At the heart of this tradition stands the Advaita Vedānta vision that Brahman alone is the ultimate, unchanging reality. Brahman is understood as the sole, indivisible ground of existence, the substratum behind all names and forms, while the world of multiplicity is explained through the principle of māyā. This māyā is not sheer nonexistence, but the power by which reality appears as a manifold universe, giving rise to the empirical experience of difference and change. On the highest level, however, this diversity does not compromise the unity of Brahman, which remains one without a second.

Flowing from this is the teaching that the innermost Self, the ātman, is not other than Brahman. The spiritual journey is thus framed as a movement from ignorance (avidyā) about this identity to direct realization of it. Liberation (mokṣa) is attained through jñāna, the transformative knowledge that dispels the illusion of separateness and reveals the Self as existence–consciousness–bliss. Suffering and bondage are traced to the misperception that the individual is a limited, separate entity, rather than the very reality that pervades all.

Within this non-dual framework, the worship of multiple deities is not seen as a contradiction but as a skillful means. The various deities—such as Viṣṇu, Śiva, Devī, Gaṇeśa, and Sūrya—are regarded as saguna Brahman, accessible forms of the one formless, attributeless reality. The concept of iṣṭa-devatā allows each seeker to choose a preferred form of the divine, while maintaining the understanding that no single deity holds ultimate supremacy over the others. All forms are honored as valid gateways leading the mind from form to the formless.

This approach yields a practical non-dualism in which devotion, ritual, and knowledge are harmonized rather than opposed. Bhakti and ritual worship serve to purify and steady the mind, preparing it for the subtle discernment required for non-dual insight. Karma, bhakti, and jñāna are thus integrated within a single vision: diverse paths and divine forms are embraced at the empirical level, while the seeker is continually oriented toward the realization of the one, non-dual Brahman that underlies and transcends them all.