Realisation through assertion and negation

The Supreme Self is realised through two distinct yet complementary processes: assertion and negation. The scriptures lay out these two pathways with great clarity. Negation removes the unreal, and assertion establishes the real. Both together lead to the discovery of
one’s true nature.

Negation concerns itself with removing all that is unreal. This is done through logic, reason, pratyaksha, anumana, upamana, and other valid means of knowledge available to an individual. To understand that the world is temporary, that whatever is born will die, that everything is constantly changing—one does not need a shastra. If you have a basic intellect and if your eyes are open, you will know it. Shastra is not required to teach that which is obvious. Predominantly, the shastra’s methodology is the process of negation: neti, neti, neti. Yet negation alone is not sufficient. One must also assert the real. 

We wonder how can we assert that which I do not yet know? The answer lies in the shastra. While negation can be carried out through personal observation and logical reasoning, assertion requires shraddha—a deep trust in the scriptures. Without this trust, one cannot make the leap from the known to the Real.

The goal is jivatma–paramatma aikyam—the oneness of the individual Self and the Supreme Brahman. Realising this oneness is the ultimate destination of life.

What is Unreal? Unreal is that which has a dependent temporary existence. That which has a beginning and an end. Applying this we arrive at the gross, subtle, causal body along with their gunas as unreal. All that is known, all that is conceived of, is unreal. But the “I” is real. The error lies in the associations like When you say I am the body, the body is unreal. The “I” that pervades these associations is not unreal. Only what the “I” identifies with is unreal. The pure aham alone is real.

Negation may be possible without the aid of the shastra, but assertion is impossible without shraddha.

Hence the scripture declares Vidyad aikyam mahavakyai. The mahavakyas reveal the oneness of the individual self and the universal self. Any statement in Vedanta that reveals the identity of the individual Self with the universal Self is a mahavakya. A mahavakya does not offer a new definition of God nor provide a new experience of God. Its role is simple and direct: to reveal the truth of oneness, which is already the case.