“There is no right path. There is no wrong path. Life is your path.”
Dr. Vijai S Shankar
The Academy of Advaita has been founded by Dr. Vijai S Shankar to spread wisdom to the world. The Academy of advaita contains the original words of Dr. V.S Shankar in the form of spoken and written words in CD’S, DVD’S, BOOKS, and the WEBSITE. The spoken or written words are not borrowed from another author or source or have been spoken by any other author. The words are not borrowed from any written scriptures either. The Academy of Advaita archives wisdom for not only this generation but also for future generations yet to come.
Advaita
Advaita means life is ‘as it is’. The word advaita meaning ‘not two’ comes from Sanskrit. Advaita also means ‘non-duality’. Advaita signifies not only that life is light, because the essence of everything in life is light, but also indicates that light ‘as it is’ is ‘not two’. This implies that advaita is light. The two or many in life appear real to the mind, but nevertheless are a reflection of light.
Dvaita means ‘two’ or ‘duality’ and duality is real to the human mind. The two or many are due to colours, and colours are a reflection of light. Light ‘as it is’, however, is one and not two. Therefore, the real in the mind, which is dvaita, is an illusion of light and not real.
‘Life’ is advaita, meaning ‘not two’ or ‘absence of duality. So is every man and woman’s life. The ‘mind’ is dual, meaning ‘two’ or ‘presence of duality’. So is every man and woman’s mind.
The real remains the same without changing. But everything changes in life, so the real, which the mind thinks is real, is illusory. The sages realised that the real in life is illusory, meaning, to the mind, that the real appears to be in life, whereas it is not in life as an actuality. ‘Neti Neti’ means ‘not this, not this’ or ‘neither this nor that’, to signify that ‘this’ or ‘that’ is illusory and not real.
Illusory means the real exists, but the existence of real is illusory, to mean the real does not exist in the manner the mind thinks it exists. The illusory exists as a play of light and sound, which gives rise to a deception of reality.
The real that exists in the world, including the world, is illusory because every atom of the real that exists is light. Therefore, the real that exists is an illusion of light and not an actuality. The sages have rightly proclaimed that life is a play of light and sound, without a real cause or effect, and that light, which has no real cause, reflects only illusory effects of reality.
Therefore, the real or advaita cannot be known, taught, practised, searched or experienced. Only the illusory can be known, taught, practised, searched and experienced. To understand that life, as the mind thinks it is, is illusory is advaita, non-duality or absolute understanding. Life has gifted the mind only to man, so that he may understand his own mind. This absolute understanding leads to enlightenment.
‘Advaita or Non-duality is absolute understanding.
Non-duality or absolute understanding is advaita.
Absolute understanding or advaita is non-duality.
‘The articles point to advaita.
The books detail advaita.
The CD’s explain advaita.