On the topic of adhvaita

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Adhvaita - one who is not separate.

 

As Lord Krishna himself has said in the Bhagwad Geeta, Chapter 15 shloka 15:

 

"Sarvasya Chaham hrudhi sannivishto........"

 

I reside in the heart of each and every living being. This means that each living being is a small part(soul) of the larger whole(God). We are living in this cycle of life and death and rebirth due to our desires. As long as we have desires and as long as we perform actions, there will be karma against our accounts and we will have to take rebirth.

 

In order to come out of this rebirth cycle, we must not have any karma against our name or we must not have any desires left. How is this possible? In our day to day life, we will always have actions. We will always have desires.

 

The answer lies in the Bhagwad Geeta as well, Chapter 13 shloka 22:

 

"Upadrashtanumanta cha, bharta bhokta maheshwara,

paramatmeti chapyukhto dehesmin purushah para"

 

God plays different roles in our life. According to our actions and our efforts, he plays a higher role in our lives. At first he plays the role of Upadrashta-Witness. He will witness our actions only. He will not play an active role until we are about to fall. Then he will help us and put us back on the right path.

 

The next role is Anumanta-Encourager. As our actions become pure, divine and selfless he encourages us for our work. This does not mean that God will come himself to congratulate you, atleast not at this stage. But the feeling that you get by performing selfless work itself is God sending his encouragement.

 

The next role is Bharta-Provider. As we continue to perform God's work, selfless work, we need various instruments, various means to perform the work. It is then that God becomes a provider and gives us the necessary means to complete the work.

 

Next is the stage of Bhokta-Enjoyer. In this stage God is so pleased with the devotee, that he enjoys the satisfaction of doing God's work through the devotee. He experiences the pleasure of the devotee as his own. At this stage the devotee performs almost all of his actions not for himself but for God.

 

The last stage is that of Maheshwara-The Almighty. Here the goal of the devotee and God are one. Whatever the actions taken by the devotee are of God's will only. Hence the devotee no longer has any desires of his own. His actions are entirely performed by the will of God, and so the karma of his actions do not go to his account but to the account of God. Hence by reaching this stage, one can become free from the cycle of birth and death and hence experience the stage of 'Adhvaita'.

 

The essence is that the potential to reach the highest stage lies in all of us. God has given us free will. So it is upto us to decide what actions to perform. Do we want to perform bad, selfish actions so that we do not go past the first stage or do we want to perform good, selfless actions so that we may steadily reach a higher and higher stage in our life or next lives and finally become one with God?