Gaudapada's Asparsa Yoga (excerpts from K3,31-39)

Duality is never perceived when the mind ceases to act. (amani-bhava)

The mind, after realizing the knowledge that Atman alone is real, becomes free from imaginations. (atma-satya)

The immutable and birthless Brahman is the goal of knowledge. The birthless is known by the birthless. (akalpakam-ajam jnanam)

The mind which, being endowed with discrimination and free from illusions, is under control. (nigrhitasya manaso)

The controlled mind is verily the fearless Brahman. (brahma jnan-alokam)

Brahman is birthless, sleepless, dreamless, nameless, and formless. (ajam-anidram-asvapnam-anamakam-arupakam)

Atman is beyond all expression by words, and beyond all acts of the mind. (sarva)

Brahman is free from mental activity and hence from all ideas of acceptance or relinquishment. (jnanam-ajati) 

This yoga, which is not in touch with anything, is hard for yogis in general to attain. (asparsa-yogo)

~K3,31-39 (tr-Nik.)

A Commentary on 31-33

Duality is dependent on the mind. When mind is no-mind, there is no duality. Mind becomes no-mind not through yogic effort but by the knowledge of Atman being realized. This knowledge of Brahman is the goal of nonduality. And this unborn truth is only known by this unborn truth.

Nikhilanada's complete translation

31 All the multiple objects, comprising the movable and the immovable, are perceived by the mind alone. For duality is never perceived when the mind ceases to act.

32 When the mind, after realizing the knowledge that Atman alone is real, becomes free from imaginations and therefore does not cognize anything, for want of objects to be cognized, it ceases to be the mind.

33 Knowledge (Jnana), which is unborn and free from imagination, is described [by the wise] as ever inseparable from the knowable. The immutable and birthless Brahman is the goal of knowledge. The birthless is known by the birthless.

34 One should know the behaviour of the mind which, being endowed with discrimination and free from illusions, is under control. The condition of the mind in deep sleep is not like that but is of a different kind.

35 The mind is withdrawn in deep sleep, but it is not so when the mind is controlled. The controlled mind is verily the fearless Brahman, the light of whose omniscience is all-pervading.

36 Brahman is birthless, sleepless, dreamless, nameless, and formless. It is ever effulgent and omniscient. No duty, in any sense, can ever be associated with It.

37 Atman is beyond all expression by words, and beyond all acts of the mind. It is great peace, eternal effulgence, and samadhi; It is unmoving and fearless.

38 Brahman is free from mental activity and hence from all ideas of acceptance or relinquishment. When knowledge is established in Atman it attains birthlessness and sameness.

39 This yoga, which is not in touch with anything, is hard for yogis in general to attain. They are afraid of it, because they see fear in that which is really fearlessness.

On No-Mind

1.

Atman is neither ordinary nor godlike. But space, time, and all the gods are atman.

The truth is never nihilistic. The truth is that existence in which nihilism appears.

Black holes are to the substrate as groundwater is to ground, Basho.

2.

Neither wind nor flag but mind, duality is nothing but mind.

No-mind is neither deep sleep nor samadhi. The mind need not be turned off.

No-mind is like lucid dreaming—turned on and seeing through itself.

Absolutely Sweet Tattvamasi

Resolved, absolute awareness is not cognition although the ordinary person thinks it so.

This is not to say awareness is not the support of all cognition. Awareness is the substrate of all manifestation including mind.

In fact, awareness is the substrate of all three states of ordinary consciousness including that unbelievable one of deep sleep.

This supernatural awareness is beyond all forms of natural awareness. The natural is the mind. The supernatural is beyond the mind.

Astonishing but the actual awareness of both dream states (mind on, body on or off) is the same awareness of deep sleep (mind off).

Thus awareness is not what you ordinarily would think it is. For awareness is beyond the mind, supernatural so to speak.

And one is exactly that absolute awareness. Atman is neither ordinary (natural or unnatural) nor super (god or scientific theory) but tatvamasi.

