere, however, the process was not
234 PB January 2020

one-sided. Sundaradasa not only Vedanticised Culture in Indian Civilization, ed. R Balasu-
bramaniam, 11 vols (New Delhi: Motilal Banar-
the Dadu Panth, he also ‘Daduised’ Vedanta, ef- sidass, 2000), Volume 2, Part 2, 590.
fectively creating a new form of Advaita Vedanta 3. For details of this argument, see Michael S
by synthesising it with the path of the sants. Allen, ‘Greater Advaita Vedānta: The Case
With Nishchaladasa the process of Vedantici- of Niścaldās’, International Journal of Hindu
Studies, 21/3 (December 2017), 275–97 and Mi-
sation was taken even further; we see a Dadupan-
chael S Allen, ‘Greater Advaita Vedānta: The
thi renunciate writing a work of ‘pure’ Advaita Case of Sundardās’, Journal of Indian Philosophy,
Vedanta, without any attempt to synthesise it Forthcoming.
with nirguna bhakti teachings. In the final stage 4. Raghavadasa, Bhaktamal, 584.
of Vedanticisation, Nishchaladasa’s works, or at 5. Complete Works, 4.335.
6. The brief sketch of Dadu’s life in this section is
least the scholastic traditions of Advaita Vedanta based primarily on Jana Gopal’s Janmalila. See
represented in them, become an interpretive Winand M Callewaert, The Hindī Biography of
framework through which Dadu’s original works Dādū Dayāl (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988).
are read. Effectively, then, Dadu himself, if not 7. The Hindī Biography of Dādū Dayāl, 18–9.
the historical Dadu, then at least Dadu as ex- 8. See W G Orr, A Sixteenth-Century Indian Mystic
(London: Lutterworth, 1947), K N Upadhyaya,
perienced by modern readers within the Dadu Dadu: The Compassionate Mystic (Beas: Radha
Panth, becomes an Advaita Vedantin. Soami Satsang, 1979), and Ṁonika Thiel-Hor-
Any account of vernacular Vedanta in north stmann, Crossing the Ocean of Existence: Braj
India must take account of the sants. In this essay, Bhāsā Religious Poetry from Rajasthan: A Reader
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1983).
I have shown how at least one historically influ-
9. Dadu, Pads, 8.1.4: ‘Sabadi samamna sanamusha
ential lineage of sants came to interpret its own rahai, para-atama age / dadu sijhe deshatam,
metaphysics through the framework of Advaita avinasi lage.’ Text and translation from Crossing
Vedanta. The extent to which a similar process the Ocean of Existence, 68–9.
of Vedanticisation might have unfolded in other 10. Pads, 10.1.4: ‘Nribhai [sic] taham bhai ko nahim,
bilasai barambara / dadu darasana dijiye, sana-
nirguna sampradayas remains a topic for fur- musha sirajanahara’; Crossing the Ocean of Exis-
ther research.35 The example of the Dadu Panth tence, 75.
suggests that rather than generalising about the 11. Dadu, Sakhis, 4, Parcha kau ang, 41–2: ‘Jaham
sants, we should be attentive to individual differ- ramma taham maim nahim, maim taham nam-
ences, since Dadu, Sundaradasa, and Nishchala- him ramma / dadu mahala barika hai, dvai kum
nahim thamma. Maim namhim taham maim
dasa did not all engage with Advaita Vedanta in gaya, ekai dusara namhim / namhi ko thahara
the same way. Then again, perhaps Dadu him- ghanim, dadu nija ghara mamhim.’ Text from
self would disagree with this last point. I will let the critical edition of Govind Rajneesh, Dadu
him have the last word: ‘All the saints are of one Samagra (Hindi), 2 vols (Delhi: Amar Satya,
2007), 2.122. Translation from A Sixteenth-Cen-
mind; ‘tis those in the midst of the way who fol-
tury Indian Mystic, 98.
low diverse paths.’36P 12. Sakhis, 6, Hairamn kau ang, 23–4: ‘Na taham
chupa na bolanam, maim taim namhim koi /
Notes and References dadu apa para nahim, na taham eka na doi. Eka
1. See The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, kahaum tau doi hai, doi kahaum tau eka / yum
9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; dadu hairamna hai, jyum hai tyum hi dekha.
9, 1997), 4.335. Dadu Samagra, 2.206; A Sixteenth-Century In-
2. S K Shrivastava, ‘Advaita in Hindi’, Advaita dian Mystic, 101.
Vedanta, History of Science, Philosophy, and 13. Such an interpretation is not as unlikely as it
PB January 2020 235

might seem. Orr argues that Dadu’s spiritual 27. Nishchaladasa, Vichara-sagara, 4.84, auto-com-
teacher, the mysterious old man who initiated mentary: ‘Buddhimaim jo chidabhas au bud-
him, was a Sufi shaikh. See A Sixteenth-Century dhika adhishthan-chetan donumvamka nam jiv
Indian Mystic, 52–6. hai.’ Translation mine.
14. Sources of Indian Tradition, eds Ainslie Thomas 28. Vichara-sagara, 7.116–7: ‘Jnani mukti videha-
Embree, Stephen N Hay, and Wm. Theodore De maim, jasaum hoya abheda / dadu adurupa
Bary, 2 vols (New York: Columbia University, so, jahi bakhanata veda. Namarupa vyabhich-
1988), 1.424. arimaim, anugata eka anupa / dadupadako
15. See Shantiswarup Tripathi, Shankar Advait lachchya hai, astibhatipriyarupa.’ Translation
Vedant ka Nirgun Kavya par Prabhav (Hindi) mine.
(Delhi: Ranjit), 351–2. 29. See Sadhu Nishcaldas, Jewel Garland of Inquiry,
16. See S K Mishra, Sant Dadudayal aur Madhyaka- ed. Ramana Maharshi (Tiruvannamalai: Rama-
lin Bhaktikavya (Hindi) (Delhi: Pramod, 1985), nasramam, 1984).
31–5, 43–5. 30. See Vichara Sagaram in Sanskrit: A Treatise
17. A Sixteenth-Century Indian Mystic, 156. in Adwaita Philosophy, trans. Vasudeva Brah-
18. The quotation is from the opening of one of mendra Sarasvati (Mayiladuthurai: Vasudeva
Dadu’s pads, 174 or 175 in most editions: ‘Apa Brahmendra Saraswathi Swamigal Library
niranjana yaum kahai, kirati karatara / maim Committee, 1986).
jana sevaga dvai nahim, ekai anga sara.’ Dadu 31. Shri Dadu Bani, ed. C P Tripathi (Varanasi:
Samagra, 1.177. Santa Sahitya Academy, 1985), 3: ‘Daduji ki
19. A Sixteenth-Century Indian Mystic, 157. vani ka arth achchhi tarah se samajhne ke liye
20. For more on Sundaradasa’s life and his relation- vedant ki prakriya ka jnan atyavashyak hai.
ship to Advaita Vedanta, see ‘Greater Advaita Vedant ki prakriya dadupanthi sadhu pandit
Vedānta: The Case of Sundardās’. nishchaldas krit vicharsagar aur vrittiprabha-
21. Sundaradasa, Jnana-samudra, 1.32: ‘Hai chi- kar granthom maim bahut uttam riti se di gai
dananda ghana brahma tum soi / deha samyoga hai … jo mahashay vedant prakriya ko achchhi
jivatva bhrama hoi. Jagata hu sakala yaha ana- tarah se samajhte haim unke liye dayal ji ki vani
chatau janau / janama aru marana saba svapna ka tatparya samajhna kuchh kathin nahim hai.’
kari manau.’ Text from Purohit Harinarayan Translation mine.
Sharma, Sundar-granthavali (Hindi), 2 vols 32. Sakhis, 4, Parcha kau ang, 171a, 175a in Mangal-
(Calcutta: Raghunath Prasad Singhania, 1937), das’s edition: ‘Atama asana ramma ka, taham
1.13. Translation mine. basai bhagavana’. Dadu Samagra, 2.153. Trans-
22. See Jnana-samudra, 5.4–7. lation mine.
23. Sundaradasa, Gitak, 7: ‘Rajju mamhim jaisaim 33. Shridadudayal-ji ki vani ( Jaipur: Jayaramdas
sarpa bhasai sipa maim rupau yatha / mriga Swami Bhishagacharya, 1951), 118.
trishnika jala buddhi deshai bishva mithya hai 34. Shri Dadu Vani (Jaipur: Dadu Mahavidyalaya),
tatha. Jini lahyau brahma akhanda pada advaita 171: ‘Jiv aur brahm donom chetan hone se ek haim
saba hi thama hai / dadudayala prasiddha sad- aur jad drishya rup samsar chetan ka vivart hai
guru tahi mora pranama hai. Dadu-granthavali, atah dvait siddh nahim hota.’ Translation mine.
1.250. Translation mine. 35. For example, the Sikh Udasi and Nirmala sam-
24. Raghavadasa, Bhaktamal, 584: ‘Shankaracharya pradayas, much like the Dadu Panth, came to
dusaro, dadu ke sundara bhayo / dvaitabhava read the Guru-granth Sahib through the lens of
kara dura, eka advaita hi gayo.’ Translation mine. Advaita Vedanta; but their interpretive trad-
25. T R V Murti, ‘Introductory Words’, S K Shrivas- itions are quite distinct from those of Khalsa
tava, The Essential Advaitism: The Philosophy of Sikhs, and this suggests that the process of Ve-
Nishcaladasa (Varanasi: Kishor Vidya Niketan, danticisation, while widespread in early modern
1980), xi. north India, was not inevitable.
26. For details of the life of Nishchaladasa, 36. Sakhis, 13, Sach kau ang), 165: ‘Saba sadhaum ka
see ‘Greater Advaita Vedānta: The Case of eka mata, e bichake baraha bata.’ Dadu Samagra,
Niścaldās’. 2.354; A Sixteenth-Century Indian Mystic, 93.
236 PB January 2020

247
Beyond the Brain—The Impact of Advaita

Philosophy on Consciousness Studies
Dr Sangeetha Menon
B rain sciences and scanning tech-

nologies have developed well in the
last ten years that today, we have bet-
ter knowledge about how the brain functions,
though we are far from unravelling the mys-
The mystery about consciousness is that all
that we know about in a limited manner is that
the brain is ruled by its electrochemical func-
tions and neural wirings and connections. But
how such functional, discrete and quantitative
tery of its workings in totality. The last decade constituents bind together and give rise to the
brought in remarkable insights about the re- subjective, qualitative, and unitary experience
lation between, mind, consciousness, and the of ‘I am’ is a mind-boggling question for science.
brain through the understanding of cognitive Such a puzzling divide was first introduced by
capabilities. But what we still have no clue about the theory of ‘easy problems and hard problem’
is how does a bulbous wrinkled mass of tissue of David Chalmers.1 It made a semantic distinc-
bring out the emergence of the qualitative nation between ‘being conscious’ and ‘what is re-
ture of the self and the person we are, and what sponsible for consciousness’, which otherwise for
is the true nature of consciousness. mainstream neuroscience are identical.
The questions we ask about consciousness are Mainstream science approaches conscious-
based on different kinds of experience, dream, ness mostly from a dualistic point of view or
states of mind, memory, emotions, and the like. a reductionist approach. According to dualist
But the method to respond to these questions theories the subjective nature of consciousness
are guided by segregated information about be- can never be understood by science. The percep-
haviour or brain events and processes. There- tual aspects of consciousness are vision, hearing,
fore, the answers to these questions are given and the like. The reductionist approach is that
in terms of neural correlates and neural infor- there is nothing called the personal aspect or
mation processing and models thereof. This subjective nature for consciousness, since all of
method takes away and ignores the essential that are just the products or representations of
aspect of ‘being conscious’ or ‘consciousness’ neural functions. The non-dual vision connect-
which is the ‘person’ and the subjective self that ing subjective experience and consciousness as
is capable of transcendence. theorised by Advaita Vedanta becomes pertinent
in this context when the fundamental riddle for
Dr Sangeetha Menon is Dean, School of Humani- the contemporary interdisciplinary discussions
ties and Professor and Head, NIAS Consciousness
Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced and neuroscience is how to give an equal place
Studies in the Indian Institute of Science Campus, to human experience, as well as the functional
Bengaluru. nature of brain.
PB January 2020 237

Irreducibility of Consciousness In the current discussions on consciousness,

According to the Advaita vision, Brahman is which are heavily influenced by the scientific
the fundamental reality underlying all objects methodology, the challenge is that it is diffi-
and experiences and it is described as pure ex- cult to understand the two varied expressions
istence, pure consciousness, and pure bliss. All of consciousness such as the perceptual ex-
forms of existence presuppose a knowing self. periences and its transcendental nature as the
Pure consciousness underlies the knowing self. continuing Self, because they are different in
Consciousness according to Advaita meta- terms of their production, function, and evo-
physics, unlike the positions held by other Ved- lution. Much of the discussion in the circles
anta schools, is not a property of Brahman but of philosophy and science is centered on the
its very nature. The independent existence and intentional mode of consciousness and its pro-
experience of the world ceases to be with the duction or qualitative nature.4
gain of knowledge of Brahman. The nature of What is ignored in the reductionist ap-
knowledge of Brahman is that ‘I am pure con- proaches is that often human life is guided by
sciousness’. Pure consciousness is not only pure the social and psychological ways of respond-
existence but also the ultimate bliss, which is ex- ing to situations and the unintentional conse-
perienced partially during deep sleep. quences of human actions.5 The intentional act
According to Advaita epistemology, there is a and thinking and the non-intentional act and
fourfold process of perception: the physical ob- thinking: both have meaning, when we look at
ject, the sense organ, the mind, antahkarana, and the human mind, since they are co-coordinated,
the cognising self, pramata. The cognising self is structured, and are given continuity by their be-
self-luminous and the rest of the components are longing to an ‘I-ness’. This I-ness is irreducible.
not self-luminous, being devoid of conscious- Both the intentional and non-intentional acts
ness. The mind and the sense organs connect and thinking could come under the purview of
the cognising self to the object. The self alone is philosophical and neurobiological analysis. But
the knower and the rest are knowable as objects the ‘irreducible ‘I-ness’ is transcendental to even
of knowledge. It is the mind that helps to distin- a meta-level of understanding and is purely ex-
guish between various perceptions. periential and Self-oriented.
The subject knows and the object is known What is often attempted to understand con-
because of the self-luminous, svatah-prakasha, sciousness is reducing consciousness to mere
nature of pure consciousness. In his commen- cognitive functions. Reductionism could work
tary on the Taittiriya Upanishad, Acharya Shan- only in the level of intentionality and intentional
kara, says that ‘consciousness is the very nature of acts and not the non-intentional nature of pure
the Self and inseparable from it’.2 The cognising consciousness. The irreducibility of ‘I-ness’ is
self, the known object, the object-knowledge, better appreciated if we consider the ‘integral’
and the valid means of knowledge, pramana, mode of consciousness.6 We not only intend to
are essentially the manifestations of one pure cognise and experience, we also integrate that
consciousness. Such a unitary theory of pure which is known and experienced, to a transcen-
consciousness helps to establish the non-dual dental self. What is beside both the intending
relation between experience and the transcen- and the integrating functions is the I-ness that is
dental nature of consciousness.3 irreducible. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on
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Beyond the Brain—The Impact of Advaita Philosophy on Consciousness Studies 249
the thirteenth chapter of the Gita,

in a deeper and connected manner,
brings in the interrelations between
kshetra, the field, and the kshetrajna,
the knower of the field, and how the
source of kshetrajna is traced to pure
consciousness, which is the nature
of the true self.
Consciousness and
Non-dualism
Acharya Shankara gives the concept
of ‘experience’ adequate importance
Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
and place for discussion. At the
same time, he presents a fundamental theory using these four functions takes up the form of
of the experiencer deploying the phenomen- manas, mind; buddhi, discerning faculty; aham-
ology of the three states of experience—wak- kara, ego;8 and chitta, mind-stuff respectively.
ing, dream, and deep sleep. Advaita posits the The existential, sat, and reflective nature,
highest truth and reality as ‘something-which- chit, of the Atman, pure consciousness, unites
is-already-there’. This ‘something-which-is-al- with the buddhi to give rise to the experience ‘I
ready-there’ is designated by Acharya Shankara know’.9 The cognitive mechanism is explained
variously as aham, bodha, chit, and the famous to include the process of sensation, percept for-
Atman and Brahman. He uses three distinct cat- mation, and conceptualisation. Sensation and
egories, along with his adherence to shabda, to conceptualisation together help the ahamkara to
explicate cognitive functions as well as the role ‘see’ the form, rupa, of the object which is already
of consciousness. defined, nama, perceptually. The reality of I-ness
The cognitive mechanism involves a subject is explained further. Acharya Shankara contends
who knows, pramata chaitanya; the process of that the mind and senses are of the nature of
knowledge, pramana chaitanya; and the object name and form and are material.10 According
known, vishaya chaitanya. These three compon- to his explanation of the cognitive mechanism,
ents are involved in the cognitive mechanism ahamkara, which can be roughly translated as
starting from the sensory level to the final con- ‘ego’, is also a modification of the ‘internal organ’.
ceptual level. Acharya Shankara employs a mul- Acharya Shankara employs the theory of rep-
tifunctional term called antahkarana, which resentationism by the two methods of ‘reflection’
receives and arranges sense data. The antahkarana and ‘proximity’ to explain both the phenomen-
assumes different functions in conjunction with ological transformation of a non-conscious ma-
different trans-cognitive entities, which are clas- terial entity, ahamkara, as well as to maintain
sified under the name vritti, which are of four dif- a definite dualistic position so as to highlight
ferent kinds such as samkalpa, pre-decisive state; the distinctive nature of consciousness. He says
nishchaya, decisive state;7 garva, self-conscious- that modifications of antahkarana are pervaded
ness; and smarana, remembrance. Antahkarana, by the reflection of consciousness, as they come
PB January 2020 239

to exist.11 Using the illustration of a jewel and a reductionist. It is also presumed by him that I-
lamp, Acharya Shankara distinguishes the nature ness involves three phases through which it gets
of consciousness from that of modifications. Just defined. The first phase is the intentional phase,
as a jewel differs in colour due to the proximity which directs a self-consciousness towards an
of coloured objects, consciousness appears ac- object, expressed as ahamkara, which leads to
cording to the different modifications associ- the second phase which that a variety of agencies
ated with it. according to the object of experience. It is in this
Pure I-ness never undergoes modification and phase that I-ness gets defined as the ‘intentor’ so
intellect is never endowed with knowledge. Vrit- as to have specific interactions, of which a few
tis are manifested, known and endowed with instances can be ‘I am dumb’, ‘I am happy’, ‘I am
existence by consciousness which is immediately sad’, and so on.
known and different from them, like the lamp In this phase, I-ness is the custodian of per-
illumining other objects. An agent, a means of sonal choices, desires, ambitions, and the like.
knowledge, and an object are necessary in the The second phase involves the identification of
experience of the knower, knowledge, and the I-ness with one’s thought patterns and emer-
known. In order to avoid an infinite regress, it gence of two intricate and foundational sub-
cannot be said that each of these three can prove jective experiences of definite ‘I-ness’, ‘I am this’,
its own existence. The agency of the agent ex- and ‘mine-ness’, ‘this is mine’. Though the first
hausted in proving its own existence will not be and second phase are hierarchical, the temporal
available to prove the existence of the means of gap between these two being almost not rec-
knowledge and the object at the same time.12 ognisable, the intentional phase and the inten-
What is intended to be governed by the actor phase are simultaneously experienced in any
tion of an agent is the object of that action. experience. Thus, any immediate sense that ac-
Therefore, the object depends on the agent companies an experience is my experience, than
and not on consciousness which is other than distinguishing the I-ness in it, and the changing
it. Acharya Shankara delineates consciousness nature of experiential content.
by any functional role.13 To extend the immut- Acharya Shankara holds that consciousness
ability of consciousness and mutability of the is dynamic in that it entails differentiation and
internal organ to the dream state, he introduces integration of experiences. The level of differen-
‘memory’. It is the same intellect which is modi- tiation could be explained by cognitive functions
fied differently in the waking state, which takes and further conceptualisation. But to under-
up various modifications in the dream state too. stand the functions of integration, third person
Thus the dream objects are seen and remem- accounts are not sufficient. The ‘transcendence’
bered later. Consciousness witnesses modifica- of I-ness from cognitive to experiential level
tions as it pervades them in both waking and has to be contextualised in an ontological field
dream states.14 where subjectiveness or I-consciousness is placed
in its pure form.
Understanding the I-ness Acharya Shankara substantiates the onto-
Acharya Shankara explains I-ness experienced logical phase of I-ness with the help of shabda
from two different contexts, one which in- pramana, verbal testimony. He attempts a cat-
volves dualistic interpretations and the other egorical explanation concurrently using specific
240 PB January 2020

Yantra Mandir, Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh
terms which indicates his adherence to not any interprets the pramana of shabda as a transform-
single semantic position. Shabda is often em- ative tool which can give as well as transcend the
ployed as a trans-linguistic tool. In the Laghu known functions of a ‘word meaning’. Shabda
Vakyavritti, Acharya Shankara elaborates the is used as a trans-linguistic tool ‘not to create
three states of consciousness.15 The physical knowledge but to eliminate false knowledge’.
body or bodily I-ness, sthula sharira, is the first This is because pure I-ness needs no other con-
presentation of I-ness. The second is the subtle sciousness to make itself known, its nature being
body, sukshma sharira, of latent attitudes, motor consciousness. According to Acharya Shankara
and sense organs, vital airs, intellect, and mind. shabda becomes valid by merely removing the
The third is the causal body which is the I-ness characteristics attributed to the Atman and not
identified with physical and subtle bodies in its by making known what is unknown.17 Also be-
abstractness. The deep sleep state is devoid of cause pure consciousness never becomes non-
any cognitive activity but possesses I-ness in its existent and is not capable of being produced by
pure form. the act of an agent.
The ontological thesis of Acharya Shankara The knowledge about the Self is different
upholds I-consciousness as ‘something-which- from other kinds of knowledge by being the
is-already-there’. ‘It is there across, above, below, only means for the liberation of the person. The
full, existence, knowledge, bliss, non-dual, in- puzzle is whether it is an experience in space
finite, eternal, and one.’16 Acharya Shankara and time like any other experience or of another
PB January 2020 241

kind or is it a cognition of a certain experience. in terms of the other, and one cannot become
Moksha is not explained in direct terms but the the other.
student is encouraged to think about the meta- According to the reductionism advocated
physical status of the ‘present’ and ‘given’ experi- by Acharya Shankara, we have to delve into the
ence which is dualistic, raga dveshati sankulah, various levels of I-consciousness keeping aside
but still originating from the experiencer. its cognitive content. The I-ness, which is per-
This is Acharya Shankara’s most famous ex- vaded by the reflective consciousness, is called
planation of maya: ‘Svakale satyavat bhati prab- the knower or agent of the act of knowing. Pure
hode satyasat bhavet; it appears to be real as long consciousness is distinct from these three—ac-
as it continues and is falsified on waking up.’18 tion, agent, and the means of action. Different
The ‘other’, which is the basic epistemological epistemic modes like ‘right knowledge’, ‘doubt-
component of experience, appears to be having ful knowledge’, and ‘false knowledge’ are prone
an independent existence when ‘I’ mistake my to change. But they are all pervaded by pure con-
identity to be defined by the ‘other’. When ‘I’ sciousness. Pure consciousness manifests modi-
awake to my true ‘Self ’ from the slumber of iden- fications without itself undergoing any change.
tity or identities it is seen that the existence of Differences in I-ness, instances of specific I-
the ‘other’ no more defines my existence. The ness, are due to the modifications of the cogni-
‘other’ corresponds to the responses, likes and tive organ. Since consciousness is best known
dislikes, and basic attitudes, identity and differ- through one’s being conscious, I-consciousness
ence, by which we relate to objects, people, and has a major role in defining the parameters of
events and not objects, people and events by ‘consciousness’, which is otherwise yet another
themselves. That is the reason why the analysis cognitive term. Acharya Shankara adheres to
of the basic epistemological component of ex- the methods of reductionism and non-reduc-
perience, namely duality, is to be understood tionism from two different standpoints. At the
from the point of view of the experiencer. same time, he maintains a theory of conscious-
The pure I, Atman cannot be accepted or ness, emerging from the tension between these
rejected by itself or others, nor does it accept two standpoints.
or reject anyone else. Acharya Shankara takes a The antahkarana undergoes modification and
non-reductionist stand in holding that any exis subject to physical laws. But pure consciousness
perience to be possible should have an agent, cannot be subjected to the change undergone by
specific I-ness, and a corresponding object. An material objects including the mind. Acharya
experience is intelligible only in terms of these Shankara emphasises that the phenomenological
dualities. The object of experience as well as the meaning of I-ness, experience, and ontological
agent of the specific experience are both modi- primacy of I-ness, self-transcendence, are not op-
fications of the antahkarana. But these material posed to each other, but are nondual. When on
evolutes gain a phenomenological meaning of the one hand the neural correlates of conscious-
being ‘experienced’ and ‘experiencing’ because ness give us better insights into the workings of
of the non-conditional proximity of conscious- the mind, on the other hand, the same methods
ness. The object experienced and the specific are not adequate to present the transcendental
agent or experiencer of that object are rela- dimensions of consciousness.
tive and co-existent. One has meaning only The current approaches on ‘consciousness’
242 PB January 2020

