Advaita

Vidyaranya (IAST: Vidyāraṇya) is variously known as a kingmaker, patron saint and high priest to Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire. He was the first Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380-1386.Vidyaranya helped the brothers establish the empire sometime in 1336. He later served as a mentor and guide to three generations of kings who ruled over the Vijayanagara Empire. Vijayanagara (Hampi), the capital of the empire, had a temple dedicated to Mādhavācārya....

Brahmarshi Vishvamitra (Sanskrit: विश्वामित्र, IAST: Viśvā-mitra) is one of the most venerated rishis or sages of ancient India. A near-divine being, he is also credited as the author of most of Mandala 3 of the Rigveda, including Gayatri Mantra. The Puranas mention that only 24 rishis since antiquity have understood the whole meaning of—and thus wielded the whole power of—Gayatri Mantra. Vishvamitra is supposed to be the first, and Yajnavalkya the last....

Krishna Dvaipayana (Sanskrit: कृष्णद्वैपायन, romanized: Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana), better known as Vyasa (; Sanskrit: व्यासः, romanized: Vyāsaḥ, lit. ‘compiler’) or Veda Vyasa (वेदव्यासः, Veda-vyāsaḥ, “the one who classified the Vedas”), was a legendary sage portrayed in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and regarded by Hindu-tradition as the compiler of that work. As a Shaktyavesha Avatar (śaktyāveśa-avatāra) of Vishnu, he is also regarded by tradition as the arranger of the mantras of the Vedas, as well as the author of the eighteen Puranas and the Brahma Sutras....

Vyāsatīrtha (c.. 1460 – c. 1539), also called Vyasaraja or Chandrikacharya, was a Hindu philosopher, scholar, polemicist, commentator and poet belonging to the Madhwacharya’s Dvaita order of Vedanta. As the patron saint of the Vijayanagara Empire, Vyasatirtha was at the forefront of a golden age in Dvaita which saw new developments in dialectical thought, growth of the Haridasa literature under bards like Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa and an amplified spread of Dvaita across the subcontinent....

Yajnavalkya or Yagyavlkya (Sanskrit: याज्ञवल्क्य, Yājñavalkya) is a Hindu Vedic sage figuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE). Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti (“not this, not this”) to discover the universal Self and Ātman. Texts attributed to him include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in various Brahmanas and Aranyakas....

Moksha Moksha has different connotations and different ways to “achieve” it according to traditions or mārga. Each tradition (Advaita Vedanta, Vishistadvaita and Dvaita) has its own Yog and we could summarise all of them in 4 main categories: Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja. Non-dualistic view - Advaita Vedanta - Jnana Yog. To understand moksha one should first ask to himself: “What is liberation?” Of course the most common answer would be “Liberation is being freed by dukkha and samsara, cycles of death and births”...

Q: “How comes Advaita doesn’t regard Krishna as a personal form of God?” A follower asked this question and I thought I would share the answer I would give to everyone here because some may have this very same doubt. First of all we need to make a distinction between Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman, what are those? As you may guess the word “Nirguna” contains “Gunas” which means qualities....

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....

Introduction One of the questions that usually pops in our mind is concerning death. Recently thanks to many improvements done by science we are actually witnessing something new that has never happened in the whole history: we are able to monitor what happens to a body that is dying. Many people suggest they had a so-called “NDE”; Near-Death Experience. What does it mean? The NDEs There is verifiable evidence of people during brain surgeries being closely monitored and having no electrical or chemical activity in the brain and still regaining consciousness and telling tales of ‘being’ there all along, from popping out of their bodies and witnessing what the surgeons were doing and talking about it, to being led by other beings into heavenly realms where they were privy to knowledge and understanding that wasn’t accessible in our world....

Biography Nisargadatta Maharaj (17 April 1897 – 8 September 1981), born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli, was an Indian guru of nondualism, belonging to the Inchagiri Sampradaya, a lineage of teachers from the Navnath Sampradaya and Lingayat Shaivism. The publication in 1973 of I Am That, an English translation of his talks in Marathi by Maurice Frydman, brought him worldwide recognition and followers, especially from North America and Europe. Quotes Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Quotes...

Advaita Books Sri Ramana Maharshi PDF: Who Am I? Nan Yar? Be as you are - Sri Ramana Maharshi PDF Gambhiram Sheshayya, Vichāra Sangraham, “Self-Enquiry Ramana Maharshi PDF Sivaprakasam Pillai, Nān Yār?, “Who am I?” Ramana Maharshi PDF 40 Verses on Reality - “Ulladu Narpadu” Ramana Maharishi Translation and Commentary by S.S. Cohen Ramana Maharshi PDF Upadesa Saram or (Upadesa Undiyar) of Sri Ramana Maharshi PDF Spiritual Instructions Ramana Maharshi PDF...

Summary Ramana Maharshi /rəˈmʌnə məˈhʌrʃi/ (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu sage and jivanmukta (liberated being). He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He was born in Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, India. In 1895, an attraction to the sacred hill Arunachala and the 63 Nayanmars was aroused in him, and in 1896, at the age of 16, he had a “death-experience” where he became aware of a “current” or “force” (avesam) which he recognized as his true “I” or “self”, and which he later identified with “the personal God, or Iswara”, that is, Shiva....

I am That Go deep into the sense of ‘I am’ and you will find. How do you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotton? You keep it in your mind until you recall it. The sense of being, of ‘I am’ is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes, or just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the ‘I am’, without moving, you enter a state that cannot be verbalized but can be experienced....