SS: An interesting question may arise when studying Vedanta: is Advaita only a mental process? I tried to analyse the question and give some references from Ramana Maharshi and Ashtavakra Gita, post is inspired by Swami Sarvapriyananda and his talks. I made a small post that should give a clear overview of this question that many people may actually have. You can find it here: Is Advaita a mental process?...
Q: Is Advaita a mental process? Does Advaita mean tricking the mind into believing that we are not the mind? - Advaita Vedanta Q&A Introduction A: An interesting question may arise when studying Vedanta: I am reading the words, I am trying to understand these words, I finally got the meaning. Where does all of this happen? It’s very simple, it all happens in the mind. So, is it correct to say that Advaita is merely a mental process?...
Deep sleep and consciousness Q: “Is there consciousness in deep sleep?” According to Advaita Vedanta A: Most of the times one of the question that pops up in the mind of people that follow Advaita Vedanta is if consciousness is actually present while we sleep. Advaita Vedanta gives straight away the answer: “Yes.” The objection But most people will objectify: “It’s not possible! We don’t experience anything in deep sleep. No images, no sounds, no thoughts, nothing!...
Q&A Section A new page on Advaita Vedanta Q&A has been added, this week we talk about a very complex topic that arises from this question: Q: “According to Advaita all is Brahman, so why should one worship Shri Krishna and do Puja?” This question is very important and clarifies a doubt many people actually have when it comes to talk about a personal form of God or impersonal, Saguna and Nirguna Brahman....
Q: “According to Advaita all is Brahman, so why should one worship Shri Krishna and do Puja? Isn’t that also Maya?” Introduction A: This question needs some clarification starting from a pure philosophical view. The concept of “worship” cannot be put on the same level of Advaita, they are on two different planes of reality. Advaita considers Brahman to be the only reality, everything else is just illusory or relative....
“If you are seeking liberation, my son, shun the objects of the senses like poison. Practise tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness like nectar.” Ashṭāvakra Gita
Q: Adi Shankaracharya taught Advaita philosophy. What was his belief on how one should see Shiva and Vishnu? Was he a Shaiva or a Vaishnava? Are Shiva and Vishnu same as per Him? A: Shankaras Advaita is called Kevala Advaita ie. Only Advaita; there is no duality at all and any duality that is perceived is just due to ignorance. Here are some features of Shankara’s philosophy: 1) Omniscience, omnipotence etc....
Q: According to Advaita Vedanta if I am always the witness consciousness, Brahman, then who ‘controls’ the mind? Mind control is an important part of most Sādhanā, and if I am the watcher of my thoughts, how do ‘I’ control the mind? Just by shining the light of consciousness on the mind? For all of us, there is the choice to think both nice and nasty thoughts, there is the choice to engage in both right and wrong actions....
Mahāvākyas literally means “The Great Sayings” of the Upanishads The post-Śaṅkara writers on Advaita Vedānta have mentioned four sentences taken from four Upaniṣads and belonging to the four Vedas which teach the unity of the ātman and Brahman as four ‘mahāvākyas’ or great sentences. They are: Mahāvākyas Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) - traditionally rendered as “That Thou Art” (that you are), (Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 of the Sama Veda, with tat in Ch....
“Before knowing God you must first know yourself.” How is it even possible that the creator of this entire universe is subject to the knowledge of “I” first? You can’t know God if you are not aware of yourself. Everything else is just an object but you, the seer, are not. While the seen may be there or not it’s just subject to you being aware of yourself. In this regard, an Apple is comparable to the concept of God: both of them comes after you are aware of yourself....
The Core Teachings of Nisargadatta Maharaj - from ‘The Essential Nisargadatta’ Along with the knowledge ‘I am’ appears space and the world. When the knowledge ‘I am’ departs the world is liquidated. Appearance and disappearance, birth and death these are qualities of ‘I am’, they do not belong to you, the Absolute. Catch hold of the knowledge ‘I am’ in meditation and the realization will occur that ‘I’, the Absolute, am not the quality ‘I am’....
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE: 27 ) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture. Abhinavagupta was born in a Kashmiri Brahmin family of scholars and mystics and studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time under the guidance of as many as fifteen (or more) teachers and gurus....
Adi Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: आदि शङ्कराचार्यः IAST: Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ [aːdɪ ɕɐŋkɐraːtɕaːrjɐh]) (8th cent. CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian whose works had a strong impact on the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He founded four mathas (“monasteries”), which are believed to have helped in the historical development, revival and propagation of Advaita Vedanta.According to tradition, he travelled across the Indian subcontinent to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers, from both orthodox Vedic (Āstika) traditions and heterodox non-Vedic (Nāstika) traditions, including Buddhism, defeating his opponents in theological debates....
Agastya (Tamil: அகத்தியர், Sanskrit: अगस्त्य) was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text Rigveda and other Vedic literature.Agastya appears in numerous itihasas and Puranas including the major Ramayana and Mahabharata. He is one of the seven most revered rishis (the Saptarishi) in the Vedic texts, and is revered as one of the Tamil Siddhar in the Shaivism tradition, who invented an early grammar of the Tamil language, Agattiyam, playing a pioneering role in the development of Tampraparniyan medicine and spirituality at Saiva centres in proto-era Sri Lanka and South India....
Akka Mahadevi ಅಕ್ಕ ಮಹಾದೇವಿ (c.1130–1160) was one of the early female poets of the Kannada literature and a prominent person in the Lingayatism sect of Hinduism in the 12th century. Her 430 extant Vachana poems (a form of spontaneous mystical poems), and the two short writings called Mantrogopya and the Yogangatrividhi are considered her most notable contribution to Kannada literature. She composed fewer poems than other saints of the movement. The term Akka (“elder Sister”) is an honorific given to her by great Lingayat saints such as Basavanna, Siddharama and Allamaprabhu and an indication of her high place in the spiritual discussions held at the “Anubhava Mantapa”....