This question is from Pujya Sabhawal from San Francisco
Swamiji, we are told that there is only one universal consciousness and we are that very
consciousness and that this world is maya, an illusion, and we don't really exist.
So then where does the karma theory fit in?
If we are an existential illusion, then how can we generate karma?
Notice one thing there.
It's all one consciousness and the whole of the world is an illusion or an appearance
and we don't really exist.
Uh uh uh.
That we don't really exist, where did you get that from?
Advaita Vedanta is just the opposite.
You are the only thing that really exists.
If you say in a dream, whatever is appearing in the dream, it's a part of the dream, it
really doesn't exist.
But there's one thing that exists.
You the dreamer exists, because of which the dream appears.
That was the whole story of the Emperor Janaka who dreamt that he was defeated in a battle
and then he lost his kingdom and then he woke up and then he started thinking, is this real
or was that real?
And the great sage Ashtavakra comes to him and says that, that is, that defeat and the enemy and
the loss of your kingdom, it's not there now.
You can clearly see it was a dream.
So that's not real.
But this, the glory and power you have sitting on the throne surrounded by your, you know, wealth and
magnificence, this was not there in that dream.
So this is also not real.
Then is nothing real?
And he says, you were there to experience the dream and you are here to experience this
state also.
So you are the reality.
So Advaita Vedanta, one thing that Advaita Vedanta never compromises on is it never says
we don't exist.
In fact, you do exist.
You are the reality.
It's just that you don't know what you truly are.
You are... what is the American phrase?
You're selling yourself short.
You are selling yourself short.
You are limitless existence.
Everything else seems to exist because you exist.
Everything else is experienced because of your light.
There is meaning, purpose, value, beauty, bliss, joy in life because you are Ananda,
bliss itself.
The universe exists borrowing its existence from you.
All knowledge and experience is possible borrowing its light from you.
All things which give you joy, pleasure, which, which seem meaningful and worthy, they borrow
their purpose, meaningfulness from you.
Sat, Chit, Ananda.
Now the particular question she asks is karma.
So, how, if you are one Brahman, pure existence, consciousness, bliss, then whose karma?
Who is generating karma?
How can we say?
Well, the answer in Advaita Vedanta is actually, even karma is part of the illusion.
As long as you think that you are this limited body and mind, then cause and effect have
their sway on you.
Vivekananda said, Good good, Bad bad and None escape the law.
So actions have consequences.
Causes will give rise to effects.
What we are experiencing now are the effects of things in ancient times.
And what we do now will be experienced in future times.
That's the story.
Emphasis on the word story.
That's taken as real from a dualistic perspective.
That's real.
But from an Advaitic perspective, that's part of the movie.
That's part of the dream.
That's part of the story.
That makes sense.
But it's still a story.
What's beyond the story is you.
Limitless existence, consciousness, bliss.
Vivekananda's poem - Good good, Bad bad and None escape the law.
Whosoever wears a form, wears the chain too.
Wears the form means - as long as we are identified with this particular body and mind, Sarva
Priyananda, it has been produced by a chain of cause and effect stretching back many lives.
And I cannot escape this.
It will continue.
Whosoever wears a form, wears the chain too.
Then what about Vedanta?
What, What is the... what are we doing here?
Then he goes on, Vivekananda goes on to say,
But far beyond name and form is Atman ever free.
Know thou art that sannyasi bold.
Say Om Tat Sat Om.
Realize who you are, you will see you are not part of the movie.
Your destiny is not determined by some Hollywood scriptwriter.
You are that on which the movie is playing.
Multiple movies may play, tragedies and comedies, or they may not play, you're still exactly
the same.
You make possible these movies.
You make karma possible.
The dream of karma, you make it possible.
But you are not trapped in the dream of karma.
You are beyond it.
You transcend it.
You just have to realize, what we, realize what we truly are.
You will see you are already free.
He says, another place, the same poem,
Chains though of gold are not less strong to bind If your bad karma, it's like an iron chain, shackled.
Suffering after suffering after suffering.
Things go badly.
Golden chain.
Things are going very well for me.
Whatever I wanted, I'm having a really good time, a wonderful life.
That's still a chain.
And very soon it can become an iron chain also.
So Vivekananda says,
Then off with them, sannyasi bold, say Om Tat Sat Om.
Beyond the chains, let go thy hold.
Thine only is the hand that holds the rope that drags thee on.
Let go thy hold, sannyasi bold, say Om Tat Sat Om.
It�s, Freedom is directly available here.
It's the most direct, obvious thing.
It's your nature.
It's here.
Right now, shining forth all the time.
Snap out of it.
Vivekananda says - it's a very radical statement.
What ideal will you follow?
There is no ideal besides you.
It points you back to yourself.
Never fear because you are that immortal existence.
No fear.
You will not die.
Be at peace for you are forever beyond sin and virtue.
Good karma and bad karma, you're forever beyond that.
You're already beyond that.
These are dreams, vapors set up by, by maya.
You're beyond it all.
Whom will you worship?
Because the Atman is all, which means you are all.
Whom will you worship?
Then he goes on to say, let go of all talking and all thinking.
Say only, I am the Atman, I am the Atman.
That is all that is needed.