My first technical class on Advaita Vedanta

Well, as the headline points out, I’d say that though this wasn’t my first class on Vedanta (I’ve been trying to get a hold of it since my college days), but definitely an introductory one. This might seem like a paradox, as I mentioned about an introductory statement in a text that doesn’t have an introduction in itself. 

It’s the Drg-Drsya-Viveka, a part of Advaita Vedanta that verily focuses on the concept of the seer and the seen. There are three key practices to the Vedantic forms of teaching - Sravana (listening), Manana (dwelling upon the listened ideas and thoughts), and Nidhidhyasana (quite similar to living and breathing the truth). 

Now, almost a novice in this field, I can say that even though such things sound like heavy and intense philosophy, yet when you do realise the very nature of your true self, which is “Satcitananda”, the literal translation of which would be “existence”, “knowledge”, and “bliss”, you understand that the mere fact that you are peaceful being is quite a farce, as you are peace yourself. 

As mentioned in the preceding paragraphs where I called myself to be a novice in this field, am right now at that stage where am cultivating the concept of Shravana. Thus, for today, I’ll share a few concepts that I learnt from one of the early lectures of Swami Sarvapriyananda on the Drg Drsya Viveka. Due to my professional commitments, I could only complete half of the lecture. 

Once am done with the remaining part, shall publish that as well. Swamiji kickstarted the conversation by talking about the fundamentals of this form of teaching. Remember the part where I mentioned about the seer and the seen? It’s that bit. 

So, the three principles are as follows:

• The seer and the seen are different from each other. Consider yourself and anything lying in front of you. For me, I’d say that it’d be the eyes and the laptop screen on which am typing. In that case, the eyes become the seer and the screen becomes the seen. 

• Secondly, the conditions of the seen are many, while the seer is fixated. Perhaps the example of the different sense organs vis-a-vis the mind would be more relevant in this regard. So, the conditions of the sense organs are subject to change, some days it might be clear, other days it might be itchy, but there is this one mind that is a spectator behind all this. 

• Lastly, the seer is stable, and the seen changes frequently. For instance, while I am typing, my eyes are fixated onto the screen, while the screen is variable, as it’s typing different words each time with each carrying a different emotion, quite unlike the previous one.  

At one go while this might appear easy to read, but implementing it might sound tad difficult, it’s a continuous process. Am sure, with diligence and continuous practise, we’ll be able to reach our destination soon enough. 

I shall be back very soon with more updates on the Vedanta space. 

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