Advaita Vedānta understands the relation between the individual and the universe as a relationship of fundamental non-difference. The individual self, or Ātman, is held to be identical with Brahman, the ultimate reality, so that what appears as a finite person is nothing other than that same absolute reality. The famous assertion “tat tvam asi” – “That thou art” – captures this insight: the essence of the individual is the same as the essence of the whole cosmos. From this standpoint, there are not two separate orders of being, but one non-dual consciousness in which both the individual and the universe appear.

The sense of separation between “me” and “world” is attributed to avidyā, ignorance of one’s true nature, operating through māyā, the power that makes the non-dual appear as a manifold universe. Under the spell of this ignorance, consciousness identifies with body, mind, and ego, and thus experiences itself as a limited subject confronting an external universe. Yet both the individual and the universe are described as dependent or empirical realities, appearances of Brahman rather than independent substances. The multiplicity of selves and objects belongs to this relative level of experience, while at the deepest level only Brahman truly is.

Advaita often turns to analogies to hint at this subtle relationship. Just as waves are not ultimately separate from the ocean, or pots are nothing but clay in varied forms, so individuals and the universe are forms of the one underlying reality. Another image compares the apparent “space in a jar” to limitless space: when the jar is removed, no real division remains. In a similar way, when the limiting conditions of body-mind are seen through, the same undivided consciousness is recognized as shining in all beings and as the ground of the entire cosmos.

Liberation, or mokṣa, is described as the clear realization that the true “I” is not the finite personality, but the very consciousness in which the universe appears. This is not the acquisition of something new, but the removal of ignorance about what has always been the case. When this non-dual truth is recognized, the supposed boundary between individual and universe is understood as only provisional, and the one Brahman is seen as the substratum of both.