'Who am I?' Part 7- Upanishads: Means of special knowledge
Nobody loves dvaita, nor do we have to make an attempt to learn about dvaita. We need not study dvaita. Which scriptures do I require to know that I am different from God, I am different from this world, I am different from everybody else? Which Swami has to come and give discourse? If there is something that is common between me and the world, between me and the maker of the world, if there is something which I do not perceive then I do require that special knowledge which would make me see this fact., inferentially I can see, but perceptually I do not see. And that fact has to be revealed by another means of knowledge which we call upanishads or vedAnta.
It does not take physics to know that silver is silver, copper is copper and gold is gold. What is required is only good eyes and our own experience to notice that the colours are different and the properties are different. We can easily see that each one is different from the other.
It does not call for knowledge of physics at all. But it definitely takes physics to know that gold, copper or silver- whatever be the type of substance there is only one thing, namely matter, which is convertible to energy. Energy can become matter. For us to know the particular equation E = mc^2 it definitely takes physics. it calls for a physicist to know the advaita that exists among the different types of substances. What is there is one energy which alone appears differently.
Similarly, to know that I am a jiva, an individual, that I am physically, psychologically, intellectually limited, that I am bound by my own body, mind and intellect and that I am spatially limited, that my powers are limited- what shAstra, scriptures do I require.? What vedAnta do I require? Which guru do I require? I do not require a lamp for it. I have to be there, alive and awake, that is enough. My little mind is good enough to give me this knowledge. I do not require schooling or university or any kind of education at all for that. I require myself to be awareful, that is enough. I should not be sleeping. In sleep I have no problem any way, I have to be either dreaming or awake to know that I am isolated from everybody else, that I am distinct from others; I do not require a teacher or sankara or upanishad to come and tell me that.
But if there is something common between you and me, as in case of two substances where differences are only apparent and the reality is one, viz; energy, if between I, aham and this (idam) there is something common, and the differences are only apparent, it definitely requires special knowledge to know it.
And it is this special knowledge we lack. That is why we are seekers all the time. We have experience of that special knowledge, of that special fact. In experience we find that in spite of our limitations we are advaitins. This becomes an ideal for me and I want to become that in terms of knowledge alone. If there is a fact which is already an accomplished fact and if I do not know the fact, the problem is not gf getting something I do not have; it is the problem of getting to know something that already is.
What is unfolded by the upanishads is I, the individual (jivA) the world (jagat) and the maker (ishvara) of this world in which I find myself for all the three jiva, the individual, jagat, the world and ishvara, the Lord, there is acommon base in the vision of the upanishads. This common base is advaita.
As said earlier, advaita is not open for our choice. We cannot choose between dvaita and advaita because we want only advaita. As long as I am a seeker separate from the sought I feel small by the very gap obtained between I, the seeker and the sought. Naturally I cannot stand this smallness and I want to bridge the gap, overcome the smallness by gaining the sought.
Tell me, are we interested in maintaining this seeker-sought relationship? or, are we interested in gaining the sought so the seeker would no longer be? I am a seeker because I want the sought. Therefor the cessation of seeking is all that I seek. In fact I do not seek for the sake of seeking. I am a seeker because I feel very small. The seeking comes from the sense of smallness, limitedness. So in the vision of the upanishads the seeker sought difference that we see is not really there. That difference does not exist in sleep. What we call dvaita, is the duality that is perceptual. Upanishads accept the perceptual dvaita and then inqquire into what exactly the sleep is. In sleep there is an identity.
Experientially we gain this advaita. Experience of sleep is a non dual experience. An experience of joy is also a non dual expereince. Once I expereince myself as a person who is no more a seeker naturally I want to be that person. There is no choice in that I want to be free from limitations, and there fore there is no choice, in whetehr i should be a seeker or not. I am a seeker in order that I cease to be a seeker. Seeking is not for the sake of seeking. And so if this is what we call non dual or advaita well there is no choice. Again this is advaita, as I told you, is not totally unknown to us. In sleep it is known experientially. And what is required is only a certain knowledge, a definite knowledge of the self in which according to the upanishads is the non dual, advaita
Nobody loves dvaita, nor do we have to make an attempt to learn about dvaita. We need not study dvaita. Which scriptures do I require to know that I am different from God, I am different from this world, I am different from everybody else? Which Swami has to come and give discourse? If there is something that is common between me and the world, between me and the maker of the world, if there is something which I do not perceive then I do require that special knowledge which would make me see this fact., inferentially I can see, but perceptually I do not see. And that fact has to be revealed by another means of knowledge which we call upanishads or vedAnta.
