First Advaita...•Advaita taught the doctrine (familiar to us) that although Brahman ultimately universal, it is also fragmented in the sense that it manifests as innumerable individual ātmans.•This school is called advaita (non-dualistic) because it teaches that the whole universe is part of one Brahman, rather than a separate Creator and the universe as hiscreation.•In Advaita, one seeks spiritual emancipation through a combination of detachment from the world and elimination of selfishness (asaṅga), and the development of wisdom (vidya)