Adi Shankara’s Three-Step Approach to Illumination

It’s not this, and it’s not that.

Photo by Emiliano Arano for Pexels

The great Vedic Sage, Adi-Shankara, taught a three-step approach by which one could transcend human suffering and realize the divine nature within. In the non-dual philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, there's only one thing: you are that, just as I am that.

But what is that? There are many names by which it could be called - Totality/Brahman/Nature/God/Consciousness/Being - although, in essence, it is nameless.

So how can you realize this nature within?

1. Insight - Intellectual understanding of your true nature.

In non-dual culture, you often hear the analogy of the ocean and the wave - a wave is not a separate entity; it's the ocean that has temporarily manifested in wave form. Much the same, the Universe temporarily manifests in human form, but in doing so, it forgets its true nature.

2. Inquiry - Continually remembering who you are.

If you are a temporary wave manifesting from an endless ocean, then what is your true oceanic nature? Trying to put it into words is laughable because the Infinite, in its unboundedness, is beyond words and thought forms. It is something that must be experienced, not learned. Vedic Meditation is the easiest way I've found to not only experience Being but to stabilize the awareness of its presence.

3. Negation - Realization of your true nature by the process of negation.

There's a Sanskrit expression that is used to perfectly describe the process of negation - "Neti Neti," which means not this, not that.

You know intellectually that the essence of your true nature is eternal and limitless, so if what you are experiencing is not the omnipresent bliss of the unbounded, then that's not it. That includes your thoughts, feelings, and life situations. All these are temporary forms and, therefore, cannot be the real you.

Since Consciousness is complete, eternal, and unchanging, all things in this relative world are not it either. When you negate all that it’s not, you are left with all that is - Sat-Chit-Ananda, a Sanskrit term meaning Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

Why not just call it that and describe what it's like? Because if you can name it and conceptualize it, that's not it. It's beyond name and form and can only be experienced by the unspoken realization of its true nature.

It's not this or that; it's all things simultaneously.

Much love and gratitude to my friend, Lisa, for drawing this knowledge into the relative world.