Advaitic Brahman !
First off, I do NOT recommend anyone to do meditation, as this is not medically and clinically tested, so nobody knows the long term impact. Some people have raised concerns of extreme anxiety after attending 10 day vipassana !! So be aware.
The key to understanding Advaitic Brahman is to first go the origin of the concept of Brahman ! To do this, we need to go back to the life of our great Rishis. How did they come up with this concept and describe in such detail ?
The root of this is in the meditation process - (some of the following includes my interpretation)
1. In the first stage, the mind is trained to reduce the focus on all worldly thoughts and focus on one singular thought or name of a god or "om"
2. In the second stage, the mind is trained to silence all the other thoughts.
3. As the mind goes silent, the deep emotions start to manifest. This stage is the karmic phase, also the toughest, all the fears and anxiety start to manifest.
4. As the mind and body faces these extreme fears and anxiety, they overcome them one by one. It is at this time, the karma phalas start to manifest, and by continuously asking why am I suffering, you understand the root of the problem.
5. This is how the Rishis understood that past life karma phalas are manifesting now. They are also able to access the akashic records and see the past lives, and atone for their sins. There can be no liberation without atoning for the past sins.
6. As one continues beyond this, we reach the stage of experiencing Saguna Brahman. Brahman with all its attributes, and powers. Many Hindu school so of throughts like Shaivism, Vaishanavim, Dvaitam, Vishistadvaitam, defined this as Para Brahman, Ishwara, Personal God with all attributes aka Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Krishna, etc.
7. However Shankarar goes further. So Beyond this stage is the ultimate reality - Nirguna Brahman - Brahman without any attributes.
8. This is the stage of Jeevan Mukta, as the person "in this life itself" merges with the Nirguna Brahman even while living in the body. In this advanced meditative state, the "i" dissolves into the Nirguna Brahman. Cessation of "I" or independent state of soul.
9. So when the "i" disappears, then all worldly relationship, emotions - greed, lust, etc..all attachments, disappear. The Jeevan Muktha lives out the rest of this life without any attachments or worldly desires etc.., as his "i" has merged with Nirguna Brahman.
10. The lower realm - the current world with all its emotions and bondage is defined as maya by Shankarar. By viewing this world from the stage of Nirguna Brahman, he realises this is all a illusion aka maya.
11. Beyond this, there are no more stages. This is the ultimate reality aka Nirguna Brahman as defined by Advaitam. Thus the statement from Shankarar - that by knowing which, there is no more truth to be realised is the ultimate reality !!
12. This is the complete set of understanding of our world. Beyond this there is no more knowledge to be gained.
All our texts now define each of these stages in absolute detail. And our Gurus guide the disciples to go through these stages via vipassana, meditation, etc..
This is the big difference between shankarars approach and others. All others approach is that, after numerous rebirths and death or after this life, we get liberated by merging the "I" aka soul with Brahman.
Shankarar showed us the path of Jeevan Mukthi - how to merge the "i" into Nirguna Brahman in this life itself and while living, thereby proving that liberation is not just possible but can be done while living now with the right knowledge, perception, and sadhana !!
Now from this, comes the possibility that the Saguna Brahman including Ishwara or personal God is a lower order of reality and the ultimate reality is Nirguna Brahman.
Maya - And why did Shankarar call our current world including saguna brahman as maya ? Why not as a transient state or temporary state, or lower order of reality or just part of the soul journey across multiple worlds?
This is one of the core aspect of Advaitam.
When one is in the Nirguna Brahman stage, where the "i" merges, dissolves with Nirguna Brahman, then, one becomes the Nirguna Brahman himself and hence is able to experience "the whole creation" as a mere "reflection or projection or illusion or a dream state". Now that you are one with the supreme, you are able to understand the illusory existence of the known world with all its attributes.
This is not just a conjecture. If a dream state can be a mere projection or illusion of a normal human consciousness and can feel so real, the entire world with all the worldly attachments etc..can easily be a dream state of the highly advanced supreme consciousness.
Hence the realisation, that this entire space time world is just an illusion, or a dream state and the ultimate reality is Nirguna Brahman !!
I understand that the very explanation of "reflection or projection etc.. of Nirguna Brahman" means it has some attribute and thereby invalidating it. So my point is not to reconcile this, but to prove that this entire known world can and very well be a dream state or illusory state of maya as propounded by Shankarar ! It is "my usage" to describe maya as a dream state just to demonstrate how this world can all be an illusion !t
From shankarars view, once the entire world is proven to be a maya aka illusion, he does not bother about it anymore - he is not worried about explaining it further as a projection or reflection or dream state.
He moves on to Nirguna Brahman and finds it has no attributes. It is just pure consciousness and is the ultimate reality !
