Printed in the Spring 2022 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Srinivasan, A.V. (Sheenu) "Dualism or Nondualism? Your Choice!" Quest 110:2, pg 25-28
By A.V. (Sheenu) Srinivasan
The kingdom of God is within you.
—Luke 17:21
History records that ancient sages in every faith have asked some fundamental questions about life on earth. They have studied the meanings of the terms “I” and “you.” When we say “I,” does it refer to my body, my mind, or any other entity or state of being that is in us?
These sages identified a concept that they claimed to be inherent in every living being and defined it as soul. As with the mind, we cannot see it or touch it, but it is there: it exists. This is a belief that every faith system has acknowledged, although they continue to argue its status in relation to the universe at large: that is, the connection, if any, of one’s own soul with every other soul and with something that encompasses all.
Along the same lines, there has prevailed a desire to know the entity behind such regular but constantly changing phenomena such as the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, seasons, the birth, growth, decay, and death of living beings. Who controls these events? Who could be so powerful? Is there a being out there that we need to revere, fear, or love in order to maintain some sort of balance here on earth?
This enquiry has led over and over to the concept of a supreme power or Supreme Being. Should such a being exist, does it have a gender or a soul? If so, is there a connection between this Supreme Soul and individual souls? The general conclusion has been that there is such a being: divine, unseen, but essentially worthy of realization. But where does such a being dwell? Can one ever see or fully comprehend this being?
The supreme divinity (paramatman, the Supreme Soul), which Hinduism defines as Brahman, is deathless, beyond time, beyond space, and not bound by any laws of causation. It has no gender or form and is beyond description.
Hinduism claims that Brahman is the only Reality, arguing that realization of Brahman should be life’s goal because it will lead to moksha: a final release from repeated life and death cycles, whereby the individual soul finally merges with the Supreme Soul after following certain extraordinary spiritual practices. In fact Hindus believe that this is truly the goal of life: to once and for all escape the suffering that is inevitable while living on earth.
The study of the connection between the soul and the Supreme Soul has given us several philosophies to consider to give purpose, understanding, and meaning to life. Such a goal was mandated with crisp aphorisms (“Know thyself,” for example) and constituted a belief system in different cultures in the ancient world.
The nature of this connection among individual souls and the Supreme Soul is the subject of this discussion, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta (“culmination of knowledge”). Vedanta insists that you should come face-to-face with any existences beyond those you sense. You need to begin by admitting that “I” does not mean your body, your mind, or your ego. “I” refers to the soul, which is not matter. If there is a universal and Supreme Soul, you should encounter it directly and remove all doubts.
There’s no need to struggle in attempting to believe—just realize. Use the ancient tools of the six darshans (perspectives) on the Hindu Vedas—including Nyaya, logic, which has to do with sorting out the physical world and the mind-body-spirit connection, and yoga, which has to do with self-discipline. Bhakti yoga, for example, entails total devotion to the divine.
Three systems of Vedantic philosophy emerged from these considerations:
- Advaita (nondualism), propounded by the saint Shankaracharya in the eighth century CE.
- Vishishtadvaita (qualified monism or qualified nondualism) admits a personal God as ultimate reality. The proponent saint of this philosophy was Ramanujacharya, who lived in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He acknowledged that Reality is indeed Brahman but allowed that individual souls as well as the universe are also real and separate.
- Dvaita (dualism). This system claims that the Supreme Soul and the individual soul are different. Its proponent saint was Madhvacharya, who lived in the thirteenth century CE.
The three Vedantic paths all have the same goal: reaching moksha—that is, breaking free of the cycle of rebirth and death. Hindus believe that rebirth is inevitable for those who die without moksha, but if this is achieved, all misery will end, and the soul will be at complete peace and bliss. As a result, one must strive for freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Although all three Vedantic philosophies share a belief in God, individual souls, and the associated fundamentals (such as the necessary quest for knowledge, respect for nature, devotion, dharma, karmic consequences, and so on), differences among them exist. Here we will examine only two of these three belief systems: dualism (Dvaita) and nondualism (Advaita).
Dvaita
Madhvacharya’s Dvaita school divides individual souls into three categories:
- Those fit to be liberated through the grace of God and spiritual practices.
- Those who are interested only in the material world, with little craving for a spiritual life.
- Those who are inherently evil and end in hell. In the Dvaita, hell awaits these individuals, even if it is mainly a purgatorial interval before the next birth.
