One Truth, Many Voices: Wisdom of the Upanishads and the Bible
At first glance, the Upanishads and the Christian Bible appear to represent conflicting spiritual perspectives. One grew out of ancient India and speaks of Brahman, the ground of all existence that transcends name and form, and of Atman, the identical, eternal, unchanging presence of Brahman within all sentient beings. Later, the Christian perspective emerged from the Middle East and centered on a personal God, concepts of sin and redemption, and a linear journey towards salvation. Despite the apparent differences, however, these two traditions share similarities that reveal a common aim: to reconnect humanity with its divine source.
Using differing terminologies, both the Upanishads and the Bible point to an ultimate reality that transcends human comprehension while being the substance of being itself. In the Upanishads, the word Brahman is used for the indescribable, formless absolute, simultaneously immanent and transcendent. Passages speak of Brahman as “not this, not that,” emphasizing its nature beyond all dualities and attributes. Similarly, the Christian Bible contains declarations of God’s transcendence and omnipresence. Passages like “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) or “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) echo the pervasive, formless nature of the absolute. While traditional Christian theology posits a distinct and separate Creator, Christian mystics like Meister Eckhart point to a unity where God is intimately present within and as all creation, mirroring the Upanishadic understanding of Brahman as the Self of all.
A key aspect of both traditions is the alleviation of suffering caused by perceived wrongdoing. The Christian framework, with its emphasis on sin and forgiveness, appears highly dualistic with a separate God forgiving separate individuals for their transgressions. However, from a nondual perspective, forgiveness can be seen as the ultimate act of non-resistance to reality, a letting go of the ego's attachment to guilt and past narratives. The grace of God is the ever-present reality of wholeness and perfection, available when the mind ceases to identify with the belief in separation. In other words, “getting right with God” is not a negotiation with an external, transcendental judge, but a re-alignment with the perfect, unblemished, changeless nature of our innermost being.
Similarly, the Upanishads contain teachings on non-attachment to the past. Certain passages employ personification to emphasize that the true Self is utterly unaffected by accumulated actions. “When he is seen within us and without / He sets right all doubts and dispels the pain / Of wrong actions committed in the past” (Easwaran, Mundaka Upanishad, part II, 2:9). The suffering caused by perceived wrongdoing in the past dissipates when the belief in a separate actor, the ego, is understood to be illusory. There is only the Self experiencing the richness and diversity of appearances within consciousness, within itself. Consciousness, the potential for experience and the ground of all being, cannot be judgmental, for there is nothing outside of consciousness upon which judgment could be pronounced. Judgment is a function of the mind (an appearance in consciousness), not of that which knows the mind.
Both the Upanishads and the Christian Bible, when explored from a nondual perspective, point to the recognition of our essential nature; however, the Upanishads is more direct in its call for discerning the true Self that is identical with the ultimate reality of awareness.
Jesus’ teachings on losing one’s life to find it (Matthew 10:39), becoming “one with the Father” (John 10:30, 17:21-23), or the Kingdom of God being “within you” (Luke 17:21) are pointers to this dissolution of the separate ego and the realization of a unified ground of being. The “new creation” in Christian theology can be seen as the transformed perception of reality that comes from abiding in this oneness, where the world is seen as an expression of divine consciousness.
So in many ways, while the outer forms, narratives, and theological frameworks differ, the Upanishads and the Bible, in essence, are pointing to the same truth, that of a shared, unified reality, which, in it’s purest expression, is the fullness of Love. ⬚
God and Consciousness
Many religious traditions, in their efforts to express the grandeur and mystery of the divine, personify God as a great Being. This divine figure is often depicted as existing apart and away from us, seated in a heavenly realm, and approachable only through prayer, ritual, or adherence to sacred texts. While such personifications serve useful roles in communal worship, moral guidance, and psychological comfort, they can be an obstacle to deeper understanding.
The notion of a separate, personal God implies a duality: a creator distinct from creation. This belief in separation arises from our ordinary, ego-centric way of understanding the world.
