Advaitha (Non-duality) and Dvaita (Duality)

Let's simplify these two concepts first

• Duality (Dvaita) is the thought that I am different from my creator (we both are two different beings)
• Non-duality (Advaitha) is the thought that I am one with my creator (we both are one).
• Duality is straight forward. I have a soul/body and I live in an independent reality; the creator whoever and wherever he/she is, is an independent soul/body and has his/her independent reality. This is easy to imagine.
• The moment you say, we (you, me and everyone) are one with my creator i.e. everyone is one, then it get's confusing for sure.
• Sankaracharya spoke about the reality being Advaitha. Mahatma Gandhi once said he is an 'Advaithist'. Anyways we have our own brains to analyze, irrespective of who said what. And questioning everything is one of the core principals of spirituality. One cannot claim to be spiritual if he/she does not question everything out there. In Spirituality, the word 'belief' does not exist. You experience and you know. The spiritual system tells everyone not to blindly believe in anything. Question everything and experience what you want (under the safe guidance of a Guru).

Coming back to our discussion, how do we explain Advaitha?

• Let's speak about our creations. Some of the brilliant life like creations are our dreams. They seem so real, scare us, make us smile, make us go through emotions, are colorful, and sometimes leave a lasting impression on us. Many of us remember those scary dreams or those sweet dreams through the lifetime. During the dreaming process we create characters that are so real, that interact with other characters and have environments in which they interact in. Now is the dream different than us? Or is the Dream within us? The character in the dream of course does not know about it's creator. Those set of characters in the dream interact without any clue of the creator. But it does not mean that the creator is not there. The characters i.e. those created, and the creation as a whole (entire dream) are within the creator. These three subjects are key in Advaitha (Non-duality) - The creator, the creation, the created (characters, environment). All these are one, it is just that we do not understand it that way.
• What if we were a dream in our creator and in his/her dream there is a creation and within the creation we were created? What if one of those dreams left a lasting impression in our creators mind and sub-consciousness, and we continued to exist as a packet of energy in his/her brain (a universe called milky way)? What if dreams that do not hold any significance were wiped out (by a black hole), and what if every other dream that was important was left in the memory as another packet of energy (other universes)?
• For those of you reading this, I am not asking you to believe anything. Either you get to prove it right, or wrong. For now let's call it a hypothesis.
• On a different note, in our world, when Robots hit the point of Singularity (when they evolve and have consciousness like us), would they believe in Advaitha or Dvaita? Would it even be relevant? Would it enable co-existence? These are pertinent questions to think about and answer.

Singularity and Duality

• Our perception of this world is born only out of our ability to distinguish between objects. Without this distinction, we will not know that the universe "exists". We are all born with the ability to distinguish and differentiate. This ability to differentiate is endowed in us through the senses. The instruments used to differentiate between objects are the five senses. If the mind cannot distinguish between objects by using the five senses, the mind will not be able to perceive the existence of the object.
• Apart from the ability to perceive through the senses, one other vital aspect is a necessity. This is the ability to assign a unique identity to the perceiver that is different from the objects that comprise this universe. So the cognizance that the perceiver is different from perceived objects, which in turn are different from each other is the essence of the word "duality". 
• Assignment of an unique identity to objects means that the mind is able to recollect the form and the properties of different objects by associating each of them with a name. Likewise when we distinguish between people, each is assigned a different name and the name initiates a recollection of the attributes of the individual (*Rich/Poor, Fat/Thin") etc. 

• If the unique identity is not assigned to the perceiver and each perceived object,  the mind would not be able to recollect the attributes of the object and would have to relearn the same thing over and over again.

• To put it slightly different, without the unique identity, the mind would not know the world even though it would experience it.

• This identity is said to be the cause of duality, which in turn activates perception. 

• Duality based perception, introduces conflict in our minds. 

• A singular state is one where the mind merges its identity with the perceived world and so does not experience the objects and events around it. 

• The objects that we perceive and the effects of that perception cause the intellect or the mind to be stimulated into action. This is how our KARMA starts up the journey of our life. The Mind becomes the experiencer of KARMA.

• From Karmic action our Mind is taken to higher levels of perception and when full realization sets in, the mind transcends the impact and interplay of the senses. When the mind transcends the impact of the senses, we once again lose the ability to distinguish and our perception goes into a state of singularity, where there is no conflict.

• This state of singularity represents permanance and complete freedom from dependance on anyone or anything and is referred to as Moksham. 