According to the Dvaita philosophy, an individual soul has its own consciousness, willpower, and ability to learn, know, act, and experience joy. As a reflection of God, it reflects some of God’s attributes. The individual soul is forever dependent on God. Each soul residing in a body is subject to bondage. Actions affect the soul, contracting it by bad karma (actions) and expanding it by good karma.
The primary godhead of Madhvas (followers of the founder, Madhvacharya) is Vishnu, who has these divine attributes: he is merciful and lovable, and he takes on human avatars while remaining as the Almighty. No evil attributes whatsoever are attributed to him.
Release from bondage occurs through many lives and depends upon the type of life led. Lives led with devotion to God following dharma (moral order) qualify for entrance to the heaven known as Vaikunta, the abode of Lord Vishnu. Otherwise, upon death of its associated body, the individual soul is subject to moving to another body. This cycle can continue forever, or until the soul qualifies for entrance to Vaikunta. Vishnu’s Vaikunta is full of happiness and is devoid of disease and death. It is the great end—no more births or deaths. Upon liberation, the individual soul retains its identity but becomes free of any suffering. Dvaita does not believe in liberation during one’s lifetime.
Dualists look upon themselves as servants of God. They are vegetarians on the grounds that they shouldn’t harm animals, which have souls and belong to God.
When the Dvaita speaks of God, it is referring to the avatars of Vishnu and the promise of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita that he will manifest here on earth whenever the dharma is in decline. According to the Dvaita, God descends to earth as needed because of his love for the devotees.
Advaita
Someone saw God and asked, “Who are you?” God replied, “You.”
This brief dialogue explains the aphorism Tat tvam asi (“Thou art That”), which appears in the Upanishads, dramatizes the entire philosophy of nondualism, and summarizes all that is contained in Vedanta. Consequently, I could end the discussion right here. But to absorb all that is contained in that truth, we need to know more.
Who is Thou? What is That? How is Thou That? That, according to Advaita Vedanta, is Brahman. Thou is you. You are Brahman. You are divine. The Hindu sages proclaimed that every human (in fact every animal) is, in its essence, divine. Therefore there is no difference between the inner you and the inner me. We are the same, except that we have different bodies and different experiences. We are like passengers on a plane, all heading to the same destination.
Having pronounced that divinity is in you, the Upanishadic sages insist that you are not a sinner. Swami Shivananda Saraswathi (1887–1963), a saint who founded a religious order known as the Divine Life Society, declared that bliss is your birthright. Hindus believe that we need to enjoy life on earth while performing our duty till the end, at which time the body dies but the soul lives on.
Thou art That. If you and the next person and everyone and everything else are divine, how many divinities are there? An infinite number. Brahman contains all. If you believe you are divine (and Hindu sages say you must), your life on earth is governed by the divinity in you influencing your action, speech, and thought, all of which are divine. If everyone and everything behaved accordingly, all would be well; it would be heaven on earth, with divine actions, divine speech, and divine thoughts all around.
Is heaven on earth an unattainable dream? No, say the sages. According to them, that is what life on earth was meant to be. Thou art That. We are therefore the One. Trouble starts when we forget that inherent oneness, and the result is the imperfect world we see and live in. This, the Hindu declares, is ignorance of the Reality.
This approach lays down an ideal before us that is possible to attain: to live the divinity in us. It asks us to elevate our lives to meet that ideal and avoid the tendency to compromise it. Living the divinity within ourselves requires action that takes place amid inner calmness. This seeming conflict is insisted upon by the scriptures.
Vedanta stresses that the single most important goal of life is the realization of our true nature. We must know ourselves, know who we really are. As simple as this idea may sound, attaining self-realization is actually very hard, because we are distracted by our external focus. Such focus has undoubtedly helped humanity in many ways, such as the Green Revolution, which increased food production; the moon landing; and advances in genetics, computers, medicine, and the Internet. Yet this external engagement has also blinded us to the most fundamental need: to know who we truly are.
Although many a recent thinker has brought this lapse to our attention, it is not a new discovery. Centuries ago, Hindu sages urged, “Know thyself.” So did thinkers in other cultures. The Greek version, gnothi seauton (carved over the door to the temple of the oracle at Delphi), and the Latin nosce te ipsum all mean the same.
Hindus made a special effort to focus their attention inward for another reason: they found the inner universe equally fascinating and equally demanding as the outer universe.
