| Acknowledgements | p. 11 |
| Preface | p. 13 |
| Introduction | p. 15 |
| Why Advaita philosophy? | p. 15 |
| What do we want from life? | p. 16 |
| The Unreal | p. 21 |
| What I am not | p. 23 |
| Not the body | p. 24 |
| Not the mind | p. 25 |
| Not the ego | p. 26 |
| Not a 'person' | p. 27 |
| Attachment in general | p. 29 |
| Confusion of Self with ego | p. 31 |
| Nature of man | p. 35 |
| Hierarchy--minerals, plants, animals, man | p. 35 |
| The three 'Qualities' of nature | p. 36 |
| The 'covering' of our true nature | p. 37 |
| What we think we can know | p. 41 |
| Ignorance | p. 41 |
| Thinking | p. 42 |
| Opinions | p. 44 |
| Beliefs | p. 44 |
| Memory | p. 46 |
| Experience | p. 46 |
| Knowledge, wisdom and truth | p. 47 |
| Self-knowledge | p. 50 |
| Language | p. 50 |
| The driving forces of our lives | p. 55 |
| Happiness | p. 55 |
| Desire | p. 57 |
| Fear, anger and grief | p. 61 |
| Love | p. 61 |
| Actions and results | p. 65 |
| Cause and effect | p. 65 |
| Karma | p. 66 |
| Sanskara | p. 68 |
| Good and evil | p. 69 |
| Sin | p. 71 |
| The Spiritual Path | p. 73 |
| Some traditional paths | p. 75 |
| Spiritual 'path'--sadhana | p. 76 |
| Prerequisites for the seeker | p. 78 |
| Bhakti yoga | p. 79 |
| Purification of the mind | p. 80 |
| Karma yoga | p. 81 |
| Jnana yoga | p. 86 |
| Faith | p. 87 |
| Gods and religion | p. 88 |
| Scriptures | p. 89 |
| Meditation | p. 91 |
| What is it? | p. 92 |
| The mind | p. 92 |
| Japa and mantra | p. 93 |
| The problem with thoughts | p. 95 |
| Other practices | p. 97 |
| Attention | p. 97 |
| Silence | p. 100 |
| Discrimination | p. 101 |
| Indifference | p. 102 |
| Witness | p. 103 |
| Keeping good company | p. 104 |
| Obstacles | p. 105 |
| Gurus | p. 109 |
| What is a guru | p. 109 |
| The value of a guru | p. 112 |
| The Real | p. 115 |
| Appearance and reality | p. 117 |
| Only the Self--not things, body, mind, etc | p. 117 |
| Appearance vs. reality--metaphor of magician | p. 118 |
| Name and form | p. 118 |
| You are the 'Self' | p. 120 |
| Play and lila | p. 121 |
| Appearance | p. 121 |
| The Limits of knowledge | p. 125 |
| What can we know? (Kant and Schopenhauer) | p. 125 |
| Paramarthika | p. 131 |
| More on maya | p. 134 |
| Mistaking the real for the unreal | p. 136 |
| Objects | p. 137 |
| Creation and time | p. 141 |
| Creation | p. 141 |
| Nirguna vs. saguna Brahman | p. 142 |
| The illusion of time | p. 143 |
| The myth of action | p. 151 |
| Only the guna act | p. 151 |
| Determinism, fate and free will | p. 153 |
| Another look at cause and effect | p. 158 |
| Apparent contradictions in Advaita | p. 161 |
| Consciousness | p. 163 |
| Dream state | p. 166 |
| Waking state | p. 167 |
| Deep-sleep state | p. 169 |
| Turiya--awareness | p. 169 |
| Death | p. 171 |
| Reincarnation | p. 172 |
| Summary of Consciousness from Advaita viewpoint | p. 175 |
| The nature of the Self | p. 177 |
| Perceiving or thinking of the Self | p. 177 |
| The 'soul' | p. 178 |
| Description of the Self | p. 181 |
| The Self in Advaita | p. 182 |
| Individual differences | p. 186 |
| The individual and the Self | p. 187 |
| Realisation | p. 189 |
| What is a 'realised' man? | p. 189 |
| Process of realisation | p. 192 |
| Samadhi | p. 195 |
| The 'Transition' | p. 195 |
| Views from the Sages | p. 197 |
| Classical viewpoint | p. 199 |
| Direct Path teachings | p. 201 |
| 'Who am I?' | p. 204 |
| Meditation without an object | p. 204 |
| Dictionary of common Sanskrit spiritual words | p. 209 |
| Sources of further information | p. 223 |
| Organisations | p. 225 |
| Internet | p. 231 |
| Recommended reading | p. 243 |
| Introduction to Sanskrit alphabet and transliteration | p. 253 |
| References | p. 263 |
| Index | p. 269 |
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