Advaita Vedanta and the process of liberation explained

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This article will highlight the nature of reality and how it runs. It will also explain how the process of liberation works along with how it feels to slowly become liberated. Lastly, it will provide some context as to what Brahman and Maya is, and the process of Moksha in Advaita Vedanta terminology. Note: Whatever I say in this article will most likely be picked up at an intellectual level, but the experience itself is inexplainable. So hopefully the words I provide will express my truth to its greatest potential.

The truth of Advaita is that there is only one reality that exists. This reality is Brahman. Brahman is not an entity, a thing or something personal. It is *impersonal*. Even the word 'impersonal' doesn’t correctly explain Brahman because Brahman transcends descriptions. Words have zero meaning from Brahman’s point of view. Brahman is a singularity. It is consciousness that is non-dual. It’s pure stillness or zero activity, yet its presence is the very fabric of the appearance we perceive right now. Brahman is inexplicable and unimaginable because it’s beyond words and meaning. However, Brahman somehow appears as something tangible which we perceive as the universe from the point of view of our separate selves. The universe from our perspective of the body-mind is a tangible thing. It is perceived as something out there separate from us. So how can Brahman do this? If Brahman is actually a singularity, how does it appear as something separate that can experience something else from its point of view? We call this inexplicable phenomena: MAYA. Maya is the word we use to explain why Brahman appears as such. We somehow find ourselves experiencing this dualistic game of life, so we can now use words and descriptions such as 'Maya' and the 'Mind' or 'Ignorance' to explain why the truth of Brahman is being perceived as something that it is truly not. We have Vedic scriptures which explicitly states this ultimate truth and explains the kind of qualities we should cultivate in order to transcend the illusion to firmly uncover this truth ourselves. And if we develop these qualities and have the necessary faith to be persistent and dedicated to our spiritual practices, we can one day cross the finish line and abide as our true non-dual self with zero perception of the universe and without the capacity to experience ourselves as a separate self - this is Moksha.

To get on the path towards liberation, we need a clean mind or a mind that is *still* and not cluttered with thoughts. The more clean it is, the more sattvic or transparent it is to allow the truth of Brahman to shine through.  A mind that is predominately sattvic, is able to hold concentration without breaking attention frequently. It is this breaking of concentration that leads to thoughts. And it is thoughts that distract you from experiencing your true self by abiding as your true self. But why thoughts? It is thoughts that make up the universe and all things that can possibly exist. The universe is not a physical playground teaming with life and darkness. It is actually an imagination from a cosmic mind. If you learn about quantum mechanics (QM) and you read the testimonies from the founding fathers of QM, you’ll come to know that the universe is actually made up of energy.  Furthermore, it is an illusion that things appear physical since the very particles that make up matter are not in a defined location of time and space when not observed. The reality we experience is more dream-like which manifests through thoughts, similar to a dream you have every night driven by a mind made up of thoughts. The dream world (though appearing to have space and time) is driven by your mind which has no contact with the external world. It is this mind that continues after death of the physical body since it is the mind that projects the physical body! In other words, the mind projects the reality we experience at a physical level since the physical level depends on it. 

 

In the level of the mind, there are also subtler levels of reality you can experience. We call these levels 'Lokas' in Hinduism.  This is just a way to describe the type of experience you can have in different realms since data is expressed differently. For example, in this earthly realm, data is expressed concretely where the feelings and expressions of love is corrupted with conditions such as fear, loneliness etc.  The feeling and experience of love here is much different than the feeling of love when expressed in the higher realms.  Love there is without conditions since less separation is perceived.  The feeling of love therefore vibrates to your core as you make up the essence of what love truly is.  Yet, all of these realms that express data differently are still projected by the mind. The mind can experience feelings, sensations, emotions and events. It can also experience all of these but expressed at a much grosser level which is the physical reality we live in right now. Or it can experience them at a much subtler level like the heavenly planes that operate without a physical body. The grosser planes do a better job of blocking out the ultimate truth of non-dual source from being known. This is because the more grosser things are, the more we interpret them to be real and thus block out truths like there being awareness after physical death. These all sound like superstitions from the perspective of someone who believes the physical world is absolutely real (i.e. materialists). Physical reality is where the most delusion occurs which means there will always be the most amount of suffering one can experience, simply due to ignorance of not knowing what is really real. If one cannot perceive the subtlety behind the physical appearance, they will take it to be real and therefore suffering will magnify.

