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If Nirguna Nirakara Brahman is avyakta (unmanifested and formless) and cannot be seen or percieved by the mind or senses, then how does the Advaitin realize IT in deep meditation / samadhi / jivan mukta state, and how does he know for sure that its Brahman he's realizing and not something else?

We are often given the example that when the salt doll went to measure the ocean, the doll itself became the ocean. In other words, when we use our mind (as a tool) to look inwards in deep meditation, to realize the original Self (Brahman/Atman) we lose our individuality and become One with IT and remain silent. And after this experience, when we come down to dualistic reality, we fail to explain our experience, because the knower vanishes and becomes one with the known during Self-realization.

But then, if i fail to explain my experience, how am i to know for sure that the thing i experienced during Self-realization is actually Brahman and not something else. And most importantly how do i experience THAT which is avyakta?

The Crimson Universe
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    I'm telling my understanding. Experiencing Brahman is a manner of speaking. What happens is basically your Anandamaya Kosha opens up and Karana shareera gets destroyed. The Lingasharira experiences infinitude and bliss and knowledge. What you are is the pure witness behind all this simply watching, and the false ego of Linga Sharira gets destroyed. Now this Linga Shareera which has no Karana Shareera is called Jeeevan Muktha. It cannot communicate the experience with other Linga Shareeras just like the taste of sugar cannot be explained. –  Dec 19 '21 at 10:57
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    How does one know if one's realized or just hallucinating. That's why you need a Guru. Moreover a realised person will just know it and there will be no doubt. If there is doubt then he or she is not realised, IMHO –  Dec 19 '21 at 10:59
  • Also your question itself is reverse. You don't experience that. You are that, experiencing the world. Right now your identity is mixed with the world. You think your body is you, your mind is you. What happens on realisation is you'll know that you are not the mind or body or any thing that can be described. Neti Neti. You experience everything other than Brahman as other than you. Whatever is left is Brahman. –  Dec 19 '21 at 11:03
  • I recommend the following books please read it to understand the concepts better –  Dec 19 '21 at 11:06
  • Read this amazing book Master of Self-Realization Book by Siddharameshwar https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SZXfMJLbz-MUqiUuD1yRwLtgtilwxaBH/view?usp=drivesdk –  Dec 19 '21 at 11:18
  • Also I am that by Nisargadatta Maharaj https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G-tEIAExaxDYQZZYXjQVdaKigvm3dczZ/view?usp=drivesdk –  Dec 19 '21 at 11:22
  • Also check this https://youtu.be/K4hCvdDn7Zc –  Dec 19 '21 at 11:32
  • How to Practice https://youtu.be/EwQkfoKxRvo –  Dec 19 '21 at 11:33
  • Thanks for providing the links. I'll check them out. The linga sharira that you spoke of, is it the same as subtle body? ... One more thing ... There seems contradictions in your posts. You said in your later comments that Brahman can't be experienced, since Brahman is not an object of experience but instead it is actually Me (the subject) ... But in your very first comment you said - upon self realization, the karana sharira opens up and gets destroyed and then linga sharira experiences the BLISS & INFINITUDE of BRAHMAN. So you're ultimately saying that linga sharira CAN experience Brahman. – The Crimson Universe Dec 19 '21 at 13:45
  • Yes Linga Shareera is another name for Sookshma shareera. –  Dec 19 '21 at 14:36
  • Ahh you see, this is tricky, and even I'm a student and I'm only sharing my understanding, so this is just my understanding, it can be wrong. So please refer other sources. That's why I'm commenting instead of amswering. –  Dec 19 '21 at 14:38
  • Read my comments again, slowly, Linga Shareera, if I understand currently, doesn't experience the infinitude and bliss of Brahman. It experiences the bliss and infinitude of Sattvik Maya. The Linga Shareera or Sukshma shareera is inside Maya made up of Maya, it cannot experience Brahman. It's the other way around, Brahman as pure witness experiences Maya. –  Dec 19 '21 at 14:41
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    Read the books I have given link to, it is not written by ordinary authors, it is written by self realised Jnanis, it has a very detailed modern explanation. –  Dec 19 '21 at 16:26
  • I will definitely grab the books :) – The Crimson Universe Dec 19 '21 at 18:36
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    if you are not sure it is Brahman, it is not Brahman. If you still experience the 'I', it is not Brahman. If you can explain it, it is not Brahman..When you experience It, there will be no doubt. – Swami Vishwananda Dec 20 '21 at 05:18

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It is a very difficult question to answer. There is some description of what a person feels after the supreme experience in Vivekcudamani.

Concentrating the mind for some time on the Supreme Brahman, he rose, and out of supreme bliss spoke as follows.

Vivekacudamani 480

My mind has vanished, and all its activities have melted, by realizing the identity of the Self and Brahman; I do not know either this or not-this; nor what or how much the boundless Bliss (of Samadhi) is!

Vivekacudamani 481

The majesty of the ocean of Supreme Brahman, replete with the swell of the nectar-like Bliss of the Self, is verily impossible to express in speech, nor can it be conceived by the mind - in an infinitesimal fraction of which my mind melted like a hailstone getting merged in the ocean, and is now satisfied with that Essence of Bliss.

Vivekacudamani 482

Where is the universe gone, by whom is it removed, and where is it merged? It was just now seen by me, and has it ceased to exist? It is passing strange!

