Advaita Vedānta does not set forth a wholly separate or unique moral code of its own; rather, it fully adopts the broader Hindu dharmic framework and then interprets it through the lens of non-duality. The familiar disciplines of yama and niyama—non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, self-control or celibacy, non-possessiveness, purity, contentment, austerity, scriptural study, and devotion to the Lord—are all affirmed. Likewise, the duties associated with one’s stage of life and social role (varṇāśrama-dharma), as articulated in traditional texts and read through an Advaitic perspective, are taken seriously. Ethical conduct is thus not an optional add-on, but the inherited and respected foundation upon which the Advaitin builds.

Within this tradition, moral discipline is understood primarily as a means of inner purification and preparation for knowledge of Brahman. The classic qualifications for liberation—discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal, dispassion, the sixfold inner disciplines, and an intense longing for liberation—are inseparable from a life of restraint, honesty, self-control, and non-harming. Such conduct purifies the mind (citta-śuddhi), making it capable of subtle discrimination between what is ultimately real and what is merely empirical. Cultivating virtues like compassion, detachment, and equanimity is therefore seen as a practical necessity for one who seeks to realize non-dual truth.

Advaita also reads ethics in light of its central insight that the same Self (Ātman) shines in all beings. From this standpoint, to harm another is, in a deeper sense, to harm oneself, and this understanding intensifies the commitment to non-violence and compassion. At the empirical (vyāvahārika) level, moral law, karma, and dharma fully apply, and teachers insist that aspirants live righteously and with self-restraint. At the ultimate (pāramārthika) level, where only non-dual Brahman is real and there is no separate doer, conventional moral categories are transcended, yet this transcendence does not sanction indifference or license. Rather, the realized person is described as one whose actions flow spontaneously from wisdom, characterized by harmlessness, equanimity, and a natural, effortless benevolence.