Nonduality, or nondualism, is a philosophy, which says that there is just One Eternal Spirit in existence, and that everything in the Universe was created by it and is an inseparable part of it. At the same time, nonduality also says that the world is not real, but is an illusion perceived by the mind. The mind finds it hard to accept the concept of nonduality, because it does not accept that the world is a creation of the senses and is not real. When you meditate and focus your full attention on your consciousness, rejecting all thoughts, good and bad, you ultimately arrive to the experience of nonduality. In this state, of being without thoughts, you realise your Oneness with the One Spirit. The mind, with its thoughts, ideas, beliefs and habits prevent you from seeing what is beyond it.
Imagine that the sky is hidden by clouds of different shapes. It is only when they disperse and disappear that one can see the blue sky again. The sky never moves or changes. It is permanent and always here, only the clouds are transitory, coming and going view. Thoughts, people and events constantly come and go, just like the clouds, while the background is the One Eternal and Formless Spirit, which is always here and never changes.
Here is another simile. While dreaming during sleep, you go through all sorts of pleasant and unpleasant experiences. In the dream, everything seems so real, but when you wake up you realise that these experiences were just a dream. Before, during, and after the dream, you are the same person, living in the same conditions—the constant factor is you.
What prevents you from realising and understanding what is nonduality?
The restless, thinking mind and the belief in the reality of the ego, of separate individual existence.
What can help you realise and understand nonduality?
Looking within you, and searching for the source of your mind and thoughts, where they come from, and discovering who you really are, bring the knowledge and understanding of what nonduality is.
How is this done?
Through concentration and meditation, and by learning to silence the mind, a “new” consciousness emerges. In this “state” you know what nonduality means. You understand and realise it, not through the mind, but by raising your consciousness above the mind. When the mind is silent, there is just Oneness, not “me and the Spirit”, “me and the body”, “me and they”, but just Oneness.