focus on either of two problems. First, how sim- of the mind is reflection and that of the intellect
is determination.’
ple physiological functions coordinate and work 8. ‘Ego’ is to be differentiated from ‘I-ness’ which
together as one single system and second, how is further explained.
and why a subjective orientation arises for experi- 9. See Acharya Shankara, Atmabodha, 24: ‘At-
ence. In the first case, the attempt is to build into manah sachchidamshashcha buddher-vrittir-iti
dvayam, samyojya cha-avivekena janamiti pra-
‘consciousness’ and in the second case, the at-
vartate; such a notion as “I know” is produced
tempt is to build from ‘Self ’. Categories of think- by the union, due to non-discernment, of a
ing needed for the two cases are different, one modification of the mind with two aspects of
is for the allocation of new knowledge within Atman, namely, Existence and Consciousness.’
a system, and the other is for transformation of 10. See Upadesha-sahasri, 1.1.22: ‘Manashcha in-
driyani cha namarupatmaka; the mind and the
knowledge integrally and lead to self-transcend- senses are also of the nature of name and form.’
ence. Experience is the common concern for 11. See Upadesha-sahasri, 2.5.4: ‘Chaitanya prat-
both the approaches. But in the first discussion ibimbena vyaptah bodho hi jayate; the modi-
the focus is on the empirical and however com- fications of the intellect are pervaded by the
plex a third-person representation of the neural reflection of Consciousness when they come to
exist.’
function it can generate, it cannot be the same 12. See Upadesha-sahasri, 2.18.131: ‘Atmano grahane
as experiential. The neural cannot transform to chapi trayanamiha sambhavad, atmany-asakta-
become the experiential. Herein lies the major kartritvam na syat-karana-karmanoh.’
gap between first-person and third-person ap- 13. See Sangeetha Menon, ‘Towards a Sankarite Ap-
proach to Consciousness Studies: A Discussion
proaches to consciousness. P
in the Context of Recent Interdisciplinary Sci-
entific Perspectives’, Journal of Indian Council
References of Philosophical Research, 18/1 ( January 2001),
1. See David J Chalmers, ‘The Puzzle of Conscious 95–111 <https://www.infinityfoundation.com/
Experience’, Scientific American, 273/6 (De- mandala/i_es/i_es_menon_sankar_frameset.
cember 1995), 80–6. htm> accessed 29 November 2019.
2. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Tai- 14. See Upadesha-sahasri, 2.14.6: ‘Drashtritvam cha
ttiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1: ‘Svarupa-avyatirekena’. drishestad-vyaptih syaddhiya udbhave; the Self
The translationis from Karl H Potter, Encyclope- is said to witness the modifications of the intel-
dia of Indian Philosophies, 25 vols (Delhi: Motilal lect as it pervades them whenever they arise.’
Banarsidass, 2019), 3.211. 15. See Acharya Shankara, Laghu Vakyavritti, 4:
3. See Sangeetha Menon, ‘Advaita Vedanta’, Inter- ‘Jagara-svapnayorevam bodhabhasa-vidambana
net Encyclopedia of Philosophy <https://www. suptau tu tallaye shuddha-bodho jadyam praka-
iep.utm.edu/adv-veda/> accessed 29 November shayet; the relational activities of the reflected
2019. consciousness are restricted to the two states of
4. See The View from Within: First Person Ap- waking and dreaming, whereas in deep sleep
proaches to Consciousness, ed. Francisco Varela the reflected consciousness itself together with
and Jonathan Shear (Thorverton: Imprint Aca- the reflector, the intellect, being absorbed in
demic, 2002). ignorance, the pure consciousness shines only
5. See Acharya Shankara’s introduction to his upon ignorance.’
commentary on the Brahma Sutra. 16. Atmabodha, 56.
6. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the 17. See Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the
thirteenth chapter of the Bhagavadgita. Gita, 2.18: ‘Atad-dharma-adhyaropanam-atra-
7. See Acharya Shankara, Upadesha-sahasri, nivartakatvena pramanatvam atmanah prati-
2.16.21: ‘Sankalpa-adhyavasayau tu manobud- padyate, na tu ajnata-artha-jnapakatvena.’
dhayor-yatha kramat; the peculiar characteristic 18. Atmabodha, 6.
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254
Advaita Darshanam: The Vision of Oneness

Swami Bodhananda
A dvaita Vedanta, as expounded sys-

tematically by Acharya Shankara, is
considered the epitome of the Vedic
enterprise. Achayra Acharya Shankara, based
on his deep reflection on the Upanishadic reve-
Advaita masters beginning from the Vedic times
down to the twenty-first century—Yajnavalkya,
Janaka, Ashtavakra, Uddalaka, Veda Vyasa,
Acharya Gaudapada, Acharya Govindapada,
Acharya Shankara, Acharya Padmapada, Va-
lations and readings of the Buddhist, Sankhya, chaspati Misra, Madhusudana Sarasvati, Swami
yoga, and Nyaya systems, and drawing signifi- Vivekananda, Swami Shivananda, Rabindra-
cantly from his orthodox and ritualistic back- nath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Maharshi
ground, formulated his vision of oneness as a Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Narayana Guru,
comprehensive system of thought and discipline Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Dayananda, and
of spiritual practice. His critique of rival systems many more.
is incisive and insightful. It was Acharya Shankaracharya who deter-
Acharya Shankara cleaned up and sim- mined the scriptural foundations of Advaita.
plified orthodox ritualism and popular wor- Otherwise known as pramana granthas, source
ship and presented them as means of attaining texts, they are three, the Upanishads, mainly ten
inner purity and psychic focus. He organised of them; the Bhagavadgita having seven hun-
Hindus under four ‘monasteries’ and ten ‘spir- dred verses; and the Brahma Sutra having 555
itual orders’. Acharya Shankara also renovated sutras. Together they constitute the prasthana
many Hindu temples, prescribed six deities for trayi, the three sections, the ultimate source of
worship, and instituted the shodashopachara, six- Advaita spiritual wisdom. A correct interpret-
teen-item worship and panchopachara, the five- ation of these texts requires linguistic, logical,
item worship, puja methods that the majority and contemplative skills.
of Hindus follow today. Acharya Shankara was Advaita radically differs from other Vedantic
a scholar, philosopher, yogi, commentator, de- traditions like Vishishtadvaita, Dvaita, Shud-
bater, writer, poet, organiser, institution builder, dhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita, Shunya Advaita, and Sa-
trainer, leader, and above all a spiritually enlight- manvaya Advaita, though all these traditions draw
ened master. Acharya Shankara is the central pil- their insights from the same source books. Mod-
lar of Hindu Dharma, as we know it today. ern Hinduism is firmly anchored in the Advaita
There has been a long unbroken succession of vision expounded by Acharya Shankara, be it the
path of bhakti, yoga, karma, or jnana. All reforms,
Swami Bodhananda is the president and spiritual renaissance, spiritual, and political movements,
director of The Sambodh Society Inc. and the chair-
person of Sambodh Foundation India and Bod- subsequent to the Islamic and European invasions,
hananda Research Foundation for Management and beginning with Guru Nanak, Kabir, Swami Day-
Leadership Studies. ananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Raja Ram
244 PB January 2020

Advaita Darshanam: The Vision of Oneness 255
Mohan Roy, and Subramania Bharati, were in- Great Upanishadic pronouncements or ma-
spired by the universal vision of Advaita. Advaita havakyas like, ‘Tattvamasi; you are that’,2 ‘Pra-
is the central principle around which the Hindu jnanam Brahma; consciousness is Brahman’,3
society coalesces and finds its purpose, meaning, ‘Aham brahmasmi; I am Brahman’,4 ‘Ayam
sustenance, and inspiration. atma brahma; this Atman is Brahman’,5 ‘Sarvam
Dalit thinkers and reformers like Mahatma khalu idam brahma, indeed all this is Brahman’,6
Phule, Narayana Guru, Ayyankali and Dr B R ‘Satyam jnanam anantam brahma; Brahman is
Ambedkar sourced their vision for an egalitarian truth, knowledge, and infinite’,7 ‘Vacharamba-
and just society to the Advaita philosophy. The nam vikaro namadheyam mrittiketyeva satyam;
bhakti movement of the sixteenth to eighteenth all transformation has speech as its basis and it
centuries that became a bulwark against Islamic is only name, earth as such is the reality’,8 and
onslaught was a robust collective expression of so on, are the guiding lights of Advaita vision,
Advaita experience. values, and practice.
The Advaita vision, its systematic teaching The Brahma Sutra begins with the exhort-
and practice and its applications in various do- ation, ‘thereafter, therefore, [let us] begin in-
mains of human activity, is the greatest contribu- quiry into Brahman’9 and goes on to define the
tion of Hinduism and India to humanity at large. tatastha Brahman as ‘the substratum from which
Advaita is a living tradition and its teaching the world emerges, in which it exists, and into
and practice requires constant lived interactions, which it resolves’ (1.1.2.). Here, ‘thereafter’ points
experimentations, and interpretations. Only a to seeker’s qualification and ‘therefore’ to her or
living guru can fill such a dynamic role. A guru his intent. The Taittiriya Upanishad also defines
can be compared to a coach, mentor, guide, in- the svarupa, nature of Brahman as ‘truth, con-
structor, friend, facilitator, moderator, director, sciousness, eternal, and bliss’.10 These words are
leader, competitor, challenger, role model, and not adjectives, visheshana, but only indicative,
motivator, or all their functions rolled into one lakshana, definitions of brahman.
super figure. The scriptures define a guru as ‘well Advaita proposes that the ultimate goal of
trained’ and ‘deeply established’. The guru is wis- human life is moksha, moha-kshayam, the an-
dom incarnate and walks the talk. The guru lives nihilation of delusion, that is, ending of self-
in the midst of daily turmoil, interprets personal ignorance and the attainment of unlimited
and collective experiences, and constructs mean- happiness. Advaita also reveals that unlimited
ing for purposeful action. Sri Krishna, Buddha, happiness is the nature of the self of the seeker of
Vyasa, Acharya Shankara, Mahatma Gandhi— happiness. Limited happiness is pleasure, bhoga
all fall in this calibre of gurus. sukha, gained from indulgence in sense objects.
What is Advaita? Acharya Shankara suc- Limitless happiness, yoga sukha, is realised in
cinctly puts it in this famous formulation: contemplative states guided by the identity state-
‘Brahma satyam, jagan mithya; jivo brahma eva ments, mahavakyas, of the Upanishads.
naparah; Brahman, boundless consciousness, Advaita aims at a deeper cognitive shift from
alone is true; the ever changing objective world the ‘me’, small ‘i’ to the ‘we’, collective ‘i-i-i-i-i …
is an appearance of that Brahman; the subjective , to the transcendental, big ‘I’ perspective. This
embodied perceiver, of the world, is identical shift happens while listening, shravana, intently
with Brahman.’1 to scriptural statements expounded by a living
PB January 2020 245

enlightened master. Perspectives are formed by vastu-ta, or the existence of Brahman is a logical
past experiences organised and stored in the necessity and an ontological reality, and enjoys
memory cells as sequences of words and images. experiential proof, anubhava-avasanatvat. The
These perspectives and interpretative tools can clinching proof of the ontological given-ness of
be changed and refashioned by apt words and Brahman is the experience of enlightened mas-
imageries employed by an expert master craft- ters and their ability to transfer this experience
sperson established in Brahman. through systematic teaching and practices. Brah-
Advaita contemplation is pivoted on the mavidya or self-knowledge is a self-transforming
ontological given-ness of Brahman. For this a cognitive experience. As the knowledge dawns,
priori assumption, the Advaita tradition takes the fearful, unhappy, insecure individual, en-
inspiration from scriptural authority, logical cased in the body-I am- attitude, realises herself
analysis, and life experiences. All the major ten or himself as the immortal, ever happy, all bodies
Upanishads in unison declare that Brahman accommodating consciousness. Like even the
is the ultimate invariable truth and that ‘the sunrise lifts the mist and reveals the splendour
knower of Brahman is Brahman’.11 Upanishads of the valley.
reveal Brahman not as an objective reality, but The living world’s pursuit for happiness is
as a deeply subjective experiential self. The em- natural and not cultivated. When it comes to
bodied, subjective, invariable, self-experience the human, this pursuit becomes more poignant
of the agent, in the midst of the welter of ob- and sophisticated. The human being is a born
jective variable experiences, is Brahman. Logic- seeker-philosopher. The Sanskrit words for hap-
ally, Brahman cannot be any or all of the ever piness are sukham, all-accommodating space,
changing objects of the world. At the same time, and anandam, overflowing bliss. Both words,
for change to occur and be experienced requires nudging each other, indicate happiness, sukham,
a changeless substratum. Thus, the ever chang- as an all-inclusive transcendence, that is, Brah-
ing world of material objects and mental events man. Meaning, happiness is realisation of a dy-
imply Brahman as the substratum. namic, fluctuating, state of constant inclusion
So too, a person’s search in this ever changing and transcendence. This dynamic equilibrium,
world for security, peace, and happiness ends in samadhi, state is called Brahman. The individu-
utter futility. As a result, one becomes detached al’s ceaseless search for security, knowledge, and
and reflective, reformulates questions, and re- happiness culminates in her or his self-realisation
directs the arrow of enquiry. Such is the fertile as Brahman.
soil where the wisdom seeds of Advaita sprout. The Upanishads present Brahman as the ul-
Thus, listening, shravana, to the statements of timate goal of human pursuit. Humanity’s col-
the Advaita scriptures removes the ignorance lective historical experience is that we have been
of Brahman, discerning reflection, manana, always seeking happiness. Therefore, the scrip-
removes doubts about Brahman and constant tural Brahman cannot be other than the unlim-
practice to abide, nididhyasana, liquidates uncon- ited happiness that we all experientially seek.
scious habits that eclipse the vision of Brahman. Hence, the Upanishads themselves declare that
The main thrust of the Upanishads is to re- Brahman is limitless happiness. And the knower
veal the identity of Brahman with the experi- of Brahman is happy, nay happiness itself.
encing self of the enquirer. The given-ness, This analysis leads the enquirer to the next
246 PB January 2020

question. Where is the locus of this Brahman, Advaita is not to be equated with philosoph-
that is, limitless happiness? The Aitareya Upa- ical monism, though they share some explana-
nishad declares: ‘Prajna pratishta, prajnanam tory features. Monism, like Advaita, presents
brahma; Consciousness is its end, Conscious- reality as one stuff that expresses in myriad
ness is Brahman.’12 The knowing or experiencing forms. But in monistic thinking there is no men-
awareness is the locus of Brahman. The contem- tion of consciousness or bliss. The monistic stuff
plative, detached observer, free from the waste- is drab, flat, dimensionless, and homogeneous,
ful enterprises of seeking happiness in the world while Advaita Brahman is colourful, rich, com-
of sense objects, while actively involved in inter- plex and heterogeneous. Monism is an intellec-
active relationships, through a transformative tual construct whereas Advaita is an experiential
awakening, by progressively abandoning iden- structure. Intellectual constructs are linear, sim-
tifications with objects, body, senses, mind, in- ple, and neat, experiential structures are holistic,
tellect, memory, ego, knowledge, ignorance, complex, and fussy. Monism is exclusive, Advaita
pleasure, and pain, comes to abide in the true is inclusive. For Monists, consciousness is a prod-
self as the foundational, illuminating awareness uct and comes later, for Advaita consciousness is
of all objective experiences. The all illuminating the source and primary. Advaita is engagement
awareness, as pure consciousness, chit, is self- and bliss, monism is indifference and joyless.
luminous, svaprakasham. The locus of Brahman Advaita promises embodied enlightenment
is the pivotal ‘I’ experience supporting all these or living bliss, jivanmukti, means freedom for the
experiences. ‘Know Brahman hidden in the cave embodied, en-worlded self, living, interacting,
of the heart’, advises the Taittiriya Upanishad.13 receiving, processing, and responding to stimuli.
We find seven transformative movements in In fact, dynamic interaction is a necessary con-
self-realisation: dition for exploring dimensions of selves and
1. The discovery that limitless happiness (LH) developing efficiencies and expressing potential-
is the ultimate value. ities. In that sense enlightenment is a continuous
2. LH is not the property of mental and ma- process and not a onetime event. Enlightenment
terial sense objects. is the pouring out of the bliss of Brahman in and
3. LH to be limitless has to be self-existing through the altruistic choices that networked in-
and inclusive and hence neither a product to dividuals make in their interactive enterprises.
be created nor opposed to dualistic experiences. For the enlightened, mental and material
4. There is only one self-existing and inclusive events do not cover but only reveal Brahman.
being in the whole of experience and that is the The world and Brahman are related like ring and
self-luminous ‘I’ experience. gold or waves and the ocean. Acharya Shankara
5. Self-luminosity is the nature of termed this relationship as between satya, real
consciousness. and mithya or maya, apparent.14 The apparent is
6. The conscious enquirer, the experiencing, a category between the real and the unreal. Maya
doubting and questioning ‘I’, who is self-con- is contentless and is contained in Brahman.
scious and conscious of others, is the only source Maya is to be equated with the Buddhist
of consciousness. emptiness experience. Emptiness is the end
7. Hence consciousness is limitless happiness point that intellect and intuition can reach. It
and I am consciousness, happiness. is the contemplative, collective, long, unbroken
PB January 2020 247

experiences of a race, scriptural wisdom, that boundaries. It is a spectacle of speechless wonder.

can pierce the veil of maya and reveal the reality The description is not the described. Advaita
of Brahman. Hence, the importance of trans- description is not Advaita experience. Therefore,
ferring brahmavidya, generation to generation, Advaita invites competing and conflicting mo-
from an experienced guru to a qualified disciple. dalities of descriptions to fine tune contempla-
An anonymous couplet exclaims: ‘The world is a tive understanding and experience of Brahman.
dancing stage of Shiva, unfolded by Shiva out of Interacting with Buddhist, agnostic, atheistic,
himself. In this world dance, Shiva is the dancer, materialistic, pluralistic, dualistic, experimental,
Shiva is the spectator, and Shiva is the stage’, ex- and experiential approaches with their compet-
claims an anonymous couplet. ing truth claims and plethora of disciplinary pro-
In the Advaita vision, being is doing and doing tocols, Advaita fine tunes human understanding,
is being, ‘Karmani akarma darshanam, akar- relations, and actions to facilitate the Brahman
mani karma cha; seeing inaction in action and ac- project. Advaita is the midwife that eases the
tion in inaction.’15 Brahman is ceaseless activity, manifold incarnations of Brahman.
‘Varta eva cha karmani; I am engaged in actions’ A universally asked question about the
(3.22). Metaphorically, Brahman is comparable Advaita vision is that, if the individual jiva is
to the ocean, ‘Apuryamanam-achala pratishtam Brahman in the deepest sense of consciousness,
samudram; ever-filled, steadily situated, ocean’ why there is ignorance, doubt, and suffering in
(2.70). Ocean yields its water as vapour that be- the life of individuals. Can the solely and only
comes clouds, rains, rivulets, rivers that finally existing Brahman suffer its own actions or the ac-
become ocean, to become clouds again. Maya is tions of the non-existing other? Is the individual
this incredible playfulness of Brahman. a product of Brahman action or channel of Brah-
‘So’kamayata, Brahman desired’, declares the man action or Brahman action itself ? According
Taittiriya Upanishad,16 a desire to express, ex- to Advaita, individual is indeed Brahman. Ignor-
plode, expand, explore, and experience. This pro- ance, doubt, and suffering are stages of Brahman
jection of Brahman is not out of any inadequacy, strategies to challenge and be challenged in a
but out of overflowing fullness, ‘Purnat purnam- dialectical process of self-revelation. The San-
udachyate; from fullness, fullness is born’.17 Brah- skrit word for suffering is duhkha, constriction.
man reveals and realises through the competing Constriction is a device that provokes creative
and coalescing desires, thoughts, and actions of faculties and potentialities. While to the finite
networked individuals and groups, within the constriction is limiting, for the infinite, purna
constraints of time, space, and resources. or ananta, constriction is un-limiting.
This world of mind and matter is not anti- In the Advaita vision, Brahman is not so
thetical to Brahman, but its primary expression much an end point as it is the beginning point.
as field for more complex self-revelations. The Brahman is not to be reached, purified, mod-
more Brahman reveals, the more it remains con- ified, or produced. Brahman is not the object
cealed. This process is not simple, monotonous, of knowledge, love, or action, but the very sub-
cyclical repetitions. Every revelation and every ject that knows, loves, and acts. ‘Yat chakshusha
expression is new and wafts the fragrance of fresh na pashyati yena chakshumshi pashyati, tadeva
blooms. In this self-expression, Brahman breaks brahma tvam viddhi, nedam yadidamupasate;
and makes rational and verbal categories and that which one does not see with the eye, that
248 PB January 2020

by which one perceives the activities of the eye, Brahman.’ ‘Uttishthata jagrata prapya varan nib-
know that alone to be Brahman and not what hodhata; arise, awake, and learn by approach-
people worship as an object.’18 ‘Brahman is not ing the excellent ones.’19 Brahman is not to be
seen by the eyes, but sees through the eyes’. reached, Brahman is to be revealed; Brahman is
Somehow a creepy notion has crept into the not to be attained, Brahman is to be expressed;
Vedanta circles that Brahman, the ultimate goal Brahman is not at the end, brahman is at the
of human life, can be reached only after mil- very beginning. Brahman is not in the caves of
lions of life cycles of exclusive practices, and mountains; Brahman is in the caves of our hearts,
once reached the story ends there. Backward-to- ‘Yo veda nihitam guhayam; one who knows that
Brahman practices not only entrench old habits Brahman exists in the cave of the heart.’20
and distort Brahman revelation, but also gen- The jivanmukta experiences Brahman in all
erate severe forms of delusionary neuroses and interactions. Her or his political, economic,
psychoses. Instead of enjoying self-expression, social, artistic, and cultural activities are ex-
such practices end up in self-delusion, suffering, pressions of the infinite bliss of Brahman. Yajna-
greed, and exploitation. Forward-with-Brahman valkya was a twice-married householder. Janaka
proactive projects begin with the ontological was a king. Vyadha was a meat seller. Ashtavakra
commitment, shraddha, drawn from the scrip- was a hunchback mendicant. Pingala was a cour-
tural teaching about the identity of Brahman tesan. But all of them were enlightened masters.
with jiva, jiva brahma aikyam. Vyasa fathered children in his step sisters-in-law,
Taking the attitude that ignorance, desire, ac- Acharya Shankara was a lifelong celibate, and
tion, and attachment as structures to reflect and Buddha deserted his wife and infant son. All the
progressively realise Brahman, the individual in- three were great religious teachers and social or-
tegrates the world into her or his self- experience. ganisers. Spiritual enlightenment and freedom is
Like a maestro musician integrates musical in- not from the world, but in the world. Brahman
strument to her or his self and expresses herself is in the manifested world, and at the same time
or himself through the instrument as lilting mel- beyond it. The jivanmukta lives happily in the
lifluous music. Again the musician as a novice world and not for happiness. The Gita uses the
used the same instrument to develop her or his word sthitaprajna to indicate the ‘happy-in-the-
skills in music. While ascending to self-discovery world-person’ in contrast to ‘for-happiness-in-
and descending to self-expression, the musician the world-person’.
uses the same facility. There are four problematics that have been
Similarly, instead of fearing and shunning the points of dogged arguments in the Advaita cir-
world and looking for an elusive Brahman, in cles. These arguments help fine tune the experi-
the caves of mountains, at the end of the rain- ence of Brahman.
bow, as Hindus have been pitiably doing for so 1. The locus of ignorance, avidya;
long, putting it metaphorically, tying the horse 2. the status of the world, loka;
of Brahman behind the cart of daily living, and 3. the efficacy of knowledge, jnana; and,
in the process missing the joy of a happy ride and 4. the importance of preceptor, guru.
come to live a stagnant, retarded life, the Advaita In the hide and seek play of Brahman, intellect
clarion call is, ‘Rise up, wake up, look in and out, and ignorance play important roles. Ignorance
think, act, interact, reveal, and realise your innate is ignoring the subject, self, and focusing on the
PB January 2020 249

