[Hindu Only] Yoga Vasistha

[shivsomashekhar]

Excerpts from the Utpatti Prakarana -

All of this (creation, existence) is mere imagination or thought. Nothing has been created. Consciousness (Prajna) alone exists now and ever; in it are no worlds, no created beings.

Rama: Is there only one Jiva or many Jivas or one huge conglomerate of Jivas?
Vasistha: Rama, there is neither one Jiva or many or a conglomerate.

Gaudapada in his Mandukya Karika -

Even in the waking state what is imagined by the mind within is unreal, while what is
grasped by the mind outside is real. It is reasonable to hold both these to be unreal - 2.10

There is no dissolution, no origination, none in bondage, none possessed of the means
of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated. This is the ultimate truth - 2.32

Putting them together -

1. Everything is imagined. The body, the soul, other people, the past, present and future are all thoughts. The idea of thought itself is a thought.

2. Consciousness powers these thoughts, but it can only be inferred by thought.

3. Bondage, liberation, Veda are all thoughts too. This is Gaudapada's Paramartha.

People interested in Advaita see Space and its objects as Maya, but they miss the fundamental truth that Time is Maya too. That is, the past, present and future are Maya. The Advaitic moksha is an event in time and is therefore within Maya. A post-moksha state then, is also within Maya, which makes it a paradox. Without internalizing the nature of Time (as Maya), any conception of Advaita will be false.

There is no magic, no transformation of anything. "Jnana (Knowledge/wisdom) alone liberates". Liberation is an intellectual rationalization of the above. That is, seeing for oneself that time is Maya, there is no non-existence and consequently, no birth and no death.

No one is born - Karika 3.48

 

[ajay0]

People interested in Advaita see Space and its objects as Maya, but they miss the fundamental truth that Time is Maya too. That is, the past, present and future are Maya. The Advaitic moksha is an event in time and is therefore within Maya. A post-moksha state then, is also within Maya, which makes it a paradox. Without internalizing the nature of Time (as Maya), any conception of Advaita will be false.

It is true that matter, energy, space, time and causation comes under the domain of nature ( prakriti), which is a grosser and varied manifestation of the Self or unitary Brahman ( pure consciousness).

There is no magic, no transformation of anything. "Jnana (Knowledge/wisdom) alone liberates". Liberation is an intellectual rationalization of the above. That is, seeing for oneself that time is Maya, there is no non-existence and consequently, no birth and no death.

No one is born - Karika 3.48

Here Jnana does not mean mere intellectual knowledge, but awareness or pure consciousness.


The Self, our Being, is awareness. - Sri Muruganar

Chit ( awareness ) means pure knowledge. - Swami Prajnanpad

Knowledge and 'I' ( Self) are both one. - Sree Narayan Guru

The mind is ignorance. - Shankaracharya ( Vivekachudamani )

Your true nature is awareness and not what your mind is producing. - Burt Harding


It is the Self or awareness that liberates and not mere intellectual knowledge. Intellectual knowledge is helpful in providing the foundation and conviction for experiential understanding through awareness.

Intellectual knowledge is like a route map to the summit of the mountain. However having the route map in one's hands is not a substitute for ascending to the summit of the mountain.

 

[atanu]

..
People interested in Advaita see Space and its objects as Maya, but they miss the fundamental truth that Time is Maya too. That is, the past, present and future are Maya. The Advaitic moksha is an event in time and is therefore within Maya. A post-moksha state then, is also within Maya, which makes it a paradox. Without internalizing the nature of Time (as Maya), any conception of Advaita will be false.

That is true. Space-time is an epiphenomenon. But minds, in the epiphenomenal realm, cling to the idea of space-time and its contents as very real. So, release is, in a way, real.

To use a metaphor. You dream a horror. But on waking up you are relieved. Although the dream was unreal, the release from the terror is real -- in a pragmatic way.

(I feel that I can never succeed to show you as to what is meant to be 'released').

 

[Aupmanyav]

Gaudapada did not mention consciousness. Did he? You seem to cling to consciousness. Abandon that too.

