In a world flooded with meditation apps, self-help books, and spiritual retreats, the question “How can I experience non-duality?” might seem natural—profound, even. But as Swami Tadatmananda so gently yet firmly points out in this advanced meditation session, asking to “experience” non-duality reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what non-duality actually is.

Let’s unpack that. When you say you want to experience non-duality, you’ve already split reality into two parts: the experiencer and the thing to be experienced. That’s duality, by definition. And in that moment, non-duality—advaita, the heart of Vedanta—is no longer what you’re actually after.

Non-duality isn’t an experience you have. It’s the reality you are.

To understand this subtle yet revolutionary insight, we’re invited to reconsider how we relate to experience altogether. Swami Tadatmananda walks us through a logical inquiry, just as Adi Shankaracharya and the ancient rishis did centuries ago. If non-duality were a thing out there—or even a thing inside you—that you could observe, then there would be an observer and an observed. That’s two. That’s duality.

What we’re left with is not an object of experience, but the subject—the conscious being that witnesses all experience. That’s you. The you that knows what’s happening right now, the awareful presence that’s listening, observing, being. Not your body, not your thoughts or emotions, but the sheer awareness itself.

And here’s the twist: that awareness—chaitanya atma in Vedantic terms—is not one of many. It’s not part of a bigger dualistic framework. According to the rishis, it’s non-dual. Not just in theory, but as a living truth waiting to be discovered—not believed in, like some spiritual doctrine, but verified.

You can’t believe your way into non-duality any more than you can believe your way into Einstein’s equation E=mc² and expect your life to change. It’s true whether you believe it or not—but it does nothing for you until you understand and verify it for yourself.

This is where meditation comes in. Not to produce an “experience of non-duality,” but to offer a quiet enough space where you can see what’s always been true. A moment—just a second—of silence, with the mind as still as it is in deep sleep, but with awareness fully awake, can be a window into that truth. In that silence, the usual parade of dualistic experience—the mental chatter, sensory impressions, emotions—disappears, just as it does in deep sleep. What remains is not a new experience, but the unchanged, unchanging consciousness that’s been with you through waking, dreaming, and sleeping.

And that consciousness is non-dual. Always has been.

So the goal of this meditation session wasn’t to create non-duality—it was to quiet the noise enough to let you confirm what the sages discovered. The session began with a gentle body-awareness practice to release tension, followed by each participant choosing their own preferred meditation technique to settle the mind. Then, Swami Tadatmananda introduced a deceptively simple but powerful mantra practice: chanting Om with deliberate gaps in between. In those brief, silent pauses—a second or two of mental stillness—the door opens.

Not to an experience, but to a recognition.

“You don’t experience non-duality,” Swami Tadatmananda reminds us. “You confirm it.”

And that moment of confirmation can change everything.

If you’re waiting for some mystical state to descend on you like a lightning bolt of enlightenment, you may be waiting a long time. But if you can practice meditation daily, attentively, patiently—letting your mind grow quiet enough to touch that silence—you may discover that non-duality isn’t something you find.

It’s what’s been true of you all along.

Credits:

Discourse by Swami Tadatmananda Saraswati from Arsha Bodha Center

Watch the full session here: Advanced Meditation – YouTube