Advaita is a Sanskrit word meaning non-dual and with reference to the basic nature of the universe it means that the outside universe and the perceiving individual self or mind are not different from each other as it seems, but are actually one and the same. There is no dual existence separately as the mind and as the universe.
However this concept is not easily acceptable to a common man, because of the general perception that this universe had been existing for billions of years, before man with his mind emerged on the scene. In response, the arguments to uphold advaita run like this –
Existence of any entity is ultimately established and accepted by only the mind. As such without the mind nothing can be said to exist. Actually both the mind and the universe need each other to exist. In other words one cannot exist without the other and as such both are one and the same. While the mind gives shape, value and meaning to the universe, it is the universe, which happens to sustain the mind. Even when the mind thinks about the past of the universe existing without the mind, this thinking is done by the mind only in the present moment and without the mind, the concept of the past and the past existence of any entity also cannot arise. The problem is that the mind ignores its own role while upholding the reality of the existence of the outside universe. The universe can be compared to a painting or a picture on a canvas, which is the mind. Just as a painting cannot exist without the canvas, the universe cannot exist without the mind. When we see the painting, we ignore the presence of the canvas. Similarly the role of the mind is by and large ignored while accepting the reality of the universe.
This can be explained in simple mathematics. Let us call the self or mind as ‘M’ and the universe as ‘U’. Let us assign a value 1 (numeral one) to the mind ‘M’. As the universe is extremely vast and infinite in size compared to the individual, the value of the universe ‘U’ is innumerably more than 1 and can be written in an equation as –
U = 1, 0000000000000000000………- …( with zero going up to infinity ).
Interestingly in the above equation, if we remove 1 on the right hand side, the value of U happens to become 0 despite the presence of zeros up to infinity. The zeros in effect get value only because of 1. Thus it is 1 that clearly gives value to ‘U’. In other words, as mind is 1, it is the mind that gives value to the universe. Thus this proves the basic advaitic principle that it is the mind that gives value and meaning to the universe, which does not even happen to exist in the absence of the perceiving mind.
There is also another mathematical way to look at the issue. Now the mind and the universe either exist together or vanish altogether. This can be expressed as –
U + M = 0. Now as the mind is a product and portion of the universe, M = 1/U and substituting for M in the earlier equation U + 1/U = 0. Then by rearranging U = –1/U,
Cross multiplying it becomes, U2 ( square of U ) = –1.
Solving this equation it turns out that U = square root of –1, which is an imaginary number in mathematics known as ‘i’. This proves that the universe ‘U’ is actually imaginary proving the basic advaitic principle that the universe is an illusion and not as absolute and real as it seems.
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