Advaita Vedanta

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Hinduism Template:Advaita Template:Hindu philosophy Template:Contains special characters

File:Raja Ravi Varma - Sankaracharya.jpg

Adi Shankara, the most prominent exponent of Advaita Vedānta tradition.
"I am other than name, form and action.
My nature is ever free!
I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman.
I am pure Awareness, always non-dual."
Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7Template:Sfn

Advaita Vedanta (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx, Template:IAST3) is a Hindu tradition of Brahmanical textual exegesis and philosophy, and a monastic institutional tradition nominally related to the Daśanāmi Sampradaya and propagated by the Smarta tradition. Its core tenet is that jivatman, the individual experiencing self, is ultimately pure awareness mistakenly identified with body and the senses,<ref>Tattvabodha 33, International Vedanta Mission</ref> and non-different ("na aparah") from Ātman/Brahman, the highest Self or Reality.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn The term Advaita literally means "non-secondness", but is usually rendered as "nonduality".Template:Sfn Template:Sfn This refers to the Oneness of Brahman,Template:Sfn the only real Existent, and is often equated with monism.Template:Refn

Advaita Vedanta is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience.Template:Refn It states that moksha (liberation from 'suffering' and rebirth)Template:Sfn Template:Sfn is attained through knowledge of Brahman, recognizing the illusoriness of the phenomenal world and disidentification from body-mind and the notion of 'doership',Template:Refn and by acquiring vidyā (knowledge)Template:Sfn of one's true identity as Atman/Brahman,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn self-luminous (svayam prakāśa)Template:Refn awareness or Witness-consciousness.Template:Sfn Template:Refn This knowledge is acquired through Upanishadic statements such as tat tvam asi, "that['s how] you are," which destroy the ignorance (avidyā) regarding one's true identity by revealing that (jiv)Ātman is non-different from immortalTemplate:Refn Brahman.Template:Refn

The Advaita vedanta tradition modifies the Samkhya-dualism between Purusha (pure awareness or consciousness) and Prakriti ('nature', which includes matter but also cognition and emotion) as the two equal basic principles of existence.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn It proposes instead that Atman/Brahman (awareness, purusha) alone is ultimately real and, though unchanging,Template:Sfn is the cause and origin of the transient phenomenal world (prakriti). In this view, the jivatman or individual self is a mere reflection or limitation of singular Ātman in a multitude of apparent individual bodies.Template:Sfn It regards the material world as an illusory appearance (maya) or "an unreal manifestation (vivarta) of Brahman,"Template:Sfn the latter as proposed by the 13th century scholar Prakasatman of the Vivarana school.Template:Sfn

Advaita Vedanta is often presented as an elite scholarly tradition belonging to the orthodox Hindu Vedānta Template:Refn tradition, emphasizing scholarly works written in Sanskrit;Template:Sfn as such, it is an "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture."Template:Sfn Yet contemporary Advaita Vedanta is yogic Advaita, a medieval and modern syncretic tradition incorporating Yoga and other traditions, and producing works in vernacular.Template:Sfn The earliest Advaita writings are the Sannyasa Upanishads (first centuries CE), the Vākyapadīya, written by Bhartṛhari (second half 5th century,Template:Sfn) and the Māndūkya-kārikā written by Gauḍapāda (7th century).Template:Sfn Gaudapada adapted philosophical concepts from Buddhism, giving them a Vedantic basis and interpretation.Template:Sfn The Buddhist concepts were further Vedanticised by Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), who is generally regarded as the most prominent exponent of the Advaita Vedānta tradition,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn though some of the most prominent Advaita-propositions come from other Advaitins, and his early influence has been questioned.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn Adi Shankara emphasized that, since Brahman is ever-present, Brahman-knowledge is immediate and requires no 'action' or 'doership', that is, striving (to attain) and effort.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Nevertheless, the Advaita tradition, as represented by Mandana Misra and the Bhamati school, also prescribes elaborate preparatory practice, including contemplation of the mahavakyas,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn posing a paradox of two opposing approaches which is also recognized in other spiritual disciplines and traditions.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Shankara's prominence as the exemplary defender of traditional Hindu-values and spirituality started to take shape only centuries later, in the 14th century, with the ascent of Sringeri matha and its jagadguru Vidyaranya (Madhava, 14th cent.) in the Vijayanagara Empire,Template:Refn While Adi Shankara did not embrace Yoga,Template:Sfn the Advaita-tradition by then had accepted yogic samadhi as a means to still the mind and attain knowledge, explicitly incorporating elements from the yogic tradition and texts like the Yoga Vasistha and the Bhagavata Purana,Template:Sfn culminating in Swami Vivekananda's full embrace and propagation of Yogic samadhi as an Advaita means of knowledge and liberation.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In the 19th century, due to the influence of Vidyaranya's Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha,Template:Sfn the importance of Advaita Vedānta was overemphasized by Western scholarship,Template:Sfn and Advaita Vedānta came to be regarded as the paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality, despite the numerical dominance of theistic Bhakti-oriented religiosity.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn In modern times, Advaita views appear in various Neo-Vedānta movements.Template:Sfn

