This is a collection of quality Advaita Vedanta resources (PDF's, books, FAQ's, explanations, etc) — which can help you further in clarifying how to live intelligently, maintain emotional composure amidst the modern world, and bring out nuances of the vision of Oneness.
Before diving into the resources — a discerning seeker recognizes that wisdom only becomes fully alive and relevant when taught by a living teacher (guru/acharya).
Self-study is specifically intended while you're simultaneously under tutelage of someone who lives and breathes the teachings everyday. Without a guru, knowledge remains “in the head”. Teacher completes the circuit by bringing it to the heart also.
BEGINNER: Simplicity and step-by-step structure
- ExploreVedanta.com: Free practical step-by-step Vedanta course. How to live it! Start and finish it – before moving onto next recommended resource #2 below.
- VedantaHub.org: Hundreds of videos arranged in categories of various Upanishad texts and scriptures by various Advaita teachers.
TECHNIQUES: Methods & Meditations
- 42 Sadhanas by Chinmaya Mission.
- Sadhana Panchakam by Adi Shankara. 40 practices to qualify the mind for moksha.
- Meditation, A Journey of Exploration: Almost every Vedantic meditation technique. Step-by-step instructions, illustrations.
ADVANCED: Resources for pundits, scholars and Intellectuals.
- ArshaAvinash: Hundreds of books on non-dual Vedanta, technical manuals, Sanskrit grammar, etc. Devoted to Swami Dayananda Saraswati's lineage. And his most prominent disciple Swami Paramarthananda. In my experience, both teachers are closest to Adi Shankaracharya's method of teaching.
- Arsha Drishti (Sanskrit Tools | Vedic texts) : Specifically for Sanskrit scholars.
- Arsha Vidya UK: Swamini Atmaprakashananda is a Dayananda disciple. Hundreds of talks on various Upanishads, and articles teaching Traditional Vedanta.
- VedantaStudents: Every major Vedanta text/Upanishad categorized, summarized and visually diagramed. The teacher bases his knowledge from Swami Paramarthananda.
- Vendata literature / PDF book downloads : Brahma Sutras, Purana, Upanishads, Atma Bodha, etc)
VEDANTA TEACHERS: Methodology & structure
- Acharya Andre on this website.
- Chinfo.org: Their teachers are residential in Kerala, India. However, I favor them specifically for the brilliant online self-paced courses, esp, “Foundations of Vedanta Course”.
- Arsha Bodha Center: Swami Tadatmananda, a disciple of Swami Dayananda, brilliantly explains Vedantic knowledge with visuals.
- Arsha Vidya Pitham: Vedanta courses and weekend classes for USA residents.
VEDANTA FOR CHILDREN / TEENS:
- Purna Vidya: Swamini Pramananda (Ammaji) has put together a Vedic program for the young-lings which incorporates the Indian culture, dharma, Sanskrit, fun stories and brahmavidyā.
WISDOM & FUN COMBINED:
- Game of Snakes and Ladders: Ancient game (also called moksha patam), incorporates wisdom of the Vedas onto a single game board.
- Bhagavad Gita Way (iOS / Android) — Chat via GPT4o with 15,000 pages of Swami Paramarthananda's transcripts.
Sciences are a testimony of Lord's intelligence all throughout the universe.
To appease minds which enjoy exploring our vast universe, here are some resources:
- Histography: A visual timeline since the big bang, 13 billion years ago, until present.
General wisdom on life management from various authors.
- ReadingGraphics: 20+-min MP3 audio summaries of 300+ brilliant personal development books. Preferred as #1 go-to resource for staying up to date with effective thinking, communication, management and problem-solving.
This is a collection of quality Sanskrit resources for getting work done. It's not another page listing websites for learning the language. Rather it's for those who are ALREADY engaged in a Sanskrit course or savvy scholars. Who wish to make their experience more enjoyable. To translate faster. Memorize easier. Save time mastering declensions. Etc.
Tools:
- Keyswap: IAST Transliteration software for Windows. Easily type: ṛṣiḥ jñānam paṭhati
- Liberation Philology Sanskrit App: Best app we know of for memorizing declensions/paradigms for 10 Verb classes and noun cases.
