Advaita Vedanta Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===''Pāramārthika'' - ''Sat'' (True Reality)=== ====Ātman==== {{Main|Ātman (Hinduism)}} {{See also|Samadhi|Buddha-nature|Sunyata|Choiceless awareness}} Ātman ([[IAST]]: ātman, [[Sanskrit]]: आत्मन्) is the "real self"{{sfnp|Dalal|2011|p=38}}{{sfnp|Johnson|2009|p=entry "Atman (self)"}}{{sfn|Bowker|2000c|loc="Atman"}}{{sfn|Timalsina|2014|pp=3–23}}{{refn|group=note|[https://web.archive.org/web/20141230210157/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/atman Atman], Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press (2012), '''Quote''': "1. real self of the individual; 2. a person's soul"}} or "essence"<ref group=web>{{Cite web |url=http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=HK&beginning=0+&tinput=+atman&trans=Translate&direction=AU |title=Sanskrit Dictionary, ''Atman'' |access-date=21 December 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222144841/http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=HK&beginning=0+&tinput=+atman&trans=Translate&direction=AU |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|name="Payne2005p200"}} of the individual. It is ''caitanya'', Pure Consciousness,{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=103 (verse 1), p.105 (note 1)}} a consciousness, states Sthaneshwar Timalsina, that is "self-revealed, self-evident and self-aware (''svaprakashata''),"{{sfn|Timalsina|2014|pp=3–23}} and, states Payne, "in some way permanent, eternal, absolute or unchanging."{{refn|group=note|name="Payne2005p200"}} It is self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual.{{sfn|Rambachan|2006|pp=7, 99–103}} It is "a stable subjectivity, or a unity of consciousness through all the specific states of individuated phenomenality."{{sfn|Ram-Prasad|2013|p=235}} Ātman, states Eliot Deutsch, is the "pure, undifferentiated, supreme power of awareness", it is more than thought, it is a state of being, that which is conscious and transcends subject-object divisions and momentariness.{{sfn|Deutsch|1973|pp=48–51}} According to Ram-Prasad, "it" is not an object, but "the irreducible essence of being [as] subjectivity, rather than an objective self with the quality of consciousness."{{sfn|Ram-Prasad|2013|p=237}} According to Shankara, it is self-evident and "a matter not requiring any proof" that Atman, the 'I', is 'as different as light is from darkness' from non-Atman, the 'you' or 'that', the material world whose characteristics are mistakingly superimposed on Atman, resulting in notions as "I am this" and "This is mine."<ref name="ShankaraBSBpreamble"/> One's real self is not the constantly changing body, not the desires, not the emotions, not the ego, nor the dualistic mind,{{sfn|Sharma|2007|p=44–45, 90}}{{sfn|Deutsch|1973|pp=50–51, 101–107}}{{sfn|Fowler|2002|pp=256–258, 261–263}}}} but the introspective, inwardly self-conscious "on-looker" (''saksi''),{{sfn|Raju|1985|pp=[https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju/page/448 448]–449}} which is in reality completely disconnected from the non-Atman.<ref name="ShankaraBSBpreamble"/> The ''jivatman'' or individual self is a mere reflection of singular Atman in a multitude of apparent individual bodies.{{sfn|Indich|2000|p=50}} It is "not an individual subject of consciousness,"{{sfn|Ram-Prasad|2013|p=235}} but the same in each person and identical to the universal eternal [[Brahman]],{{sfn|Sharma|2007|pp=9–13, 29–30, 45–47, 79–86}} a term used interchangeably with Atman.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992}} ''Atman'' is often translated as [[soul]],{{refn|group=note|name="Soul"}} though the two concepts differ significantly, since "soul" includes mental activities, whereas "Atman" solely refers to detached witness-consciousness. =====Three states of consciousness and Turiya===== Advaita posits three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti), which are empirically experienced by human beings,{{sfn|Sharma|2004|p=3}}{{sfn|Indich|2000|pp=57–60}} and correspond to the [[Three Bodies Doctrine (Vedanta)|Three Bodies Doctrine]]:{{sfn|Wilber|2000|p=132}} # The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily world.{{sfn|Sharma|2004|pp=15–40, 49–72}} This is the gross body. # The second state is the dreaming mind. This is the [[subtle body]].