The poem, Brahma by Ralph Waldo Emerson, shows a strong influence of Hinduism, particularly Advaita on Ralph Emerson.

First Verse

If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

In describing atman, Adi Shankara sings in Nirvana Shatakam “aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhokta”; meaning “I am not the enjoyer, enjoyed, or the experience of enjoyment”. The first three lines in the poem concur. The doer (slayer) is not the doer and the affected person (slain) is not affected. The last line refers to the never-ending cycle of birth and death, which all Hindus want to come out of.

Second Verse

Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.

The first and third lines indicate the closeness of the Atman. The Atman is not far, but within one’s self. The second and fourth lines show that from Atman’s standpoint, there are no differences. Dark and light and success and failure are all the same to Atman.

Third Verse

They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
I am the hymn the Brahmin sings.

This verse shows the universal truth that Atman is the substratum of everything. It is the “Turiya” for the “walking”, “dream”, and “deep-sleep” states mentioned in Mandukya Upanishad. Atman is the wings we fly with. The last line clearly shows his inspiration from the mantras the Brahmins in Hinduism chanted.

Fourth Verse

The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

In the last verse, he mentions the ultimate goal in Vedanta – to know how you are (Atman) instead of trying to attain the abode of the seven heavens.

In pursuit of the ultimate goal of realization it is natural to stumble upon multiple “why”s in the journey. The “Why?” in philosophy can take multiple forms. At the mundane level there are questions like – Why is someone more successful than me? Why am I not lucky? Why do problems always find me?… At a broader level there are questions like – Why is a child born with a deformity? Why is there so much poverty? Why is there suffering in the world?… Ultimately, these lead to final question, Why is the universe, with all its flaws, formed? or at a personal level, Why is my life the way it is?

Vedic philosophy provides four different answers for the “Why?” in philosophy, one each for the four margs (paths) to liberation – karma (action), bhakti (devotion), raja (yoga), and jnana (knowledge).

Karma Marg

In karma marg, the answer to all the “why”s is one’s past actions; good or bad. The theory of karma is simple. You reap the results of your prior actions. The prior actions can be in this life or the many lives you have already lived. This explains suffering in babies. The baby has not incurred much karma in its present life, but the baby has had many lives before and the baby’s birth is a result of the good and bad actions in all those previous lives.

Karma marg sounds simple, but in reality, it is not very simple to follow. In karma marg, You, because of your past actions, are responsible for everything that happens. So, at its purest, there is no one to blame for bad things that happen and no one to thank for good things that happen. It is all just a result of your own actions.

Bhakti Marg

In bhakti marg, the answer to all the “why”s is that it is the leela (play) of the divine (god). Therefore, good and bad things that happen are all attributed to the whim of the ultimate god you believe in.

This again sounds simple, but is also very hard to follow. In its purest form, you surrender yourself completely to god and just play along in his/her master play.

Karma marg and Bhakti marg represent opposite ends of one’s ideology. In one (Karma) you are responsible for everything. In the other (bhakti) you are not responsible for anything. We typically live with a blend of these ideologies – all good things are because of me and all bad things are because of god!

Raja/Yoga Marg

In yoga marg, the answer to all the “why”s is Maya or Illusion. Life is like a movie you are seeing. When you are engrossed in the movie you feel emotions based on the happenings in the movie. When you step back, you realize that the movie is an illusion and you are just observing the illusion.

In this path, the goal is to separate yourself from the world around you. Techniques like yoga and meditation assist in this. When you are in deep meditation, there is no world and worry and you feel blissful. However, when you wake up, the problems come back!

Jnana Marg

In jnana marg, the answer to all the “why”s is that there is no creation at all. The idea is that all questions are in the mind. So, if you go beyond the mind, there is no world, no suffering, and no questions. This is the basic tenet of Advaitic Vedanta.

Yoga and Jnana are similar in that they both give very little importance to the world or the person. Yoga and Jnana are different in how to deal with it. In yoga you try to shut the world out. In Jnana you understand that you are beyond the world.

Unfortunately, “Why?” in philosophy does not have an easy answer. None of the four paths are easy. Most people use a blend of all the paths. Your daily routine could consist of service to people (karma), worship of god (bhakti), meditation (yoga), and listening to Upanishads (jnana).