The sages assured us that when we know who we really are, we will be able to assert the Truth stated in the Mahavakyas (“Grand Utterances”) this way:
Aham brahmasmi (I am Brahman).
Tat tvam asi (Thou art That).
Ayamatma brahma (The extension of the self is Brahman).
According to the sages, “I am God” needs to be understood and repeated until it becomes an integral part of every human being. This truth, which affirms the oneness of the universe, is considered the greatest truth of Advaita Vedanta. It is also Vedanta’s mandate: realize who you are.
According to Vedanta, oneness, when realized, leaves us free. With the realization of our true identity—our oneness with everything and every being—outward differences in name, color, dress, speech, station in life, and so on become less important. The path an individual chooses to realize the self and to reach God doesn’t matter. Uniformity isn’t needed, because all paths eventually lead to the same Truth, which is why Vedantists are able to declare, “Truth is One, but the wise may express it differently” (ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti).
The Hindu is not concerned about how you reach this realization. He doesn’t insist that you adopt his path; he is comfortable when you follow your own. A Hindu’s wish for you is that you be a better Christian if you are a Christian, a better Jew if you are Jewish, a better Taoist if you are a Taoist. No matter what path you choose, the Hindu believes that he will ultimately meet you when you both reach your goal.
Vedanta doesn’t care who the individual is or what the individual believes in. It asks that we develop a perspective from whose height all differences, real and important though they may seem to be, diminish until we are able to view unity, harmony, and beauty. Think of being in an airplane at 30,000 feet and looking down to see a beautiful, smooth terrain.
The core message of the Vedanta is that human beings cannot achieve happiness by mere experience of physical pleasures obtained through wealth: these are temporary and cannot last long. At best, they guarantee you another turn on the wheel of rebirth.
Vedanta aims at absolute happiness obtainable only through spiritual enlightenment. Such enlightenment alone is capable of cutting the link between endless action and the corresponding consequences. When the individual soul (jivatman) is freed from this connection, it is liberated from the cycle and unites with the source, Brahman.
As mentioned previously, one is free to follow any path one chooses to find God. In this sense, Vedanta is both a religion and a philosophy, reflected in the following Hindu prayer.
OM. Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to eternal life
Om, peace, peace, peace.
Concluding Thoughts
At first sight, the dualism of the Dvaita appears somewhat more realistic. You are you, a human, and there is a God who loves his devotees. Worshipping that godhead, seeking his grace, and leading a spiritual life leads you to the heavenly abode. Although this sounds simple, it is not necessarily easy to practice. Total surrender with unconditional love of the Almighty still does not exclude doing one’s duty and seeking higher knowledge.
In my opinion, Advaita, nondualism, is a huge leap ahead. It asserts that you must realize who you really are. You must strive to understand yourself with a focus and depth of thought until you know who you really are. Don’t give up, it says; dive deep and realize you are IT—Brahman. Once you cross that hurdle by overcoming ignorance, you are on the threshold of heaven, even in this life. Strict spiritual observances are recommended so you become free: when the body dies, the soul merges with the Supreme Soul, and you are done. No more rebirths and deaths, no more disease, no more struggle, no more conflicts. Your soul has reached its real home.
Heaven on earth will be the result if everyone reaches that state where they enjoy life on earth, with every action, thought, and utterance within the framework of dharma.
Has any human being ever been able to attain this goal? Yes, although the list is not long.
My spiritual hero, the Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda, who, while addressing the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893, began his speech with the words “Sisters and Brothers of America,” lived a life that is truly divine, yet he was a human being just like you and me. His contributions to Vedanta have influenced seekers throughout the world and will last forever. To this short list, we can add Mahatma Gandhi; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Mother Teresa; Pope Francis; and perhaps a few more of your choice who have revolutionized the world by giving hope and trying to attain a more equitable and peaceful world.
The list of famous individuals who disregarded every conceivable dictum and brought destruction to the world is long, and you have been reading about all of them in history. That, unfortunately, is the real, messy, cruel, dangerous world. It need not be, but humans tend to rush towards a nearby pile of coal while the pot of gold is just within reach. Every individual is important, and the choice that individuals make can influence the whole world.
That choice is yours, and yours only. Realize!
Dr. A.V. (Sheenu) Srinivasan is the author of many publications, including the books Vedic Wedding: Origins, Tradition, and Practice (which received a national best book award in 2007), A Hindu Primer: Yaksha Prashna (which won a Benjamin Franklin Award in 2016), and Hinduism for Dummies. His website is www.avsrinivasan.com.