How to Experience Oneness or Advaita

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How to Experience Oneness or Advaita - By: Nirmala, Posted on: 2007-08-21

Advaita is a Sanskrit word referring to the oneness of everything. Literally it means "not two" or "nondual." Oneness is the basic character of everything. There is one substance that everything is made of. But one can ask, If it is all one then why do I experience so many different things? But Oneness does not necessarily mean sameness. Things can look very different without being at all separate. What about your own hand? While your fingers are quite different from each other, that does not mean they are separate. They are all a part of the same hand.

It also turns out that everything that exists in the world including people, objects animals, and plants are connected at the source, even though they look and act differently. The oneness of Being has an unlimited number of different looking expressions that we then experience as different things.

It also turns out that your fingers are all made of the same substance. As you explore the nature of your hand with greater subtlety, you discover more and more similarities. Your fingers are actually made up of very similar tissues, cells, atoms, and ultimately subatomic particles. When your experience of reality becomes even more subtle, you discover that everything is just a different expressions of one field of Being.

How about this moment? Is this subtle oneness in your ordinary present moment experience? It is, if you ignore any expectation of oneness being a dramatic spiritual experience, and explore the oneness in whatever is here right now. Just as any drop of water is wet, you can find a degree of oneness in everyday experiences. Everything that exists has this quality of oneness, just as every drop of water has the quality of wetness.

Let's try something: look closely at your fingers and then at the palm of your hand. Where do the fingers start and the palm of your hand end? Or are they really one thing? Going even further, where exactly does your hand end and your forearm begin? Can you experience how your hand and forearm are really one thing?

Let's also check all your bodyparts? Are your legs and your nose really connected even though they sure look different? And even more subtlely, how separate are your thoughts and your mind or brain. Exactly where does the head stop and thinking begin? And how about sadness and fear and desire? Are feelings and wants really things that exist separate from you?

Now, notice the simple sensations you are having: the sounds you are hearing, the sensations of touch, and the objects and events you are seeing. If you are seeing something, where does the seeing stop and something else called the eye begin? If you are hearing sounds where does the sound start and the ear stop? Perhaps the hearing and the sound and your ear are all one thing. Yes, the ear is different from the sound, but in the act of hearing they become one thing.

Now let's look at the source of the sound. If some leaves are rustling in the wind, where do the leaves end and the rustling sound begin? Or are they connected also? If leaves and rustling are really one thing, and then the rustling sound and your hearing are also really one thing, then it would seem that you and the leaves are one thing also.

Advaita, or oneness of Being, has often been thought of as something hidden or difficult to experience, when it is quite ordinary and available in every moment. Of course a big experience of oneness, where you directly experience the oneness of everything, is a rare and dramatic event. But why wait for something so rare when this sweet and satisfying oneness is right here, right now?

Article Source: http://higradesearch.com

Nirmala provides free ebooks & online videos at www.endless-satsang.com. He's been a spiritual teacher in the Advaita tradition since 98, and offers satsang (gathering for the truth) and individual spiritual mentoring sessions on the phone.
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