If one is immersed in duality, then one feels separate from God. Bhagavan Baba advises us not to live in a dual world. That is why He often says: “A man with a dual mind is half-blind!” Baba is insistent that we rise fully to the level of Divinity, banish duality, and feel that we are God, and that there is nothing but God!

This quiz, culled from various articles published in H2H over the years, will help us to understand this profound concept of non-duality as well as inspire us to practice it in our daily lives.

1. In our: ‘Conversations With Sai: Satyopanishad - June 2009’ issue, we shared Prof. Anil Kumar’s talk with Swami on His view-point on the three schools of Vedanta philosophy.

Prof. Anil Kumar: “Swami, do you view that the three schools of Vedanta philosophy like dualism, dvaita, qualified non-dualism, visistadvaita and non-dualism, advaita as contradictory to one another? Does one school advocate just the opposite of what the other says?”

Bhagavan: “This is how it is usually understood and practiced by many. But, truly speaking it is not so. In fact, these three are integrated. You find one as being the continuation of the other. You will notice that one leads to the other.”

To explain with an illustration, Swami then gave the example of sugarcane and the three stages of obtaining sugar from its juice. Which of these is the state is non-dualism?

A. The separation of pulp from the sugarcane
B. The sugar
C. The juice
D. The pulp and juice

2.In our article: ‘Conversations With Sai: Satyopanishad - August 2009’ issue, Prof. Anil Kumar asked another question which was internally related to dualism and non-dualism.

Prof. Anil Kumar: “Swami! Kindly let us know the difference between devotion and surrender.”

While explaining the difference, Swami said that surrender is the state of non-dualism, because once we surrender………?

A. We have no interest in the rewards of our actions anymore
B. We accept everything as His Grace
C. We do not exist for our self any longer
D. Our minds are only focused on God

3.In our: ‘Conversations with Sai -Feb 2006’ issue, Dr. Hislop asked Swami a question on non-dualism thus:

H: “When Swami is present, His form is easily seen and may be worshipped, but when Swami's physical person is absent, should one form a mental image of Him so that one may continue to see His form?”

SAI: “Yes. One should have a mental image of a form of God, fully developed, with one’s mind poured into that form.”

According to Swami, when does the mental image of a form of God help us reach the state of non-dualism?

A . When the image of God is seen outside the mind
B. When the mental image is seen in the mind
C.When the form is captured in the heart
D. When the form is absorbed in the soul

4In our: ‘Getting Spiritually Better: An Interim Summary - Aug 15th 2004’ issue, we presented an article on non-dualism with an example:

‘99.9999% of humans feel, like most of us do, that God and ourselves are distinct and separate. No serious harm in this; indeed, this state of dualism is the starting point of the journey to God.

Let us start with a simple example. There is a small girl, and she wants to make a cake for her mother on her mother’s birthday. The little girl says, “Mummy, I love you very much. Therefore, I want to make a cake for your birthday.” The mother says, “How sweet of you my dear! Sure, go ahead.” But the little girl does not know how to make and bake a cake, and the mother ends up making the cake. At the same time, the mother takes care to make the child feel that she is the one making the cake. When the cake is ready, the child says, “Mummy, here is the cake I made for you”, and sings Happy Birthday! The mother is so pleased, and she does not remember that it was actually she who made the cake!

This made up story, probably enacted many times in many homes, is indicative of man’s loving relationship with God, or rather the way it ought to be (when one is wrapped up in dualism).

Everything that we claim as ours actually belongs to God. Our talent, for example.’

What did we share about how a sensible person, or one who has God-gifted talents, can learn from this story and change his state of duality into one of non-duality?

A. By always passing on our talents to kids
B. By never forgetting God
C. By donating all the money earned from our services to society
D By focusing on learning more to expand our talents to earn more Grace

5 In our: ‘Cover Story: Amazing Grace - April 2005’ issue, we specifically talked about how we can earn Grace and make it our sole purpose in life.

‘It was mentioned earlier that Grace is sought by the devotee and conferred by the Lord. Does this not smack of Dualism? What happens to the concept of Grace in Advaitam (non-dualism)? This very question was posed once to Vivekananda by his disciple.’

What did we say was Vivekananda’s reply?

A. The devotee’s desire for earning Grace gets diminished
B. Earning Grace becomes the devotee’s sole purpose of life
C. The concept Grace ceases to exist
D. The Lord now seeks another devotee to shower His Grace upon

Dear Reader, did you like this quiz? Is it too difficult? Is it interactive enough? Would you like more such quizzes? Please help us in serving you better by writing to h2h@radiosai.org mentioning your name and country. Thank you for your time.

- Heart2Heart Team