Advaita Vedanta: Reality, Illusion, and Karma Explained

Brahman alone is reality, while the world and karma exist only as illusions in a dreamlike state.

### Understanding Reality: The Dual Nature of Existence in Advaita Vedanta
* 🌌 The body and mind are illusions, and our waking state is akin to a dream, with the only true essence being **pure awareness**.
* 🔍 Questions arise about karma and the entity that transitions from life to life, challenging the perception of reality when **everything is deemed an illusion**.
* 🎭 Advaita Vedanta posits two levels of truth: the **ultimate reality (paramarthika)** and the **transactional level (vyavaharika)**, akin to the distinction between a movie's **light and screen** versus its **plot and characters**.
* 📽 At the ultimate level, Brahman is the **only reality**—existence, consciousness, and bliss—while the world is merely an **appearance or fiction**.
* ⚖ Karma, like the narrative in a movie, exists within the realm of **appearance**; thus, from the ultimate standpoint, there is **no actual karma or lifetimes**, only the **illusion of them**.
* 🌪 The subtle body carries past karmas, influencing future experiences, but this too is part of the **illusory nature of existence**.
* 🙏 Ultimately, Advaita Vedanta teaches that while multiple lifetimes may seem real at a relative level, the truth is that "**when there is not even one birth, what is the question of rebirth?**"
* ✨ The profound insight is that you, as an individual (jiva), are **not separate from Brahman**, reinforcing the **non-dual nature of reality**.

The body is not real, mind is not real. Our waking state is a dream state of which we are unaware because of the illusion. The only real concept is pure being or pure awareness. With this, what goes from life to life, it is not the body or the mind. So what is?

The entity against which all karma is recorded, is it against the reflected consciousness in illusion? Who keeps track of karma? Is it the pure consciousness keeping a record of all karma? Notice what was said: world is not real, bodies not real, waking is equal to dream.

Fine, then then comes the question, karma. Who is going from lifetime to lifetime? Why do you regard that as real? You just said, notice what you yourself said: world is not real, this lifetime is an appearance, waking state is a dream. Then again, why are you asking what goes from lifetime to

lifetime? How, where is karma? Who is recording? Who is recording karma? You see this is, this is the confusion. We say, and on one hand, I understand Advaita Vedanta that the world is an appearance, Brahman alone is real. The next, I say, yes it is an appearance, but

who is the one living here? Who is the one who's going from this life to that next life? Like saying that, um, I understand when I'm seeing, um, a movie in a cinema, and that it is, uh, it's it's all a movie, it's not real.

Then neither is there a hero nor is there a villain, or is the crime been committed nor is there a court case. I understand all of that is a dream, it's a fiction, it's a movie. Next, I'm asking, but who will punish the

villain, where will the villain go if it's all a dream? Then, who will win? Which jail will the villain go to? What will be the reward of the hero? Who will keep track of reward and punishment? You have just said the whole thing is a

story. So, in Advaita Vedanta, to clear up this confusion, what we do is we have two levels of truth: true levels of reality. Ultimate level and our transactional level. Actually, ultimately, there will be multiple levels. There is the ultimate level, paramarthika. There is this worldly

level of transactions called vyavaharika. There is the level of error and dream and illusion called pratibhasika. There's even an error of complete non-existence called... But let's just take two levels: ultimate level, relative level. Take the movie example. What is the ultimate reality of the movie? It is just

light and screen. That's the ultimate reality. Pictures on our screen, that's the ultimate reality in the movie. And what is the relative level of the movie? Oh, there is a hero and there is a villain and there is a car chase and there is a court case and

reward and punishment. The whole story is there: happiness, misery, and there will be a whole plot. That's at the level of fiction. That's at the level of the movie. Two levels are there. It is not a very strange abstract philosophical concept, you know. One may say that, oh,

what is this two levels of truth? Sounds very abstract. We always use it whenever you're talking about fiction, a storybook, whenever you're talking about a movie, cinema, or theater. There are always two levels. One is at the level of your own existence. Another

One is that level of the story, similarly in Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the ultimate reality - existence, consciousness, bliss, an infinite being, awareness. Satyam, Gyanam, Brahman - that's the only reality there is. Nothing else apart from it. The

first thing that a student of Vedanta learns, it's in the Vedanta, we have to memorize, the only reality is that existence, consciousness, bliss, non-dual Brahman. The moment you say non-dual, no two, there's nothing apart from that.