Advaita Agonistes

Nirguna Brahman is basically God the Father as mainstream Trinitarian Christianity names it, except It’s absolutely beyond dualities of cause and effect.

On the other hand, God the Son is Isvara, the Wielder of Maya. And Maya is the Holy Ghost, the Superimpositionor of Snake on Rope.

Further, Paramatman is pure consciousness and the Universal Atman is reflected consciousness within and without the subtle body of Maya.

Thus non-duality is a myth wrapped within a dream. Self-awareness is the evolutionary intent of universal consciousness. And Avidya is the process.

Seeing through Avidya is one thing. Living with Maya is another. This is the way of the Jivanmukta, the so-called Bodhisattva. It’s basically in the world but not of the world.

Gaudapada Suffers No Fools

In his Karika (gloss) to the Mandukya Upanishad, Gaudapada suffers no fools when it comes to the suffering entailed by mistaking the waking dream as real. Or realizing non-duality as truth.

Take K2.4 for example: “Different objects cognised in dream are illusory because they are being perceived to exist. For the same reason the objects seen in the waking state are also to be considered as illusory. Just as in the waking state, so also in the dream, the nature of objects remains the same. The only difference is the limitation of space in the case of dream objects, they being seen in the within.” ~Gaudapada K2.4 (tr-Chinmayananda)

In other words, during a dream, space and time is a creation of the mind. Such perception is unreal of course. But perception in the waking state is no different, is it? If In a dream, seeing is not to be believed, why should seeing ever be believed? That is the question.

Then there’s this slap: “All aggregates are produced by Atman’s maya, as in a dream. No rational argument can be given to establish their reality, whether they are of equal status or whether some are superior.” ~Gaudapada K3.10 (tr-Nikhilananda)

In other words, the burden of proof is on the dreamer to prove its dream is something other than a dream. Don’t hold your breath.

Lastly for this thread, there’s K3.18: Since Non-duality is Ultimate Reality, duality is said to be Its effect. The dualist sees duality in both the Absolute and the relative. Therefore the non-dualist position does not conflict with the dualist position. (tr-Nikhilananda)

Nikhilananda comments on K3.18 thusly: “The non-dualist does not deny the fact of duality during the state of ignorance; but he denies that it is ultimately real. Consequently, from the standpoint of Reality, the non-dualist does not contradict duality, since the latter is really non-existent.”

Shankara laughs out loud: “It is like the case of a man on a spirited elephant, who knows that none can oppose him, but who yet does not drive his beast upon a lunatic who though standing on the ground, shouts at the former, ‘I am also on an elephant, drive your beast on me.’ ”

To summarize, seeing may be believing but it’s not the way of truth; in fact, the very act of perception is what reveals the waking state as dream and therefore false. Thus, it is not up to the truth-teller to disprove the waking dream, but the impossible task of the dreamer. And last, but not least, there is no need to argue with duality for duality is actually non-existent. Lord, what fools these mortals be.

On Mandukya 5-6: This [prajna, undiferentiated consciousness of deep sleep] is the Lord of all [Sarvesvara, Isvara, Saguna Brahman].

He who has got this state of deep sleep as his sphere is su,cupta- sthanah. He is said to be ekibhutah, undifferentiated, since the whole host of duality, that are diversified as the two states (of waking and dream) and are but modifications of the mind, become non-discernible (in that state) without losing their aforesaid characteristics, teristics, just as the day together with the phenomenal world becomes non-discernible under the cover of nocturnal darkness. As such, conscious experiences, that are but vibrations of the mind in the waking and dream states, become solidified, as it were. This state is called prajnanaghanah, a mass of consciousness, since it is characterized by the absence of discrimination. It is a mass of mere consciousness like everything appearing pearing as a mass by becoming indistinguishable under nocturnal darkness. From the use of the word eva, merely, it follows that there is nothing of a separate ate class other than consciousness. And he is dnanda- mayah, full of joy, his abundance of joy being caused by the absence of the misery involved in the effort of the mind vibrating as the objects and their experiencer; encer; but he is not Bliss itself, since the joy is not absolute. Just as in common parlance, one remaining free from effort is said to be happy or dnandabhuk, an experiencer of joy, so this one, too, is called dnanda- bhuk, for by him is enjoyed this state that consists in extreme freedom from effort, in accordance with the Vedic text, `this is its supreme bliss' (Br. IV. iii. 32). He is cetomukhah, since he is the doorway to the consciousness sciousness of the experiences in the dream and waking states. Or he is called cetomukhah, because consciousness, ness, appearing as empirical experience, is his doorway or entrance leading to the states of dream and waking. He is called prdjnah, Prajna, conscious par excellence, since in him alone is there the knowledge of the past and the future and of all things. Even though lying in deep sleep he is called Prajiia (conscious) because of his having been so earlier (in the two former states of dream and waking) ; or he is called conscious, since he alone is possessed of the peculiar characteristics of mere (undiversified) consciousness, whereas the other two have diversified knowledge as well. This Prajiia, as described, is the third quarter.

