Thank you @JayaBholenath @Sumit
What exactly is the practise of Advaita Vedanta? I thought it was a philosophy.
Namaste,
I hope you are familiar with the philosophy.
In advaita, there are 2 types of sAdhanA
1. OM
2. Neti-Neti
1. OM
Sadhaka meditates on the mantra OM. By meaning to meditate may first be considered as Japa
So it is chanting of OM. Sadhana begins with verbal chanting, then followed by mental and later followed by just observing mantra OM.
After one regularly meditates, and is able to meditate for long hours, say 3 hours, then OM chanting continues by itself. One does not have to make an effort to chant OM. Even if thoughts come, just ignore them. Even if one is involved in thoughts, if one quickly realizes that one should be aware of OM, then slowly and smoothly shift your focus on OM and just be aware of it. Thoughts will automatically fade away or dissolve. Meditation continues. If OM does not continue, then chant it mentally. After a few chants, it goes on automatically.
For Advanced sadhaka:
After on is able to be aware of OM, and the force of thoughts of very less, one can be aware of the source of the mantra. chanting of OM, the pitch, spandan (gap between 2 OMs), uprooting of thoughts and desires is done by OM itself and you as an individual has no hand in it, except that you are allowing it to happen. you allow thoughts to come, do not give importance by neglecting them and be aware of the source of mantra. Now there is transformation from effort to effortless, as one does not chant. When one is putting mental effort in chanting, it is done with the help of mind, but when the chant continues by itself, there is no effort of mind. If chanting is done with the help of mind, which is the obvious thing to do in the beginning, then there will be a saturation point. There is a limit to put an effort. But when there is no effort, mediator remains fresh and can extend the duration of meditation.
This requires God's and Guru's grace. Of course it requires vivek-yukta-vairagya (renunciation accompanied by power of discrimination - sorry about bad translation), total dedication and moksha as the only goal. If all these are present then meditation becomes easy. Renunciation helps one to neglect thoughts and not give importance to any thoughts. Dedication, faith and surrender to Brahman is extremely important and without surrender, God will not take over your mind in meditation. Entire thing is controlled by God. This takes time, as all these factors may be present but not to the fullest extend.
Just like one can find the ocean shore by moving in the direction of sound of waves, one can go into the source of OM, which is Brahman / Atman. After that even OM rests. There is only you and nothing else. This is advaita sthiti called as nirvikalp samadhi. But again mind rises, as it was sleeping or temporarily subdued, and one is again in duality. The process repeats until everything that is dumped into the mind is uprooted by OM. After that there is mano-nASa (destruction of mind). This is sahaj samAdhi. After this state, when one opens eyes, he / she sees that the world which we thoughts as an illusion, is nothign but Brahman itself (sarvam khalu-idam Brahman --> everything 'Else' is (also) Brahman ). Meditation is over. One is Jivan Mukta and has achieved moksha.
Practically, initially, when one is taught - I am not this not this, my family is not mine, my friends are not mine, nothing is mine, etc, one feels that suddenly the joy, enjoyment, ananda, etc is been robbed away and one feels that nothing is meaningful. This is vairagya. It happens. It produces fear and insecurity. When one jumps into this insecurity, one realizes that one is most secured. Slowly the truth unfold, and one gets clarity. After passing through this phase one becomes steady i.e. mind becomes steady.
Advaita asks one to rise from duality. It is said from Atma bhAva and not Jiva bhAva.
Practically, mind becomes peaceful, OM continues in mind throughout the day or most of the day. Peace and bliss unconditionally flow, as they are a result of renunciation and so do not depend upon any external factor. Advaitin lives on minimum requirements. As one advances, mental renunciation increases. One may or may not renounce physically, but mental renunciation is a must
2. Neti-neti
This is actual advaita, as taught in Yog-Vasista and Sri Ramana Maharshi. There is no OM. One thinks of Brahman constantly. e.g. is nirvANa shaTaka by Adi SankarAchArya. Some 10 verses on Brahma bhAvanA are given in Vivek Chudamani. In this type of sadhana, one enters into samadhi knowingly whereas in case of OM, one enters achAnaka (suddenly with surprise - again bad translation). But the result is same.
This type of meditation is extremely difficult and so most of them take AdhAra (support) of OM. Maandukya upanishad takes about OM. OM is one tatva that can effortlessly take one above maya (as maya was created by OM or from OM). OM up-roots both good and bad desires. So even desires like serving humanity or any sattvik desires are also up-rooted. Even sattva gUNa is a dosha.
Pure mind and renunciation are pre-requisites for Advaita. Hence Advaita is not for everybody. One can purify by doing karma-kand (rituals) and doing bhakti on personal God. Later depending upon prakruti one can shift to either Advaita (for logical reasoning type people) or continue sAkAra bhakti (emotional characters).
I am not good at explaining. I hope you get the point.
Aum
