ABSTRACT
The 1990s in the United States saw the emergence of a phenomenon that was frequently described as Western Advaita. This term referred to the teachings of individuals of US or European descent like Gangaji, Adyashanti, Neelam, Eckhart Tolle who drew explicitly or implicitly on the non-dual philosophy of Advaita. The language of any teaching inevitably reflects sociocultural conventions and symbols. Teachers as well as students of Western Advaita are acutely aware of this fact as it relates to Eastern philosophy and Eastern teachers. Western Advaita principally refers to techniques for witnessing the mind. It teaches one how to disidentify from one’s thoughts and mental processes. Removed from the specific context of Hinduism, witnessing as taught in Western Advaita becomes a technique for watching the mind. Western Advaita offers its students a means of getting some distance from mind so that they are not as subject to its dominion.