The nondual perspective suggests that what these texts are pointing to is not a divine entity at a distance. Rather, it is the very consciousness with which the world is perceived. Consciousness is not some extraordinary, heightened state; it is our most intimate, everyday experience. It is closer than our breath. Consciousness is the light by which all perception occurs. It is with us whether we are waking, dreaming, or in deep sleep*. It is that in which we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), not as an external force acting upon us, but as the very substance of experience.
God, then, as consciousness, isn't reserved for holy places or specific times, but is the living substance of perception, the very essence of life itself. Here, the distinction between the worshiper and the worshipped, the seeker and the sought, dissolves in the unifying presence of pure awareness expressing itself, spontaneously, as the world. ⬚
*It is consciousness that hears the alarm clock in the morning.
Substance Dualism vs. Dual-Aspect Monism
Do you consider yourself a substance dualist or a dual-aspect monist?* The age-old question of how our conscious experience relates to the physical world has given rise to many philosophical attempts at explanation.
Substance dualism proposes the existence of two distinct, fundamental kinds of “substances”: physical and mental. These two substances are thought to be independent with different properties. The body, in this view, is purely physical and extended in space, while the mind is typically seen as non-physical and immaterial.
The challenge for substance dualism lies in explaining how these two fundamentally different substances interact. If mind is non-physical and body is physical, how does a thought in the mind cause a physical action (like raising your arm) or how does a physical sensation in the body lead to a mental experience? This interaction problem has plagued dualists for centuries.
According to the nondual perspective, substance dualism affirms and solidifies the very illusion of separation that the nondual understanding is able to overcome. In other words, the belief in dualism imagines separation where, fundamentally, there is none. It creates the problem, then attempts to solve it.
Dual-aspect monism asserts that there is only one fundamental substance or reality, but this single reality can be apprehended in two distinct ways, as two inseparable expressions: the mental and the physical. The key here is that these are not separate kinds of stuff, but different ways of experiencing or describing the same underlying reality (for example, ice, water, and vapor are the same substance in different forms).
Here is the important part: From the nondual perspective, this fundamental, unified substance of reality is consciousness, our most intimate experience. What we call the “mental aspect” is consciousness experiencing itself subjectively (thoughts, feelings, qualia), while the “physical aspect” is consciousness appearing objectively to itself as matter and energy, the external world.
Dual-aspect monism resolves the interaction problem. The mind doesn't interact with the body because they are not separate entities; they are both aspects, or expressions, of the same underlying consciousness. A thought in your mind and the correlated neural activity in your brain are not the cause and effect of two different things, but rather two different ways of looking at the same fundamental process within one conscious reality.
From a nondual perspective, dual-aspect monism represents a significant leap towards a unified understanding of existence. It acknowledges the appearance of mental and physical realities, yet points to a deeper, unified source. It sees that there is no fundamental separation in consciousness between the observer and the observed, the subject and the object. Both are manifestations within and of one, seamless knowing.
(It is also important to note that, here, we go further and say that the modes or aspects of consciousness are ultimately illusory appearances within consciousness, like how mind and matter appear in a dream, rather than being fundamental attributes of consciousness.)
Dual-aspect monism, then, with consciousness as its ultimate reality, provides a solid philosophical framework for conceptualizing the experience of reality. ⬚
*A third option is the tripartite view, which holds that humans are composed of three distinct parts: body, soul, and spirit. According to the nondual perspective, the very notion of a body, a soul, and a spirit operating as distinct parts introduces a conceptual separation that does not exist in reality. There is only consciousness's infinite being expressing itself as form. The body, mind, and spirit are different expressions or modulations of this single, indivisible consciousness. Here, the idea of a separate spirit needing to commune with God becomes incoherent because God (as pure consciousness) is the essence of the spirit itself, and of the body, and of the mind.
