[Advaita-l] Advaita in Everyday life

[Ryan Armstrong]

नमस्ते Murali ji

I would like to propose an answer by saying "There is no advaita in
everyday life!"

This idea arose when pondering your question in the following way:
If advaita is something that I am practising, then is it advaita?

In the final verse of tattvopadeSa it states nAdvaita guruNA saha - there
is no advaita with guru
And this is seen in that if there is "guru" there must be "student" and
thus duality.
BUT
the same verse begins bhAvAdvaita sadA kuryet - one ought to always foster
the advaita bhAva

When turned inwards, practising cintana, advaita is evident.
It is also evident as "not a thing in creation" rather self-illuminating
once mind is at rest - that is, the mind cannot go to it.

During daily life one cannot resort to dhyAnam or cintana at any time - and
neither should one if a householder.
So how does the sadA apply?
This seems to be answered in Chapter 3 of Bhagavat Gita - the liberation is
through the action, offering it as a sacrifice to the Supreme.
And to do that, mind, body - the entire aggregate needs to be at rest in
the present.
This is service, devotion and when practised to its fullness will dissolve
the division between service, servant and the beloved.

And if experience has taught anything it is this:
I am only truly happy when there is not a single thought for myself in the
mind.
And the only way this is achieved is to devote the action to the Beloved
before, during and after its performance never allowing the attention to
move from the immanent present.

So perhaps ...
There is no advaita in everyday life - everyday life is in advaita.

Best Wishes
Ryan

On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 at 16:52, Murali k via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Dear members,
>
> How do you practice Advaita in everyday life?
>
>  An example of this would be asking the question "who woke up?' as soon as
> one is awake in the morning. (Robert Adams).
>
> It would be helpful if Sadhaks can share hints/tips that they practice to
> assimilate the teachings.
>
> Thanks,
> Murali
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-- 
Regards

Ryan Armstrong
+27 82 852 7787
ryanarm at gmail.com