{{sfn|Sharma|2004|pp=15–40, 49–72}} # The third state is the state of deep sleep. This is the [[causal body]].{{sfn|Sharma|2004|pp=15–40, 49–72}} Advaita also posits "the fourth," [[Turiya]], which some describe as pure consciousness, the background that underlies and transcends these three common states of consciousness.<ref group=web name=rm>{{cite book |url=http://bhagavan-ramana.org/ramana_maharshi/books/tw/tw617.html |author=Ramana Maharshi |title=States of Consciousness |access-date=16 February 2013 |archive-date=9 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209164417/http://bhagavan-ramana.org/ramana_maharshi/books/tw/tw617.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref group=web name=sc1>{{cite book|url=http://www.yogaofsrichinmoy.com/yoga/summits_of_god-life|author=Sri Chinmoy|title=Summits of God-Life|access-date=16 February 2013|archive-date=15 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215153917/http://www.yogaofsrichinmoy.com/yoga/summits_of_god-life/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Turiya is the state of liberation, where states Advaita school, one experiences the infinite (''ananta'') and non-different (''advaita/abheda''), that is free from the dualistic experience, the state in which [[ajativada]], non-origination, is apprehended.{{sfn|King|1995|p=300 note 140}} According to Candradhara Sarma, Turiya state is where the foundational Self is realized, it is measureless, neither cause nor effect, all pervading, without suffering, blissful, changeless, self-luminous,{{refn|group=note |name=self-luminous}} real, immanent in all things and transcendent.{{sfn|Sarma|1996|pp=122, 137}} Those who have experienced the Turiya stage of self-consciousness have reached the pure awareness of their own non-dual Self as one with everyone and everything, for them the knowledge, the knower, the known becomes one, they are the ''Jivanmukta''.{{sfn|Sarma|1996|pp=126, 146}}{{sfn|Comans|2000|pp=128–131, 5–8, 30–37}}{{sfn|Indich|2000|pp=106–108}}{{sfnp|Sullivan|1997|pp=59–60}}{{sfnp|Gupta|1998|pp=26–30}} Advaita traces the foundation of this ontological theory in more ancient Sanskrit texts.{{sfn|Raju|1985|pp=32–33}} For example, chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of [[Chandogya Upanishad]] discuss the "four states of consciousness" as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep.{{sfn|Raju|1985|pp=32–33}}{{sfnp|Hume|1921|p=Chandogya Upanishad – Eighth Prathapaka, Seventh through Twelfth Khanda, [https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n289/mode/2up pp. 268–273]}} One of the earliest mentions of ''Turiya'', in the Hindu scriptures, occurs in verse 5.14.3 of the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad''.{{refn|group=note|{{harvtxt|Olivelle|1998|p=77}};<br/>Sanskrit ([https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद् Wikisource]): प्राणोऽपानो व्यान इत्यष्टावक्षराणि अष्टाक्षर ह वा एकं गायत्र्यै पदम् एतदु हैवास्या एतत् स यावदिदं प्राणि तावद्ध जयति योऽस्या एतदेवं पदं वेद अथास्या एतदेव '''तुरीयं''' दर्शतं पदं परोरजा य एष तपति यद्वै चतुर्थं तत्तुरीयम् दर्शतं पदमिति ददृश इव ह्येष परोरजा इति सर्वमु ह्येवैष रज उपर्युपरि तपत्य् एव हैव श्रिया यशसा तपति योऽस्या एतदेवं पदं वेद ॥ ३ ॥}} The idea is also discussed in other early Upanishads.{{sfn|Indich|2000|pp=58–67, 106–108}} =====''Svayam prakāśa'' (self-luminosity)===== {{Main|prakāśa}} In the Advaita tradition, consciousness is svayam prakāśa, "self-luminous,"{{sfn|Indich|2000|p=24, 28}}{{sfn|Menon|2012}}{{refn|group=note|name=self-luminous}} which means that "self is pure awareness by nature."{{sfn|Ganeri|2019|p=103}} According to Dasgupta, it is "the most fundamental concept of the Vedanta."{{sfn|Dasgupta|1975|p=148-149}} According to [[Tiruppattur R. Venkatachala Murti|T. R. V. Murti]], the Vedanta concept is explained as follows: {{blockquote|The point to be reached is a foundational consciousness that is unconditional, self-evident, and immediate (''svayam-prakāśa''). It is that to which everything is presented, but is itself no presentation, that which knows all, but is itself no object. The self should not be confused with the contents and states which it enjoys and manipulates. If we have to give an account of it, we can describe it only as what it is not, for any positive description of it would be possible only if it could be made an object of observation, which from the nature of the case it is not. We "know" it only as we withdraw ourselves from the body with which we happen to be identified, in this transition.