Template:TOC limit

Etymology and nomenclatureEdit

EtymologyEdit

The word Advaita is a composite of two Sanskrit words:

Prefix "a-" (अ), meaning "non-"
"Dvaita" (द्वैत), which means 'duality' or 'dualism'.<ref group=web name="EB_Dvaita"/>

Advaita is often translated as "non-duality," but a more apt translation is "non-secondness."Template:Sfn Advaita refers to the Oneness of Brahman,Template:Sfn sometimes interpreted as monism: there is no other reality than Brahman, that "Reality is not constituted by parts," that is, ever-changing 'things' have no existence of their own, but are appearances of the one Existent, Brahman; and that there is in reality no duality between the "experiencing self" (jiva) and Brahman, the Ground of Being.Template:Refn

It is also used to refer to nondual awareness, the illusinoriness of a distinction between perceiving subject and perceived objectTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group=web name="Tao"/> As Gaudapada states, when a distinction is made between subject and object, people grasp to objects, which is samsara. By realizing one's true identity as Brahman, there is no more grasping, and the mind comes to rest.Template:Sfn

In a popular sense, advaita is often expressed as the famous diction that Atman is Brahman, meaning that jivatman, the individual experiencing self, is ultimately pure awareness mistakenly identified with body and the senses,<ref>Tattvabodha 33, International Vedanta Mission</ref> and non-different ("na aparah") from Ātman/Brahman, the highest Self or Reality;Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn; the knowledge of this true identity is liberating.

The word Vedānta is a composition of two Sanskrit words: The word Veda refers to the whole corpus of vedic texts, and the word "anta" means 'end'. From this, one meaning of Vedānta is "the end of the Vedas" or "the ultimate knowledge of the Vedas". Veda can also mean "knowledge" in general, so Vedānta can be taken to mean "the end, conclusion or finality of knowledge". Vedānta is one of six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy.

Advaita VedantaEdit

While "a preferred terminology" for Upanisadic philosophy "in the early periods, before the time of Shankara" was Puruṣavāda,Template:Sfn Template:Refn the Advaita Vedānta school has historically been referred to by various names, such as Advaita-vada (speaker of Advaita), Abheda-darshana (view of non-difference), Dvaita-vada-pratisedha (denial of dual distinctions), and Kevala-dvaita (non-dualism of the isolated).Template:Sfn It is also called māyāvāda by Vaishnava opponents, akin to Madhyamaka Buddhism, due to their insistence that phenomena ultimately lack an inherent essence or reality,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

According to Richard King, a professor of Buddhist and Asian studies, the term Advaita first occurs in a recognizably Vedantic context in the prose of Mandukya Upanishad.Template:Sfn

According to Frits Staal, a professor of philosophy specializing in Sanskrit and Vedic studies, the word Advaita itself is from the Vedic era, and the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya (8th or 7th-century BCETemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn) is credited to be the one who coined it.Template:Sfn Stephen Phillips, a professor of philosophy and Asian studies, translates the Advaita containing verse excerpt in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, as "An ocean, a single seer without duality becomes he whose world is Brahman."Template:Refn

Advaita traditionEdit

While the term "Advaita Vedanta" in a strict sense may refer to the scholastic tradition of textual exegesis established by Shankara and the monastic institutions, "advaita" in a broader sense may refer to a broad current of advaitic thought, which incorporates advaitic elements with yogic thought and practice and other strands of Indian religiosity, such as Kashmir Shaivism and the Nath tradition.Template:Sfn The first connotation has also been called "Classical Advaita"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and "doctrinal Advaita,"Template:Sfn and its presentation as such is due to mediaeval doxographies,Template:Sfn the influence of Orientalist Indologists like Paul Deussen,Template:Sfn and the Indian response to colonial influences, dubbed neo-Vedanta by Paul Hacker, who regarded it as a deviation from "traditional" Advaita Vedanta.Template:Sfn Yet, post-Shankara Advaita Vedanta incorporated yogic elements, such as the Yoga Vasistha, and influenced other Indian traditions, and neo-Vedanta is based on this broader strand of Indian thought.Template:Sfn This broader current of thought and practice has also been called "greater Advaita Vedanta,"Template:Sfn "vernacular advaita,"Template:Sfn and "experiential Advaita."Template:Sfn It is this broader advaitic tradition which is commonly presented as "Advaita Vedanta," though the term "advaitic" may be more apt.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

