A qualified Vedantic teacher (guru) must embody three essential characteristics according to the traditional scriptures… First, he or she should be a saṃpradāya-vid, one who has been taught by…
Just as a scientist needs the right tools and training to explore the cosmos, a spiritual seeker desiring enlightenment needs the right qualifications and methodology to discover one’s truth….
Origins of Vedanta For thousands of years, Vedanta’s profound teachings were guarded by lineages, passed from guru to student through an unbroken oral tradition. These weren’t ordinary teachings but…
Introduction An examination of one’s life begins with three basic questions: Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What do I want? Though there are myriad things…
What is Vedanta? At its core, Vedanta is not merely a philosophy crafted by human minds. Rather, it is a timeless pramana – a means of knowledge – that…
Introduction I recently received a profound set of questions that strike at the very heart of our existence: What is the purpose of life? If we are in a…
“Who am I?” Though we rarely, if ever, give it deep consideration – each situation, encounter, and experience calls upon us to articulate a satisfactory response to this fundamental…
Based on the chapter “Illustrations in Vedanta” from Swami Sivananda’s book, “Vedanta for Beginners” (The Divine Life Society, 1941) Because its abstract truths cannot be easily understood by the…
Most Westerners first learn of non-duality through exposure to the “teachings” of Ramana Maharshi and/or Nisargadatta Maharaj — either directly through reading various books that contain collections of their…
A common criticism leveled at Vedanta is that its appeal is purely intellectual; that it stresses analysis yet neglects experience, emphasizes ideas but ignores emotions, appeals to the head…
Regarding the prospect of self-realization or enlightenment — many, if not all seekers find themselves, at least initially, in an ironic quandary. On the one hand, one seeks freedom…
These are hand picked quotes I use for occasional self-inquiry into the true essence of reality. Quotes are meant for learned scholars and students of Advaita Vedanta who are…
Neema Majmudar, a brilliant Vedanta exponent, elucidates how one’s nature is Limitless right now. For context how how this applies to you, below gives further elucidation how one can…
Purpose of this evergreen article by Sri Ramakrishna is to help us discover how to get out of our own created samsara. People may be divided into four classes:…
– Article inspired by Onudhyan Blog. You’ve arrived on an anticipated retreat in a luscious tropical forest. Thrilled to be here, mosquito spray handy, what else to do then…
Brahman (Consciousness) is beyond all means of knowledge. No scientific instrument can detect it. Because every instrument IS made out of Brahman — being the content of everything, including…
Still unsure what is Karma Yoga and how is it applied? This prayer will help… “ With gratitude for all I have been given, I offer my every action…
Living does not simply mean dragging oneself around from day to day, from bed to work, back home and to bed again. The whole process repeats itself until the…
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, mentions 12 types of powerful spiritual sadhana’s (spiritual practices or yajnas) one can choose to purify one’s mind and strengthen one’s relationship…
“That I attempt to be different, is saṃsāra”. To see how this is true, let’s first ask… What is saṃsāra?… It is mistakenly seeing one’s own thoughts and emotions…
What is the difference between objectivity and subjectivity? A statement is said to be objective when it is based on facts and it can be proven via either direct perception…
THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE Something cannot come from nothing. This material universe evolved out of consciousness. Consciousness is both the substance of which the creation is made and the intelligence…
The creation comes into existence with the emergence of the 3 gunas or qualities — Sattva, Tamas and Rajas. Sattva is intelligence or knowledge. Tamas is matter, the substance of…
Vegetarianism is an example of the application of the value for ahimsa (non-injury). Many arguments in favour of a vegetarian diet can be made, but the basic argument supporting…
When one realizes oneself to be unborn-ordinary-actionless-non-dual Awareness… and that Awareness is everything that is. It does not mean that the world suddenly goes “poof” into a whirlpool of…
“Now listen to the wisdom of yoga which will free you from bondage to action. In this yoga, no effort is wasted, nor are any unsuitable results produced. Even very little karma yoga protects one…
According to Upanishads (the original source of non-dual texts), Brahman/Atman/Self is an ever true fact. Thus that which was true before, true now and true in the future —…
What a wise person (jnani) knows directly – can be summarized in below Adi Shankaracharya’s words. Which is why there is NO GAIN for a jnani to argue or…
Bhagavad-Gītā says that we have five sense organs of knowledge (seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, tasting); these are very subtle. Example: Organ of seeing is a lot more subtle then…
Persons false notion about reality is called jiva srishti (Jīva-Sṛṣṭi). It is seeing what is NOT. It is subjective notions born of Ignorance. It is misapprehension/projection onto Ishvara (God)….