Kumar_Das
13 July 2011, 12:51 PM
Shri Adi Shankara's theology is an extreme form of monotheism
Everything except God is something else, it is known as Maya, Maya is Unreal
God is Real
Maya is not the opposite of God, it is not Unreal in a sense that it is diametric to God, rather it is simply something else, something which God is not, it is devoid of the nature which is God, and unlike God, in its lackness of God lies its nature
from being blinded by Maya we go to God, upon reaching God we see the illusory nature of Maya, the nature of the two become clear only through realizing God
God is not realized through Maya, such is the deceiving nature of Maya, we are thoroughly blinded by it, we can only pierce Maya through the realization of God
and this reality, this realization of the real, also goes along with the fact that it(Maya) is the bewildering illusory power of God, and God controls it
Maya is hard to realize, it escapes us
we are used to accepting Maya, we do not even notice it, its deceptive nature escapes us and we start out that way before embarking the spiritual path that illuminates clearly
even the devout dualist Monotheists who staunchly adhere to the belief that God is entirely separate and outside of the individual and hold this principle of faith with undefilable sanctity should have to consider, why as they draw closeness to God, they momentarily become less conscious of the external world that physically surrounds them
the world that is perceived is established through perception via the senses, and God cannot be made aware directly, His presence never felt through anyone of the physical senses, yet the reality that is taken is one that is built through data entering via the senses. Such a reality becomes fragile and faulty when one realizes that a certain trait about an object becomes non-existent when the sense that allows us to perceive it gets cut off.
When a man sleeps, he still exists in the physical, yet the physical becomes temporarily shut off from him, his consciousness is still present, yet his mind projects another world to him, at times very much like the "real" world, yet less intense in its degree of sensation and less rigid. And he dubs this as completely illusory, a dream. Where then is the reality of the world that is sensed in the waking based from? The reality of the world thus collapses and is made unsteady when this question is put forth. For the dream world is deemed as entirely false and the attempt to prove this is done by drawing comparison to the "real world".
(two questions, why do we "realize" God? how come realization is an eventual, gradual process? this therefore has to be explained)
This Acharya Shankara says, for God exists, and yet there is this world, what this world does is blind us of the truth that is God, and takes His place
in his theology also the concept of soul, as per his definition, takes a central and important place, it lays out the whole of his theology and the end means of it
he says that the Soul essentially is non-different from God
this is an understanding that becomes fulfilled when considering Maya
for how do we reach God? a Being who is of nature that is Truth and Unsurpassable Brilliance, who Exists on His own accord, and relies on no other for anything, to whom we may credit everything ultimately yet whose nature remains untarnished in doing so?
there must be something within us that draws us close to God, what is that? what sets it apart?
this inquiry he holds as the start of spirituality
He says the individual looks outside to God, when there is a Self who is "I", the God that is understood then is one Who is restricted by His relation to the other, which is beneath Him in the quality of its nature, which is not His complete and pure nature, it is God who interacts and God seen beside something else, not God of His own nature exclusively
what is that by which "I" connect with to "God", a fundamental question arises, a question that needs to given more attention, a question that needs to be answered, a question that should be approached with an investigation
as "I" am investigated, as "I" am realized, the truth slowly is established, walls tear down, and not only on one side, for whenever "I" is involved, so does God appear in a certain way
then it becomes clear that layers conceal God, there is illusion that keeps both sides, so long as illusion persists, there is that which is taken under its guise, when truth becomes manifest, and veil of delusion dispersed, reality unfolds itself, there is no "He" nor "I" apart from Him, there is only One Truth and this truth is the Self, the Self that is Supreme, the Self which is the Core deeply embedded and muddled within all other individual indentification of "I"
Everything except God is something else, it is known as Maya, Maya is Unreal
God is Real
Maya is not the opposite of God, it is not Unreal in a sense that it is diametric to God, rather it is simply something else, something which God is not, it is devoid of the nature which is God, and unlike God, in its lackness of God lies its nature
from being blinded by Maya we go to God, upon reaching God we see the illusory nature of Maya, the nature of the two become clear only through realizing God
God is not realized through Maya, such is the deceiving nature of Maya, we are thoroughly blinded by it, we can only pierce Maya through the realization of God
and this reality, this realization of the real, also goes along with the fact that it(Maya) is the bewildering illusory power of God, and God controls it
Maya is hard to realize, it escapes us
we are used to accepting Maya, we do not even notice it, its deceptive nature escapes us and we start out that way before embarking the spiritual path that illuminates clearly
even the devout dualist Monotheists who staunchly adhere to the belief that God is entirely separate and outside of the individual and hold this principle of faith with undefilable sanctity should have to consider, why as they draw closeness to God, they momentarily become less conscious of the external world that physically surrounds them
the world that is perceived is established through perception via the senses, and God cannot be made aware directly, His presence never felt through anyone of the physical senses, yet the reality that is taken is one that is built through data entering via the senses. Such a reality becomes fragile and faulty when one realizes that a certain trait about an object becomes non-existent when the sense that allows us to perceive it gets cut off.
When a man sleeps, he still exists in the physical, yet the physical becomes temporarily shut off from him, his consciousness is still present, yet his mind projects another world to him, at times very much like the "real" world, yet less intense in its degree of sensation and less rigid. And he dubs this as completely illusory, a dream. Where then is the reality of the world that is sensed in the waking based from? The reality of the world thus collapses and is made unsteady when this question is put forth. For the dream world is deemed as entirely false and the attempt to prove this is done by drawing comparison to the "real world".
(two questions, why do we "realize" God? how come realization is an eventual, gradual process? this therefore has to be explained)
This Acharya Shankara says, for God exists, and yet there is this world, what this world does is blind us of the truth that is God, and takes His place
in his theology also the concept of soul, as per his definition, takes a central and important place, it lays out the whole of his theology and the end means of it
he says that the Soul essentially is non-different from God
this is an understanding that becomes fulfilled when considering Maya
for how do we reach God? a Being who is of nature that is Truth and Unsurpassable Brilliance, who Exists on His own accord, and relies on no other for anything, to whom we may credit everything ultimately yet whose nature remains untarnished in doing so?
there must be something within us that draws us close to God, what is that? what sets it apart?
this inquiry he holds as the start of spirituality
He says the individual looks outside to God, when there is a Self who is "I", the God that is understood then is one Who is restricted by His relation to the other, which is beneath Him in the quality of its nature, which is not His complete and pure nature, it is God who interacts and God seen beside something else, not God of His own nature exclusively
what is that by which "I" connect with to "God", a fundamental question arises, a question that needs to given more attention, a question that needs to be answered, a question that should be approached with an investigation
as "I" am investigated, as "I" am realized, the truth slowly is established, walls tear down, and not only on one side, for whenever "I" is involved, so does God appear in a certain way
then it becomes clear that layers conceal God, there is illusion that keeps both sides, so long as illusion persists, there is that which is taken under its guise, when truth becomes manifest, and veil of delusion dispersed, reality unfolds itself, there is no "He" nor "I" apart from Him, there is only One Truth and this truth is the Self, the Self that is Supreme, the Self which is the Core deeply embedded and muddled within all other individual indentification of "I"