self-luminous

''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' (literally "non-secondness", but usually rendered as "nondualism", and often equated with monism) refers to the idea that ''Brahman'' alone is ultimately real, while the transient phenomenal world is an illusory appearance ('' maya'') of Brahman. In this view, (''jiv) Ātman'', the experiencing self, and ''Ātman-Brahman'', the highest Self and Absolute Reality, is non-different. The ''jivatman'' or individual self is a mere reflection or limitation of singular ''Ātman'' in a multitude of apparent individual bodies.

In the Advaita tradition, ''moksha'' (liberation from suffering and rebirth) is attained through recognizing this illusoriness of the phenomenal world and disidentification from the body-mind complex and the notion of 'doership', and acquiring '' vidyā'' (knowledge) of one's true identity as ''Atman''-''Brahman'', self-luminous (''svayam prakāśa'') awareness or Witness-consciousness. Upanishadic statements such as ''tat tvam asi'', "that you are," destroy the ignorance ('' avidyā'') regarding one's true identity by revealing that ''(jiv)Ātman'' is non-different from immortal ''Brahman''. While the prominent 8th century Vedic scholar and teacher (''acharya'') Adi Shankara emphasized that, since Brahman is ever-present, Brahman-knowledge is immediate and requires no 'action', that is, striving and effort, the Advaita tradition also prescribes elaborate preparatory practice, including contemplation of the mahavakyas and accepting yogic samadhi as a means to knowledge, posing a paradox which is also recognized in other spiritual disciplines and traditions.

Advaita Vedānta adapted philosophical concepts from Buddhism, giving them a Vedantic basis and interpretation, and was influenced by, and influenced, various traditions and texts of Indian philosophy, While Adi Shankara is generally regarded as the most prominent exponent of the Advaita Vedānta tradition, his early influence has been questioned, as his prominence started to take shape only centuries later in the 14th century, with the ascent of Sringeri matha and its ''jagadguru'' Vidyaranya (Madhava, 14th cent.) in the Vijayanagara Empire. While Shankara did not embrace ''Yoga'', the Advaita Vedānta tradition in medieval times explicitly incorporated elements from the yogic tradition and texts like the '' Yoga Vasistha'' and the ''Bhagavata Purana'', culminating in Swami Vivekananda's full embrace and propagation of Yogic samadhi as an Advaita means of knowledge and liberation. In the 19th century, due to the influence of Vidyaranya's '' Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha'', the importance of Advaita Vedānta was overemphasized by Western scholarship, and Advaita Vedānta came to be regarded as the paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality, despite the numerical dominance of theistic Bhakti-oriented religiosity. In modern times, Advaita views appear in various Neo-Vedānta movements.

Etymology and nomenclature

Etymology

The word Advaita is a composite of two Sanskrit words:
* Prefix "a-" (अ), meaning "non-"
* "Dvaita" (द्वैत), which means 'duality' or 'dualism'.
''Advaita'' is often translated as "non-duality," but a more apt translation is "non-secondness." ''Advaita'' has several meanings:
* Nonduality of subject and objectElizabeth Reninger, ''Guide Review: David Loy's "Nonduality: A Study In Comparative Philosophy"''
/ref> As Gaudapada states, when a distinction is made between subject and object, people grasp to objects, which is ''samsara''. By realizing one's true identity as ''Brahman'', there is no more grasping, and the mind comes to rest.
* Nonduality of Atman and Brahman, the famous diction of Advaita Vedanta that Atman is not distinct from Brahman; the knowledge of this identity is liberating.
* Monism: there is no other reality than ''Brahman'', that "Reality is not constituted by parts," that is, ever-changing 'things' have no existence of their own, but are appearances of the one Existent, Brahman; and that there is in reality no duality between the "experiencing self" (''jiva'') and ''Brahman'', the Ground of Being.

The word ''Vedānta'' is a composition of two Sanskrit words: The word Veda refers to the whole corpus of vedic texts, and the word "anta" means 'end'. The meaning of ''Vedānta'' can be summed up as "the end of the vedas" or "the ultimate knowledge of the vedas". Vedānta is one of six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy.

Advaita Vedanta

While "a preferred terminology" for Upanisadic philosophy "in the early periods, before the time of Shankara" was ''Puruṣavāda'', the Advaita Vedānta school has historically been referred to by various names, such as ''Advaita-vada'' (speaker of Advaita), ''Abheda-darshana'' (view of non-difference), ''Dvaita-vada-pratisedha'' (denial of dual distinctions), and ''Kevala-dvaita'' (non-dualism of the isolated). It is also called ''māyāvāda'' by Vaishnava opponents, akin to Madhyamaka Buddhism, due to their insistence that phenomena ultimately lack an inherent essence or reality,

According to Richard King, a professor of Buddhist and Asian studies, the term ''Advaita'' first occurs in a recognizably Vedantic context in the prose of Mandukya Upanishad. In contrast, according to Frits Staal, a professor of philosophy specializing in Sanskrit and Vedic studies, the word ''Advaita'' is from the Vedic era, and the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya (8th or 7th-century BCE) is credited to be the one who coined it. Stephen Phillips, a professor of philosophy and Asian studies, translates the ''Advaita'' containing verse excerpt in ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'', as "An ocean, a single seer without duality becomes he whose world is Brahman."

Advaita tradition

While the term "Advaita Vedanta" in a strict sense may refer to the scholastic tradition of textual exegesis established by Shankara, "advaita" in a broader sense may refer to a broad current of advaitic thought, which incorporates advaitic elements with yogic thought and practice and other strands of Indian religiosity, such as Kashmir Shaivism and the Nath