Dear SundarI, I am writing to you because I am stuck in verse 45 of “the jewel in the crown of discrimination”, when it says “ He is free who resolves everything in full Being and remains, as that same Full Being in his knowledge“.
When it says to resolve the objects in consciousness I understand that it means that all objects are consciousness or are made of consciousness, so although we have first separated the objects of consciousness, now it is said that these objects are also consciousness. Could you enlighten me because I have read the explanation that is given and I don’t quite understand it. Thank you so much
Sundari: Good question, in fact this question must come up if the inquirer is qualified, being properly taught and truly dedicated to moksa. It shows that the teachings are assimilating and is the inquirer is ready for the next logical step after the first stage of Self-realization. This is when the understanding that the small limited dualistic jiva is purely a conceptual construct produced by Isvara and that it is only apparently real becomes firm. And that therefore, by inference, your true identity must be the nondual Self, starts sinking in. But you have not yet actualized Self-knowledge, there is still a way to go for that.
So you are on the right track, good for you. The first part of the Vedanta teaching methodology provisionally accepts duality and unfolds the creation as cause and effect. It explains what the creation is and the three forces (the gunas) that give rise to and condition all objects. It teaches how to discriminate between satya, the Self or that which is unchanging, always present and cannot be negated, from mithya, that which is not always present and always changing. But to truly take the next step, which is to accept your true identity to be the Self, and discard the limited jiva identity, you need to progress to the next stage of inquiry.
When all is resolved in Consciousness because Self Knowledge has destroyed identification with objects and only Consciousness remains, you know all objects are mithya, including the idea of cause and effect. Meaning all objects, even ideas, thoughts and feelings, are only apparently real as they are not always present and always changing. However, if there is only Consciousness then the apparently real objects are Consciousness too, though Consciousness is not the objects. The unreal “becomes” real. Once the hypnosis of duality is removed from the mind, you see only the Self because that is all there is. But you are no longer fooled by Maya into identifying with the objects.
This next part of the teaching is called the non-origination teaching and it destroys the idea of cause and effect, or the creation teaching. There is no way to actualize the teachings and for moksa to obtain without assimilating this teaching. Here is a short explanation of it:
Satya and Mithya Principles in Consciousness
The main purpose of the cause and effect teaching (as all other prakriyas adopted by the Upanishads) is not to make you believe in causation or the creation. It is to reveal the truth of the Self being attribute-free, limitless, part-less, beginningless and endless Consciousness, that the creation is neither real or unreal but has a dependent reality on you, Consciousness. Therefore, the aim of the creation teaching is to eliminate all the variable non-essential factors (vyatireka) which leave the one invariable essential factor (anvaya), the Self, Consciousness. The proof works because it is a result of knowledge, only. Experience is a secondary factory though it is self-evident and cannot be denied that Consciousness is the only factor that can never be negated, no matter how materialistic the investigation.
Therefore, since the Self does not undergo any change ever, the cause and effect proof is meant to unfold the fact that not only is the Self limitless, you are non-separate from it. The scripture says that the cause and effect prakriya is not the whole truth, and once you have assimilated it, the next step, the non-origination teaching in the Mandukya Karika, makes sense and explains why.
It answers the logical question: How can Sat, Consciousness, be the basis of the material creation if it is non-dual Consciousness? The material creation is not material. It is a projection caused by Maya, which is not the same OR not different from Sat, Existence/Awareness. You can’t get something out of something that is incapable of modification. Sat is not the cause of anything. How could it be? If it was, it would not be non-dual.
The Mandukya also points out that the Self implies not-Self. When you know you are the Self, there is no satya and mithya or Maya/Isvara – jiva, for you, anymore. They are just concepts/principles used to teach you that you are the Self and can be discarded. They are teachings designed to reveal your true nature and to destroy the notion of doership. Mithya ‘becomes’ satya because it was satya all along.
Here is the most important point:
You see everything as just ISNESS, a direct experience of Existence as your identity, the Self.
If you understand the common identity between Consciousness, Isvara and Jiva to be Sat, the Self, and if this understanding allows you to discriminate that the Existence of all objects belongs to Consciousness, that all objects have a dependent existence on you, then Maya is no problem for you anymore. All is resolved in you, the Self, as you understand the principles that run mithya and live free of it.
I hope this is clear as this is a very advanced teaching
Love
Sundari
