Does the Jñānī see the world when he is Paramātmā?

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Ramesam

[Article Sourced From: Here ]

From the standpoint of Pure Adi Śaṅkara Vedānta, the answer is no. The jñānī, as Paramātmā, does not see the world. More exactly, he does not become a seer of anything second to himself. Realization does not turn an individual into Brahman as a new state; it removes the false notion that the ever-free Self was ever bound, ignorant, or finite.[1]

Why is this so? Because seeing necessarily implies duality: a seer, an act of seeing, and an object seen. But the Upaniṣadic teaching, as understood by Śaṅkara, is that this entire triad belongs only to ignorance. When everything has become the Self, the question itself arises: by what could one see, and whom? Likewise, the Self is not something that can be objectified, for “the seer of seeing” can never itself become a seen object.[2] Hence Brahman cannot literally be a perceiver in the empirical sense. Continue reading →

Upadesa Sahasri (Part 17)

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Bimal Prasad

Part 16

15.9 to 15.13, 15.15 to 15.17
The Self is the light of pure consciousness. It is non-dual. A Self-realized person knows that there is one Self in all beings including a pipal tree (BG 10.26). The Self is homogeneous, undivided, without parts and all-pervading like space. As space accommodates everything, all beings are in one Self. The self is different from gross and subtle bodies as said in Isa Up 8. It is like a witness. The ideas of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ are thoughts of the mind. They do not exist in the Self which is a witness. Therefore, the Self is free from virtue and vice, pleasure and pain and old age. As intellect is the seat of aversion and fear, the Self is free from them and their impressions. It is pure, free from worldly afflictions.

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 16 (prashna 3)

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Ramesam

[Part – 15 (prashna 2)]

Once prANa enters the body, it differentiates into various functional aspects. The Upanishad says:

पायूपस्थेऽपानं चक्षुःश्रोत्रे मुखनासिकाभ्यां प्राणः स्वयं प्रातिष्ठते मध्ये तु समानः । एष ह्येतद्धुतमन्नं समं नयति तस्मादेताः सप्तार्चिषो भवन्ति ॥ — 3.5, prashna.

[Meaning: He places apAna in the two lower apertures. prANa Himself, issuing out of the mouth and nostrils, resides in the eyes and ears. In the middle, however, is samAna, for this one distributes equally all the food that is eaten. From that issue out these seven flames.]

Thus, the one life-principle appears as many, assuming different roles within the body—while its source remains the same unmoving Self.

[Note: The gonads (2) + ears (2) + eyes (2) + the in-between (1) together constitute The Seven Flames. Fire is said to have seven tongues. The Sun (a form of Fire) is said to ride a chariot of seven horses.] Continue reading →

Creation Theories in Advaita

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Dennis Waite

In Advaita Vedānta, the explanation of how the universe came to be is not presented as a single, static fact, but as a series of increasingly refined theories (vāda-s) designed to lead a seeker from a dualistic worldview to the ultimate non-dual truth. This pedagogical technique is known as adhyāropa-apavāda—initially attributing qualities or a creation to Brahman (adhyāropa) and later rescinding them (apavāda) as the student’s understanding matures.

The following is an overall summary of these theories, progressing from the “common-sense” view to the radical absolute truth.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 16)

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Bimal Prasad

Part 15

Chapter 15 Impossibility of one being another

15.1 The essential nature of a jiva is not different from Brahman for otherwise the jiva will be essentially finite. Any amount spiritual practice can bring about only superficial changes and not changes in the essential nature. Finite cannot become infinite. If at all it becomes infinite, it will lose its essential nature which means destruction. In that case, liberation is ruled out. The conclusion is that jiva is essentially Brahman. A doubt may arise. If a jiva is already Brahman, what is the need of a teacher and scriptures? The answer is that they are needed to remove the ignorance about our true identity.

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 15 (prashna 2)

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Ramesam

[Part – 14 (prashna 1)]

The “mind” referred to in the kaTha Upanishad—when it declares that “by the mind alone is the Self attainable”—is not the ordinary mind we are familiar with. What we usually call the mind is entangled with name, form, and action. It knows objects by taking their shape, and therefore keeps changing along with them. This kind of ‘knowing’ is called vRtti-jnAna—knowledge through mental modifications.

