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For ScholarsPosted on: 11/01/2022Continued from Part-1...
[Shri Phani asked:- Swami! You said that Vritti or impression is also relative reality like the world in the view of the unimaginable God. Please explain this in detail.]
Swami replied:- Impression means a mode of awareness. Impression of a pot (Ghaṭa vṛtti) means the mind taking the shape of the pot (Ghaṭākāra-ākārita-antaḥkaraṇa vṛttiḥ - Ghaṭavṛttiḥ). The pot is the external object, which is made of inert matter and inert energy. The inert matter is also a form of inert energy only. Hence, the pot is inert energy only. The mind is its mode or impression like gold...
For ScholarsPosted on: 09/01/2022Shri Lakshman asked: Padanamaskarams Swami. The below extract is from the 7th shloka of the 18th chapter of Trailokya Gita. “In Advaita philosophy the original God is the unimaginable God, Who can never be concentrated upon as said in the Gītā (avyaktā hi gatir duḥkham). For this reason, only, Patanjali said that the concentration shall be done on the first energetic incarnation called as ‘Īśvara or Datta’. This God Datta exists in human incarnation as hidden inner item. The impression of human forms is coming in the mind...
For ScholarsPosted on: 10/10/2021Smt. Priyanka asked: Pādanamaskāram Swami, In the recent discourse, You said that in Aparāprakṛti, there are 8 fold components, comprising of the five elements and mind, intelligence, and ego. In another older discourse on Śrī Cakra and its real meaning, You had mentioned the following.
"The first five Cakras represent the five elements, the constituent materials of the creation. Attraction is the process of mind representing the Sixth ‘Ājñā Cakra’ and the four functional faculties (mind, intelligence, ego, and memory) at this level are called the four internal instruments (Anthaḥkaraṇams). The five elements and the four Antaḥkaraṇams...
For ScholarsPosted on: 18/09/2021[Dr. Nikhil asked: Padanamaskarams Swamiji, I feel the following two verses from the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (3.10–3.11) clearly indicate that awareness is not the ultimate God.
indriyebhyaḥ parā hyarthā arthebhyaśca paraṃ manaḥ .
manasastu parā buddhirbuddherātmā mahān paraḥ .. 10..
mahataḥ paramavyaktamavyaktātpuruṣaḥ paraḥ...
For ScholarsPosted on: 06/08/2021(The Knowledge Of Īśvara And His Incarnations)
1) It will be too hard for the soul to understand anything if the unimaginable God is introduced in the very first step. Hence, the unimaginable God was introduced as awareness by Śaṅkara. Every one understands awareness since awareness is the soul itself. Unfortunately, people understood the soul itself to be God! Actually, the awareness mentioned by Śaṅkara was not the relative awareness, produced...
For ScholarsPosted on: 04/08/2021Dr. Nikhil asked: Is it impossible to prove that consciousness is absent in deep sleep, on the basis of both experience and logic? A famous teacher of Advaita Vedānta claims in his video that it is an error to say that consciousness is absent in deep sleep. I have tried to put together some of the main arguments made by him below. 1Q:- As per Advaita, only the mind is absent in deep sleep, whereas, consciousness continues to exist. The inability to distinguish between consciousness and mind leads to this erroneous conclusion that consciousness is absent in deep sleep.
Swāmi Replied:- Anybody can distinguish consciousness or awareness from mind. Consciousness is the special work form of basic energy and it is called as awareness. Based on its functions, awareness is classified into 4 categories called internal instruments: 1) Mind or Manas...
For ScholarsPosted on: 31/07/2021(Spiritual knowledge of Unimaginable God Datta)
1) The word Brahman means the greatest, as per Sanskrit grammar (Bṛhi-vṛddhau). The greatest means the greatest among all items within creation, which is awareness or the soul. But the Creator, God, is greater than the created soul. Hence, God is the absolute greatest, whereas the soul is the greatest within creation. The soul is called parā prakṛti in the Gītā, which means that it is the greatest (parā)...
For ScholarsPosted on: 16/07/2021Part 9: Clarifications
Swāmi continued:- The three divine preachers called Śaṇkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva representing Śiva, Viṣṇu and Brahmā represent the single God Datta, who does destruction, maintenance and creation of this world respectively. God Datta is not only the single God (Ekamevādvitīyam... Veda) doing these three works, but also the single spiritual preacher, who established Advaita, Viśiṣṭa advaita and Dvaita philosophies for the sake of devotees in this world. These three philosophies can be applied to practical situations in the worldly life by devotees to come out of worldly ...
For ScholarsPosted on: 15/07/2021Part 8: Conclusions
1) Unimaginable God is absolutely real by Himself and world by itself is absolutely unreal. But, world also becomes absolutely real because God grants His absolute reality (Paramārtha sattā) to the world so that the absolutely real world gives absolutely real entertainment to God. The world being absolutely unreal by itself and being shinning due to borrowed absolute reality from unimaginable God is called as relative reality (Vyavahāra sattā)...
For ScholarsPosted on: 11/07/2021Part 7: Comparing the Soul with God and the Incarnation
Swāmi continued:- When we say that fire is burning some material, fire is the subject (Pramātā), the flames are the instrument used for burning (Pramāṇam), the burning is the result (Pramā) and the burnt material is the object (prameya). The subject is knower, the mind is the instrument used to know, the knowledge is the result and the knowable item is the object. Here, except the external knowable object the other three (subject, instrument and result) are awareness only. Sometimes, the object may be internal like the thought of an item. In such case, all the four are awareness only. Even the knowledge...
