Moksha

^^^

The Advaita Vedanta describes my experience: "Advaita Vedānta literally, 'non-duality') is a school of Hindu philosophy, and is a classic system of spiritual realization in Indian tradition. The term Advaita refers to the idea that Brahman alone is ultimately real, the phenomenal transient world is an illusory appearance (Maya) of Brahman, and the true self, Atman, is not different from Brahman." The Atman within each Being is one with Brahman. Everything else is an illusion. Every word, label, and name is a belief, a construct, a fabrication in the world of form. "Nonduality" is only a pointer. Language is not the thing it tries to describe. Ultimate reality has no language; it simply is. The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.

Nondualism is the belief that "the multiplicity of the universe is reducible to one essential reality." This is what I am suggesting. There is only one reality: Source. Form is an ephemeral expression of reality, but it is not reality. Source is unitary, infinite, and uncaused. Form is diverse, ephemeral, and caused. They are not identical; the latter is a creative and illusory expression of the former.

(This is my first post, so a general disclaimer for anything I write here or elsewhere. Everything I post is simply my current understanding. I claim no absolute truth beyond my personal experience.) I recently read from the beginning of the Tao Te Ching (emphasis added): “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.” Ultimate reality cannot be named. It is "Darkness within darkness". It is a mystery that we can only begin to understand by abandoning our attachments to desire. The only thing we can know is the primal experience of connecting with that reality, and realizing that we are one with it. Everything else is speculation. The world of form is an expression of Source, but it is not Source. In this world, matter and energy exist. In that sense, the world of form is "real". However, it is ephemeral; everything in this world eventually dissolves. Unlike ultimate reality, forms come and go. So the world of form is in another sense not real. It is one level of "Darkness". Furthermore, we can only experience the world of form through the interpretation of our senses. What we see is not really there: It is an internal mental image of what is there. My "red" could be your "green". The thing that we perceive and name is not the thing itself. Our interpretation of the world of form is the second level of "Darkness". Darkness within darkness.