• So the MIND and PERCEPTION are born from DUALITY and move to a state of SINGULARITY through the process of SELF-REALIZATION.

• One of the main characteristics of our Minds in the Kali Yugam, is the need to separate objects, people, and events as entities that are distinct and apart from our selves,  So we essentially assign a different identity to each perceived object, person and event and also a separate identity for ourselves. 

• The Puranas say that this road of separation is the wrong approach to take.  Likewise, when thinking of Easwara, we assign Him an identity separate from ourselves.  This is why, when we pray to Easwara, there is a conflict between the individual identity and the Prayer to Easwara.

• This is the essence of DUALITY.  The mind tries to recognize and remember the different entities that it perceives, by assigning them different identities.

• Thought seems to need DUALITY to begin its thinking process.  The Puranas say that once we are on the DUALITY mode of thought, there is a constant CONFLICT that is generated between the self and the perceived object. The EGO comes into being to defend and protect the uniqueness of the identity of the self.  So the mind starts to create and dwell in self fulfilling fallacies and moves further and further away from its real objectives.

• The Mind begins to use CONFLICT as the root of all thought. This CONFLICT based thought process induces the need to PROJECT THE SELF (THE "I") over everything else and traps the mind into a worldly existence.

• Self awareness and realization, help us appreciate the fact that what we perceive is nothing but a reflection of our own inner self.  If this principle is really well imbibed, then conflict will not drive the thought process anymore.

• Thought itself is driven by an imbalance (as explained in the earlier section). This imbalance is not physical (such as an electrical charge or a physical force such as pressure or gravity).  The imbalances are perceived as our thoughts race between emotional opposites, sense driven opposites (such as light and darkness),  value driven opposites (Good, Bad, Ethical, Unethical) etc.

• When thoughts work with these opposites, the use of our intelligence turns to manipulating these forces in order to bring them to a state that fulfills our perceived "needs".

• If Thought were to work with the perceptions that all perceived objects and events flow from within ourselves, and that therefore there is no need to own or take possession of any object, the mind moves away from conflict based thought and becomes ready to take on the greater challenge of moving to the next level.

Our lives are built on assumptions.

• Coincidentally, what we call being “spiritually awakened” is the self-realizing of our own habitual pattern of mis-perceiving that distorts reality, and therefore, also obscures our own truth. It is this not-knowing of ourselves, based upon all of our assumptions, that is the true source of emotional and existential suffering.
• We assume the world is exactly as we’ve been taught and that our personal memory speaks the truth. These are both conscious assumptions that we knowingly make, but what about the countless assumptions the mind makes on our behalf, that we are unconscious of? What are we missing?
• For the most part, our lives are virtual, a projection of mind filled with to-do lists, goals and plans, stresses and worries, fears and desires, opinions and knowledge, memories and random thought. We’re so busy with our conceptual lives that we fail to truly experience the actuality of what is here and now.

In other words, we overlook what is real so that we can ponder over what is not.

• On a subconscious level, the mind is continually filling in the gaps that exist within our direct experience of the present moment. These assumptions create the fluid continuity of sensory perception, appearing as the environment in which we seem to move, as it has been compiled and pieced together from all of the mind’s prior conditioning, knowledge, memory, and experience.
• And so, most of we presume to know is actually an assumption.
• For example, I assume a wall exists behind my back, but in my direct and immediate experience, I don’t actually know it as fact. The mind assumes it is there, based on common sense, but I can’t actually confirm it to be true until I turn around and look in its direction.

It is human nature to be attached to our assumptions.

• In many ways, they make our lives more cohesive and reliable. It would be quite an interesting experience if we were perpetually surprised with every turn of our head because we don’t expect anything to be there. But, we also suffer because of these very same assumptions. Whenever our assumptions prove to be untrue, we experience disappointment, confusion, rejection, worry, or loss. If I turned around and didn’t see a wall behind me, I would unsurprisingly be quite alarmed.
• However, only direct and intimate cognition is true knowing, anything else is simply a conceptual assumption, one that we presuppose as being a reliable truth. It is the things we rely upon that set us up to fail.
• So, to truly understand yourself, you must ask the question, Who am I? You must investigate the nature of what it truly means, to be, emptied of the mind’s assumptions and projections. To realize your truth you must be critical of your intimate experience of experiencing.
• What am I? What is my actual experience of being? What is my experience of this present moment made of? How is my present experience shaped and perceived? What is this “I” that I attach onto everything I sense? What is I?