 

[shivsomashekhar]

Gaudapada did not mention consciousness. Did he?

He certainly did. Consciousness appears in the MK 36 times.

Example: Everything cognized by consciousness is unreal - 4.36

You seem to cling to consciousness. Abandon that too.

@Aupmanyav, with all due respect, you are clueless on this subject. By your own admission, you do not know what Gaupada said or did not say. Obviously then, you are not in a position to understand what I am saying.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I have not/never denied human consciousness and how can I do that as a conscious being? My problem is with 'universal consciousness' - 'Prajnanam Brahma', that this universe is created/controlled by that.
I have heard that Guadapada was stricter than Sankara regarding 'Ishwara', and perhaps I am closer to Gaudapada than Sankara.
Basically, I have not come across anything which requires changing of my views.

"Chapter Three: Nonduality (Advaita)

Duties of worship
Duties of worship arise only for those, who think something is born and who are thus miserable.
I shall therefore speak of the nonmiserable state in which (...)
—Gaudapada Karika 3.1–2, Translator: Karl Potter

Gaudapada opens this chapter by criticizing devotional worship of any form, and states that this assumes that the Brahman-Atman is born. He states that the nondual Brahman-Atman (Self) can give rise to apparent duality (Jivas, individual souls), while remaining unaffected in the process. To this end he gives the analogy of space and jars. Self is like space and the Jivas are like space in jars. Just as space is enclosed in a jar, so is the Self manifested as Jivas. When the jar is destroyed the space in the jar merges into space so likewise, are the Jivas one of the Self.

* At this I remember my favorite Kabir's couplet:
"Jal mein kumbha, kumbha mein jal hai, bahar-bhitar pani;
phoota kumbha, jal jalahi samana, yah tath kathou giyani."
The pitcher is in water, there is water in the picher, outside-inside water;
the pitcher broke, water mixed with water, the jnanis explained this fact.

Gaudapada states that the Upanishads such as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad teach this, that one's own Atman (self) is identical to the Atman in other beings, and all Atman are identical with the Brahman. .. According to Karikas 3.17-18, Gaudapada admits that dualists disagree with this view, but the ancient texts admit duality in the context of appearances, while "nonduality is indeed the highest reality", translates Karmarkar. .. Thirdly, state Karikas 29–41, neither samsara nor mukti has a beginning or end, because if something is born it must have an end, and something that is unborn has no end."
Gaudapada - Wikipedia

 

[shivsomashekhar]

However having the route map in one's hands is not a substitute for ascending to the summit of the mountain.

Who is ascending? Defining this 'Who' is the key to the problem. It cannot be Brahman for Brahman is never bound; it is not the Jiva as the Jiva is within Maya and it cannot exit Maya. There is no third entity.

Therefore, there is no one who can ascend and therefore, there is no ascension. This is an intellectual realization and this is all there is. This the Paramartha that Gaudapada states in the Karika.

none in bondage, none possessed of the means of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated. This is the ultimate truth - GK 2.32

The rest of the instruction can only lead one up to the Paramartha and therefore should not be interpreted in isolation - a common mistake.

This is not true just because Gaudapada or someone famous says so. It is common sense and is easily seen - once the sentiment goes.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Who is ascending? Defining this 'Who' is the key to the problem. It cannot be Brahman for Brahman is never bound; it is not the Jiva as the Jiva is within Maya and it cannot exit Maya. There is no third entity.

Therefore, there is no one who can ascend and therefore, there is no ascension. This is an intellectual realization and this is all there is. This the Paramartha that Gaudapada states in the Karika.

none in bondage, none possessed of the means of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated. This is the ultimate truth - GK 2.32

The rest of the instruction can only lead one up to the Paramartha and therefore should not be interpreted in isolation - a common mistake.

This is not true just because Gaudapada or someone famous says so. It is common sense and is easily seen - once the sentiment goes.