So far, we have looked at many classic Advaitic examples. The first blog on “illusions” makes us aware that what we see and experience is not the ultimate reality. The second blog on “cause” shows a material cause behind creation, leading to the dualistic schools of philosophies. The third blog, combines “illusions” and “cause” to walk through the four stages of Advatic philosophy using the clay-pot and clay example. In this blog, ultimate Advaitic example, we look at the most profound example – rope and snake.

The example – rope and snake

There is a rope on the ground. A person, from far way, sees the rope and thinks it is a snake. This scares the person. When the person walks up closer and examines the snake, he/she sees that it is only a rope. The person is relieved.

Philosophical Explanation

The “snake” is like the “clay pot”. It is the observed world, including our body and mind. If we do not examine further, we will experience the vicissitudes of the changing world and will experience joy and sorrow like the first stage in the previous blog.

Knowledge and examination help us realize that in reality there is only a rope. The rope in the example is the “Atman” or consciousness.

In this example, the rope was not a material cause of the snake. However, if the rope were not there we would not have mistaken it for a snake. So, the rope is a cause for the vision of a snake, even if it were not the material cause. The example is most appropriate for Advaitic Vedanta because it completely skips the confusion of creation.

The third stage in the previous examples involves the cause permeating the effect. In this example, this step is mostly skipped allowing you to directly jump to the last step.

In the last step, when you realize there is only the “rope”, you understand that the “snake” was an illusion and that the “snake” did not have any reality apart from the “rope”. Therefore, the “rope” is the ultimate reality. Or “Atman” or consciousness is the ultimate reality.

The main difference between this example and the clay-pot, clay example is that here the world is given no importance and is swept away as an illusion. In the clay-pot example, the clay-pot is real and has a purpose. Like the world, body, and mind are real and have a purpose. In the snake-rope example, Advaitic Vedanta asks you to give very little importance to the world, body, and mind and implores you to strive to use knowledge to realize the ultimate reality – the Atman.

The blog, classic advaitic examples – illusion and cause, combines the examples of the previous two blogs “illusions” and “cause“.

We can use the “clay and clay pot” example to walk through the four stages of Advaitic philosophy.

Stage 1 – There is a Clay Pot

The “clay pot” refers to all our experiences. In terms of external objects, it represents the entire world/universe. This includes all the astronomical objects and all the animate and inanimate objects on Earth. It includes our relations, friends, enemies, pets, plants, and any object we experience through our five sense organs. In terms of internal objects, it refers to our body and mind. This includes our body, our feelings, our emotions, and our mind.

This is an exhaustive list and includes everything in the material universe. If we believe this material universe is the ultimate reality we stop our quest at this stage. The school of philosophy that stops here was called the “Charvak” or today’s materialists. For them, there is only one life and the goal of life is to enjoy it to the fullest.

The “illusions” examples in the first blog are given to show that what we see is not the ultimate reality. We see “mirage-water”, but there is no water. This forces us to dismiss the idea that this stage is the ultimate reality.

Stage 2 – There is Clay – the cause

Next we observe that the clay pot is made of clay. Therefore, there is a cause behind the clay pot. In the example, the cause if “clay”. The examples also show that the same “clay” can create different clay objects. Therefore, “clay” is the foundational cause of the “clay universe”.

In Advaitic philosophy, the foundational element is termed “Atman”. It can be translated as “consciousness”. Atman equates to clay, while the world, body, and mind equate to the clay pot. At this stage, clay and clay pot are two different objects. This is the stage of dualism. Most religions and philosophies in the world today stop at this stage. Clay is the material cause, clay-pot is the effect, and God is the creator. God transforms clay into clay pots! In religion, God creates the universe, including all its life forms, with his nascent energy.

The “cause” examples highlight this step.

Stage 3 – Clay is everywhere in the Clay pot

If we examine the clay pot carefully we see clay in the top, the bottom, and the sides. In fact, every spot of the clay pot is essentially clay. So, we can conclude that clay permeates the entire clay pot.

The other examples provided in the “cause” blog reveal the same thing. Every spot in a gold jewelry is gold. Therefore, gold permeates all gold ornaments. Similarly, every part of the wave is actually water. So, water permeates the entire wave.

In this step, Vedantic philosophy merges the cause and the effect. This is a subtle step provided mainly to get to the next step.

Stage 4 – Clay only remains

Now, if I were to say, give me the Clay and you can have the Clay Pot, what would your reaction be? Obviously, you cannot disassociate the clay and the clay pot and be left with two separate objects. The clay pot exists only because of the clay. If you take the clay away there is no clay pot.

