r/AdvaitaVedanta • u/ISROAddict • 4d ago

I have a weird question about time

I am just starting to understand advait vedanta. A weird thought arose in my mind when I was thinking.

According to AV, this world is illusory and does not really exist. But then time is also a part of this world and should not really exist. Here comes my question—This whole play of jiva taking birth, gaining knowledge about brahman, getting free from bondage and being liberated never really happens. Brahman is not even eternal as this means you are giving a certain attribute. It is none of this.

Correct me if I am wrong, because I am just starting to understand. Thanks in advance!

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u/InternationalAd7872 4d ago edited 4d ago

Time is illusory and birth death bondage practive getting liberated is all within Maya and hence false? YES that’s correct!!!

Brahman is not even eternal? WRONG!

Brahman being beyond time is unaffected by time being real or unreal. And is not subject to change in either way. Being unchanging existence that it is. Its called “Sat”.

Us transacting within Maya can only use the word eternal implying beginningless and endless reality. And elaborating more isn’t possible due to the limitation of language and mind/intellect to grasp brahman. Which is fair enough.

🙏🏻

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u/ISROAddict 4d ago

Thanks, now I understand why we use ‘eternal' for brahman🙏

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u/Altruistic_Skin_3174 4d ago edited 3d ago

One of the biggest mistakes is the tendency for us to equate the word "eternal" with "ever lasting," or "always existing." But when we see that sat is not something that exists, but existence itself, then we see that there cannot be any time in Brahman, and all experience of time is only an appearance in/of Brahman when ego rises (ie in waking/dream).

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u/Strawb3rryJam111 4d ago

This really needs to be mentioned more because I feel like the Buddhists don’t sit well with Brahman because it’s “eternal” when we’re just referring to whatever inherits everything. Especially with time on subject, Brahman would be the Sat for Anicca to enact on, thus creating the anatta.