Atma Bodha - Post 67

Verse 57

अतद्व्यावृत्तिरूपेण वेदान्तैर्लक्ष्यतेऽद्वयम् ।

अखण्डानन्दमेकं यत्ततद्ब्रह्मेत्यवधारयेत् ॥ ५७॥

ATAD-VYAA-VRITTI ROOPENA

VEDAANTAIH LAKSHYATE ADVAYAM

AKHAND-AANANDAM EKAM YAT

TAT BRAHMA ITI AVA-DHAARAYET

(By the process of negating what it is not indicated in Vedanta as the Indestructible Substratum which is Indivisible, Blissful and One, realize That to be Brahman.)

Again the oneness, the indivisibility, is stressed – this time with the inclusion of Bliss, the essential nature of the Self, and the process of negation by which we arrive at this oneness.

The discussion of verse 56 brought an understanding of the independence of existence or Life from the brain and even the mind. 

We can see that it is incorrect for us to deduce that the stone has no mind or life simply because it has no brain. Anything that exists has to be aware of its own existence. Awareness of existence is the very nature of the Self.

A thing or being does not need a Mind to be aware of its own existence; it needs the mind only to know if other things exist. 

This compels us to take a closer look at the process of Negation referred to here. What are we negating? Are we being asked to negate this world?

That cannot be, since the Self that we are seeking is all-pervading in all the phenomena of the world. This verse directly tells us that we have to learn to see the Self in all beings and creatures.

The negation of “Not this, not that” is to remove our ignorant and deluded view of the world and return the true view to its rightful place in the foreground of our life. This will bring us to experience the blissful aspect of the Self. 

If we want to feel Brahman, it is going to take every strategy, every methodology — I have to know what I am not, I have to know what I am, I have to know what I am in between, I have to know what is Absolute, relative and illusion — all of it!

If you show up in front of the ego, then ego will take all your power away. Vali is like ego, so be like Bhagavan Rama and go behind Vali (ego).

When our mind is calm, quiet and still, we will come to experience how simple Vedanta is.

Existence-awareness is the most fundamental. Unbroken joy is who you are. 

Kaivalya Upanishad proclaims the same about Brahman as:

YATPARAM BRAHMA SARVAATMAA VISHVASYAAYATANAM MAHAT.H

SUUKSHMAATSUUKSHMATARAM NITYAM TATTVAMEVA TVAMEVA TAT.H .. 16..

(That which is the Supreme Brahman, the soul of all, the great support of the universe, subtler than the subtle, and eternal – that is thyself, and thou art That.)

MAYYEVA SAKALAM JAATAM MAYI SARVAM PRATISHTHITAM.H

MAYI SARVAM LAYAM YAATI TAD.HBRAHMAADVAYAMASMYAHAM.H .. 19..

(In me alone is everything born, in me does everything rest, and in me is everything dissolved. I am that Brahman, the second less.)

The great support of all creations, the Brahman, being one without second does not admit any differences nor can undergo any changes and hence is described here as indivisible, non dual and immutable.

The Upanishads indicate that the Brahman is reached by a process of negation of what is not and of assertion of what it is. i.e. by the direct method and the method of negation. 

This is explained in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.6 as “Now therefore the description (of Brahman) is: ‘Not this, not this’. Because there is no other and more appropriate description than this ‘Not this’. Now Its name: ‘The Truth of truth’. The vital force is truth, and It is the Truth of that.”

Here it is explained that Brahman is that which is realized after the process of negation. When all the objects of the world are negated as illusory, that which remains as the witness, as the substratum to all the illusions, that is to be realized as Brahman.

Love.