There is No Doer
GS: Namaste. I feel blessed to have access to you. I understand karma yoga and karma sannyas. In karma jnana there is no doer, then who acts? Jiva cannot come into existence on its own. Then is it that Atma or Self becomes jiva under its own maya? I think you are the one who can answer these questions. I have exhausted other sources and came to you knowing well that Advaita is the only source. Thanks in advance
Sundari: It is good to hear from you again, GS. If you really have assimilated jnana yoga and karma sannyas as you say you have, you should know the answer to this question, we have dealt with it in one form or another in many of our exchanges. It is a tough one to grasp because it is so subtle, and the answer is central to self-inquiry. Sometimes the mind ‘gets it’ then un-gets it’! There may be gaps in your understanding and assimilation, which happens to most inquirers when there is Maya is still operating in the mind.
The first thing we need to look at is the assumption behind your question. It implies that this world and the conceptual or ‘small’ jiva (Subtle body) are real. You do know that they are not. Real is defined as that which is always present and unchanging, so how can they be? Only you, the Self (Satya), the knower of the conceptual jiva/world, is always present and unchanging. Everything else is mithya, always changing and not always present, i.e., the effects of ignorance (Maya) working on the mind.
Secondly, Atma, the Self cannot ‘become’ anything. How could that be possible if there is only it? Nondual means nothing other than. You cannot be a jiva/doer because to do there would have to be something other than you, which is impossible in a nondual reality. It is Maya (the hypnosis of duality or beginningless ignorance), the power to delude that exists in Consciousness (the Self) because Consciousness is unlimited and contains all powers, that makes the impossible seem possible. Understanding Maya is the key to your question.
When Maya manifests, the creation (Subtle body/world) apparently appears. The jiva/Self apparently under the spell of ignorance identifies with objects and thinks it is separate and alone, believes it is a doer, that it needs objects to survive and must strive (act) to get them to end its sense of incompleteness and insecurity. Alas, it never finds satisfaction, security, or completeness unless the mind becomes qualified for self-inquiry into the true nature of reality. Because of Maya, the jiva is blind to its true nature as Consciousness, the Self.
Maya is hard to understand because it is neither real nor unreal, it is apparently real. ‘Apparently’ real means that the creation (jiva/doer/world) has a dependent existence on you, Consciousness/Self. It has no existence without you. Maya is like a hypnotist. You cannot say the trick of hypnosis does not happen but is it real? No, it is not because it is not always present and always changing, though the mind under hypnosis believes it is real until the hypnotist breaks the spell. The mind under the hypnosis of duality or Maya has been tricked into believing the jiva/world is real, and self-inquiry breaks the spell, assuming the inquirer is qualified and properly taught.
Therefore, there really is no doer, no small jiva, and no world. There is only you, the Self. However, we cannot deny that the jiva and the world have an apparent existence, much like a movie seems to exist on a screen, or a mirage on the desert floor. It is the nature of its existence that is important. A jnani knows the jiva/world is not real even though you can experience it. Yet even though the Subtle body or ‘small’ jiva is not real, its essence, the eternal Jiva, is real because it is the Self, Jivatman. Again, it can only be because there is nothing other than the Self in a nondual reality.
The idea of a creation and of doership is just a thought, an idea, nothing more. There is no reality to it. Hence karma sannyas is giving up the idea of the reality of the world and of doership, not necessarily of doing. A jnani knows that though the jiva/doer keeps doing, and things seem to happen to it and around it, there is really nothing going on because this world is not real. The jiva can act appropriately, and it may or may not get what it wants, which is no problem to a jnani. It is always the identification with the doer and attachment to results that causes suffering. Even when the jiva under the spell of ignorance does get what it wants it is still dissatisfied because what it really wants is freedom from doership, from the limitation of duality. The jiva is longing for and looking for itself, the Self. Which it already is, and always has been.
The only ‘doer’ is Isvara, the gunas, but not in the sense we think of doing because Isvara is not a person. Isvara is Awareness plus Maya, the creator/ruler/sustainer and destroyer of the world of objects, the dharmafield. There is no premeditation in Isvara srsti because though Isvara is conscious and omniscient, it does not ‘think’ as such. It is not hiding behind a veil taking score of everything we do, meting out good or bad karma. Isvara keeps the mithya show going to facilitate the jiva’s karma with the endless and automatic working out of the gunas. Though the Self is not a doer, the presence of Consciousness makes doing/thinking/knowing possible for the jiva.
Self-inquiry is all about investigating what mithya, the apparent creation, is and is not. That is called discrimination. As I said, the key is to understand the true nature of Maya and how it conditions the mind. The ability to discriminate between satya and mithya 100% of the time is called moksa, freedom from the limitation and suffering caused by the identification with the body/mind (mithya). When the spell of duality is broken by the grace of Isvara, there is no more Maya for you, though the world still continues as before. You enjoy it and endure it for what it is, but you never get deluded by Maya again, even when you see those around you under its spell caught up in the dream. You see through it all and recognize only you, the Self, in all things.
I hope this helps
 GS: Thank you for the clarification. I swear this is so perfect you the couple are living Advaita.I feel the lineage of Adi Shankara is kept alive and intact without distortion. I pray to Ishwar to bless you the couple with what? Already you are it!
Sundari: You are most welcome
Hari Om,
Sundari
Sundari