Ascend where? Is there any other that can be bound? Because only Brahman exists. What to talk of a third party, there is no second party itself. If you drop a stone, waves are not created in the whole ocean. Perhaps they are, but the effects decreases with the square of the distance. So, who does not understand and who is in 'maya' is none other than Brahman. Understood, all waves cease. "Brahma veda Brahmaiva bhavati'. Sage Vasishtha was talking about himself, he understood. Others (in Vyavaharika) too are Brahman only, but they do not understand.

 

[ajay0]

Who is ascending? Defining this 'Who' is the key to the problem. It cannot be Brahman for Brahman is never bound; it is not the Jiva as the Jiva is within Maya and it cannot exit Maya. There is no third entity.

I have explained this many times earlier. There is no entity, only the Self or pure consciousness.
This is the intellectual realization. But this in itself does not lead to enlightenment unless one abides in a state of pure consciousness or awareness through self-effort or austerity, like the way Nisargadatta Maharaj has done.



Also there are rapists, murderers, paedophiles, arsonists and so on.

Here is a recent crime committed in India...

India women's heads shaved for resisting rape


Indeed, Brahman is pure consciousness.

Prajñānam brahma - Brahman is pure consciousness (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3 of the Rig Veda)

But for the vast majority of people who are in a state of impure consciousness due to desires in the form of cravings and aversions that prompt vices like lust, anger, greed, hatred, cruelty, and which in turn prompts crimes like rape, murder, robbery and others, obviously they have to attain a state of pure consciousness free of such defilements.

In Tihar Jail, the Indian senior lady police officer Kiran Bedi was instrumental in introducing the reform model of study and practice of meditation sessions in Indian prisons, which proved to be highly successful and is now being replicated all over the world.

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana - Wikipedia

Britain's most dangerous prisoners to get meditation lessons

How Meditation Reduced Violence in a Mexico Prison


This shows that intellectual realisation is impotent without the necessary application (Niddhidhyasana) in meditation.

It is meditation or awareness and total love that destroys the vasanas responsible for germinating cravings/aversions and creating dualistic perception in the process.

And those who had purified their consciousness of its psychological content of delusion, cravings and aversions,by spiritual exercises or meditation, and overcome the domination of Maya , would realize themselves to be Brahman or pure consciousness.

 

[shivsomashekhar]

There is no entity, only the Self or pure consciousness.

If there is no entity, what are you, @ajay0? And what is the difference between you and someone else?

Your view requires the existence of multiple people (jivas). Some of these jivas are in a meditative state and some others are not. But Advaita denies the plurality of souls?

Unless, you are agreeing that your view point is not Advaita.

...like the way Nisargadatta Maharaj has done.

There is no difference between Nisargadatta Maharaj and any other person. He ate, slept, walked around on his feet like others, smoked beedis, grew old and died. He may have certainly thought he was different from others, but that does not mean he was. And there is no way for us to know.

To put it differently, when there is only one consciousness and no Jivas (the fundamentals of Advaita), there is no Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Prajñānam brahma - Brahman is pure consciousness (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3 of the Rig Veda)

I agree. This is the fundamental premise of my above view.

But for the vast majority of people who are in a state of impure consciousness due to desires in the form of cravings and aversions that prompt vices like lust, anger, greed, hatred, cruelty, and which in turn prompts crimes like rape, murder, robbery and others, obviously they have to attain a state of pure consciousness free of such defilements.

The saint and sinner are both jivas and the Nirguna Brahman of Advaita does not distinguish sin from virtue.

In Tihar Jail, the Indian senior lady police officer Kiran Bedi was instrumental in introducing the reform model of study and practice of meditation sessions in Indian prisons, which proved to be highly successful and is now being replicated all over the world.

Sure, but this has nothing to do with Advaita philosophy at all.

And those who had purified their consciousness of its psychological content of delusion, cravings and aversions,by spiritual exercises or meditation, and overcome the domination of Maya , would realize themselves to be Brahman or pure consciousness.

You did say earlier that there is only one consciousness. How can an individual's meditation purify this one universal consciousness?

This is my reading of your position. It appears you admit individual consciousness - one per individual (jiva). Meditation is the means to purify this individual consciousness and that eventually leads to enlightenment of the individual. But this multiple jiva view is not Advaita. It is more in line with Bhaskara or Madhva or Ramanuja. It may also be a specific form of neo-vedanta (Nisargadatta?).