~Shankara on Mandukya 5 [on deep sleep] (tr-Gambhirananda)

****

All three states have a common feature, namely, the absence of the Knowledge of Reality. But deep sleep differs from waking and dreaming in that it is associated neither with gross objects nor with subtle impressions, which are the characteristics of the other two.

Deep sleep is a state of ease and repose. The friction caused by the subject-object relationship is absent. Hence a person in deep sleep experiences bliss, in the sense that one who is free from effort is said to be happy. This bliss is quite different from that of Brahman.

The unified consciousness of deep sleep, wherein all diversities disappear, is the antecedent of the waking and dream experiences. Hence it is regarded as the cause of, or the door to, the other two states.

~Nikhilananda on Mandukya 5

****

This [prajna, undiferentiated consciousness of deep sleep] is the Lord of all [Sarvesvara, Isvara, Saguna Brahman], this is the knower of all [jnana], this is the inner controller [of Maya], this is the source of all [manifestation]. And this is that from which all things originate and in which they finally dissolve themselves. [Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva]

~Mandukya 6 (tr-Chinmayananda) [notes in brackets are mine]

nonduality comics 231216

The person is not the doer. Universal consciousness is the doer. And love is what one does.

From the absolute point of view, nothing is done, but we’re not in that absolute point of view at this moment in time, are we?

And thinking you are is real sad, love.

The Consciousness Mountains

Thoughts appear in consciousness like fish in a river and you’re the river.

The river isn’t just a reflection of its mountain source. The river is no different than the source and thinking it is, is just delusional.

It's the same old song. The river is the source but the source isn’t the river. The waves are the sea but the sea isn’t the waves.

Stop overthinking things. Consciousness is brahman. That’s all you need to know.

nonduality comics 231215: buddhi knows best

a.

Forget it jake it’s namarupa

OG shapeshifter

Snake upon the rope

b.

On some reptilian level there is identification with the body.

It’s written in your dna.

Don’t fret the small stuff but don’t go playing in traffic either.

c.

Do it for the reptiles and birds, oh my.

Buddhi knows best.

No dinosaur, no buddhi, no self-awareness.

d.

The power of seven is the power of three cubed.

Nonduality equals universal consciousness divided by three or any primordial odd number.

You cannot deconstruct satcitananda. Satcitananda is the ground of all superimposition and resultant deconstruction. Stop digging when you hit water, grasshopper.

e.

Existence is the ground (even emptiness appears in existence).

Awareness is the godhead—universal consciousness is an appearance in that deep blue godhead as self-awareness is its fractal maya.

And bliss is the word ananda is the groove of holistic infinity, satcitananda.

Ayamatmabrahma 451

The world is completely conceptual. A bird is a bird because I call it a bird. But a bird is not a bird. A bird is absolute consciousness upon which namarupa has been superimposed.

The bird doesn’t know this fact but universal consciousness knows because I do. And this knowing is for the birds and all being. Om shanti.

Beneath the tri-state area is the substrate of pure ground. An inert outer body burns because of this satcitananda. Alas I’m not the wood I chop but the unmanifested fire within.