JAI BHAKTI™ BLOG: ADVAITA vs DVAITA

Nonduality and duality are two sides of the same coin.

       ~ Bhakti Brophy, 2013

It took me 25 years of study and practice with both nondual and dual teachings to realize this Truth.

At some point in our practices, we discover this Truth, we experience the place where nonduality and duality converge. This seems paradoxical, but then, isn't every great spiritual lesson?

I never quite understood why people put so much credence upon names and labels. The arguments that arise from people fighting over advaita vs dvaita (and these rifts are more apparent today than ever!) are unfortunate, because these teachings are to be used as dharana techniques, if you will. They're a means to an end, they're not the end themselves.

And this Truth is blown wide open once you realize that the nondual IS the dual, and the dual IS the nondual!

Tell me, what is the difference between "Neti! Neti!" (Not this! Not this!) and "Iti! Iti!" (This! This!)?

Study these two terms long enough and you will see the humor in ever seeing separation between the two!




COMING UP NEXT ON JAI BHAKTI™ :

A practical exercise to help you experience the ultimate unity behind Neti! Neti! and Iti! Iti!

Namo Nama,
Bhakti

@BhaktiBrophy
@jaibhakti™




©2014 DL Bhakti Brophy
All Rights Reserved.

Thank you for asking permission before reposting. OM Shánti! : )

SHANKARACHARYA: THE VEDANTA SUTRAS

 "Mâyâ, under the guidance of the Lord*, modifies itself by a progressive evolution into all the individual existences (bheda), distinguished by special names and forms, of which the world consists; from it there spring in due succession the different material elements and the whole bodily apparatus belonging to sentient Beings. In all those apparently, individual forms of existence the one indivisible Brahman is present, but, owing to the particular adjuncts into which Mâyâ has specialised itself, it appears to be broken up—it is broken up, as it were—into a multiplicity, of intellectual or sentient principles, the so-called jîvas (individual or personal souls). What is real in each jîva is only the universal Brahman itself; the whole aggregate of individualising bodily organs and mental functions, which in our ordinary experience separate and distinguish one jîva from another, is the offspring of Mâyâ and as such unreal."

~ SHANKARACHARYA
Rendering of the Vedanta Sutras


* (In this context "Lord" is Brahman.  --Bhakti)



Source: Gutenberg.org