Journey from Many to One: Essentials of Advaita Vedanta

by Bhaskarananda

The book presents the essentials of Advaita Vedanta in simple language using easy to understand analogies. Advaita Vedanta is the ancient, secretive, esoteric philosophy of India which explains the true nature of Reality, God and the world. Some of the topics it discusses the Ultimate Reality called Brahman; Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman (Transcendental Brahman and Personal God); Atman or the individual soul; the relationship between Brahman and Atman; the illusory nature of the world; Maya or the illusive creative power of God; Maya and creation; different theories about creation; Pramanas or sources of valid knowledge; Asti, Bhati & Priya aspects of Brahman; Nama and Rupa (name and form) aspects of this world; the four states of existence-Sushupti (deep sleep state), Swapna (dream state), Jagrat (waking state) & Turiya (the fourth state identical with Transcendental Brahman);the antiquity of Advaita Vedanta and its well-known teachers, etc. It also discusses how to experience the Ultimate Reality by developing a purified mind. A whole chapter is used to explain the meaning of the expression "pure mind."

Genres: Philosophy, Spirituality, Religion

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[jadon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great text on Advaita Vedanta, a lot less dense and accessible compared to Eliot Deutschs’ (albeit, his has a lot of illuminating information when you pore over certain pages) I gained some clarification and picked up a couple of new things I might’ve previously missed and/or forgotten from my previous reads on Advaita, wonderful read.

[Aran Chandran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bhaskarananda endeavors to provide an outline of Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism. In doing so he addresses an FAQ of queries with both dense and light material.

What I do appreciate is the acknowledgement of the various fragmentation of the religio-philosophy and the development of theories and thinking related to Hinduism and the Advaita branch.

At the end, the message is seek knowledge and we may all be diverse but we are really one.

[Aleksander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, its a good introduction to Advaita but it has some flaws, explanations of certain concepts can use terms like for example suffering ect. not explaining what is exactly meant by them. It may seem dumb to have this kind of problem but at the end of the day its supposed to be a philosophical book so the most obvious things are not obvious at all and it might lead to a misunderstanding.

[Vivek Raghuram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Succinct and illuminating

This book contains the essence of Advaita and makes it easy for the reader to understand. If you are looking for a cursory knowledge of Advaita and want to have an overview of its teachings, this is the book for you.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives some helpful perspective on what Advaita Vedanta is and how it fits into the historical context of awakening, especially within the Hindu tradition.

If you want to dive into the historical and intellectual details of this tradition, this book is a good resource.

[Shantanu Maskeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most suitable book to understand the basic concepts of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Written in a very simple and concise manner it covers all that one would like to know at the start of one's Vedantik journey

[Isha Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Gift to cherish

Excellent content. Advaita vedanta made simple. Absolute delight to have stumbled upon this book. A must have for those interested in Advaita Vedanta.