17

CHAPTER 2

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ADVAITA

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CHAPTER 2

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ADVAITA

Composed several millennia ago by sages and seers in their serene hermitages, the

Upanishads have been treasured and handed down from generation to generation first as

an oral tradition and later in the form of manuscripts. The theme of the Upanishads is the

quest for absolute reality. In the thoughtful and contemplative minds of the ancient sages

of India, there arose many fundamental questions about life. There is a deep earnestness

in the profound questions that they raise and an intense aspiration to discover the truth

underlying appearances. In From the Upanishads, Wood has presented a contemporary

translation of the Upanishads into English verses which makes them accessible to the

modern reader. Selected verses are quoted here from this work to present a glimpse of the

essential aspects of the philosophy of Advaita. The Taittirya Upanishad says:

What could it mean to know complete

reality, just as it is:

beneath the various partial views

that each of us seems to perceive,

through little body, sense and mind

in a much larger universe? (From the Upanishads 200)

Scientists today ask the very same question. Physicists have been attempting to

arrive at a Grand Unified Theory by which all the fundamental forces of nature can be

seamlessly integrated and explained in terms of a single underlying force. The holy grail

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of modern physics is the search for a Theory of Everything, an all-encompassing,

coherent theoretical framework of physics that fully explains and links together all

aspects of the universe. This search is reminiscent of the profound question posed by the

student Shaunaka to sage Angiras in the Mundaka Upanishad:

Can knowledge of the world’s

reality be so complete

that all the many things we seem

to see are understood in it? (From the Upanishads 178)

The questions posed in the Upanishads are timeless in their appeal and relevant in

every age to anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of life. Sri Aurobindo, the great

philosopher and sage, says:

The Upanishads are a record of the deepest spiritual experiences,

documents of a revelatory and intuitive philosophy of an inexhaustible

light, power and largeness and, whether written in verse or cadenced

prose, spiritual poems of an absolute, an unfailing inspiration inevitable in

phrase, wonderful in rhythm and expression. (The Upanishads 1)

The Upanishads are an exploration into the fundamental consciousness of one’s

being. The meaning of the word ‘I’, as unfolded by the Upanishads is “simple,

unqualified awareness” (Dayananda 34). It is consciousness which makes any experience

possible, as the awareness of one’s being must precede any other experience. In

picturesque language, the Katha Upanishad describes this light of consciousness, which

illumines all experiences of life:

The sun does not shine there

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nor the moon and the stars,

nor these lightning and much less this fire.

When That shines,

everything shines after That.

By its light, all this is illuminated. (5:15)

Sri Adi Sankara selected ten among the Upanishads for writing his profound

commentaries. These ten Upanishads are Isavasya, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka,

Mandukya, Thaittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. Through these

commentaries, Sri Adi Sankara expounded the philosophy of Advaita. Sri Aurobindo

says:

The Upanishads have been the acknowledged source of numerous

profound philosophies that flowed from it in India like her great rivers

from their Himalayan cradle fertilizing the mind and life of the people and

kept its soul alive through the long procession of the centuries, constantly

returned to for light, never failing to give fresh illumination, a fountain of

inexhaustible life-giving waters. (The Upanishads 2)

The Upanishads are the basis of not only the philosophy of Advaita (non-

dualism), but also the philosophy of Dvaita (dualism) and Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-

dualism). How does one reconcile these different interpretations of the Upanishads?

Swami Vivekananda says, “The first step is dualism. Then man gets to a higher state,

partial non-dualism. And at last, he finds he is one with the universe. Therefore, the three

do not contradict but fulfill” (Insights into Vedanta 19). The philosophical system of

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Advaita provides the conceptual framework which is useful to interpret the symbolism in

Sri Ramana’s poems.

There is a rich human element in the Upanishads as they present not only

philosophical insights but also depict the way of life in ancient India. A sage sitting in his

serene hermitage ready to teach earnest seekers of knowledge; students of varied

backgrounds living together and becoming part of the family of the sage; scenes such as

these are all vividly portrayed. The Upanishads are utterances of sages based on their

inner experiences that arose in the depths of their meditation. The Upanishads are the

concluding section of the Vedas, and therefore also termed as Vedanta. The Upanishads

present a fascinating glimpse of what lies in the deeper layers of the mind and beyond it.