Advaita is pretty extreme - a fact lost to many.

1. Space and Time are Maya as mentioned earlier.
2. There aren't multiple jivas. This is a fundamental premise where Advaita differs from other streams of Vedanta. Therefore, there is only one universal consciousness (per the AItareya quote above)

A pre-moksha state, moksha, post-moksha state for a jiva is not possible because this can only happen if time is not Maya. But time is Maya and therefore all such states are within Maya.

Moksha therefore, is only an intellectual understanding of how space, past, present, future, the jiva, other jivas and everything is the mind. This is why Shankara repeatedly declared that jnana alone liberates (different from Mandana Mishra, etc., who also require dhyana). It is jnana alone...not dhyana, karma, or anything else.

 

[ameyAtmA]

Who is ascending? Defining this 'Who' is the key to the problem. It cannot be Brahman for Brahman is never bound; it is not the Jiva as the Jiva is within Maya and it cannot exit Maya. There is no third entity.

Namaste
No one is ascending, but the local mind has awakened. It did! The Who = local mind for that fraction of a second moment. No longer within mAyA. No longer a local mind, but VAsudev.

This is experience, not theory. No juggling, no struggling, no gymnastics, but just awakened to the fact that it was I all along, I who appears as the composite Devi, as the Galaxy, Star, planet and human. After years of being "shown" thru' dreams and communion and meditation, how I am this and that, the local mind was not truly convinced, until this day dawned , and it was a split second moment of awakening to the fact.

This is not the first time that a local mind in Me has awakened. It has been happening for years, eons. Sadiyon se. Some mind somewhere within Me (read: In the Uni-multi-verse) awakens to this fact, and all the duality gets thrown out instantly, without any action.
It is like bubble-wrap that goes pop-pop-pop-pop....

Each time that happens, it makes Me so happy, I smile.

Not only am I some silent quiet Brahman'-minus-the-Shakti-conveniently-called-MAyA, I am the complete One, Shakti included, and this is not about "How can I be omni-anything?" because all the wonders you see are just My nature. It is all natural. Just don't expect omni-anything from "this" or one single local mind which has sort-of vanished. It is now merely an instrument. this.mind

It is in My core nature to appear as the galaxy. So also in My nature to "move mountains" and "do wonders"

Since nothing else is there, all is Me.

Do you ask yourself in disbelief, "How is it that my respiratory system works so perfectly?" Similarly, the universe is my body. I cannot ask "How is it that this Universe works perfectly?"

This is the VAsudev principle -- All are in Me and I am in them.
Not just a theory as it was for so long. It is literally true.

Since I am in each heart (antaryAmi vAsudev), and everywhere (VishNu), I am omnipresent, and automatically omniscient. Just have to know who that I is. As for all the phenomena and all possibilities in Me, I would not say they make Me omnipotent, rather, it is My nature to be that way.

In Dwapar Yug , it was the entire Me appearing in human form.
BG 9.11 avajAnanti mAm mudhA manushim tanumAshritam |
param bhAvamajAnanto mama bhUta maheshwaram ||

BG 7.19 bhunAm janmanAmante dnyAnvAnmAM prapadyate |
vAsudevah: sarvamitI sa mahAtmA sudurlabhah: ||

It was not by coincidence that my name was VAsudev. I have been VAsudev (with long a) for eternity, but "people" did not know this. They took me to be the natkhat son of Vasudev (with short a).

vAsanAdvAsudevasya vAsitam bhuvanatrayam |
sarvabhUte niwAsosi vAsudeva namostute ||
Post - VishNuSahasranAma shlok

What is truly purifying and liberating, is the actual awakening! It is not a logical process that can be traced back. It is a (!!!!!!) and a result of Grace.

urvArukamiva bandhanAn mrutyor-mokshiyamAmrutAt. Literally.

BG 4.38 na hi jñānena sadṛśaḿ pavitram iha vidyate tat svayaḿ yoga-saḿsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati.....

