What does it truly mean that “all are appearances in and of awareness”? This deceptively simple statement — echoing the clay-and-pot analogy of Advaita Vedanta — contains the entirety of the spiritual journey within it. And yet, as Matsuo Basho reminds us, sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself. The real obstacle to Self-realization is the very seeker seeking it — for the “I” that strives to attain liberation is itself an appearance in awareness, nothing more. Gaudapada’s Mandukya Karika 2.32 states this with uncompromising clarity: there is no creation, no destruction, no bondage, no seeker, and no liberated one. This is the Absolute Truth — paramārthatā. Ashtavakra Gita and Sankaracharya’s Nirvana Shatakam echo the same. The knowledge is already here. The only thing left is to stop looking for it.
Tag: Clay and Pot analogy
Not Much Left To Say, Is There? So, Silent I Will Be For Evermore
If you haven’t got it by now I doubt if you ever will Many ways I have tried to explain … More
Literature & Advaita
Do not stop with reading about writers and how and why they write. That is like reading the recipe. Read … More
“None in Bondage, None Seeking Liberation and None Liberated”
When my elder sister and I were returning today (July 11, 2025) from a visit to my younger sister’s in-laws … More
Seeking
“Why should I waste my time in seeking enlightenment? Why should the pot go in search of clay?”
Conversation between a male pot and female pot
Male Pot (MP): I loved you ever since I laid my eyes on you. Female Pot (FP): Me, too. But … More
The World is Unreal
Me Talking about Who We Are on a Friend’s Podcast
The Pot that is Clay 🪴- The POV Pod (Oct-14-24), by Perspective Mapper, ft. D. Samarender Reddy Realizing the pot … More
No Free Will for Man
“How can the pot act independently? The dance of the pot is the dance of the clay.”–S