But there seems to be something apart from it. What seems to be there? The world is there, full of millions of beings, living and non-living. There is history, there are human beings, there is myself, especially I am there, body, mind, thoughts, feelings, emotions, all of this is there. Then, if it is not a

reality apart from Brahman, what can you call it except fiction, except mithya, except appearance? So, Advaita Vedanta says Brahman satyam, where Brahman is real, the world is an appearance. Two levels: reality level, appearance level.

How does that help the question, answer the question? The question was everything is an appearance, everything is not real, or appearance level, mithya. Then, what about karma? What goes from lifetime to lifetime? Remember, karma and what goes from lifetime to lifetime, even lifetime to lifetime, all of that is within the

level of appearance, mithya. The level of the movie, not the level of the screen, not the level of Brahman. From the ultimate standpoint, there is no lifetime, there is no something going from something to something, there is no karma, good and bad, no result of karma, no need

for somebody to record that karma, also that that is at the ultimate level. So nothing is there, no. When we are experiencing it at a relative level, we have a hurricane level, all of that is there. So a vertical level, what is going to the sukashar era, the physical body dies.

The subtle body goes from lifetime to lifetime. The tendencies of past karmas are recorded in the subtle body and in the karnataka causal body and in the cosmic causal body. That is Maya. All our karma is recorded and that gives rise to experiences of each jiva in the future.

So and the lord of all of this, who is the person responsible to whom should I write my appeals? God is the person responsible. The personal God of religion. Advaita Vedanta accepts all of that but calls it transactional reality, relative reality, lower reality, appearance equal to

falsity. That's it. So the two distinctions, I often told you the story of, sometimes I mentioned one of our monks used to ask this question. In Indian religions, you find multiple lifetimes, birth and death again and again and again. And in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, one

lifetime. So which one is true, punard january, one lifetime or multiple lives? So finally he went to ask a very radical non-dualist teacher, a monk who lived in the Himalayas in a nearby ashram. This whole ashram was also in the Himalayas.

So this monk was asked, so what is true, one lifetime or many lifetimes? And the monk replied, 'Swami, when there is not even one birth, what is the question of rebirth? Please go and study Mandu.' So this monk was very annoyed, he came

who had asked the question he came and told me these abducted non-dualists are impossible to argue with I've gone with a serious question many lifetimes for one lifetime and he dismisses the whole thing he says go and study at the Mandukya

so that is the Advaithic perspective from the ultimate perspective no multiple lifetimes not even one lifetime was Brahman ever born did the screen ever become the hero or the villain no but at the relative level level of movie hero and villain both appear and there

is a story and there is a plot and there is something true about the story something false about the story also all those things are true at the relative level ultimately Brahman alone is reality and that Brahman you are not only Brahma-satyam Brahman is real not only

jagat mithya world is an appearance higher truth lower truth ultimate truth relative truth but also most important jiva brahmanapara you are none other than Brahman you the the individual being who thinks of yourself as a jiva you are none other

than that ultimate reality that's the most important thing yes [Music]

Who Keeps Track of Karma? | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Vedanta Society of New York

The Illusion of Reality and the Nature of Being

The body and mind are illusions; true reality is pure being or awareness.

Karma is recorded against reflected consciousness within the illusion.

Questions arise about the nature of karma and reincarnation within an illusory world.

The paradox of accepting Advaita Vedanta's illusory world while questioning reincarnation.

Advaita Vedanta proposes two levels of reality: ultimate and transactional.

Using the movie analogy: ultimate reality is the screen and light; relative reality is the story.

The relative level encompasses the plot, characters, and consequences within the movie's narrative.

This two-level approach applies to fiction, movies, and our understanding of reality.

Brahman is the ultimate reality (existence, consciousness, bliss), while the world is an appearance.

Karma and Reincarnation within the Two-Level Framework

Karma and reincarnation exist within the relative level (the 'movie'), not the ultimate level (Brahman).

From the ultimate standpoint, there's no lifetime, karma, or need for recording it.

At the relative level, however, experiences of karma and reincarnation are part of the illusory world.

The subtle body carries karmic tendencies, which influence future experiences.

God is responsible for the karmic system within the transactional reality.

Addressing Conflicting Religious Views on Reincarnation

Advaita Vedanta acknowledges the transactional reality of multiple lifetimes or a single lifetime.

A story illustrates the Advaita perspective on the question of single vs. multiple lifetimes.

A non-dualist monk dismisses the question of rebirth, stating that the concept of birth itself is an illusion.

The monk's response highlights the Advaita view that even one lifetime is an illusion.

From the ultimate perspective, there are no multiple lifetimes, only Brahman.

At the relative level, the story of life unfolds with its truths and falsehoods.

The most important truth is the non-dual nature of reality: Jiva (individual self) is Brahman.