When we practice Advaita, we seem to be most caring about a certain personality and in the next moment we are most harsh with someone who is not that person. So our Advaita tends to be momentary. Viveka means discrimination/differentiation/deeper. The deeper we are within oneself, the deeper we will practice with another, then Advaita becomes real and oneness becomes our default.
The waves we flowed through in our course so far are:
Wave 1 — Truth (Awareness)
Wave 2 — Lie (Ego)
Wave 3 — The Why — This is the wave we are in right now. If there is ‘Truth’, then there should only be Truth — why is there a lie? This lie is Maya which first expresses as Vikshepa (to project) because we feel that first. This is felt secondarily as Avarana (to forget). Really ‘to forget’ is the cause and ‘to project’ is the effect — but we experience this in the reverse way. When the Truth and lie are mixed up, that is a Jiva. Jiva is ever playing a game that cannot be won. Philosophically this game is called Samsara, experientially we never feel complete even if every facet of living is perfect, and there is always a sense of incompleteness — so this game cannot be won.
We have to approach the ‘Truth’ and the ‘lie’ and ‘why’ differently with more Viveka and clarity. The Spirit is the light, the ‘lie’ and ‘why’ is the shadow. Light and shadow cannot be mixed up. Light does not depend on shadow, but the shadow depends on light. Right now it may look like the ‘lie’ and ‘why’ exist, but there is possibility and hope that these will not exist.
Those who are selfish are like the morning shadow, which starts off long and becomes short. Those who are selfless are like the afternoon shadow, which starts short and then becomes long. This is a way to think about how much of a relationship selfish people and selfless people have with us.
Verse 17: ‘Aaropa’ means superimposition or projection. Some other words for ‘Aaropa’ are ‘Adhyasa’ , ‘Adhyasaropa’. Acharya Shankara teaches us here that the Jiva is very much mixed up with the Truth aspect — that it is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. These describe Sat — existence (omnipresent) , Chit — awareness (omniscient) , Ananda — happiness (omnipotent).
The lie aspect is that all of this ‘omni’ has turned into ‘semi’ (semi-present, semi-knowing, semi- potent). We need to reflect on where this ‘semi-presence’ came from — that there has to be an ‘omnipresence’ — this is the inquiry we need to engage in! Deeper than that is — The ‘semi’ is in the ‘omni’ — for example, semi-potent is in the omnipotent, in which case , there is no semi-potent! So we need to keep reflecting on ‘where did this come from?’ and ‘where is this?’ — then the projection gets dismantled.
The next quarter says that this superimposition is being illumined by ‘Sakshi’ or shines due to Sakshi. Sakshi and superimposition are mutually exclusive ! Foundation is the Sakshi, which is of the nature of Sat-Chit-Ananda or ‘light’. It is as if this light expresses as a ‘Chaya’ — if there is light then there is the light’s shine. This cause-effect is expressed as the Sukshma Sharira (subtle body -inner world of doership and instructing) , which gets expressed more as the Sthula Sharira (gross body or outer world) . We need to reflect on whether we need to depend on the cause or effect. This projection and forgetfulness is metaphysical and will be with us forever unless we approach our problem differently!
If this forgetfulness is destroyed, all will be cleared out. Tamas or Avarana is us just forgetting. If the problem is ‘just forgetting’ then the solution would be ‘just remember/know’ !
This is technically called Jnana Pramana. Pramana means authoritative and Jnana is knowledge. For us — our science and senses are pramana, we have not developed the sensitivity/purity for jnana to be pramana. For example, if Karna just knew who his mother is, and his five brothers — perhaps the Mahabharata would not have happened.
Acharya Shakara shares that because of this mix up, there is no distinction in the inner world between the ‘seer and seen’ and in the outer world between ‘consciousness and creation’. When this becomes clear, all of the ‘Moha’, ‘Bhaya’ and ‘Shoka’ that we are experiencing will drop like a dream drops when we wake up. In verse 14, Maya is first felt as Vikshepa and in verse 15 Maya is then felt as Avarana , in verse 16 — Maya, Vikshepa and Avarana is a Jiva. Here Acharya Shankara is as if giving us the solution — deal with the Avarana and if we do, then Vikshepa will be cleared, Maya will be cleared. This is done by AntaHkarana shuddi, the more pure our inner world becomes, the more we will be ready for knowledge to be authoritative. The more we inquire (Viveka) the more the Drshya will be dismantled, we will start focusing more on unity than differences. If Drshya goes away, the Drg also goes away — if there is no ‘seen’, there is no ‘seer’ either. Then we will be living the Sat-Chit-Ananda!
In Kathopanishad, the Rishi teaches Nachiketa that one should be “Dhaatuprasadat”, Dhaatu is what we experience (sense objects) and we experience them through sense organs. All that we experience, we should feel that it is ‘Prasada’. Prasada is when our mind is cheerful. So the depth of this teaching is that we should be more cheerful in every experience we go through. We need steadiness/stamina to engage in perpetual inquiry!