What is Advaita or Oneness?

Advaita is a Sanskrit word meaning nondual or not two. This fundamental oneness is a quality of everything that exists. Everything is made of one essential substance. Natrually there is a question that arises: If everything is really all one thing why isn't that my experience? This question confuses oneness for everything looking the same. Something can seem different without actually being separate. Take your hand for example. Each finger is different from the others, but are they separate? They are all a part of the same hand.

Similarly, the objects, animals, plants and people in the world are all definitely different in their appearance and functioning. But in their ultimate nature, they are all connected at their source. So, this one Being has an infinite number of different expressions that we experience as different objects.

It also turns out that your fingers are all made of the same substance. As you explore the nature of your hand with greater subtlety, you discover more and more similarities. Your fingers are actually made up of very similar tissues, cells, atoms, and ultimately subatomic particles. When your experience of reality becomes even more subtle, you discover that everything is just a different expressions of one field of Being.

What about your experience right now? Is it possible to discover this subtle oneness in ordinary experience? It is, if you set aside the expectation of a dramatic experience of oneness and explore the oneness a little bit at a time. Just as even a single drop of water is wet, you can experience oneness in even simple everyday experiences, since oneness is a fundamental quality of everything that exists.

Let's try an experiment: just explore your fingers and your palm. Can you find where fingers start and the palm ends, or are they essentially one thing? And where does the hand stop and something else called the forearm begin? Can you see the connected oneness of your fingers, hand and forearm?

Let's also check all your bodyparts? Are your legs and your nose really connected even though they sure look different? And even more subtlely, how separate are your thoughts and your mind or brain. Exactly where does the head stop and thinking begin? And how about sadness and fear and desire? Are feelings and wants really things that exist separate from you?

Now, notice the simple sensations you are having: the sounds you are hearing, the sensations of touch, and the objects and events you are seeing. If you are seeing something, where does the seeing stop and something else called the eye begin? If you are hearing sounds where does the sound start and the ear stop? Perhaps the hearing and the sound and your ear are all one thing. Yes, the ear is different from the sound, but in the act of hearing they become one thing.

Then, where does the source of the sound stop and the sound itself start? For example, if a bird is singing outside your window, where does the bird stop and the sound of its song begin? Or are they one thing? If the bird and its song are one thing, and your hearing and the song are really one thing, then is it possible that you and the bird are one thing also?

Advaita, or oneness of Being, has often been thought of as something hidden or difficult to experience, when it is quite ordinary and available in every moment. Of course a big experience of oneness, where you directly experience the oneness of everything, is a rare and dramatic event. But why wait for something so rare when this sweet and satisfying oneness is right here, right now?

Article Source: http://www.bodyformind.com/db

Nirmala gives free ebooks & online videos at www.endless-satsang.com. He's been a spiritual teacher in the Advaita tradition since 1998, and gives satsang (gatherings for truth) and one-to-one spiritual mentoring sessions on the phone.
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