KAIVALYA UPANISHAD : 20. Swami Advaitananda.

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Friday, Janury 27, 2023. 07:00.

6. THE EXPERIENCE OF IDENTITY

(Mantras : 20-24, 5 no.)

“Advaita Anubhava Prakasha”

Mantram - 20 : Brahman Am I

Post-20.

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“Advaita Anubhava Prakasha”

IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT we have just learnt, we will certainly have the necessary 

inspiration to take the next few verses very seriously. They help us to absorb the initial ‘jolt’

we may have felt upon suddenly encountering Non-Duality as the fundamental Truth of 

Existence. It takes time for this mind-blowing Truth to be fully comprehended, even just 

intellectually, let alone it being actually experienced.

Thus, in the verses to come, we try not to apply our analytical mind to them but 

allow the full thought to pass through us and see what it does to our inner Being.

As Acharyaji expressed it, “We consider our mind to be like soft butter and allow 

these verses to simply slip through it like a hot knife, melting down our intellectual 

resistance!”

Mantram - 20 : Brahman Am I :

With Translation :

1 anor aneeyaan aham eva tadvat   =  I am smaller than the smallest thing,

2 mahaan aham,   vishwam aham vichitram;  =  and also am I the most vast.  I am the manifold universe, amazing am I!

3 puraatanah aham purushah,  aham eeshah;  =  I am the Ancient one, the Purusha;  the Supreme Ruler am I;

4 hiranmayah aham,  shiva-roopam asmi.  =  the Effulgent one am I;  by nature I am Shiva, the Ever-auspicious!

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Bhashyam (Vyakyanam) :

1 

“Smaller than the smallest”, “vaster than the vastest” – this should be sufficient to 

make us press the clutch and disengage our intellect. That is what the Rishi wants us to do!

That which is most subtle is being described. Something very subtle could be either very 

minute or very large.

2 

Similarly, “I am the whole universe, yet I am also the variety in it.” Seen in overview 

as the universe, I am One. Seen in detail as the variety in this universe, I am Many. Subtlety 

does not have anything to do with size or number; it is that which does not have the 

limitations we experience. “Beyond limitations” is the true meaning of these lines.

3 

Besides size and number, the Supreme has nothing to do with Time as well. We, 

locked as we are in the consciousness of the world phenomena, find it impossible to imagine 

an Existence without Time. Past, present and future are the slots into which we can 

categorise all phenomena. But the Supreme is beyond even Time.

“I am not just restricted to the whole universe; I was there before it all began! I am 

the most ancient, as well as the most recent. In Me there is neither beginning nor end.” 

These are not ideas which the mind can conceive. Infinity is something we imagine to be 

very huge, but it could also be that which is very tiny or infinitesimal, as it is called. 

Our scientific discoveries are not anything new; we are merely “discovering” that 

which has always been there.

4 

And there is yet another dimension to the Supreme which we cannot comprehend 

with our intellect. Besides size, number and duration, there is the dimension of Bliss – a 

dimension which has in its fold all goodness, all happiness, all auspiciousness. Everything 

that is to be desired is in the Supreme. It leaves nothing more to be desired. 

As we enter this realm of experience where there is only Oneness, a completely 

sufficient Oneness, we leave behind us the world of agitations and sorrow. In the new world 

opening up before us there is no place for sorrow – all is Auspiciousness itself, “All is Shiva . . 

. . . All is Shiva.”

*****

Next
Mantram - 21: My “Bodiless” Body
To be continued

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