Monism & Sanskrit: How two become one

This is article #6 – part of deep trip series on Sanskrit.

Before you proceed, please read the previous articles in the series.

Click here for Article #1… Click here for Article #2… Click here for article #3… Click here for article #4… Click here for article #5…

“We are eagles of ‘one’ nest. The nest is in our soul.” – Led Zeppelin

‘Advaita Vedanta’ meaning ‘Absolute Monism’ or ‘Absolute Non-duality’ to be more precise, rose as a philosophical branch in Sanskrit literature in the 8^th century. This school of thought closely relates to ‘Pantheism’. Pantheism is a belief that the Universe in itself is the true divinity.

The concepts of Monism & Dualism primarily aim at resolving the mind-body problem in philosophy. Dualism as a school of thought could be traced back to Plato & ancient Yoga school of Hindu philosophy but was made more popular by Rene Descartes in the 17^th century. Dualist theory maintains that the mind & the body are separate whereas monistic theory maintains that there is no ontological difference between the mind & the body. Monism as a school of thought could be traced back to the Greek philosopher Parmenides in the 5^th century BC & Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy but was made more popular by Giordano Bruno in the 16^th century & more so by Baruch Spinoza in the 17^th century.

Through this article, we shall explore Monism through the Advaita Vedanta school of thought by exploring Sanskrit literature & digging out words that could be related to promoting ‘oneness’.

Let us explore the doctrine which says “All is One” and all distinctions are ultimately illusory.

abheda-bhakti: When the devotee becomes ‘one’ with the object of devotion

adhyatma-vidhya: Where Science becomes ‘one’ with the soul

advaita: Non-duality, comes close to monism. A school of thought & Vedantist sect found by Shankara. The person following advaita is said to become one with the surrounding.

ananya: When the meditator & the object of meditation becomes ‘one’

bhagavan: He who become ‘one’ with creation & dissolution; appearance & disappearance of beings and wisdom & ignorance (as described in Vishnu Puran)

jñãnam: Knowledge that is ‘one’ and not split into the subject & the object

kaivalya: The final emancipation of absolute ‘oneness’

prana: Life energy that can be directed just by thought and becomes ‘one’ with the atmosphere as it permeates

samadhi: When your consciousness becomes ‘one’ with the cosmic consciousness

tantras: Books dealing with the worship of the female deities and specifying certain practices to attain liberation through sensuality, particularly through the heightened ‘union’ of male and female energies.

vith: The pathway towards the world of non-duality or ‘oneness’

yoga: This is the Sanskrit word meaning ‘union’ and refers to various practices designed to attain a state of perfect ‘union’ between the self and the infinite.

yogi: A person whose self becomes ‘one’ with the infinite

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“Pantheists are Monists. They believe that there is only one being, and that all other forms of reality are either modes (or appearances) of it or identical with it.” – H.P.Owen (1971)

“Atman is Brahman & Brahman is Atman” is a core belief of Monism which could be closely translated as “Soul is the Universe & Universe is a soul.”

There is room for confusion & disagreement. However, exploring both schools of thoughts with an open mind just for the purpose of studying the eternal argument on ‘philosophy of mind’ is not going to hurt. Generally, we have a dualistic point of view dominating all around us, for a change let’s delve into the ‘oneness’.

“Silly monkeys… Where there’s one you’re bound to divide it. Right in two.” – Tool

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Featured Image Source

Dualism VS Monism: “Dualism-vs-Monism” by Dustin Dewynne – Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dualism-vs-Monism.png#/media/File:Dualism-vs-Monism.png