Start Over

Dearest Ramji,

I am hoping you can help me get clear on terminology that is interfering with my discrimination:

I am seeking the right word to mean that “blanket” non-dual awareness that is present when Maya is operating, that knows appearances when appearances appear “in front” of me-ever present awareness. I’m thinking it is called “knowing awareness” or “witnessing awareness”; is this correct? I am thinking “reflected awareness” is not quite the right word. (If I’m not mistaken, reflected awareness requires the experience of subject-object duality and it’s bliss is in degrees; this is not the concept I’m seeking.)

James: You need to memorize the distinction between Original Pure Awareness and reflected Awareness, Marie. 

Thanks to you, I have come to understand that: (1) I am essentially that ever-present pure Awareness, nondual. This alone is Real because it never changes no matter what, transcends time/space, is ever-present, has no parts. (This is Brahma Satyam.) 

James:  This is you, Pure original Awareness. (satya)

(2) Then, I see that the 3 states blink on and off in front of Me, ever-present Pure Awareness, yet non-dual with me-pure awareness. Because the states are not ever-present or constant/unchanging, these 3 states and their respective appearances are unreal (ie, apparently real). (This is Jagan mithya.) Here, Maya is operating, presenting appearances in front of me-pure awareness.

James:  Isvara/Maya and jiva are reflected awareness. (mithya)

(3) And I know that the me-pure awareness that I am (#1 above), being ever-present, is there when Maya is operating and appearances blink “in front” of me on and off as the appearances of the 3 states appear. (This is Jivo Brahmeva na paraha.)

James:  Satya and mithya are the same but different just as moonlight and sunlight or the wave and the ocean are the same but different.

What I am confused about is what is the correct name that I can use to refer to that awareness that knows appearances, which is nondual with me-pure awareness (#3) and captured in #2 above?

James: The Self, Paramatma, Satchitananda, Atman, Brahman, Saksi, Etc. 

I’m also confused as to whether this knowing or witnessing awareness (non-dual with me-pure-awareness) can be said to be operating during deep sleep. On the one hand, the answer may be no, because it is a nondual state; thus, the knowing factor is just me-pure-awareness, the Knowing Principle Itself. On the other hand, the answer may be yes there is a knowing/witnessing awareness non-dual with me-pure-awareness in deep sleep, because the knowing/witnessing awareness is nondually witnessing the limitlessness and bliss that appear in deep sleep. Could you clarify?

James:  It is present during all three states.  If it isn’t present there is no state.

One last point of confusion: I read in the Mandukya that the deep sleep is nondual, yet I also read that there is a very subtle subject with the very subtle object of bliss/limitlessness. Is this one of those cases where the answer is both-and? Could you help me get clear on this?

James:  Deep sleep is reflected experiential non-duality, the Self in the form of a subtle jiva (prajna) experiencing itself.  Without deep sleep, which is supplied by Maya, there is no experience.  There is only Self, isness. (satya)

Having my language in line with Vedanta will be most helpful, as it supports increasingly more subtle discriminations and analyses.

James:  Yes, you just jumped into Vedanta without starting at the beginning.  You have the words but not the proper definitions and the meanings are jumbled.  Unlearn everything.  Forget all the words.  Think you don’t know anything.  You need to go back to the beginning and learn the terminology. 

Start with Tattva Bodh.  Go to the home page of the website and click on the Start Here menu at the top and follow the links.  I can’t try to justify Vedanta terminology with your terminology.  It doesn’t work.  Vedanta is a science written in a scientific language, just like physics or biology.  Don’t get disappointed.  Most people do it.  It is correctable.  Once you get the terminology right everything will click into place and the doubts will disappear like phantoms.  I’ve reduced all the Sanskrit to a serviceable bare minimum, but you need to memorize the words so you can connect them to your experience.

Much love,

James