Advaita Vedanta

The Upanishads

Compiled from the Vedas

Why it matters

The foundational shruti texts that first declare the identity of Atman, the individual self, and Brahman, the ultimate non-dual reality.

The tradition behind it

Advaita Vedanta is an Indian school of philosophy rooted in the Upanishads and systematised by Shankara. Its central teaching is that the true self (Atman) and ultimate reality (Brahman) are not two. Practice centres on inquiry: seeing that you are the awareness in which thoughts, feelings and the world appear.

Try it in practice

• Who is aware of this?

  Turn from the thought toward the one aware of it. Ask softly, who is aware of this, right now? Do not answer with words. Let the question turn you around.

• Not this, not this

  Set the trouble beside you: not this body, not this feeling, not this thought. Keep only what cannot be set aside, the awareness doing the setting aside.

• Rest as the space

  Sit for three minutes and let sounds come and go. Notice that the space hearing them is not disturbed by any of them. Rest there, without efforting.

Read alongside

• Bhagavad Gita · Vyasa
• Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada's Karika · Gaudapada
• Vivekachudamani (Crest-Jewel of Discrimination) · Adi Shankara
• Ashtavakra Gita · Ashtavakra