________________ FOREWORD Advaita-dipika written by Svamin Nssimhasrama of the sixteenth century explains the position of the Advaitins in regard to Brahman, the Advaita, and Jiva and the universe. It came in the wake of an earlier work called Nyayasudha by Jayatirtha which was written to assail the view of Monistic Vedanta. Though in the ultimate stage of non-dualism there is hardly any place for a question or an answer ( advaite na prasno na' by uttaram), yet on the empirical plane duality cannot be disowned and consequently the criticisms advanced against the position of the Advaitins are required to be met and set aside. It is known to scholars that criticism of advaita, non-dualism, comes mostly from those who have not studied at depth the fundamental principle underlying the approach of the monistic thinkers according to whom the very purport of the Upanisadic lore is non-dualism. Advaita is attested by the experience of enlightened souls and established on the basis of dialectics. The Advaitin states in unambiguous terms that he is prepared to accept any method by which the individual soul is sought to be explained. So says Suresvara: Yaya yaya bhavet puisam vyutpattih pratyagatmani | Sa sai'va prakriye'ha syat sadhvi sa ca'navasthita il