So true. Nothing can be more purifying than true knowledge of the Self.
Here, knowledge does not mean intellectual understanding, logic or theory. It means awakening to the fact that it has always been Me all along everywhere everytime because I am beyond space-time.

none in bondage, none possessed of the means of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated.

The local mind was in bondage, it desired liberation, Beloved possesses the means of liberation, Who took its hand and walked the way. The awakening just happened, but Beloved VAsudev made way for it to blossom on its own.

The Self chooses ItSelf to awaken ItSelf. Very very very patiently. Only facilitates the process. Waits patiently for the curious questions. Is always there. The Only friend of the Self is the Self.

WARNING:
1. Reading and understanding this post or even 'relating to it' is not an awakening. It will come in due course.
2. Misunderstanding this post or getting mad at the poster will do the reader no good. Poster is merely an instrument. Like a piano, ViNA, Harp, Lute, Pen, Pencil, Paintbrush...


~ Blessings ~

 

[Aupmanyav]

Too many quotes.
But yes, I agree with you rather than with Shivasomashekhar. In Vyavaharika, there seemingly are various jivas (that is 'maya'). They face the problem of getting out of 'maya). In Paramarthika, there is Brahman only.

 

[ajay0]

If there is no entity, what are you, @ajay0? And what is the difference between you and someone else?

The Self or pure consciousness pervades all, but there are also vasanas creating layers which creates the differences between people.

Even though the Self is pure and holy, the vasanas in the consciousness create desires in the form of cravings and aversions, which create the different personalities.

Mere intellectual realisation is not going to get rid of all these vasanas, unless it can create conviction in the individual to abide constantly in a state of awareness/mindfulness or pure consciousness, which can eliminate the vasanas.But this requires a certain amount of attention, application and practice.

As Sharda Devi stated, " The mind naturally tends towards evil deeds. It is lethargic in doing good works. That's why I say that perseverance and tenacity are necessary for success in all good works."

Mere intellectual realisation is not going to prevent the mind's natural tendency towards unconsciousness unless the aspirant shows austerity in practice of awareness/mindfulness.

There is no difference between Nisargadatta Maharaj and any other person. He ate, slept, walked around on his feet like others, smoked beedis, grew old and died. He may have certainly thought he was different from others, but that does not mean he was. And there is no way for us to know.

This shows clearly that your knowledge of Advaita is still flawed .

There are many prisoners in Tihar jail who ate, slept and walked around on their feet, smoked beedis, grew old and died. Would one call them enlightened !
They were kept in prison for a purpose so that people will not get robbed, murdered or raped.

Nisargadatta Maharaj, indeed worked in his profession, ate, slept and walked around on his feet, smoked beedis and so on, but he did so in a state of constant awareness and not in unconscious thinking and emoting ( under the influence of cravings and aversions). He did so as per the direction of his Guru Siddharameshwar Maharaj to attend to the state of 'I am' or awareness, and reaped the results after a span of time.

 

[atanu]

Therefore, there is no one who can ascend and therefore, there is no ascension. This is an intellectual realization and this is all there is. This the Paramartha that Gaudapada states in the Karika.

I have a question. Whose intellectual realisation?

 

[shivsomashekhar]

Too many quotes.
But yes, I agree with you rather than with Shivasomashekhar. In Vyavaharika, there seemingly are various jivas (that is 'maya'). They face the problem of getting out of 'maya). In Paramarthika, there is Brahman only.

Paramarthika is just a concept and never a reality. Simply because, no jiva can be in Paramarthika to experience it.

In other words, @Aupmanyav is a jiva and is therefore always in Vyavaharika; never in Paramarthika. Ergo, such a state does not exist.

I have a question. Whose intellectual realisation?

Excellent question.

If you atanu realize and ajay realizes and Aup realizes - for this to work, all of you have to continue as individuals post-realization. Else, there is no entity that is in a realized state and that will be a contradiction. But this admits the reality of multiple individuals (jivas) and is therefore not Advaita.

But if there are no individuals (jivas) per Gaudapada, then who is realizing? Just like Ramana said "The Self always is the Self and there is no such thing as realizing it. Who is to realize what, and how, when all that exists is the Self and nothing but the Self?".