 

Conversely, the mind can also experience qualities in a much more blissful manner. As the mind experiences itself way more subtlety, it experiences the highest realms where reality is governed by thought. These fundamental thoughts create the imagination of a subtle or physical reality.  The more we dive deeper into self-absorption journeying through the subtler realms, the mind eventually loses its existence and gradually dissolves into nothingness as it becomes one with source.  It is a state free from thoughts, even the fundamental root thought of being a separate self. 

This means there was only Brahman, but somehow brahman became localized on itself and experienced something that wasn’t true. Brahman appeared to be in a dream as a separate self inside a reality that was already self-existing, since fundamentally Brahman cannot create. Since Brahman is non-dual and a non-separate reality, this means creation is invalid.  What appears to be creation (which is any reality conceivable), is just an error. It appears to be happening, when in fact, it’s really not. So how can this be? Well, we explained already that we refer to this error as Maya. This error can be corrected by purifying the mind and holding concentration stable to take attention beyond the realm of thoughts which created the illusion. It starts to see through the illusion of there being a false world. It also corrects the idea of there even being a separate self experiencing a false world. 

When the seeker holds concentration by pulling their attention inward away from objects and thoughts instead of normally placing them onto objects, they will no longer give objects any meaning even while looking them.  This is because attention is no longer on the object and hence no longer on a mind full of thoughts that sustains the illusory world. When attention goes inward behind the thinker, all of what you perceive outside of you, now gets pulled back inside your own screen of awareness. You will no longer perceive objects outside of you since all is now seen as an animation within you.  When a seeker’s mind is turned inward, their attention begins to flow in the opposite direction. From another person’s point of view, the seeker is completely present in everyday life and engaged in all moments. But from the seeker’s perspective, their attention is fully invested in something immaterial that is slowly becoming more truthful. 

If one’s mind turns more inward on itself away from the false projection instead of keeping it outward which sustains its illusion, it starts to dissolve the projection because it becomes more established on its own source. When it becomes more established, not only do you experience extreme levels of bliss, detachment and stillness, you also start to lose the sense of having a separate self that feels these very things. Once the sense of separate self is vanished, the illusion of everything else is also vanished simultaneously because all that is conceivable is fundamentally the same and projected from the same source. 

So what happens during the process of mind dissolution? When the mind begins to dissolve, attention on individuality starts to delocalize from its central focal point (on body-mind) and begins to slowly drift away from it. Attention on this apparatus along with the entire projection of reality (where this apparatus seemingly resides) merges back into its source. When the individual mind merges back into source, everything else that appears to be separate from itself merges back as well. This is because there is nothing that is apart from the mind. Everything that appears to be separate is actually not separate, and only appears as such in the mind (a very convincing illusion). So if the mind is dissolved, all else is seen as an illusion within the mind and is dissolved as well since they are all one and the same and are projected from the same mind!

As you perform self inquiry, you have to give up everything. You need to give up all things that are seen as external because all that is seen is actually not real since it is just a trick of the mind. All objects perceived to be separate is all within the singular mind and only appears to be external when it’s really not. If you truly hold on to this subjective knowledge, it will be enough to remove your desires and to keep the mind from attending outwards sticking on to objects and thoughts that are only false appearances.  If attention remains inward, then you will no longer project a reality that appears to be separate and convincingly real.

You must also give up thoughts, even the power you have to force these thoughts to arise out of doership. Your eyes should remain open to expose the false world of objects. The mind turning inward is the meditation itself and should be practiced until it is in continuous motion without being broken by a thought that may multiply into other thoughts causing you to forget that you were meditating in the first place! However, when it’s in continuous motion after some time, you will find it difficult to think of something even when your eyes are in the presence of alluring objects that causes one’s attention to deviate. For the one who is turned inward and remains fully present with their full attention kept inward, how can desires even arise if attention doesn’t drift away with thoughts? Instead, they plunge their mind into deeper silence. As it goes deeper, you start to lose the understanding that you are the body. How can a mind believe it’s a body if it’s identified more with something much more dream-like? Eventually, even the mind will be given up as concentration becomes more self-absorbed on its source, where one no longer perceives themselves as an individual self. 

