What is No-otherness?

The original term: Advaita

The Sanskrit term “Advaita” has been translated into English as “non-duality”.
Advaita literally means not-two.  

In turn, a more accurate translation of Advaita is “no otherness”.

The Meaning of No-otherness

The otherness you feel that keeps you bound in the experience of being a separate-person, experiencing a world apart from yourself, this is not the reality it seems to be.  Your deepest reality, Reality itself, is One, without a second, unchanging as it is.

No-otherness is your real nature.

No-otherness is who you really are.

Abiding realization of your true self as No-otherness is Enlightenment.

Why use the term “No-otherness” instead of the more established term “non-duality”?

When you hear the term “non-duality”, it evokes the sense of some kind of philosophy, perhaps even very deep philosophy of life.  It evokes the idea of something, some thing, a concept, an esoteric concept, a philosophy or world view in this case.  

However, the translation of the term “Advaita” as “non-duality’ misses the live Truth of what the word “Advaita” is pointing to.  

Advaita is pointing to the present-continuous experiencing of Reality as Reality.  Hence the use of the better translation for “Advaita”, namely, “No-otherness.”

A note of gratitude.  I received the gift of this clear translation from the Satsangs with Sri Nochur Venkataraman, a living Master.  You can see his many incredible works and talks and events here.