object, world. ‘Sva-svami-shaktyoh svarupopal- there is empirically present in the public space,
abdhi hetu sambandha’, that is, Brahman hiding, for anyone with a healthy pair of eyes to see and
sambandha in embrace with its manifestation relate. Hence the tree out there is not an indi-
inwardly explored deeply and reveals itself anew. vidual’s subjective, idiosyncratic creation, esse
Intellect is the seat of ignorance. That pos- est percipi, drishti srishti, but the presentation
ition raises a red flag in the logician’s mind. How of an objectively existing tree, srishti drishti, in-
can intellect, a manifestation of Brahman, house terpreted by the mind for private consumption.
ignorance that causes the manifestation in the If the world is unreal, its source Brahman also
first place. Therefore, they argue that ignorance’s becomes unreal, which leads to nihilism, which
right location is Brahman itself. But the hitch is against the spirit of humanity and disgustingly
is that Brahman cannot be ignorant. How can tasteless, anishtam, undesirable. In the Advaita
there be a dark patch in the sun, asks Advaita structuring of reality Brahman, consciousness, is
metaphorically. Ignorance is the extroverted, absolute paramarthika, and the objective world
world-focussed mode of intellect and knowledge is a web of relations, vyavaharika, and subjective
is contemplative, intuitive mode of intellect that interpretations are unique neurological events,
realises the world as manifestation of Brahman. pratibhasika. Metaphorically, they can be com-
Hence, ignorance is only an unreflective pared to gold ring and wedding ring. The value
mode of intellect that is corrected by a reflective of wedding ring is imposed on the ring and the
mode, created by listening to Advaita scriptures value of ring is imposed on gold and in fact gold
that reveal Brahman. The enquiry into ignor- alone is true. The paramarthika is the substratum
ance liquidates ignorance, along with the very of the vyavaharika, which in turn is the ground
question and the ignorant questioner. The ques- of pratibhasika.
tion dissolves without an answer. And Brah- The bitterest arguments are reserved for self-
man reveals to the questioner as the blissful self. knowledge and its efficacy. According to some
Some scholars take the position that Brahman Vedanta scholars, just self-knowledge is not
being the substratum of intellect, that modifies enough. You have to sweat the small stuff, make
as ignorance, has ignorance but is not ignorant strenuous effort to realise the object of know-
following the logic that the possessor is not the ledge. Just as the knowledge of sugar doesn’t
possessed. Ignorance means room for growth sweeten your tea, knowledge of Brahman doesn’t
and self-expression. mean a bit unless the knower makes further ef-
The status of the world is another problem- forts to get Brahman. This argument is true in
atic in Advaita. Is the world real or unreal? If the case of rituals or in the acquisition of powers
the world is real, it won’t change and if unreal, it or objects where the subject identifies with one
won’t be experienced. One branch of the Bud- of the limbs of a tripartite relationship of karta,
dhists and some Vedantists, along with sub- kriya, karma or the doer, the action, and the re-
jective idealists like Bishop Berkeley, argue that sult. In the tripartite state of awareness, there is
the world is unreal and is just a construct of the ignorance of Brahman and the alienated Brah-
mind. Perception is just a representation, an in- man becomes the object of search, to be known,
terpretation, and not a presentation. Advaita sought after, and finally conquered, and added
doesn’t hold this view that world is the creation to the self. The unconscious, uninformed search
of the individual mind. The tree that I see out for Brahman becomes the fruitless exertions of
250 PB January 2020

rituals, sex, industry, politics, sports, and en- can come up with claims of self-realisation. And
tertainments. Brahman is mistaken for heaven, there would be no standard test or verification.
pleasure, money, power, glory, and leisure. Those Self-realisation becomes a cacophonous bazar of
possessions have value in the context of Brah- spurious spiritual stuff and outrageous personal
man, worthless devoid of self-awareness and claims. No doubt self-realisation is a unique
Brahman knowledge. flowering of the individual, svadharma, but it
Advaita presents Brahman as an accom- happens only in an interactive and intellectually
plished, siddha, reality, non-separate, ananya, challenging environment, lokasamgraha, and by
from the seeker, ignored but not lost. Hence, (i) an insightful abiding, vritti jnana, in Brahman.
the knowledge of Brahman is immediate, aparok- This requires a conjoined exercise of the intel-
sha; and (ii) ‘Brahmaveda brahmaiva; knowing is lect, emotions, body, neighbourhood, and na-
being.’21 Knowing the pen in the pocket is end- ture, to untangle the mind and unleash the bliss
ing the search and gain of the pen. Self-knowl- and power of Brahman.
edge breaks out of the stranglehold of tripartite The guru is the living face of the collective
linearity. Intellect becomes a silent witness as the wisdom of the entire race. The individual mind
knower consciousness, known consciousness, has to find its roots in collective wisdom to grow
and the knowing consciousness are realised as a and flower. Epistemologically, it is the words of
seamless flow of pure blissful consciousness. The the guru that cause the neural change and the
dichotomy of knowledge and praxis is operative resultant cognitive shift. Solutions are always
only in the exclusive objective realm and not in outside the problems. To exit a problem is to
the inclusive subjective realm. reorganise the problem. The guru and seeker in
Modern Vedantins are guru averse. They dis- their dynamic relationship form a spiritual duet
like submitting and exposing themselves. They and through a process of mutual interrogation,
are also suspicious of scriptures and intellectual guided by the scriptures, initiate relevant cog-
disquisitions and linguistic exercises. They don’t nitive processes, akhandakara vritti, that opens
mind physical exercises like yoga, mountaineer- the heart, buddhi, to the revelation of Brahman.
ing, and surfing. Modern intellectuals are tired Without this interrogative process, what the
of their intellect and go for unaided explorations protagonist seeker achieves will be the stale ar-
for the so-called intuition. Intuition is the new tefacts spewed out by a private, undernourished,
avatara of good old revelation and divine bless- delusory, and megalomaniac mind. Enlighten-
ing. The ubiquitous example quoted for ‘guru- ment requires rigorous quality check.
less enlightenment’ is Ramana Maharshi. The One of the charges against Advaita is other-
entire spiritual literature of the world, time and worldliness. Advocacy of values such as viveka,
again, insists on the importance of guru in self- discernment; vairagya, detachment; brahma-
realisation, but to suit the convenience of the charya, celibacy; sannyasa, renunciation; ahimsa,
moderns, one lone example is overemphasised, non-violence; and the espousal of a quality-less,
superseding all other testimonies. characterless, faceless, desireless, and action-less
Such a standalone example cannot be ac- Brahman has contributed to this popular notion
cepted as a reliable standard. The danger of wait- about Advaita. The fact is that those terms are
ing for and depending on the manna of spiritual used to describe the indescribable profundity
intuition is that any crazy neurotic or psychotic and affluence of Brahman.
PB January 2020 251

Viveka means measure, judgement, and aes- engaging in karma playfully. Rebirth is the con-
thetic sensitivity. Vairagya is a multi-perspec- stant creation of self, the body-mind-memory-
tive gaze. Brahmacharya is passionate, focussed ego complex, in engagement with a dynamically
pursuit of excellence. Sannyasa is connectivity changing phenomenal world. Advaita liberates
and inclusiveness. Ahimsa is co-existence with the individual from identification with karma
dissent and differences. Desirelessness is self- and the effects of karma. The jivanmukta plays
givingn-ess. Actionless-ness is enjoying action with karma, becomes a master of gunas, combin-
and unfolding through choices. The Brahman ing and recombining these energies at will.
of Advaita is space-like inclusive consciousness. Advaita does advocate the idea of incarnation
Brahman is not opposed to, but appears as the as emergency Brahman manifestation in time-
world. Being Brahman is doing Brahman. My space to replenish and revive the creation, to put
self-realisation is entwined with other’s self-real- the train of phenomena back on the rails, to re-
isation. Values and practices are double edged— store the balance between antithetical forces.
they can enhance as well as inhibit. With a In fact, Brahman incarnates as the creation and
backward-to-Brahman mindset these values be- every individual phenomenon in it. Incarnation
come inhibitive, but reinforced by forward-with- is also understood as timely help delivered to a
Brahman attitude they become exhibitive and helpless creature. Swami Vivekananda explains
facilitative. Only a knower of Brahman can ef- incarnation as the response of Brahman to the
fectively and joyfully function in this world, en- helpless cry of humanity for direction and solace.
gaging in self-giving, altruistic, teamwork. They Incarnations are many according to the Bhaga-
are risk-takers, leaders, and path-makers. Advaita vata, taking the idea beyond the ten Vaishnava
paves the way for real, sustainable, green enjoy- incarnations. A fresh idea, a new solution, a dis-
ment, and wellbeing of all, sarvodaya. covery, a bouquet of flowers in a cold, cloudy
There are three areas that orthodoxy doesn’t day, a word of comfort for the sick—all these
feel comfortable with Advaita. They are related can be considered incarnations. Jesus was an in-
to the belief in divine incarnation, image wor- carnation, so was Judas, so was Peter, Moham-
ship, and karma and rebirth. Though all the four med, Moses, so too is the Sinai Mountain and
dharma traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jain- the Burning bush.
ism, and Sikhism, hold these beliefs in differ- Advaita advocates image worship as an ef-
ently nuanced forms, the Advaita take on them fective mode of expanding awareness from the
is fundamentally different. The goal of all dhar- particular, vishesha, to the general avishesha, and
mic traditions is freedom from the cycle of birth to the subtle, linga, and then to the all- inclu-
and death, from the causative flow of karma and sive transcendent Brahman. Images are visual de-
the effects of karma. The incarnations, gurus, bo- scriptions of Brahman. Shiva dancing is a circle
dhisattvas and arhats help seekers in this process. of fire, Vishnu reclining on the serpent bed, Sri
For the Buddhist, the centre of the karmic whirl Krishna playing on flute amidst gopis in Vrin-
is empty. For the Jain, the Sikh, and most Hindus, davan, Durga astride a lion slaying the buffalo
at the centre it is a solid monad. For Advaita, the demon, Hanuman flying with the mountain
karma swirl is like clouds in the sky or waves in peak, Ganesha riding the mouse, Jesus on the
the ocean. And the centre is oceanic. Freedom in cross, the black stone of Kaaba—all these are vis-
Advaita is not by the cessation of karma but by ual images describing the all-inclusive Brahman.
252 PB January 2020

Jesus on the cross is incarnate Brahman, and human body, the sanctum is the mind, the idol
the resurrected Christ transcendent Brahman. is the self, and the ideal is Brahman.
As the meditation deepens the interpretation Acharya Shankara’s pluralism project, that
changes and experience envelops larger spheres. is, Advaita, which has been successfully imple-
The vishvarupa, cosmic form, of the Gita depicts mented in India, can now be taken to the world
the highest form of image worship. Experiencing at large to integrate all traditions under one um-
everything as a connected network, seeing noth- brella, which is the true meaning of religion and
ing redundant, respecting even a blade of grass, dharma—deepening and binding together.
flowing with the ebb and tide of events, is visvha- Has the Advaita vision of ‘inclusive oneness’
rupa darshana, the vision of the cosmic form. This caused the downfall of Hinduism and India? Has
state of mind can be equated with the Buddhist Advaita outlived its value? Or is it that Advaita
shunyata and equanimity. Seeing all contradic- may be effective within dharmic traditions, but
tions and paradoxes in one canvas is emptiness— devoid of the intellectual and emotional tools,
into that emptiness flows the bliss of Brahman. historically honed strategies, and community
Acharya Shankara cleans up the mess of will, Advaita is pathetically impotent in dealing
Hindu altar by prescribing six deities, shanmata, with exclusivist and aggressive, proselytising and
for daily worship and contemplation. They are: predatory religious movements? Especially with
Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu, Kartikeya, Ganesha, and Semitic traditions like Islam and Christianity
Surya. The living tradition of Advaita would whose marching slogan is ‘faith, faith, more faith,
add Christian God, Jewish Yahweh, and Islamic and unquestioned faith’. The total abandonment
Allah into the pantheon of sacred deities. Jesus, of reason, ‘dehellenization of Christianity’, as
Moses, and Muhammad would be accepted as Pope Emeritus Benedict xiv put it,22 by the vir-
gurus on a par with Vyasa, Acharya Shankara, Sri ulent followers and foot soldiers of these two
Krishna and Sri Ramachandra. The seeker can religions have not only caused untold misery to
choose to worship all of them or any one of them humankind—crusades, thirty years’ war, inqui-
or any combination of them. Acharya Shankara sitions, witch burnings, genocides, terrorism,
himself had composed hymns of invocation and veils, fatwas, forced conversions, colonisation,
designed methods of worship for these deities. and so on—but also has shaken and fractured
These Hindu deities are not just images. They the world views and convictions of dharma com-
are visual descriptions given by devotees who had munities and traditions. Hindu thinkers are in-
spent years steeped in scriptures, engaged in dis- creasingly calling into question the very morality
cussions with scholars, lent loving service to the of an asymmetrical engagement and the survival
community, travelled the length and breadth of value of Advaita inclusiveness.
the land, deepened their sensitivities in medita- No doubt the world has moved away from the
tion, and then crystallised and expressed their ex- tooth and claw, a tooth for a tooth law of the jun-
periences in the most sublime language. Images gle. In the twenty-first century, of a networked,
are far superior to verbal descriptions and ritual- connected and globalised planet of seven billion
istic worship is much deeper and integrative than people, the whole world has become one neigh-
precepts and preaching. A temple of worship bourhood and one family, vasudhaiva kutum-
is much more vivid than a book of knowledge. bakam.23 Though the world has not gotten rid of
However, in Advaita, the ultimate temple is the their racial, religious, linguistic, ethnic, and class
PB January 2020 253

differences and disputes, the awareness of shared overcoming evil without getting infected by the
destiny and collective responsibility is slowly im- easy dubious ways of the antagonist. A victory
buing the text of human discourses. A strong feel- sacrificing principles, dharma, is worse than de-
ing is emerging that the planet and its resources, feat and will be unsustainable, adharma. Advaita
human history and its accomplishments—reli- has sufficient spiritual depth, intellectual clarity,
gious, cultural, scientific, and technological— emotional purity, ethical objectivity, interpretive
belong to all of humanity and that war, and its skills, and strategic span to engage exclusivist and
aftermath, a nuclear Armageddon, is no option expansionist, selfish and virulent non-verifiable
for settling disputes, and that now is the time for truth claims. Rationality and scientific think-
a new religiosity, a new spirituality, a new phil- ing would be effective tools in this dialogue, ap-
osophy, that captures the heartbeat of the age, that pealing to the common issues facing humanity
speaks the language of reconciliation, discussion, would be another, but the most effective would
negotiation, win-win solutions, and the rest of it. be patient silent work and exemplary living.
If two-thirds of the world comprises nor- The asymmetry of an inclusive vision like
mative believers of different formal religions, Advaita interacting with an exclusive tradition
one-third is made up of non-believers—atheists, like Christianity would look absurd, comical, and
agnostics, doubters, sceptics, secularists, commu- often suicidal. With one of the combatant’s hand
nists, evolutionary biologists, cognitive scien- tied behind and the other free and fully armed.
tists, and other neutral people. Even among the The Advaita position could be:
believers one-third is indifferent to dogmas and 1. Exclusivists hold certain truth claims for
rituals. There are a large number of people who the defence of which they are willing to kill and
shop for spirituality and choose to make their be killed and for the realisation of which they are
own cocktail of beliefs and practices. ready to subject themselves to severe discipline
Orthodoxy’s lock on the Koran, the Gita, the and make personal sacrifices.
Bible, and other scriptures are loosening as the 2. Inclusivists hold certain other truth claims
bandwidth of the access to information is wid- to defend which they are willing to sacrifice their
ening. The dharmic traditions and Advaita are lives and to validate which they are ready to en-
making slow but steady inroads into the hearths gage in rational and non-violent arguments and
and habitats, boardrooms and drawing rooms, follow a regime of personal disciplines.
and sanctuaries and study centres of the world. 3. Inclusivists base their defence arguments on
The inclusive transcendence of Advaita, a meta- collective human wisdom, shruti, reason, yukti,
space for competing world views and truth and experience born of practice, anubhava.
claims to cohabit, alone can make meaning out 4. Whereas, exclusivists base their defence
of this incredibly chaotic diversity and offer a arguments purely on faith and a particular text.
nonviolent framework for conversations and ne- These are the two basic orientations of the
gotiations for positive sum solutions. Advaita is human psyche, exclusive and inclusive, in-group
the only candidate for the religious stewardship and out-group, us and they, I and thou, and faith
of the world—to deepen in awareness and bind and reason. And individuals and communities
in love this tiny living planet, precariously poised go through this pendulum swing, between faith
on the edge of abyss. and reason, often frighteningly schizophrenic, to
Morality is the steadfastness of good in find their equilibrium states. Both communities,
254 PB January 2020

the faithfuls and the rationalists, have produced flourish and wellbeing. The faith-based claims
extraordinary human beings—brave, compas- represent the right side of the brain and a per-
sionate, skilful and creative. To cite a few: Al- son’s need for certainty and freedom from anxi-
bert Schweitzer and Mahatma Gandhi, Albert ety. Reason-based claims represent the left side of
Einstein and Bertrand Russell. the brain and a person’s ability to think logically,
Humanism, an ethical system based on col- see both sides of the coin, doubt a proposition,
lective human experiences and secularism, a and last but not the least, one’s need for self-pos-
political order based on human reason, both session and freedom from dogma .
outcomes of the enlightenment project, aimed Between these two poles hangs human des-
at the worldly good of human beings, along with tiny. And the future of India and Hinduism
pluralism or multiculturalism and environmen- could not be any different. P
talism, come close to the Advaita vision of one-
ness. They represent the modern interpretation References
of dharma. Brahman manifests in time-space as 1. Acharya Shankara, Brahma-jnanavali-mala, 20.
dharma. The modern Indian state should adopt 2. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7.
3. Aitareya Upanishad, 3.1.3.
this definition of dharma rather than the out- 4. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10.
moded varnashrama classification of people 5. Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2.
and professions based on the accident of birth. 6. Chhandogya Upanishad, 3.14.1.
Competitive worth and not predetermined 7. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1.
birth should be the criterion for organising so- 8. Chhandogya Upanishad, 6.1.4.
9. Brahma Sutra, 1.1.1.
ciety. Hinduism, being a moksha shastra, should 10. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1.
break out of the narrow geographical confines 11. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.2.9.
and spread its wings to span the whole world. 12. Aitareya Upanishad, 3.1.3.
The new mantra should be: ‘Secularise the In- 13. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1.
14. See Acharya Shankara’s introduction to his
dian state and globalise Hindu Dharma.’
commentary on the Brahma Sutra: ‘Satyanrite
The monolithic Christianity and Islam will mithunikritya.’
be cannibalised by decentralised smaller faith 15. See Gita, 4.18.
groups. Advaita visualises a diffused power struc- 16. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.6.1.
ture with decision making-centres everywhere. 17. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 5.1.1.
As V S Naipaul put it in the Indian context, a 19. Katha Upanishad, 1.3.14.
space for ‘million mutinies’.24 A postmodernist, 20. Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1.
post-secular, post-hegemonic world is the world 21. Mundaka Upanishad, 3.2.9.
of Advaita—a world where all are engaged in 22. Pope Emeritus Benedict xvi, ‘Faith, Reason
and the University: Memories and Reflections’,
friendly rivalry. ‘Tairayam na virudhyate; this
The Holy See <http://www.vatican.va/content/
[Advaita] view has no conflict with them.’25 benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/
Advaita creatively engages with all truth claims documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_univer-
and world narratives, declared Acharya Gauda- sity-regensburg.html> accessed 29 November
pada, the grand guru of Acharya Shankara. 2019.
23. Maha Upanishad, 6.71.
To conclude, Advaita doesn’t consider ex- 24. See V S Naipaul, India: A Million Mutinies Now
clusive truth claims an aberration or threat to (Delhi: Rupa, 1990).
human survival or a hindrance to individual 25. Acharya Gaudapada, Mandukya Karika, 3.17.
PB January 2020 255

266
The Flawed Dichotomy of Durga-

Mahishasura: An Advaitic Postscript
Deepshikha Shahi
S wami Vivekananda said: ‘Even if our

every attempt is a failure, and we bleed and
are torn asunder, yet, through all this, we
have to preserve our heart—we must assert our
Godhead in the midst of all these difficulties.’1
and condemning this divisive political discourse:
the same scriptures are eulogised by those who
morally justify this discourse and doomed by
those who ethically condemn it. Alternatively,
this article proposes that a discursive cycle based
In contemporary Indian political discourse, the on eulogising or dooming of scriptures is likely
mythological dichotomy of Durga-Mahishas- to ‘sustain’ rather than dilute political polarities.
ura has been misleadingly enacted for fanning In fact, the ability of this divisive political dis-
various fiery polarities: nationalist or anti-na- course to practically deepen polarities is stra-
tionalist, rightist or leftist, brahmana or Dalit, tegically rooted in a flawed exposition of ancient
and goddess or sex-worker. Indian scriptures.
While this divisive political discourse carves This article, therefore, sets out to systematic-
the imagery of goddess Durga as Bharata Mata ally explain the philosophical distortions inher-
to epitomise a specific kind of nationalism pro- ent in the dichotomous representation of Durga
moted by those Indian rightists who glorify di- and Mahishasura. In order to do this, the art-
vine femininity supported by a brahmanical icle awakens the ancient Indian philosophy of
mindset, it inadvertently stimulates an antag- Advaita, literally meaning non-dual, as an ex-
onistic allegory of Mahishasura, a mythical planatory framework. Since Advaita has been
demon slayed by goddess Durga and also cus- widely recognised as the philosophical base of
tomarily idol-worshipped by a few Dalit and Durga-Mahishasura episode of the Markandeya
tribal communities in different corners of India, Purana, and as Advaita ties the diverse polar-
to portray the so-called ‘anti-nationalists’ who ities of phenomenal reality together with a world
either refute the rightist vision of nationalism, marked with a single hidden connectedness or
including Indian leftists, or reject the depiction Brahman, it can offer a tactically apt vantage
of sex-workers as demonised femininity, includ- point for critically appraising the hazards of this
ing several feminists. discordant political discourse.
A further complication arises when the nor- This article is divided into three sections.
mative authority of the same ancient Indian The first section explicates the discursive jour-
scriptures is speciously evoked for both justifying ney of the Durga-Mahishasura dichotomy from
ancient Indian scriptures to contemporary par-
Deepshikha Shahi is assistant professor of Political liamentary debates. The second section begins
Science at the University of Delhi, India. with foregrounding Advaita as the philosophical
256 PB January 2020

The Flawed Dichotomy of Durga-Mahishasura: An Advaitic Postscript 267
base of the Markandeya Purana, the ancient In-

dian scripture which contains the Durga-Ma-
hishasura episode. It then sets out to explain how
the divisive political discourse, which is strictly
based on the mythological reading of Durga-
Mahishasura dichotomy and is ignorant of its
Advaitic philosophical base, misapprehends
ideological, gender, and caste identities by ri-
gidifying their otherwise fluid forms. Finally, the
third section mobilises the Advaitic philosoph-
ical base of Durga-Mahishasura dichotomy to re-
interpret the political problems emanating from
divided identities. This article concludes that the
idea of transcending identities, that underpins
the philosophy of Advaita, is a strategically ef-
fective presumption to overcome the dangers of
a divisive political discourse.
Durga as the Slayer of Mahishasura:

The Discursive Journey from
Scriptures to Parliament
According to the ancient Indian scripture Mar-
kandeya Purana, a demon called Mahishasura
was born out of the union of Rambha, the king
Durga Killing Mahishasura
of demons or asuras and a she-buffalo, Mahishi.
Mahishasura, who was half man and half buf- creation, preservation, and destruction char-
falo, earned a boon from Lord Shiva—it is Lord acterising godhood, blazed forth all unalloyed
Brahma or the God Agni in some versions— power, tejas, which concentrated at one point to
after a prolonged penance. According to this form Goddess Durga. Durga, as the culmination
boon, Mahishasura could be slayed by nobody of all divine energies, undertook the appearance
but a woman. Mahishasura was very pleased of a woman who possessed the ultimate power
with this boon as he anticipated a woman to be to fight and defeat Mahishasura.2
too fragile to defeat his mighty self. The arro- Durga waged a valiant battle against Ma-
gant Mahishasura hurled a reign of terror over hishasura who fleetingly assumed the form of
the universe and wreaked havoc in the abode of a buffalo, a lion, a man carrying sword, an ele-
gods, the divine beings, devas, or suras. phant, and lastly a buffalo again. This battle—
After their humiliation at the hands of Ma- discussed in great detail in the third chapter of
hishasura, the gods took refuge under Lord Devi Mahatmya or Durga Saptashati, a scrip-
Brahma, who then took them to Lord Vishnu ture composed by sage Markandeya around
and Lord Shiva. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, 250 CE, which comprises seven hundred verses
the trinity embracing the combined energy of spread across thirteen chapters in praise of
PB January 2020 257

