nonduality comics 240210

01.

Causality is the nature of maya.

Not only is atman immortal, I am unborn.

Because cause and effect is the nature of duality, and no one can kill the snake appearing in a rope because illusion, it’s not why, why, why. It just isn’t.

02.

Dreaming is the infinite regress of mind.

As a dream cannot know its dreamer and the dreamer cannot know the dream of a dreamer in its dream…

sudden enlightenment.

03.

Unborn, nondual, and effortless, I, atman, am brahman, that,

as in never temporary, not two, and causeless:

remarkably

the same pure consciousness

witnessing the dream states

is witnessing

the deep sleep dreamless state

tattvamasi

04.

welcome to the year

of the dragon south of hill

and north of river

my happy valley

is in this pleasant valley

but of the river

less than ten miles as

the crow flies is the great big

sea—that atlantic

05.

the sea is to space

as the sun is to the black

whole jack kerouac

jack is down river

from ed mcmahon upriver

from leo bernstein

beyond all howling

turning off the mind relax

float downstream like tao

06.

two red winged blackbirds arrive in the picture window thursday february eighth—earliest return appearance in my thirty years living in this valley.

all things change.

objects appear in the subject. the subject does not appear in the objective universe.

My Mandukya Math

1.

The nature of nirguna brahman is sat (being, existence, presence), cit (consciousness, awareness, intelligence), and ananda (holistic, infinite, bliss). These are not qualities. Such is the province of saguna brahman. It's more like wetness is the nature of pure water.

Satcitananda is reflecting on the subtle body of the so-called individual: the reflection of sat is the ‘I am’; the reflection of cit is the complex of mind, attention, and intelligence; and the reflection of ananda is simply love and happiness.

2. 

There are five basic states of the body-mind: deep sleep, dreaming, waking, enlightenment, and nirvikalpa samadhi. Both body and mind may be switched on or off. Avidya operates similarly.

For the table of these states below, note that the number zero indicates off and 1 indicates on. Also, m equals mind, b equals body, and a equals avidya:

Deep sleep: a1 m0 b0;

Dreaming: a1 m1 b0;

Waking: a1 m1 b1;

Enlightenment: a0 m1 b1;

Nirvikalpa: a0 m0 b0.

3.

Table note 1: the difference between deep sleep and nirvikalpa samadhi is: in deep sleep, avidya is latently on. In other words, deep sleep is the absence of duality, and nirvikalpa is the presence of nonduality.

Table note 2: both the dreaming and waking states are states of dreaming. A better terminology could be sleeping-dreaming and waking-dreaming. Of course the common element in both states of dreaming is mind turned on (avidya on).

Table note 3: this Enlightened One is called the Jivanmukti in Advaita Vedanta. Like Jesus being in the world but not of the world, that’s in the mind but not of the mind, in Maya but not of Maya.

4.

PS: sat is to insentience, as cit is to sentience, as ananda is to enlightenment.

In the name of Nirguna Brahman, Isvara, and the Holy Ghost of Maya, Aum

Hajime Nakamura on Mandukya Karikas

But since there presently exists no independent work earlier than these Kärikäs, the work is the most important source for clarifying the thought of the early Advaita school. In particular, we must carefully note how it at times presents an extremely systematic and organized exposition, and also on occasion is highly polemical. While absorbing the ideas and being influenced by the thoughts of various schools, it also sharply criticizes and attacks other philosophical standpoints. It profoundly influenced later Indian thought, and in subsequent periods was considered to be itself a sruti, thus having an authority equal to that of the Upanisads. It is not only an extremely important work in the history of the development of Indian thought, but apart from that, the work itself has the sparkle of genius. Very directly and loftily it proclaims with bold assurance that it is the Truth. Certainly it is one of the brilliant lights in the history of human philosophical thought.

~Hajime Nakamura (A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy, Part Two)

towards brahmavidya (nonduality comics 240206)

01. inventing satcitananda.

Nihilism is not a new belief. Neti neti crashes too. This is why satcitananda was invented.

Beyond the body is pure existence, beyond the mind is pure consciousness, and beyond enlightenment is ananda, satcitananda.

Materialism says that something comes from nothing. If that’s not magical thinking, then what is?

02. say ah.

In the sea of maya floats a world of the mind and in this world there lives avidya.

In avidya they call their second state of dreaming being awake. Ha!

