Monthly Archives: June 2020

Transcend ego, avoid fame, leave everything alone -RAdams

Adams, Robert

“A [truly enlightened Sage] avoids name and fame like the plague. If a Sage has transcended the ego why would he or she need name or fame? If a Sage claims to be enlightened why would that being want to be known? To have a following, to write books, to advertise, to go into magazines, television. Can you imagine a real Master doing something like that? For what purpose?

If you inquire of a person like this they would say, ‘Well I’m here to help people.’ Bullshit! The only way to help other people is to become self-realized and leave everything alone. Why a self-realized person is all-pervading, omnipresent and automatically people find peace by the person being self-realized.

You don’t even have to be in the proximity of a saint, a Sage, a real Master. There is no reason [for] being in close proximity to a person like that. That being is all-pervading, everywhere present. Such a one has found total peace within the Self. They’re not looking for anything. They’re not looking for students to impress, followers to follow them. They avoid this like the plague. …

A real Sage feels at home wherever he or she lives wherever they go. A Sage can be happy in a cave or in a mansion, makes no difference. It makes a difference to the onlookers. They always see something wrong and talk about it. But a true Sage is total freedom, totally happy within himself.”

~ Robert Adams (20th century American Advaita mystic)

Parabrahman

Brahman, Definitions

Para Brahman

Highest Brahman

Para Brahman (Sanskrit:परब्रह्मन्) (IAST: Para Brahman) is the “Highest Brahman” that which is beyond all descriptions and conceptualisations. It is described in Hindu texts as the formless (in the sense that it is devoid of Maya) spirit (soul) that eternally pervades everything, everywhere in the universe and whatever is beyond.

Hindus conceptualize the Para Brahman in diverse ways. In the Advaita Vedanta tradition, Nirguna Brahman (Brahman without attributes) is Para Brahman. In Dvaita and Vishistadvaita Vedanta traditions, Saguna Brahman (Brahman with qualities) is Para Brahman. In Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti respectively are Para Brahman. Mahaganapati is considered as Para Brahman by the Ganapatya sect.

Etymology

Para is a Sanskrit word that means “higher” in some contexts, and “highest or supreme” in others.

Brahman connotes the Highest Universal Principle in Hinduism, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy it is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists. Brahman is a key concept found in Vedas, and extensively discussed in the early Upanishads.

Para Brahman means the “Highest Brahman”. It is found in early Advaita Vedanta literature.

Advaita Vedanta – Nirguna Brahman

Nirguna Brahman (Devanagari निर्गुण ब्रह्मन्, Nirguṇa Brahman), Brahman without form or qualities, is Para Brahman, the highest Brahman. According to Adi Shankara, Nirguna Brahman is Para Brahman, and is a state of complete knowledge of self as being identical with the transcendental Brahman, a state of mental-spiritual enlightenment (Jnana yoga). It contrasts with Saguna Brahman which is a state of loving awareness (Bhakti yoga). Advaita Vedanta non-dualistically holds that Brahman is divine, the Divine is Brahman, and this is identical to that which is Atman (one’s soul, innermost self) and nirguna (attribute-less), infinite, love, truth, knowledge, “being-consciousness-bliss”.

According to Eliot Deutsch, Nirguna Brahman is a “state of being” in which all dualistic distinctions between one’s own soul and Brahman are obliterated and are overcome. In contrast, Saguna Brahman is where the distinctions are harmonized after duality between one’s own soul and Brahman has been accepted.

Advaita describes the features of a nondualistic experience, in which a subjective experience also becomes an “object” of knowledge and a phenomenal reality. The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, so there is no qualitative difference:

  • “Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.” (Bhagavata Purana 1.2.11)
  • “Whoever realizes the Supreme Brahma attains to supreme felicity. That Supreme Brahma is Eternal Truth (satyam), Omniscient (jnanam), Infinite (anantam).” (Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1)

The Upanishads state that the Supreme Brahma is Eternal, Conscious, and Blissful sat-chit-ânanda. The realisation of this truth is the same as being this truth:

  • “The One is Bliss. Whoever perceives the Blissful One, the reservoir of pleasure, becomes blissful forever.” (Taittiriya Upanishad 2.7.1-2)
  • “Verily know the Supreme One to be Bliss.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.9.28)

Vaishnavism

In Vaishnavism, Vishnu or Krishna (among other incarnations of Vishnu) is considered as Para Brahman. Vishnu in his universal form is considered to be the supreme. According to Bhagavat Purana, when Arjuna asked the true reality about Krishna, he revealed his Parabramhan form showing that he is the supreme form of souls, demons, deities and qualities, namely, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

Shaivism

In Shaivism, Shiva is Para Brahman. Parashiva, the supreme form of Lord Shiva, is considered as Para Brahman. According to mythology, Parashiva is the single incarnation of all souls and deities. He is also depicted as the only Adipurusha or Mahadeva.