Durga—raged for thousands of years. Finally, have remained an integral part of the Indian na-
Durga pinned down Mahishasura and chopped tional life, the rightist parliamentary debates
off his head. The gods, rid of the demon, show- around the dichotomous representation of
ered Durga—the slayer of Mahishasura, Mahi- Durga-Mahishasura disparagingly branded the
shasura-mardini—with immense applauses and worshippers of Durga as ‘nationalist’ and the
prayed for her return every time they needed her. critics of Durga, read the worshippers of Ma-
Durga disappeared with an assurance to reap- hishasura, as ‘anti-nationalist’.5 These debates
pear when called with devotion. also revolved around an erroneous reference
In fact, Devi Mahatmya is considered a later to Durga as a ‘sex worker’,6 thereby mistakably
interpolation to the larger scripture, the Mar- counteposing the nationalistic credentials of the
kandeya Purana. According to C D Collins, sympathisers of divine-femininity, as embodied
Devi Mahatmya was interposed in 550 CE into by Durga, and demonised femininity, as exem-
the Markandeya Purana, which originally came plified by sex-workers.
into existence in 250 CE.3 The Devi Mahatmya Though the leftist political opposition to the
was translated by Indologists into English in controversial rightist debates in parliament was
1823, followed by an analysis with excerpts in guided by the goal of defending a broader all-
French in 1824. It was translated into Latin in encompassing notion of nationalism, the very
1831 and Greek in 1853.4 entry of the Durga-Mahishasura controversy in
From a historical-sociological perspective, the parliamentary debates parenthetically triggered
ritual chanting of the verses or slokas of the Devi various political polarities, namely, rightist-left-
Mahatmya during the annually celebrated fes- ist, brahmana-Dalit, and goddess-sex-worker.
tival of Navaratri, nine nights dedicated to the While these political polarities rigidify specific
worship of the nine forms of Durga, has kept this identities—by setting the particular identities
scripture alive in the Indian socio-cultural mi- of rightists, brahmanas, and divine femininities
lieu. However, this scripture remains denounced as polar opposite to that of leftists, Dalits, and
by a few Dalit and tribal communities who cast demonised femininities—they tend to ignore
off the intellectual legacy of Devi Mahatmya as a a pertinent question. Is this polar portrayal of
‘brahmanical conspiracy’ to lock up Dalit minds political identities, based on the mythological
in a ‘caste prison’. reading of Durga-Mahishasura episode, philo-
As a reaction against this brahmanical con- sophically sustainable? The next section intends
spiracy, the Dalit reinterpretation of the Durga- to investigate this unexplored question.
Mahishasura tussle endeavours to establish the
demons such as Mahishasura as those honoured Durga-Mahishasura Dichotomy:
ancestors of Dalits who fought against the brah- A Philosophical Battle of Identities?
manical onslaughts. Those who claim ancestry Is the dichotomous representation of the re-
from Mahishasura, for instance, the Asur tribe spective identities of Durga and Mahishasura
of Jharkhand and the Santhals of Bengal, do not supported by the philosophical tenets of its con-
annually celebrate but mourn the slaying of Ma- taining scripture Devi Mahatmya or Markan-
hishasura by Durga. deya Purana? In order to appropriately answer
While both the traditions of celebrating and this central question, one needs to investigate
mourning the killing of Mahishasura by Durga the following related questions. What is the
258 PB January 2020

philosophy of the Devi Mahatmya, as mentioned line of his commentary on Devi Mahatmya as in-
in the Markandeya Purana? Is the Markandeya corporated in Markandeya Purana.9
Purana, as the containing scripture of the Devi Sita Anantha Raman explains how Saundarya
Mahatmya, related to the philosophy of pre- and Lahiri, a Sanskrit hymn developed as a medita-
post-Acharya Shankara Advaita? How should tive tool by Acharya Shankara, was expanded
one philosophically comprehend the identities by later monks to meditate between Advaita in-
of Durga and Mahishasura? tellectuals and lay tantric devotees of Durga.10
Antonio Rigopoulos establishes Markandeya
The Philosophy of Markandeya Purana: Purana as a scripture advocating a specific pro-
Foregrounding Advaita cess of knowledge acquisition, jnana yoga, which
While the dichotomous demonstration of is essentially situated on the non-dual frame-
Durga and Mahishasura solely borrows from work of Advaita,11 whereas Tracy Pintchman
the mythological content of the Markandeya explicitly asserts the birth of Goddess Durga in
Purana, it totally ignores the philosophical Devi Mahatmya as ‘Advaitic’.12
undercurrent of this scripture. Nevertheless, the
mythological content of a scripture cannot make Pre- and Post-Shankara Advaita:
complete sense in disjunction with its philo- The Identity of the Self
sophical covering. Drawing attention toward If the birth of Goddess Durga in Devi Mahat-
the critical importance of decoding the philo- mya is Advaitic, then what are the philosophical
sophical outlook of mythology, Kathryn A Mor- propositions of Advaita? John Grimes explains
gan observes: ‘[The] non-philosophical myth is that the philosophy of Advaita is divided into
a story about truth that is often pernicious and different positions by many scholars—pre-Shan-
misleading. The myth they incorporate serves kara, Shankara, and post-Shankara.13 However,
their own ends. These ends are: the reformula- the subtle differences in these positions—which
tion of people’s ideas about literary and cultural might have arisen in the course of the clarifica-
authority, [and] the problematisation of the dif- tion of a particular point of view, in the elucida-
ferent modes of linguistic representation.’7 tion of an issue, in the process of responding to
It is therefore essential to unearth the philo- an objection, and so on—are only exegetical and
sophical underpinning of the Markandeya not doctrinal. Thus, such differences are not irre-
Purana to prevent the possibility of its perni- concilable within the framework of Advaita, nor
cious and misleading interpretations, which in do they make different positions of Advaita—
turn might manipulate people’s ideas for serving pre-Shankara, Shankara and post-Shankara—a
vested political interests. So, what is the phil- house divided against itself. These differences are
osophy of the Markandeya Purana? The philo- essentially similar in terms of the common goal
sophical geneses of the Markandeya Purana have of realising one’s inward self.
been traced in Advaita.8 As such, Advaita is in- The philosophy of Advaita, which is directed
ternal to Markandeya Purana. While M T Sa- towards the goal of realising one’s inward self,
hasrabudhe classifies Makarandeya Purana as presents a threefold classification of the ‘self ’ that
one of the significant heralds in the philosoph- depends on three construals of consciousness: (i)
ical heirloom of pre-Shankara Advaita, Eliot Jiva, the individuated self, which has its own par-
Deutsch pays homage to Shankara in the second ameters of reflexive occurrence, given by the body
PB January 2020 259

and its apparatus; (ii) Atman, the auto-reflex- plausible to rigidly postulate Durga and Ma-
ive self, whose auto-reflexivity is occurrent; and hishasura as two dichotomous identities?
(iii) Brahman, the all-encompassing self, which is
typically reflexive and constitutes the non-dual, Durga and Mahishasura: The Perrenial
irreducible, and universal consciousness. Bearers of Multiple Fluid Self-Identities
The Advaitic outlook of the Markandeya How should one comprehend the identities of
Purana articulates the process of knowledge- Durga and Mahishasura? In this context, it is
acquisition, jnana yoga, as advancement from crucial to bear in mind that the mythological
highly individuated personal and subjective narratives spread across the thirteen chapters
states of consciousness, to general features across of Devi Mahatmya in Markandeya Purana deal
subjects, to the non-dual universal conscious- with a complex tussle between various forms of
ness. As such, the individuated identities—com- divine and demonic forces as ultimately steered
prised of jiva, the bodily self and Atman, the by Durga and Mahishasura. While the divine
auto-reflexive self—constitute diverse external transiently attains the appearances of Chan-
expressions of Brahman, the all-encompassing dika, Ambika, Kaushiki, Parvati, Kalika, Kali,
self, possessing a single core identity. The gradual Maheshvari, Bhadrakali, and so on, the demon
realisation of this single core identity or Brah- ephemerally acquires the presences of Chanda,
man necessitates persistent disassociation from Munda, Shumbha, Nishumbha, Dhumralochan,
the specific identities of individuated selves.14 Chamunda, Raktabija, Madhu, Kaitabha, Chik-
As such Advaita, as the philosophical under- sura, and so on. What do these multiple mytho-
pinning of the Markandeya Purana, declares logical forms of divine and demonic forces
that the only identity that exists at the core of the indicate? And how should one perceive the na-
Being is Brahman: that is, a ‘single hidden con- ture of their mythological tussle?
nectedness’ beneath the experienced objective Commenting on the nature of mythology
and subjective diversities of identities across the in Devi Mahatmya, Satya Prakash Choudhary
world.15 This does not mean that the world, with explains:
its compatible or incompatible diverse selves,
Myth is a very effective ancient way of teach-
ceases to exist, but that the identities of these di-
ing. What cannot be conveyed through philo-
verse selves have a lower perceived level of ‘am- sophical discussions and logical debates can
biguous reality’, partial and distorted reality, that be transmitted more easily through myth and
exists with Brahman, the ultimate core reality, at metaphor. Sacred myth speaks to us in mul-
its root.16 tiple ways both rational and non-rational. Thus
Only a determined detachment from the at one level Devi mahatmyam [non-rationally]
separated identities of individuated selves could chronicles the battle between the Devi [divine]
possibly create room for the realisation of the and the asuras [demons]. At another level it
single hidden connected core identity or Brah- [rationally] deals with the battle of life. … deals
with the inner battle between the divine and
man. If the Advaitic philosophical base of the
the demoniac forces within the human psy-
Markandeya Purana advocates a steady detach- che, between the positive and negative [psy-
ment from separated identities of diverse selves chic impulses rooted in human nature]. The
for a subsequent realisation of a single hidden battlegrounds represent our own human con-
connected core identity, then how is it logically sciousness, and its events symbolize our own
260 PB January 2020

experiences. … clashes with the demons sym-

sexuality, Mahishasura represents the arrogance
bolize the outward and inward struggles we face
daily. The Devi [Durga], personified simultan- of ego, the narcissism of form, the separatism of
eously as the one supreme Goddess and also I against you, this opposed to that, the falsehood
the many goddesses, confronts the demons of of exclusivism.’19
ahamkara or ego (our mistaken notion of who Ramchandra Gandhi completes his narrative
we are or what we identify ourselves with), of ex- by arguing that Durga finally acquires a non-
cessive tamas and rajas,17 that in turn give birth dual identity, comparable to the Advaitic single
to other demons of excessive craving, greed, core identity, of ardhanarishvara, literally mean-
anger and pride, and of incessant citta vrttis
ing a non-dual composition of half woman and
(compulsive inner thought processes spring-
ing from past karmic residue). In the ultimate half man. As such, this non-dual identity of ar-
sense the dichotomy between the bad and the dhanarishvara implies a total dissolution of the
good is also a false one. There is no duality. Both apparently irreconcilable traits of masculine and
are part of single paradoxical reality [the Ad- feminine identities. In fact, the symbol of ard-
vaitic single core identity or Brahman]. The hanarishvara characterises the inseparability of
text [Devi Mahatmya] drives home this truth male and female principles, thereby advocating
so beautifully.18 a composite form that asserts the ‘unity of op-
If Durga and Mahishasura essentially uphold posites’, coniunctio oppositorum.20
fluid self-identities that express momentary psy- The ardhanarishvara, as a universal reality,
chological makeup of a certain level of human marks an integration of purusha, the male half,
consciousness and eventually get submerged with prakriti, the female half, wherein purusha
into the single core identity or Brahman, then denotes the male passive force of the universe,
is it rationally viable or ethically justifiable to while prakriti indicates the female active force
recall the Durga-Mahishasura dichotomy for of the universe, both the male and female forces
outlining mutually antagonistic political iden- are constantly drawn to embrace and merge with
tities? Clearly, the philosophical misreading of each other. In fact, the purusha-prakriti union,
the Durga-Mahishasura episode of the Markan- though separated by the intervening axis, gener-
deya Purana has inappropriately distorted this ates this universe. This idea is also manifested in
scripture to foster politically antagonistic align- the union of the linga of Shiva and the yoni of
ment of ideological, gender, and caste identities. Devi creating the cosmos.21
An Advaitic reinterpretation of the Durga-Ma- As such, ardhanarishvara signifies ‘totality
hishasura dichotomy in the following section that lies beyond duality’, ‘bi-unity of male and
opens up pathways for surpassing this problem- female’, and ‘the non-duality of the Being’,22
atic antagonistic alignment of identities. thereby fusing the dichotomies of universe:
male and female, aloof and active, fearsome
Advaita and the Transcending of and gentle, destructive and constructive, and
Identities: A Strategic Way Forward so on.23 This line of argumentation could be
The Advaitic reinterpretation of the Durga- further stretched to assert that the dissolution
Mahishasura dichotomy finds expression in the of dualism in ardhanarishvara makes it un-
writings of Ramchandra Gandhi, who com- necessary for diverse political identities to be
ments: ‘Who is Mahishasura? Instructively por- philosophically looking at each other as two or
trayed in sacred art in exaggerated contours of more oppositional entities. In fact, both Durga
PB January 2020 261

and Mahishasura philosophically uphold ever- understandable through qualified vijnana, are
transient identities, at the levels of origination capable of being diluted and unified, through
and appearance, which ultimately melt down unqualified vijnana. Both qualified vijnana, the
in oneness by dropping all mutually clashing method that facilitates knowledge of diverse di-
dualist attributes. chotomous selves and unqualified vijnana, the
However, the Advaitic philosophical pre- method that facilitates knowledge of single core
sumption of melting down of diverse identities self, are empirical.
in oneness must not be evoked as a political li- As such, the transcendence of identities in
cense to forcefully homogenise India’s cultural Advaita is claimed to be an experiential reality.
diversity in the name of nationalism. In fact, the In this context, it is significant to uphold that
whole rightist political agenda of establishing the even if the Indian political rightists, as believers
Advaitic philosopher Acharya Shankara as the of Hinduttva or Dalits, as critics of the brahma-
national philosopher, as well as the ideological nical mindset, personally refute the empirical
opposition of such an agenda compulsorily gen- reality of transcending dichotomous iden-
erate dangerously divisive political discourses.24 tities, the philosophy of Advaita at least gives
Though these divisive political discourses claim an alternative epistemological starting point
to be informed by the central tenets of Advaita, to constructively approach the issues of clash
they essentially thrive upon a thorough misread- between dichotomous selves. This alternative
ing of this philosophy. epistemological starting point can dismantle
As Advaita essentially advocates the accept- or at least disrupt the subterfuges, that is, ag-
ance of diversity in forms—in terms of multi- gressive political outcomes, emanating from the
plicity of religion-, caste-, and gender-based rigid dichotomous interpretations of Durga-
identities—in the phenomenal world, and makes Mahishasura dichotomy.
a philosophical appeal to develop an insight or The acknowledgement towards the reality
a consciousness to approach and then realise of multiplicity of identities in the phenom-
these diverse identities as multiple phenomenal enal world is echoed by Acharya Shankara who
manifestations of the single hidden connected states: ‘Prior to the realization of Brahma [sic] as
core reality, it cannot be meaningfully or con- the Self of all, all transactions (of the phenom-
vincingly (mis)appropriated either as a justifi- enal world) for the time being are real enough …
catory tool to threaten or homogenise diverse As long as the truth of the one-ness of the Self is
identities, or as a despicable instrument to con- not realized, the knowledge that all these [mul-
demn such threatening or homogenising polit- tiple] effects … the thing[s] to be known, are
ical tendencies. unreal, does not arise.’25 Deutsch pines that it is
The basic motive behind foregrounding the absolutely essential to strongly emphasize this
philosophy of Advaita, as lying underneath the Advaitic acceptance of the multiple experiences
Durga-Mahishasura dichotomy, is to primarily of phenomenal reality because the philosophy
suggest that the seemingly dichotomous iden- of Advaita has so often been misrepresented as
tities are capable of being transcended at the em- the one that simply condemns the world—with
pirical level. It has been established by a wide its multiplicity of experiences and identities—
range of Advaita scholars that the multipli- as unreal.26 So long as the oneness of multiple
city of dichotomous identities, as they become identities remains unrealised in the phenomenal
262 PB January 2020

world, the politicised attempts to homogenise bloody carnages that eventually get legitimised
identities in the name of nationalism are essen- in the name of gods or goddesses in the long-
tially contradictory to the philosophy of Advaita run, but also encourage an alternative theoretical
that underpins the Durga-Mahishasura episode move toward utilising conceptual categories like
of the Markandeya Purana. ardhanarishava for reconciling the habitual po-
larities that are deeply ingrained in present-day
Concluding Remarks political identities. P
The unbending, deterministic, and dogmatic
identification of Durga with right-wing na- Notes and References
tionalism or brahmanical divine femininities,27 1. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
9 vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989;
and a reactionary counter-identification of Ma- 9, 1997), 2.6.
hishasura with left-wing nationalism,28 or Dalit 2. Though various Vedic goddesses play central
nationalism,29 or demonised femininities30 are roles as demon slayers, no goddesses are cast
both rationally and ethically hollow! It is crucial in this function in Vedic literature. The name
of Durga is mentioned in Vedic literature, but
to acknowledge that the provocation of political
no goddesses resembling the warrior goddess
polarities via philosophically flawed discourses of later Hinduism are mentioned in these early
on the Durga-Mahishasura dichotomy rides on texts. It was only in the fourth century CE that
this rational and ethical hollowness. Against the image of Durga as a slayer of buffalo started
these intellectually irrational and politically becoming popular throughout India. For a crit-
ical analysis of the historical origins of Durga
hazardous discourses, a prudently premeditated as a warrior goddess, see David Kinsley, Hindu
endorsement of the Advaitic notion of tran- Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the
scending identities can potentially emerge as a Hindu Religious Tradition (Delhi: Motilal Ba-
strategic way forward.31 Indeed, ardhanarishvara narsidass, 1987), 95–105.
is a powerful symbol of formless nationalism, 3. For a chronological enlisting of numerous his-
torical inscriptions, translations, and editions of
which remains incuriously and therefore disturb- the Devi Mahatmya, see Ludo Rocher, A History
ingly contested by diverse ideological, gender, of Indian Literature: The Purāṇas (Wiesbaden:
caste, and religious identities in today’s India. Otto Harrassowitz, 1986), 193–7.
From a theoretical perspective, the ap- 4. See Thomas B Coburn, Devī Māhātmya: The
proaches to identities have got much to learn Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition (Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1988) and Thomas B Co-
from those political moments when the flawed burn, Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of
dichotomous awakening of mythological gods the Devī-Māhātmya and a Study of Its Interpret-
or goddesses is done for the strategic purpose of ation (New York: State University of New York,
gaining occasional support for vested interests. 1991).
5. See ‘Debate Rages over Durga, Mahishasura’,
As the flawed dichotomous awakening and op- The Hindu, 27 February 2016 <http://www.
positional interpretations of political identities thehindu.com/news/national/debate-rages-
via mythological episodes, typically involving over-durga mahishasura/article8286555.ece>
tussles between gods, goddesses, demons, and accessed 29 November 2019.
so on could serve the vested political interests 6. See Nivedita Menon, ‘Sex Workers De-
mand Azadi from “Goddess” Durga: Veshya
in the short-run, a systematic scholarly attempt Anyay Mutki Parishad, Muskan, and San-
to expose the philosophical deceits inherent in gram’, Kafila, 4 March 2016 <https://
such acts could not only assist in preventing the kafila.online/2016/03/04/sex-workers-de-
PB January 2020 263

mand-azadi-from-goddess-durga-veshya-an- Relations, 22/2 (June 2016), 313–34.

yay-mutki-parishad-muskan-and-sangram/> 16. See Richard Brooks, ‘The Meaning of “Real”
accessed 30 September 2019. in Advaita Vedānta’, Philosophy East and West,
7. Kathryn A Morgan, Myth and Philosophy from 19/4 (October 1969), 385–98.
the Presocratics to Plato (Cambridge: Cambridge 17. The Indian philosophy of Sankhya is founded
University, 2000), 1. on the theory of transformation of the unman-
8. See Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedanta: A Philo- ifest primal nature, prakriti, into the manifest
sophical Reconstruction (Honolulu: University phenomenal world. This is a transformation
of Hawaii, 1969); Seeking Mahādevī: Construct- from the most undifferentiated to the most dif-
ing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess, ferentiated state of existence; it may be called an
ed. Tracy Pintchman (New York: State Univer- evolutionary process. This process is made pos-
sity of New York, 2001); Sita Anantha Raman, sible by the three attributes or gunas of prakriti,
Women in India: A Social and Cultural His- namely sattva, being-ness; rajas, change; and
tory—Volume 1 (Oxford: Praeger, 2009); An- tamas, resistance. For an elaborate discus-
tonio Rigopoulos, Dattātreya: The Immortal sion on the three gunas, see K B Ramakrishna
Guru, Yogin, and Avatāra: A Study of the Trans- Rao, ‘The Guṇas of Prakṛti According to the
formative and Inclusive Character of a Multi- Sāṁkhya Philosophy’, Philosophy East and West,
faceted Hindu Deity (New York: State University 13/1 (April 1963), 61–71.
of New York, 1998); and M T Sahasrabudhe, 18. Dr Satya Prakash Choudhary, ‘The Glory of the
A Survey of the Pre-Sankara Advaita Vedanta Goddess-Devi Mahatmyam’, 4–5 <http://www.
(Poona: University of Poona, 1968). vedicastrologer.org/mantras/chandi/chandi_
9. See Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Recon- inner_meaning.pdf> accessed 30 November
struction, 128. For a detailed discussion on the 2019. Emphasis added.
specific contribution of Acharya Shankara to 19. Ramchandra Gandhi, ‘The Adoration of Form
Advaita philosophy, see T M P Mahadevan, and Formlessness’, India International Centre
Shankara (New Delhi: National Book Trust, Quarterly, 13/1 (March 1986), 130–8; 134.
1968); Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Re- 20. See Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Femi-
construction; and Karl H Potter, Encyclopedia nine in the Hindu Religious Tradition.
of Indian Philosophies, 25 vols (Delhi: Motilal 21. See Alain Daniélou, The Myths and Gods of
Banarsidass, 2019), Volume 3. For an under- India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism
standing of the history of Advaita in Indian (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 1985).
philosophy, see S Radhakrishnan, Indian Phil- 22. Randy P Conner, David Hatfield Sparks, and
osophy, 2 vols (New Delhi: Oxford University Mariya Sparks, ‘Ardhararishvara’, Cassell’s Ency-
Press, 1940) and Surendranath Dasgupta, A His- clopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit, (Lon-
tory of Indian Philosophy, 5 vols (Delhi: Motilal don: Cassell, 1997), 67.
Banarsidass, 1991). 23. In Indian history, the earliest ardhanarishvara
10. See Women in India: A Social and Cultural His- images belong to the Kushan period, start-
tory, 145. ing from the first century CE. Its iconography
11. See Dattātreya: The Immortal Guru. evolved and was perfected in the Gupta era,
12. Seeking Mahādevī, 9. beginning from 318–9 CE. The Puranas and
13. See John Grimes, Problems and Perspectives in various iconographic treatises mention the
Religious Discourse: Advaita Vedānta Implica- mythology and iconography of ardhanarish-
tions (New York: State University of New York, vara. Though ardhanarishvara is visible as a
1994). popular iconographic form in many Shiva tem-
14. See A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 3. ples throughout India, very few temples are
15. See Deepshikha Shahi and Gennaro Ascione, dedicated to the deity. As a philosophical con-
‘Rethinking the Absence of Post-Western Inter- cept, ardhanarishvara represents the synthesis
national Relations Theory in India: ‘Advaitic of masculine and feminine energies of the uni-
Monism’ as an Alternative Epistemological verse, namely purusha and prakriti. It illustrates
Resource’, European Journal of International how Shakti, the female principle of universe,
264 PB January 2020

is inseparable from, or the same as, according distinction in terms of two perspectives: ab-
to some interpretations, Shiva, the male prin- solute and relative, vidya and avidya or par-
ciple of universe. The union of these principles amarthika and vyavaharika, respectively. For
is exalted as the root and womb of all creation. Acharya Shankara, pluralism is only provisional
While Shiva’s, male, rosary in the ardhanar- and thus, it is not possible to say that Advaita
ishvara iconography aligns him with asceti- is a philosophy centred on these two seemingly
cism and spirituality, Shakti’s, female, mirror oppositional perspectives. For a detailed dis-
associates her to the material illusory world. cussion on the hierarchy of knowledge of mul-
(See Doris Meth, Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: tiple or dual and single experiences of reality in
Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in In- Advaita, see Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical
dian Art (Leiden: Brill, 1997)). As such, the ar- Reconstruction.
dhanarishvara iconography, as a combination of 27. See Anja Kovacs, ‘You Don’t Understand, We
Shiva and Shakti, conveys that Shiva and Shakti Are at War! Refashioning Durga in the Service
are seemingly distinct yet interdependent and of Hindu Nationalism’, Contemporary South
interconnected. This interpretation has also Asia, 13/4 (December 2004), 373–88 and San-
been reinforced by the inscriptions found along jay Basak, ‘bjp Will Try to Exploit Row over
with ardhanarishvara images in Java and the Durga in Bengal Polls’, Deccan Chronicle, 29
eastern Malay Archipelago. (See Encyclopaedia February 2016 <http://www.deccanchronicle.
of the Hindu World, ed. Ganga Ram Garg, 3 vols com/nation/current-affairs/290216/west-ben-
(New Delhi: Concept, 1992), Volume 3). The gal-bjp-to-use-nationalism.html> accessed 30
Vishnudharmottara Purana too emphasises the November 2019.
identity and sameness of the male purusha and 28. See Kundan Singh, ‘Opposing the Left is Not
female prakriti, manifested in the image of ar- “Right”-Part II: More to Mahishasura’, India-
dhanarishvara. facts: Truth Be Told, 4 March 2016 <http://
24. See Kuldeep Kumar, ‘The Philosophy of indiafacts.org/opposing-the-left-is-not-right-
Dualism’, The Hindu, 10 June 2016 <http:// part-ii-more-to-mahishasura/> accessed 30
www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/The- November 2019.
philosophy-of-dualism/article14414713.ece> 29. See Abhinav Prakash Singh, ‘Examining the Ma-
accessed 30 November 2019. hishasura Martyrdom Day and Dalit-Bahujan
25. Acharya Shankara’s commentary on the Brahma History’, Swarajya, 22 October 2013 <https://
Sutra, 2.1.14. Translation from Brahma-Sūtra swarajyamag.com/longform/examining-the-
Shānkara-Bhāshya, trans. Vasudeo Mahadeo mahishasura-martyrdom-day-and-dalit-bahu-
Apte (Bombay: Popular, 1960), 306. jan-history-writing> accessed 30 November
26. Deutsch explains the Advaitic position by stat- 2019 and Braj Ranjan Mani, ‘Dalit-Bahujan
ing that every datum of experience of multi- Perspective on the Mahishasura Debate’, Coun-
plicity within appearance is existent and not tercurrents, 2 March 2016 <http://www.coun-
unreal, according to the Advaitin, so far as it is tercurrents.org/mani020316.htm> accessed 30
a datum of experience, that is, as it is a concrete November 2019.
fact of our experience. It nevertheless lacks full 30. Nivedita Menon, ‘Searching for Raja Debi—
reality because it is subratable. According to A Santhal Poet Tells the Tale of Mahishasura’,
Acharya Shankara, knowledge can be divided Kafila, 27 February 2016 <https://kafila.on-
into two types: empirical and trans-empirical. line/2016/02/27/searching-for-raja-debi-a-
His metaphysics start with saguna Brahman, santhal-poet-tells-the-tale-of-mahishasura/>
reality marked with empirical pluralism, to ter- accessed 30 November 2019.
minate at nirguna Brahman, reality realised as 31. For an elaborate account of how Advaita offers
epistemological monism. Acharya Shankara an alternative understanding of individual and
clearly admits the difference between saguna state-based identities in international politics,
Brahman and nirguna Brahman, thereby re- see Deepshikha Shahi, Advaita as a Global Inter-
flecting the dissimilarity that exists between national Relations Theory (London: Routledge,
knowledge and ignorance. He presents this 2018).
PB January 2020 265