Vivekacudamani 483

In the ocean of Brahman filled with the nectar of Absolute Bliss, what is to be shunned and what accepted, what is other (than oneself) and what different?

Vivekacudamani 484

I neither see nor hear nor know anything in this. I simply exist as the Self, the Eternal Bliss, distinct from everything else.

Vivekacudamani 485

I am unattached, I am disembodied, I am free from the subtle body, and undecaying. I am serene, I am infinite, I am taintless, and eternal.

Vivekacudamani 489

I am not the doer, I am not the experiencer, I am changeless and beyond activity; I am the Essence of Pure Knowledge, I am Absolute and identified with Eternal Good.

Vivekacudamani 490

In me, the ocean of Infinite Bliss, the waves of the universe are created and destroyed by the playing of the wind of Maya.

Vivekacudamani 496

Pradip Gangopadhyay
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  • After going through your Vivekachudamani posts, it seems to me that the thought waves (vrittis) of the mind stops arising and the mind probably goes still. Like how our minds stops projecting images and thoughts in deep sleep state and remains blank. But even this blank-ness of the mind can't be taken as Brahman realization. There must be some higher experience than this blank-ness. Ofcourse there's no way to know this by discussing here. Do you think advaitins practice kriya-kundalini yoga to attain this Brahman realization or is it Raja yoga? – The Crimson Universe Dec 19 '21 at 14:00
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    @TheCrimsonUniverse Advaitins actually practice Jnana Yoga. See you have 5 koshas, out of which Anandamaya Kosha cannot be worked on. So we can work on different koshas specially and achieve enlightenment. If we work on Annamaya kosha predominantly its Karma Yoga. If we use Manomaya kosha it's Bhakti Yoga. If we use Pranamaya Kosha its Raja Yoga or Kriya Yoga or Kundalini Yoga –  Dec 19 '21 at 15:48
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    @TheCrimsonUniverse if we use our Vijnanamaya kosha it's called Jnana Yoga, this is what Advaitins use. We can use anyone yoga or do a cocktail, its upto us. And if we use one and achieve enlightenment the others also get activated. Like if a Jnanai Yogi attains realisation, the Kundalini is automatically activated. And the reverse is also true if one does Kriya yoga and achieves realisation he simultaneously attains Jnana also. But Advaitins mainly of Shri Adi Shankaracharya follow Jnana yoga through Shravana, Manana and Nidhi Dyasana along with Shad Sampat –  Dec 19 '21 at 15:59
  • From Google i came to know that nididhyasana is meditating on the mahavakyas (like Tat Tvam Asi). Is it really meditation or simply contemplation? – The Crimson Universe Dec 19 '21 at 18:50
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse Advaitins do Jnana yoga. However, it is possible to reach nirvana with other yogas also. There are basically 2 approaches (1) neti neti and (2) Who am I? popularized by Ramana Maharshi. – Pradip Gangopadhyay Dec 20 '21 at 13:08
  • @PradipGangopadhyay is the path of jnana yoga simply attaining knowledge from scriptures and guru's lectures and then contemplating on them while doing wordly activities? ...or does jnana yoga includes meditation? – The Crimson Universe Dec 20 '21 at 13:42
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse Meditation is essentially dualistic. Strict Advaita Vedantists will not meditate. As I have mentioned in my previous comment the 'neti neti' and 'who am I?' are the two methods that are used. – Pradip Gangopadhyay Dec 20 '21 at 13:46
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse read my description of neti neti method in this post: https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/38280/what-is-neti-neti-is-it-a-practice-or-an-expression-of-ineffability/38283#38283 – Pradip Gangopadhyay Dec 20 '21 at 14:12
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse as far I understand, Nidhidhyasana is getting established in the actual import of the Vedantic statements, which will cause realization. It is not mere regular thinking, it is establishing yourself deeply and firmly in the well reasoned meaning of the Upanishads, it itself is brought by deep reflective repeated thinking of the meaning called Manana, which itself is caused by repeated reading and hearing of true meaning of Vedanta called Sharavana, lit. Hearing. Nidhidhyasana can be somewhat equated with the Samadhi of the Yoga school where mind becomes one pointed. –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:16
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse if I understand it correctly and in my opinion, you cannot actually bring about Nidhidhyasana, I maybe wrong, but all we can do is Shravan that is hearing and reading about Advaitha Vedanta and its discourses and works on it, reasoning it ourselves and asking doubts if any, to a Guru. Then to do Manana, thinking and contemplating about the meaning of Advaitha Vedanta. Also garnering Shad Sampath that is 6 virtues. If all these are done for a long time and if the grace of God and Guru is there then realization happens through Nidhidhyasana. –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:28
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse please refer this mini handbook where many key concepts are listed through diagrams https://archive.org/details/AdvaitaDiagramsAllInOne –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:29
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse also please refer to this beginner book which gives an excellent summary of Advaita. I will paste 2 links of the same book, read which ever suits you –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:31
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse http://practicalphilosophy.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tattvabodha.pdf –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:32
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse https://namarupa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Tattva-Bodha-1997.pdf –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:34
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse https://fdocuments.in/download/tattvabodha-by-sri-adi-sankaracarya –  Dec 20 '21 at 17:38