NON-DUALITY

Brahma Satyam jagan-mithya, an assertion by Adi Shankaracharya to the declaration of "There are no others" by Sage Ramana Maharshi profoundly enunciates the non-duality of existence, reality, and truth. There are no second but only one. The subject and objects are one only. The entire cosmos is a projection or manifestation of Brahmān, the Absolute Existence or the Cosmic Self. Paramaguru Gaudapadacharya, Adi Shankaracharya, Sage Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami Sivananda, among others, are the leading lights of non-duality. They advocate that Brahman is Real and the rest are illusions.

The doctrine of Ajativada (no change), propounded by Gaudapadacharya (Parama Guru according to Adi Shankaracharya) in his Karika (commentary) states that this world does not exist in the past, present, or future. Brahmān (Cosmic Self, or Absolute Existence) is not subject to being and becoming, nor to birth, change, and decay. This world is a mere collection of Samskaras created by the mind, affirms Swami Sivananda in his commentaries on Gaudapada Karika. He claims that if you can consciously annihilate the mind through meditation, or Sādhana and Samādhi, the world disappears. It is exclusively Brahmān.

The famous declaration of Adi Shankaracharya is:

brahma satyam jaganmithyA jIvo brahmaiva nAparah anena vedyam sacchAstram iti vedAntaDiNDimah (Brahma Jnanavali Mala, 20)

Brahmān (Absolute Existence, Cosmic Self, or Supreme Being) is one undivided, undecay, imperishable, infinity, nirākara (formless), nirvisesa (specialityless), and nirguna (qualityless). It is the Absolute Reality. He goes on to say that Brahmān is the auspicious one, the inner light and the outer light, the indwelling light, higher than the highest, the light of all lights, self-luminous, the light that is the Self.

antarjyotirbahirjyotih pratyakjyotih parAtparah

jyotirjyotih svayamjyotih Atmajyotih Sivo'smyaham  (Brahma Jnanavali Mala, 21)

In a similar vein, Sage Ramana Maharshi asserts that a jnani (wise) does not find anything different or separate from the Self. All are in the Self. It is wrong to imagine that there is the world, that there is a body in it, and that you dwell in the body. If the Truth is known, the universe and what is beyond it will be found to be only in the Self (Talks with Ramana Maharshi: On Realising Abiding Peace and Happiness, Book by Munagala S. Venkataramiah and Ramana Maharshi, p. 77)

The Personal God, according to Swami Vivekananda, is the same Absolute looked at through the haze of Mâyâ. We can see Him only as the personal God when we approach Him with the five senses. The idea is that the self cannot be objectified. How can the Knower know itself? Nevertheless, it has the potential to cast a shadow, if objectification is the appropriate term. As it turns out, the personal God is the pinnacle of that shadow's attempt to objectify itself. He goes on to suggest that the Self is the perpetual subject, and we are constantly attempting to objectify it. And as a result of that fight, we have this wonderful universe, as well as what we call matter. However, these are poor attempts, and the personal God is the utmost objectification of the Self that we can achieve. This objectification attempts to show our true nature. According to the Sânkhya, nature reveals all of these experiences to the soul, and after it has had actual experience, it will understand its own nature. According to Advaita Vedantists, the soul is seeking to disclose itself. After a lengthy fight, it realises that the subject must always be the subject, and it begins nonattachment, resulting in freedom.

Cosmic Being is the only non-dual reality, an aphoristic assertion by Swami Sivananda. He elaborately says that there is one great Reality, the Cosmic Being that is the source and origin of countless millions of universes. Swami Sivananda asserts aphoristically that Cosmic Being is the only non-dual reality. He elaborates on the concept of one big Reality, the Cosmic Being, as the source and origin of countless millions of universes. It is the non-dual Reality, both present and concealed as the subtlest of the subtle, beyond the senses and incomprehensible to the mind. That Reality is the source of your being and your eternal identity. This small 'I' of our inner ego, which pushes and pulls, twists and turns, and pushes us down, is not our genuine 'I.'