Many of the Upanishads are in the form of a dialogue between a seeker of truth

and a sage. In the Chandogya Upanishad, there is a conversation between a student and a

sage. Although the student is highly learned and has mastered various branches of

learning, he still feels a sense of incompleteness. Recognizing that this lack of fulfilment

despite his enormous erudition springs from the lack of Self-knowledge, he then

approaches a sage and expresses his anguish:

What’s the use of sacred scriptures,

all these sciences and arts?

How am I to understand

the many different points of view

that learning endlessly debates?

If I don’t know quite what I am. (From the Upanishads 112)

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In the Katha Upanishad, there is an allegorical story which bears a strong

resemblance to the life of Sri Ramana. The individual is born, and one day, must surely

die. Is death total annihilation? Every thinking mind seeks to know what lies beyond the

curtain of death. Nachiketa, a courageous young boy, with an intense thirst to unravel this

mystery, fearlessly approaches the Lord of Death and asks:

When someone seems to pass away

beyond the world our senses see,

beyond the thoughts our minds conceive,

does that same person still exist?

Just how can someone dead and gone

continue to exist at all?

What in a person could exist

when mind and body have passed on? (From the Upanishads 9)

However, the Lord of Death dissuades Nachiketa from this quest, and instead

offers him a vast kingdom on earth, fabulous wealth, and a long life with the capacity to

enjoy sensory pleasures and objects of desire. Nachiketa replies:

All that we have is brought to us,

and taken back, by change and death.

It’s death that gives and death that takes;

all seeming life is ruled by death.

All is achieved by knowing death.

No object that the mind desires,

no pleasure that the mind enjoys,

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no beauty that it seems to see,

can satisfy this restless mind. (From the Upanishads 11)

With the knowledge that such pleasures are ephemeral and will not bring real

fulfilment, Nachiketa spurns all temptations and resolutely pursues his quest. The

intensity of the spirit of enquiry in the young boy transforms the Lord of Death into a

benign teacher. Western mystic poets have also pointed out the spiritual significance of

death. In his poem “Adonais”, included in the anthology titled The Oxford Book of

English Mystical Verse, Percy Bysshe Shelley writes:

The One remains, the many change and pass ;

Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly ;

Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,

Stains the white radiance of Eternity,

Until Death tramples it to fragments. Die,

If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek! (131)

In the Chandogya Upanishad, Shvetaketu returns home after twelve years of

intense academic study. Shvetaketu is proud of his knowledge and accomplishments, but

is in for a surprise. His father, the sage Uddalaka, asks him:

But have you learned to question

what you do not know?

And have you ever asked yourself

how you may learn what has not been

already learned, how you may think

of something that is yet unthought,

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how we may know reality

beyond the bounds of seeming knowledge

that our partial minds conceive? (From the Upanishads 107)

Shvetaketu admits that he has never thought about the limits of conceptual

knowledge and the reality which lies beyond intellectual concepts. In all humility, he then

requests his father to teach him further. Sage Uddalaka proceeds to instruct his son

Shvetaketu in Self-knowledge.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, we come across the flamboyant and fearless

sage Yajnavalkya. Maitreyi, the sage’s beloved wife, is deeply interested in gaining that

knowledge that leads to true fulfilment. In this Upanishad, we find sage Yajnavalkya

assuming the role of a teacher to his wife. As in the other Upanishads, the main theme of

this teaching is Self-knowledge.

A person is not born just once,

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:

for personality is changed;

each passing moment of our lives.

Each moment, we are born again. (From the Upanishads 78)

The Upanishads are the cornerstones of the philosophy of Advaita. The physical

body is changing every moment, as a human being moves from infancy to childhood,

adulthood and old age. Thoughts, feelings, opinions and ideas change over time. This

leads to the query if there is anything unchanging beneath the mask of changing body-

mind. Is the true Self of man hidden by the various layers of personality? The quest to

discover the real Self is the goal of this philosophy. Deriving its fundamental axioms

from the Upanishads, the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta was developed as a systematic

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enquiry into the nature of reality. In his commentary on the Isavasya Upanishad, Swami

Chinmayananda writes:

Such a great wealth of knowledge cannot be the personal property of

either an individual or a community or a nation. Vedanta is the common

wealth of man, and every full-grown man, who has started asking

questions upon the logic of creation, the goal of life, the state of

perfection, etc. has a right of free access to it, irrespective of his caste,

creed or nationality, age or stage in life. (Isavasya Upanishad 18)