MonismEdit

Template:See also

The nondualism of Advaita Vedānta is often regarded as an idealist monism.Template:Refn According to King, Advaita Vedānta developed "to its ultimate extreme" the monistic ideas already present in the Upanishads.Template:Refn In contrast, states Milne, it is misleading to call Advaita Vedānta "monistic," since this confuses the "negation of difference" with "conflation into one."Template:Sfn Advaita is a negative term (a-dvaita), states Milne, which denotes the "negation of a difference," between subject and object, or between perceiver and perceived.Template:Sfn

According to Deutsch, Advaita Vedānta teaches monistic oneness, however without the multiplicity premise of alternate monism theories.Template:Sfn According to Jacqueline Suthren Hirst, Adi Shankara positively emphasizes "oneness" premise in his Brahma-sutra Bhasya 2.1.20, attributing it to all the Upanishads.Template:Sfn

Nicholson states Advaita Vedānta contains realistic strands of thought, both in its oldest origins and in Shankara's writings.Template:Sfn

Soteriology: moksha – liberating knowledge of BrahmanEdit

Knowledge is liberatingEdit

File:Sri Ramana Maharshi - Portrait - G. G Welling - 1948.jpg

Ramana Maharshi, the Indian sage who is widely regarded as a Jivanmukta

Template:See also

The soteriological goal, in Advaita, is to gain self-knowledge as being in essence (Atman), awareness or witness-consciousness, and complete understanding of the identity of jivan-ātman and Brahman.Template:Sfn Correct knowledge of Atman and Brahman is the attainment of Brahman, immortality,Template:Sfn and leads to moksha (liberation) from sufferingTemplate:Refn and samsara, the cycle of rebirthTemplate:Sfn This is stated by Shankara as follows:

<poem> I am other than name, form and action. My nature is ever free! I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman. I am pure Awareness, always non-dual. </poem> {{#if:Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7Template:Sfn|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

According to Advaita Vedānta, liberation can be achieved while living, and is called Jivanmukti.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn in contrast to Videhamukti (moksha from samsara after death) in theistic sub-schools of Vedānta.Template:Sfn Template:Better source needed The Atman-knowledge, that is the knowledge of true Self and its relationship to Brahman is central to this liberation in Advaita thought.Template:Refn Atman-knowledge, to Advaitins, is full awareness that everything is Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn

According to Anantanand Rambachan, in Advaita, this state of liberating self-knowledge includes and leads to the understanding that "the self is the self of all, the knower of self sees the self in all beings and all beings in the self."Template:Sfn

Attaining vidyā (knowledge)Edit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Advaita Vedānta regards the liberated state of being Atman/Brahman as one's true identity and inherent to being human. According to Shankara and the Vivarana-school, no human action can 'produce' this liberated state, as it is what one already is.Template:Sfn As Swami Vivekananda stated:

The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you are That already. They can only help to take away the veil that hides truth from our eyes. The cessation of ignorance can only come when I know that God and I are one; in other words, identify yourself with Atman, not with human limitations. The idea that we are bound is only an illusion [Maya]. Freedom is inseparable from the nature of the Atman. This is ever pure, ever perfect, ever unchangeable.
{{#if:Adi Shankara's commentary on Fourth Vyasa Sutra, Swami VivekanandaTemplate:Sfnp|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

According to Shankara, taking a subitist position,Template:Sfn moksha is attained at once when the mahavakyas, articulating the identity of Atman and Brahman, are understood.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group=note>See also kelamuni (2006), The Philosophy of Adi Shankaracharya, section "II. The Threefold Means," on Brahma Sutra Bhashya 4.1.2 and subitism.</ref>

Yet, the Advaita-tradition also emphasizes human effort, a path of Jnana Yoga with a progression of study and training to realize one's true identity as Atman/Brahman and attain moksha.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to the contemporary Advaita tradition, knowledge of Atman/Brahman is obtained gradually, by svādhyāya, study of the self and of the Vedic texts, which consists of four stages of samanyasa: virāga ('renunciation'), sravana ('listening to the teachings of the sages'), manana ('reflection on the teachings') and nididhyāsana, introspection and profound and repeated meditation on the mahavakyas, selected Upanishadic statements such as tat tvam asi ('that art thou' or 'you are That') which are taken literal, and form the srutic evidence for the identity of jivanatman and Atman/Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group=web>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This meditation negates the misconceptions, false knowledge, and false ego-identity, rooted in maya, which obfuscate the ultimate truth of the oneness of Brahman, and one's true identity as Atman/Brahman.Template:Sfn This culminates in what Adi Shankara refers to as anubhava, immediate intuition, a direct awareness which is construction-free, and not construction-filled. It is not an awareness of Brahman, but instead an awareness that is Brahman.Template:Sfn Although the threefold practice is broadly accepted in the Advaita tradition, and affirmed by Mandana Misra,Template:Sfn it is at odds with Shankara,Template:Sfn who took a subitist position.Template:Sfn

