Spiritual Science of Non-Dualism

Transcendence via Advaita Vedanta - Nisargadatta Maharaj

Advaita Vedanta is the great spiritual science of non-dualism.  Many of the profound spiritual teachers that are helping the world transcend the ordinary dualistic mind come from this rich Hindu tradition.  Advaita Vedanta is essentially the teaching that the underlying Truth is complete Oneness and that there is no separate individual self or entity.  Realizing the non-dual nature of Reality and experiencing the Truth of Oneness brings transcendence, awakening and Self-Realization.  

The techniques used by Advaita Vedanta are very close to my heart.  They resonate with me very deeply as they deal with awareness, the mind and thoughts, and the meditations that deal with these dimensions are the ones that I find most direct, pure and powerful.  I have written about my experience with using the Neti Neti Advaita Vedanta meditation in the following article, Enlightenment Through Advaita Vedanta Neti Neti Meditation and you will also find more details about this spiritual science in the following articles, Understanding Hinduism Buddhism and Non-Dualism and The Miracle of Self Awareness - I AM ALL.

Today, though I would like to give you another powerful Advaita Vendata meditation, which was used by the profound spiritual master Nisargadatta Maharaj to attain realization and Self Awareness.  Here is a quote directly from him regarding how this technique helped him transcend the false dualistic mind.

Advaita Vedanta Master Nisargadatta Quote:

"My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense ‘I am’ and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense ‘I am’. It may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!"

"My teacher told me to hold on to the sense ‘I am’ tenaciously and not to swerve from it even for a moment. I did my best to follow his advice and in a comparatively short time I realized within myself the truth of his teaching. All I did was to remember his teaching, his face, his words constantly. This brought an end to the mind; in the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am — unbound."

"I simply followed (my teacher’s) instruction which was to focus the mind on pure being ‘I am’, and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the ‘I am’ in my mind and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared — myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence."

The Secret Behind these Spirtual Sciences and Techniques:

As you traverse the spiritual landscape you will come across such techniques and meditations and as you study and practice them, you will notice they tend to have 1 very important common denominator.  They all de-emphasize the mind and ego, and they all emphasize pure awareness or being in the moment.  Even the technique above from Nisargadatta Maharaj, implies that one must be aware at all times, in order to stay with the feeling of "I AM", and one must not get caught in the thinking process.  As getting caught would then take one away from the moment and further strengthen the sense of separate existence and duality.

So whether you prefer the Silent Mind Meditation Technique, which I use, prefer the Mindfulness Meditation of Lord Buddha, like the Advaita Vendanta Neti Neti Technique or resonate with this simple yet profound method used by Nisargadatta, you will find you are essentially negating the false/ego/mind and remaining is the light of simple awareness and the Witnessing Consciousness.

The most important thing is to try what is being suggested.  As you can see from Nisargadatta’s experience, it does not matter why do it, it is important that you do it.  No one can do it for you.  You have to do it yourself and there is no better time to get started that right NOW.