Zoomed In, Zoomed Out

The truth that Vedanta teaches makes more sense when juxtaposed with how the individual experiences life on a daily basis. Zoomed-in, life on the surface is never what it seems. It’s only when we’re able to zoom out and look at things from a 40,000 foot view that we are able see the truth. Here are some examples.

FREE WILL

Zoomed-in: Because I have an intellect, I have free will. I am able to make choices and fulfill actions based on those choices. I don’t have control of everything, but I pretty much do what I want whenever circumstances are in my favor.

Zoomed-out: There is no free will. You are controlled by universal laws, your conditioned likes and dislikes, and impersonal forces that have the power to alternately conceal, project and reveal. As a result, the world for you and everyone else is constantly changing. God calls all the shots. Personal control is an illusion. 

SELF

Zoomed-in: I am myself, an individual. I have a body, a name, a history and set of preferences. I also have a mind along with all my thoughts and emotions.

Zoomed-out: There is only the impersonal Self, the one without a second. Through a process of negation it becomes clear that you are not the body-mind. You are the smallest derivative—pure awareness. The ego is just an illusion—a by-product caused by maya and the Self’s proximity to the body-mind.

WORLD

Zoomed-in: All physical objects are real because they feel real. If they weren’t real I could, for example, walk in front of a moving car and not get hurt. If my senses tell me something is real, it’s real. I kick a rock and stub my toe. It’s real!

Zoomed-out: The world is not real, it’s only apparently real. The world cannot be validated as we never actually come into actual contact with objects—that is, all objects only exist as thoughts. Furthermore, the world is ephemeral due to objects constantly changing and coming and going. All objects, when investigated, are made of other parts and don’t stand on their own. Scripture says objects exist in me, but I am not the objects. Only the Self is real.

GOD

Zoomed-in: God is creator, sustainer and dissolver of the universe. God watches over all and makes judgment. I must negotiate with God if I want to lead a happy life.

Zoomed-out: God is a mysterious power that creates the appearance of objects. The essence of God is awareness, which is your essence and everyone else’s essence too. God and God’s creation is only apparently real. God exists in me, the Self, but I’m not God. Everything resolves into awareness, even God. 

From "The Broken Tusk - Seeing Through the Lens of Vedanta"