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The Advaita Concept
The universe is not just conscious, but it is consciousness, and
this consciousness
is Brahman. Human consciousness has forgotten its
identity, that of Brahman, as if a drop of water from a vast ocean
thought itself separate, and that the only path to merge back into
that Brahman or supreme consciousness is through the paths of
devotion, moral living, following the eight-fold path of Ashtanga Yoga
meditation, often expressed in various systems of spiritual practices
known as yogas.
If one seeks Brahman via true knowledge, Atman seeks truth and
accepts it no matter what it is. Atman accepts all truths of the
self/ego, and thus is able to accept the fact that it is not separate
from its surroundings. Then Atman is permanently absorbed into Brahman
and become one and the same with it. This is how one forever escapes
rebirth.
In Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is without attributes and strictly
impersonal. It can be best described as infinite Being, infinite
Consciousness and infinite Bliss. It is pure knowledge itself, similar
to a source of infinite radiance. Since the Advaitins regard Brahman
to be the Ultimate Truth, so in comparison to Brahman, every other
thing, including the material world, its distinctness, the
individuality of the living creatures and even Ishvara (the Supreme
Lord) itself are all untrue.
When man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind,
under the influence of an illusionary power of Brahman called Maya,
Brahman becomes God (Ishvara). God is Brahman under Maya. The material
world also appears as such due to Maya. God is Saguna Brahman, or
Brahman with attributes. He is omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal,
independent, Creator of the world, its ruler and also destroyer. He is
eternal and unchangeable. He is both immanent and transcendent, as well
as full of love and justice. He may be even regarded to have a
personality. He is the subject of worship. He is the basis of morality
and giver of the fruits of one's Karma. He rules the world with his
Maya. However, while God is the Lord of Maya and she (ie, Maya) is
always under his control, living beings (jiva, in the sense of humans)
are the servants of Maya (in the form of ignorance). This ignorance is
the cause of all material experiences in the mortal world. While God
is Infinite Bliss, humans, under the influence of Maya consider
themselves limited by the body and the material, observable world.
This misperception of Brahman as the observed Universe results in
human emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear. The Ultimate
reality remains Brahman and nothing else. The Advaita equation is
simple. It is due to Maya that the one single Atman (the individual soul) appears to the people as many Atmans, each in a single body.
Once the curtain of maya is lifted, the Atman is exactly equal to the
Brahman. Thus, due to true knowledge, an individual loses the sense of
ego (Aham-kara) and achieves liberation, or Moksha. Also see Advaita
Vedanta.
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