Advaita Vedanta is the classic and paradigmatic school of nondual philosophy. Put simply, the essential teaching is 'The Absolute (Brahman) is the only reality, the world (jagat) is an appearance (of that nondual Absolute) and the sentient being (jiva) is none other than the nondual Absolute'—in Sanskrit 'Brahma Satyam, jagat mithya, jiva brahmaiva na para'. There is however, a secret to grasping this nondual teaching. The teaching is given in two steps—first, the well known 'neti, neti' 'not this, not this' leading to the realization of our spiritual nature and second, seeing that this newly discovered spiritual nature is nondual. Clarity about both steps is necessary to realize nonduality (Advaita). My talk will aim at achieving this clarity.
A False Privilege
It is a false privilege to seem to extract ourselves from the messy mosaic of life by reaching for, upholding and hiding behind, spiritual truths that end up serving a sense of entitlement
