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Reversion into Nirguna Brahman To
undertake the reversion from samsara into the substratum is to engage the
most radical process of discrimination (viveka)
and non-identification (vairagya). In Advaita Vedanta, samsara denotes
the apparent manifold—the domain of nama (name) and rupa (form), arising through maya, the
inscrutable principle by which the nondual Brahman appears as differentiated
phenomena. The jiva—the individualized locus of
consciousness—operates under avidya (misapprehension), taking
provisional distinctions as ultimate. Yet even within the jiva
persists the latent knowledge (smriti) that it is not other than
Brahman, though superimposed with limitation (upadhi). The
process of reversion (pratyabhijna) unfolds
in two phases: Phase One: Visionary Recognition (Jnana Darshana) In the
first phase, the jiva, through sustained nididhyasana (deep contemplation), temporarily suspends identification with the limiting
adjuncts (upadhis) of body, mind, and sense. This
state is not yet dissolution of individuality but a radical clarification of
epistemic error. In this condition: ·
The jiva retains a
residual locus of observation, but recognizes that
all phenomena are provisional configurations of Brahman. ·
The apparent duality between knower (pramata), known (prameya),
and means of knowledge (pramana) is
perceived as mithya—dependently real, but
lacking self-existence. ·
The substratum (adhishthana)
becomes evident as the necessary ontological support of all appearances. This jnana
darshana does not negate samsara as
non-existent; rather, it recognizes samsara as vyavaharika
satya—phenomenal reality—while Brahman remains paramarthika satya,
the absolute. Upon
emerging from this contemplative absorption, the jiva
returns to functional engagement (vyavahara)
but no longer confuses the relative with the absolute. Phase Two: Consummation (Turiya Abheda) The
second phase transcends recognition and culminates in the irreversible
cessation of residual individuation. This consummation is the resolution of
the apparent self (jivatman) into the
nondual paramatman. In this
final reversion: ·
All upadhis are
dissolved; the mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), and ego-sense
(ahamkara) subside entirely. ·
No functional cognition remains by which to
distinguish knower and known. ·
The witness-consciousness (sakshi)
ceases to be distinguished as an observer separate from the observed. This is nirvikalpa samadhi—non-conceptual
absorption—wherein the attributeless (nirguna) Brahman is realized not as an object of
knowledge, but as identical with the ground of awareness itself. Importantly,
this is not an event occurring in time, but the recognition of ever-present
reality unoccluded by misapprehension. It is akhandakara vritti—the
final nondual cognition that sublates all prior vrittis
(mental modifications) and extinguishes itself, leaving no further
oscillation. What
remains is the Self (Atman) self-revealed as Brahman, unconditioned by
any adjunct, unmediated by any dualistic operation. Conclusion In this
Vedantic framework, the reversion of the jiva
unfolds in two discrete yet continuous phases: 1. Visionary
Recognition (Jnana Darshana): the discrimination that
samsara is a limited, refracted analogue of Brahman, arising through maya
and sustained by ignorance (avidya). 2. Consummation
(Nirvikalpa Samadhi): the irreversible cessation
of all differentiation, wherein the jiva’s locus of
separateness is extinguished and reverts to the substratum prior to
individuation. This
consummation is not transformation in the ordinary sense, for Brahman was
never absent, nor modified, nor reached as an external terminus. It is solely
the cessation of error (avidya-nivritti), in
which the nondual is revealed as alone real (satya),
and all distinction as ultimately insubstantial (mithya). Thus,
what is called descent is in truth reversion—the recognition that the Self
was ever and only Brahman, unbroken by appearance, prior to the categories of
seer, seen, and seeing. |