Not two. The self and the absolute are one.
Shankara's nondualism: only Brahman is finally real, the world is appearance, and the innermost self is not like Brahman but is Brahman. The most influential philosophical school of Hinduism.
DeitiesNondual — god-language is provisional
Founded800 CE · India
FounderAdi Shankara
AfterlifeLiberation is recognizing what you already are
TextsUpaniṣads · Brahma Sūtras · Shankara's commentaries
The map
Advaita Vedānta’s corner of it — solid lines are descent; dotted lines are resemblance only, ideas held in common across unrelated faiths. Click a node to recenter; ✕ returns here. All 171 faiths →
c. 1500 BCE Vedic Religion 800 CE Advaita Vedānta
Only Brahman is finally real.
The world is appearance; the innermost self is not like Brahman — it is Brahman.
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Knowledge liberates.
Not ritual, not even devotion: the direct recognition of what you already are.
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Hear, reflect, absorb.
Shravana, manana, nididhyasana: hear the teaching that you are That, argue with it until it survives, then sit with it until it stops being information.
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