Acharya Prashant explains that absolute oneness cannot be experienced by the mind because the mind operates within duality, requiring an object and its opposite for perception. Absolute oneness implies that the perceiver, the object, and the background have merged, which would end all experience. Therefore, when scriptures speak of seeing oneness to overcome delusion and grief, they refer to unity at the level of the mind's constitution and the physical body. He distinguishes this from non-duality, noting that while oneness implies unity, non-duality is the absence of both duality and unity. Truth is non-dual and cannot be categorized by numbers like one or zero. He points out that human beings are fundamentally the same: the body is born, grows, and dies, while the mind is constantly occupied with desire. The perception of separation is a delusion based on micro-details, such as differing objects of desire. When one realizes that the other is just as incomplete and driven by the same tendencies as oneself, both hatred and obsessive attraction fall away. One cannot hate another without hating oneself, nor can one be attracted to another for completion if the other is equally incomplete. This realization of oneness leads to the cessation of doership, as action requires resistance and friction, which vanish when the 'other' is no longer seen as separate. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that the ego's maximum potential is to realize this oneness. Beyond that, the transition into non-duality happens on its own; it is not something the individual does. He advises that the mind's rightful domain is to investigate itself and the world rather than trying to know the truth directly. By looking at oneself, one does not find the truth but rather the screen that stands against it. This process of self-investigation is the core method of the Upanishads.