Aha! Both enlightenment and dreaming use the mind but dreaming is of the mind too.

03. on being brahman.

Real knowing is not at the level of mind, thought. Real knowing is at the level of consciousness, being.

Real knowing is not at the level of mind, belief. Real knowing is at the level of consciousness, being.

Although it's true one can't conceive of brahman, one may be that brahman. This is called brahmavidya.

04. the declaration of moksha.

With mind on, there's either dreaming-dreaming, waking-dreaming, or enlightenment.

The only difference between deep sleep and nirvikalpa samadhi is avidya being on or off.

To turn off avidya, the mind must deconstruct the mind.

Before deconstructing the mind, one needs faith in pure existence.

All the material empires prefer you not.

There are three unalienable rights: sat, cit, and ananda.

Nobody can take them away from the self but yourself.

Belief is the expression of ignorance

If there’s nothing to do, there’s nothing to say. So why are they saying there’s nothing to do?

Although no rituals are required, there’s still knowledge needed—to rid avidya and know there’s nothing to do.

Ignorance is the root of all samsara. So believing there’s nothing to do is easy like samsara. Knowing there’s nothing to do is not.

The Advaita Five (ndc 240203)

01. (that witness of deep sleep)

Attention isn't pure awareness—

attention is mind reflecting awareness.

This is ordinary awareness in avidya

but pure awareness is that witness of deep sleep as well as dreaming.

02 (believe it or not)

It takes some high kind of thought to deny existence—

in amanibhava, there is nothing but existence.

It takes the intelligence of maya to make a universe—

it takes avidya to believe it or not.

03 (not samsara)

Ananda is not to be defined as bliss

but as the locus in which bliss is.

Brahman is that locus.

Ananda is not samsara.

04. (dreaming)

The mind is turned off in both nirvikalpa samadhi and deep sleep—

samadhi has nothing to do with avidya.

From the default state of deep sleep— 

as the mind turns on, it’s called dreaming, and as the body turns on, dreaming is called waking.

05. (there's atman)

All duality is false but every trinity points to truth—this is called the power of three. Two trinities is called the power of seven, and so on.

In Advaita Vedanta, that Christian god-the-father is existence-awareness, asexual and nondual.

God the son is this self-luminous sun of that absolute awareness unknown by the mind and so called black hole. Maya is obviously the holy ghost.

God the ground is nirguna brahman. Universal consciousness is saguna brahman, aka Isvara.

Maya is the manifestation of absolute intelligence as te is to tao.

The big bang of yin and yang equals avidya.

First there is avidya, then there is no mountain, then there’s atman.

Absolutely Satcitananda

Absolute existence is the ground of the universe. The universe itself is nothing but name and form.

Because of the functional compounds and organic chemicals present in the great turning of this reflexive universe,

absolute consciousness, as well as that absolute existence, is the ground of the subtle body present in all sentient beings.

As absolute existence is the ground of material insentience and absolute consciousness is the ground of sentience, absolute ananda is the ground of ineffable enlightenment.

Switchwork and Earthmaya

(switchwork)

There are three toggles when it comes to the switchwork of our states of consciousness: body, mind, and ignorance (avidya).

First, in the state of deep sleep, the mind is turned off (body off, naturally). This is like our vegetative state.

Then there are two dream states in which the mind is turned on for both. One is called dreaming, and the other, ironically, waking—

it’s actually waking as in the body is on; in the first kind of dreaming, called dreaming, the body is off.

All three states occur with avidya turned on. There is a so-called fourth which is not a state of consciousness but pure consciousness itself, the atman. Avidya off.

With avidya off, mind may be off or on. Mind-off is nirvikalpa samadhi. Mind-on is called no-mind, in the mind but not of the mind, enlightenment.

(earthmaya)

Dreaming is magical thinking. The sun literally rises and sets like our god in heaven.

Waking is in the materialistic vein. The revolution of the earth is cause of night and day!

Awakening is like the sunlight of consciousness—of which earthmaya is made and in which it is appearing.

footnotes:

avidya on, mind off = deep sleep (vegetative)

avidya on, mind on, body off = sleeping dream (sunrise and sunset)

avidya on, mind on, body on = waking dream (earth revolving)

avidya off, mind on, body on = enlightenment (sunlight of consciousness in which earth appears)

avidya off, mind off = nirvikalpa samadhi (black hole of absolute awareness-existence)

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.