Moment to Speak

The Yoga-Vasistha , according to Swami Sivananda , first explains a doctrine in all of its facets before using captivating stories and fables to make it extremely clear. It addresses the topic of stressing the one and inseparable aspects of the Ātman  (individual soul) and Paramātman (Supreme soul), one inseparable in the midst of all of life's hardships. It provides a number of guidelines for the union of the Paramātman and Jivatman . The relationship between light and its source is analogous to that between the Jivatma and Paramātma . Yoga-Vasistha says that this world of experience with its different objects, laws, time, and space is a notion, or Kalpana , that arises from the mind. In the same way that the mind creates objects during dreams, it also creates everything during waking hours. Sankalpa (the operation of thought) is the expansion of the mind. Sankalpa creates this cosmos by means of its differentiating power. Space and time are merely constructs of the mind....

Yoga-Vasistha , an ascribed work to Sage Valmiki, is based on discourses by Sage Vasistha to Sri Rāma, the main character of the Rāmāyana , on Utpatti (creation), Sthiti (preservation), Vairāgya (renunciation), Mumukshutva (aspiration for liberation), Nirvāna (salvation), and Upasama (dissolution). The book, according to Swami Sivananda , embodies in itself the science of ontology, the knowledge of the Self, the principles of psychology, the science of emotions, the tenets of ethics and practical morality, discourses on theology, etc.   Sage Vasistha in his teaching discourses to Sri Rāma highlights that the universe is nothing but a diversity of Māyā (illusion), being in its true state but Caitanya (consciousness) per se, which fact can be perceived through Divine Vision. Jīva (a living sentient   or soul), also known as the Self, creates distinct notions of "I," "we," and so on through its varied experiences with various objects, just like small pieces of...

Universality is the Universal aspect of Brahmān , the Absolute, or the Cosmic Self. Particularity is the individual Self, an aspect of the Cosmic Self. They are one in continuum mode as Universal-Particular. The universal is the infinity of infinitude. It is attributeless, descriptionless, comprehensionless, and beyond the reach of the finite senses. It is something to which nothing can be ascribed. It is Absolute in reality, existence, knowledge, and truth. It goes beyond all ascriptions and attributes. If it were to be described as infinite, that would exclude from it whatever is finite, but the universal is the only reality, and everything we apprehend through our senses is nothing else but this mind. Even to think of it in terms of existence or non-existence is to misapprehend it entirely. The universal is cosmic consciousness. Cosmic consciousness is universal. Individual ego as “I” conception functions as a shell or cover of ignorance, separating consciousness of the Self to...

Man is born free. He strives to remain free from all encumbrances, bondages , attachments, and all other limited adjuncts that impede the realisation of his inner Self. He wants to shake off any form of impediment, whether physical, mental, emotional, or relational, in the drive to realise his inner Self (Ātman) to the fullest and maximum possible extent. It is neither this nor that form of experience that gratifies the senses emanating from all forms of external appearance. What is experienced is embedded with desires, attachments, aversions, or a pair of opposites. All these emanate from the body-mind-intellect system, which itself is transitory. Freedom is equanimity , forbearance , shaking off bonds , and fruit-based action. It is kaivalya , real , indivisible, and inseparable from the consciousness of the Self. It is to become consciously conscious of the Self. The Self, an inseparable aspect of Cosmic Self is infinity, imperishable, absolute, and not subject to limited adjun...

The Self is an aspect of the Cosmic Self and it is its inalienable aspect. The Self is a real entity, and its embodied form, body-mind-intellect-ego, is transient. Vedanta holds that the Ātman , or Self, is distinct from the body, mind, ego, intellect, and external appearances. The Self is eternal, pure, and self-existent. The consciousness of the Self is its fundamental goal and orientation. To realise its inateness, it needs to transcend the limitations sprouting out of ignorance through its vicarious association with an embodied form, the body-mind-intellect system. The Self is savouring the sensual pleasure by moving outwards to relish the objects through sense organs by virtue of being its embodied form. The embodied form is subject to time-space-causation. The world of objects is relational, dual, and finite. That way, it becomes forgetful of its own existence as a subject. But the Self is self-luminous, infinite, non-dual, imperishable, and without limitations of time-space-ca...

Truth is Truth, and Truth is Brahmān (Cosmic Self). It is infinity of the infinitude, uncontradicted, non-relative, non-separate and whole, real, self-determined, self-consistent, self-existent, absolute, and transcendental.  The nature of truth is its persistence through past-present-future, organically coherent whole, uncontradictory, independent of time-space-causation and validated by the centre of consciousness in the subjective domain. It transcends the threshold of time-space-causation. Transcendence, according to the sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda , is not physically higher for us. It is inclusivity of both the seer and the seen, not only an ascent from the level of the seer and the seen. Immanent is also transcendent. It is not physically something higher up; rather, it is a logical ascent. A thing becomes more real the more invisible it is, and the more unreal it is, the more tangible it gets. The smallest atom, which includes every self, contains the greatest gen...

Ātman is Self, or “I,” and Self is Ātman . It is a subject within every being, not the objects outside. It is the self-existent essence that persists for innumerable lifetimes. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that this Ātman is itself the light that is witness-consciousness and pure intelligence. It realises everything through its own consciousness as a witness and discloses everything through its own intelligence. The Self is happiness, the infinite of infinite, non-dual consciousness that exists beyond time, space, and causation. Every being’s essence is the Self, which is umbilically Brahmān , also known as the Cosmic Self or Absolute Existence. We can't comprehend it, yet it is within us. Self-experience is an experience of the Self. It is an aspiration to know more in totality, as its source and culmination are Absolute Consciousness. It is to learn and identify the real from the apparent by way of discrimination. Experience, as outlined by Swami Krishnananda , is the to...