Advaita on Mind and Reality

[realdemigod]

Dear all,
Could somebody suggest me a good book or articles to read about mind and reality from the perspective of Advaita. In Vivekacudamani .. Sri Sankaracharya essentially says mind creates your reality which is a false reality and only Brahman is real. So I would like to know what actually is reality and how mind does it from Advaitic point of view

Thanks in advance.

[anirvan]

http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=9228

Read the above article which summarize is exactly your question.

[realdemigod]

Thanks anirvan,
It's a good summary of Advaita but I need something which is like Vivekacudamani with more detailed views on reality and mind. Sri Shankaracharya explains but for mere mortals like me it's hard to understand, so looking for an exclusive treatise on reality according to Advaita

[devotee]

Namaste RDG,

I am not sure what you are looking for. However, if you are looking for logical/scientific way of understanding this, you may have a look at the follwing thread, posts No. 156,160 & 161.

http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=846&page=16

http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=846&page=17

OM

[realdemigod]

Namaste devotee,
I have gone through your posts on Mahavakyas on Advaita but it's tough to follow because of derailed flow, could you please provide me the sources from which you posted on Advaita?

Thanks,
realdemigod

[devotee]

Namaste RDG,


Namaste devotee,
I have gone through your posts on Mahavakyas on Advaita but it's tough to follow because of derailed flow, could you please provide me the sources from which you posted on Advaita?


I think I have given the sources names in my posts already wherever specific quotes are there. However, the source is not one but it is based on many sources, e.g.

a) 108 Upanishads (almost all main Upanishads) --- These are the main sources of all my posts.
b) Shankara's commentaries on eight Upanishads
c) Patanjali Yogasutras
d) Gaudapad KArika on Mandukya Upanishad
e) Advaita SAdhana
f) Ramana Maharishi's teachings in various collection of talks with him
g) "Man's Eternal Quest" by Paramhansa Yogananda and almost all his other books
h) Teachings of Nisargadatta Maharaj
i) Teachings of Swami Vivekananda
etc. etc.

The list is still longer. So, I don't know if that helps you.

Logical analysis and scientific correlations if not attributed to anyone are mostly my own thoughts.

OM

[wundermonk]

The truth of Advaita can be proven in many ways.

Textual exegesis

Every school of Hindu philosophy believes it alone provides the correct and authentic purport of the Vedas. You can read Shankara's commentaries on the Upanishads, Brahmasutras, Bhagavad Gita to understand Shankara's perspective.

Logical analysis

Gaudapada came up with the following dialectic to prove the truth of Advaita.

What is perceived is an illusion, like a dream.
We perceive in the waking state.
So, the waking state is an illusion.

The idea here is that the illusion of the waking state will be clear and proven once Brahman is realized.

Yet another argument used to prove the truth of Advaita goes into depths of what is perceived in reality.

Advaita claims that the first perception that we have is undifferentiated awareness, non-conceptual consciousness. Any perception of difference FOLLOWS this first pure consciousness. Hence, the pure awareness that we have is of Brahman where there is no difference between subject and object.

Advaita shifts the burden of proof onto the opponent to try and prove the existence of difference.

For instance, if a Nyaya realist claims that a pot is different from a cloth, the Advaitin asks the Nyaya whether difference is the very essence of a pot or if it is an attribute of the pot. The Advaitin will then show that in either case, we are launched into the logical fallacy of circularity or a vicious infinite regress.

[realdemigod]

Namaste devotee,
Thanks for sharing all the sources.

Thanks wundermonk may be it will take me some rigorous reading to understand clearly Advaita

[devotee]

Namaste RDG,


I have gone through your posts on Mahavakyas on Advaita but it's tough to follow because of derailed flow, could you please provide me the sources from which you posted on Advaita?


I think your observation needed some solution on how to find way in a "derailed flow". There is a way to keep the flow while reading those threads. The posts which are in bigger font size (=3) and colorful are purposely made so to distinguish them as main thoughts of the thread from the discussion part which are in usual smaller fonts. This arrangement has been followed in all "Aham Brahmasi" series of threads.

May be that helps.

OM

[realdemigod]

Namaste devotee,
Thanks for your suggestion.

[devotee]

Namaste RDG,

I found this book having compilation of teachings of Advaita SAdhana highly adored by Ramana Maharishi. I think it can answer most of your questions on "Advaita on Mind and Reality" :

http://www.ressign.com/images/spirituality/Advaita-Bodha-Deepika.pdf

An excerpt from the book :


17. D.: Now that samsara has fallen to the lot of the Self, how can it be got rid of?

M.: With complete stillness of mind, samsara will disappear root and branch. Otherwise there will be no end to samsara, even in millions of aeons (Kalpakotikala).

18. D.: Cannot samsara be got rid of by any means other than making the mind still?

M.: Absolutely by no other means; neither the Vedas, nor the shastras nor austerities, nor karma, nor vows, nor gifts, nor recital of scriptures of mystic formulae (mantras), nor worship, nor anything else, can undo the samsara. Only stillness of mind can accomplish the end and nothing else.

19. D.: The scriptures declare that only Knowledge can do it. How then do you say that stillness of the mind puts an end to samsara?

M.: What is variously described as Knowledge, Liberation, etc., in the scriptures, is but stillness of mind.

Note : M stands for "Master" and D for "Disciple" in the above passage.

OM

[realdemigod]

Namaste devotee,
Really appreciate your effort. Thank you :)

[hesh86]

When he says the mind makes reality, he is not saying that the objects themselves do not exist. It means that the attributes, values and the perception of those objects is through this mind alone. The sense are feeding the mind that is why you can perceive. Suppose you were color blind. Then you would say blood is green or grass is red (depending on which one you learned first? That itself is an interesting question). So your mind has made this reality. In reality, grass is neither red nor green. It reflects a certain wavelength of light, your mind interprets it and based on the classification of it and memory you have, you call it reality. Hope that answers.

[hesh86]

Please be very careful! If you say that the mind has created the objects of perception also, then that philosophy is called solipsism. That is NOT advaita, but people often confuse the two. Solipsism and advaita are very distinct philosophies.

[realdemigod]

When he says the mind makes reality, he is not saying that the objects themselves do not exist. It means that the attributes, values and the perception of those objects is through this mind alone. The sense are feeding the mind that is why you can perceive. Suppose you were color blind. Then you would say blood is green or grass is red (depending on which one you learned first? That itself is an interesting question). So your mind has made this reality. In reality, grass is neither red nor green. It reflects a certain wavelength of light, your mind interprets it and based on the classification of it and memory you have, you call it reality. Hope that answers.

Well put hesh86, I have come to realised this fact. But for understanding what is real.. I have to read Advaita philosophy.