[Pictured above, images of Descartes, a dualist, and Spinoza, a monist]
Unity and the Holy Trinity
The Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit stands as a central doctrine within the Christian tradition and is typically understood as three distinct persons in one God. From a nondual standpoint, the Trinity represents not a rigid compartmentalization of the divine but a dynamic and unified expression of one, ultimate reality.
Interpreted through the nondual or consciousness-only model, the Trinity is the totality of reality: the Father as pure consciousness and the potential for experience, the Son as consciousness expressed as form, and the Holy Spirit as the indwelling essence or presence of consciousness—God’s infinite being—within.
The Father can be understood to be the formless awareness from which all forms arise, the very 'is-ness' that underlies all experience. In other words, the Father is the ultimate, fundamental, Self-aware reality, the source of all things. From this infinite fullness rises the world of perception, the world of experience.
The Son represents the emanation of pure consciousness as form within the realm of space and time. He is an expression of awareness as a specific body-mind. Jesus became Christ, not as a separate person, but as consciousness itself, fully realized and embodied in human form. This form was not a barrier to divinity, but its very expression, the vehicle through which Jesus proclaimed, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
If the Father characterizes pure, aware, conscious potential and the Son represents consciousness expressed as form, the Holy Spirit can be seen as the indwelling awareness of being. In this way the Holy Spirit is the breath of life, for without it there can be no perception. It is the Holy Spirit that guides us, not from an external source, but from our innermost being. It is the very consciousness through which we perceive and experience the world. It is the embodied presence of the Father as the Son.
The Holy Trinity, here, is a symbol of the unified nature of reality. This interpretation encourages us to move beyond dualistic thinking where we see ourselves as separate from God, separate from each other, and separate from the earth.
So, rather than being three distinct persons, the unmanifest potential (Father), its emanation as form (Son), and the indwelling awareness of being (Holy Spirit) may be better understood as modulations of one, infinite source.
It is important to note that the nondual interpretation of the Trinity does not diminish its sacredness; rather, it amplifies it, revealing a seamless, dynamic, and intimate God that is the very essence of our existence. It invites us to live from the realization that we are not separate creations of God but are, at our core and in our essence, unique expressions of one, indivisible, conscious reality. ⬚
The Manifestation of Desire
The nondual understanding suggests that our true nature is not the limited, localized body-mind. It is the perceiving consciousness. This possibility may lead one to wonder—if consciousness is not limited, and I am this unlimited consciousness, why can't I manifest my desires? Or, why are my wishes not instantly materializing?
The answer is that the “I” that seeks to manifest is a temporary appearance within, and made of, the very reality it seeks to control. Manifestation does not occur because there is not a separate agency there through which such manifestation could occur. There is only consciousness experiencing itself through a particular body-mind.
The notion of a separate self, a bounded ego with individual desires, a personal will, and a need to manifest specific outcomes, is an activity within infinite being. The separate self is a conceptual construct, a temporary localization within consciousness.
When we ask, “Why can't I manifest what I want?” we are seeking from within the illusion of separation. The desire to manifest arises from a sense of lack, a feeling that something is missing from the current reality. This sense of lack is inseparable from the belief in being a limited, separate entity. The activity of the egoic mind, perceiving itself as incomplete, may seek to fill that void through external manifestation.
But consciousness, the fundamental reality of being, is like the space in which all things appear. It is like the screen upon which a movie is displayed. As such, it isn't striving to manifest anything or alter the course of events. Consciousness, the perceiving awareness, simply allows experience to unfold.
The experience of life is consciousness appearing to itself as this universe. There is no second, material nature apart from consciousness. The world is not something other than consciousness; it is consciousness appearing to itself as form.
When the belief in being a separate entity is understood to be illusory, the desires to manifest things for an allegedly separate being come to rest. What remains is the fullness of the present moment, the now, the reality of consciousness. ⬚
The Light of All Mankind: A Nondual Reading of John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1: 1-5, NIV)
According to the nondual view, these verses describe a reality where God’s being is the singular source of all existence, and form is its expression.
