Point of View!!!

[Gummuluru Murthy]

A late response to Shri Nandakumar's question of a week ago with the above
title.

Swami Vivekananda said about Hindu philosophy: "We go from a lower truth
to a higher truth". The same concept was expressed by Swami Chinmayananda
in words to the effect "Any argument is correct at the level (of
understanding) at which it is made". Keeping this fact in mind, let us
look at Shri Nandakumar's question whether advaita is an easy way out/
escape from this real world.

Shri Nandakumar describes the difficulties faced by a jeeva as he/she
tries to cross the ocean of samsaara. Jeeva has to go through these
difficulties whether he/she is a sannyasi or a samsaari. At some stage
or other, jeeva has to stop and question itself "Is there any other world,
or is this the only world ?". Katha u. says that one who is not aware of
existence of any other world will fall under the influence of death (go
through the cycle of births and re-births) again and again.

As we go through this world, we face sadness and happiness (and other
such pairs of opposites). Next, we can ask ourselves who is it that is
going through this happiness and sadness. We recognize immediately that
happiness and sadness are in the mind only and are only reaction of the
mind. We can also look at it detached as a third person and see our mind
(the thoughts that go through). We recognize that there is no suffering
or happiness anymore. We also see that the happiness and suffering are
what the sense organs receive of the world. We recognize that we are
neither the body nor the mind and we are what our buddhi makes us of.
This brief analysis will tell us that the "difficulties" which Shri
Nandakumar described are not difficulties at all (the same with
happiness), They do not exist except in the mind.

Let us take it a bit further. Buddhi shapes up the jeeva and its thinking.
Does the jeeva have a real existence ? The answer is no. What the jeeva
is going through is only an acting out role assigned to it in the supreme
scheme of things. We are all actors in a cosmic drama, changing the
garments continuously. We are simply identifying with the character being
played. When we recognize this is drama only and is not real, we realize
there is no reality to the world and to the jeeva, The only reality is
the screen on which the drama is projected; the substratum for all this
world action is the Nirguna Brahman. When this recognition is made, the
buddhi of the jeeva gets enlightened and the jeeva concept is shattered
and immortality is attained.

Is the buddhi, the jeeva real ? Let us look at it in the three states.
The buddhi has no difficulty in seeing the dream world to be imaginery.
In the wake-up state, the dream world is shattered. Similarly, in the deep
sleep state, both the dream-world and the wake-up world are shattered. In
all the three states (dream, wake-up, deep-sleep), there is a constant
witness to all, the Atman which is the only Reality, which is action-less.
The jeeva gets its existence from superposing, the body, mind, sense
organs and the buddhi on the base Atman and thinks itself to be real. As
these superpositions are gradually shed away, the jeeva recognizes that it
is nothing but the Atman itself, the only and ultimate Reality.

We can see the difficulties to be real and advaita as an escape route or
we can see advaita as the real and the difficulties are simply the
imagined ones only. The choice is up to buddhi.

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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Sarvaagamaanaa maachaarah prathamam parikalpathe !
                                          Sage Vyasa in Maha Bharatha

For all (incoming) knowledge, discipline is the most fundamental.
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