SVU 1.7-1.12: Brahman, Māyā and Liberation

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara understands the manifest and unmanifest as perishable effect and imperishable cause, both sustained by the Lord. The Jīva is bound by body, organs and identification as experiencer. Its difference from Īśvara is conditioned by upādhis, like space in vessels or the sun in vessels of water, and ends with knowledge.

Śaṅkarānanda interprets kṣara and akṣara as effect and cause. The Lord sustains both; the Jīva binds itself through the notion that it acts and experiences. The great statement of identity leads, by way of the intended meanings of tat and tvam, to freedom from bonds.

Nārāyaṇa assigns kṣara and akṣara to the gross and subtle bodies, corresponding to the manifest and unmanifest. Bondage arises when the Jīva regards itself as experiencer. Knowledge of the divine sustainer dissolves this identification and leads to liberation.

Vijñānabhagavat connects kṣara and akṣara with gross effect, subtle effect and the unmanifest causal principle. The Jīva appropriates the functions of knowing, acting, pleasure and pain as its self. Selfless action, worship, renunciation, concentration, instruction by a guru and knowledge of the Mahāvākya form a long path towards dissolving these bonds.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara understands the knowing Lord and the ignorant Jīva as two unborn modes of appearance of Brahman. Unborn Māyā makes experiencer, experienced and ruler possible without establishing dualism as a reality of its own. Whoever recognises this triad as Brahman is freed from its superimposed attributes.

Śaṅkarānanda distinguishes knower and non-knower only through upādhis. The one Avidyā projects experiencer, experienced and their separation; the infinite Lord remains the ground of the world without himself acting. What appears threefold when unrecognised is in truth the one Brahman.

Nārāyaṇa reads knower and non-knower as the tat and tvam aspects, and the female Unborn as Māyā. The Paramātman remains unbound, all-formed and without action. When the apparent triad is recognised, Brahman alone remains as its common ground.

Vijñānabhagavat explains the teaching on upādhis through sun, mirror and reflection. Thus the unchanged Paramātman appears omniscient and the limited Jīva ignorant, while Māyā forms the medium. Knowledge of the entire triad as non-dual being-consciousness-bliss ends these contradictory attributes.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara calls Pradhāna perishable, whereas Hara as Brahman is immortal. The one God guides Prakṛti and Puruṣa. Repeated meditation and the joining of the Jīva with the Paramātman lead to ahaṃ brahmāsmi; when knowledge is complete, or after the exhaustion of Prārabdha, the Māyā of the world ends.

Śaṅkarānanda does not regard the perishable and its imperishable ground as two ultimate realities. Hara designates the disappearance of Avidyā. Knowledge of the Self ends Māyā in principle; residual impressions and Prārabdha explain why embodied life may continue until the end of the body.

Nārāyaṇa equates Pradhāna with Māyā. Hara rules the perishable, the Jīva and the imperishable. Repeated meditation, yoga and the realisation of so 'ham dissolve illusion; at death, the still-operative appearance of Māyā also ends.

Vijñānabhagavat distinguishes dissoluble Pradhāna from the immortal Puruṣa as witness. Hara removes the duality produced by Avidyā. Direct knowledge of Brahman first burns ignorance and projection; the residual appearance sustained by Prārabdha ends when it is exhausted.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara distinguishes knowledge and meditation by their results. Knowledge immediately removes Avidyā, the kleśas, birth and death; by the path of the gods, meditation may first attain universal sovereignty. This conditioned attainment is then also transcended in attributeless Brahman, whereas the knower is liberated while living here and now.

Śaṅkarānanda counts identification with possessions and family, as well as the five classical kleśas, among the bonds. Three stages of knowledge lead from seeing all as the Self, through identity with Brahman, to the extinction of the final impressions. Unrestricted freedom appears after the end of the body.

Nārāyaṇa connects the bonds with the five kleśas. He interprets the third state either as the unity of the meanings of tat and tvam or as the level of Hiraṇyagarbha. After the end of the body come universal sovereignty, aloneness and the fulfilment of every desire.

Vijñānabhagavat has knowledge burn Avidyā, attachment, action and karmic causes. The “third sovereignty” is direct liberation beyond the lunar and Brahmā worlds attained through karma or worship. Complete fulfilment of desire means the manifestation of one's own joy of Brahman.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara locates what is to be known in one's own ever-present Self; nothing beyond it remains to be known. Experiencer, experienced and inner guide are the threefold appearance of the same Brahman and are recognised as non-dual through the contemplative dissolution of all differences.

Śaṅkarānanda calls Brahman the limit of knowledge because it is eternally present in the Self. Experiencer, experienced and guide are three apparent modes of this one ground. Beyond their return into Brahman, no further subject of instruction remains.

Nārāyaṇa emphasises the ever-present Self. Experiencer, experienced and guide form three modes of Brahman; he additionally connects them with the Gītā teaching of perishable, imperishable and highest Puruṣa. The triad is thus led back to a common ground.

Vijñānabhagavat holds that only the self-luminous Self is, strictly speaking, worthy of knowledge; knowledge of objects remains limited. Experiencer, experienced and guide are functional distinctions stretched out by Avidyā and, with right insight, are recognised as the one attributeless Brahman.