According to the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, the personality of a human

being is made up of five layers, termed in Sanskrit as Pancha kosas. The five layers are:

Annamaya kosa, Pranamaya kosa, Manomaya kosa, Vijnanamaya kosa, and

Anandamaya kosa. These five layers are discussed in the Taittiriya Upanishad. The

outermost layer is the physical body. The term Annamaya means ‘made up of food’ and

Annamaya kosa refers to the physical body. The Taittiriya Upanishad says:

From food consumed, all bodies have

been born; by food they live and grow;

until they end themselves as food

for other bodies to consume. (From the Upanishads 205)

The second layer is called the Pranamaya kosa. The term prana refers to vital air.

Pranamaya kosa is the subtle layer that underlies and activates the various physiological

processes of the body such as respiration, digestion and circulation. This layer of vital

energy sustains life in the physical body. The Taittiriya Upanishad says:

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But here within each seeming self

of body made from food consumed,

there is another, subtler self

that makes the body seem alive.

This is the self of energy

that is expressed in living acts.

This self of vital energy

sustains the body’s seeming life. (From the Upanishads 205)

The third layer is the Manomaya kosa. The term manas refers to the mind.

Information about the external world is gathered by the mind through the sense organs. It

is the mind that receives and recognizes sense perceptions. Feelings and emotions arise

and disappear in the mind. It is the mind that seeks happiness. In the Kena Upanishad,

we find a student asking a sage:

What motivates mind’s changing show

of seeming objects, thoughts, desires?

What makes the mind go out to things

that seem to be outside itself?

What sends the mind, in soaring flight,

to search for freedom, happiness? (From the Upanishads 130)

The moon appears to be a luminous entity, but shines only by the borrowed light

of the Sun. The sage reveals that, so too, the mind appears to be sentient by itself, but

functions only by the reflected light of consciousness. Our experience is nothing but the

sum total of perceptions, thoughts and feelings. The Taittiriya Upanishad says:

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In everyone’s experience,

as mind’s perceptions, thoughts and feelings

come and go, they form a changing

stream of world’s appearances. (From the Upanishads 206)

The fourth layer is the Vijnanamaya kosa. This refers to the intellect which is the

seat of reasoning. The capacity for rational thought is the fundamental differentiating

factor between human beings and other creatures. This layer provides the ability to

analyze various situations and determine the correct course of action. The Taittiriya

Upanishad says:

But through this stream of passing show,

there is an underlying consciousness

that carries on; thus knowing

change and difference, comparing

and contrasting qualities:

discerning good from bad, and right

from wrong, and truth from falsity. (From the Upanishads 206)

The fifth and final layer is the Anandamaya kosa. This layer is experienced as the

peace of deep, dreamless sleep. The state of dreamless sleep is the same for everyone as

all differences vanish. The Taittiriya Upanishad says:

Within each personality,

it’s the essential, living core

of unconditioned happiness

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that cannot change or pass away. (From the Upanishads 208)

The Upanishads explore not only the waking state of a human being, but also the

dream state and the deep sleep state. An individual experiences the physical body and the

physical world in the waking state and is unaware of it in the dream state and the deep

sleep state. All innate tendencies and psychological impressions lie dormant in deep sleep

but manifest once again in the waking and dream states. The inner instrument, the mind,

is active in both the waking state and the dream state. Based on the function it is

performing, the very same inner instrument may be given four different terms: mind,

intellect, memory and ego. Mind has the ability to imagine, project and doubt; the

intellect has the ability to analyze, discriminate, reason and decide; memory is the store-

house of past experiences, and the ego is the sense of being a separate individual. In

Prasna Upanishad, the student Gargya approaches sage Pippalada with the following

question:

What common, living principle

continues on, through changing states

of waking sense and dreaming mind,

into the peace of dreamless sleep? (From the Upanishads 168)

In the dream state, the individual experiences a world projected by the mind that

is regarded as being real as long as the dream lasts. It is only upon waking up that the

unreality of the dream world is clearly understood. In the state of deep sleep, devoid of

dream, neither the physical body nor the mind are experienced. Therefore one does not

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experience either a physical world or a dream world in this state. The Kaushitaki

Upanishad says,

In depth of sleep, no mind appears

conceiving different seeming things;

and mind’s attention does not direct

living energy from consciousness

to different seeming objects

in some world that mind conceives. (From the Upanishads 153)

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, there is an account of a philosophical debate

held in the court of King Janaka of Videha. Gargi, herself an erudite scholar of

philosophy, conducts the discussion. In The Upanishads, Eknath Easwaran provides a

gist of this debate.

