Brahman and the negation of differentiation

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The Saint is one who has realized the Truth, "Reality." One who is not a Saint, is always affected by illusion and does not approach Reality. Illusion flees from the discrimination between truth and untruth.

Illusion requires neither speech nor silence to be expressed, and there is no need to establish that it is false. The belief that illusion exists should be wiped out with the "right thought" generated by the Master’s advice. The thought of the separate existence of two objects is called "differentiation." Illusion exists only because of the existence of Brahman, which has no beginning, and no end. It is timeless. The objective world by nature can never be timeless. The notion of an individual (Jiva) is instability personified. Nothing but Brahman exists independently.

We see all objects with the help of three types of differentiation.

1) Differentiation applied to dissimilar species, such as "this is a man, that is a dog, that is tree, stone, etc."

2) Differentiation applied to the same species such as "this is my son, this is someone else’s son, my wife, etc."

3) Egotistical Differentiation such as "I am so and so, my status is this, these are my possesions." This is the making of distinctions that go into what makes up the "individual" with its qualities that revolve around "me" and "mine."

In the above quote from the Yogavasishtha, "singularly unique" negates differentiation applied to dissimilar species. "Only one" nullifies the differentiation applied to the same species, and "incomparable; one if its kind," negates the egotistical "me" and "mine" differentiation.

- Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj from a talk given September 28, 1933 on the Yogavasishtha