14 Spirituality Studies 9-2 Fall 2023 Not only in classical Advaita Vēdānta but also in most other schools of Vēdānta, bhakti and jñāna are generally considered to be two distinct and often opposing paths, but Bhagavan clarified that the path of jñāna is the culmination of the path of bhakti and therefore inseparable from it, so in making this clear he has made a significant and practical contribution not only to Advaita Vēdānta but to Vēdānta as a whole (and indeed to all other spiritual paths, because bhakti and jñāna are the heart and soul of any genuine spiritual path). Regarding the question “what does non-duality actually mean according to Bhagavan?”, the central contention of Advaita Vēdānta is that what actually exists is “one only without a second” [16], namely “existence only” [17], or “beingness only” [18], as stated in the Chāndōgya Upaniṣad (6. 2. 1–2), and that one thing that exists without a second is ourself (meaning ātma-svarūpa, ourself as we actually are), as stated in the mahāvākya (Sa. “great statement”) of the Chāndōgya Upaniṣad (6. 8. 7), “That you are” [19]. This is exactly what Bhagavan implied when he wrote in the first sentence of the seventh paragraph of Nāṉ Ār?: “What actually exists is only ātma-svarūpa” [20]. Therefore, the meaning of non-duality (Sa. advaita) according to both Advaita Vēdānta and Bhagavan is that what actually exists is “one only without a second” (Sa. ēkam ēva advitīyam). Since nothing other than ātma-svarūpa actually exists, whatever else may seem to exist is just an illusory “appearance” (Sa. vivarta), as taught by Advaita Vēdānta. However, as Bhagavan pointed out, there cannot be an appearance without something to which (or in whose view) it appears, so when we are taught that all this multiplicity is just an unreal appearance, we should investigate to whom it appears. Since all multiplicity appears to us only in waking and dream, when we have risen as ego, and does not appear in sleep, when we remain without rising as ego, it is only in the view of ourself as ego that anything other than ourself appears. Therefore, investigating to whom all this appears is investigating ego, and since the nature of ego is to subside and eventually dissolve forever in its source when it investigates itself, investigating to whom all this appears is the means to put an end to this entire appearance and to experience ourself as “one only without a second”, which is what we always actually are. Though there are other systems of philosophy that claim to be non-duality, such as Kashmir Śaivism, if they take more than one thing to be real, they may be forms of monism, but they are not non-duality in the same strict sense as Advaita Vēdānta, because they do not accept that what actually exists is “one only without a second”, and that everything else is therefore just an illusory appearance. Even to say that everything else is just an illusory appearance is a concession, because according to Bhagavan and Advaita Vēdānta the “ultimate truth” (Sa. pāramārthika satya) is ajāta, which means “unborn” and therefore implies the truth that nothing has ever appeared or come into existence. That is, whatever appears (meaning whatever does not actually exist but merely seems to exist) appears only in the view of ego, but ego is itself just an appearance that seems to exist only so long as it attends to anything other than itself. If, instead of attending to anything else, ego turns its entire attention back to face itself alone, it will see that what it actually is is just pure awareness, which always remains immutably as it is without ever rising as ego, so no such thing as ego has ever arisen, as Bhagavan implies in verse 17 of Upadēśa Undiyār: “When one investigates the form of the mind without forgetting, there is not anything called ‘mind’. This is the direct path for everyone whomsoever” [21]. Therefore, what is called the “eradication of ego” or “annihilation of the mind” (Sa. manōnāśa) is just the recognition that no such thing as ego or mind has ever existed or appeared. Since all other things seem to exist only in the view of ourself as ego or mind, when it is clearly seen that no such thing as ego or mind has ever existed or appeared, it will thereby be seen that nothing else has ever existed or appeared, so the ultimate
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