1. Outline

It is all in One. The One is the Absolute Existence, Cosmic Self, or Imperishable Reality. The boundary lines between perishable and imperishable, absolute and relative, infinite and finite, eternal and temporal, etc. are only Maya, or illusion, at a cosmic level and sense perceptual ephemeral at an individual level. Jagat, the phenomenal world, is an embellishment of matter, thought, emotions, events, situations, beings, non-beings, and relations that are transitory and evanescent. They, by their very nature, are ephemeral or transitory. If that is so, why should one be perturbed by the situation, things, and relational in the objectified dimension? Their intrinsic and natural propensity is towards modification, transformation, growth, finiteness, change, decay, absorption, and dissolution. But Self, in the subjective dimension, is immune to all these vulnerabilities of limited adjuncts. It remains ever fresh, unconditioned, immutable, eternal, infinity, and relishing ever Sat-Chit-Anand (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss). Self is an inseparable essence of Cosmic Self. Nothing is outside, and everything is inside.

The Self experiences three stages of consciousness due to Maya: Vaisvanara (waking), Taijasa (dreaming), and Prajna (deep sleep). Vaisvanara is characterised by the individual's gross body experiencing external objects through sense perceptions, while Taijasa is characterised by the subtle body experiencing internal mind objects. Prajna is characterised by the fruits of the heart and bliss. Prajna is the unified, undifferentiated consciousness, or prajanaaghana, and the characteristic of the blissful causal body, the ultimate experience of Brahmān. The first two stages can be a source of cause and effect, while the third stage, Prajna, can only be a cause, but turiya, which refers to Self,  is neither.

Swami Sivananda explains that the Supreme Self which has four forms, is inside the bodies of all living beings and is known by the names Visva, Taijasa, Prajna and Turiya. The seat of the Visva is the right eye; within the Mānas dwells Taijasa, (Manasyantastu Taijasah-Gaudapada's Karika on the Mandukya Upanishad), while Prajna resides in the ether of the heart. The objects of enjoyment are of three kinds—gross, subtle, and bliss itself. Satisfaction is also threefold.

However, the conception of duality emerges when one locates oneself in the objectified dimension of the phenomenal world. It is a state of duality or separation from one’s own self. It is when one tries to relish the objects for one's sensual gratification, forgetful of his Self due to his own illusionary notion of self-ego. Ego clouds everything, including one’s own identity with Self. It blurs the power of discrimination of what is real and unreal. Real is eternal and infinity, Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss), and unreal is ephemeral and transitory, engulfed by illusion, delusion, and hallucination.

 In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (7.27), Sri Krishna says all beings are born in utter ignorance due to the dualities of opposites of desire and aversion that arise from illusion. All living beings in the phenomenal realm are deluded by these delusions of dualities.

 Nonduality of subject and object, Paramaguru Gaudapada brusquely states, when a distinction is made between subject and object, people grasp to objects, which is Samsāra (birth and death). By realising one's true identity as Brahmān, there is no more grasping, and the mind comes to rest. Nonduality of Ātman (Self) and Brahmān, the famous diction of Advaita Vedanta that Ātman is not distinct from Brahmān; the knowledge of this identity is liberating. There is no other reality than Brahmān, that "Reality is not constituted by parts," that is, ever-changing 'things' have no existence of their own, but are appearances of the one Existent, Brahmān; and that there is in reality no duality between the "experiencing self" (jiva) and Brahmān, the Ground of Being.

2. Scriptures

Vedantic scriptures tersely proclaim that Brahmān is the only reality, source, and origin of everything. Nothing outside of It everything within Its encapsulation. The entire object of Brahmasutras, according to Swami Sivananda, is to remove the erroneous identification of the Soul with the body-mind complex, which is the root cause of one's sufferings and miseries. These are the products of Avidya (ignorance) and help one in the attainment of the final emancipation through knowledge of Brahmān.