First off, I do NOT recommend anyone to do meditation, as this is not medically and clinically tested, so nobody knows the long term impact. Some people have raised concerns of extreme anxiety after attending 10 day vipassana !! So be aware.
The key to understanding Advaitic Brahman is to first go the origin of the concept of Brahman ! To do this, we need to go back to the life of our great Rishis. How did they come up with this concept and describe in such detail ?
The root of this is in the meditation process - (some of the following includes my interpretation)
1. In the first stage, the mind is trained to reduce the focus on all worldly thoughts and focus on one singular thought or name of a god or "om"
2. In the second stage, the mind is trained to silence all the other thoughts.
3. As the mind goes silent, the deep emotions start to manifest. This stage is the karmic phase, also the toughest, all the fears and anxiety start to manifest.
4. As the mind and body faces these extreme fears and anxiety, they overcome them one by one. It is at this time, the karma phalas start to manifest, and by continuously asking why am I suffering, you understand the root of the problem.
5. This is how the Rishis understood that past life karma phalas are manifesting now. They are also able to access the akashic records and see the past lives, and atone for their sins. There can be no liberation without atoning for the past sins.
6. As one continues beyond this, we reach the stage of experiencing Saguna Brahman. Brahman with all its attributes, and powers. Many Hindu school so of throughts like Shaivism, Vaishanavim, Dvaitam, Vishistadvaitam, defined this as Para Brahman, Ishwara, Personal God with all attributes aka Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Krishna, etc.
7. However Shankarar goes further. So Beyond this stage is the ultimate reality - Nirguna Brahman - Brahman without any attributes.
8. This is the stage of Jeevan Mukta, as the person "in this life itself" merges with the Nirguna Brahman even while living in the body. In this advanced meditative state, the "i" dissolves into the Nirguna Brahman. Cessation of "I" or independent state of soul.
9. So when the "i" disappears, then all worldly relationship, emotions - greed, lust, etc..all attachments, disappear. The Jeevan Muktha lives out the rest of this life without any attachments or worldly desires etc.., as his "i" has merged with Nirguna Brahman.
10. The lower realm - the current world with all its emotions and bondage is defined as maya by Shankarar. By viewing this world from the stage of Nirguna Brahman, he realises this is all a illusion aka maya.
11. Beyond this, there are no more stages. This is the ultimate reality aka Nirguna Brahman as defined by Advaitam. Thus the statement from Shankarar - that by knowing which, there is no more truth to be realised is the ultimate reality !!
12. This is the complete set of understanding of our world. Beyond this there is no more knowledge to be gained.
All our texts now define each of these stages in absolute detail. And our Gurus guide the disciples to go through these stages via vipassana, meditation, etc..
This is the big difference between shankarars approach and others. All others approach is that, after numerous rebirths and death or after this life, we get liberated by merging the "I" aka soul with Brahman.
Shankarar showed us the path of Jeevan Mukthi - how to merge the "i" into Nirguna Brahman in this life itself and while living, thereby proving that liberation is not just possible but can be done while living now with the right knowledge, perception, and sadhana !!
Now from this, comes the possibility that the Saguna Brahman including Ishwara or personal God is a lower order of reality and the ultimate reality is Nirguna Brahman.
Maya - And why did Shankarar call our current world including saguna brahman as maya ? Why not as a transient state or temporary state, or lower order of reality or just part of the soul journey across multiple worlds?
This is one of the core aspect of Advaitam.
When one is in the Nirguna Brahman stage, where the "i" merges, dissolves with Nirguna Brahman, then, one becomes the Nirguna Brahman himself and hence is able to experience "the whole creation" as a mere "reflection or projection or illusion or a dream state". Now that you are one with the supreme, you are able to understand the illusory existence of the known world with all its attributes.
This is not just a conjecture. If a dream state can be a mere projection or illusion of a normal human consciousness and can feel so real, the entire world with all the worldly attachments etc..can easily be a dream state of the highly advanced supreme consciousness.
Hence the realisation, that this entire space time world is just an illusion, or a dream state and the ultimate reality is Nirguna Brahman !!
I understand that the very explanation of "reflection or projection etc.. of Nirguna Brahman" means it has some attribute and thereby invalidating it. So my point is not to reconcile this, but to prove that this entire known world can and very well be a dream state or illusory state of maya as propounded by Shankarar ! It is "my usage" to describe maya as a dream state just to demonstrate how this world can all be an illusion !t
From shankarars view, once the entire world is proven to be a maya aka illusion, he does not bother about it anymore - he is not worried about explaining it further as a projection or reflection or dream state.
He moves on to Nirguna Brahman and finds it has no attributes. It is just pure consciousness and is the ultimate reality !