Kashmir Shaivism

Main article: Kashmir Shaivism

In Kashmir Shaivism, Svachhanda Bhairava is considered as the supreme form of Lord Shiva. Kashmir Shaivism consider Svachhanda Bhairava as Para Brahman. Kashmir Shaivism holds turiya the fourth state of consciousness as Brahman. It is neither wakefulness, dreaming, nor deep sleep. In reality, it exists in the junction between any of these three states, i.e. between waking and dreaming, between dreaming and deep sleep, and between deep sleep and waking. . In Kashmir Shaivism there exists a fifth state of consciousness called Turiyatita – the state beyond Turiya which represents Parabrahman. Turiyatita, also called the void or shunya is the state where one attains liberation otherwise known as jivanmukti or moksha.

Shaktism

In Shaktism, Mahakali Devi or Tripura Sundari the supreme form of Devi Adi parashakti, is considered to be the Para Brahman or energy of the Brahman, ultimate reality, inseparably. According to Devi Suktam and Sri Suktam in Rigveda she is the womb of all creation. Thus Mahakali is epithets is Brahmamayi, meaning “She Whose Essence is Brahman”. Parvati as Lalita Tripura Sundari Her eternal abode is called Manidvipa.

Sikhism

Parbrahm is regarded as the supreme reality in Sikhism. It is also known as “Akaal purakh” (immortal being) and is also known by mantra “Waheguru” .

Sikh scripture and the last sikh guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib refers to Parbrahm with a variety of adjectives and nouns , such as Nirankar, Niranjan, Bhagat Vachhal , Kirpal , Dayal, Deen Dayal , Madho, Raam, Hari, Rahim, Karim, Rehman, Parvardigar, Sahib, Malik , etc…..

See also

Why not accept blissful reality?

Adams, Robert

“All I can really do for you is to confess my own reality, and my own reality is also your reality. I am sat-chit-ananda [existence-consciousness-bliss]. I am Parabrahman. I am ultimate oneness. I am divine love, pure consciousness. I am that I am, emptiness, nirvana. There is nothing else. All of your worries, all of your fears, have no foundation. There is only the one and you are that. Why will you not accept it?”

~ Robert Adams (20th century American Advaita mystic)

How to become detached -RAdams

Adams, Robert

How do you become detached? By simply observing what’s going on around you and not attaching yourself to it. By being awake to your reality. Understanding yourself that you are not the doer.

You have to let go mentally of all conditioning, of all objectivity. And you must still your mind. Make your mind placid, like a motionless lake. Then reality comes of its own accord. Happiness comes of its own accord. Peace comes of it own accord. Love comes of its own accord. Freedom comes of its own accord. These things are synonymous. They happen without you ever thinking about them. But first you must get rid of the notion, that I am the body, or mind, or the doer and then everything will happen by itself.

~Robert Adams

You’ll reincarnate again and again until reattached -RAdams

Adams, Robert

You have attached yourself to sickness, to health, to good, to bad, to happiness, to unhappiness, these are all concepts. You’ve attached yourself to person, place or thing. You have forgotten that this is a dream. You believe it’s real and because you believe it’s real you suffer accordingly. When you leave your body you will have to come back again and again and again, all part of the dream, until you become detached.

♾☮ Robert Adams

Everything is God, seen with evolving -RAdams

Adams, Robert

“Everything is sacred. The ground upon which you walk is holy ground. … You should have reverence for all things. All things are God, so-to-speak, the leaf, the cockroach, bedbug, the mass murderer, everything is God. But most people do not understand this. They judge by appearances and they want solutions immediately with the things that they see.

But as you become evolved you begin to intellectually understand this thoroughly. The whole universe is Brahman. The whole universe is effortless, choice-less, pure awareness, sat-chit-ananda [existence-consciousness-bliss]. So a realized being is all pervasive and is all of these things.”

~ Robert Adams (20th century American Advaita mystic)

Suffering <= clinging or resisting,unwillingness to move on, flow w life -NM

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: The universe does not seem a happy place to live in. Why is there so much suffering?

M: Pain is physical; suffering is mental. Beyond the mind there is no suffering.
Pain is merely a signal that the body is in danger and requires attention.
Similarly, suffering warns us that the structure of memories and habits, which we call the person (vyakti), is threatened by loss or change.

Pain is essential for the survival of the body, but none compels you to suffer. Suffering is due entirely to clinging or resisting; it is a sign of our unwillingness to move on, to flow with life.

As a sane life is free of pain, so is a saintly life free from suffering.

Q: Nobody has suffered more than saints.

M: Did they tell you, or do you say so on your own?
The essence of saintliness is total acceptance of the present moment,
harmony with things as they happen. A saint does not want things to be different from what they are; he knows that, considering all factors, they are unavoidable. He is friendly with the inevitable and, therefore, does not suffer.
Pain he may know, but it does not shatter him. If he can, he does the needful to restore the lost balance — or he lets things take their course.

~ I AM THAT
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
✅ Beyond the mind there is no suffering

Taking appearance for reality is grievous sin -NM

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: All I want to know is how to deal with the world’s sorrows.

M: You have created them out of your own desires and fears, you deal with them. All is due to your having forgotten your own being. Having given reality to the picture on the screen, you love its people and suffer for them and seek to save them. It is just not so. You must begin with yourself. There is no other way. Work, of course. There is no harm in working.

M: To take appearance for reality is a grievous sin and the cause of all calamities. You are the all-pervading, eternal and infinitely creative awareness — consciousness. All else is local and temporary. Don’t forget what you are. In the meantime work to your heart’s content. Work and knowledge should go hand in hand.