A. TWBD

 Advaita doesn’t actually use the Christian phrase “thy will be done,” but a similar attitude appears in its teaching on surrender, karma, and non-doership.

It comes from a different reasoning, so it’s worth separating the idea carefully.

🧠 First: Advaita’s core position

In the tradition of the Upanishads, Advaita says:

• There is one reality: Brahman (pure consciousness)
• The body-mind operates under laws of nature (prakṛti)
• The ego only feels like the controller

So the sense of “I am the doer” is seen as incomplete understanding.

🌿 So what replaces “my will”?

In Advaita analysis:

1. Personal will (ego-level)

• “I want this”
• “I decide this”
• “I control outcomes”

👉 This is considered conditioned and limited

2. Universal order (Īśvara / Dharma)

• The total cosmic order (cause-effect, karma, nature)
• Everything unfolds according to this larger intelligence/order

👉 From this view, individual will is not independent of the whole

🔑 So why the “surrender-like” idea appears

When Advaita says “do not claim doership,” it implies:

Actions are happening through the body-mind, but not owned by a separate ego.

So the attitude becomes:

• “Let actions flow according to reality”
• “I am not the controller of everything”

This resembles:

“Not my isolated will, but the larger order is unfolding”

🪞 Important difference from “thy will be done”

Advaita is not devotional submission to a separate God in the ultimate sense.

It goes further:

In devotion (dualistic view):

• “I surrender to God’s will”

In Advaita (non-dual view):

• There is no second entity
• The “will” itself is part of one reality (Brahman)

So surrender ultimately becomes:

recognition that there was never a separate “my will” to begin with

🧘 Simple way to put it

Advaita’s message is:

• You are not the isolated controller
• The universe is a single unfolding process
• Your sense of separate will is a partial viewpoint

So the attitude becomes:

“Let life unfold as it is, without false ownership”

🔑 Core insight

• Not “I obey God’s will”
• But “the idea of a separate ‘I’ controlling things is mistaken”

If you want, I can  explain how Advaita differs from Bhakti Vedanta (where “thy will be done” fits much more directly)—that comparison makes this very clear.