“In what is space itself woven, warp and woof? Tell me, Yajnavalkya.”

Sage Yajnavalkya replies, “The sages call it Akshara, the Imperishable.”

He elaborates, “The Imperishable is the seer, Gargi, though unseen; the

hearer, though unheard; the thinker, though unthought, the knower, though

unknown. Nothing other than the Imperishable can see, hear, think or

know. It is in the Imperishable that space is woven, warp and woof” (41).

It is common knowledge that all the objects of the Universe exist in

space. Going a step further, Gargi poses an intriguing question to sage Yajnavalkya:

Sage Yajnavalkya states that space itself exists in consciousness, which is

imperishable. The very concept of space requires the presence of the mind, which itself is

supported by consciousness. The concept of time is also contained in consciousness. The

Katha Upanishad describes the nature of the real Self:

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The self within each mind and heart

is nothing else but consciousness.

It is not born. It does not die.

It does not come from anything;

does not give on to anything.

It simply is: before all time,

without beginning, change or end.

All thought of time depends on it;

but it does not depend on time,

and time does not apply to it. (From the Upanishads 13)

In every human being, there are two aspects: consciousness and the five layers of

personality. The Upanishads state that the essence of one’s being is the consciousness

underlying the five layers of the personality. The Svetasvatara Upanishad says, “As oil in

sesame seeds, as butter in curds, as water in underground springs, as fire in wood, even so

this Self is perceived in the self” (1:16). In Atma Bodha, Sri Adi Sankara writes, “One

should, through discrimination, separate the pure and inmost Self from the sheaths by

which it is covered, as one separates a rice-kernel from the covering husk by striking it

with a pestle” (144). Evolution and change are for the layers of the personality. Only that

which does not disappear in time can be considered as absolutely real. The Taittiriya

Upanishad says:

What’s always true is always real,

beneath all mere appearances.

It is that common principle

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which all appearances must share,

beneath their seeming differences. (From the Upanishads 200)

This is the litmus test for absolute reality. Anything that is transient is only

relatively real. The Upanishads declare that the Atma is immutable and indestructible.

Therefore the Atma is indicated as Sat, which means absolute existence. The Atma is not

an inert substance. The very nature of Atma is pure awareness. The Atma is therefore also

indicated as Chit, which means consciousness. The Chandogya Upanishad says, “Self

shines undimmed as consciousness, the light that lights all other lights” (103). Pure,

unconditioned awareness, the real ‘I’, is the substratum of all the five layers of a human

being. This self-luminous essence of one’s being remains unchanged throughout the

course of all experience, as perceptions, thoughts and feelings come and go. The

Taittiriya Upanishad says:

It is the changeless base from which

appearances seem to arise,

on which they stand, and where they go

as they dissolve back in their ground

of self-illuminating light.

Thus it is consciousness that is

the true identity of self. (From the Upanishads 214)

The five layers of the personality are only vestures adorning the Atma. These are

activated only due to the presence of the Atma. The Atma cannot be referred to as an

object or as a second or third person. ‘Self’ written with a uppercase ‘S’ indicates that it

refers to Atma, the essence and ground of being. The Atma, the Self, is always the subject

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and never an object of experience. Pure awareness is unchanging witness of all changing

experiences. A human being, due to the false identification with the vestures veiling the

Atma, experiences life as a mixture of pain and pleasure. However, the intrinsic nature of

the Atma is pure bliss. The Atma is happiness unalloyed with any trace of sorrow, and this

aspect is indicated as Ananda. Thus, the three essential aspects of the Atma are Sat

(absolute existence), Chit (pure consciousness) and Ananda (unconditioned

happiness).