God’s being in this context is formless, timeless consciousness, the unmanifest potential for all experience. This is the absolute reality, prior to the body-mind and therefore prior to the experience of space and time. (For more on how space and time are created through the lens of the mind, see this article.)
The Word (Logos) represents consciousness expressed as form in the realm of space-time. It is the dynamic principle of manifestation, the creative impulse or divine unfolding that brings unmanifest potential into the realm of sensorial and perceptual experience.
The statement, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God” signifies that the expression of being is being itself, not a separate being with its own separate reality or existence. The potential for experience (God’s being) is eternally present with the expression of experience (the Word). The manifest form is not separate from the unmanifest source; the form is the source expressing itself. In the same way, the wave is not separate from the ocean; the wave is an expression of the ocean.
“Through him [the Word] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” In other words, without the expression of consciousness, there can be no experience of the world. All things are made by and through this dynamic unfolding. The universe is not a collection of independent objects with separate existences, but a manifestation of the Word, the very presence of consciousness in form.
Consciousness or God’s being, then, is literally “the light of all mankind.” It is the awareness that illuminates all experience, all perception, all understanding.
The verses also affirm, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This speaks to the ever-present nature of consciousness, the awareness of being, the foundational “I am.” Even during periods of psychological suffering stemming from the belief in separation (the metaphorical darkness), awareness remains. Consciousness is not diminished by ignorance; consciousness is the knowing in which all ignorance appears.
The opening of John’s Gospel is not a theological account of a distant creator, but a description of the fundamental reality of God’s being in this very moment. It is an invitation to recognize that the Word, the divine expression, is inseparable from the source, and that we, as expressions of the Word, are inseparable from God. As it says in Deuteronomy, “The Lord is one.”
The divine light of awareness shines through all forms, revealing the seamless, unified reality in which we live and move and have our being. ⬚
Recognizing Awareness in John 1:9-14
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:9-14 NIV)
The opening verses of the Gospel of John present a foundation for a nondual ontology, where God’s infinite being is limitless consciousness and the Word is consciousness expressed as form. John 1:9-14 explores the relationship between this divine reality and human perception, exploring why the ever-present light of awareness is so often overlooked, and what it means to truly recognize it.
John 1:9 describes the Word as “the true light that gives light to everyone.” From a nondual perspective, this “true light” is awareness itself, the fundamental consciousness that illuminates all experience. Awareness is not an acquired trait or an extraordinary phenomenon, but the essential nature of existence.
The following verses, however, present a paradox central to the human condition: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” The light of awareness is that through which the world is revealed and is currently sustained, yet awareness is generally overlooked by those living within this reality. How is this possible?
The oversight is rooted in the nature of awareness itself. Awareness is not an object. It is the subject, the knower, the perceiver, the silent background in which all objects (thoughts, sensations, and the external world) appear. The conventional human mind, however, is fixated outwardly, absorbed in the content of experience. In this way we mistake the reflection for the mirror. Because we are constantly focused on what we perceive, we overlook the very substance of perception: the awareness that knows.
This fundamental oversight leads people to believe themselves to be separate entities, limited to their body-minds. They mistake the localized viewpoint for their true nature. In doing so, they overlook their divine essence, the light of awareness that gives them life. They are looking through the light, rather than recognizing themselves as the light.
The verses then offer a path to transformation: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Becoming a “child of God” is not a physical birth or a theological status. It is a transformation that occurs when individuals recognize awareness of being as their true nature. The “true light” is received when the identification shifts from the body-mind to that which is source of all experience. The children of God, in this context, are those who have seen through the illusion of the separate self and have recognized their fundamental being as the perceiving consciousness.
John 1:14 reinforces this by stating, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” This highlights the incarnation of consciousness in form, demonstrating that the ultimate reality is not separate from the world, but is fully present within it, as it.
The path to becoming a child of God, then, is the recognition of this truth: the light which illuminates the world and the essence of our being are one and the same. We are the light of being, eternally one with the divine source. ⬚