Isvara is the entire waking state, the spider and the web. Jiva is the entire dreaming state. Jiva plays the same role for the dreaming state as Isvara does for the waking state.
In the waking state, for there to be Isvara, there needs to be Jiva. Jiva is the dividing line between the internal world and everything else, without it there is no need to define the infinite universe of which Jiva belongs, Isvara. With this ignorance, the self of Jiva is Atma. The self of Isvara is Brahman. But when you take away that dividing line, name, Jiva, Atma is Brahman.
That is why the dreaming state is the waking state, because they are both Brahman/consciousness when the name Jiva is removed.
This is also why all experience is made of words, which all come from one word A-U-M (from the mithya standpoint, all words come from these A, U, M sounds). If we’re interested in satya, existence is experienced through the BMI, specifically, the existence of words in the mind. These words have being through their illumination by awareness. That is why awareness, Omkara, is the essential factor.
This world of experience is a word play.
The part of the Bhagavad Gita that says surrender only unto me, I will take care of your comings and goings. This speaks to the constant practice of reminding myself that my problems are this word play, what makes this world possible is me, awareness. Interestingly, this is not about removing the words appearing in awareness, it is knowing they are not real. What the scripture promises, is that through discipline this free will is turned into determinism.
There are no magical or outside factors here. Prayer is a way of lovingly picking myself up by the bootstraps and saying, hey there, what are we doing here… moksa.
Ramji: Brilliant! I’ll put it on the website. Isvara “needs” jiva because jiva, in so far it actually exists, needs a God, call it what you will, to make sense of its imagined predicament.
Thank you so much for encouraging me and continuing to help me move these cobwebs and not get in my head about these teachings. Learning is joyful. I have been listening to Carol Whitfield and Swami Dayananda along with our classes. I am starting to hear. I love you, Ramji.
