Advaita Advaita is a Sanskrit word that when literally translated means, ‘not two.’ We normally conceive of experience being divided into an experiencer, and something (an object, world or other person) that is experienced. The understanding that is expressed in advaita, or non-duality, is based simply on a clear seeing of the facts of experience itself. In advaita it is understood that experience is not divided into two parts, an experiencer and an experienced, a subject and an object, a ‘me’ and an ‘other.’ In advaita the experiencer and the experienced are understood to be only experiencing itself. The subject and the object collapse into that which is their common source and substance. This common source and substance is not an object and can therefore never be perceived by the senses or conceived by the mind. In order to avoid making a subtle object of this ‘source and substance,’ the ancient sages referred to it as advaita, ‘not two,’ rather than calling it Oneness. In advaita it is understood that the ‘source and substance’ of experience is the Consciousness/Being that is the essence of our self, and that is intimately know in the experience, ‘I am.’ In other words, advaita understands that the ultimate reality of all that is experienced is identical with the ultimate reality of our self. There are not ‘two things.’ There is only Presence, Being, Consciousness. To read a more complete essay on advaita, click here*.