276
Maya—A Conceptual History

Dr Arpita Mitra
A mong the many scholarly projects

on Indian history and culture that Swami
Vivekananda intended posterity to take
up was a kind of history of Indian concepts.1
Such a history would capture the changing
the objective of this essay is rather modest: to
present before the reader a brief historical sketch
of the concept of ‘maya’ in Hinduism—a con-
cept without which any discussion on Vedanta
is incomplete.
meaning of concepts over time. In recent dec-
ades, intellectual history has emerged in a big The Meaning of ‘Maya’
way, especially in the US and Europe, partly out ‘Maya’ is undoubtedly a difficult concept. It has
of a critique of the dominance of social history. been commonly understood and translated as ‘il-
While it is still new and highly contested there, lusion’. It is true that one of the general meanings
intellectual history has received even scantier of the term is deception. However, the Vedantic
attention in the field of Indology. According to concept of ‘maya’ is a philosophically sophisti-
Sheldon Pollock: ‘The field of Indology has long cated concept, and the general perception of it
been dominated by the old philology, which one meaning ‘illusion’ is wrong. Prabhu Dutt Shastri
could characterize grosso modo and not neces- says: ‘The world, says the Maya theory in its cor-
sarily pejoratively as history without ideas (the rect interpretation, is an appearance, not a mere
history of language or textual change, for ex- illusion, since the latter as such is impossible.’4 It
ample), and the old Orientalism, which can be is important to distinguish between the general
viewed as ideas without history.’2 usage of the term and the technical usage, both
It is not that no history of concepts was ever of which, however, seem to overlap at times. The
written in Indology. Jan Gonda’s work on con- term was not invented by the Vedanta philoso-
cepts such as ishvara, maya, and so on, Prabhu phers. It pre-dates both Mahayana Buddhism,
Dutt Shastri’s work on maya, or K L S Rao’s where it is used in a specific sense, and the later
The Concept of Śraddhā would bear witness to school of Advaita Vedanta. It is found in the
the contrary. However, it may not be wrong to earliest speculations of humankind recorded in
say that conceptual history as a systematic and the Rig Veda, and appears early in the Upani-
definite discipline with well-defined methods shads in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, while
is yet to evolve in the field of Indic Studies.3 it crystallises into a specific meaning in the Sh-
Having pointed out the academic need to pay vetashvatara Upanishad. It then develops into its
attention to the history of ancient Indian ideas, final form at the hands of the Advaita Vedantins.
It is worth citing here Swamiji’s brief discus-
Dr Arpita Mitra has a PhD in history from Jawahar-
sion of the history and meaning of the concept:
lal Nehru University and specialises in Indian intel- Generally it is used, though incorrectly, to de-
lectual history. note illusion, or delusion, or some such thing.
266 PB January 2020

Maya—A Conceptual History 277
But the theory of Maya forms one of the pillars philosophers who did not believe in the exter-
upon which the Vedanta rests; it is, therefore, nal world at all. But the Maya of the Vedanta,
necessary that it should be properly under- in its last developed form, is neither Idealism
stood. I ask a little patience of you, for there nor Realism, nor is it a theory. It is a simple
is a great danger of its being misunderstood. statement of facts—what we are and what we
The oldest idea of Maya that we find in Vedic see around us.5
literature is the sense of delusion; but then
the real theory had not been reached. We find Hopefully, we shall be in a better position
such passages as, ‘Indra through his Maya as- to appreciate his statement at the end of the
sumed various forms’. Here it is true the word present essay.
Maya means something like magic, and we find There are certain dimensions associated with
various other passages, always taking the same the word ‘maya’: power, inscrutable, mysteri-
meaning. The word Maya then dropped out of
ous, magical, deception, and pretense. All these
sight altogether. But in the meantime the idea
was developing. Later, the question was raised: connotations have endured over time and have
‘Why can’t we know this secret of the universe?’ been invoked in different contexts. Let us take
And the answer given was very significant: ‘Be- a look at the etymology of the word.6 Prabhu
cause we talk in vain, and because we are satis- Dutt Shastri writes: ‘The word ‘Maya’ is derived
fied with the things of the senses, and because from √mā, to measure—“mīyate anayā iti”, i.e.,
we are running after desires; therefore, we, as it by which is measured, meaning thereby, as trad-
were, cover the Reality with a mist.’ Here the ition has it, that illusive projection of the world
word Maya is not used at all, but we get the
by which the immeasurable Brahman appears
idea that the cause of our ignorance is a kind of
mist that has come between us and the Truth. as if measured. The same root gives further the
Much later on, in one of the latest Upanishads, sense of “to build”, leading to the idea of “appear-
we find the word Maya reappearing, but this ance” or illusion. Sāyaṇa, in his commentary on
time, a transformation has taken place in it, R.V. [Rig Veda] i. II. 7, too derives the word from
and a mass of new meaning has attached itself “māḍḍ māne” (i.e., √mā, to measure).’7 Further-
to the word. Theories had been propounded more: ‘Another way to derive it would be “māti
and repeated, others had been taken up, until (svātmānam) darśayati iti māyā”, i.e., “that which
at last the idea of Maya became fixed. We read
shows itself—that which appears to our view
in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, ‘Know nature
to be Maya and the Ruler of this Maya is the (without having any real existence)”. This will
Lord Himself.’ Coming to our philosophers, be from √mā, to show. Hence, the conception
we find that this word Maya has been manipu- of māyā as the causal will power (icchā-śakti or
lated in various fashions, until we come to the prajñā) may be derived from √mā, to know; and,
great Shankaracharya. The theory of Maya was as the effectual state of the world as illusion, from
manipulated a little by the Buddhists too, but √mā, to measure, to build, etc.’ (30).
in the hands of the Buddhists it became very
much like what is called Idealism, and that is Maya in the Vedas
the meaning that is now generally given to the
The central debate about the concept of ‘maya’
word Maya. When the Hindu says the world
is Maya, at once people get the idea that the in the Vedic texts is whether it means the same
world is an illusion. This interpretation has thing as what it came to mean when the phil-
some basis, as coming through the Buddhistic osophy of Advaita Vedanta was fully developed
philosophers, because there was one section of at the hands of Acharya Gaudapada and Acharya
PB January 2020 267

Shankara. Opinions on this issue are divided. Soma-Arka, Mayabheda, Indravishnu, Prajapati-
Simply put, some scholars differentiate strictly Vaishvamitra, and Surya-Vaishvanara.9
between the meaning of the concept as found The word does not occur so often in the Yajur
in the Vedas and as found in later Vedantic phil- and the Sama Vedas, which are basically an ad-
osophy, while others consider the meaning of aptation of many mantras of the Rig Veda along
the term in the Vedic and the later Vedantic con- with the addition of some new mantras. The
texts to be identical. According to Jan Gonda: word occurs about twenty times, spread over
‘Both views pronounced by many of our prede- sixteen hymns, in the Atharva Veda. However,
cessors, viz. that according to which Vedism and its usage in this text is of great import. We shall
Hinduism attached different values to the term come to this shortly.
māyā-, and the “Vedantist theory” according to In the Rig Veda, the word ‘maya’ is not used
which the sense of “deceptive appearance, un- in the same sense everywhere. The Nighantu, an
reality, illusion, magic” is also to be attributed early collection of Vedic homonyms, mentions
to the relevant passages of the earlier Indian lit- ‘maya’ as one of the eleven names of prajna, intel-
erature, are equally inadequate.’ However, ‘this ligence. Yaska, in his Nirukta, mentions the same
term while expressing fundamentally the same meaning for ‘maya’, prajna. Shastri points out:
sense from the earliest texts to the later periods
As a rule, following Yāska, Sāyaṇa in most cases
of Hinduism was in the course of time applied in gives the meaning prajñā—i.e., energy, mental
different connections, used in various religious, power as distinguished from physical—but he is
philosophical and profane contexts, attributed not always definite; in fact, he could not be so.
to different owners, bearers or wielders, that its … Tradition—as preserved in Sāyaṇa’s commen-
sense and range of application was deepened, tary—tells us that the two meanings prajñā and
extended and specialized’.8 We shall be able to kapaṭa are the most common, and sometimes
judge the issue for ourselves perhaps at the end run parallel. For instance, even in the very first
of the essay. Let us first examine the usage of the hymn (R.V. i. II. 7), in which the word appears
as māyābhiḥ (and māyinam), Sāyaṇa seems to
term in the Vedas. waver between these two meanings, and leaves
The word ‘maya’ appears in about seventy- the reader to make his own choice (8–9).
five hymns in the Rig Veda in its simple and
compound forms. In these hymns, twenty-four As mentioned, ‘maya’ is not used in the same
times, it occurs in the nominative and accusative sense throughout in the Rig Veda. There are some
form mayah. The other forms in which the word marginal meanings as well. For instance, in 5.31.7,
occurs are: mayaya, mayinah, mayabhih, may- the word means ‘a young woman’, and according
inam, maya, mayam, mayi, mayinam, mayini, to Shastri, this meaning is unconnected with the
mayina, mayavina, mayavan, mayavinam, and predominant meanings of the term. However,
mayavinah. Of the seventy-five hymns, thirty- Shastri argues that the two chief meanings attri-
five are addressed to Indra, eight to Agni, four buted to the word in the text are ‘power’, prajna,
to the Ashvins as well as the Maruts, three to literally knowledge, and ‘deception’, kapata or
Vishve-devah, two to Varuna, two to Soma, vanchana. He further argues that wherever the
two to Mitra-Varuna, two to Dyava-Prithvi, word stands for power, the idea of mystery ne-
and one each to Ushas, Sarasvati, the Adityas, cessarily accompanies it; the word is always used
Pushan, Atri, Jnanam, the Ribhus, Indra-Varuna, in the sense of a mysterious power of the will.
268 PB January 2020

In the Rig Veda, the term is often used in con-

nection with the marvels of nature, including the
appearance of daylight and the creation of the
world. Mitra and Varuna are said to cause the sky
to rain by their maya. Maya is different from the
power of ordinary men; it is a kind of ‘incompre-
hensible ability’. What maya can produce is in-
credible. In this sense, it may not always be real.
The term is often used in connection with a god’s
ability to transform his external appearance.
Thus, it is by virtue of his maya that Indra can
assume any form. In the Atharva Veda, we find
that the possession of maya or this incomprehen-
sible ability is especially attributed to the asuras.
The Jaiminiya Brahmana recounts the story of
two asuras who possessed such great maya that
they were able to cook rice on ‘non-fire’.
Gonda notes that in the Vedic literature, the
concept of ‘maya’ as power was a neutral concept.
Sri Ramakrishna’s Painting by Swami Tadatmananda
It is not that it had an obligatory negative conno-
tation associated with it. In order to specify the worth noting here that in Sri Sri Ramakrishna
good or bad nature of the usage of ‘maya’, further Lilaprasanga, Swami Saradananda records Sri
qualifications were required: the Maruts bring Ramakrishna’s interactions with Tota Puri and
rain and are benefactors of humankind; hence, mentions the latter’s characterisation of ‘maya’
they are su-maya, that is, ‘of good maya’. Mali- as aghatanaghatanapatiyasi, that is, ‘one who is
cious beings moving through the air are dur- adept at making the impossible happen’.12
mayu, that is, they use bad maya. Gonda further The Atharva Veda represents a different state
notes: ‘In the Atharvaveda, the association be- of society from that of the Rig Veda. According
tween asuras and māyā has not yet completely to Shastri, the mysterious or magical element
assumed the character of a union of powers an- of the power that is maya is emphasised even
tagonistic to the interests of men and the devas more in the Atharva Veda. Unlike as in the Rig
who champion their cause. … But the more the Veda, the sense in which the word is used in the
asuras were believed to be ‘powers of darkness’ Atharva Veda is very clear and there can be no
the more māyā—though essentially coming doubt about it—it is used throughout to mean
within the above definition—was by the authors magic or illusion. According to Gonda:
of the brāhmaṇas viewed in a special light.’10
The “mystic” text AV. 10, 8, 34 seems to furnish
The word ‘maya’ occurs in different forms
us with a starting-point for the “special” sense
in the Shatapatha Brahmana, where it means a of the term under consideration in later Indian
kind of wondrous power. Here, Sayana explains philosophy. Making an attempt to elucidate the
‘maya’ as aghatita-ghatana-shaktih,11 that is, relation between the One that is the All and
the power to make the impossible happen. It is creatures, whether gods or men, the poet resorts
PB January 2020 269

to two images: the creatures rest and originate it means power and the factor that is responsible
in the concealed ‘centre’ of the universe which for the appearance of manifoldness. We further
also is represented as a lotus flower, the roots see that as early as the time of the Brihadaran-
of which remain hidden in the waters, whereas yaka Upanishad, it was already conceived that
its stalks spread in the visible world. But if, the
the singular Reality, Brahman, appears as mani-
poet observes, we would like to ask whence this
situation has arisen, the answer must be: māyā.13 fold on account of maya. One might argue that
there is a continuity of idea from the Vedic times
Maya in the Upanishads in the sense of maya being inscrutable power,
and the Bhagavadgita producing incredible things, and more subtly,
that power, which is responsible for producing a
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad contains an im- different and non-real form.
portant reference to maya: ‘The Atman trans- We see that in the Vedas, maya was the special
formed itself in accordance with each form … power of the devas and the asuras to do incred-
That form of the Atman was for the sake of mak- ible things; while in the Shvetashvatara Upani-
ing the Atman known. … The Lord on account of shad, maya is the power of the supreme Lord
maya … is perceived as manifold.’14 In the Prashna and is also equated with prakriti. Gonda is of
Upanishad, the reference to maya is of a different the opinion that the use of the terms ‘maya’ and
kind: ‘The brahmaloka is meant for those who mayin in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad that
are without crookedness, falsehood and maya’, eventually developed into the well-known later
understood in this context as pretence.15 philosophical concept of maya is essentially same
Then the famous reference to maya appears as the usage found in the oldest Vedic texts.17 He
in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad: ‘The ruler of further points out that the later Upanishads too
maya [mayi] projects this world. And because express the same view about maya as the power of
of maya, it becomes bound in it as a separate the Lord. In the Nrisimha-tapaniya Upanishad,
entity, as it were. One should know that Nature for instance, maya is no other than the power of
[prakriti] is surely maya, and the supreme Lord Nrisimha. The term ‘maya’ in fact appears in sev-
[maheshvara] is the ruler of maya [mayinam].’16 eral other minor and later Upanishads.18
Also in another mantra, there is a minor refer- Gonda further argues:
ence to maya: ‘The one Deity rules the mutable In contradistinction to the opinions advanced
and the soul. And from the repeated meditation by other scholars, I would defend the thesis that
on the Self, union with and contemplation on the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad—which chrono-
Reality, there comes about, at the end, the cessa- logically comes after the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, but
before the Bhagavadgīta—represents a stage
tion of maya in the form of the universe [vishva-
of development in Indian thought, in which
mayanivritti]’ (1.10). The word vishvamaya here the germs which had come up in the preceding
means jagatprapancha, the universe. period and from which the various philosoph-
We, thus, see that the word ‘maya’ is a poly ical view or metaphysical doctrines of the gen-
semic term, which was the norm with most San- erations to come were to develop, had already
skrit words. Different meanings of the word reached the first stage of growth without differ-
coexist, albeit these meanings are related—in an entiating in any considerable degree.19
ordinary context it means pretence, while when And, ‘this māyā is … no formula to express
spoken of in the context of Brahman or ishvara, the unreality of the world. It only expresses the
270 PB January 2020

impossibility of man’s understanding its charac-

ter and the power of its creator’ (171).
We next come to the Gita, whose references
to maya are well-known. Sri Krishna says that
though he is unborn and eternal and is the
Lord of all beings, by being established in his
own prakriti, he accepts birth through his own
maya.20 Sri Krishna describes his maya as di-
vine, daivi, consisting of the gunas, and hard to
overcome; only those who take refuge in him
can cross over this maya (7.14). And in the next
verse, he says that the evil-doers, who are de-
prived of knowledge by maya, follow the way
of the asuras and do not worship him (7.15). Fi-
nally, he makes the famous declaration: ‘The
Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Ar-
juna, and by the Lord’s maya causes them to re-
volve as though mounted on a machine’ (18.61).
Acharya Gaudapada
In the Gita, once again, we see that it is maya
that is responsible for making the impossible our purposes, it is sufficient to note that while
possible—the supreme Lord who is without Acharya Gaudapada was influenced by the Bud-
birth and death, appears as a human being of dhist doctrines of Madhyamika and Yogachara,
flesh and blood through maya. Maya is a prop- the paramount difference between Vedanta and
erty of the Lord—it is the Lord’s maya through Buddhism remained that Buddhism did not
which the Lord works; that is why maya is di- talk about the Atman, which is an Upanishadic
vine. Maya is difficult to overcome and obstructs teaching and which Acharya Gaudapada up-
right knowledge. holds. In fact, while on many points, Acharya
Gaudapada agrees with Mahayana thinkers, on
Maya According to Acharya Gaudapada many other points, he criticises their philosophy
There is yet another debate regarding maya: and attempts to show how Vedanta offers a
some scholars argue that the later Vedan- more sound and better understanding. Maha-
tic concept of maya was not native to Vedic yana does liken the world to a dream, to maya,
thought—it was either a complete innovation mirage, flash of lightning or froth. However,
on the part of the Vedantic thinkers or ‘an im- we shall see in the course of this essay that the
port from Buddhism’.21 This is, once again, an Vedantic concept of maya evolved in a distinct
extreme view. Acharya Gaudapada is known to way of its own.
have first formulated a kind of doctrine of maya- Here, we shall discuss Acharya Gaudapada’s
vada in Vedanta, and it is true he had his share doctrine of maya to see how the concept evolved
of Buddhist influences. The debate whether in his philosophy. The word occurs in sixteen pas-
Acharya Gaudapada was a covert Buddhist or sages of his Mandukya Karika. Let us consider
not is outside the purview of this article.22 For some prominent usages. By likening the world
PB January 2020 271

to objects seen in a dream, Acharya Gaudapada Again, Acharya Gaudapada also considers maya
gave Advaita Vedanta its characteristic flavour. to be that force or factor that is responsible for
It is in the context of this dream-like, apparent, creating the appearance of the phenomenal
and essentially non-real phenomenal world that world. Thus, maya is both the false appearance
we encounter an important usage of the word of the phenomenal world as well as the power
‘maya’ in his work:‘Svapnamayasarupeti srishtir that is responsible for this appearance.
anyair vikalpita; by others it is imagined that
creation is comparable to dream or magic.’23 Maya According to Acharya Shankara
Here, maya denotes that which does not exist in If the Ultimate Reality is One, how do we per-
reality. Acharya Gaudapada also refers to maya ceive multiplicity? Acharya Shankara gives the
as the beginning-less cosmic illusion, anadimaya, same answer as Acharya Gaudapada: through
which, as if puts individual souls to sleep. Then, maya. In Vivekachudamani, Acharya Shankara
we have his famous statement: ‘Mayamatram describes avidya or maya as the power of the
idam dvaitam advaitam paramarthatah; all this Lord, paramesha-shakti, as beginning-less, anadi,
duality that is nothing but maya, is but non-du- and made up of three gunas, trigunatmika. It is
ality in reality’ (1.17). That is, the multiplicity by maya that the phenomenal universe is pro-
of this world is mere illusion and the ultimate duced. Maya can only be inferred from the ef-
reality is non-dual. fects it produces. Further, it is neither existent
Now, how was this illusory appearance of the nor non-existent nor both. It is neither same nor
world brought about? Acharya Gaudapada says: different nor both; neither composed of parts
‘The self-effulgent Self imagines itself through it- nor an indivisible whole nor both. It is indes-
self by the power of its own maya’ (2.12). In other cribable, anirvachaniyarupa. Just as the mis-
words, it is maya that causes the appearance of taken idea of a rope as a snake is removed by the
the non-existent world of multiplicity. That discernment of the rope, similarly, maya is des-
which is sat, ever-existent, can never be born. troyed by the realisation of the pure one-with-
Its apparent birth is only intelligible through out-a-second Brahman. 24
maya and not in reality. Without the concept Thus, maya is the power of the Lord; it is
of maya, there can be no doctrine of ajatavada maya that creates the appearance of the phe-
or non-origination. T M P Mahadevan writes: nomenal world; and it is indescribable. Maya
‘Gauḍapāda employs several expressions to in- has two aspects: one that obscures, avarana, the
dicate the illusory nature of the world and its real Self—this is the rajasic element within maya,
things: māyā, vaitathya, mithyā, kalpita, ābhāsa, which is composed of three gunas, and the other
viparyaya, saṁvṛti, etc. Māyā is that which is re- that projects, vikshepana, the non-self—this is
sponsible for the world-illusion. It covers the real the tamasic element. Acharya Shankara says that
Self and projects the non-real world. To the one the truth of the Self is hidden by maya (65).
who has Brahman-intuition, however, māyā is Acharya Shankara seems to equate maya and
that which is not’ (149). avidya (108). There is a debate both within the
Thus, Acharya Gaudapada uses the term Vedantic tradition and in the academia if maya
‘maya’ in different senses. In the verse starting and avidya are the same thing or are different.
with the words ‘mayamatram idam dvaitam’, the There is also a debate within post-Shankara Ved-
word ‘maya’ seems to mean mere appearance. anta regarding the locus of avidya.
272 PB January 2020

