Moment to Speak

Self-opinionated people guided by the sense organs dwell in the ovary of the body-mind-intellect system. Those individuals, Sage Ashtavakra ( Ashtavakra Gita , 1.8-9) proclaims, have succumbed to the "self-opinion" of 'I am the doer' and are engulfed in the forest of ignorance. Sage Ashtavakra argues that these individuals should embrace the belief that 'I am not the doer', fuelled by the knowledge that 'I am the one pure awareness', leading to happiness and freedom from distress. However, these self-opinionated people remain confined to the idea that 'I am the doer,' with characteristics of what the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (16.4-15) says are hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance. Such qualities are the cause for their continuing destiny of bondage in the Samsara Chakra (wheel of birth and death), as they possess neither purity nor noble conduct nor even truthfulness. The world for them, the Bhagavad Gita contends, is...

Visible is not Real nor Real is visible in this phenomenal world. The Real is One, indivisible, eternal, infinite, imperishable, and in Absolute Existence. Identity is one and indivisible, i.e., Awareness Alone. The underlying essence of Reality is consciousness. Consciousness is Awareness, the Ultimate Reality. It is not a mere characteristic of the individual but the fundamental, all-pervading essence of Reality, the source of our identity and the universe itself. The Upanishads posit that it is the underlying reality —the Brahmān , the Cosmic Self— from which the universe and all beings emerge. I am Awareness Alone, declares sage Ashtavakra ( Ashtavakra Gita , 1.13-14) during his discourses with sage King Janaka. It is when one is aware of his own Self,  beyond the body-mind-intellect system, and in one with the Brahmān , the Universal Self, or the Cosmic Self. As a fundamental aspect of Reality, it is not a product of the body-mind-intellect system; rather, it transcends that...

Exercising self-control, as articulated by sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda , entails a gradual evolution towards impersonality from a personality-centric self. He asserts that the self and personality are so interwoven that the affirmation of the self enhances the assertion of personality, and conversely. In this regard, self-control is equivalent and parallel to self-expansion. The controlled component of the self is the personality self, which denies the existence and significance of other selves. The logical constraints of the intellect and the spatiotemporal boundaries of the external world merely reflect how consciousness intertwines with its perceptions; thus, self-restraint necessitates a significantly broader engagement of consciousness than practitioners typically comprehend. The goal of life, according to Swami Krishnananda , is Atma-sakshatkara , or the realisation of the Self, but the method to be adopted in the realisation of this Self is control of the self. Co...

Given human nature, a human being cannot be anything apart from what he is; he may only comprehend information in a manner consistent with his preferences and cognitive abilities, thereby apprehending meaning solely through his own sensual interpretive mediums. Those meanings oscillate in the objectified dimensions, consistent with their transient baseline. It does need a description by any kind of quantitative or qualitative epitaph brought from an external source, because such a source does exist in the phenomenal world in space and time. Human expectations, according to sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda , are merely movements of consciousness toward an unattended goal, and all his endeavors, workshops, enterprises, and projects exemplify his conceptual interpretation of life as a future possibility rather than a current reality. If what he perceives as the entirety of life's values or existence's reality were already present, there would be no motivation to take action i...

If one is known, the other is not far behind. If Reality is one, Truth is one, Existence is one, and Self is one, nothing else remains outside, including the illusionary unreal of Maya, visible only in the Samsāra Chakra (wheel of birth and death). It is all in One, complete, full, imperishable, eternal, and an infinitude of infinity. The scriptures clearly affirm the Reality of Existence and the non-relativeness of Absolute Truth.  If that's the case, exploring both reality and unreality aims to seek to realise the Source in the elevatory journey of Self-knowledge, salvation, and liberation. It is through demystification that one can unravel the veil of ignorance, from an outward projectory orientation that obscures one's identity to an inward journey towards self-realisation. It is not to know what I was or will be; rather, it is to realise that, through conscious effort, I am Brahmān . The scriptures succinctly say Reality is One that may be “ Prajñānam Brahma ” (Intelli...

The world is the Self's aberration away from itself, toward what it is not. This is what sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda asserts again and again. How can one become what one is not? It is logically an indefensible position; yet this is what happens. That is why they call it Maya —a kind of delusive operation, an illusion that is cast before us, an appearance of something that cannot happen at all. Yet, it still occurs in some inexplicable manner. The whole thing is a mystery. We refer to this mystery as Maya. This is what he says about the way of consciousness of the Purusha from its self. The essential nature becomes, Swami Krishnananda expounds, the more the Purusha (Cosmic Self, or pure consciousness) ramifies its rays towards objects or the forms of Prakriti (cosmic matter, insentient) externally, the less it remains as the Purusha and the more it appears to be the Prakriti , having imbibed the characteristics of Prakriti . Purusha becomes the Prakriti , as it were...

This phenomenal universe is not real, expounded by Swami Sivananda . It has a mere appearance, like a snake in the rope or silver in the mother-of-pearl. It has no independent existence. Therefore, there cannot be any Vijatiya Bheda (difference between members of different classes or kinds). Ātman is Brahmān . That, according to Adi Sankaracharya , clearly manifests itself in the states of wakefulness, dream, and profound sleep, which is inwardly perceived in the mind in various forms as an unbroken series of egoistic impressions, which witnesses the egoism, the Buddhi , etc., which are of diverse forms and modifications, and which makes itself felt as the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; know thou this Ātman , thy Self, within thy heart (Vivekchudamani, Verse 217).    Ātman is beyond words and definition, and to define it is to limit it. It is limitless, self-luminous, imperishable, eternal, and non-ascribable. Ātman, according to Swami Sivananda , can provisionally b...

Spiritual state is eternal. It is newer. processes of experience, consciousness, and realisation of Ātman as an integral aspect of Brahmān , Cosmic Self or Absolute Reality revealing through a newer sense of values in the infinity of the infinity dimension. Sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda provides a clear explanation of the spiritual nature of experiences. According to him, a spiritual state of experience is not a sudden emergence of an existing experience that gives way to an entirely new type of consciousness, but rather a newer interpretation and a newer reading of meaning in the existing experiences. It is often asserted that truth does not originate. Truth is not a future event that is yet to take place but an eternity revealing itself with a new sense of value. Reality is the Cosmic Self in the eternity of the infinity of the infinite dimension. It is not a futuristic event or experience that takes place on a future date; rather, it is an in-depth expression of the horizo...