{{sfn|Murti|1983|p=339}}{{refn|group=note|Compare {{harvnb|Fasching|2021}}: For Advaita Vedānta, consciousness is to be distinguished from all contents of consciousness that might be introspectively detectable: It is precisely consciousness of whatever contents it is conscious of and not itself one of these contents. Its only nature is, Advaita holds, prakāśa (manifestation); in itself it is devoid of any content or structure and can never become an object.}}}} According to Jonardon Ganeri, the concept was introduced by the Buddhist philosopher [[Dignāga]] (c.480–c.540 CE), and accepted by the Vedanta tradition;{{sfn|Ganeri|2019|p=103}} according to Zhihua Yao, the concept has older roots in the [[Mahasanghika#Self-Awareness and the Mind|Mahasanghika]] school.{{sfnp|Yao|2005|p=2}} ====Brahman==== {{Main|Brahman|Satcitananda}} According to Advaita Vedānta, [[Brahman]] is the true Self, consciousness, awareness, and the only Reality (''[[Satya|Sat]]'').{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=122}}{{sfn|Raju|2006|p=426; Conclusion chapter part XII}}{{refn|group=note|name=Brahman_definitions}} Brahman is ''Paramarthika Satyam'', "Absolute Truth"{{sfn|Venkatramaiah|2000|p=xxxii}} or absolute Real.{{sfn|Padiyath|2014|p=177}} It is That which is [[Ajativada|unborn]] and unchanging,{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=122}}{{sfn|Brodd|2009|p=43–47}} and immortal.{{refn|group=note|name=Brahman_immortal}} Other than ''Brahman'', everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are ever-changing and therefore [[maya (illusion)|maya]]. Brahman is "not sublatable",{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=6–7}} which means it cannot be superseded by a still higher reality:{{sfn|Puligandla|1997|p=231}} {{blockquote|the true Self, pure consciousness [...] the only Reality (''sat''), since It is untinged by difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not sublatable".{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=6–7}}}} In Advaita, Brahman is the substrate and cause of all changes.{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=122}}{{sfn|Brodd|2009|p=43–47}} Brahman is considered to be the material cause{{refn|group=note|It provides the "stuff" from which everything is made}} and the efficient cause{{refn|group=note|It sets everything into working, into existence}} of all that exists.{{sfn|Raju|2006|p=426 and Conclusion chapter part XII}}{{sfnp|Dhavamony|2002|pp=43–44}}{{sfnp|Martinez-Bedard|2006|pp=18–35}} }}The Brahma Sutras I.1.2 state that Brahman is: {{blockquote|...that from which the origination, subsistence, and dissolution of this universe proceed.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=18-19}} {{refn|group=note|Gambhirananda: "That (is Brahman) from which (are derived) the birth etc. of this (universe)."{{sfn|Gambhirananda|2021|p=13}}}}}} Advaita's Upanishadic roots state Brahman's qualities{{refn|group=note|''Svarupalakshana'', qualities, definition based on essence}} to be ''[[Satcitananda|Sat-cit-ānanda]]'',{{sfn|Raju|1992|p=228}}{{sfn|Deutsch|1980|p=9}}{{sfnp|Arapura|1986|pp=12, 13–18}} "true being-consciousness-bliss,"{{sfnp|Arapura|1986|pp=12, 13–18}}{{sfn|Deutsch|1980|p=9–10 with footnote 2}} or "Eternal Bliss Consciousness".{{sfn|Werner|1994}}{{refn|group=note|The Advaitin scholar Madhusudana Sarasvati explained Brahman as the Reality that is simultaneously an absence of falsity (sat), absence of ignorance (cit), and absence of sorrow/self-limitation (ananda).{{sfnp|Arapura|1986|pp=12, 13–18}}}} A distinction is made between ''[[nirguna Brahman]]'', formless Brahman, and ''[[Saguna brahman|saguna Brahman]]'', Brahman with form, that is, ''Ishvara'', God. ''Nirguna Brahman'' is undescrible, and the Upanishadic ''[[neti neti]]'' ('not this, not that' or 'neither this, nor that') negates all conceptualizations of Brahman.{{sfn|Derrida|1992|p=203}}{{sfnp|Pradhan|2014|p=19}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page