Advaita Vedanta...
Advaita Vedanta can be described as an ancient form of teachings originating from Hindu philosophy concerned with negating ‘what is not’, revealing the realisation of what is the undeniable one truth. The literal translation meaning ‘not two – but one’ highlights the main focal point towards non-dualism exposing the seeker to a state where concepts, perceptions and all knowledge previously thought as knowable actually have no separate existence of their own.
The attainment can be more commonly termed as enlightenment, however by the essential nature of Advaita Vedanta enlightenment is said to be nothing but an illusory concept, meaning and pointing to the fact that there is nobody here to be enlightened. Therefore, all living and non-living entities are contained within the absolute arising, disappearing and eternally impermanent. Only the changeless state remaining that cannot be described or spoken of which is our true natural state. As with all ancient teachings and eastern schools of thought the scriptures and explanations can appear arcane and esoteric in their essence. However even though other traditions for example Buddhism, Sufism, Zen and Taoism approaches are very different to Advaita Vedanta all of them share the same ‘goalless goal’ of imparting the wisdom of contentment and peace, directing our attention to the truth of our being.
One method is to meditate through affirmations and anchor points to achieve this realisation, Advaita comes from the angle of meditating by looking to see what reveals itself and predominantly invite the question ‘who am I’? This question is an extremely simple yet profound statement which is designed to dissolve the questioner and witness what remains. The subject of Advaita Vedanta is a vast and far reaching one that could extend into many discourses and essays. This is my humble description and would highly recommend the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta as proponents of this tradition, for more in-depth interpretations and explanations. Additionally, modern teachers that constitute further reading include; Rupert Spira, Mooji, Tony Parsons, Gangagi, Paul Hedderman, Adyashanti, Francis Lucille and Stephen Wolinsky all directly being derived from the above lineages.