Question :
Dear Swamiji,
Hearty Pranams
My wife and I look eagerly forward every evening to watch you on Disha in USA. One thing that has been clear to me is the emphasis you place on the subject, I, being the center of everything. That is clearly oneness, Advaita. Then during the narration of our epics, you explain the worshipful attitude of an individual towards a deva in person or in an idol form. That sounds like I seeking help from another subject, sounds like duality between I and the other, so that appears to be Dvaita. I am not clear how to connect those dots. Please clear it for me. Very grateful for the light you bring to our lives every evening,
RB
Answer
Dear and blessed RB,Harih Om Tat Sat,
I am happy that you and your wife are regularly watching ‘Inner Spiritual Splendour’ telecast by Disha channel. I also note that you have found that, in the telecast, repeatedly the emphasis is made on ‘I’ the subject. You describe it as Oneness.
Once you have understood that the ‘I’ is the source of everything, the source of all experiences which themselves become knowledge, memory and the like then where is the question of doubting anything further?
Advaita is a concept or an attitude springing from this ‘I’, Dvaita is another attitude springing from the ‘I’. I don’t think there is any conflict between the two. Before the senses, all objects are infinite plural and various. In the mind all objects are reflections or imprints of the mind itself. When you go a little beyond, as in sleep, all the objects disappear and the ‘I’ alone survives. Don’t you think all the 3 are equally valid?
When you are wakeful and the senses are active you will always find plurality around you. Even your own body is there and the body has so many different parts, one different from the other. Then inside the body, mind, intelligence, the ego – all these are different. However, all these differences vanish when you sleep and the whole objects also disappear.
Where is this conflict here? We have the wakefulness given to plurality, sleep given to nothingness, and dream a creation by the mind, within itself, within the body. All the 3 are equal states and experiences for us and they prevail within us without any conflict. In the same manner the other also should.
The best what I can tell you is what Hanuman the great devotee of Rama, confessed before his beloved Lord.
देहबुध्या त्वदासोस्मि जीव बुध्या त्वदम्शक: ।
अात्मबुध्या त्वमेवाहं इति मे निश्र्चिता मति: ।।
dehabuddhyaa tvadaasosmi jeeva buddhyaa tvadamshaka:
aatmabuddhya tvameyvaaham iti mey nishcitaa mati:
When I think of my body and senses, my dear Lord, I am different from you and hence I am a humble servant to serve you. When I think of myself as the spirit enlivening the body then I become your part. When I go into what this Jeeva itself is, I get to the absolute level of existence - the Self where, you and I are the same.
In and by the senses we have the plurality. In the mind we have plurality but within the oneness of the mind and in sleep the whole plurality is gone. I think this is the way you have to look at it.
Advaita is the stark truth, but that does not mean that after getting the knowledge of Advaita you become useless to live in this world with the senses, mind and intelligence. So in the sensory plane, diversity will be there and your interactions will also be there, but in the mental plane all become mental. When you go beyond that – there is nothing only the subject.
Love and ashirvaad,
Antaraatma
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
