Long before the age of smartphones and social media, there was an orphaned lion cub. Left alone in the unforgiving forest, he soon got mixed into a passing flock of sheep. Growing up with the sheep around him, he ate what he saw them eat and bleated loudly when they did. Every day predators came and snatched away a few group members. The cub feared these moments like no other, but what could be done? As years went by, he became larger and stronger. In his mind, though, he was still a sheep.
One day an old lion chanced upon this flock and immediately pounced to kill a few. As luck would have it, he came face to face with the sheep-lion. The old lion froze in fear! This might be his end, for the new lion in front of him looked strong and ferocious. But, instead of attacking, the young lion shrieked and frantically ran away in sheep-steps. This was a shocking turn of events for the old lion!
Curious, as he was surprised, he hid around to see what this strange creature was, who looked like a lion but behaved like a sheep. For a whole day, he watched in fascination as the mighty young lion walked meekly, chewed grass and lay around with the sheep.
The old lion, wisened by age and experience, figured out what was happening this poor thing believed he was a sheep! Taking pity, the senior lion grabbed the sheep-lion by the neck and dragged him to a nearby river. He pushed the youngster's face to the water's surface and roared, "Look at your reflection and mine. Tell me what you are!" The young lion, with half-closed eyes, screamed, "I am a sheep, and you are a powerful lion. Please spare me!"
But then he saw the reflections and gasped! There was no sheep, only two lions staring back. One was the old lion, but there was another one who looked even more enormous, powerful and invincible. What an impressive creature, he thought. Who can it be?! Then, in an instant, realisation dawned upon him. The young lion was none other than he himself - Large and ferocious with sharp teeth. "I am no sheep, I am that lion!" - he roared, never to be afraid again.
Non-Duality is a priceless gem. It is a philosophy, a way of life, and a spiritual practice all rolled into one. Derived from the ancient Upanishads, it is known as Advaita Vedanta (one of the sub-traditions coming from the Vedantic schools). Worldwide, various other philosophies have also reached similar conclusions, albeit in different terms. This is, of course, not surprising since Non-Duality is so all-encompassing in its vision that there is little chance of it being limited by language, nation or culture.
Just like the famous sheep-lion parable above, the teachings reveal our true nature that is (allegedly) hidden in plain sight. And the claim is that simply by knowing who we are, we can remove suffering and attain everlasting happiness. Needless to say, this is a revolutionary assertion and we have to dig deeper before we can prove or disprove any part of it.
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