The ground is what Self really is,

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:

continuing through seeming change:

the source and goal of everything,

pure knowledge, unmixed happiness. (From the Upanishads 79)

It is generally accepted that for every effect, there must be a cause. Usually, it is

observed that an effect will have two causes: a material cause and an efficient cause. For

example, wood is the material cause of a wooden table. The carpenter who crafted the

table is the efficient cause. The entire Universe can be regarded as an effect. What is the

underlying cause for this effect? The philosophy of Advaita states that the material cause

as well as the efficient cause of the Universe is nothing but pure consciousness. The

Katha Upanishad says:

Just as one common principle

of underlying energy

is there throughout the universe,

appearing in the different forms

that are so differently perceived

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in different objects and events;

so too, one common principle

of underlying consciousness

is here throughout experience. (From the Upanishads 30)

In Sanskrit, the mystic experience is called Samadhi. The sages discovered that

the mystic experience can be reached through meditation. The experience of Samadhi is

the pinnacle of meditation when all duality between subject and object vanishes. Only

pure consciousness remains. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:

The timeless state that is achieved

when meditation stills the mind;

the state between successive thoughts,

where previous thought has come to end

and further thought has not begun,

here, in this unconditioned state,

Self shines unmixed. (From the Upanishads 82)

The essence of the philosophy of Advaita is stated in the Upanishads as

Mahavakyas, which literally means profound or important statements. The first

Mahavakya is ‘Prajnanam Brahma’, declared in the Aitareya Upanishad (3.3) of the Rig

Veda. This statement declares that consciousness is the fabric by which the entire

universe is woven. The Aitareya Upanishad says:

God, all the gods,

the elements of which the world is made,

creatures and things of every kind,

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however large or small,

however born or formed,

including all that breathes, walks, flies,

and all that moves or does not move.

All these are known by consciousness,

and take their stand in consciousness.

Coming after consciousness,

the whole world stands in consciousness.

Consciousness is all there is. (From the Upanishads 3)

The second Mahavakya is ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ declared in the Chandogya Upanishad

(6.8.7) of the Sama Veda. This statement means ‘That Thou Art’ which instructs the

disciple of the essential oneness of the individual being and the supreme reality. Sage

Uddalaka teaches his son and disciple, Shvetaketu:

Pure consciousness, the essence of

each mind and heart, is all the world’s

reality. That is the truth.

That is what you really are. (From the Upanishads 110)

The third Mahavakya is ‘Ayam Atma Brahma’, declared in the Mandukya

Upanishad (1.2) of the Atharvana Veda. This declaration means, ‘This Self is all reality’.

This Mahavakya instructs the seeker to turn his gaze inwards and discover his own

essential nature. In several Eastern religions, the sound ‘Om’ is considered sacred. The

Mandukya Upanishad explains the mystic symbolism behind the sound symbol ‘Om’:

In this unchanging consciousness

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where all appearances dissolve,

no separate ego can remain

and happiness is realized;

for Self and world are known as one.

‘Om’ is thus non-duality:

where truth but merges self in Self. (From the Upanishads 199)

The fourth Mahavakya is ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

(1.4.10) of the Yajur Veda. This is a declaration of oneness with Brahman born of the

experience of the seeker when he completely transcends his identification with the

limited personality. It is consciousness that is essence of each person’s individuality. In

all the various feelings, thoughts, perceptions, desires and actions, it is consciousness that

is expressed. And yet, consciousness is impersonal and transcends the personality. It is

the same in all of us. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:

In all the multiplicity

of actions, persons, creatures, things,

throughout this many-seeming world,

the Self is one and one alone.

All is reached, by knowing this. (From the Upanishads 49)

The declaration that the Universe is only a manifestation of an indivisible,

underlying consciousness is termed as ‘Advaita’, which literally means ‘not two’. The

Upanishads thus present a vision of non-duality. Sri Aurobindo states:

These supreme and all-embracing truths, these visions of oneness of self

and a universal divine being are cast into brief and monumental phrases

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which bring them at once before the soul’s eye and make them real and

imperative to its aspiration and experience. (The Upanishads 4)

Describing the Self or pure consciousness in the language of paradox, the

Isavasya Upanishad says:

The Atman moves and

It moves not;

It is far and It is near;

It is within all this, and

It is also outside all this. (Isavasya Upanishad 5)

The Taittiriya Upanishad says, “Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma” (2:1).

