Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | Mar 29th, 2026

The first question is from Ashutosh.

Swamiji, I'm a beginner in Advaita Vedanta.

My level of knowledge in this field is zero.

I've only read Tattva Bodha a few times and Atma Bodha partially.

Watched Drigrisha Viveka a couple of times and some of your videos.

So it's not zero, really.

At least the elements of Advaita Vedanta are there with you.

I get the concept that there's nothing apart from Brahman.

However, in all the videos, Swamiji, you keep saying to us that you are that consciousness and everything else, such as body and mind, is not you.

But if Brahman is the only thing, every single thing including mind and body is also Brahman, isn't it? You explained that wave is essentially water, but some waves are bigger, some waves are smaller.

And different waves are known by different names because their shape, form, and qualities are different.

In the same way, aren't body, mind and everything else including thoughts, feelings, experiences, memories, intellect and ego, just different types of waves having different qualities, shape and form? And all of this is Brahman only.

If this is the truth, then why, Swami, do you say that you are that consciousness and not other things like body and mind? Could you please help me understand this difference? A humble request while answering, could you please come down to my level, which is level zero, or underground level so that I can get the answer?

Well, we can try.

Yes.

So the question is this.

When we come to Advaita Vedanta, the basic teaching can be reduced to these two steps.

First, we are told to appreciate or take a look and see that we are not literally these bodies or even the mind.

And there are arguments, there are insights which show us actually, through reason and experience, that we are not literally identical to flesh and blood and bones Or that we are not literally identical to the fleeting thoughts and emotions and spikes of feelings, ups and downs.

We are not those.

So they come and go.

And for multiple reasons, we cannot literally be those things.

That's shown to us.

Then what are we? We still do definitely exist.

And it becomes clearer to us that we are consciousness or awareness.