Advaita Vedanta (intro)

Paramahamsa - literally great swan as "hamsa" is swan and the image of advaita

Advaita Vedanta (sometimes called ”pracanna bauddham" - buddhism in disguise specifically madhyamaka buddhism (the Middle Way) is a Mahayana Buddhist school) most prevalent in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam,

Advaita Vedanta (literally, "non-duality") is a school of Hindu philosophy, originally known as Puruṣavāda. It is a classic system of spiritual realization in Indian spiritual tradition, The term Advaita refers to the metaphysical concept that the true self, Atman, and the highest metaphysical reality of the universe, Brahman, are identical, and the phenomenal world is not ultimately or indisputably real.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the ultimate bliss is the experience of non-difference between jivatma and paramatma, that is the small, individual self and the all pervading Brahman, the Self or Supreme Reality.

Note the difference between awareness (infinite) and consciousness (personal)

The Upanishads are a class of speculative prose treatises composed between the 8th and 6th centuries b.c. and first written a.d. c1300: they represent a philosophical development beyond the Vedas, having as their principal message the unity of Brahman and Atman.

The Mahabharata (an epic poem of India dealing mainly with the conflict between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, with many digressions) includes the Bhagavad-Gita.

Bhagavad Gita has the form of a dialogue between the hero Arjuna and his charioteer, the avatar Krishna, in which a doctrine combining Brahmanical and other elements is evolved.

Brahmasutras (aka Vedanta Sutras) is the philosophical treatise of Vedanta that systematically lays out the philosophy of the Upanishads. It consists of 555 aphorisms across 4 chapters.

Shankara (Sankaracharya) born in the 8th century AD is the great mystic, saint, poet and philosopher of Hindu reform. He formulated Advaita Vedanta and from his doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived

Shankara said

”May this one sentence proclaim the essence of a thousand books, Brahman alone is real, the world is apearance, the Self is nothing but Brahman”

There is a classic advaita analogy of someone waking and seeing a snake on the floor, a snake which is actually a piece of rope.

Anxiety, repugnance, palpitations follow, but have been induced by a snake which was never born and will never die, but exists only in your mind.

Once the rope is recognised in the light, it can never turn back into a snake.

The error involves not knowing what is, but also the superimposition (vikshepa) of a notion that has nothing to do with what is.

In our ignorance, we continually superimpose the manifest world (snake) on the rope (Brahman)

Major teachers of Advait Vedanta include Swami Vivekananda, Paramahamsa Yogananda and Swami Sivananda

Brahman is the supreme existence or absolute reality. It is conceived as eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent, and the spiritual core of the universe

Atman is the individual "soul" - the essence that is eternal, unchanging, and indistinguishable from the essence of the universe

AvidyA is the inability to experience your deep connection to others, to the source of being, and to your true self

Maya is the illusion that the world is as it is perceived via the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.

It is the apparent reality of the material world.

The term is closely related to avidya, the difference being that avidya is individual and maya is universal.

Sat Chit Ananda - is a mantra of existence, consciousness, and bliss" or "truth, consciousness, bliss". Brahman is referred to as Sat-Chit-Ananda

Sat or 'existence',

chit is the knowing light of consciousness, found in each person's mind.

Ananda' or 'happiness' or bliss

Tat tvam asi - is one of the four prominent mahavakyas from Chandogya Upanishad meaning - I am that / That thou art.

Aham Brahmasmi (Ahman (I) Brahman (whole) Asmi (am) as a mantra) is a term that is used in Hindu and yoga philosophy to describe the unity of the atman (individual self or soul) with Brahman (the Absolute). It is typically translated as "I am Brahman" or less literally as "I am divine." It reflects the ultimate goal of yoga - union with the higher Self.