This is the final step in Advaitic philosophy. In this step, Advaitic philosophy states that “Atman” or “clay” is the only reality. The clay-pot does not have an independent existence apart from the clay.

Likewise, the “world, body, and mind” is a mere projection or illusion of the “Atman”. It is often confused that Advaitic philosophy states that the world is an illusion and hence is not real. The philosophy does not state that the world is not real, but does state that the world does not have an independent existence apart from “consciousness” or the “Atman”. You cannot, theoretically, image anything if there is no consciousness.

In this blog, classic Advaitic examples – illusion and cause, we started with a clay pot as reality and ended with clay as the only reality. In life, we start out assuming the world, our body, and mind as reality. Upon realization, we will understand that the only reality is consciousness.

Ultimate Advaitic Example – Rope and Snake

In the first part of this series we looked at examples that highlight illusion. In this blog, classic advaitic examples – cause, we look at examples that focus on the cause behind what we observe. The idea is that there is a cause behind anything we see or experience and the goal is to seek out that cause.

Clay and Clay Pot

The most famous of these examples is clay and clay pot. The rishis use examples that are part of their everyday experience. Clay pots were used to store water and were readily available in everyday life.

The process begins by observing a clay pot. At one level you see an object – the clay pot. However, upon closer examination, you find that the clay pot is made of clay. So, clay is the material cause of the clay pot. These examples ask you to identify the material cause behind the observed objects.

You can make clay pots of different shapes – tall, short, fat, and thin – with the same clay. You can also make different clay objects – a pitcher, a plate, a flower pot… with the same clay. Therefore, the same material cause can create different objects; like the differences, we observe in the Universe.

Gold and gold ornaments

Similar to the clay pot and clay example, we observe gold ornaments. The example asks us to examine the gold ornament and see the gold within. Gold ornaments are made of gold. You, again, can make different gold objects like bangles, necklaces, rings… with the same gold. This example also shows that, while we observe a bangle, gold is the material cause of the bangle.

Water and waves

Looking out into the ocean we see waves. Some are small and some are big. Some play together to form larger waves, while others destroy each other.

We observe the waves, but the wave is nothing but water. Water is the material cause of the wave.

Other examples given often are

• Wood and a wooden table – this is used a lot today because lectures are given in rooms filled with wooden objects – table, chair, pews…
• Thread and cloth – in woven material, you can pull the thread at one end and you will see the cloth become a long threaded string.
• Iron and iron sword – here iron is the material used to make the sword.

The classic advaitic examples – cause, ask us to look deeper into objects we observe and find the material cause behind the objects. The material cause and its effects also explain why we see differences in the world.

The general purpose of philosophy is to understand what we see and experience. We see the world and wonder how it was created. We wonder why there are so many differences in the world. Finally, we see and experience our body and mind, but want to understand the spirit behind them. Classic Advaitic examples help us answer such questions. In this blog, we look at classic advaitic examples – illusions.

Classic Advaitic examples broadly fall under three groups. The first group highlights pure illusions. The second group focuses on the cause of what we see. Lastly, the third group combines illusion and cause.

In this blog, we look at classic advaitic examples that highlight illusions. The purpose of these examples is to start us on the path of seeking true knowledge.

Mirage

Mirage is the most common of the illusion examples. Everyone has experienced seeing a mirage. I picked the highway image instead of the traditional desert image because this is a more common experience for most people.

The point is that you see water on a road when there is no actual water on the road. This is pure illusion.

Blue Sky

This is an everyday experience. We look up at the sky and admire the blue color. In fact, the blue color is an optical illusion.

Castles in the air

We can image shapes in the clouds above us. This is another form of illusion that is easily experienced everyday.

Size and Distance

The Moon appears big in the sky against the stars that appear much smaller. We all know that the stars are actually much bigger than the Moon.

Other examples that are cited are

• Seeing a human figure in a post (foggy night)
• Circle formed by a person spinning a fire torch – we see a circle of fire, but there is only a single flame
• Relative motion – we experience buildings moving in the opposite direction when we are in a moving vehicle. The buildings don’t actually move.
• Seeing the reflection of trees in water
• The moon appears to move when clouds move

The purpose of classic advaitic examples – illusions is to make us stop and ponder. If what we see is not actually real, could there be a deeper truth behind this entire world and our own existence?

Next – Classic Advaitic Examples – Cause