A vRtti is simply a thought-wave, always in motion. The life-principle (prANa), being inert by itself, cannot function without the mind; and the mind, in turn, cannot operate without the light of Knowledge. Yet Knowledge itself never moves. It is ever steady. The movement we attribute to Knowing is therefore only an appearance, caused by the restless activity of the mind.

This leads to an important insight. Although the mind is the only available instrument for liberation, it cannot serve that purpose as long as it remains in constant motion. Continue reading →

Śaṅkara – on ‘enlightenment’ versus ‘liberation’

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Dennis Waite

Here is what Śaṅkara says on this topic in his bhāṣya on Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.7. Following this, I have added some observations on what he says (Swami Madhavananda translation).

Objection: The topic was knowledge – when the Self is known, everything else is known. So why is a different topic, viz. attainment, introduced here?

Reply: Not so, for the shruti uses the words ‘knowledge’ and ‘attainment’ as synonymous. The non-attainment of the Self is but the ignorance of it. Hence the knowledge of the Self is Its attainment.

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Upadesa Sahasri (Part 15)

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Bimal Prasad

Part 14

14.26 During dream gross body is dormant and there is no external world. There is no external light or medium. The mind functions and sees, hears, thinks which are modifications of the mind. As the mind is inert, seeing, etc., is possible if there is an entity different from the mind and which lends sentiency to the mind. The said entity is Self which is of the nature of consciousness. In this sense, it is concluded that Self is directly known. The Self is the witness of the modifications of mind called the dream.

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Summary of the Discussion on ‘Enlightenment and Liberation’ Terms

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Dennis Waite

My two-part ‘Terms and Definition’ post on ‘Enlightenment and Liberation’ triggered considerable, sometimes ‘heated’ discussion. Part 1 had 11 comments and Part 2 so many that WordPress does not seem able to cope and does not provide the ‘speech bubble’ with number of comments against the title. (I believe it was around 35.) Since it would take a reader considerable time to work through all of these, I am providing here a summary of the discussion, constructed with the help of ChatGPT.

Towards the end of those discussions, Ramesam referred to the 3-part article by P. Neti on the topic of jīvanmukti. Ramesam posted this to Advaita Vision just over 3 years ago. It begins at https://www.advaita-vision.org/on-jivanmukti-shri-p-neti-1-3/. This article plays a part in subsequent comments (so even more for those interested to read!)

Herewith, then, is the AI-assisted summary of our discussions following the terms and definition posts. Following this summary, I am going to re-post the last of Ramesam’s comments on Part 2. This is because I closed comments before responding to that. Then I will post a further comment that Ramesam sent to me privately. Finally, I will post my overall comments on the P. Neti article and Ramesam’s two comments.

I hope you can follow all of that! To recap, there is this summary, two comments from Ramesam, posted by myself, and my response to everything so far. After that is anyone’s guess as comments will again be open to all.

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Quintessence of 10 Upanishads – 14 (prashna 1)

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Ramesam

[Part – 13 (kaTha 4)]

PRASHNA UPANISHAD

The kaTha Upanishad teaches that only a properly refined and purified mind can serve as the instrument for liberation. The body, the life-principle (prANa), and even the sensory and motor organs are not adequate for this purpose. From this, we may also infer that no action (karma) can directly lead to liberation, since action necessarily involves the organs of activity. Therefore, the path of action, by itself, cannot culminate in liberation.

Though closely associated with the body, the mind is not intrinsically bound to it. It can function either in association with the body or independently of it. When there is conceptualization (savikalpa), the mind appears linked to the body. In a state of non-conceptualization (nirvikalpa), it aligns with brahman and is no longer confined by bodily association. The dream state illustrates this: the mind operates apart from the gross body and even disengages from the external world. In deep sleep, both the world and bodily identification are absent, yet the mind persists in an unmanifest form. Ultimately, in liberation, the mind itself is resolved completely.

At this stage, we must ask: what exactly is the goal to be achieved through disciplining the mind? Can Self-knowledge be regarded as a goal? Continue reading →