Misconceptions About Advaita
By David Frawley 
First published in the Mountain Path of the Sri Ramanashram

The Allure of the Direct Path

Advaita, which refers to the state of non-duality of the Self and God, can easily lend itself to all sorts of misconceptions. Indeed one can argue that since the Advaitic state transcends all thought and all dualities, all conceptions about it are ultimately misconceptions!

Advaitic practice is itself about the removal of misconceptions, particularly wrong ideas about our true nature, negating its false identification with the body and the external world. But misconceptions about the path also exist and can be significant obstacles to overcome along the way. Of course many of these same misconceptions can be found relative to any spiritual path, because all spiritual paths aim to take us to a higher state of consciousness, which can appeal to fantasy and escapism as well as to genuine aspiration. Yet as Advaita is the highest and most direct path this potential for distortion is even greater, like an ordinary climber’s fantasy to quickly scale the heights of Mount Everest.

Advaita is formless in nature and in practice, so there is much room for overestimating, if not exaggerating one’s attainments, and little objective to keep one grounded. Going all the way back to the Upanishads there are criticisms of practitioners who can brilliantly talk the Advaitic line but lack the realization to really back it up. Advaita, though referring to the Brahmic state beyond Maya, therefore, has its own glamour or Maya. The allure of a quick and direct path to becoming God and guru has a special appeal not only to the awakened soul but also to the unawakened ego that wants the glory of spiritual realization without undergoing any real toil or tapas in order to get there.

These usual misconceptions are getting further magnified as Advaita becomes popular in the West, which as a media dominated culture easily falls into stereotype, image production and fantasy-fulfillment. Just as Yoga has undergone many distortions in the West, which has reduced it largely to a physical asana practice, so too Advaita is often getting reduced to an instant enlightenment fad, to another system of personal empowerment or to another type of pop psychology.