Chandradhar Sharma captures well Acharya

Shankara’s conception of maya:
Māyā or Avidyā is not pure illusion. It is not
only absence of knowledge. It is also posi-
tive wrong knowledge. It is a cross of the real
and the unreal (satyānṛte mithuni kṛtya). In
fact, it is indescribable. It is neither existent
nor non-existent nor both. It is not existent
for the existent is only the Brahman. It is not
non-existent for it is responsible for the appear-
ance of the Brahman as the world. It cannot be
both existent and non-existent for this concep-
tion is self-contradictory. It is called neither
real nor unreal (sadasadvilakṣana). It is false or
mithyā. But it is not a non-entity like a hare’s
horn (tuchchha). It is positive (bhāvarūpa). It
is potency (shakti). It is also called superim-
position (adhyāsa). A shell is mistaken as silver.
The shell is the ground on which the silver is
superimposed. When right knowledge (pramā)
arises, this error (bhrānti or bhrama) vanishes.
The relation between the shell and the silver is
neither that of identity nor of difference nor
of both. It is unique and is known as non-dif-
ference (tādātmya). Similarly, Brahman is the
ground on which the world appears through Acharya Shankara
Māyā. When right knowledge dawns and the same. According to him, avidya is maya and
essential unity of the jīva with the Paramātman mithyabhasa, false appearance. Furthermore,
is realised, Māyā or Avidyā vanishes.25
there are two kinds of avidya—absence of know-
ledge, agrahana, and positive wrong knowledge,
Mayavada After Acharya Shankara
anyathagrahana. Another debate is regarding
Post-Sankara Vedantins elaborated on the con- the locus of avidya. For Mandana and Vachas-
cept of maya (292–7). A principal debate among pati Mishra, the individual jiva is the locus of
them was if maya and avidya are same or dif- avidya, whereas for Acharya Sureshvara, Acharya
ferent. Most treat the two as same and distin- Padmapada, and Prakashatman Yati, Brahman is
guish between the two aspects of avarana and the locus of avidya.
vikshepana. The adherents of the other school Mandana developed Acharya Shankara’s
treat maya and avidya as distinct entities—the description of maya as indescribable, anirva-
former being positive, absolutely dependent on chaniya. According to Mandana, maya or avidya
and inseparable from Brahman, of which it is the is neither the characteristic nature, svabhava,
shakti, while the latter is entirely negative and is of Brahman nor an entity different, arthanta-
defined as ignorance. ram, from Brahman. ‘It is neither real (satī) nor
For Mandana Mishra, maya and avidya are absolutely unreal (atyantamasatī). If it is the
PB January 2020 273

characteristic nature of something else, then all relevant instances. And according to him,
whether it is identical with or different from it, this central meaning is ‘incomprehensible wis-
it is a reality and cannot be called Avidyā. On the dom and power enabling its possessor, or being
other hand, if it is absolutely unreal, then it is like able itself, to create, devise, contrive, effect, or
the sky-lotus and can serve no practical purpose do something.’26
which in fact it does. It is therefore indescribable What was earlier the inscrutable and won-
(Anirvachanīyā) as it can be described neither drous power of the devas became the inscrutable
as existent nor as non-existent. And all philoso- and wondrous power of Brahman itself, and thus
phers in order to be consistent must necessarily evolved one of the concept-pillars of Advaita
accept it as such’ (292).’ Vedanta. The final form of the concept as it de-
Vimuktatman also maintains that maya or veloped at the hands of the Advaita Vedantins27
avidya is neither identical with nor different has been beautifully described by Eliot Deutsch:
from nor both identical with and different from In Brahman-experience (nirvikalpa samādhi),
Brahman. Acharya Padmapada says that avidya … there is the awareness … that ‘anything beside
is a beginning-less, anadi, material, jadatmika, Brahman lacks full reality’.
power shakti. For Shriharsha, avidya is positive, It follows, then, that the existence of, or
material, and indescribable as real or unreal. For our perception of, an independent, substantial
Vidyaranya too, avidya is a beginning-less power, world of real objects, persons, and processes
which is neither real nor unreal. must be grounded in some pervasive error. We
take the unreal for the real and the real for the
Conclusion unreal. This is māyā.
Thus, we see that the concept of maya is as elu- Whenever the ‘I’, ‘me’, or ‘mine’ is present,
sive as maya itself ! However, inferring from according to Advaita, there also is māyā. …
its usage, it is possible to discern the historical Whenever we transform the impersonal
evolution of this concept in Hinduism. And into the personal, that is, when we make Brah-
on the basis of this historical examination, it man something or someone who cares, we bring
about an association of the impersonal with
is possible to argue that the core meaning of
māyā. Māyā is the ontic-noetic state wherein
maya remained more or less the same through limitations (upādhis) are imposed upon Reality.
Vedic and Vedantic usage. We need to think
All attachments, aversions, fears, dreams,
about the way we understand the historical and semidreams are touched with māyā. All
evolution of ideas. The Vedic concept of maya memories, cognitions, percepts, and logics are
is certainly not identical to the Vedantic con- grounded in māyā. Māyā is whenever we fail to
cept. However, we can see that the germ of realise the oneness of the Real.
the Vedantic concept was already present in And māyā is beginningless (anādi), for time
its Vedic counterpart. What accrued later to arises only within it; it is unthinkable (acintya),
the concept was its full-fledged philosoph- for all thought is subject to it; it is indescribable
ical dimensions. Gonda argues for the adop- (anirvacaniya), for all language results from it.
tion of ‘a ‘central’ or ‘fundamental meaning’ The level of Appearance is thus māyā.28P
which underlies all uses of the term in Vedic, Notes and References
Vedantic, pre-, and non-Vedantic Hindu texts
after a thorough philological examination of 1. The subtitle of the article is inspired by the
274 PB January 2020

discipline of Begriffsgeschichte—the history of 16. Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 4.9–10.

concepts or conceptual history, which is of Ger- 17. See Change and Continuity in Indian Religion, 170.
man origin and is a distinct genre of history of 18. For details, see The Doctrine of Māyā, 117–9.
ideas with its own methods and set of problems 19. Change and Continuity in Indian Religion, 170–1.
(See Melvin Richter, ‘Begriffsgeschichte and the 20. See Gita, 4.6.
History of Ideas’, Journal of the History of Ideas, 21. As per Hermann Jacobi, the first person to
48/2 (April-June 1987), 247–63). In contrast to argue that maya-vada is a Vedantic adapta-
its predecessor Ideengeschichte, history of ideas, tion of Shunyavada was V A Sukhtankar (See
Begriffsgeschichte attempts at relating concepts Hermann Jacobi, ‘On Mayavada’, Journal of
to their contexts. It is also different from the the American Oriental Society, 33/1 ( January-
earlier philological analyses of the history of March 1913), 51–4). However, this is in fact a
individual words. However, there has also been very old argument. Bhaskara, the tenth-cen-
a trend of writing histories of philosophical ter- tury Vedantin who upheld the bhedabheda
minology and philosophical problems, exclud- view, was of the opinion that the doctrine of
ing their social history. Given the specific set of maya-vada arose due to the influence of Maha-
problems we encounter while relating the de- yana Buddhism (See Chandradhar Sharma,
velopment of ideas to their context in the case A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy (Delhi:
of ancient Indian ideas, this essay will focus on Motilal Banarsidass, 1987), 340). Again,
the conceptual history of maya without delving Radhakrishnan cites the instance of Padma
into its context of social history. Purana, where Ishvara says to his wife, Par-
2. Sheldon Pollock, ‘Is There an Indian Intellectual vati: ‘I, myself, goddess, assuming the form of
History? Introduction to “Theory and Method a Brahman, uttered in the Kali age the false
in Indian Intellectual History”’, Journal of In- doctrine of Maya, which is covert Buddhism,
dian Philosophy, 36/5–6 (October 2008), 534. which imputes a perverted and generally cen-
3. The issue of Journal of Indian Philosophy, 36/5–6 sured signification to the words of the Veda
(October 2008) was precisely an attempt at ad- and inculcates the abandonment of ceremo-
dressing the question of theories and methods nial works and an inactivity consequent on
in Indian intellectual history. such cessation’ (S Radhakrishnan, ‘The Ved-
4. Prabhu Dutt Shastri, The Doctrine of Māyā: In anta Philosophy and the Doctrine of Maya’,
the Philosophy of the Vedānta (London: Luzac, The International Journal of Ethics, 24/4 ( July
1911), ix. 1914), 433).
5. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9 22. Surendranath Dasgupta goes to the extent of
vols (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1–8, 1989; 9, claiming that Acharya Gaudapada was in fact
1997), 2.88–9. a Buddhist and not a Vedantin. Swami Nikhila-
6. For further details on etymology of maya, see nanda has systematically refuted his arguments
Jan Gonda, Four Studies in the Language of the with evidence. For details, see The Māṇḍūkya
Veda (The Hague: Mouton, 1959). Upaniṣad, trans. Swami Nikhilananda (Cal-
7. The Doctrine of Māyā, 29. cutta: Advaita Ashrama, 2013), xii–xxii.
8. Jan Gonda, Change and Continuity in Indian 23. Acharya Gaudapada, Karika on Mandukya
Religion (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, Upanishad, 1.7.
1997), 165–6. 24. Acharya Shankara, Vivekachudamani, 108-10.
9. For details, see The Doctrine of Māyā, 6–8. 25. A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy, 252–3.
10. Change and Continuity in Indian Religion, 169. 26. Change and Continuity in Indian Religion, 166.
11. The Doctrine of Māyā, 16. 27. Vedantins of other schools do not necessarily
12. Swami Saradananda, Shrishriramakrishnalil- accept maya. Acharya Ramanuja, for instance,
aprasanga (Bengali), 2 vols (Calcutta: Udbo- propounded his sevenfold objections, sapta-
dhan, 1960), 1.168. vidha-anupapatti, to the doctrine of maya.
13. Change and Continuity in Indian Religion, 169. 28. Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedānta: A Philosophical
14. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 2.5.19. Reconstruction (Honolulu: East-West Center,
15. Prashna Upanishad, I.16. 1969), 28–9.
PB January 2020 275

286
YOUNG EYES
Special Needs Children
Aadrika Chattopadhyay
Ten Years Old, Grade Five, Apeejay School, Salt Lake, Kolkata
S
pecial needs children are children who suf- very wrong thing that people do to special needs
fer from psychological or physical prob- children because a child, whether a special needs
lems. But unfortunately, most of us tend to child or not, should never be told that she or he
look down on them and also discourage all their is talentless and invalid compared to the other
dreams, although some of us do not do that. We children. Who knows, even a special needs child
should not discourage special needs children in might have such talent that is not being brought
anything they want to do unless it is wrong or out because a person around that child is dis-
something which can harm them. And the same couraging the child in such a way that the child
goes for everybody else. Usually, special needs thinks that she or he is not worth it and is not
children are treated unfairly in many ways and unique in her or his way.
they are not treated like all other children, which An example of such talent is Stephen Hawk-
is wrong. ing, who in spite of having severe physical prob-
All children, whether they are special needs lems, became one of the world’s great physicists.
or not should be treated equally no matter what. At school, sometimes a special needs child might
Although special needs children many times be behind the rest of her or his class. When this
need shadow parents and other people to help happens, a child may end up getting really low
take care of them, a parent should make sure that marks because of which a parent, without under-
a special needs child is not bullied or treated un- standing the situation, might severely scold the
fairly by the shadow parent or a child at school. child and also beat the child. This might make
Often special needs children cannot stand up the child feel useless, talentless, and invalid than
for themselves when they are bullied or treated she or he is. A parent usually does this to make
unfairly, so a parent should teach their ward to the child successful in all ways possible, but this
stand up for herself or himself. However, a spe- usually backfires in a very drastic way. This can
cial needs child may not be able to stand up for also make a child lose her or his self-confidence
herself or himself because of psychological or and the hope to improve.
physical problems, so when that happens a par- Therefore, instead of scolding the child, a
ent should inform the shadow parent to help the parent should search for the right guidance and
child stand up for herself or himself. help for her or his child to improve. At school,
Sometimes a special needs child is told to give there is another problem that may make many
up on her or his dreams because she or he is in- special children feel sad and this may also give
valid compared to the other children. This is a them problems like anxiety. This problem is
276 PB January 2020

Special Needs Children 287
loneliness which may arise because

of the lack of friends of the special
needs child’s age.
This problem can be solved by
making the child understand that
she or he is as good as any other
child and that she or he should put
herself or himself out there to make
friends. If gradually, the child mixes
and blends among the other chil-
dren she or he will soon make many
friends. Sometimes special needs
children are made fun of not only
by children but also by adults. emotions completely. This may happen because
When this happens the parents of the child, of psychological and physical problems as men-
who is being made fun of, should tell the per- tioned earlier.
son doing the same to not do it. And the person However, this can lead to many communica-
doing this should also be made to understand tion problems for the special needs child. For-
that doing this is wrong and also that doing this tunately, this can be taken care of in some cases
can cause the special needs child severe psycho- while others might be severe physical problems,
logical trauma that might be permanent or very including that of the brain, which are incurable.
hard to heal. But, if a child suffers from such problems, these
Sometimes, even after getting the right guid- problems can be handled by talking with the
ance and help, a special needs child might be feel- child as if the child does not have any physical or
ing pressurised, not only by parents but also by psychological problems and as though the child
the other family members and teachers, who have is completely normal in every way.
helped the child. When this happens, a child Parents should also talk about serious and
should be told to do well and also not to be afraid deep things with their wards as that will help
of failing and also not to feel pressurised because develop their brains and that will also help them
it is alright to fail as people can rise again. come out of their communication problems. Par-
Being over-pressurised can also lead to fail- ents of special needs children, who are born with
ure. An example of this is when a person flies communication and brain problems, should give
a plane and is over-pressurised about flying it their child time to understand what they are say-
properly. This person continuously thinks about ing and they should also let their children ex-
IMAGE: HTTPS://INDIATODAY.IN
what will happen if she or he will crash instead press their emotions with time and care. Parents
of concentrating on how to land it carefully. In should try not to hurry their children up, while
this case, the possibility of the plane crashing they are trying to understand what is being said
is quite high. A special needs child might also and when they are trying to express their emo-
not be able to understand some of the things tions because that will not help them with their
we say and if something is bothering the child, problem and that might also worsen their com-
she or he may not be able to express her or his munication problems. P
PB January 2020 277

288
BALABODHA
Ancient Wisdom Made Easy
Advaita
T
he word ‘Advaita’ is a commonly used essentially no difference between the individual
Sanskrit word. It is used by people, who do soul and the ultimate Reality and all difference that
not even know Sanskrit, as it is present in is perceived is due to ignorance. Any perception of
almost every Indian language. The widely used duality is considered a result of superimposition.
meaning of the word ‘Advaita’ is non-duality. The common examples given for explaining
However, it is necessary to see the other meanings this superimposition are the mistaking a shell to
and the origins of this Sanskrit word. Sanskrit is a be silver, mistaking sand for water in a mirage,
classical language like Greek, Latin, and Persian. mistaking a rope to be a snake in darkness. In all
And in Sanskrit, as in most classical languages, these instances, something else is superimposed
most words are derived from a stem or root. on some other thing and there is a mutual con-
The word ‘Advaita’ is formed as an antonym of fusion of the properties of the things involved.
dvaita by adding the prefix ‘a’ to the word dvaita, For example, in a mirage, the property of water
in the sense of the opposite. So, the opposite of is imposed on sand and the property of sand is
dvaita, which means duality, is non-dualilty. The imposed on water. When insentience is superim-
word dvaita is derived from adding the ‘an’ suffix posed on sentience and when sentience is super-
to the root word dvi, which means two. The word imposed on insentience, we confuse things for
dvaita means duality, a pair, difference, separation, what they are not and there arises the problem
duplicity, dualism, or doubt. The word ‘Advaita’ of dvaita or duality. Advaita is the path to tran-
means non-duality; one without a second; iden- scend this superimposed duality.
tity; non-separation; non-different; having no du- The goal of Advaita is to guide a person to
plicate; destitute of duality; peerless; sole; unique; transcend all suffering and attain moksha, free-
epithet of Vishnu; the identity of Brahman, para- dom from the transmigratory cyclical existence
matman or supreme soul with the jivatman or the of samsara, by realising the identity of the Atman
individual soul; the identity of spirit and matter; with Brahman. Upon this realisation, this uni-
the name of an Upanishad, and the ultimate Truth. verse ceases to cause any misery, because the per-
Advaita is one among the three main schools of son who has realised this knowledge of Advaita,
Vedanta, the other two being Vishishtadvaita and understands that this universe is being seen not
Dvaita. Acharya Shankara is considered to be the in its essential nature, Brahman, but in its super-
proponent of Advaita Vedanta, though the phil- imposed nature of a multitude of names and
osophy was present even before him as is evident forms. When the essence of this universe is real-
in the writings of teachers like Acharya Gauda- ised and it is known that one is not different from
pada. The Advaita philosophy holds that there is that essence, then a person becomes free. P
278 PB January 2020

289
TRADITIONAL TALES
The Best Giver
I n the days of yore, there lived a famous gam-

bler. Engaged in the evil profession of gam-
bling, he insulted gods and brahmanas. He
was the storehouse of all the vices in the world.
One day, he won great wealth due to his trick-
ery. Being overjoyed, he rolled a paan and taking
items of makeup like sandal paste and flower-
garland, he speedily proceeded to the house of
a prostitute. On the way, he lost his balance,
fell, and became unconscious. Upon regaining
consciousness, he experienced a change in him.
He became very concerned with his evil ways.
He developed intense dispassion. Then, getting
some clarity, with a clear mind, he offered what-
ever he had in his hands to a Shiva temple nearby
and returned to his house. That was the only vir-
tuous act he had done in his entire life.
Time went by and the gambler’s life came
to an end one day. The messengers of the god
of death, Yama, took the gambler to the Yama’s
abode. Yama told the gambler: ‘O fool! You will
suffer severely in hell for all your evil deeds.’
The gambler trembled hearing these words and
prayed: ‘O lord! Is it not possible that I have
done some virtuous thing also? Please look into
its result and give me your final judgement.’
Yama looked at his record-keeper Chitragupta.
Sculpture of the Dikpala Yama
Chitragupta said: ‘Before your death, you had
offered a little sandal paste to Shiva linga. As a heaven. Then, I will suffer, whatever I have to,
result of this good deed, you get to be the king in hell.’
of heaven and sit on heaven’s throne for three Immediately, the gambler was sent to heaven
nazhigas or seventy-two minutes.’ on Yama’s orders. Brihaspati, the guru of the
Gambler: ‘If that be the case, please allow devas, called Indra, the king of the devas, and
me to first experience the time I have earned in explained to him how the gambler needed to be
PB January 2020 279

valuable things of heaven. As

soon as seventy-two minutes
passed, he stepped down from
the throne.
The king of the devas,
Indra returned to find the
city of Amaravati, the heaven
or the world of Indra, de-
pleted of wealth and robbed
of splendour. He hastened to
his guru Brihaspati and took
him to Yama. He angrily told
Yama: ‘O lord! You have done
the most inappropriate thing
by giving away my throne to a
gambler. He did many undue
things when on the throne.
He gave away for real, all my
Indra at Travatimsa Heaven
precious stones as gifts to sages. Please come
the king of heaven for seventy-two minutes and and see the city of Amaravati. You will see for
asked Indra to leave the throne to the gambler yourself how vacant it looks as though it has
for that time. Brihaspati told Indra that he could been looted.’
return to his throne after seventy-two minutes. Yama said to Indra: ‘O Indra! You have aged
The moment Indra stepped down from his and become an old man. Yet, your attachment to
throne, the gambler became the king of heaven. ruling and administration has not waned even
He had seventy-two minutes to himself. He a bit. The gambler has acquired so much merit
thought: ‘I have no one to surrender to other from his actions that his merit has much sur-
than Lord Shiva.’ His attachment towards ma- passed the merits you have acquired by doing
terial objects started to weaken. Soon, he began hundreds of rituals. One who engages in good
giving away in charity many things according to deeds without even a little pride, even after being
his power. Now Lord Shiva’s devotee, the gam- given great power, is indeed a great person. Go to
bler gave away Indra’s famous elephant named the sages. Give them what they ask or beg them
Airavata as a gift to Sage Agastya. He gave the and get back all your precious stones.’
horse named Uchchaishravas to the great rishi Hearing this, Indra said, ‘Let it be so’, and re-
Vishvamitra. He gave the cow named Kama turned. The gambler was freed from living in
dhenu to Maharishi Vasishtha. He gave the pre- hell. In his next lifetime, he was born as the son
cious stone named Chintamani to Maharishi of the great giver and ascetic Virochana and was
Kalava. He uprooted the Kalpavriksha tree and named Bali.1 P
gifted it to Sage Kaundinya. In this manner, he Notes
kept on giving away things in charity for his time 1. This story is adapted from Skanda Purana, Ma-
of seventy-two minutes. He gave away all the heshvara Kanda, Kedara Kanda, Chapter 18.
280 PB January 2020

291
REVIEWS
For review in P RABUDDHA B HARATA,
publishers need to send two copies of their latest publications
Kierkegaard’s Journals
and Notebooks, Volume Christianity’s power over Arendt’s crypto-Zionism,
8: Journals NB21–NB25 and the latter is to be found both in the charlatan
Nazi, Martin Heidegger’s works and in Derrida’s
Søren Kierkegaard minor reflections on the Logos. The point here
Edited by Niels Bruce is that Christian theology is Western philosophy
H Kirmmse, Jørgen and only Kierkegaard understood this and was
Cappelørn, Alastair fearless enough to pen it all down. In his Christian
Hannay, David D Possen, Discourses: The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an
Joel Rasmussen, and Actress, Kierkegaard writes this of what it means to
Vanessa Rumble be free, what it means to live the Beatitudes:
To be without care—indeed, it is a difficult walk,
Princeton University Press, 41
William Street, Princeton, New almost like walking on water, but if you are able
Jersey 08540, usa. Website: to have faith, then it can be done. In connection
https://www.press.princeton.edu. with all danger, the main thing is to be able to
2015. 800 pp. $150. hb. isbn get away from the thought of it. Now, you can-
9780691166186. not get away from poverty, but you can get away
S øren Kierkegaard is the first modernist, only

preceded by Desiderius Erasmus. It is the dis-
regard for Erasmus as the first Renaissance phil-
from the thought of it by continually thinking
about God: this is how the Christian walks his
course. He turns his gaze upward and looks away
osopher who ushered in the modernist turn in from the danger; in his poverty, he is without the
Western philosophy and literature alike, that has care of poverty. But the thoughts of the one who
consigned Kierkegaard to being considered only wants to be rich are continually on the earth; in
a Christian philosopher. his care he is on the earth, with his care is on the
It is only anecdotal that Kierkegaard injected earth; he walks bowed down, continually look-
scepticism into Christianity and did more dam- ing ahead to see if he might be able to find riches.
age to Christendom than the atheist Friedrich He is continually looking ahead—alas, ordin-
Nietzsche ever could. This is a wrong assessment arily this is the best way to avoid temptation,
since Kierkegaard refashioned early and late mod- but for him, yes, he does not know it, for him
ernism into what it really was: the European Re- looking ahead is the very way to walk into the
naissance did not reject Christianity as is often pitfall, the way to finding the temptation greater
wrongly taught, but it was a deeply Christian and and greater and to sinking deeper and deeper
faith-informed theological movement, which we into it. He is already in the power of the tempta-
now mistakenly read as non-Christian philosophy. tion, because the care is the temptation’s most
In passing we should remark that all Western ingenious servant. And the temptation is down
philosophy after the death and the resurrection of on the earth … the temptation is down on the
Jesus Christ is either a confirmation of Christianity earth—the more it gets a person to look down-
or a reaction to the Logos. The former we find in ward, the more certain is his downfall. What is
the works of Hannah Arendt, for instance, her dis- the temptation that in itself is many temptations?
sertation on St Augustine of Hippo is a proof of Certainly it is not the glutton’s temptation to live
PB January 2020 281

in order to eat; no (what rebellion against the preferred ignominy and anonymity warning us
divine order!), it is to live in order to slave. The of prudishness which destroys souls. Kierkeg-
temptation is this, to lose oneself, to lose one’s aard’s warnings against pharisaic ways is what is
soul, to cease to be a human being and live as modern in literature. Only much later, Sigmund
a human being instead of being freer than the Freud iteratively figured out that prudishness is
bird, and godforsaken to slave more wretchedly psychologically debilitating. This insight into pu-
than the animal. Yes, to slave! Instead of working ritanism’s destructiveness is enough to prove Ki-
for the daily bread, which every human being is erkegaard’s modernity.
commanded to do, to slave for it—and yet not be Karl Marx in a very different context, spoke
satisfied by it, because the care is to become rich. of the need for philosophy to be practical and
Instead of praying for the daily bread, to slave for not merely pragmatic. Kierkegaard too wants re-
it—because one became a slave of people and of alpolitik within philosophising and thus, insists
one’s care and forgot that it is to God one must on dying for one’s beliefs unlike the priests por-
pray for it. Instead of being willing to be what trayed in Shusaku Endo’s Silence. Armchair re-
one is, poor, but also loved by God, which one ligious praxes are of no use. Running fancy and
certainly is, never happy in oneself, never happy coveted normatively religious educational insti-
in God, to damn oneself and one’s life to this tutes are of no value unless one can teach stu-
slaving in despondent grief day and night, in dents that education is laying down one’s life for
dark and brooding dejection, in spiritless busy- the sake of their beliefs. Even if these beliefs are
ness, with the heart burdened by worry about wrong. Che Guevara was intellectually wrong in
making a living—smitten with avarice although his moral conclusions but unlike Fidel Castro,
in poverty! (Christian Discourses: The Crisis and Guevara did not sell himself to capitalist forces
A Crisis in the Life of an Actress, ed. and trans. which as Kierkegaard shows in The Crisis and a
Howard V Hong and Edna H Hong (Princeton: Crisis in the Life of an Actress mentioned above,
Princeton University, 2009), 21–2). are detrimental to any philosophising.
It is of this philosophy of being without care That consumerism and capitalism are both
derived from the Lord’s prayer in the New Tes- evils is a modernist Weltanschauung. Modernism
tament that Kierkegaard stresses in the volume arose from the triple sources of the refashioning
under review: ‘Owing to the rigor with which and not the rejection of the religious sensibility;
Xnty [Christianity] was originally insisted upon, modernism arose from a deeper understanding of
the unyieldingness of blood witnesses, Xnty pre- the death grip of capitalism, and finally, it arose
vailed and was victorious, reshaped the world, in the insecurity which characterises our existence
tempered morals, etc’ (241). in the here and the now. Kierkegaard’s quotation
Kierkegaard says further: ‘With respect to finite from Savonarola is itself proof of Kierkegaard’s
and worldly goods (which precisely because of their understanding of religion and life. He knew much
inferiority and are not essentially related to any re- before Karl Jaspers, Martin Buber, and Jean-Paul
duplication), the mode in which I obtain them Sartre that security is death. No person is alive
(provided it is not impermissible) is pretty much who feels certain that there are no uncertainties in
a matter of indifference, and it can easily become the very business of living out any kind of human
prudishness to be too strict in this connection’ (243). life; leave alone spiritual lives.
Further, quoting Girolamo Savonarola, Kierke Princeton University Press through publishing
gaard says: ‘The power of faith is secure in dangers, these journals and notebooks has done a com-
but in danger when a person is secure’ (340). mendable task in popularising Kierkegaard’s
Kierkegaard’s modernity lies in his awareness magnificent oeuvre.
of unguarded, emotional spirituality giving way Subhasis Chattopadhyay
to prudishness. Unlike the English Puritans, who Biblical Theologian
having butchered hundreds, perversely called Assistant Professor of English
themselves pure, we have a truly holy man who Narasinha Dutt College, Howrah
282 PB January 2020

293
MANANA
Exploring thought-currents from around the world.
Extracts from a thought-provoking book every month.
The Hidden Lives of Brahman

