Inner Journey

Advaita 101 is the basic stuff.In Advaita 201, I shall give some intermediate material.Advaita 301 would be devoted to advanced stuff,to the extent my abilities/knowledge  go.
The  origin of Advaita is certainly the Upanishadic statements,by different rishis or seers.Gaudapada wrote Karika [interpretations] on some of the Upanishads ,esp Maundukya, and gave the basic structure to it...The Brahma Sutras which are collated materials from the Upanishads led to great interpretations by the three great acharyas--Adi Sankara [788-820 AD], Sri Ramanuja[ 1017 -1137 AD] and Sri Madhwa [ 1269-1370 ] .These three acharyas became sectarian in their view ,holding their sects to be supreme.Thus Sankara gave the pure advaita, Sri Ramanuja, qualified monism or vishist-advaita and Sri Madhwa ,the dualist philosophy or dwaita....But it should be noted that the three acharyas did not live at the same time;they were separated by two centuries between them...Therefore they had time to build their own schools of thought with their charismatic personality [and support of local rajas or princes].

    Adi Sankara had to battle with Buddhist monks and philosophers and also those in Hindu faith who were ritualistic with  various Vedic sacrifices and practices.Buddhism was waning; Sankara gave directions to Hinduism, turning the Hindus more inward in approach with  ascetic and monastic traditions.He did learn a few things from Buddhism, and instituted four mathas [monasteries]in four corners of India  and several local mathas too.Sankara also built the tradition of temple worship with six forms of deities ---- regularly worshipped even today.
There is a general opinion that Sankara was responsible for the decline of Buddhism.This claim seems to be unfounded since Buddhism was already weakening due to corrupt practices and was sent out of the land of  Gautama Buddha.viz, India..Sankara perhaps helped to give the final blows on that religion,after learning a few things from the Buddhists..There is also a criticism that Sankara sounded too much likea Buddhist philosopher, going away from the devotional path of the Hindus.Several learned texts are available on these...the province of Hindu philosophers.[Adi Sankara also critcised Jainism ,along with Saiva saints in the south...Jainism moved to north-west regions and continued near Mangalore and Rajasthan.Jainism reduced in strength and became a minority religion, as  we find today in India.Jains were persecuted by devout Hindus for many centuries---a fact historians gently concealed from the Hindus.]
Adi Sankara learned the advaitic concepts from his guru --Govindapada who was the disciple of Gaudapada...While interpreting Brahma Sutras, the ten Upanishads [called the Essential Upanishads] and the Bhagavad Gita, Adi Shankara developed the Advaitic philosophy in full form.These three texts are called "prasthanna Traiya"--the 'Foundation Trilogy' of Hinduism.
 Note that Adi Sankara ,in his penchant for meditation on the Self or Atman,carefully excluded any reference to Personal Theism....worship of Rama,Krishna and other forms of Vishnu or Gods were frowned upon by pure advaitins..He carefully wrote his commentaries on the Gita verses,which are full of reference to Personal God; but for Sankara ,it is all one pointed devotion to Self or Atman only....In many places his commentaries look highly contrived, not straight forward---but such is the case with anyone attempting to build his own school of philosophy.![Sankara seems to have permitted the worship of personal gods for those lesser mortals who are lay persons without much intellectual equipment.!It is meant for those 'women and lower castes'!!]
 Adi Sankara was followed by his four illustrious disciples ; many more followed.Sadananda who wrote Vedanta Saram, Madhusudan Saraswathi [15th century,Emperor Akbar's time], Sridhara Swami , [16th Century],Vidyaranya who wrote Panchadasi, Sadasiva Brhamendra[17th century] among others wrote their own treatises on Advaita.
   By this time ,Bhakti cults were flooding the Hindu countryside. Sufism has been spreading with the support of Moghul rulers throughout the country,introduced by SUFI saints--- Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti of Ajmer and later by Hazrat Nizamuddin of Delhi.].  These Advaita authors, therefore, slightly diluted the pure advaita with tinctures  of Bhakti or devotion to personal gods.They introduced japa and meditation,chanting of Divine Names and so on. Some reaction must have been felt , but adherence to pure advaita was considerably lost for ever.
     Advaita , as practised today and as observed by me, is a delicate blend of Advaita of Sankara and the qualified advaita of Sri Ramanuja.The approaches have to change with times, whatever may be the tenets of philosophy of former times.[Sri Madhwa, who developed the dwaita philosophy introduced the concepts of heaven and hell, eternal damnation for some sinners and so on.He was ,perhaps, influenced by the Christian preachers from Roman Catholic  and Eastern Orthodox churches and Jewish traditions who were setting up their churches along the west coast and some places near Chennai]---these are the views of present day historians.But the influence of Sri Madhwa has been very limited in terms of number of followers today.]
      In modern times, the advaita philosophy has been revived to a large extent by Bhagavan Ramana and Swami Chinmayananda.They did give due weightage to Bhakti practices,but they preferred Advaita as the 'Direct Path".[The traditional school or sampradaya has been confined to Shankara muttas and acharyas  and their followers,mostly 'upper caste' brahmins in India.]
      After the samadhi of Bhagavan Ramana  [1950], Advaita has been advocated by Nisargadatta  Maharaj [a humble teacher from his apartment  in Mumbai] .It is a moot point how closely the latter day preachers  represented Bhagavan Ramana's advaitic concepts.
  Then the 'lineage' claims started;each teacher/guru showing allegiance to  Ramana/Nisarga/Poonja  and  proclaiming  oneself "in the lineage of ---------".In most cases,they have attended some discourses by the latter two and received  some encouragement to teach on their own.[This movement also coincided with the demise of Osho Rajneesh in Pune. But lineage in the Hindu tradition with formal 'diksha' [initiation] followed by long discipleship in the ashram did not obtain....May be these are difficult for modern day "Quickie" Gurus and Swamis.Who cares?!
   This trend led to the development of "Neo-advaita" with satsang  programs.See articles on Neo-advaita in the website: advaita.org.uk for critical views ,including my article on this.
Many are attracted to Advaita ['pure' or 'neo'] with the prospect of quick/sudden self-realization, with the push from a master who can 'awaken' one from spiritual ignorance or slumber. Matters are not that simple---in my opinion.One requires considerable moral/ethical preparations; Chitta Suddhi [purification of mind] which requires a long time and development of equanimity [samatvam][One should follow 'yama' and niyama' as given by patanjali in his yoga system.One should practize chanting,meditation and some form of rituals , as means of  control of miind.If you  can  bypass these steps and if some guru can awaken in a short time [at a moderate fee], you are indeed fortunate!
  

