ABSTRACT
The Advaita school grounded upon UpaniMadic tradition and advocated primarily by ya[kara and his disciples can be studied in many different ways. It can be a study following the exegetical tradition of the UpaniMads or a philosophical inquiry of essentially what exists, based on arguments. It can be a guide for liberation, or an approach to the nature of reality. Furthermore, the study of Advaita can reconcile logical investigation with the authority of the texts. Realization of the self as Brahman identified as being, awareness, and bliss, the goal of Advaita, can also result through the analysis of perception and immediate experience. This essay relies on the latter method by exploring the essential nature of awareness through analyzing one stream of Advaita that propounds ‘awareness only’ and defends the existence of a single jCva, the immediately experienced self.