Joël André-Michel Duboi
State University of New York Press, 353 Broadway, State
University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246-0001, usa. Web-
site: https://www.sunypress.edu. 2013. 451 pp. $27.95.
pb. isbn 9781438448053.
C
almly avoiding oncoming buses as they many still memorize with extreme precision the
walk through Śṛṅgeri’s main street, men hymns and other recitations composed and com-
and women return from their early piled over many generations to accompany the
morning ritual baths at the river’s edge. Today is ritual. On this morning, each group is chant-
the first day of Śaṅkara’s Jayanti celebration, the ing the veda of its own lineage learned by heart
day after the new moon in April, but few people from fathers and teachers; long ago, each lineage
seem to know about it. Hidden to the side of the would have been expected to fulfill a different
town’s maṭha, its center of teaching and worship, ritual function in communal yajñas, but here the
hidden from the open terraces crossed daily by distinct sounds all blend together.
hundreds of pilgrims making their way to the Scattered between these clusters of chant-
large riverside stone temples for which Śṛṅgeri ers, several other brāhmaṇas sit by themselves.
is famous, a much smaller wooden temple shel- Each stares down at a book propped up on a
ters an icon of Śaṅkara. Inside its enclosure, a short wooden desk, muttering the text to him-
brāhmaṇa has removed the metal shell that usu- self. Some books contain praise verses describ-
ally covers the stone statue, revealed only on spe- ing the purported events of Śaṅkara’s life;
cial occasions like this one, and bathes it with others summarize his ideas, and still others
water. Several dozen brāhmaṇa men wrapped in are his own commentaries—most of them on
traditional bordered white cloth gather outside upaniṣads (also sometimes designated vedāntas
the temple, sitting on the veranda of the quarters in the plural), stories and proclamations about
that surround and conceal it. the mystical insight inspired by fire-offering.
Men, both young and old, sit in groups of Those who study Śaṅkara’s vedānta teachings
three or four; some sit on straw mats, while and commentaries usually recite them individu-
others stand, reciting the three-tone melodic ally, rather than intoning them in groups. Today,
patterns of veda. These are the hymns and ritual the neighboring intonations of veda drown out
formulas originally composed and chanted in such vedānta mutterings, but the mutterers per-
Saṁskṛta (often anglicized as ‘Sanskrit’) during sist all the same.
elaborate fire-offering rituals known as yajñas, As the morning wears on, dozens of young
among the most ancient rituals of Hindu trad- boys from Śṛṅgeri’s vedic school (pāṭhaśālā)
ition. Few brāhmaṇas today perform yajñas, yet begin to arrive, also dressed in white. Advanced
PB January 2020 283

students join the groups of older men recit- Śaṅkara’s ideological ‘victory’ over competing
ing veda, who examine the boys to see how points of view, brāhmaṇas feature these very
well they have memorized their assigned por- same comments, ideas, and praises in public
tions. Most students, however, gather before speeches, delivered into microphones and broad-
the steps of the Śaṅkara temple and recite the cast by loudspeaker to the entire temple grounds
better-known vedic hymns and ritual formu- and to most of the town. Much briefer veda reci-
las taught to all brāhmaṇa boys at Śṛṅgeri, if tations, on the other hand, merely begin and end
they have not already learned them at home. In the program, like a decorative frame.
this group the higher pitches of prepubescent This shift in emphasis from the raw power of
voices combine with the lower tones of the sound and gesture in worship to eloquent proc-
older boys, rivaling in volume the veda recita- lamations of Śaṅkara’s teaching manifests also
tions of the older men. in the spatial focus of the evening proceedings.
At the back of the veranda, finally, stands a The stone icon is out of sight; now all gather
student of a different kind, watching the icon around the living representative of Śaṅkara’s lin-
of Śaṅkara and the men gathered around it eage at Śṛṅgeri, a bearded man on a silver throne,
from a distance. Though dressed in white like dressed in ochre robes lined with gold borders.
everyone else, his pale skin color, peculiar facial Ochre cloth is the traditional mark of one who
features, and gray backpack all betray a foreign has renounced all ties to family life and its ac-
origin. From his remote vantage point the dis- companying rituals, as Śaṅkara himself report-
tinct sounds of recitation blend into a single edly did, to devote himself exclusively to the pur-
mass of sound, which seems to him to bathe suit of spiritual goals. In formal announcements,
the icon of Śaṅkara like the water being poured this ochre-clad man is known either as jagad-
over it. Yet as he approaches and sits near in- guru (‘world-teacher’) or by his proper name,
dividual reciters, chatting with them and ask- Bhāratī Tīrtha. In common discourse, he is often
ing about their recitation, he discerns different simply the ācārya (‘[teacher] of ācāra’ or trad-
melodies and sounds. The school’s students, ition), a title often appended to Śaṅkara’s name
teachers, and local residents are by now familiar (‘Śaṅkarācārya’). To most of Śṛṅgeri’s residents
with the peculiar American visitor, freely an- and frequent visitors he is ‘Svāmijī’ (‘master’, a
swering his many questions posed in clumsy common term of address for renouncers). Re-
Kannaḍa, the local language. The brāhmaṇa citers, speakers, and dignitaries all sit to either
guests who have come to recite at this festival, side, the brāhmaṇa students in front, and behind
however, are more cautious, keeping their dis- them many other spectators—town residents,
tance from him. pilgrims, and of course the curious looking for-
That evening, in the larger audience hall adja- eigner, now in shirt and pants, equipped with
cent to the Śaṅkara temple, the same brāhmaṇas notebook and tape recorder.
return once again to honor Śaṅkara. This time, Narasiṁha Mūrti, the young principal of
however, the voices that had competed and Śṛṅgeri’s traditional school for the study of
blended together at the morning session are dis- veda, welcomes everyone. He then quotes a
tributed differently. In the morning, the praises, well-known verse of the Bhagavad Gītā, thus set-
ideas, and comments of Śaṅkara himself were ting the theme that will be broadcast repeatedly
barely audible. Now in the evening praise of throughout this and subsequent evenings. P
284 PB January 2020

295
REPORTS
Commemoration of the 125th

Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s
Addresses at the World’s Parliament of
Religions in Chicago, USA
India: Bamunmura: A devotees’ convention on
24 November 2019 attended by 365 devotees.
Kochi: A students’ convention on 18 Novem-
ber in which nearly 150 students from different
higher secondary schools participated. Mum-
bai: A day-long programme at an auditorium
in Mumbai on 23 November. Justice Pinaki
Chandra Ghose, Lokpal of India, inaugurated Devotees’ Convention at Bamunmura
the programme. Swami Suvirananda, General digital section to its public library in August.
Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad, observed
Mission, and a few others addressed the gath- the 20th foundation day of its Vivekananda In-
ering of about 900 people, comprising mainly stitute of Human Excellence by holding a con-
college students. Outside India: Lusaka, Zam- vention for the faculty members of engineering
bia: A public meeting on 24 November in which colleges on 9 September and a youths’ conven-
Srimat Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj, Vice- tion on 10 September. In all, 2,300 people took
President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna part in the programmes.
Mission and Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Jalpai-
Chennai, and few others addressed a gathering guri, conducted medical camps on 24 and 25
of 83 people. September in which a team of 20 doctors and 15
paramedical staff checked 1,220 patients and pre-
News of Branch Centres scribed medicines. A blood donation camp was
Ramakrishna Mission, Aalo, conducted three also held on 25 September in which 43 people
health awareness camps in three nearby villages donated blood.
on 20 and 29 August and 12 September which Ramakrishna Math, Madurai, conducted
were attended by 210 people in all. The centre a dental check-up camp on 6 September in
also conducted a medical camp in Mori village which 62 students were examined and 48 of
near Aalo on 12 September in which 80 patients them were treated.
were treated. Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis-
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Asansol, sion Ashrama, Malda, held a medical camp at
held a medical camp in Chittaranjan on 1 Sep- a village in Malda district on 15 September in
tember in which 611 patients were treated by which 127 patients were treated.
8 doctors. Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Barrackpore,
Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi, added a presented the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
PB January 2020 285

The President of India, Sri Ram Nath Kovind Inaugurated the Sarada Block at Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Vrindavan
Award to Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, dedicated two new exhibits in the Vivekananda
Sargachhi, on 2 October, Gandhi Jayanti, in Exhibition of Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi, on
recognition of its service activities. The award 12 November. The new exhibits are based on vir-
consisted of a certificate, a memento, and a sum tual reality and augmented reality technologies.
of ten thousand rupees. Srimat Swami Shivamayanandaji Maharaj,
Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Ha- Vice-President, Ramakrishna Math and
sina and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Ramakrishna Mission, and the Governor of
Modi jointly inaugurated Vivekananda Bha- Meghalaya Sri Tathagata Roy inaugurated an ultra-
van at Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna sound machine in the dispensary of Ramakrishna
Mission, Dhaka, on 5 October through Mission, Shillong, on 13 November.
videoconferencing. Sri Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Tamil
The year-long centenary celebrations of Nadu, visited Ramakrishna Math, Chennai,
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, on 19 November.
Bhubaneswar, began with a two-day programme Sri Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, in-
on 31 October and 1 November. Srimat Swami augurated the Sarada Block of the hospital at
Gautamanandaji Maharaj inaugurated the cele- Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mis-
brations. Sri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Min- sion Sevashrama, Vrindaban, on 28 Novem-
ister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, ber in an impressive function which was also
Smt. Aparajita Sarangi, Member of Parliament, attended by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh,
Swami Suvirananda and about 500 monks, de- Smt Anandiben Patel and the Chief Minister of
votees, and admirers attended the programme. Uttar Pradesh, Sri Yogi Adityanath, apart from a
Srimat Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj few ministers and other dignitaries. Built as per
286 PB January 2020

Reports 297
Inauguration of New Exhibits at Delhi Centre Youths’ Convention at Kanpur Centre
NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hos- October and another similar programme at the
pitals and Healthcare Providers) standards, the centre on 19 October. In all, about 1,000 stu-
new state-of-the-art block houses MRI and CT dents attended the programmes.
scan facilities, two modular operation theatres, a Haripad Math held values education camps
cancer ward, and a number of other departments at three schools in Alappuzha district on 11, 14,
and facilities. and 15 November, which were attended by 553
students in all.
Values Education and Youth Programmes Kanpur centre conducted a youths’ conven-
Bagda Math held values education programmes tion on 17 November in which 240 youths from
in 11 schools of Purulia district from 6 to 26 different educational institutions participated.
September. In all, about 2,067 students and 138 Koyilandy centre held a youths’ convention
teachers attended these programmes. on 16 November in which 70 students took part.
Davanagere centre conducted a values edu- Rajkot Ashrama conducted 9 values educa-
cation workshop on 23 October in which 74 tion programmes from 18 to 22 November in
teacher-trainees took part. which 682 students from 5 schools participated.
Delhi centre conducted 13 values education Vadodara centre held values education pro-
workshops in 5 towns and cities in Rajasthan and grammes at 11 schools in Chota Udepur, Pan-
Madhya Pradesh between 23 September and 18 chmahal and Vadodara districts of Gujarat from
October. A total of 752 teachers attended the 31 October to 28 November. In all, 3,755 students
workshops. It also conducted 13 values educa- participated in these programmes.
tion workshops in Ajmer, Delhi, Hyderabad, Belagavi (Belgaum) Ashrama held, from 16
Kolkata, and Pune from 20 to 26 November. A to 27 October, a youths’ convention and three
total of 126 principals and 686 teachers attended devotees’ conventions at its Swami Vivekananda
the workshops. Memorial and satsang in eight places in the city
Gadadhar Ashrama held a values education in commemoration of Swami Vivekananda’s visit
programme on 19 October, which was attended to Belagavi from 16 to 27 October 1892.
by 60 students. Ootacamund (Ooty) centre conducted a
Madurai centre conducted a values educa- district-level sports competition from 11 to 24
tion programme at a school in Madurai on 15 October in which 700 students from 30 schools
PB January 2020 287

RKMVERI Convocation at Coimbatore Centre Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan by Mangaluru Centre
participated in throwball, volleyball, football, inaugurated the newly set-up MRI scan facility
and kho kho events. at Vrindaban hospital on 14 November.
Aalo centre held a medical camp at Humoli,
a remote village near Aalo, on 26 November in Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan
which 60 patients were treated. (Clean India Campaign)
Asansol centre conducted a blood donation Kamarpukur centre held cleanliness drives at
camp on 22 November in which 101 students of Kamarpukur on 22 September and 20 October.
the centre’s ITI donated blood. Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the follow-
Bajepratappur centre, Bardhaman, held two ing activities in September: (i) five cleanliness
camps at its rural development unit in Aeorah, drives in Mangaluru involving about 6,530 vol-
Bhatar Block, on 2 October: (i) a medical camp in unteers, (ii) daily awareness campaign for 25
which 850 patients were treated, and (ii) a blood days in which volunteers reached out to 1,850
donation camp in which 84 people donated blood. households in different parts of Mangaluru and
Guwahati centre conducted a medical camp at spread awareness about cleanliness, (iii) clean-
Makaria village in Morigaon district of Assam on liness drives in 172 villages of Dakshina Kan-
14 November in which 384 patients were treated. nada and Udupi districts, (iv) magic shows on
Kailashahar Ashrama held a blood donation the cleanliness theme in 4 schools in Udupi dis-
camp on 2 November in which 64 people do- trict which were attended by 2,300 students in
nated blood. all, (v) workshops on cleanliness in 106 schools
The off-campus centre of Ramakrishna Mis- in which 10,636 students participated, and (vi)
sion Vivekananda Educational and Research a seminar on Clean India on 14 September at-
Institute, RKMVERI (deemed university) in tended by 700 youths.
Coimbatore Mission Vidyalaya held the 14th Jaipur centre held a cleanliness drive in its
convocation on 9 November. In all, 202 suc- neighbourhood on 2 October.
cessful candidates were awarded certificates and
degrees. Dr Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Principal Relief
Secretary to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Flood Relief: In response to the floods in various
delivered the convocation address. parts of the country, the following centres con-
Srimat Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj ducted relief operations mentioned below:
288 PB January 2020

Reports 299
Flood Relief in Wayanad by Kalady Centre Flood Relief by Patna Centre
(i) Kerala: (a) Haripad centre distributed food and distributed 400 kg rice, 400 kg flour,
2,000 kg firewood, 600 pieces of disposable tim- 200 kg dal, 50 kg assorted spices, 200 kg salt,
ber, 15 coconuts, vegetables, and other necessary 200 litres edible oil, 25 kg tea leaves, and 400
items among flood-affected families in Alappu- kg sugar among 200 families from 26 Septem-
zha district from 13 to 19 August. ber to 14 October.
(b) Kalady centre distributed 3,000 kg rice, (iv) Bihar: (a) Patna centre distributed 100
550 kg dal, 550 kg sugar, 1,608 shirts, 1,892 trou- kg chira, rice flakes, 250 kg sattu, gram flour, 600
sers, 1,100 lungis, 1,100 ladies’ garments, 1,100 packets of biscuits, 5,600 packets of fruit juice,
bedsheets, 550 bars of soap, 550 vials of antiseptic 1,125 kg glucose powder, 2,000 saris, 1,284 sets
lotion, 1,100 mats, 550 mugs, 550 jugs, and 550 of children’s garments, 1,250 mosquito-nets, and
buckets among 550 families in Wayanad district 50,000 halogen tablets among 3,460 families
on 1 September. from 28 September to 21 October.
(ii) Gujarat: Vadodara centre distributed (b) Purnea centre distributed 6,000 kg rice,
1,370 food packets and 48 saris among affected 2,400 kg dal, 600 kg soya, 6,600 kg potatoes,
people in August. The centre also gave 4 ration 1,250 saris, and 1,248 lungis among 1,238 families
kits—each kit containing 10 kg flour, 4 kg rice, from 17 to 24 October.
1.5 kg dal, 1 kg edible oil, 1 kg salt, 1 kg sugar, 250 (v) West Bengal: Malda centre distributed
gram tea leaves, and 200 gram assorted spices— 3,500 kg rice, 510 kg dal, 2,650 kg potatoes, 600
to 4 affected families on 30 August. kg salt, and 500 litres edible oil among 591 fam-
(iii) Maharashtra: Pune centre distributed ilies from 8 to 12 October.
7,130 kg jowar, sorghum flour, 700 kg dal, 700 Distress Relief: The following centres distrib-
kg assorted spices, 500 kg edible oil, 700 blan- uted various items, shown against their names,
kets, 500 bedsheets, 700 mats, and 200 sets to needy people: India:
of utensils—each set consisting of 4 plates, 5 (a) Aalo: 396 shirts, 396 trousers, 148 sweat-
bowls, 5 tumblers, 7 spoons, 3 pots, 1 tava, fry- ers, 1,120 notebooks, 672 pencils, 224 erasers, and
ing pan, and 1 rolling pin and board—among 224 sharpeners from 28 August to 19 September;
878 affected families in Sangli, Satara, and and 186 shirts and 186 trousers on 1 November.
Kolhapur districts from 7 to 30 August. The (b) Antpur: 1,000 trousers and 500 jackets
centre again served 4,000 packets of cooked from 30 August to 13 September.
PB January 2020 289

Distress Relief by Dibrugarh Centre Distress Relief by Dibrugarh Centre
(c) Bagda: 867 shirts, 867 trousers, 160 (m) Dibrugarh: 120 saris on 28 September.
saris, 140 lungis, and 875 torches from 6 to 29 (n) Gadadhar Ashrama, Kolkata: 283 saris
September. and 30 children’s garments from 24 September
(d) Bajepratappur, Bardhaman: 1,000 shirts, to 2 October.
1,000 trousers, pieces of cloth for 3,000 shirts, (o) Gourhati: 55 dhotis, 220 saris, 1,000 shirts,
500 dhotis, 500 saris, and 500 uttariyas from 7 and 1,000 trousers from 2 to 26 September.
September to 27 October. (p) Gurap: 160 saris, 121 dhotis, 5 uttariyas
(e) Balaram Mandir, Kolkata: 194 shirts on and 103 sets of children’s garments from 19 Sep-
28 September. tember to 1 October.
(f ) Baranagar Math, Kolkata: 15 dhotis, 390 (q) Guwahati: 160 mosquito-nets and 270
saris, and 407 sets of children’s garments on 28 saris from 13 to 28 September; and 608 shirts and
September. 1,715 trousers from 13 September to 14 November.
(g) Baranagar Mission, Kolkata: 70 dhotis, (r) Hatamuniguda: 525 vests from 9 to 16
250 lungis, 1,201 saris, 628 shirts, 120 T-shirts, November.
628 trousers, 144 sets of ladies’ garments, 289 sets (s) Indore: 104 saris, 800 shirts, and 800
of children’s garments, 415 frocks, 287 undergar- trousers from 10 to 24 November.
ments, 80 mosquito-nets, and 104 water filters (t) Kailashahar: 500 shirts, 500 trousers, 140
from 28 September to 6 October. dhotis, and 144 saris on 29 September; and 175
(h) Barasat: 466 saris and 158 dhotis from 29 dhotis, 178 saris, 500 shirts, and 500 trousers
September to 2 October. from 29 September to 26 October.
(i) Barisha: 646 shirts and 200 saris from 18 (u) Kankurgachhi: 85 dhotis and 85 saris
to 24 September. from 4 to 27 October.
(j) Chandipur: 5 saris and 1 bicycle from 26 (v) Kasundia, Howrah: 1,000 T-shirts, 7
September to 7 October. dhotis, 497 saris, 10 frocks, and 154 sets of chil-
(k) Cuttack: 300 shirts and 300 trousers dren’s garments from 16 September to 1 October.
from 19 July to 29 August; and 300 shirts and (w) Kathamrita Bhavan, Kolkata: 245 saris,
300 trousers from 21 September to 4 October. 2,000 shirts, and 500 trousers from 14 July to 29
(l) Davanagere: 24 shirts on 25 September. September.
290 PB January 2020

Reports 301
Distress Relief by Madurai Centre
(x) Koyilandy: 320 shirts, 180 T-shirts, 500

trousers, 1 cooker, 6 cooking vessels, 6 buckets,
and 6 ladles from 10 to 20 November.
(y) Lalgarh: 700 shirts and 700 trousers
from 7 September to 15 November.
(z) Madurai: 2,000 shirts from 2 to 25
October.
Distress Relief by Rahara Centre
(aa) Malda: 193 dhotis, 80 lungis, 205 saris,
62 shirts or T-shirts, 237 trousers, 551 sweaters or towels, and 100 mosquito-nets from 23 August
sweatshirts, 452 sets of children’s garments, 150 to 28 September.
kg flour, 120 kg sugar, and 60 litres of edible oil (ii) Rajarhat Bishnupur: 500 shirts and 500
from 24 August to 29 September. trousers from 10 to 24 September and 250 saris
(bb) Manasadwip: 1,800 saris from 5 to 22 from 27 September to 2 October.
September. (jj) Rajkot: 837 shirts, 153 T-shirts, and 1,012
(cc) Nagpur: 1,000 shirts and 1,000 trousers trousers from 30 March to 20 April.
from 1 December 2018 to 10 October 2019. (kk) Ramanathapuram: 50 saris, 75 sets of
(dd) Naora: 250 shirts, 1,250 T-shirts, 250 children’s garments, and 375 notebooks on 24
trousers, 1,500 tops, 210 dhotis, and 1,000 saris October.
from 28 September to 3 October. (ll) Ramharipur: 2,000 shirts and 1,000
(ee) Narottam Nagar: 706 shirts, 915 trou- trousers from 25 August to 4 October.
sers, and 209 tops on 27 and 30 September. (mm) RKMVERI, Belur: 28 school bags from
(ff ) Nattarampalli: 500 shirts and 500 trou- 18 February to 12 September.
sers from 21 to 25 August. (nn) Salem: 500 T-shirts, 500 trousers, 57
(gg) Puri Mission: 842 shirts and 532 trou- saris, 57 lungis, 57 shirts, 8 sets of children’s gar-
sers from 4 to 30 November. ments, 114 towels, 122 bars of soap, 122 tubes of
(hh) Rahara, Kolkata: 5 dhotis, 14 lungis, 324 toothpaste, and 122 vials of hair oil from 18 to 22
saris, 6 ladies’ garments, 805 shirts, 865 T-shirts, October; and 118 bedsheets, 118 buckets, and 118
901 trousers, 78 sets of children’s garments, 3 mugs on 16 November.
PB January 2020 291

kg sugar, 22 kg tea leaves, 45

kg milk powder, and 45 kg tur-
meric powder on 28 September;
and 2,000 shirts, 1,000 T-shirts,
and 1,000 trousers from 20 Sep-
tember to 5 October. Also 440
kg rice, 440 kg flour, 110 kg dal,
110 kg cooking oil, 220 packets
of turmeric powder, 220 kg salt,
22 kg tea leaves, 110 kg sugar, 44
kg milk powder, and 220 bars of
bathing soap on 5 November.
Bangladesh: (a) Bagerhat:
Cyclone Relief by Puri Mission Centre 180 saris and 25 cooking pots on
(oo) Saradapitha, Belur: 500 saris from 6 26 September.
September to 26 October; and 3,000 shirts from (b) Baliati: 31 saris, 84 sets of children’s gar-
21 August to 19 September. ments, and 16 towels from 5 to 15 October.
(pp) Sargachhi: 6,000 T-shirts and 2,000 (c) Chandpur: 140 saris on 7 October.
jackets or sweaters from 18 February to 21 July and (d) Chittagong: 200 saris, 100 sets of chil-
1,000 T-shirts from 6 September to 21 October. dren’s garments, 4,000 kg rice, 400 kg dal, and
(qq) Shimla: 564 shirts, 300 trousers, and 236 400 kg edible oil from 15 to 30 September.
tops from 1 May to 5 October. (e) Dhaka: 300 saris in October.
(rr) Shyampukur Bati, Kolkata: 110 saris on (f ) Dinajpur: 2,500 saris on 3 October.
29 and 30 September. (g) Mymensingh: 450 saris, 40 sets of ladies’
(ss) Silchar: 4,936 shirts or T-shirts, 760 garments, and 12 shirts from 22 September to 2
dhotis, and 2,400 saris from 29 August to 14 October.
October. (h) Sylhet: 300 dhotis and 300 saris in
(tt) Sinthi, Kolkata: 100 saris and 474 shirts October.
from 11 to 30 September. Zambia: Lusaka: 1 laptop computer and 100
(uu) Sohra (Cherrapunjee): 11,255 shirts, 4,600 kg powdered maize on 8 and 21 September; and
T-shirts, 14,177 trousers, 11,907 tops, and 7,348 200 assorted clothes, 40 pairs of shoes, and 100
sweaters or jackets from 2 February to 31 March. kg powdered maize on 17 and 19 October. Also
(vv) Swamiji’s Ancestral House, Kolkata: 100 kg powdered maize to an orphanage on 19
680 shirts, 320 T-shirts, and 498 trousers from November, and 450 concrete blocks to a philan-
31 August to 28 September. thropic organisation on 20 November for con-
(ww) Taki: 190 saris, 3,000 shirts, and 3,000 structing a building.
trousers from 7 September to 7 November. Winter Relief: The following centres distributed
(xx) Tamluk: 488 shirts and 485 trousers blankets and winter garments:
from 14 August to 30 September. (a) Aalo: 15 sweaters on 1 November.
(yy) Vrindaban: 450 kg rice, 450 kg flour, (b) Bajepratappur, Bardhaman: 1,000 sweat-
112 kg dal, 112 kg cooking oil, 225 kg salt, 112 ers on 27 October.
292 PB January 2020