When concentration becomes firm enough, samadhi will run its course. The body will feel like it’s becoming tense and start locking up, but is only felt this way if you still stick to the idea or notion that you are the body-mind. But if transcended through intense and razor sharp discrimination (negating this very feeling and the notion that there is an experiencer), the body will still function naturally with it’s muscles and joints working properly as is.  This must be done in the presence of empirical phenomena. The experience of samadhi from subjective meditation is different from the samadhi experienced through objective meditation. When one goes into samadhi through objective meditation (close to nirvikalpa), the body will lock up, almost as if it’s merging with the absolute where you cannot function with the body at all.  The body will actually shut off and go breathless as you fall into nirvikalpa samadhi. This is because one hasn’t trained themselves yet to go into samadhi while the body is still in motion. This is why self-inquiry/nididhyasana is required to produce liberation while inhabiting the body (jivanmukti). It allows you to become locked in as Brahman while body is still in motion and immersed in everyday life, allowing you to strictkly witness its movement without volition.

As you begin to turn inward and hold concentration through self-inquiry, it will be hard to get it in motion at first. But once you get the wheels turning and continue without breaking the stilling motion with a thought, the mind will experience bliss in the higher chakras. Intense feelings of pulsations (the vibration of prana) will be felt in intervals almost as if you’re fizzling in and out of reality. These intervals will shorten if concentration and discrimination levels becomes more firm and doesn’t drift away with thoughts. As the intervals shorten, the pulsations will go away until it becomes continuous. It is at this point, you no longer feel any pulsations or bliss. This is when awareness becomes isolated from body-mind personality. This doesn't imply separation, it simply means your awareness now becomes exposed to its own source (where attention originally resides). You now identify with a personality that is distinct from body-mind. You become the pure witness (turiya) that illumines subject-object duality all at once. This is the underlying witness of all states of consciousness (waking, dreaming, deep sleep). When isolated, you remain as that intensified presence, while the body still operates and does what it naturally does according to divine laws. This means the divine laws are running right now as we speak, even when we are completely localized on the false self. You only *think* you are controlling the false self through egoism (delusion). But when you abide as a silent spectator or witness (isolated awareness) you lose the entanglement of the individual self and now identify as the illuminator of both the false self and the false world. This principle can still witness the illumination it projects since it is one with the appearance. This means there is the still the slight perception and trace of duality that’s left since you’re still witnessing the actions of the body and the world (while resting in the presence of Turiya). Yet, the identification you hold is different from the false self and world. This doesn't mean the witness principle is separate from the false self and world.  It is what makes up the false self and world as the true source and illuminator. It is that which illuminates it.  

 

Abidance here means you’re witnessing from the illuminator’s point of view, not the body-mind’s (though you witness what that singular body-mind does).  Your true personality becomes distinct from the false one and you know this since the knowledge is complete and STILL which requires no thought process. Its understanding is complete and known ALL-AT-ONCE, without the linear motion of thoughts going from one point to the next (broken experience). You totally abide as that knowledge (unbrokenly) and watch the play unfold silently without any judgement or any type of intention/motivation behind the movement as you are no longer acting as the main character. Yet, you feel as if you are one with everything because you become the silent watcher of the dream being projected form your own essence. While this is happening, there is firm and complete detachment and you know yourself as the fundamental essence of all. Continuous abidance here without being broken is self-realization (i.e. enlightenment per Vedanta's standard). 

At this point, there can be no desires because thoughts are no longer entertained since they are no longer perceived. They do not exist from your point of view. They are as good as non-existent and you know this because you’re only abiding as the truth of it all. This is not an intellectual truth but an experiential one. Since the experience is unbroken, it prevents an intellectual process to unravel so long as you remain in that unbroken experience. In other words, in order to KNOW it, you must BE it. There will be zero uncertainties and doubts.  There is only the pure conviction since you rest as complete truth that doesn't depend on anything for its existence. 

