What is Non-Dualism?

103,363
37
Published 2020-01-15
Non-dualism, often denoted with the Sanskrit terms advaita or advaya, is a metaphysical concept that literally means “not-two.” It is at once an ontological claim about the nature of reality and a description of the mystical experience.

Start your FREE 7-Day trial:
enroll.embodiedphilosophy.com/wisdom-school

All Comments (21)
  • Nonduality is not about physical reality ....it's about perception beyond body mind and spirit ... it's awakening
  • @ashishjha9961
    हर- हर महादेव, nice explanation , wisdom like this are hidden in hinduism, it should reach to everyone , thanks for the effort
  • @Phoenix-tv4gb
    essential truth of non duality is that all is One ... enjoy your self discovery on your infinite journey with the great IAM ...
  • @Dhruv_Dogra
    Thank you for that pearl or wisdom on Kashmir Shaivism. Suddenly 25 years of confusion scattered and vanished like the clouds ☁️ in your montage 🕉💐🙏
  • Nonduality, realizing our true nature as Pure Awareness, is the single most important "thing" in the human kingdom. Nothing else can 'save us' from killing off our own species, and much of the world's life. Time to 'wake up', honor the inner calling for Truth.
  • Neatly avoiding, subject/object - maya, and self-inquiry which ends seeking.
  • @jamesheinz6325
    Wow what a great explanation in a simple way. I love this saying: Nothing is as it seems, nor is it otherwise.
  • Namaste “Like  the  butter hidden  in milk, the  Pure  Consciousness  resides  in  every  being. That  ought  to be constantly  churned out  by  the  churning  rod of the  mind.” Amrita Bindu Upanishad, Verse 20
  • I like how this is made with the thought in mind that while I physically 47, I do love things explained cartoon form, spirituality speaks to the kid in you.
  • @NoThing-ec9km
    As a non dualist, Advaita is pinnacle of philosophy to us because of extensive literature to back it up with logic and experience based explanations and methods to realize the same.
  • @jack_george
    Good video, although I wouldn't say the non-dual state is below language. It is more beyond language and the mind/language appears within that space but isn't above or below it
  • Duality and non-duality are, in of themselves, a duality. AsteroxRising
  • Best explanation of this I've seen since seeing this "Non-Dualism" subject of YouTube videos coming up into my feed.
  • " Awareness cannot exist with duality, and mind cannot exist without duality. Awareness is non-dual, and mind is dual. If you go outwards you will move into the world of duality. If you go inwards you will move into the world of non-duality; you will become non-polar. Enlightenment is the realization of the non-dual. When there is I, it creates thou. When there is I it creates duality, and all is lost in duality. When there is no I, then there is non-duality. Then you are one with existence, utterly one. Then you are nothing but a pulsation of existence itself, just a ripple in the lake of this infinite consciousness. If you are divided in two, into man and woman, negative/ positive, darkness/light, mind/heart, thought/feeling — if you are divided in two, your energy will be going downward. Division is the way of the downward. When you are undivided, one, you start moving upward. To be one is to move upward, to be two is to move downward. Duality is the way to hell, non-duality is the way to heaven. These are the two planes of humanity: duality, the plane of duality, what Hindus call DWAITA, the plane of two; and non-duality, the plane of one, the plane of the non-dual. When you are divided you are in this world; when you are undivided, you have transcended — you are no longer here, you have penetrated into the Beyond. Then boundaries meet and the boundaries meet in you. So the whole effort is how to become undivided, how to become one. This has to be the criterion whether you have reached the goal or not. If there is still something as its polar opposite, you have not reached; you are still in the duality. One can move from one duality to another duality; it does not make any change. One has to move from duality to non-duality, because non-duality is the ultimate. The ultimate has no opposite to it. It is the final synthesis where all opposites have melted into one, when male and female have melted into one. REMEMBER, when we use the word ‘oneness’, that too is part of duality. If there is no duality how can there be oneness? That’s why Hindus never use ‘oneness’. If you ask Shankara, “What is the nature of existence?” he says, “Non-dual, ADVAITA, not two.” He will never say one, because how can you say one? If there is only one, how can you say one? One needs two to be meaningful. If there is no possibility of the second, of the two, then what is the use of saying that it is one? Shankara says, “At the most, I can say not two, but I cannot say positively one. I can say what the reality is not: it is not two. I cannot say what it is, because meaning, words, all become useless.” Enlightenment simply means you disappear, you become the whole. There is no question of separation or no separation. There is no question of oneness, because even the word `oneness’ hides behind it twoness. What do you mean when you say oneness? — you mean twoness. The mystics have avoided using the word `oneness’, but you cannot. In the very nature of intellectual understanding you can go a little roundabout — and that’s what people like Shankara have done. They talk about non-duality, no-twoness; they don’t talk about oneness. They want to indicate oneness, but they don’t want to use the word `oneness’ because oneness points towards twoness. Enlightenment means the point from where you take a jump into the non-dual. Before that point is duality. Everything is divided. Language creates duality, language exists through duality. It cannot indicate the non-dual. If I say ‘day’, immediately I create night. If I say ‘life’, immediately I create death. If I say ‘good’, immediately bad is created. If I say ‘no’, just by the side of the no, yes is existing. Language can exist only through the opposite. That’s why we see life as always divided — God and devil. Drop language, drop this linguistic pattern. Once language is no more on your mind and you look directly into reality, day IS night. Suddenly you will start laughing at why you missed it so long! Day, every day turns into night; night turns into day every morning again, and you have been missing. Life is always turning into death, death always turns again into life, and you have been missing. They are not two, they are one whole. This is the non-dual, ADWAITA. This is the most essential religion."