Reports 303
Cyclone Relief by Manasadwip Centre Cyclone Relief by Sarisha Centre
(c) Baranagar Mission, Kolkata: 120 blan- (r) Rajkot: 986 jackets from 30 March to 20
kets from 28 September to 6 October. April.
(d) Cossipore, Kolkata: 300 blankets from 5 (s) RKMVERI, Belur: 32 blankets and 75
September to 15 November. sweaters on 9 April.
(e) Gourhati: 500 blankets and 1,000 jackets (t) Shimla: 268 sweaters, 77 sweatshirts, and
or sweaters from 2 September to 27 November. 455 jackets from 1 May to 5 October.
(f ) Guwahati: 353 jackets or sweaters from 1 (u) Tamluk: 1,000 blankets, 397 jackets, and
to 14 November. 112 sweaters from 14 August to 15 September.
(g) Hatamuniguda: 500 blankets from 17 to (v) Yelagiri: 500 blankets on 22 October.
24 November. Flood Rehabilitation: (i) Kerala: (a) In the af-
(h) Indore: 500 blankets on 10 November. termath of the floods that had hit Kerala in Au-
(i) Jamtara: 500 blankets from 13 to 19 gust 2018, the Headquarters distributed 400
September. bicycles to school girls in Alappuzha district
(j) Lalgarh: 500 blankets from 7 September on 7 September, 20 September, and 31 October
to 15 November. through Kochi centre.
(k) Limbdi: 135 sweaters on 22 and 23 (b) In response to recent floods in the state,
November. Koyilandy centre distributed 10 sewing ma-
(l) Nagpur: 1,000 sweaters from 1 December chines among 10 affected families in Kozhikode
2018 to 10 October 2019. district on 10 September.
(m) Narottam Nagar: 209 sweaters and 706 (ii) Bihar: In response to flooding in Kati-
sweatshirts on 27 and 30 September. har district, Katihar centre distributed 4,000
(n) Puri Mission: 100 blankets on 12 Octo- kg chira, rice flakes, and 500 kg gur, molasses,
ber and 590 blankets from 4 to 30 November. among 1,333 families from 27 September to 18
(o) Rahara, Kolkata: 617 sweaters from 23 October.
August to 28 September, and 80 blankets on 24 Economic Rehabilitation: Under self-employ-
November. ment programme, Porbandar centre distributed
(q) Raipur: 174 blankets on 2 and 21 9 sewing machines on 5 and 18 September to
November. poor and needy people.
PB January 2020 293

Zambia: Lusaka centre handed over 4 sew- conducted eye camps and some patients were
ing machines to a skill development training in- given free spectacles and vitamins. A cumulative
stitute on 9 November. report is given here in the table below, covering
Fire Relief: Assam: In response to a fire incident the period from October 2018 to November
in Karimganj in which 4 houses were completely 2019. P
burnt down, Karimganj centre distributed 4
dhotis, 4 saris, 4 blankets, 5 sets of children’s gar- Eye Camps
ments, 4 mosquito-nets, 4 handis, 8 plates, and Centre Patients Spectacles Surgeries
4 tumblers among the 4 affected families on 30 Agartala 740 - -
September. Aalo 288 172 -
Cyclone Relief: In the wake of the devastation Asansol 128 - 19
caused by Cyclone Bulbul in North 24 Parganas, Bankura 6,664 664 1224
South 24 Parganas and Medinipur districts in Chengalpattu and 950 424 107
India, and in some parts of Bangladesh, the fol- Chennai Math
lowing centres conducted relief: Dehradun 10,904 1378 1,741
(i) India: West Bengal: Delhi 1,382 508 256
(a) Manasadwip centre provided shelter to Gourhati 300 17 39
230 persons of Manasadwip on 9 November and Halasuru 727 402 406
served cooked food to 7,522 persons from 10 to Jamshedpur 909 - 470
12 November. Kamarpukur 6,226 1,211 1,380
(b) Sarisha centre distributed 23,360 kg rice, Khetri 937 - 326
5,490 kg dal, 7,100 kg potatoes, 1,398 kg cooking Koyilandy 82 4 -
oil, 1,978 blankets, 3,000 saris, 800 dhotis, 1,800 Lucknow 50,549 - 4,999
lungis, and 800 uttariyas among 1,996 affected Madurai 1,668 317 413
families in South 24 Parganas district from 18 Malda 218 64 -
to 21 November. Medinipur 75 - 7
(c) Taki centre distributed 2,000 kg chira, Mumbai 566 341 103
750 kg sugar, 4,032 packets of biscuits, and 2,160 Nagpur 714 436 88
candles among 2,412 cyclone-affected persons Porbandar 934 - 332
in North 24 Parganas district from 12 to 17 Rajamahendravaram 2,263 522 215
November. Rajkot 1,310 - 570
(ii) Bangladesh: Bagerhat centre distributed Ranchi Morabadi 10,923 688 233
1,000 kg rice, 100 saris, and 100 lungis among 100 Salem 3,535 808 622
families in Satkhira district on 15 November. Saradapitha 2966 - 700
Distress Rehabilitation: Rahara centre dis- Seva Pratishthan 850 130 223
tributed a tricycle, 3 wheelchairs, and 6 walking Sikra-Kulingram 144 31 31
sticks among differently-abled people from 22 Vadodara 1,159 32 141
September to 27 November. Varanasi Home of 163 160 160
Service
Free Eye Camps Total 1,08,274 8,309 14,805
Several centres of the Ramakrishna Mission
294 PB January 2020

305
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The Light of the Modern World

Swami Bhajanananda
According to Swami Vivekananda, ‘With the birth of Sri
Ramakrishna the Golden Age has begun.’ But today, for the
generality of people, such an assertion may appear preposterous,
with no sign of such a beginning visible anywhere. Who was Sri
Ramakrishna? What was the purpose of his advent? Did he bring
about a silent revolution, unseen on the surface?
This book skilfully deals with these issues, taking for its subject
the Avatarahood of Sri Ramakrishna and its universal significance.
In the course of his discussion the author presents the different
facets of an Avatara and the universal relevance of his message.
Pages 268 | Price ` 100
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Upanishadic Stories And New

Their Significance Relea
se s
By Swami Tattwananda
In the Upanishads we find— in some parts—the
highest abstract truths presented through stories and
dialogues. The author, Swami Tattwananda, a disciple of
Swami Shivananda, has taken some of the finest stories
scattered in the pages of the Upanishads and presented
them here, with slight adaptation. This adapted or
slightly fictionalized version of the stories, with the core
message intact, makes it easy for the readers to grasp the
significance as well as the central message of the stories.
Pages: 136| Price: ` 60
Naishkarmyasiddhih By Sri Sureshvaracharya

Translated by S. S. Raghavachar
Naiṣkarmya-siddhi is a treatise on Advaita Vedanta
written by Sureśvara, one of the direct disciples of
Ādi Śaṅkara, in approximately the 8th Century CE. It
comprises 423 verses divided into four chapters and
deals with the method of Advaitic realization through
(1) removal of ignorance, (2) distinction of the self and
non-self, and (3) an in-depth analysis of the mahāvākyam
‘tat tvam asi’ (“Thou art That”). The book was first
published by the University of Mysore in 1965, but has
been long out of print. We are grateful to the University
of Mysore for granting us permission to publish the book
in its present form.
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Vivekananda’s Loving Relationships

with His Brother Disciples
es
Releas
By Asim Chaudhuri N e w
This book explores Swami Vivekananda’s

unselfish and benevolent love for his brother
disciples, and the world in general. The analysis and
conclusion presented in the book are the author’s
own, and may not represent the general views of the
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. The
author is grateful to Advaita Ashrama for agreeing
to sell and distribute this book.

Spirituality in Modern Literature

(Vedanta and the Ramakrishna Movement in the Modern Literature
of India and the Americas)
Compiled by Swami Satyaswarupananda

and Swami Madhurananda
Since the advent of Sri Ramakrishna and
Swami Vivekananda in the modern era, their
teachings have percolated into almost every field
of knowledge, including the arts, literature, and
music. This book presents to the readers, through
a series of articles, a systematic record of some of
those writers who added the spiritual dimension
to their fictional works in India and the Americas.
During 2009, 2010, and 2013, these unique articles
Packing & Postage: ` 50 were published in Prabuddha Bharata, an English
monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order.
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308
to
Sri YogacharYa B.K.S. iYengar
Devoted Students
—Carolyn Belko
San Diego, USa
309
Dear Ma,
Thank you for wonderful Darshan.
With loving pranams,
Ferdos, Valerie, Nahid and Tamara
Trabuco Canyon, USA
310
N N
“Shri Ramakrishna was a wonderful gardener. Therefore he has
made a bouquet of different flowers and formed his Order. All
different types and ideas have come into it, and many more will
come. Know each of those who are here to be of great spiritual
power. Because they remain shrivelled before me, do not think
them to be ordinary souls. When they will go out, they will
be the cause of the awakening of spirituality in people. Know
them to be part of the spiritual body of Shri Ramakrishna, who
was the embodiment of infinite religious ideas. [Y]ou may go
round the world, but it is doubtful if you will find men of such
spirituality and faith in God like them. They are each a centre of
religious power, and in time that power will manifest.”
Swami Vivekananda [referring to his brother disciples]
With loving pranams from your

Dedicated Servants.
—Singapore Devotees
311
Who is the Best devotee of

God? It is he who sees, after
the realization of Brahman
that God alone has become
all living beings the universe,
and the twenty-four cosmic
principles.
—Sri Ramakrishna
Happy New Year from the

DC Devotees
312
W ith pranams,
T havathiru Ramadas Anna,
Kottaiyur, Kumbakonam
313
“Do not fear, my child. Always remember that the Master is

behind you. I am also with you. As long as you remember me,
your mother, why should be frightened? The Master said to me,
‘In the end I shall certainly liberate those who come to you.’ ”
—Holy Mother Sree Sarada Devi
Swami Prabuddhananda
(1929—2014)
—Devotees of Northern California
314
315
“Believe me, if there is the least tinge of selfishness in

building this temple, it will fall; but if it is the Master’s
work, it will stand.”
— Swami Trigunatitananda
Best W ishes for the New Year

from the
San Francisco Devotees
316
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317
‘‘My child, you have been extremely

fortunate in getting this human birth.
Have intense devotion to God. One must
work hard. Can one achieve anything
without effort? You must devote some
time for prayer even in the midst of the
busiest hours of the day.’’
—Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi
“In loving memory of

My parents Sushil and Mala”
—Anirban Bose
318
Some of Our Publications...

Swami Vivekananda: His Life & Legacy
Swami Tapasyananda
This book, authored by Revered Swami Tapasyananda Maharaj, former
vice-president of the Order, powerfully and impressively deals with Swami
Vivekananda’s life and legacy and answers questions like—who was Swami
Vivekananda? What did he do? What were his ideas and contribution to the
welfare of the individual and the collective, of India and the rest of the
Pages 272
world?
Price ` 70
Glimpses of Swami Vivekananda’s

Heroic Struggle
Swami Tathagatananda
This book authored by Swami Tathagatananda, who was the resident
minister and spiritual leader of The Vedanta Society of New York, highlights
the problems, criticisms, and hardships faced by Swami Vivekananda during
his lifetime, and how he eventually trumped over these adversities with
Pages 82 strength and courage, and fulfilled his mission. These glimpses of Swami
Price ` 25 Vivekananda’s heroic struggle will help readers find strength and
courage while dealing with adverse situations in life.
Swami Vivekananda in San Francisco*

Swami Ashokananda
This book is a combination of three lectures titled ‘Swami Vivekananda in
San Francisco’ delivered extempore by Swami Ashokananda at The Vedanta
Society of Northern California in San Francisco. The author, an illumined
soul himself, has brought out quite a few less known facts about the spiritual
dimension of Swami Vivekananda. He describes Swami Vivekananda’s
contribution to Vedanta and spirituality in India and America, especially the
high state of his mind when he was in San Francisco.
Pages 70 This book will be of great benefit to the admirers of Swami Vivekananda who
Price ` 35 wish to understand more about his personality and his life mission.
* Available for sale only in India.
For copies mail to Publication Department, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai <publication@chennaimath.org>
Buy books online at istore.chennaimath.org and eBooks at www.vedantaebooks.org
319
320
“Thinking all the time that we are diseased, will not

cure us; medicine is necessary. Being reminded of
weakness does not help much. Give strength; and
strength does not come by thinking of weakness all
the time. The remedy for weakness is not brooding
over weakness, but thinking of strength”.
Dr. Amitabha Mukherjee

MIND CARE CLINIC
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An Appeal
The composer of the Kathamrita (Gospel of Ramakrishna), Sri Mahendra Nath Gupta’s residential
house (Kathamrita Bhavan) has become a Branch Centre of the Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math. Sri Sri
Thakur, Sri Sri Ma, Sri Sri Swamiji and other disciples of Thakur, have all blessed this holy place with
the dust of their feet. As the space of this heritage building is very small, an adjacent Building was
recently purchased by the Math Centre. In addition to serving as an abode for spiritual Sadhakas, this
centre provides free services to the poor, including a Charitable Dispensary, a Free Coaching centre
for poor students, and also a Computer Training Centre for the underprivileged at nominal rates. The
building which provides these services is more than two hundred years old, and in
urgent need of renovation. The cost for renovation will be approximately INR 1 Cr.
(One Crore). We humbly request that the sincere devotees of the Holy Trio kindly and
generously support this noble cause. May the blessings of the Holy Trio and Sri M
be bestowed upon all of you is our ardent prayer. Donations, either Cash / Cheque/
RTGS/NEFT/Draft should be sent to Ramakrishna Math, Kathamrita Bhavan and in-
clude the Devotees full Address. Cheques should be made payable to: Ramakrishna
Math, Kathamrita Bhavan.
Bank details are as follows: State Bank of India, Branch Srimani Market, A/c
No.37162044100. IFSC Code-SBIN0031539.
All donations are exempt from Income Tax under section80 G. With reverence and salutations to
all.
Well Wisher
RAMAKRISHNA MATH (KATHAMRITA BHAVAN)
14, Guruprasad Choudhury Lane, Kolkata - 700 006 Swami Siddheshananda
Mobile : 89025-53411 / 7980391808 , E-mail : kathamrita.bhavan@rkmm.org Adhyaksha
“You cannot believe in God

until you believe in yourself”
Our Publications
 Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa  Swami Ishwarananda Giri
 Swami Vivekananda  Swami Sivananda
 Sri Ramana Maharshi  HH Swami Abhinava Vidyatheertha
 Guruji Viswanath  Sri Jiddu Krishnamurthi
 Swami Ramdas  Sri Shirdi Sai Baba
324
M M
Swami Nirvanananda, Vice-President (1966-1984)
Ramakrishna Math And Ramakrishna Mission
Question: How can one easily realise God ?

Answer: The day one can love his friend and foe in the
same light, he can easily realize God
—Srimat Swami Nirvananandaji Maharaj
This answer was given by Revered Maharaj in his room at Belur Math
in 1971, in response to the question by my mother, a disciple of Swami
Nirvananandaji.
With sastanga pranams from his Anonymous Disciple

325
Swami Vireswarananda Answers

Question: What is the place of the Guru in spiritual life?
SV: What is the place of the professor in your education? What is the place of
the professor under whom you carry on some research work or write a thesis for a Ph. D
degree? The same answer is applicable here too. You are given certain lines on which to pro-
ceed and the rest of it you have to do yourself. The Guru will help you now and then when
you are going wrong or when you are stuck up in your experiments. Just as you work in a
laboratory under a professor for your research, here also you are guided by a person and ac-
cording to his instructions you proceed. Swami Brahmanandaji once answered the question,
‘Ïs there any need for a Guru?’ by saying: “Even to learn pick-pocketing one needs a Guru
and for Brahma-vidya you think no Guru is necessary?” So, for any subject, without any help
from outside you can’t proceed.
Question: Maharaj, why do we get distracted and lose our concentration when we sit for
our spiritual practices? Is there no remedy?
SV: You see, at the beginning for some time the mind will be restless and will get dis-
turbed by small things. So concentration will be difficult. But do not be depressed
at that. It is the common experience of all beginners. Stick to the practice
with determination and bring the mind again and again to the
object of worship and meditation, if you find it has wandered
away. It is desires that make the mind restless and make
concentration difficult. Re- nounce these desires through
discrimination (vichara) and purify your mind and then
you will have concentration. Practice and Vairagya
are the only two means to get concentration of mind.
By Vairagya I mean discrimination and weeding out of
all desires (vasanas) from the mind, thus making the mind
purer and purer. When the mind becomes pure you will
be able to meditate well and derive great joy. The struggle will
be there for one or two years at least. So stick to spiritual practice
daily and regularly and all your difficulties will be overcome. Concentra-
tion does not come so easily; you go on with your practices regularly and in course of time
you will have good concentration.
Question: That’s a heartening thought, Maharaj. But sometimes our mind tends to become
so depressed that we cannot concentrate on Japa at all.
SV: The mind is also within the sphere of matter and has its ebb and flow like the river. So
do not be afraid of such periods. When you feel this kind of depression or when you find
your mind not in its normal mood, pray to Sri Ramakrishna to remove this mood from your
mind and He will help. Even great souls had such periods of depression.
(Source: “Practical Hints on Meditative Life, Vedanta Kesari, August 1988)
In reverential homage
Bani, Bhaskar, Debasree, Devajit & Ruchira Roy
(Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi)
326
Unselfishness is more paying,
only people have not the pa-
tience to practise it.
—Swami Vivekananda—
327
LIFE CARE • 204/1B LINTON STREET, KOLKATA 700014

328
329
330
In Loving Memory of
Swahanandaji Aksharanandaji Tathagatanandaji
Is a Non-Profit Organization with main two objectives:

1. Within the USA, to impart the message of the Holy Trio along with
Indian cultural values to children of Indian Origin, born and raised in
the USA; to serve their new immigrant parents AND
2. to physically and intellectually serve and empower financially weak
students (especially girls and women) in Bangladesh and India by
providing educational scholarhips (also known as Vivekananda
scholarship) and other philanthropic projects.
Amongst the service activities we engage in are the following:
 Supporting over 1,600 financially weak students with Vivekananda
Scholarships in Bangladesh, India and South Africa in the Year 2018.
 Providing funding for Schools, Orphanages, Libraries and Temples in
Bangladesh.
 Funding relief works during flood and other natural calamities in
Bangladesh and India.
 Working with over 150 Ramakrishna Mission Centers, some which are
affiliated with Belur Math and some which are privately run.
 Honoring other past great Swamis of Ramakrishna Order including
Subodhanandaji, Premeshanandaji, Bhuteshanandaji, Chandikanandaji,
Atmasthanandaji, Swahanandaji, Aksharanandaji & Tathagatanandaji
and Sadhu Nag Mahasaya & Master Mahasaya by establishing Memorial
Funds in their names for the Vivekananda Scholarship to serve students
in remote villages.
 Established Vivekananda History Fund in Dhaka University and
Jagannath University at Dhaka.
 Created the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Fund for Vivekananda
Scholarship in South Africa and Zambia.
Contact us:
172-05 Highland Ave,
Jamaica Estate, NY 11432
Email: vivekanandausa@
hotmail.com
Managing Editor: Swami Muktidananda. Editor: Swami Narasimhananda. Printed by: Swami Vibhatmananda
at Gipidi Box Co., 3B Chatu Babu Lane, Kolkata 700 014 and published by him for Advaita Ashrama (Mayavati)
331
67
boy came riding on a horse

Madan Mohan Mandir, and had fired and destroyed
the enemy Marathas
Baghbazar singlehandedly. In 1770,
T he Madan Mohan Mandir in Baghbazar

was visited by the Holy Trio on separate
occasions. It has an interesting history behind
the Vishnupur King,
Chaitanya Singh Dev was
again attacked. This time,
it. Originally the Madan Mohan image was unable to defend himself, the
discovered in Vishnupur by a Brahmin family. King ran away from Vishnupur with Madan
However, in the late sixteenth century, Raja Mohan to Baghbazar, and took shelter at
Bir Hambir, king of Vishnupur, attracted Gokul Mitra’s house. Due to straitened
by the image, brought it to his palace and financial circumstances, he mortgaged the
started worshipping it as his family deity. This idol of Madan Mohan to Gokul Mitra. In
worship continued by his royal descendants. the beginning, Madan Mohan was kept and
However in 1751, Bengal the Marathas attacked worshipped at Mitra's home. Later a separate
West Bengal and slaughtered thousands. Raja temple was constructed for Madan Mohan
Gopal Singha Dev was the ruling king of adjacent to his house. He also had an idol of
Vishnupur at this time. The Marathas decided Radhika made and placed her on the left hand
to attack Vishnupur during the night. Raja side of Madan Mohan. At present, nobody
was unaware of this and did not have his stays at this palatial residence. The two large
army protecting celebrations here
his kingdom. are Sri Radhika
However, the Annakut which is
next day when he celebrated the day
woke up, he saw after Kali Puja,
that thousands of and Holi, where
Marathi soldiers Madan Mohan is
lay dead and brought to the
others had fled. courtyard on the
Eyewitnesses said ground floor. The
that their family address is 520
deity (Madan Rabindra Sarani,
Mohan) in the Baghbazar.
guise of a small
Madan Mohan Mandir, Baghbazar
In loving memory of Dr. Rina Bhar —Dr. Gopal Chandra Bhar
Editor: Swami Narasimhananda. Printed by: Swami Vibhatmananda at Gipidi Box Co., 3B Chatu Babu Lane,
Kolkata 700 014 and published by him for Advaita Ashrama (Mayavati) from Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi
Entally Road, Kolkata 700 014, on 1 January 2020.
1
332
PB
ISSN 0032-6178
RABUDDHA
Published on 1 January 2020
9 770032 617002
HARATA
A monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order
as in all other matters, discard everything started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896
with it.
Prabuddha Bharata • January 2020 • Visions of Advaita

W ith
Visions of Advaita
January 2020
Ingredients and Intermediates Vol. 125, No. 1
Regd. Off. & Fact. : Plot No. 88 & 89, Phase-11.
Sipcot Industrial Complex. Ranipet-632 403, Tami Nadu. ` 100.00
Phone : 04172-244820, 651507, Tele Fax : 04172-244820
68
PB
ISSN 0032-6178
1
Published on 1 February 2020
RABUDDHA
9 770032 617002
HARATA
as in all other matters, discard everything A monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order
started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896
with it.
W ith

Ingredients and Intermediates
Regd. Off. & Fact. : Plot No. 88 & 89, Phase-11. February 2020
Sipcot Industrial Complex. Ranipet-632 403, Tami Nadu.
Phone : 04172-244820, 651507, Tele Fax : 04172-244820 Vol. 125, No. 2
` 15.00

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1

Prabuddha Bharata • January 2020 • Visions of Advaita

Manufacturers of Active Pharmaceutical

THE ROAD TO WISDOM

T he more we grow in love and virtue and

Editorial Office Swami Atmarupananda

54 The Indeterminate Technology

58 The Significance of the Mahavakyas

68 Surrendering the ‘I’ in Advaita Sadhana

76 Advaita Vedanta: Its Vision and Possibilities

81 Advaita: India’s Grand Contribution to the World

87 Consciousness and Self in Advaita Vedanta

98 Brahmasutra-Bhashya-Nirnayah—A Syncretic Study

108 Sri Krishna in Acharya Shankara’s Bhagavadgita Commentary

124 The Body in Advaita and Phenomenology—

133 Management Lessons from Advaita

Karmic Immortality Versus Personal Immortality in Advaita Vedanta 141

Ovidiu Cristian Nedu

Advaita and the Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object 146

The Advaita Vedanta Critique of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika 155

Advaita Vedanta and Philosophy of Religion 164

Javier Ruiz Calderón

Revisiting Acharya Shankara on Renunciation— 171

Swami Vivekananda on Advaita Vedanta 183

Liberating Samvada—Advaita Vedanta 191

as A Tradition of Ritualised Dialogue

Insights on Reality and Sat-Chit-Ananda— 200

An Advaita Vedanta Perspective

Advaita Vedanta in the Hands of Seyyed Hossein Nasr 207

219 Acharya Shankara’s Commentaries on the Prayer at the Hour of Death

in the Isha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads

228 Advaita Vedanta and the Dadu Panth

237 Beyond the Brain—The Impact of Advaita Philosophy

244 Advaita Darshanam: The Vision of Oneness

256 The Flawed Dichotomy of Durga-Mahishasura: An Advaitic Postscript

266 Maya—A Conceptual History

276 Young Eyes: Special Needs Children

278 Balabodha: Advaita

279 Traditional Tales: The Best Giver

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Let many more benefit from the thought-­

Prabuddha Bharata Library Initiative:

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‘THE LIBRARIAN’, BY GIUSEPPE ARCIMBOLDO

Ekashloki January 2020

Kim jyotis-tava-bhanuman-ahani me ratrau pradipadikam

A dvaita vedanta or advaita is first

What Vedanta Means to Me

analogy: Lord Buddha and Acharya Shankara

Swami Vivekananda’s Vision of Advaita

I n the opening scene of the Bhagavadgita,

can see the truth of this old assumption: even

S wami Vivekananda identifies three

inexplicable phenomena—impossible pos-

thoughts the thoughts of you alone. The sea of

The One and the Many Are Not Two

Let many more benefit from the thought-