Dvaita means “dual,” and advaita means “nondual.” The material world is a world of dualities—heat and cold, happiness and distress, up and down, black and white. According to the Vedic literature, however, the Absolute Truth is free from all such material dualities. It is called advaita.
Dvaita means “dual,” and advaita means “nondual.” The material world is a world of dualities—heat and cold, happiness and distress, up and down, black and white. According to the Vedic literature, however, the Absolute Truth is free from all such material dualities. It is called advaita.
Some philosophers hold the view that because the Absolute is free from dualities, it must be totally impersonal and devoid of qualities. According to this view, known as Advaita Vedanta, in the Absolute there can be no desires, thoughts, or perceptions, no sense of personal identity, no forms, qualities, or activity, but only undifferentiated spiritual oneness. This being so, whatever we now perceive is illusory.
But this view raises a question which Advaita Vedantists can’t answer, “If nothing really exists but one undifferentiated Absolute Truth, where does the illusion of variety come from? How can illusion exist (or even appear to exist)? And if truth and illusion both exist, how can there be oneness?”