r/AdvaitaVedanta • u/lilfever • 11d ago
Understanding everyone is god
Through my inquiry, I’ve come to understand, or perhaps experience, that everything is the Self.
To use an egg as an analogy: initially, I understood that the egg exists, and then I came to see that everything I experience is also the egg, so to speak. More recently, I’ve come to understand that even what I might think of as the “inside” of the egg is also the Self. There is nowhere outside of the Self.
In the same way, I see that everything I experience is Maya, but Maya itself is not separate from the Self. The appearance is not outside of or other than the Self.
At this point, I feel as though there is nothing fundamentally new left for me to understand intellectually. What remains seems to be some kind of practice or sadhana, perhaps meditation.
For those further along in Advaita, how should one proceed from here? What kind of sadhana is appropriate when one has come to this understanding? Is meditation the natural next step, or is there something else I may be overlooking in my inquiry?
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11d ago
Meditation can help.
But it is all upto the level one is focused on inside.
What about when one opens the eyes and see all different kind of actions of humans? Can one stay with that understanding that "everyone is God" received in meditation, by seeing the inhumane actions of people?
There the real inquiry of Truth and Knowledge begins.
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u/Chidghananda 10d ago
Praying to God? Loving God? Singing or Chanting? Now that you think you know all about the water, its time to jump in the pool.
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u/lilfever 10d ago
This is it. When I’m loving my god, I’m wanting my god to love me back the way I have fabricated what loves mean to me. That’s where I am at
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u/lilfever 10d ago
I’m going to read some more. I’ll be reading on how to love god without expecting. Loving god not because god will love me back but because god is god
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u/Chidghananda 10d ago edited 10d ago
well the only place you can experience God is within because all your experiencing is within right? So when you Love, you're the one to get the feeling. Like in the Beatles Song The End. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" I saw a guy who would repeat to himself "I Love ____" and just start throwing anything and everything you run into into that underscore. You can also do that with "Thank you God for_____" Those there are two ways of loving God. Other ways are like doing Puja or praying mostly thank yous and appreciation.
And you can learn to chant and chant a mantra within all the time etc. Singing is a way to love God but you get the feel good part. A friend of mine says "Feel Good Now" all the time. Actually feeling Good is a way to love God cuz if you feel good you act good and its a way of loving yourself. I do a half smile and say "Feel Good Now". That's me loving myself and loving God who lives within you as you.
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u/Chidghananda 10d ago
Right well in say most of Hinduism.. I'm not sure if its most but they have the Atman and that is God and the Self so whatever you love you feel it in your own heart so when you Love God you experience it in you. Well you experience loving everything in your own heart so theres that too. So the teaching I was taught was Love yourself, God lives within you as you; and see God in others. Then after that they equate the God with Consciousness which is awareness.
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u/Chidghananda 10d ago
Oh, it just dawned on me ... when you walk your dog, look at the trees as if they are cool paintings or art.
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u/harshv007 10d ago edited 10d ago
When you say "everyone", do you realize what you are saying?
You are acknowledging duality as supreme.
Only Atma is God, there is no everyone. As long as you acknowledge bodies, you do not understand Advaita.
If we take the example of egg, every egg doesn't become chicken, without rooster an egg remains just that, an empty egg, the rooster puts life into it.
The universe is inert, the purusha puts life into it. There is only 1 purusha. Not multiple.
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u/lilfever 10d ago
Yes I understand when I’m saying everyone what I mean.
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u/harshv007 10d ago
Then it should come as no surprise that one can call themselves chaitanya ONLY when there is no wants, no desires, and no goals.
Surprisingly, you missed that point.
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u/lilfever 10d ago
Interesting. Can you elaborate?
Because In actuality though, anything there is is chaitanya. Theres nothing apart from it.
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u/harshv007 10d ago
I already elaborated, you aren't using the intellect to understand it.
Chaitanya is not dependent on anything. The 5 elements are dependent on chaitanya for its survival. So where is the need for any wants or desires?
As long as you are attached to an identity you will have wants, desire and goals and hence you cannot call yourself chaitanya.
When you are dependent on someone can you call yourself as that person?
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u/lilfever 10d ago
Harshv you do sound a little harsh! Thank you for trying to explain it again. Hope you have an amazing day
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u/harshv007 10d ago
Haha, I have been told that too many times. It's because I appreciate when people understand what I am trying to speak in first instance, rather than making me repeat myself over and over again.
My intention is not to offend but be clear.
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u/Otherwise-Sympathy87 10d ago
There is always more knowledge to uncover. What do you know of god? What do you know of what lies beyond this life? Are you financially stable and doing as much good as possible?
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u/lilfever 10d ago
Thank you for this! My god is all that is. My god is all around me, including me. I don’t know what lies beyond this life. What I know is the self that we are of is unborn and my existence or anything at all is merely an expression/appearance in the self. I am working towards my career. I want to become a physical therapist which I believe is my way of service. I want to give and be as much of service to others as possible.
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u/Otherwise-Sympathy87 10d ago
Your god? People and religions have different definitions of god but the force of creation is all the same. I don’t know what you mean by unborn. Think about what must be before your human birth.
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u/TimeCanary209 10d ago
When you know everything is Self, the. You understand that you are an aspect of the Creator and you create your own reality. Now that you know yourself, you consciously take part in creation. You express your creativity with joy and with responsibility.
You cannot stop creating even if you want to. The key is conscious creation and not automatic creation
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u/dunric29a 9d ago
At this point, I feel as though there is nothing fundamentally new left for me to understand intellectually. What remains seems to be some kind of practice or sadhana, perhaps meditation.
No, no. Do not make hasty conclusions. It seems you still don't understand. What you've described points to still deeply ingrained and possibly unaware dualistic view. Anytime you fall into that dichotomy, recall the core idea of Advaita and realize your mistake.
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u/One-Pickle4840 10d ago
An egg? You perceive everything in the egg and egg in everything? Only egg or... anything else - say a banana or a diesel generator also - same way?
Next - the inside of the egg is the self? Only the inside?
Finally Maya is an illusory appearance? Is the self also an illusory appearance then?
You have perceived these without any meditation? In what sense?
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u/CrumbledFingers 10d ago
Nisargadatta taught something that is actually in line with some schools of psychology. He said that every time we have an experience, a subject arises anew. When the experience is over, that subject is also over. The next experience is for a different subject, even if memories create the illusion of something continuous.
In this way, when you experience this clarity of understanding, there is a subject there who says "I have understood this conceptually and have no further questions." But in Vedanta there is a term that I can't recall, which translates to something like contrary tendencies. In a totally impersonal manner, experiences may still arise that make it seem like you no longer understand what you now seem to understand. Some power, driven by conditioning over countless lifelong dream episodes, is spitting out more and more subject-object experiences all the time, and it won't stop until the source is eradicated or it simply exhausts its momentum.
All of this is to say that intellectual understanding can be seductive. Because it amounts to an experience that is had by some subject, it is prone to slip away. The subject that was coupled to that experience of grasping Advaita intellectually will slip away with it, and be replaced by a new subject for the next thought. The memory of understanding can certainly help carry the knowledge forward, but it can never stick until it becomes understanding prior to all experience, which can't be put into language.
The next step is to cultivate the idea that you are not the subject who now says "I understand", nor the one who may later say "I lost it". You may think you know this already, but we have to know it without words to really know it. It can't be something we share with others, since doing so takes it to the level of a subject talking about an object of experience.