It does not take physics to know that silver is silver, copper is copper and gold is gold. What is required is only good eyes and our own experience to notice that the colours are different and the properties are different. We can easily see that each one is different from the other.
It does not call for knowledge of physics at all. But it definitely takes physics to know that gold, copper or silver- whatever be the type of substance there is only one thing, namely matter, which is convertible to energy. Energy can become matter. For us to know the particular equation E = mc^2 it definitely takes physics. it calls for a physicist to know the advaita that exists among the different types of substances. What is there is one energy which alone appears differently.
Similarly, to know that I am a jiva, an individual, that I am physically, psychologically, intellectually limited, that I am bound by my own body, mind and intellect and that I am spatially limited, that my powers are limited- what shAstra, scriptures do I require.? What vedAnta do I require? Which guru do I require? I do not require a lamp for it. I have to be there, alive and awake, that is enough. My little mind is good enough to give me this knowledge. I do not require schooling or university or any kind of education at all for that. I require myself to be awareful, that is enough. I should not be sleeping. In sleep I have no problem any way, I have to be either dreaming or awake to know that I am isolated from everybody else, that I am distinct from others; I do not require a teacher or sankara or upanishad to come and tell me that.
But if there is something common between you and me, as in case of two substances where differences are only apparent and the reality is one, viz; energy, if between I, aham and this (idam) there is something common, and the differences are only apparent, it definitely requires special knowledge to know it.
And it is this special knowledge we lack. That is why we are seekers all the time. We have experience of that special knowledge, of that special fact. In experience we find that in spite of our limitations we are advaitins. This becomes an ideal for me and I want to become that in terms of knowledge alone. If there is a fact which is already an accomplished fact and if I do not know the fact, the problem is not gf getting something I do not have; it is the problem of getting to know something that already is.
What is unfolded by the upanishads is I, the individual (jivA) the world (jagat) and the maker (ishvara) of this world in which I find myself for all the three jiva, the individual, jagat, the world and ishvara, the Lord, there is acommon base in the vision of the upanishads. This common base is advaita.
As said earlier, advaita is not open for our choice. We cannot choose between dvaita and advaita because we want only advaita. As long as I am a seeker separate from the sought I feel small by the very gap obtained between I, the seeker and the sought. Naturally I cannot stand this smallness and I want to bridge the gap, overcome the smallness by gaining the sought.
Tell me, are we interested in maintaining this seeker-sought relationship? or, are we interested in gaining the sought so the seeker would no longer be? I am a seeker because I want the sought. Therefor the cessation of seeking is all that I seek. In fact I do not seek for the sake of seeking. I am a seeker because I feel very small. The seeking comes from the sense of smallness, limitedness. So in the vision of the upanishads the seeker sought difference that we see is not really there. That difference does not exist in sleep. What we call dvaita, is the duality that is perceptual. Upanishads accept the perceptual dvaita and then inqquire into what exactly the sleep is. In sleep there is an identity.
Experientially we gain this advaita. Experience of sleep is a non dual experience. An experience of joy is also a non dual expereince. Once I expereince myself as a person who is no more a seeker naturally I want to be that person. There is no choice in that I want to be free from limitations, and there fore there is no choice, in whetehr i should be a seeker or not. I am a seeker in order that I cease to be a seeker. Seeking is not for the sake of seeking. And so if this is what we call non dual or advaita well there is no choice. Again this is advaita, as I told you, is not totally unknown to us. In sleep it is known experientially. And what is required is only a certain knowledge, a definite knowledge of the self in which according to the upanishads is the non dual, advaita
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