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śrīmad bhāgavataṃ states that ‘non-dual Knowledge’ itself is the Supreme Reality. The ultimate existence is this knowledge. And this is called God. This is also the Self. So altogether there are three epithets for the same entity.

Q: Devotee: Hinduism is so vast and complex. We may not be able to understand it in full. What, then, is the essence of Hinduism?

Swamiji: The essence of Hinduism is deep and profound. It is different from the tenets of other religions. A tenet is a kind of a discipline or practice. It is a functional formula. The difference must be understood. We have got tenets to subserve the essence. These tenets are employed to lead us to the essence. And such tenets are primarily in the form of disciplines, ideals and values.

Then, what is the essence of Hinduism? This is a very important question. In śrīmad bhāgavataṃ, which is an exhaustive narration that took place during seven days, Sūta, the narrator is asked: “My dear Exponent, you have read all our scriptures, the Vedas, the epics, the mythologies and many other allied texts. Can you tell us the essence of all of them?” In one single verse he elucidates:

वदन्ति तत्तत्त्वविदस्तत्त्वं यज्ज्ञानमद्वयम् ।
ब्रह्मेति परमात्मेति भगवानिति शब्द्यते ॥

śrīmad bhāgavataṃ 1.2.11

He starts saying that he will speak of what the Knowers have proclaimed. He is not speaking of his own personal finding. The Seers have found out that the supreme essence is ‘non-dual Knowledge’. It is that knowledge which does not allow you to bring about differentiation. To put it in finer form: It is that knowledge where the subject and the object are not distinguished.

We have a number of thoughts that arise in our mind. Every thought arises from the mind, remains there for a short while and then subsides in the mind itself. How does the thought evolve? Where does it subsist? Is it not from the mind alone? So the mind itself is arising in the form of thought, the thought remaining for a while, and thereafter subsiding. Is there anything in the thoughts other than the mind-stuff?

Using this subtle method of enquiry, vichaara, you must be able to get away or dissolve the difference between the subject and the object. This is called ‘non-dual Knowledge’. Normally we have knowledge only of the objects. We don’t have any knowledge of the Subject. When you are able to understand and realize the Subject, in the same way as you understand the object, you will find the subject-object distinction and differentiation vanish.

śrīmad bhāgavataṃ states that ‘non-dual Knowledge’ itself is the Supreme Reality. The ultimate existence is this knowledge. And this is called God. This is also the Self. So altogether there are three epithets for the same entity. Philosophically there is the Ultimate Reality; spiritually there is the Self; and religiously, God. All the three are really one. And this entity is in the nature of ‘non-dual knowledge’. So the seeker has to search into the knowledge, knowing and the thing to be known; and find out all the three to be one and the same. This realization is the essence.

– Vicharasethu-Jan 2008