These two basic factors in the 'practice' of Advaita are elaborately treated in India.Viveka refers to discrimination---discrimination between Real and Unreal, ie the ephemeral, phenomenal existence....The spiritual awakening takes place with Viveka...Sometimes this awakening may be sudden...Lord Buddha saw ,while walking outside the palace, a decrepit old man, then a sick person and finally a corpse being taken on a stretcher.This sight created Viveka in him, seeing the impermanence of the body.
   Vairagya is dispassion--a distaste for worldly things---this can be gradual or sudden.When dispassion strikes, one renounces the pleasures of life and goes out as a mendicant.Buddha left his young wife and new-born child and the palace life  and walked into the forest.St Francis of Assisi left his castle, threw away his belongings and took to poverty.
[Chapter 4 for the Gita discusess Viveka and chapter 5, Vairagya...This is followed by Meditation in chapter 6.Thus these three chapters discuss the practice of advaita in a nutshell.]
One uses these two words commonly in conversations in India ,that a young person learns these concepts easily.Note that both are difficult, and may be the 'turning points' in one's life----from 'pravritti' [outward,worldly] to 'nivritti'  [inward, renunciation] marga or path.

Analogies are very helpful in understanding  abstruse concepts of Advaita.The most well-known analogy is that of snake and rope--- attributed to Adi Sankara.Here is one:
      If you keep a large flat mirror in the open yard in sunlight, it reflects a large image of the sun.If the mirror is fractures into several small pieces, the pieces reflect small images of the sun, as many as the pieces we have.The Soul or Brahman is One ,but gets reflected as so many jivas or souls in living beings.If only one can perceive the One Sun being reflected in all these,one will have Self-knowledge or realization.

There are four 'Mahavakyas' or great sayings drawn from the Upanishads or Vedanta.One of them is "Aham Brahmasmi"--literally , "I am Brahman"...many detailed commentaries have been written...Here is a parable,from a Jivatma or individual-soul point of view....
   John opened his small flash light to change the dry cell inside.It had ended its life.He picked up a new Duracell AA battery to insert.He heard a voice from the cell."Hey, do you know what  you are doing?" The AA battery or cell spoke; John was first frightened..then he listened to the cell, we will call Paul.
John: I know you are the cell I bought in the mall yesterday;you were there in the rack with thousands of cells shrink wrapped..
Paul: " You stupid! you dont know me! I am Brahman, eternal, formless Being!."
John: " What? You are kidding  me !"
Paul: No; I am equal to the Sun. I also give light.I am going to energise your flash light and the bulb will glow.You know that!"
John: Yes, I know, but you call yourself 'Brahman' for that!
Paul: "Why not? I give light like the Sun. I also Give light! I am small ---that is all"
John: That is alright.you are also a source of Light! But you have limited life...see, I am going to throw this old cell into the garbage can.
Paul: Yes, I am short-lived,I admit, but still I have energy inside, I am indeed Brahman, whom you see in the sun, whom you worship in the temples, whom you deify in Gayatri mantra....
John: Alright , I accept that, but you are perishable with this tube like form.
Paul: But dont forget, I am Brahman nevertheless!!
John: Hey Paul, Listen, Don't brag about your Brahmanhood...You may know who you are! But keep it a secret!!.....otherwise I will throw you into  the garbage can.You arrogant swami!
Paul:: Okay Okay, I understand; let me serve you for some time...When my body  leaks, take me out and give a decent burial!!
John: Yes, that will be done!
-----------------The end of the parable-----