- Sanskrit Transliteration: Real time script conversion between: Devanagari, IAST, ITRANS, Harvard-Kyoto, Velthuis.
Sanskrit <-> English Dictionaries:
- SanKosha App: All in one dictionary + declension lookup for every word. Sanskrit scholars dream come true. Supports IAST/Devanāgarī. If searching via IAST, don't need to add diacritics.
- Andhra Bharati: Must type in exact spelling. If searching via IAST, choose Display > Roman Diacritics.
- LearnSanskrit.cc: Use as last resort as technically it's not a dictionary, but community edited database.
References:
- FANCY Sanskrit Grammar Table
- Sanskrit GARDEN of Paradigms/Declensions
- Sanskrit Alphabet with Pronunciation
- Sanskrit Verbs
Improve Sanskrit Reading & Articulation:
Here you'll find collection of Sanskrit glossary of terms mentioned in various texts.
Vedantic Terms:
- Yoga & Veda Terms
- Indian Philosophical Terms
- Vedantic Terms – 1
- Vedantic Terms – 2
- Vedantic Terms – 3
- Vedantic Terms – 4
- Vedantic Terms – 5
- Vedantic Terms – 6
I am a beginner I want to learn ashta vakra gita on line
Can learn here: vedantahub.org/ashtavakra-samhita
I have attended Swami Dhyanananda Saraswathy’s classes on Vedanta in Pittsburg, decades ago. Very Good Teacher. My respects and namskarams to him.
Vaidy Bala
Under Vedanta Teachers, I recommend including Arsha Vidya Pitham in Saylorsburg, PA and associated website, arshavidya.org since it was started by Swami Dayananda for the benefit of people in the US. This gurukulam supplements the ashram in Rishikeash, India for the benefit of people in India, which was also started by Swami Dayananda.
Great!
No where in the Entire World!
Limitless Knowledge!
God is Great!
Thanks a Lot!
How is possible to have a guru? it isn’t so easy to find one in Greece, where I live now
Hi Lorenzo.
A guru doesn’t have to be physical. Nowadays, live online webinars have taken eminent status in terms of value they provide (helping you get the right perspective, right knowledge, emotions management, nature of reality). They offer live Q & A, and interaction with the teacher.
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Physical Attendance Choices:
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Option 1: https://dayananda.org/regular-6-month-courses/ – You just missed the 6 month residential course. Have to wait until Dec 2024 to register for June-Dec 2025. Location: Rishikesh.
Option 2: https://arshavidya.in/camps-retreats/ – Multiple retreats – shorter. Location, near Coimbatore.
Option 3: Chinfo.org – Location: Ernakulam, Kerala
Option 4: See bottom of this site for upcoming retreats. Can signup to yesvedanta.com/join (we do yearly retreats in Germany).
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Live Zoom Attendance:
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See YesVedanta.com/events
Stay Blessed Dear Andre Vas…
The Non-Dual Vision of Advaita Vedānta: A Comprehensive Exploration
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Introduction
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Advaita Vedanta, the crown jewel of India’s spiritual traditions, presents a radical yet profoundly logical vision of reality: there is only Brahman, the infinite, unchanging consciousness, and the world is its appearance. This is not a dismissal of the world as “unreal” but a recognition that all names and forms are transient expressions of the one eternal reality. Over centuries, however, this teaching has been misunderstood – sometimes reduced to nihilistic claims that “the world is an illusion” or that “ignorance veils the truth.” Such interpretations distort the tradition’s depth. Through a systematic examination grounded in scripture (Śruti) and Śaṅkara’s commentaries, we clarify Advaita Vedānta’s true perspective: the world is neither separate from Brahman nor an illusion, but a dependent appearance (mithyā), like waves upon the ocean.
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Brahman: The Sole Reality
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At the heart of Advaita lies the uncompromising declaration that Brahman alone is real (satya). Brahman is not a thing among things but the very fabric of existence – sat-cit-ānanda (being-consciousness-bliss). The Upaniṣads repeatedly affirm this: “All this is Brahman” (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1). Yet, this does not negate the world; rather, it contextualizes it. Just as gold alone is real while ornaments are its temporary forms, Brahman alone is absolute, while the world is its dependent manifestation. The world is not asat (unreal) but mithyā – meaning it has no independent existence apart from Brahman.
