Implication[edit]

The Advaita school holds the view that the world appearance is owing to Avidya (
"ignorance") that has the power to project i.e. to super-impose, the unreal on t
he real (Adhyasa), and also the power to conceal the real resulting in the delus
ion of the Jiva who experiences objects created by his mind and sees difference
in this world, he sees difference between the atman ("the individual self") and
Brahman ("the supreme Self"). This delusion caused by ignorance is destroyed whe
n ignorance itself is destroyed by knowledge. When all delusion is removed there
remains no awareness of difference. He who sees no difference is said to be a J
ivanmukta. Perception of difference leads one from death to death, non-differenc
e can be perceived only by the highly trained intellect, so states the Sruti (Ka
tha Upanishad II.4.11).[4]
Significance[edit]
The Advaita philosophy rests on the premise that noumenally the Absolute alone e
xists, Nature, Souls and God are all merged in the Absolute; the Universe is one
, that there is no difference within it, or without it; Brahman is alike through
out its structure, and the knowledge of any part of it is the knowledge of the w
hole (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad II.4.6-14), and, since all causation is ultimatel
y due to Brahman, since everything beside Brahman is an appearance, the Atman is
the only entity that exists and nothing else. All elements emanated from the At
man (Taittiriya Upanishad II.1) and all existence is based on Intellect (Aitarey
a Upanishad III.3). The universe created by Brahman from a part of itself is thr
own out and re-absorbed by the Immutable Brahman (Mundaka Upanishad I.1.7). Ther
efore, the Jiva (the individual self) is non-different from Brahman (the supreme
Self), and the Jiva, never bound, is ever liberated. Through Self-consciousness
one gains the knowledge of existence and realizes Brahman.[5]