Advaita Vedanta: Introduction
Advaita Vedanta is a non-dualistic philosophy that was systematized in India around the 8th century AD by someone named Adi Shankara. In fact the essence of the teaching had been around for much longer than this, being based upon the material contained in the Upanishads. The Upanishads are a part of the sacred Indian texts called the Vedas, written in the Sanskrit language around 1500BC, though they are said to have existed in spoken form as long ago as 6,000BC. The Upanishads are mostly contained in the final sections of the Vedas, which are also called Vedanta (anta meaning "end or culmination" - of the Vedas). The sanskrit word advaita (a meaning "not," and vaita meaning "two") is often translated as "non-dual", thus advaita vedanta is known as the non-dual ending of the Vedas.
Perhaps the most famous work, which followed the Upanishads and attempted to summarize and explain them was the Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord). In what is generally considered the Hindu religion, this book is equivalent with that of the Holy Bible for Christians. It forms the central part of a much larger, epic poem called the Mahabharata, using the Upanishadic philosophy to provide guidance to the ordinary person on how to live his or her life.
Aldous Huxley in his introduction to the Bhagavad Gita writes:
At the core of the Perennial Philosophy we find four fundamental doctrines.
First: the phenomenal world of matter and of individualized consciousness - the world of things and animals and men and even of gods - is the manifestation of a Divine Ground within which all partial realities have their being, and apart from which they would be non-existent.
Second: human beings are capable not merely of knowing about the Divine Ground by inference; they can also realize its existence by a direct intuition, superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which is known.
Third: man possesses a double nature, a phenomenal ego and an eternal Self, which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul. It is possible for a man, if he so desires, to identify himself with the spirit and therefore the Divine Ground, which is of the same or like nature of the spirit.
Fourth: man's life on earth has only one end and purpose: to identify himself with his eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.
In addition to the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, some other reference sources for students of Advaita are the Brahmasutra, Astavakra Gita, the Panchadasi and the Yoga Vasishta, the Atma Bodha, Tattwa Bodha, and Upadesha Sahasri.
Advaita is an extremely logical philosophy, which uses a number of systematic procedures or methods called prakriyas. Each of these begin with our actual experiences here and now, not asking for us to believe in anything that contradicts our experience or to put our faith in Gods that are entirely beyond it. The function of these methods is not to learn about the topic of the method, but rather to reveal that the topic is misconceived.
The most fundamental of the prakriyas is the discrimination between the seer (subject) and the seen (object). This method uses a process of elimination to identify and negate all that we think we are, until what remains and can not be negated must be the true Self. This process of negation (neti, neti - not this, not this) leads to the realization that there is nothing other than Brahman (Universal Self, Absolute Oneness, or Pantheistic-Monistic God).
There are three levels of truth in Advaita:
Advaita claims that suffering is due to Māyā, and only True Knowledge (Jnana) of Brahman can transcend Maya. Maya is the complex illusionary power of Brahman which causes Brahman to appear as the material world of separate forms. Maya has two main functions:
Due to ignorance (avidyā) imposed through Maya, Brahman appears as the world and its objects. The true Brahman is formless and lacks any attributes whatsoever (Nirguna Brahman). It is our true Essence, but It can not be accurately described because It is beyond the duality of name and form. At best we could say It is sat-chit-ananda (Infinite Truth - Infinite Consciousness - Infinite Bliss). However, language is limited and necessarily dualistic in its use of relative polarities such as hot or cold, fast or slow, large or small, real or unreal, life or death, etc... Therefore, the only way to truly know what is non-dual is through the negation of duality (neti, neti - not this, not this).
When man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind, under the influence of Maya, Brahman becomes the Supreme Lord (Ishvara), otherwise known as Brahman with attributes (Saguna Brahman). Ishvara is real only in a practical (Vyāvahārika) sense, often mentioned for the purpose of explaining creation. Although Brahman is considered both the instrumental and material cause of the universe, this is only a provisional view of Brahman. In order to understand Brahman, one has to go beyond this provisional view, and understand Brahman Itself. Then it is understood that the whole universe is only superimposed on the underlying Reality that is Brahman. The transcendental true nature of Brahman is formless and attributeless, beyond the limits of dualistic perceptions such as time and space.
The four "great sayings" (Mahavakya) of the Upanishads are:
All other sentences contained in the Upanishads are true only in a provisional (Vyāvahārika) sense.
The Soul or the Self (Atman) is identical with Brahman. It is a false concept that there are several Atmans. It is only through Maya that the one Atman appears as many individual souls (jivatman). Due to ignorance (avidyā) of ones true identity, atman appears as jīva (a living being with body and senses). The concept of jīva is true only in a practical sense. The Atman is ultimately singular and equal to Brahman.