Rhamba: You wrote: – quote – Whereas the nondual God, however one names it, does not enter the creation, is not affected by it, and is never in judgement of anything. It simply delivers karma to the jiva in accordance with the natural laws that run the creation.
My understanding is karma is held (possibly as vasanas) by the Causal Body of the jiva not delivered by Nirguna Brahman, Non dual God. And that no attributes such as “delivers” can be assigned to Nirguna Brahman.
At the level of the Avadhuta Gita, it is seemingly inconsequential to explain karma, Causal Body, etc. But, I am looking at karma in terms of transactional and supreme realities, which do not interact.
I’m looking forward to how you understand karma showing up in our lives.
Sundari: This is exactly why nonduality is so hard to teach – and I see it has caught you too. It’s the both/and of it that makes it tricky. We know that Maya (beginningless ignorance) is a power in Consciousness, which is nondual, and therefore, attributeless. Yet, when Maya appears, objects – a creation – manifests. This creation is not real in that it is not always present and always changing. Whereas nondual attributeless Consciousness is always present and unchanging, before, during and ‘after’ the creation manifests. Though it is not real, the creation is intelligently run because Isvara ‘wielding’ Maya, though it does not enter the creation and is never influenced by the gunas (they are objects known to it) is pure sattva – Sat. As the gunas ’cause’ change, all possibilities of karma and its effects (vasanas) are ‘programmed’ into the creation – much like a computer game. Though ‘our’ karma and vasanas seem personal, they are not.
Nondual God or Isvara is Pure Consciousness and does not cause anything – how could it? It is a causeless cause. Yet we have an apparent creation that exists and is constantly changing, subject to karma, not so? What a wonder. All the teaching of Vedanta is for the jiva for it to understand what it is as a person (conceptual jiva/mind or Subtle body), how it appears (Maya/beginningless ignorance), what conditions it and its field of experience (gunas), and what its true identity is (nondual Consciousness). To do this, Vedanta provisionally accepts duality and teaches the cause and effect teaching.
The main purpose of the cause and effect teaching is not to make you believe in causation or the creation. It is a teaching mechanism to eliminate all the non-essential variables (which are anything other than you, the Self) and to reveal the truth of the Self being attribute-free, limitless, part-less, beginningless, unchanging and endless Consciousness. In the discussion on what karma is, why it exists, and why it affects the jiva, we must understand the difference between the cause and effect teaching, and the non-origination teaching.
The creation which is neither real nor unreal has a dependent reality on you, Consciousness. Thus, since the Self does not undergo any change ever, and cannot cause anything to happen, the karana karya prakriya (cause and effect proof) is meant to unfold the fact that not only is the Self limitless, but that you are non-separate from it. Once you understand the cause and effect teaching, the next step, the non-origination teaching in the Mandukya Karika, makes sense. The Mandukya Karika is the most advanced and subtle of all Vedanta teachings as it explains why the cause and effect (karma) teaching is not the whole truth.
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. Based on this, how could the Self be a creator if there is no cause (karma) possible in Satya, for whom there is no mithya?
The Mandukya points out that the Self implies not-Self. When you know you are the Self, there is no satya and mithya for you anymore, they are just concepts/principles used to teach you that you are the Self and can be discarded. Mithya ‘becomes’ satya because it was satya all along. You see everything as just ISNESS, a direct experience of Existence as your identity, the Self.
Who then, is the witness, the knower of the creation, you may ask? I, the Self, am also called the non-experiencing witness or knower of the effects of Maya (ignorance): the Subtle body, or jiva/experiencing entity and all objects. But in truth, I am not a witness to anything as there is only me to ‘witness’ me. I am only a witness with reference to the witnessed when Maya is operating. When Self-knowledge removes ignorance of my true identity from the Subtle Body (mind), there is no Maya for me anymore. Non-dual vision is permanent. Self-knowledge is not an object to obtain, it is who I am, so once moksa obtains, both ignorance and knowledge are then just objects known to me.
Cause and effect are, therefore, words to describe Isvara (me plus Maya), and the person or doer, the effects (Self apparently under the spell of ignorance…note apparently). Both Isvara and Jiva share their identity with me, which is real, but neither the Isvara nor Jiva construct is real, though as stated the cause/creation appears to exist just like the movie onscreen.
Karma is therefore, just the movement of the gunas in the field of existence. It accrues according to the momentum of our past actions, but it does not mean anything. We give karma meaning according to our vasana load, or conditioning. The jiva, or Subtle Body, inasmuch as it exists, comes in programmed by the Casual body according to its prarabdha karma, and will be born into conditions that will allow it to ‘work out its karma’, the main aim of which is to realize the Self. But Isvara is not like the ‘human’ God sitting in judgment handing our karma, good or bad when we say it is karma phala datta. It means simply, that Isvara is the controller of the field of existence, and therefore, how the gunas play out.
As there is no karma for the Self, once you have negated the CONCEPTUAL jiva, you are left with Jivatman. The same as Isvara as Consciousness, though different in powers as long as the body/mind exists. Karma still plays out, but you have no problem discriminating between satya and mithya and enjoy your life as a person, knowing you are the nondual Self. Unaffected by karma.
Om
Sundari
