29 Mar 2023

Isn't it better to follow a dualistic structure of perception?

[Mr. Talin Rowe asked: According to Vedantic philosophy, there is no separation between creation and creator in the sense that the creation is the universal consciousness, as made manifest by the creator. So understanding the monistic foundation of the universe, then what? Or more practically once we realize the transient nature of worldly bonds, and the sole permanent relationship between our manifested consciousness and The Lord then what..[Click here to read the detailed question →]

I love the Lord. I understand that The Lord is the true constant, and that from the perspective of me, an iota of creation, the universal Father is the only true bond. So of course I love my Father. I’m appreciative of Him. If I could force myself to be less selfish, and show this appreciation to an even greater extent, I would. I still have to experience creation through the lens of a sentient individual. There may even be varying levels of sentience in the universe. But currently as far as science has proven, Humans are the only beings that have the cognitive capacity to articulate their own experience through self-realization and consciousness.

As a human I still have to experience dualism, and then articulate the reason and purpose for my own existence, while finding meaning in it. I feel emotionally out of my depth to be able to truly and qualifiedly appreciate the true significance of divinity despite wanting to so bad, if only to reflect this in the amount of love, wonder and respect that I understand it to be deserving of. Yet even the comprehension of singular underlying consciousness from a Vedantic angle is out of my emotional league. Much less the full weight of the significance of divinity.

However this leads me back to the question, okay now what?

From the perspective of Individual souls, we are eternal as it pertains to the creation as long as God allows us to remain in existence. Then until the destruction of creation by the form of Shiva, or even after through Brahman are we rolled back out to face our karmic continuation. This is while our individual experience is from the point of view of separateness. I can’t merge my consciousness with another’s, even if I can comprehend the monistic nature of energy in the universe. Even if I recognize all consciousness as equally valuable, and important. This being from the point of view of creation, as it relates to manifested creator.

What is the purpose of understanding it? I doubt from the time from now until Kalki will humanity become United, and fully understand our universal relationship and union as creation.

Although I sincerely wish for world culture to begin to align itself with the values and virtues that are appreciated by The Lord, and see this reflected in our collective adherence to Gods commandments. It just leaves me feeling deeply depressed. I don’t have the physical capability of even appreciating myself fully, much less the responsibility of appreciating everything else, and then that’s just the footstep. To top it all off, everything is to be treated as divine! How inexpressibly monumental that perspective seems. My mind groans thinking about how to perceive it in this way, especially in a way to treat it with reverence and respect. I feel like groaning aloud. I wish I was more exuberant about others and childlike in behaviour.

I still feel dualism as extremely relieving. Monotheism is very good. It makes it simpler the keep my mind on a single pointed nature and that is The Lord. There is less difficulty than in perceiving all things as divine and the Lord in them.

So, to summarize, all of creation may be a result of the same consciousness, but we still have to experience, life separately. Feelings of happiness, sorrow, pain and pleasure all separate from one another, caused and connected to one another. So isn’t it better from a day to day perspective to operate within a dualistic structure of perception? How are we to live in an endless cycle of lives? How do we keep finding meaningful existence?]

Swami replied:- To ask an ocean of questions even separately makes the answer a multi-ocean. Another special feature of your question is that many questions interact with each other as a multi-dimensional net and the answer for this becomes an unimaginable multi-dimensional net. It is better to ask every point as a single isolated question so that every answer becomes crystal clear. Even if you accumulate a mountain of crystal-clear concepts, the whole mountain looks as a very big single crystal giving very huge clarity. Bits of all concepts become one answer to your one question. Such a mega concept is a composite of obscure bits of answers, becomes a major confusion resulted from the interaction of bits of confusion. Please ask a single question with full clarity and even if you ask several questions at a time, there is no problem because the crystal-clear answers will not interact with each other since they exist as separate answers for separate questions. For this, one must have a lot of patience and Shankara says that the first quality is to have an infinite quantity of patience. First, we have to procure the building materials separately and then, we have to build the mighty building and in both stages, infinite patience is required. You must reduce your lightning speed while switching over from one point to another point. Monism is in the case of the divine human incarnation only and the word monism cannot be used anywhere near an ordinary human being. We, the ordinary human beings must start with perfect dualism with God that fixes us in the posts of servants in the service of the master-God. Monism must be also thoroughly understood because the ultimate goal of our spiritual journey is only the contemporary human incarnation of God.

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