Edgar Acosta, MD.
Mental and emotional well-being expert
Exploring non-duality
Meditación Advaita Vedanta
What is Advaita Vedanta?
Advaita means "not two" or "non-duality" and Vedanta means "beyond the Vedas". Advaita Vedanta refers to the metaphysical interpretation of Vedanta philosophy that seeks to understand the nature of non-duality.
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Non-duality is a cognition without perceptual limits between subject and object that is experienced in deep states of meditation (Samadhi). It is as if a raindrop fell into the sea and for a moment it ceases to be perceived as a single drop and instead it can be perceived as a sea of undifferentiated drops.
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The Advaita Vedanta philosophy teaches that just like the raindrop, our individual consciousness (budhi) can observed as the Absolute Non-dual Consciousness (Brahman).
To understand this, the practitioner is taught to contemplate mental emptiness and repeatedly experience non-dual states of consciousness to undo cognitive habits that project a false sense of differentiation.
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Meditative practice and theoretical explanation of Slokas will help you to understand the nature of non-duality and its qualities of Existence, Consciousness and Absolute Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda) .
Inner practice
The Advaita Vedanta meditation canons teach two different ways of focusing attention depending on the activation or deactivation of the physical senses.
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Inner practice is when attention is withdrawn from the physical senses and is focused on the observer of the inner world.
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This practice consists initially in differentiating the observer from its own mental contents until the mind becomes still and mental emptiness is contemplated. This is the first non-dual state of consciousness to be experienced in Advaita Vedanta meditation.
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As the practitioner remains aware, emptiness will flow into different states of deep meditation, known as Samadhi, culminating in the nirvikalpa samadhi.
External practice
External practice is when the physical senses are active and we focus our attention on sensory objects.
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The essence of this practice is to observe the outside world without a sense of selfhood. For this, it is important to witness sensory phenomena without giving them categories according to their names or forms.
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Furthermore, the observer will perceive itself in the whole sensory field, such as in the metaphor of the raindrop and the sea. This will lead to different states of deep meditation, known as Samadhi, which will even allow one to perceive information beyond the sensory field.