Through this phrase, the Upanishad indicates the nature of reality as absolute existence-

consciousness, beyond the limitations of time and space. The Chandogya Upanishad

says:

Forms and names and qualities

divide the world that mind perceives,

and seem to show us separate things.

What are these separate-seeming things?

They all arise in consciousness,

continue on in consciousness,

and come to end in consciousness.

They cannot rise, continue on

or end, apart from consciousness.

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All that they are is consciousness. (From the Upanishads 108)

It is this verse of the Chandogya Upanishad that contains the famous declaration

“Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma” (3.14.1)

To realize the Self within is to realize the infinite Self. … In the realm of

experience, if a meditator apprehends the Self in him, he at once

experiences the omnipresence of the Self. As long as pot exists, the pot-

space is seen distinct from the space around. Once the pot is broken, the

pot-space itself becomes the unbounded space in the universe. (969)

which means “All this is consciousness”. The

quintessence of the Upanishads is contained in the Bhagavad Gita. In his commentary on

the Bhagavad Gita, Swami Chinmayananda writes:

The central message of the philosophy of Advaita is succinctly stated by Sri Adi

Sankara in his famous composition Vivekachudamani: “Brahma satyam jagat mithya,

jivo brahmaiva naparah”. This declaration states that consciousness is the fundamental

reality; the Universe and all living beings are only a manifestation of the underlying

reality.

This truth is immanent in all

The philosophy of Advaita does not reject the world as something non-existent.

According to this philosophy, it is only the perception that the world consists of separate

and isolated forms that is an illusion. The absolute reality is neither distant nor distinct

from the individual and the world, for it is also immanent as the substratum of the

Universe. The Kaushitaki Upanishad says:

that is perceived: as that which is,

unmixed with mere appearances

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attributed by sense and mind.

This truth also transcends whatever

is perceived: as that which knows,

as unconditioned consciousness. (From the Upanishads 136)

This philosophy is not opposed to the worship of a personal God, but advocates

worship performed with the proper understanding of the underlying inner principle. The

Shvetashvatara Upanishad says:

All faces, heads and bodies are

mere instruments of consciousness,

found here in every person’s heart.

It is the inner principle

of spirit that pervades the world;

and thus, it’s worshipped as ‘the Lord’.

It is the base of changeless light

on which is founded order, justice,

goodness, harmony, and guidance

towards purity and truth. (From the Upanishads 237)

The separation between one person and another, one form and another is merely

at the superficial level. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “This separation does not

exist, it is not real. It is merely apparent, the limitations imposed by the five instruments

of knowledge man is bound with – the five sensory organs. In the heart of things, there is

Unity still” (The Complete Works: Vol. 2. 125). Through spiritual striving, a human being

can realize the oneness of his own self with the absolute pure consciousness not merely

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intellectually but as a direct, intimate experience. The Mundaka Upanishad says,

“Whoever realizes Self, attains to purity of truth” (191). Advaita, or this unity, is not

only the central teaching of the Upanishads, but also the direct experience of the mystics

of all traditions and religions. In his poem, Jalaluddin Rumi expresses his mystic

experience thus:

With Thy sweet soul this soul of mine

Hath mixed as water doth with wine.

Who can the wine and water part,

Or me and Thee when we combine

Thou art become my greater self;

Small bounds no more can me confine.

Thou hast my being taken on,

And shall not I now take on Thine? (Easwaran 214)

By meditating deeply on the nature of the Self, it is possible for the mind to

discover the underlying unity. In Sanskrit, the mystic experience that arises when the

mind becomes perfectly still is termed as Nirvikalpa Samadhi. In the Prasna Upanishad,

the metaphor of a river merging into the ocean is used to provide a hint of the mystic

experience of oneness with the absolute.

All flowing rivers are just water,

like the sea to which they come.

