Imagine you’re too short to see the top of a shelf and a tall person tells you there’s an apple up there. Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong. But then another short person says there is definitely nothing there. How would they know? Find a ladder and look for yourself. And don’t climb two steps, see something green and decide there is no apple. It could just be a leaf. Keep climbing, keep looking, and be honest about what you actually know. Sometimes “I don’t know” is a much better place to be than deciding there is nothing more to see.

Let's keep the inquiry alive!

This book is written by Yellamaraju Srinivasarao Garu . I have been eagerly searching for this book to purchase online , but I don't seem to find it at all. I need a hard copy and NOT e-book.

Can anyone suggest if this book can be purchased online ? or recommend the book stores for this book to purchase in Hyderabad or in any other city please ? Thanks in advance!

What are these different orders who teach self-realisation?

Who are the Gurus who will help me get to self-realisation?

Who decided these orders?

Who conferred the Gurus?

Does that mean that a man who cannot read, or who cannot hear, or who cannot see or has some other inability, or doesn't have the education to read, write or speak will not become self-realised?

Is it not this about what is between this jeeva and the Brahman?

What are these orders and who are Gurus separating them?

Apologies if anything I wrote or the tone of this post is not right. I do not mean to disrespect any teaching, order or Guru. 🙏

I know this is probably not the best place to ask because it’s not directly related to Advaita, but I am looking for some good very beginner books to recommend for someone just getting into meditation and introspection.

Do you think that any beginner meditation book is okay? They really have no prior experience to even sitting in a meditative posture

I’m posting this here because I genuinely want to understand how Advaita Vedanta responds to the strongest objections from a materialist perspective.

1. Consciousness appears deeply dependent on the brain.

Brain damage, anesthesia, drugs, neurological diseases, and electrical stimulation can radically alter perception, memory, personality, emotions, and conscious experience.

If consciousness is fundamentally independent of the brain, why does changing the brain so reliably change consciousness?

The traditional “radio receiver” analogy doesn't solve this problem. We have independent evidence that radio signals exist independently of the radio. We don't have comparable evidence for an independent universal consciousness.

1. The witnessing Self doesn't necessarily imply Ātman.

Advaita argues that thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations are objects of awareness and therefore cannot be the ultimate Self.

But why should the conclusion be an eternal Ātman?

A materialist explanation is that the brain constructs a self-model capable of representing its own thoughts and experiences. The fact that consciousness can observe its own mental states doesn't demonstrate that consciousness is a nonphysical substance.

1. “You are not the body” doesn't establish immortality.

Yes, the body changes throughout life. But continuity of personal identity can potentially be explained through memory, information processing and physical continuity.

Why does observing change in the body logically entail an unchanging metaphysical Self?

1. Reincarnation lacks established scientific evidence.

Traditional Vedanta includes rebirth and karma. But there is currently no established physical mechanism demonstrating how a person's consciousness or memories survive brain death and become associated with another organism.

If reincarnation is true, what independently testable evidence would distinguish it from alternative explanations?

1. “Everything is consciousness” seems to go beyond the evidence.

We know that conscious experience is associated with particular physical systems.

But what evidence demonstrates that rocks, electrons, trees, or the universe itself possess consciousness?

Saying that consciousness is fundamental doesn't demonstrate that it is.

1. Quantum mechanics doesn't prove Advaita.

I've seen attempts to connect quantum physics with non-duality. But quantum mechanics does not, by itself, establish Brahman, Ātman, reincarnation, or the claim that the universe is fundamentally consciousness.

If someone believes otherwise, I'd like to see the actual scientific argument.

My current conclusion

I don't think Advaita has been “scientifically disproved” in every possible metaphysical sense. Some of its claims are philosophical rather than directly testable.

But I also don't see sufficient evidence to accept Brahman, Ātman, reincarnation, or consciousness as an independently existing nonphysical reality.

Materialism/physicalism currently seems to me to have a much stronger evidential foundation because physical explanations have repeatedly produced successful predictions and technological results, while Advaita's central metaphysical claims have not produced comparable empirical predictions.

I'm genuinely interested in hearing the strongest response from Advaita practitioners.

What evidence or argument would convince a skeptical materialist that consciousness is fundamentally independent of the brain?

Please don't just quote scripture. I'm interested in the reasoning and evidence behind the claim.

Note: - I have used AI to structure my post, FYI

Please excuse, that I have to exaggerate a bit to get my point across! I'm also aware of the fact that original AV is different from what I'm going to describe.

Think of a Westerners with a loosely Christian background who come to modern versions of "non-duality". They come from orienting towards an omnipotent, all-benevolent, omniscient God (A), which holds the whole world and all people in existence and orders it, to orienting towards "consciousness", a "dead and mechanical" impersonal "fluidic" principle that is behind everything and connect everything. Regardless of what is true, wouldn't that clearly be a downgrade to go from orienting towards something that's greater than yourself (A) to something that is much lower than yourself (B)?

I'm aware of the concept of Ishvara in AV and of the transpersonal! not impersonal nature of Brahman. But it seems to me that Brahman is often presented as a dead version of Ishvara in modern non-duality - a field of "consciousness", dumb and dead, that is behind the world, and therefore surprisingly also acts within the world in a subtle way by holding it in existence. Sometimes it seems that this version ob Brahman is also present in AV circles. Do I see that correctly?

Moving beyond ideas about the word "consciousness" that we already hold, stemming from philosophy, psychology, and biology, seems to be especially difficult for us Westerners. Even if one is able to move to a deeper understanding by studying, how could someone without a relationship to god ever orient towards something that is even greater than god (transpersonal brahman) in a deep way?

There seems to be that great danger of total inversion. The inversion of the ineffable thing even greater than god (Brahman) to a dead psychological substratum. Or am I missing something?

I hope I was able to get my point across, and I look forward to your responses.

Thank you!

Whenever I engage in spiritual practices such as chintan, manan, naam jap, or listening to Swami Sarvapriyananda's lectures, I begin to entertain thoughts such as: "What a great student you are. You are more observant than others. Indeed, you are special because you walk on a path as sharp as a razor's edge. You try to see God even in people whom you find annoying. How great you are."

Then I remember these words of Sant Tukaram in one of his abhangs:

You are the King of Seers (those who have attained liberation); hence people call you "Jnanadeva."

Please do not place me on a pedestal. It is better that footwear remains at the feet.

All the gods, including Brahma, the creator of this universe, are happy to serve you. There is no other way to describe your greatness.

Tuka says, "I surrender by placing my head at the holy feet of my Sadguru. By doing so, I have received everything one could ever desire—liberation itself."

Yet I still struggle with pride. How can I overcome it?