Maya (Illusion)
This is a most misunderstood and misconstrued word.
I will try to put my understanding here.
Suppose i go to my friends home and I see a bird sitting on the top of the house. Next time when i want to give directions to my other friend to this house. Can I say turn left on the lake road and you will see a bird sitting on the house, that is our friends new home. You see the bird sitting on the house cannot be the landmark for the house as its very temporal state. Bird is not a real identifier in the context of the house.
When this maya as existence(prakriti), when it is referred in the context of the Brahman the essence is temporal. My life (man, bhddhi, chit, ahankar) is temporary in the context of brahman. Which basically means Brahman can not be identified with my body, nor by my mind, nor by my wisdom(knowledge).
So from the context of Brahman physical world can not identified. Hence it is not real. I can take another example my dream is real as long as i am in the state of dream. Once i come out of it, its a dream not real.
*Maya or existence we should not be dismissing completely. * Because as long as i exist it is real for me. Suppose if we two are talking, it would be absurd to say that Maya(illusion) is talking to Maya(illusion).
From the advaita perspective Brahman is not the cause for this existence. But the shakti which is a manifested state of Brahman is the cause of all this existence. Swami Vivekanand explains it beautifully. In a water fountain every droplet reflects the sun. But the sun which is reflecting in the water droplet is not real. Similarly the soul is a reflection of the brahman but not the brahman itself.
But it still has the essence of the brahman and power to manifest. Therefore by connecting to this reflection possibility of gaining the knowledge, understanding of the real brahman. If we dive little deeper into this idea of the reflection, is still a manifested state. Hence it is attributed as purusha+shakti, since it can be identified at some level, still not the real essence but only a reflection.
When one aspires to become will gain the access to this atman. Through the atman we can see the reflection of the brahman. Then the aspiration becomes the brahman. That basically dissolves all the other identities slowly.
Even in the highest realized saint there is a context switch, to interact , to sustain needs to identify with the prakriti. The next level is where prakriti is seen as the part and only work through the higher essence.
Please know that there are many states even beyond brahman which one can possibly attain.
*Prakriti ( to answer your question about desire being part of the divine)*
In a manifested state the nature of the prakriti is to sustain , this sustenance is called DHARMA. In order to sustain a living being man or animal has to support its physical , mental and spiritual existence. It has to fulfill certain needs. The man being the animal which is closer to identifying with Brahman has little more responsibility than the animal being. Hence there are more conditions around this Dharma. Without adhering to this dharma , man falls below the state of existence and will loose access to these higher states.
Any action emerges out of sustenance is acceptable and is a human quality example desire to sustain. But the raga, devesha, anger, other lower emotional aspects are not part of this sustenance they are the results of the impressions, vasanas which man acquired straying away from dharma. Hence they have no place in the prakriti.
*Purusha*
Jiva is soul because that in which there is movement (ath) and thinking (man) is soul. This soul is Brahman. Brahman is developing and thinking creation. In Sanskrit, ‘Brahman’ is derived from bruha, to grow or to expand, and man, to think. That which moves and thinks is atman, and that which grows and thinks is Brahman. From this viewpoint, wherever there is jiva it is all Brahman.
But the state beyond existence, which has no name, no explanation, no identification also loosely termed as Brahman which has no cause, no effect. This not the real cause for the creation nor indirectly responsible. That is why i mentioned there are many states beyond brahman, and possibility of the human to attain. This where Kindergarten classes for Spirituality begins. Below it, i wont even consider it as any grade.
Question:
But the state beyond existence…I honestly started looking at things differently now esp as I understood when you talked about the Top down perspective…this only made sense. I was imposing limits on myself.
I did not understand the loose term of Brahman vs many states beyond Brahman.
*Question:* So to be clear, the Brahman state I didn’t recognize was indirect cause of creation I thought it was one and same. But there is a sublime division (?). So that ultimate state is the one w/o characteristics, so then how did the sublime Brahman occur?
*sk:* Let me put this from the context of the chapter 7 verses we are are reading as it is fresh in our minds.
Bhagavan says i am the taste in the water, smell in the earth, luminous in the fire, sound in the space. But if you observe for the smell to travel it needs air, air has the the sound(akasha). Basically saying you can not find anything(object) independent of these five elements. Each element has its own vibration or vibratory states according to its constitution and external influences. Akasha - essence is sound. Sound is the primordial vibration which came into existence. That is the AUM as the first sound , you will be surprised if i tell you virat also means sound. The cosmic form which Bhagavan shows to Arjuna is called Virat Swarup. This basically saying all manifestation has the sound. Even the so called Virat swaroop( it is not seen but felt), is the a vibratory state not a physical appearance. Even this vibratory state is Brahman(manifested one).
So anything our mind or consciousness associated with is a manifested state which creates a certain vibratory state.
You are the only one raised this question. Everyone who read my message either responded to me saying i am good with I already know, not interested in knowing anything else. Someone said everything is maya except bhagavan. I am not trying sound negative or critic, to me all this is learning so in my learning there are no negations. Accept everything and see the value and grasp it. Taking the name of the guru very flippantly, people take the name of the guru at the beginning of the sentence and end of the sentence. What use it brings, basically it brings the virbratory state of the guru or feeling of the guru in our hearts to a very mundane level. It creates a certain lull we think its bhakti and we are happy with it. Then we can never learn the real essence of the guru.
Spirituality is about opening mind and heart to all possibilities. Here there is no asking, nothing stimulating, nothing ecstatic. Everything is subtle and subtler and sublime.
From the manifested brahman how can we go into the state of un-manifested brahman? Then we have to start our search from un-manifested state of the brahman itself. Anything below we choose and we progress to the next level. It takes the entire lifetime to progress from one level to another.
So we start with the un-manifested brahman, this has many dimensional states, here the vibration becomes almost zero. Mind has to accept such a state, the more and more we dwell into it, it changes. This is what i call beyond brahman. I have to set the path with a good understanding, as here just a mere feeling with stimulus, nothing to feel ecstatic about. This is when we bring consciousness into the state.
The progressive phase is get above the phyical nature of brhaman-> mental states-> consciouss states-> brhaman(un manifested). This progression happens only when i start meditating on the brahman(un manifested).