What Would a Nondual Practice Look Like? Advaita Vedanta Sadhana
By: Annapurna Sarada
Tags: Spiritual Practice, Self-awareness, Guru, Nonduality, Spirituality

Dear Reader,

This essay (blog post) is borrowed from Advaita Academy, on which there will be an archive of my spiritual writings since 2011 (when they finish updating their site). This one is offered here on Medium because the idea of Advaita Vedanta Sadhana comes up in a series of current stories entitled, Going the Distance in Spiritual Life (specifically, part 2). <>

Since this is my first blog, I want to acknowledge my teachers; for whatever is found useful in these writings is due to them — their realization, their love and training. Reverent salutations to Swami Aseshananda of the Ramakrishna Order who gave me mantra diksha and ushered me into the great lineage of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda; to Lex Hixon, who exemplified the transcendent joy of spiritual life and introduced me to Swami; and to Babaji Bob Kindler, also a disciple of Swami, who took me under wing and continues to weave the living wisdom of the Indian darshanas into my heart and mind. Om

Early on in SRV Associations, Babaji put forward the ideal of Advaita Vedanta Sadhana for his students. At first hearing this might sound like a contradiction in terms. Advaita is beyond doing, beyond thinking — beyond the duality of bondage and liberation, or the pure-impure mind that sadhana (spiritual practice) is supposed to address. What kind of sadhana would be advaitic?

All of us inclined or devoted to Advaita have heard that we are ever-free and never-bound by our very nature, and that we do not need to do anything to create that state (and in fact, we can’t). This is definitely true from the standpoint of Atman-Brahman, our formless nature as Pure Consciousness. But, it is also true that “we are not God until we realize we are God.” This realization has everything to do with our mind. In last weekend’s classes, Babaji stated, quoting Sri Ramakrishna and Lord Buddha, “Pure mind is God, and pure mind is Buddha Mind.” He went on to add, “if pure mind is God, then impure mind isn’t, and it is only the impure mind that stands in our way.”

So, what is an impure mind? Essentially, it is a mind that cannot set aside the various dualities (pain/pleasure; good/bad; life/death, etc) and concentrate on the Self/God. This is where we see the value of that adage concerning how a single fiber sticking out from a thread will keep it from passing through the eye of the needle. The eye of the needle is always there — its existence doesn’t depend on whether the thread is well-licked or not; but that fiber keeps the thread from going through. Like that, a mind that cannot concentrate its powers and turn them inward will have no access to the Self.

Thus, the noble practice of Advaita Vedanta Sadhana requires that one truly understands this distinction between the Self and what is not the Self, with special attention on the mind, since every thing arises from it. Through this discrimination (viveka) we realize, as is stated in the Avadhuta Gita, that the Self is not made pure by bowing at the Guru’s feet. The Self is not made pure by destruction of the mind’s waves. Nor is the Self made pure by engaging in Yoga. The Self is already pure. Therefore, we give up the notion that our sadhana will give us Self-realization. How can something that we “do” in space and time, that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, cause That which is unchanging, unborn, and transcendent of time and space? The finite can never be a cause of the Infinite. As Swami Aseshananda frequently stated, “Realization is not the effect of a cause.” Sadhana, then, ceases to be goal-oriented, and becomes a divine preoccupation that qualifies the mind to behold its true essence and source. And there is great joy in this way of living. It makes sense of the Absolute and relativity, and frees us from all kinds of intellectual knots.

Viveka, discrimination, is a core practice and key concept. There are many ways to define it, but the first one we usually come across is, as translated into English, “discrimination between the Real and the unreal.” And that may be all we get at first. I personally puzzled over this for years despite the fact that a spiritual friend helped me with another version that translates as, “discrimination between the Eternal and the noneternal.” That made immediate sense to my intellect and felt like something I could carry out. But the profundity in both of those translations escaped me until I came to understand the Sanksrit word “Sat,” as in Satchitananda (Existence, Knowledge and Bliss), and in “asato ma sadgamaya” (lead us from untruth to Truth). I was fascinated by how Existence, Truth, and Real were all meanings for Sat. Somewhere during this time I also learned of the Yamas in the eight-limbed system of Patanjala Yoga, wherein one must practice satyam, truthfulness in thought, word, and deed. I also read and heard from my teachers that Sri Ramakrishna extols satyam as the austerity of the Age — by truthfulness alone the mind could be purified and the Self revealed. “How could merely telling the truth be this powerful?” I pondered.

Yet, all these ideas eventually coalesced most beautifully and disarmingly in the light of the scriptures, my teachers, and personal reflection on Truth, truthfulness, Existence, Eternal, the Real. What is That which is always and ever True? — that nothing in time, space, and causation can make false or destroy? — that waking, dream, and deep sleep states cannot hide, distort, or make void? — that depends upon nothing else for its Existence? This kind of inquiry belongs to viveka, discrimination, the first requirement in what is called the sadhanachatushtaya, the four fold practice/qualifications of the student.

In classical times, one needed some attainment in all four qualifications before a teacher would give out the nondual teachings. Nowadays, given the general poverty of authentic spiritual instruction in the home and its support in society overall, it falls to the teacher to help the sincere student become qualified in order to hear these teachings properly. Thus, and also in tune with the idea of Advaita Vedanta Sadhana, we are given the Truth up front and immediately, and then work on qualifying the mind to understand.