For this intimate exploration of self, you will need to completely disregard the concept of your personhood for a moment.

• Your experience of being, here and now, is not your personal name or your “sense of self". It is not what you are thinking. What are you actually experiencing, in this precise moment? You are experiencing the contents of awareness, are you not? You are experiencing the collected input from the sensations of sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and the often-overlooked sixth sense, mind.
• Your experience is comprised of all of these things combined—your experience is made from objects of sight, just as your experience is also made from objects of thought. But, who is the subject that is perceiving? Where is the subject?
• What is the subject of these experiences? There isn’t one. The truth is beyond any such duality of subject and object opposition. It is not a part of your actual experience, it is nothing but an assumed concept the mind asserts on top of your actual presence of awareness.
• To be clear, “you” are not present, there is only presence. The you, the subject, is merely presumed. It is not experiential. There is no you.
• What you traditionally consider to be “you” is actually the experience of the entire field of awareness in which you are presently aware. You are not limited to the sensations of the body or mind, you are one with every sensation that is sensed and perceived.

In other words, you are awareness itself.

• The mind however, places a false border between what it assumes is ‘you' and what it assumes is ‘not you’. This imaginary border, one that we believe contains the self, is the skin. Anything inside the skin, we call "me", and anything outside the skin we call "not me".
• But if you move beyond all knowledge and conceptual conditioning, and you strictly investigate your direct experience, you will realize that there is not any actual distinction between any sensation—inside or outside. They are all ‘received’ in the same centre of knowingness that is your aware presence, that is your Self.
• Ignore what the mind is telling you about this moment. A sound is a sound, which you are aware of. A sight is a sight, which you are aware of. A sensation is a sensation, , which you are aware of. Combined, they create the totality of your alive experience, of your aware presence, that is always, and only, here and now. Wherever you go, whenever it seems to be, this is your experience—the “contents” of consciousness.
• The sound of a bird chirping in the distance. Your knowledge (which is merely a memory, an object of object that is perceived) says the sound is far away, that it is coming from over there, from something that is not you. But in terms of your intimate experience of the sound itself, is there any difference to your knowing of it than to your knowing of the itch on the end of your nose?

Does awareness separate one sensation from the other? Knowing is knowing, is it not?

• It is only the mind that divides experience into conceptual parts, while Awareness remains one, unified whole, absolute and complete, not relative to anything. Undivided.
• The mind tells us we heard a blue jay chirping far away, while the awareness of direct experience simply informs us of a beautiful sound. Awareness makes no assumptions—and this is the truth of your Self. When we live only through the lens of our assumptions, we miss out on most of our actual experience of awareness. We miss life itself. One point of view is inclusive, while the other is dismissive.
• You are not your senses, you are that which perceives them. Shift your life perspective to awareness, rather than to your concepts.
• Your experience of being alive, of existing, is the totality of your alert and aware presence in this precise moment. This is life. This moment, which contains these very words and whatever else is being sensed within your environment. Anything that happens outside of your intimate presence of awareness, in this precise moment, remains only as a concept—an assumption. Do not be concerned about what isn’t here and now. Without your direct knowingness, all things remain simply as an emanation of mind, either as a memory of a past experience, a conceptual fear or desire, or as a piece of second-hand knowledge which has been acquired.

You are your environment. This is not a metaphor.

• You are not separate from that which you are intrinsically a part of, regardless of how distant other things seem to be from you. You are a part of all that appears to you, and they are all a part of you. You affect each other, because you are one another.
• And so, as you contemplate the existential question, What am I?, it can be realized that you are a stream of consciousness—always flowing. You are forever refreshed. You are not the personal self you assume to be, for that is merely a mask of false identity.
• Non-dual awareness is the absolute truth of your present experience of experiencing, here and now. It is your entire presence of being, without which you wouldn’t be.

I Am every moment, and every moment is my presence of I Am.

• In other words, I Am nothing other what I am aware of, here and now.
• Don’t limit yourself. Don’t confine yourself to your concepts and assumptions. Don’t be fooled by projections of mind. Know yourself and you will know the world, because the world is you. You are not separate, you are one.
• You are not confined to the body/mind entity that you assume yourself to be, you are a field of consciousness that unconditionally embraces and accepts everything that appears within it.

I Am, is Awareness.
I Am, is Consciousness.

I Am, is my world.
The world, is my I Am.

I Am, Absolute Reality.

I Am.