Essence of Advaita Vedanta philosophy

Friends have often asked me about how I approach life, think of the world and our place in it. My worldview is heavily influenced by Advaita Vedanta. Here is a piece that explains this worldview as best I can…

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Introduction

What is Advaita Vedanta?
Just like your eyes are a means of knowledge for sight
and your ears are a means of knowledge for sounds
and the scientific method is a means of knowledge for physical phenomena
So is Advaita Vedanta a means of knowledge for the questions, “Who am I?” “What is the world?” “What is my relationship to the world?”

Part I. Logic

Logic only takes you so far, but let’s see how far it takes us!

A. Premise: defining reality

Consider a table that is made of wood.
The table is and the wood is
But break the table
and the table no longer is, but the wood is.
Yet the table depends on the wood to exist.
So, the wood has a greater degree of reality than the table.

Then burn the wood to ashes
and the wood no longer is, but carbon is still there.
So, carbon has a greater degree of reality than the wood.

We can see how, progressively,
we can get to greater degrees of reality
by removing things that are temporal and contingent.

B. …as applied to the world:

What is the world?
Fundamentally, it’s made of matter-energy,
but remove matter-energy, like the table, and what do you get?
Time-space.

Then remove time-space, like the wood, and what do you get?
Just existence. After all,
the universe consists of everything
that exists, everything that has existed,
and everything that will exist.

Like carbon, existence is the ultimate reality
as all things depend on it
but it does not depend on anything.

C. …as applied to myself:

Who am I?
My whole life, I am either
awake, dreaming, or in dreamless sleep.
When awake, I have a body and mind
Then remove the body, like the table, and what do you get?

Dream. When I dream,
I only have a mind, which creates
my dream-body and dream-world around me.
Then remove the mind, like the wood, and what do you get?
Just existence. In the state of dreamless sleep,
I neither have a mind nor a body,
yet I still am, existing,
until I wake up, well-rested.

Like carbon, existence am I
as my body and mind depend on it
but it does not depend on either.

D. Conclusion

Because the ultimate reality of both the universe and me
is existence,
there are no limits to either.

The universe is not limited by space or time,
and neither am I limited by my body or my mind.

I am the universe
and the universe is I.

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Part II. Beyond Logic

Of course, logic can never be enough
and you cannot prove the ultimate reality.
As someone once wisely said, “All proofs inevitably lead to propositions which have no proof! All things are known because we want to believe in them.”

As a flashlight cannot illuminate its own source of light,
and you cannot see with your own eyes the power of sight,
neither can you use your senses or logic
to verify the reality of what is prior to them both, existence.
You need to leap beyond logic;
the point of logic
is only to make you question
your existing preconceptions.

Rather, carefully distinguish
what is temporal, what is finite,
from what is real, what is infinite.
Keep doing so until you are convinced
that everything you can see, perceive, or conceive of
is but limited and temporal.
Only then can you let go
of your preconceptions.

Though you cannot reach it by logic,
by abandoning all logic and preconceptions,
you will be it
because it’s all that’s left.
Here are some metaphors that might help:

Existence is like a reflection in a
mirror covered with soil and dirt;
the reflection is always there,
but you need to clean the filth off
to recognize it.

Existence is like the ocean water
full of roaring waves.
It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees
and focus on the rise and fall of the waves,
but switch focus
and see the ever-present ocean water.

Existence is like the movie screen
full of people and places projected on it,
yet the projections are only as real
as the screen that was there, all along.

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Part III. Consequences

Ultimately, this philosophy is just about a paradigm shift
of seeing value in what’s truly real
and seeing the temporal for what it is.

It’s only a shift in perspective, so
perhaps you may not even change your behavior
in the world outside.

But you will have a bit more wisdom
and no longer suffer from limitation.
You will know your infinite potential
and that of the universe.

Both immanent and transcendent,
you will recognize yourself in everything and nothing,
because you transcend all sense of limitation.

Isn’t solving the puzzle of who you are
a reward in itself?

Conclusion

Remember,

Just like your eyes are a means of knowledge for sight
and your ears are a means of knowledge for sounds
and the scientific method is a means of knowledge for physical phenomena
So is Advaita Vedanta a means of knowledge for the questions, “Who am I?” “What is the world?” “What is my relationship to the world?”

Just as you use your eyes to give you the power of sight,
and use your ears to give you the ability to listen,
and use the scientific method to help you explain physical phenomena,
you can use Advaita Vedanta to answer these fundamental questions.

You don’t need to believe in it,
but you can use it as a framework to tackle these big questions
and when you answer these questions
you’ll no longer have any use for it.