When the witness principle is isolated, you transcend the calm and blissful mind. There can no longer be any feelings or sensations because you are no longer a body or mind that can experience these qualities.  There is only the witness of the imagination that unfolds. The witness is the source of the imagination and not separate from it. Instead of playing as the actor inside the movie, you become the screen of the movie that can witness the dual animation but yet is non-separate from the reflection inside.  You are the pure and silent spectator that simply watches, nothing more! 

During this time, the body and mind (which you no longer own) will appear to be on auto-pilot running its own course without any volition.  It continues to run without intention. It is here you realize you never had any free will. When one abides in this state, suffering ceases to exist because suffering can only exist if there is a separate self to say that suffering is possible. Suffering can only exist if there is thought to perceive something such as being able to suffer.  It can only exist when this pure witness becomes immersed again inside the body and mind and squeezes back into time. However, when abiding in this inner dimensionless space of being strictly a pure witness, there is no longer attention inside the body and the mind which naturally moves through the transmigratory process of reincarnation. If there is no attention there, then who is it that transmigrates and is bounded to a subtle body that reincarnates upon death of the physical body? This process no longer appears because you cease to be conscious of it. It was a universal law running autonomously that only appeared to be something real from the vision of those who are ignorant and whose attention is completely locked inside body-mind. Hence, whenever egoism is firm, one will perceive themselves to be a doer and will be bounded by universal laws such as Karma and Reincarnation. But when you rest as your own inner presence, it is here you know that you are free from these autonomous laws and processes. 

When one abides as the witness continuously, firmly and without effort, eventually the witnessing function will vanish as it becomes dissolved in its non-dual source.  Concentration become so self-absorbed that there is no longer the capacity to distinguish between two nor witness a phenomena as duality completely fades away. This means the entire projection of the false self and the illusory world vanishes. As to whether the realized being leaves before, during or after the body falls is irrelevant from their vision because once the doer is gone, everything else goes with it. The body and mind will appear to be active from a relative point of view from the ignorant mind’s perspective. Therefore, we give such folks a concept such as Prarabdha karma to explain why the body-mind continues to operate at the relative level. 

The power of self inquiry allows one to meditate and hold concentration while actions are performed. It is this type of meditation (i.e. wakeful meditation) that allows one to become liberated directly while they are still with physical form (rupini). This practice is aligned with Advaita Vedanta which says in its Mahavakyas that Brahman is non-dual. Non-duality is not something separate from yourself. There is only Brahman. We only explain there being a mind through ignorance but the mind itself is none other than Brahman when thoughts cease to exist. So if Brahman is non dual, then it can be realized while your body is still operating and is not necessarily something that can only be experienced with death of a body. This is because Brahman is the only truth. It’s just that Brahman appears to be something it’s not. But just because it appears that way, doesn’t mean it actually IS that way. EVEN RIGHT NOW. YOU (body-mind) are just entertaining thoughts and perceiving them to be real so you become ignorant of the truth. And this ignorance itself sustains the false you which will persist if you keep firmly believing in it until you realize the practices/meditation that is needed to get rid of this belief along with the one who thinks it (ego)!

Brahman (non-dual source) is all there is, this means you can be that source right now even while the dream of the physical body is unfolding. You are able to abide as that truth even while the dream continues to run just via turning your awareness (attention) inward until it exposes this truth. This means that through self-inquiry, you can access this truth by BECOMING IT while still witnessing the un-truth. Though keep in mind, you don’t witness the untruth as something separate from you. But rather, you witness everything AS your very self because you make up everything! Eventually, this witness function needs to be resolved in its own source. Any trace of duality even the power to witness is eventually lost as it becomes frozen in its own truth of non-duality, unable to perceive anything even the ability to witness itself. The status of abiding as the witness firmly and permanently is a jivanmukti and is Vedanta’s version of enlightenment. When the witnessing function resolves in its source, there is no longer the ability to witness itself as the false self and the appearance of the universe vanishes completely.

