There are some who follow a philosophy which was propounded by Shankaracharya more than 1,000 years ago. It’s called advaitavad (non-dualism), in which there are three prime scriptures that all the Jagadgurus wrote their explanations on: the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra, and the Gita. It’s called prasthanatrayi (the three foundational scriptures).
So when Adi Jagadguru Shankaracharya, wrote his bhashya (commentary) on all of these great scriptures, the theory that he set forth is called advaitavad. Other Jagadgurus set forth other theories. Shankaracharya later added more to his theory, which you’ll see in a little bit. But for now, just understand that those who follow that advaitavad of Shankaracharya nowadays, what they say is,
“No, no, no, we don’t need bhakti (devotion)! We can attain God just through thinking, if I remember that I am Brahm (God), then I’ll be liberated!”
That’s their philosophy. That this whole world, it doesn’t actually exist. It is भ्रम, bhram, (illusion, misconception, or mistaken perception). And ‘I am, ब्रह्म, brahm’ (the Supreme absolute truth). See the difference? Brahm means God and bhram means illusion, a confusion, or agyan (ignorance). So they say that ‘I am brahm’, but I have forgotten . That’s why ‘ye sab dikh raha hai’ (all this that is appearing).
You can summarize the whole philosophy in one Sanskrit phrase.
ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः । …
Brahm satyaṃ jagan-mithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ …
- Brahmajnanavalimal Verse 20 (partial)
Jeev (individual soul) is Brahm. And the world is mithya (unreal). It doesn’t even exist and there’s nothing else other than that. So it means only brahm exists. That’s why it’s called advait (non-dual) - dvait (dualism) means two. Advait (means) ‘no other’, just one - brahm. So in his advaitavad, Shankaracharya took the three eternal tattva (eternal principles) described in our Vedas. Ved refers to three eternal tattva.
अजामेकां लोहितशुक्लकृष्णां बह्वीः प्रजाः सृजमानां सरूपाः ।
अजो ह्येको जुषमाणोऽनुशेते जहात्येनां भुक्तभोगामजोऽन्यः ॥ ५ ॥Ajām ekām lohita-śhukla-kṛiṣhṇām bahvīḥ prajaḥ sṛijamānāṁ sarūpāḥ.
Ajo hyeko juṣhamāṇo ’nuśhete jahāty enāṁ bhukta-bhogām ajo ’nyaḥ.- Shvetashvatar Upanishad 4.5
These three are referred to in many verses of our Vedas. This one is from Shvetashvatar Upanishad.
So Shankaracharya took those three eternal tattva - God, the souls, and maya (material energy) - and he reduced it to one. He said,
“No, no, no. Souls and God are not two separate things. In fact, souls are not many. There’s just one God.”
And there’s a theory called bimbapratibimbavad (the theory of reflection and reflected image). Like the sun is shining in the sky, and if you have a bunch of buckets of water, you see the sun shining in each of those buckets. So does that mean there are many suns? No, there’s only one sun, but it’s being seen in all these places. Similarly, there’s only God, but it seems like there are (many) souls, but actually there’s only one soul, and the soul and God are one and the same. So there he eliminated souls from the picture. And then he said,
“This world is just an illusion. It doesn’t even exist.”
So he eliminated maya from the picture and he said, “Just brahm exists.”
So in this theory, brahm, God, Himself is confused. That’s how He thinks Himself to be a soul. I’m just telling you how it is in this Advait Vad.
“You are brahm.”
So how is it that you find yourself in this illusion of the world thinking you’re a soul when you’re actually God? You’re confused. You are actually God.
