I am the self alone and I alone exist. I cannot be tainted by my own self and I cannot be attached to my own self as if it were a possession that belonged to me. Therefore, I am ever-pure and unattached. OM.
I am not a thought. I am not the sum of my sense perceptions. I am not the reasoning faculty of my mind. I am not even the sense of “I.” All of these things are transient objects that are known to me and I am not what I know. I am the self, untouched by them all.
And yet, thoughts, sense perceptions, etc. are all me because they have no existence apart me, existence itself. They depend on me but I do not depend on them. How inexplicable but liberating is that! OM.
Q: Is Advaita Vedanta only for philosophers? How can the average person practice Advaita Vedanta in his or her daily life in a way that it is easy to follow and not be drawn other ideologies?
Vishnu: No. I don’t consider myself a philosopher and I’ve studied and “practiced” Advaita Vedanta for over a decade. Don’t take my word for it though. Just go to an Advaita Vedanta satsang and see for yourself. Spoiler alert: It is going to be filled will average, everyday people. Why? Because everyone is looking for truth, not just philosophers.
You practice Advaita Vedanta in your daily life by:
1) Living a life committed to dharma (in this case, dharma means right living).
2) Consistently applying the teachings of Advaita Vedanta to your mind until they help you directly realize your total non-difference from brahman, the non-dual absolute reality. After that, there’s nothing to practice. Sure, you continue to live a life committed to dharma. But once you’ve seen the truth of your own nature, it’s not something you can practice. It’s just what you are.
Advaita Vedanta is not there to convince you to follow it’s teachings. Rather, it says you’re just fine as you are (but you just don’t know it!). If what Advaita Vedanta has to say appeals to you, you won’t need to be convinced to commit to it. Nor will you look for answers in other ideologies (not that Advaita Vedanta is an ideology).
So if what Advaita Vedanta has to say speaks to you on a deep, inner level, then you’ve found the right teaching. If not, start looking for the one that does!
All my best – Vishnu
I, the pure self, do not act, even when the body acts. I, the pure self, do not think, even when the mind thinks. Therefore, I, the pure self, do not do nididhyasana, even when the body-mind does nididhyasana. This is my firm conviction.
After 7 weeks of nididhyasana, I remind myself that the primary goal of Vedanta is to help me see that I am the pure self, not the body, the mind or any combination of the two. When I directly realize this for myself, I can patiently and objectively correct the behavior of my body-mind, all the while understanding that I am never defined or affected by the state or activity of the body-mind. OM.
What reveals the forms of the body and mind? Me, pure consciousness. Does consciousness assume the forms that it illuminates? No, therefore I am formless. Is consciousness perturbed by the forms it illuminates? No, therefore I am unaffected by the appearance of the body and mind. OM.
End Of Knowledge 