But in the sea where they all join,

their separate-seeming names and forms

are all dissolved; and water is

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then manifest, just as it is:

in its unconditioned state

beneath all seeming name and form. (From the Upanishads 175)

The mystic can be compared to a river that has merged in the ocean. Just as the

river loses its separate identity, the apparent individual identity is dissolved in Absolute

Being. In this dissolution of the personal identity, the mystic attains the vision of oneness

of the entire cosmos. Mystic poets give a hint of “the reality that is eternally underlying

all things” and it is through the “enchantment of their writing that some rays gleam from

the light which is supernal” (The Oxford Book 1). In his poem “Essay on Man”,

Alexander Pope writes:

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,

Whose body Nature is and God the soul;

That, changed through all, and yet in all the same,

Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame,

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,

Lives through all life, extends through all extent. (The Oxford Book 84)

Although the loss of a personal self may appear to be frightening, the mystic sees

this not as a loss, but as the greatest gain. In his commentary on the Mundaka Upanishad,

Swami Vivekananda describes this state:

Then all delusions cease, all miseries vanish; all fears come to an end

forever. Birth goes way and with it death; pains fly, and with them fly

away pleasures; earths vanish, and with them vanish heavens; bodies

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vanish, and with them vanishes the mind also. That moment all the knots

of the heart are cut asunder … the whole universe disappears, as it were –

it becomes transfigured into one infinite, unbreakable, unchangeable

existence and we find we are one with that existence. (33)

In this experience, one realizes that the indivisible pure consciousness alone is the

substratum of all that exists. In the mystic experience, the mind is like a bucket immersed

in a well of bliss. However, just as the bucket can be drawn out of the well once again,

the mind with its habitual tendencies is drawn out once again by the rope of mental

activity. After non-dual reality is experienced in the depths of meditation, the mind

returns to the perception of apparent plurality. Therefore, the student asks his teacher in

the Chandogya Upanishad:

How may such knowledge be applied,

in practice, to a person’s life;

when truth is known but mind returns

to face the seeming world again? (From the Upanishads 114)

The teacher replies that only when the truth is clearly seen in every experience,

that all experience is simply the play of consciousness, then one is established in this

knowledge. Therefore, contemplation plays an important role in comprehending and fully

assimilating the discovery made in the depths of meditation.

When truth is effortlessly known

in every sight and every sound, in each

perception, thought and feeling;

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knowledge then has been applied. (From the Upanishads 115)

Such a perception is attained through mananam, which means contemplation on

reality, and niddhidyasanam, which means abidance in reality. The Shvetashvatara

Upanishad says:

From contemplating that, from joining

into it, from truth appearing

more and more just as it is,

the world’s delusions cease at last

and are dissolved in peace and rest. (From the Upanishads 231)

In Wanderings in the Himalayas, Swami Tapovanam writes, “All will admit that

joy is to be found in peace, and not in the agitations of the mind. … The unique state of

serene peace can be attained only in a non-dual state” (74). Some may wonder how Self-

realization can benefit humanity. Sri Ramana says:

A radio transmission is done from one point but its effect can be felt all

over the world. Those who would like to benefit from it can do so.

Similarly, the Self-realization of the Jnani spreads everywhere and

whosoever wants can tune into it. This is not a lesser service. (The Power

of the Presence 231)

The mystic may be externally active, and yet abide in a state of inner peace and

rest. In his translation of the Bhagavad Gita, Eknath Easwaran quotes the words of St.

Catherine of Genoa to indicate this state:

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The state of the this soul is then a feeling of such utter peace and

tranquillity that it seems to her that her heart, and her bodily being, and all

both within and without, is immersed in an ocean of utmost peace … And

she is so full of peace that though she press her flesh, her nerves, her

bones, no other thing comes forth from them than peace. (37)

Once the essential oneness behind all apparent diversity is clearly cognized, the

search for God culminates in the awareness of divinity in every tiny bit of the universe.

The Isha Upanishad says:

It’s here and now: in every sight,

in every sound and smell and taste,

in every touch, in every thought

and feeling, in each mind and heart.

It is the only thing that’s known

immediately; because it is

the living centre of each heart:

the knowing self we each call ‘I’. (From the Upanishads 156)

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is a compilation of conversations with Sri

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Sri Ramakrishna says:

A man cannot live on the roof a long time. He comes down again. Those

who realize Brahman in Samadhi come down also and find that it is

Brahman that has become the universe and its living beings. In the

musical scale there are the notes sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha and ni; but one

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cannot keep one’s voice on ‘ni’ a long time. The ego does not vanish

altogether. The man coming down from Samadhi perceives that it is

Brahman that has become the ego, the universe, and all living beings. This

is known as vijnana. (55)

Complete understanding of the mystic experience dawns through contemplation.