The other option for liberation is to leave your physical form by dying and eventually shedding all layers of bodies until you become so subtle that you merge with the absolute after being in the most subtlest realm (Brahmaloka). This is liberation without form. This is the kramamukti method which is contingent upon not having a body (physical/subtle/causal). Once all causal desires are extinguished in Brahmaloka, the enlightened soul merges with turiya.

Both options from Brahman's point of view is the same exact experience though the witnessing aspect of it or the vision of it is different and unique. In the first, you can vision the physical body and physical world (jivanmukti) while the other you witness without any body (without form) - Kramamukti. This approach means you become liberated in the highest realm where there is only a slight trace of individuality left until you abide as witness without the vision of anything. To produce this route, you can either go into mahasamadhi and physically die (intentional death through samadhi) or travel there when you die naturally.  If you are qualified, your prana will naturally be in the head region when you die which gives you access to the higher realms upon death.  Your attention will be on the subtler aspects of the mind as you progress through the higher realms, until there is no longer a mind to perceive anything. This is where attention merges with Brahman and becomes free. With self-inquiry, your attention drifts away to the subtler parts of the mind and becomes free without the dependency of having to die physically. This means there should be wakeful meditation that is always in motion while the body is still acting as it normally would. This is how truth becomes firm while you act. Once it’s firm, you become Brahman while body is still alive and running. This is a non-dual methodology and is aligned with the true meaning of Advaita Vedanta - which says everything is non-dual so there’s nothing that can stop you from experiencing Brahman right now even if the truth appears to be different than what it actually is. 

If you practice mediation as a one-off action or practice at certain times of the day, you will only train yourself to become completely still for a brief time while you’re not in the presence of objects since the eyes are closed and thoughts are being suppressed. This type of meditation is dependent. This person will only be able to go in samadhi temporarily and will not be able to abide as the witness permanently while body is in motion. So instead of being liberated directly while body is still alive (i.e. jivanmukti), you will have to produce liberation in steps through higher realms (gradually) only after the body dies and goes through more deaths of its subtler aspects (subtle and causal).  This means you can go through lives burning karma to work your way up towards higher realms to eventually merge with absolute from the highest. OR you can burn a lot of karma through many lives until you incarnate into a body that is born to exhaust all remaining karma in the physical realm.  This is how you will be able to liberate yourself directly while being embodied with no further need to live another life or to shed another body. Both routes and options are available for those who are qualified to become liberated, i.e. the Sages. It is divine will that will propel the jiva to choose what will be their destined path. It is only the ego that believes it is their doing. 

So was the jiva ever free? Or was it lost and locked up in its own delusion of believing it was free? Furthermore, how can there be a jiva if there is only Brahman? Do we succumb to delusion and call ourselves a jiva and hence believe we have will OR acknowledge that we are truth and can never have any will since our true nature is detached from the perception of duality?

To believe we are a doer or an individual self is ignorance. To believe we are Brahman intellectually is intelligence. To know we are Brahman by being Brahman void of ignorance, is wisdom. 

The moment we stop entertaining thoughts to a point where we don’t perceive them at all (as experienced in samadhi) is the moment we become Brahman. Whether it’s samadhi via yogic meditation or samadhi via self-inquiry, we will arrive at our natural state.  Some abide there temporarily but the liberated ones abide there permanently. 

The process of becoming liberated is nothing short of a magical phenomena. To be confined to a physical and gross state, and then to feel your being radiate a blissful dream-like essence until it becomes fully dissolved where there is nothing left to feel or experience, is a story nonetheless. The truth is, there is only Brahman, i.e. non-duality. There was never any creation nor any experience nor a story of being a separate self nor the process of becoming liberated. There wasn’t even an error called maya. This is the highest truth and we are all this highest truth right now. The paradox of it all is that we must practice meditation and keep concentration firm on its source for this delusion to disappear forever. And it is for these exact reasons, we should follow a path to purify the mind, so that our attention can transition from constantly drifting, to becoming completely still, allowing us to remain fixed in our infinite self.
 

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