Vedanta-Sara

Note Extracts from my reading of Vedanta-Sara by Adi Sankaracharya:

Vedāntasāra is one of the best known epitomes (Prakaraṇa Granthas) of the philosophy of the Upaniṣads as taught by Śaṅkarācārya, whose followers are said to number the largest in India.

Māyā and Avidyā are generally used synonymously, though Māyā is sometimes said to be the ignorance of Īśvara, the creator of this world, and Avidyā to be the ignorance of Jīva or the individual soul.

The one aim of Vedānta, therefore, is the eradication of Māyā or Avidyā (ignorance).

The mind can practise concentration or understand the subtle meaning of the Śāstras only when it is purified by the performance of the Nitya and other works. It is the purified mind that can realise Brahman.

Discrimination between things permanent and transient: this consists of the discrimination that “Brahman alone is the permanent1 Substance and that all things other than It are transient.”

Discrimination has been pointed out as the first Sādhanā as without it renunciation is impossible.

The appearance of the many is due to the limitations of time, space, and causality, just as the one sun reflected in different sheets of water looks as many.

Unless the Self is ever-conscious such perception as “I am the knower” can never arise. The apparent consciousness of the phenomenal objects is, in reality, the reflected consciousness of Brahman.

No mental function can illumine an object unless it has the Self at its back. The eyes, ears, etc., seem to perform their functions consciously because they draw their consciousness from the Self;

Though absolutely speaking, Brahman alone exists, yet the distinction of finite beings must be admitted from the relative standpoint, otherwise states of bondage and liberation become meaningless.

Brahman associated with ignorance is known as Īśvara. The difference between Īśvara and the ordinary man is that the former, though associated with Māyā, is not bound by its fetters, whereas the latter is its slave. Īśvara is the highest manifestation of Brahman in the phenomenal universe.

The Jīva derives his perception in all states only through Consciousness or Intelligence which is the essence of the Ātman.

Pure Consciousness is called the “Fourth” aspect in relation to the three other aspects, viz. Viśva (waking), Taijasa (dreaming) and Prājña (dreamless).

There are four sentences known as the Mahāvākyas which contain the essence of the wisdom of the Vedas. These are: तत्त्वमसि—“Thou art That” (Ch. Up. 6. 8. 7); अयमात्मा ब्रह्म “This Self is Brahman” (Mand. Up. 2. 5. 19); प्रजानं ब्रह्म—“Consciousness is Brahman” (Ait. Up. 5. 3); and अहं ब्रह्मास्मि—“I am Brahman” (Bṛ. Up. 1. 4. 10). Realisation of the meaning of these great utterances liberates one from bondage.

Even when a man thinks himself bound, he is in reality the blissful Ātman. He has only forgotten his real nature and this is due to Māyā. The aim of all Sādhanā (spiritual practice) is to realise the identity of Paramātman and Jīvātman.

Ignorance endowed with these twin powers of concealment and projection is the cause which transforms, as it were, the Pure Self, immutable, unattached and indivisible, into the Jīva and the world.

Consciousness associated with ignorance, possessed of these two powers, when considered from its own standpoint1 is the efficient cause, and when considered from the standpoint of its Upādhi or limitation2 is the material cause (of the universe).

Just as the spider, when considered from the standpoint of its own self, is the efficient cause of the web, and when looked upon from the standpoint of its body, is also the material cause of the web.

From the absolute standpoint, the Jīva is identical with Brahman as set forth in the famous line ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापर:—“Brahman alone is real and the world is an illusion. The Jīva is nothing else but Brahman.”

The Pure Consciousness is called Ānandamaya, Vijñānamaya, Monomaya, Prāṇamaya, and Annamaya when associated with ignorance, discriminative faculty (Buddhi), mind (Manas), vital force (Prāṇa), and the physical body (Anna) respectively.

Therefore the innermost Self is something different from the body, the sense-organs, vital forces, mind, intellect, and Cosmic ignorance. It is the eternal Witness, Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss Absolute.

Therefore, the innermost Consciousness which is by nature eternal, pure, intelligent, free and real, and which is the illuminer of those unreal entities is the Self. This is the experience of the Vedāntists.

As a snake falsely perceived in a rope is ultimately found out to be nothing but the rope; similarly the world of unreal things, beginning with ignorance, superimposed upon the Reality, is realized, at the end, to be nothing but Brahman. This is known as de-superimposition (Apavāda).

When the rope, through illusion, appears as a snake, it does not actually change into the snake. Apavāda destroys this illusion and brings out the truth. Similarly Brahman, through illusion appears as the phenomenal world. The breaking up of this illusion—which consists only of name and form—and the consequent discovery of Brahman, which is the underlying reality, is called Apavāda.

According to the monistic school of Vedānta, the world is not an actual, but apparent modification of Brahman. It has not actually changed into the world. For the Śrutis declare that Brahman is changeless and eternal. But the school of qualified monism, of which Ramānuja is the chief exponent, holds the universe to be an actual modification of Brahman. The entire universe and all individual selves are part and parcel of Brahman.

The blessed soul whose ignorance has been destroyed by the realization of Brahman in the Nirvikalpa Samādhi becomes liberated at once from the body if there is no strong momentum of past actions (Prārabdha Karma) left. But if there is, it can only be worked out. Such a man is called a Jĩvanmukta or one liberated while living. Though associated with the body, he is ever untouched by ignorance or its effects. His ultimate liberation (Videha or Kaivalya Mukti) comes with the destruction of the body.

In short, such a man’s soul remains as the illuminer of the mental states and the Consciousness reflected in them, experiencing, solely for the maintenance of his body, happiness and misery, the results of past actions that have already begun to bear fruit (Prārabdha) and have been either brought on by his own will or by that of another or against his will. After the exhaustion of the Prārabdha work, his vital force is absorbed in the Supreme Brahman, the Inward Bliss; and ignorance with its effects and their impressions is also destroyed. Then he is identified with the Absolute Brahman, the Supreme Isolation, the embodiment of Bliss, in which there is not even the appearance of duality.

The essence of Vedānta is this: The Jĩva or embodied soul is none other than Brahman and as such is always free, eternal, immutable, the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Because the Jiva does not know his own nature, he thinks himself bound. This ignorance vanishes with the dawn of Knowledge. When this happens he re-discovers his own Self. As a matter of fact, such terms as bondage and liberation cannot be used regarding one who is always free. The scriptures use the term “liberation” in relation to bondage which exists only in imagination.

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