The Yoga Vasishtha says, “He whom the world does not fear, who is not afraid of the

world, and who is free of passion, intolerance and fear is said to be liberated while living”

(4:6). The illusion of a separate and limited self is transcended through contemplation. In

his commentary on the Kaivalya Upanishad, Swami Chinmayananda explains this state:

Just as on awakening from a dream we realize that all the objects that we

saw in dream were nothing but the expressions of our own mind, so too,

one who is experiencing the Self realizes that the entire world-of-objects

that he had been seeing before have all merged back into the Self. And

thereafter, when a Man-of-realization looks out into the world, no doubt,

he perceives the world of plurality, but he also experiences the play of the

same Self in and through each one of them. (Kaivalyopanishad 42)

Nothing is ever considered as separate from one’s real Self, the Atman, which is

pure consciousness. This state is also called Sahaja Samadhi, the natural or effortless

state of abidance in Self-knowledge at all times and in all circumstances. The Buddha

calls this state Nirvana. The Dhammapada is a text which contains the summary of the

Buddha’s teachings. In his introduction to the translation of this text, Eknath Easwaran

writes:

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Siddhartha slipped into that profound stillness in which thought stops and

the distinctions of a separate personality dissolve. In this profound state,

he remained immersed … The Buddha remained at that spot for four

weeks or more, immersing himself in nirvana over and over. ... He had not

only attained nirvana, he was established in it – aware of life’s unity not

only during meditation but at every moment, awake or asleep. Now he

could help others to make the same crossing. (27)

Terms such as Enlightenment, Liberation, Self-realization, Moksha, Mukti and

Nirvana are all used to indicate this state of cessation of suffering and abidance in peace.

In his poem “The Light of Asia”, Sir Edwin Arnold writes:

Never shall yearnings torture him, nor sins

Stain him, nor ache of earthly joys and woes

Invade his safe eternal peace; nor deaths

And lives recur. He goes

Unto NIRVANA. He is one with Life. (The Oxford Book 268)

Nirvana is not a posthumous condition to be attained only after death, but a state

of peace which can be attained here and now. In Buddhism and Christianity in the Light

of Hinduism, Arthur Osborne writes:

Nirvana is man’s swarupa or true state and is merely covered over by the

veil which in Hinduism is called ignorance, in Buddhism suffering and in

Christianity original sin, the veil of the ego. When this is removed,

Nirvana remains. … Sai Baba, an Indian saint of the late nineteenth and

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early twentieth century who had both Hindu and Muslim followers and

taught each in terms of their own religion, explained this as follows:

“Ignorance conceals the pre-existent knowledge just as water plants cover

over the surface of a pond. Clear away the plants and you have the water.

You don’t have to create it; it is already there.” (126)

Both the Upanishads and the philosophical poems of Sri Ramana are an

exploration of the inner Self of a human being. The Upanishads are philosophical poems

composed millennia ago by sages and seers, while the poems of Sri Ramana were

composed in the twentieth century. Sri Ramana received no formal philosophical training

but only expressed his own experience through his poems. Yet, there is a remarkable

degree of convergence between the insights communicated by the Upanishads and the

works of Sri Ramana. The Advaita Bodha Deepika, an important philosophical text

stresses the need for direct experience of reality:

To know from the shastras (scriptures) that the Self is Being-Knowledge-

Bliss amounts to indirect knowledge and cannot be the same as

experience. For the Self is the inmost being of the individual or the

consciousness witnessing the five sheaths; it is Brahman. This not being

realized, a superficial knowledge is all that is gained by reading the

shastras. It is only indirect knowledge. (46)

This fact was sometimes lost sight of during the course of centuries. In modern

times, it is Sri Ramana who has once again restored the emphasis on the mystic

experience as the basis for the philosophy of Advaita. Carl Gustav Jung, one of the

pioneers of the field of psychology, writes:

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What we find in the life and teachings of Sri Ramana is the purest of

India: with its breath of world-liberated and liberating humanity, it is a

chant of millenniums. This melody is built up on a single great motif,

which in a thousand colourful reflexes, rejuvenates itself within the Indian

spirit. (Swaminathan 130)

Alan Jacobs writes that while Sri Sankara “played the pivotal role in the

development of philosophical thought in India” based on the Upanishads and occupies a

unique place in history “as the great consolidator of the teachings of Advaita”, it is to “the

wholly exemplary life and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi that we owe the

contemporary interest in Advaita” (8).