For ScholarsPosted on: 08/07/2021Śrī Bharath Krishna asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi, please answer the following questions of mine. Thank you so much for giving wonderful answers to all of my questions. From Your knowledge I have understood that Śrī Ādi Śaṇkarācārya gave the Advaita philosophy for atheists existing in His time so that they become theists. Although Ādi Śaṇkaracārya made His followers believe that they themselves are God, His actual intention was to gradually reveal the complete truth over time. Now You revealed the complete truth that no soul is God ...
For ScholarsPosted on: 07/07/2021Part 6: Interpreting Scripture
Swami continued: Some people have criticized Śaṅkara saying that He presents His own concept first and then quotes the scripture. Thus, He makes the scripture follow His concept by the force of His scholastic ability. This criticism is not justified. Generally, people expect that the scripture should be quoted first and that the concept should be drawn from it through analysis. But Śaṅkara’s path is correct in this matter. This is because, one should not seek to merely interpret the scripture. Instead, one should seek to correctly interpret the scripture. We must believe that the scripture is written by...
For ScholarsPosted on: 26/06/2021Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! In Your recent message You preached “The Veda says that God crosses boredom with the help of His self-ignorance (avidyā) and gains His original nature by realisation (vidyā), whenever necessary to perform a miracle (Avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā, vidyayā'mṛtamaśnute…—Veda)”. In this context I would like to ask You; while Human incarnation of God preaches the divine knowledge, what will be His state: ‘avidyā’ or ‘vidyā?...
For ScholarsPosted on: 06/04/2021Swami has said that the difference between the imaginary world of a soul and the external world created by God is that the imaginary world does not appear as real as this external world appears to God.
Śrī Lakshman commented: I also think that there is another difference. The imaginary world of a soul is not as continuous as this external world is. Yet another difference is that God can multiply Himself in His creation, which is imaginary to Him. He can simultaneously exist as many Human Incarnations of God. But a soul cannot do so...
For ScholarsPosted on: 06/04/2021[Kum. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: The Veda says “Ātmanaḥ ākāśaḥ sambhūtaḥ…”, which means that space arose from (was created by) Ātman. This creates a doubt whether space arose from God or the soul, since the word Ātman can refer to either God or the soul. If the Veda would have used the word Parabrahman instead, there would not have been any doubt.]
Swāmi replied: Ātman means the mediated God in this context. The unimaginable God has no form, nature or address. So, one cannot refer to Him directly. If we try to refer to the unimaginable God, there is every danger of the the souls receving the knowledge misunderstanding the statement. Since the unimaginable God cannot be known or even imagined, they might think...
For ScholarsPosted on: 06/04/2021Śrī Phani asked: This question is related to the discussion during a satsang about the concept that the creation appears real to God. It is said that māyā (mithyā) is that which is neither real (sat) nor unreal (asat) (Sadasat vilakṣaṇā māyā—Śaṅkara). The world is both real (sat) and unreal (asat) from the perspective of God and also from the perspective of the soul. God may subject Himself to 99% illusion...
For ScholarsPosted on: 30/03/2021Śrī Ganesh asked: In a discourse given by You in response to Dr. Nikhil’s question, You have explained how time can be represented in terms of space. The last time I met You, You said that Einstein was wrong when he said that without matter, space cannot exist. But when I think about the explanation given by You, I recall that You implied that time cannot exist without matter. Time is meaningless without matter. Since time and space are basically the same thing (space-time), space...
For ScholarsPosted on: 30/03/2021Śrī Anil Antony asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! Śaṅkara used a simple logic to prove to atheists that God exists. He said: You are God and you exist; so, God exists. How did atheists get convinced with this logic in the absence of any practical experience that they were God? Did they practically get some mental peace or miraculous powers, at least? Without any practical experience, how did the atheists simply believe this concept, which was basically a lie meant to uplift them?
Swāmi replied: Śaṅkara told that the world is unreal if God (or atheistic soul) withdraws His absolute existence from the world. Based on this fact, the only existing God will have absolute peace. Śaṅkara said that since world is unreal if it is isolated from God...
For ScholarsPosted on: 30/03/2021Śrī Anil Antony asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! You have said that we can experience both unreal and real things, giving the example of a rope which appears to be a snake. We can experience the real rope as well as the unreal snake (illusion) due to dim light. What exactly do the snake and the rope refer to? Can You please give another practical example to explain how we can experience both real and unreal things? Can a soul experience the unreality of creation at any time?
Swāmi replied: Soul can never experience the fundamental unreality of the creation. The reality of a snake seen...
For ScholarsPosted on: 30/03/2021Śrī Anil Antony asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! The Śūnya Vāda philosophy of Nāgārjuna states that everything is unreal. How can this philosophy be true when, even after the death of a soul, this universe continues to exist to other living souls? That one soul died, but the universe remained. This means that the soul is temporary and hence, unreal, whereas, the universe is permanent, and hence, real. So, even when the soul is alive, the soul should be unreal with respect to this universe.
Swāmi replied: The unreal world is real for the unreal soul. Reality is real for another reality. Similarly, unreality is real for another unreality...
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