The simple answer is you because this is intellectual and not a transformation (from individual to Brahman) as commonly misunderstood. You see that we are all in your mind (including the idea of yourself). The past and future are in your mind too, as is everything else (bondage, moksha, etc). Therefore, your birth/pre-birth and your death/post-death are concepts in your mind. Ergo, there is no beginning and no end.

Hence,

na nirodho na chotpattirna baddho na cha sAdhakaH |
na mumukShurna vai mukta ityeShA paramArthatA || MK 2.32 ||

There is no dissolution, no origination, none in bondage, none possessed of the means
of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated. This is the ultimate truth.

Gaudapada made a bold statement, which declares the uncompromising nature of Advaita and how different it is from other streams of Vedanta. This is why I say most people do not get Advaita. They assume time to be real and imagine a future point in time when they will gain moksha and will thereafter be in a state of liberation, forever. People have to internalize that in Advaita, there is no entity that can be in a state of moksha - if mokhsa is understood to be transformation.

The realization is intellectual, but it has to be your realization - from first principles. You have to see it for yourself; it cannot be given to you by anyone else.The biggest obstruction to seeing this will be the reluctance to accept that there is nothing to transform and no permanent (forever) blissful state to achieve. Because it was probably such shiny descriptions of moksha that attracted people to the concept in the first place.

 

[ameyAtmA]

The biggest obstruction to seeing this will be the reluctance to accept that there is nothing to transform and no permanent (forever) blissful state to achieve.

Even if the disembodied purified or realized individuals are within mAyA, and non-existent by your definition, you cannot ontologically erradicate them, or stop them from existing (be it in mAyA).
AvatArs of VishNu persist after avatAr kArya. They are there. KRshNa, RAma, NRsiMha, VarAha, DattAtreya, Shiv, Nandi, are all there.

Have you not heard of people meeting deceased Guru, parents, and what about Saints who passed away centuries or decades ago? Shirdi Sai, Raghavendra Swami?
The difference is : if any of these have an advaitic realization of being the Original One who is all, they cannot possibly have any egoistic issues like "me versus you" or "us versus them" , They have nothing to lose (because of no sense of individual or boundary) and love will overflow, this is why they are so compassionate, krupALu. They are Brahman' in their right.
At the most they will exist in the state of nirvana and this is the blissfull state.
What is Buddha doing? Can he not feel the bliss of nirvana? What is wrong if 100 points in Brahman feel the bliss of Brahman' ?

BG 2.12
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपा |
न चैव न भविष्याम: सर्वे वयमत: परम् ||

na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na chaiva na bhaviṣhyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param

 

[ameyAtmA]

P.S. GauDapAda's perspective is one thing, and VedAnta + Bramha-sUtra is another. Most people like to see the VedAnta as propunding advaita in an intuitive light. It is still advaita, as defined by VyAs, and has a utility-purpose.

 

[atanu]

Paramarthika is just a concept and never a reality. Simply because, no jiva can be in Paramarthika to experience it.

In other words, @Aupmanyav is a jiva and is therefore always in Vyavaharika; never in Paramarthika. Ergo, such a state does not exist.

Excellent question.

If you atanu realize and ajay realizes and Aup realizes - for this to work, all of you have to continue as individuals post-realization. Else, there is no entity that is in a realized state and that will be a contradiction. But this admits the reality of multiple individuals (jivas) and is therefore not Advaita.

But if there are no individuals (jivas) per Gaudapada, then who is realizing? Just like Ramana said "The Self always is the Self and there is no such thing as realizing it. Who is to realize what, and how, when all that exists is the Self and nothing but the Self?".

The simple answer is you because this is intellectual and not a transformation (from individual to Brahman) as commonly misunderstood. You see that we are all in your mind (including the idea of yourself). The past and future are in your mind too, as is everything else (bondage, moksha, etc). Therefore, your birth/pre-birth and your death/post-death are concepts in your mind. Ergo, there is no beginning and no end.

