Within Advaita Vedānta, enlightenment—mokṣa—is not only regarded as possible, but as the very heart of the teaching. It is described as the direct realization that one’s true Self (Ātman) is identical with Brahman, the non-dual reality. This is not a matter of becoming something new; rather, it is the clear recognition of what has always been the case, once ignorance (avidyā) and the illusion of separateness are dispelled. Enlightenment is thus characterized as the firm, doubtless knowledge expressed in mahāvākyas such as “ahaṁ brahmāsmi” (“I am Brahman”).

Advaita emphasizes that the effective cause of this liberation is knowledge (jñāna), but it also insists that the mind must be properly prepared to receive and assimilate that knowledge. Traditional qualifications—such as discrimination between the real and the unreal, dispassion toward transient pleasures, disciplined living, and an intense longing for freedom—are seen as essential groundwork. Ethical conduct, mental tranquility, and self-control function as a kind of inner purification, allowing the non-dual teaching to take root without obstruction. In this sense, practices of action, devotion, and meditation are not denied, but are understood as preparatory rather than ultimately liberating in themselves.

The core methodology is often summarized in the triad of śravaṇa, manana, and nididhyāsana. Śravaṇa is the attentive listening to the Upaniṣadic teaching from a competent teacher, absorbing the vision of non-duality as presented in scripture and commentary. Manana is the reflective process through which doubts are resolved, using reason to reconcile apparent contradictions and to stabilize understanding. Nididhyāsana is deep contemplative assimilation, a sustained dwelling on the truth until it becomes an immediate, unwavering recognition rather than a merely conceptual conviction. Through this process, the apparent gap between “knowing about” non-duality and “being established in” non-duality is gradually erased.

When this recognition becomes steady and irreversible, Advaita speaks of jīvanmukti, liberation while still embodied. The body–mind complex continues to function in the world, but the sense of being a limited, separate individual is no longer taken as ultimately real. What had been experienced as a personal self is understood as nothing other than Brahman, and the play of duality is seen as an appearance that no longer binds. From the standpoint of Advaita, this is not a distant ideal but the natural culmination of a life oriented toward discernment, inner purification, and sustained inquiry into the truth of the Self.