There is one Absolute Existence, according to Shankaracharya, who is of an absolutely homogeneous nature and is Sat-Chit-Anand (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss). The appearance of this world, Swami Sivananda states in his commentary on Bramasutras, is due to Maya—the illusory power of Brahman, which is neither Sat (real) nor Asat (unreal). In his commentary, he goes on to say that this world is unreal, or apparent modification, through Maya. Brahmān appears as this universe through Maya. Brahmān is the only reality. He says that the individual soul has limited himself through Avidya (ignorance) and identification with the body-mind system. Through his self-ego based actions, he tries to relish the fruits of his sensual actions. That way he becomes both the actor and the enjoyer.  The soul becomes identical with Brahmān when the Avidya is destroyed. In reality, the soul is all-pervading and identical with Brahmān.

According to the Chandogya Upanishad (6.2.1), there was only one existence prior to the manifestation of this world. Some argue that before this universe manifested, there was just non-existence, one without a second. Existence came from nonexistence.

In accordance with the Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (5.1.1), Brahmān is unconditioned and all-pervading, like the ether. It states that both Brahmān and the universe are endless. The infinite flows from the infinite. When the infinite cosmos is viewed in its entirety, it continues as the infinite Brahmān. 

 The Mahāvākyas, or the Great Sayings, tersely state an approximate outline of the non-duality of Absolute Existence, or Ultimate Reality.

(i) “Aham Brahmāsmi,” Brihadāranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10), Śukla Yajur Veda, refers to “I am Brahmān;”

(ii) “Tat Tvam Asi,” Chāndogya Upanishad (6.8.7), Sāma Veda, refers to "Thou art That,"

(iii)“Prajñānam Brahma,” Aitareya Upanishad (3.3), Rig Veda, refers to "Consciousness is Brahmān;" and

(iv) “Ayam Ātmā Brahma,” Mandukya Upanishad (1.2), Atharva Veda, refers to "This Self (Ātman) is Brahmān."

The other scriptures of Prasthanatrayi (Upanishads, Brahmasutras, and Bhagavad Gita) are unequivocal on the non-duality of Absolute Existence.

 The Srimad Bhagavad Gita (6.30)is categorically states that those who see Me everywhere and see all things in Me, I am never lost, nor are they ever lost to Me. In that endeavour to realise the eternal absolute reality, the Bhagavad Gita (18.66) advises abandoning all varieties of dharmas and simply surrendering unto Me alone. I shall liberate you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.

 sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣhayiṣhyāmi mā śhuchaḥ

There is nothing higher than Myself, proclaims Bhagavad Gita (7.7). Everything rests in Me, as beads strung on a thread. The Srimad Bhagavad Gita (11.38) emphasises that "You are the primaeval God and the original Divine Personality; You are the only resting place of this universe." You are both the knower and the object of knowledge; you are the Ultimate Abode. You, the possessor of limitless forms, are the only one who pervades the entire cosmos. Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (14.27) proclaims that He is the basis of the formless Brahmān, the immortal and imperishable, of eternal dharma, and of unending divine bliss.

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣhṭhāham amṛitasyāvyayasya cha
śhāśhvatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya cha

The Vedantic texts are of the view that objects are in the subject and nothing outside, and everything inside.

3. Remarks

Brahmān, the non-dual, is also called bhuma, the all-comprehensive Absolute, Plenum, including everything, proclaims sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda., which encompasses everything. He clarifies that it is incorrect to say Brahmān created the universe. Brahmān represents eternity, completeness, and perfection. It has no need to create. Māyā, or illusion, and avidyā, or ignorance, combine to give the impression of creation. He reasserts that it is inappropriate to say Brahmān creates the universe; rather, it is a projection of Him only. It is because Brahmān is eternity, complete, indefinable, infinite, perfect existence par excellence. It has no necessity to create. The appearance of something being created is the result of a peculiar admixture of confusion cosmically called Māyā, or illusion, and individually avidyā, or ignorance. Realisation of Self is an inseparable aspect of Cosmic Self in a beginningless and endless state that gets its propulsion when one longs for it in an inward drive to become conscious of it consciously.

-Asutosh Satpathy