Hence,

na nirodho na chotpattirna baddho na cha sAdhakaH |
na mumukShurna vai mukta ityeShA paramArthatA || MK 2.32 ||

There is no dissolution, no origination, none in bondage, none possessed of the means
of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated. This is the ultimate truth.

Gaudapada made a bold statement, which declares the uncompromising nature of Advaita and how different it is from other streams of Vedanta. This is why I say most people do not get Advaita. They assume time to be real and imagine a future point in time when they will gain moksha and will thereafter be in a state of liberation, forever. People have to internalize that in Advaita, there is no entity that can be in a state of moksha - if mokhsa is understood to be transformation.

The realization is intellectual, but it has to be your realization - from first principles. You have to see it for yourself; it cannot be given to you by anyone else.The biggest obstruction to seeing this will be the reluctance to accept that there is nothing to transform and no permanent (forever) blissful state to achieve. Because it was probably such shiny descriptions of moksha that attracted people to the concept in the first place.

Space-time comes and goes within consciousness-brahman. I think most advaitins comprehend it. We also realise that there is no ascension or going to any time or place.

The problem with your narrative is that in one hand you deny individuals and on the other you make posts to emphasise that there are individuals who do not understand advaita.

Humbly I ask you, how you reconcile that?

You earlier said “Therefore, there is no one who can ascend and therefore, there is no ascension. This is an intellectual realization and this is all there is. This the Paramartha that Gaudapada states in the Karika.”.

I therefore queried “Whose intellectual realisation?”.

I see no answer for that.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Paramarthika is just a concept and never a reality. Simply because, no jiva can be in Paramarthika to experience it. In other words, Aupmanyav is a jiva and is therefore always in Vyavaharika; never in Paramarthika. Ergo, such a state does not exist.

"There is no dissolution, no origination, none in bondage, none possessed of the means
of liberation, none desirous of liberation, and none liberated. This is the ultimate truth."

The realization is intellectual, but it has to be your realization - from first principles. You have to see it for yourself; it cannot be given to you by anyone else.The biggest obstruction to seeing this will be the reluctance to accept that there is nothing to transform and no permanent (forever) blissful state to achieve.

There is a bridge across the ford, 'jnana', understanding, which Sage Vasishtha and Buddha crossed. Then one can go from one shore to another at will, 'tathagata'.

Sure, that (the quoted) is true, but in Paramarthika. You cannot say that in Vyavaharika.
I agree to that too. One has to cross the bridge by him/herself. Rather than a 'blissful' state, it is a 'no-ambiguity state'. That has been called as 'blissful'.

Ameya, Brahman cannot be 'kripalu'. It is 'nirguna', 'nirlipta'. It does not have a 'vikara' like being 'kripalu' or 'prativaira' (revenge).
Of course, you reading will differ from mine, therefore, only one of us is there, not both.
And there is no 'universal consciousness', Brahman is more complex than that. It is beyond 'existence' and 'non-existence', something that we do not exactly know till now. Perhaps the future generations will know.

 

[ameyAtmA]

Ameya, Brahman cannot be 'kripalu'. It is 'nirguna', 'nirlipta'.

I was saying the Saints and avatArs are kRupALu
Just by observation, is Shri KRshNa and Shri RAm not KRupALu? RAmachandra KRupALu bhajamana?
KRshNa = KaruNAsAgar ?

Now, if you agree with the above, are RAm and KRshNa not Brahman' ? OR to make it easier, were they not Brahman' while on earth in Treta and Dwapar?

The KEY: VAsudeva sarvamiti.

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However, Is Brahman' not free to do whatever just because humans gave Him the definition of being inert ?

I can choose to be nirlipta or I can choose to be a sAkshI, I can choose the granularity with which to watch and ignore.

And there is no 'universal consciousness', Brahman is more complex than that.

It means all points in pure Brahman' are one in Spirit. They are not at odds with each other.
Simple example: NArAyaN (VishNu) will respect the boon that Shiv gave to someone, and work around it - without breaking the vardAn.
Shiva-VishNu are One in Brahman' and are Brahman'
Another example - NRsiMha.
All points in Brahman' are in telepathic union.