Basic Principles of Advaita

dharmārthakāmamokṣāṇām ārogyaṃ mūlam uttamam |
rogāstasya āpahartāraḥ śreyaso jīvitasya ca ||

Good health is necessary for human beings to get the benefits of the four puruṣārthas, namely, dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa. Diseases will eat away health and prosperity.

Also, all living beings aspire for mokṣa (release from bondage); this is possible only with the healthy body which is necessary for the jīva to obtain the knowledge of ātman (Self). Ātmajñāna–knowledge of the nature of ātman (Self), is the sole means for obtaining mokṣa.

The Advaita philosophy, in its essence, considers Brahman as the Ultimate, Supreme Reality. Brahman is beginningless and hence eternal. Brahman is unmanifested, universal and indestructible; it is transcendental it is beyond words, names and forms.

Jīva, on the other hand is empirical, manifested and perceptible by the sense organs.

Happiness and misery arise due to the contact of Jīva with the sense organs, mind and the objects of senses. They disappear when the mind concentrates on the Supreme. This leads to Jīva's lack of contact with the sense organs, mind and objects of senses. This mental concentration in different stages is known as Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna and Samādhi. These are the different levels of Yoga.

The first five aṅgas of Yoga are preparatory to the practice of contemplation [viz.],

1. Yama,
2. Niyama,
3. Āsana,
4. Prāṇāyāma and
5. Pratyāhāra .

Dhāraṇā^[1] (the sixth aṅga of Aṣtāṅga yoga) is concentration, which has been defined as holding the mind on an object without deviating from it. The Brahman is to be meditated upon within the innermost part of the heart. This has a shape of a lotus and within it dwells 'That' which is to be sought after, inquired about and realized. Even so large as the Universe outside, is the universe within the lotus of the heart. Within it are heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, the lighting and all the stars. Whatever is in the macrocosm, is in this microcosm also.

The lotus of the heart where Brhaman resides in all his glory–that is the true city of Brahman (Chāndogya Upaniṣad, 8.1):

ātha yadidamasmin brahmapure daharaṃ puṇḍarīkaṃ veśma dahare'smin āntaramākāśastasmin yadantastadanveṣṭavyaṃ tadvāva vijijṣāsitavyam |

As concentration deepens, one arrives at Dhyāna –'meditation' (the seventh aṅga of Yoga). It is an unbroken flow of thought toward the object of concentration; in other words Dhyāna is prolonged concentration.

Samādhi, the eighth aṅga of Yoga, is the last stage of meditation. This is not precisely in the sense of transcendental consciousness. It is rather the door to its attainment. Samādhi is a state that one attains as meditation deepens and the mind takes on the form of the object of meditation. In Samādhi, mind is entirely free from any other thought; and the sense of time is annihilated. The mind becomes one-pointed when similar thought-waves arise in succession without any gaps between them.

It is declared that these three–Dhāraṇā (concentration), Dhyāṇa (meditation) and Samādhi (absorption) are direct aids to spiritual experience. They represent the three stages of the process of contemplation, of which, the third is the culmination and together they are known as Samyama (Yoga Sūtra, III.4): trayameva saṃyamaḥ | When one has passed through Samyama–that is, when one has attained perfection in meditation, illumination arises in the mind. By the practice of Samyama the light of knowledge is attained.

The knowledge which is gained from inference and the study of scripture is knowledge of one kind. But the knowledge which is gained from Samādhi is of a much higher order. It goes beyond inference and scriptures.

Samādhi is of two types:

1. Samprajñāta-samādhi and
2. Asamprajñāta-samādhi.

Samprajñāta-samādhi also known as Savikalpa-samādhi is the state of super consciousness with the triad of–meditator, meditation and the object meditated upon. All the minute matters and the matters far away from the person will be easily visualized which is the higher step in Yoga.

Now, the next step of Yoga is Ṛṭambharāprajñā which is full of truth and consciousness.

Asamprajñātasamādhi is the highest super-conscious state where the mind and the ego-sense are completely annihilated.

Recurrence of all sensation is checked through these aṅgas of Yoga. Yoga is thus a means to attain mokṣa and absolute eradication of influence of senses is achieved through mokṣa.

Mokṣa or salvation is the absolute detachment of the Jīva from all contacts by virtue of absence of rajas and tamas in the mind. Also, the effects of all past actions get annihilated. The Jīva has to have constantly in memory (smṛti) the knowledge that Jīva is different from the body and that the śarīra has nothing to do with the ātman or Jīva. This smṛti is a necessary quality for a Jīva to be always in pursuit of mokṣa so that he does not get trapped in worldly affairs.

As the Jīva realizes that all the world is mere illusion and that he is different from the śarīra that keeps him bound, the Jīva is able to cut himself away from all attachments; the Jīva is thus rid of all worldly miseries.

Once the Jīva is able to identify himself with the Brahman (the Supreme Power), the empirical nature of the Jīva gets nullified. Such a Jīva gets liberation even while alive and thus becomes a Jīvanmukta^[2]; when the body perishes after realisation of the Self, the Jīva is known as Videhamukta.^[3]

Rebirth is one of the most important concepts of Advaita. To avoid these recurring rebirths, every human being in his present life itself should perform with deep and dedicated devotion towards the Supreme Being–Paramātman, sincere austerities prescribed by our ancestors.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The commentary (p.23) says–
dhāraṇā nāma manasaḥ ekāgratā |
Also the commentary quotes the following–
“yamādiguṇasaṃyukte manasaḥ sthitirātmani |
dhāraṇā procyate sadbhiḥ yogaśāstraviśāradaiḥ ||“iti vasiṣṭhaḥ |
“dhyeye cittasya sthirabandhanam dhāraṇā | “iti hemacandraḥ |

[2]:

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, 427-30:
sthitaprajṣo yatirayaṃ yassadānandamaśnute |
brahmaṇyeva vilīnātmā nirvikāro viniṣkriyaḥ ||
brahmātmanoḥ śodhitayorekabhāvāvagāhinī |
nirvikalpā ca cinmātrā vṛttiḥ prajṣeti kathyate ||
yasya sthitā bhavetprajṣā yasyānando nirantaraḥ |
prapaṣco vismṛtaprāyaḥ sa jīvanmukta iṣyate ||
līnadhīrapi jāgārti yo jāgraddharmavarjitaḥ |
bodho nirvāsano yasya sa jīvanmukta iṣyate ||

[3]:

Tattvānusandhānam, Ch.IV:
tatra tattvajṣāninaḥ bhogena prārabdhakarmakṣaye vartamāna -śarīrapāte videhamuktiḥ |