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The World as Appearance, Not Creation
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A common misunderstanding is that Brahman “creates” the world, implying a dualistic cause-and-effect relationship. Advaita rejects this. The world is not an effect produced by Brahman but a projection (vivarta), much like a spider’s web is not separate from the spider (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.7). The ocean does not “create” waves – it simply moves as waves. Similarly, Brahman does not “create” the world; it appears as the world. This distinction is crucial. Creation implies a maker and a made, but projection is non-dual – there is only Brahman appearing in myriad forms.
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Māyā: Not a Veil but a Revealing Power
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One of the most misrepresented concepts in Advaita is māyā. Popularly, māyā is described as a “veil” that hides Brahman, fostering the illusion of separation. But this is a simplification. Maya is better understood as Brahman’s power to appear as multiplicity without ever ceasing to be one. It does not conceal Brahman; it manifests Brahman in forms. Just as sunlight does not hide the sun but reveals it through rays, māyā is the means by which the formless appears as form. The problem is not that Brahman is hidden but that we focus on the forms and overlook their source.
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Adhyāsa: The “Ignoring” of the Substrate
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The mechanism by which we mistake the world as independent is adhyāsa (superimposition). Śaṅkara defines it as “the apparent presentation of something previously observed in another thing” (Brahma Sūtra Bhāṣya, Introduction). This is not an error of perception (like mistaking a rope for a snake) but a focusing on appearances while ignoring the substratum. For example, when watching a movie, we do not “misperceive” the screen – we simply focus on the images and forget the screen. Similarly, we engage with the world’s forms without recognizing their basis in Brahman.
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The Role of the Mind (Antaḥkaraṇa) as a Prism
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The mind (antaḥkaraṇa) is the instrument through which Brahman appears as individual consciousness (jīva). Imagine Brahman as pure white light. When this light passes through a prism (the mind), it refracts into colors – the jīva and the world. The prism does not “create” the colors; it merely modulates the light. Similarly, the mind does not create the jīva; it refracts Brahman’s undivided consciousness into the experience of individuality. The jīva is thus not a separate entity but Brahman appearing as an individual due to the mind’s conditioning.
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Suffering and the Distorted Prism
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Why does the jīva feel limited and suffer? Because the prism (mind) is colored by the guṇas (qualities of nature): sattva (clarity), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia). A mind dominated by rajas and tamas distorts Brahman’s light, creating the illusion of separation and desire. A sattvic mind, however, reflects Brahman more clearly. Suffering arises not because Brahman is hidden but because the mind’s conditioning obscures its recognition. Liberation, then, is not the destruction of the mind but its purification – clearing the prism so Brahman’s light shines without distortion.
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The Jīvanmukta: Liberation in Life
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The jīvanmukta (liberated while living) is one whose mind has become a clear prism. They continue to perceive the world, but they know it as Brahman. They act, but without the sense of doership (ahaṅkāra). The Bhagavad Gītā describes such a sage as “steadfast in wisdom, undisturbed by pleasure or pain” (2.15). The jīvanmukta’s body continues due to prārabdha karma (past actions that must play out), but they are free from identification with it. Like a rainbow that knows it is sunlight, the jīvanmukta lives in the world without being of it.
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Conclusion: The Recognition of What Always Is
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Advaita Vedanta is not a philosophy of negation but of recognition. The world is not an illusion to be dismissed but a manifestation to be seen through. The jīva is not an entity to be annihilated but a refraction to be understood. Liberation is not an attainment but a remembering – realizing that we were never bound, only overlooking the truth. As the Chandogya Upanishad declares: “You are That” (6.8.7). The journey ends where it began: in the recognition that Brahman alone is, always was, and always will be.
ॐ तत् सत्
(Om Tat Sat – That is the Truth.)
I liked it so much I put this in a discord server discussing Vedanta
Dear Acharva Andre Mahodaya,
I chanced upon your site during self-studies. I found your ‘cheat sheet’ very helpful. Thank you for sharing such valuable content – Sanskrit Garden of Paradigmas, Nominal and Verb Declensions for Students, 14th Edition, http://YesVedanta.com/sanskrit/garden.
However, there is a small typo in rendering ‘devanaagari’- on page 1. It appears as ‘davanaagari’. Hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Venkat.