Sruti (scriptures), proper reasoning and meditation are the main sources of knowledge (vidya) for the Advaita Vedānta tradition.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn It teaches that correct knowledge of Atman and Brahman is achievable by svādhyāya,Template:Sfn study of the self and of the Vedic texts, and three stages of practice: sravana (perception, hearing), manana (thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation),Template:Sfn a three-step methodology that is rooted in the teachings of chapter 4 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.Template:Sfn<ref name="John A. Grimes 1996 98–99">Template:Harvnb</ref>

According to critics of neo-Advaita, which also emphasizes direct insight, traditional Advaita Vedanta entails more than self-inquiry or bare insight into one's real nature, but also includes self-restraint, textual studies and ethical perfection. It is described in classical Advaita books like Shankara's Upadesasahasri Template:Sfn and the Vivekachudamani, which is also attributed to Shankara.

Preparation: the fourfold qualitiesEdit

The Advaita student has to develop the fourfold qualities,Template:Sfnp or behavioral qualifications (Samanyasa, Sampattis, sādhana-catustaya):Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn A student in Advaita Vedānta tradition is required to develop these four qualities:

Template:IAST (नित्यानित्य वस्तु विवेकम्) – Viveka is the ability to correctly discriminate between the real and eternal (nitya) and the substance that is apparently real, illusory, changing and transitory (anitya).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Template:IAST (इहाऽमुत्रार्थ फल भोगविरागम्) – The renunciation (virāga) of all desires of the mind (bhoga) for sense pleasures, in this world (iha) and other worlds. Willing to give up everything that is an obstacle to the pursuit of truth and self-knowledge.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp
Template:IAST (शमादि षट्क सम्पत्ति) – the sixfold virtues or qualities -
1. Śama - mental tranquility, ability to focus the mind.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp
2. Dama - self-restraint,Template:Refn the virtue of temperance.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp restraining the senses.
3. Uparati - dispassion, lack of desire for worldly pleasures, ability to be quiet and disassociated from everything;Template:Sfn discontinuation of all religious duties and ceremoniesTemplate:Sfnp
4. Titikṣa - endurance, perseverance, putting up with pairs of opposites (like heat and cold, pleasure and pain), ability to be patient during demanding circumstancesTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfnp
5. Śraddhā - having faith in teacher and the Sruti scriptural textsTemplate:Sfn
6. Samādhāna - contentedness, satisfaction of mind in all conditions, attention, intentness of mindTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfnp
Template:IAST (मुमुक्षुत्वम्) – An intense longing for freedom, liberation and wisdom, driven to the quest of knowledge and understanding. Having moksha as the primary goal of lifeTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfnp

The threefold practice: sravana (hearing), manana (thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation)Edit

The Advaita tradition teaches that correct knowledge, which destroys avidya, psychological and perceptual errors related to Atman and Brahman,Template:Sfn is obtained in jnanayoga through three stages of practice,Template:Sfn sravana (hearing), manana (thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation).Template:Sfn This three-step methodology is rooted in the teachings of chapter 4 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:Template:Sfn<ref name="John A. Grimes 1996 98–99"/>

Sravana, which literally means hearing. The student listens and discusses the ideas, concepts, questions and answers.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn of the sages on the Upanishads and Advaita Vedānta, studying the Vedantic texts, such as the Brahma Sutras, aided by discussions with the guru (teacher, counsellor).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Manana refers to thinking on these discussions and contemplating over the various ideas based on svadhyaya and sravana.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is the stage of reflection on the teachings;Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Nididhyāsana, the stage of meditation and introspection.Template:Sfn<ref group=web>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> This stage of practice aims at realization and consequent conviction of the truths, non-duality and a state where there is a fusion of thought and action, knowing and being.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Although the threefold practice is broadly accepted in the Advaita tradition, Shankara's works show an ambivalence toward it: while accepting its authenticity and merits, as it is based in the scriptures, he also takes a subitist position,Template:Sfn arguing that moksha is attained at once when the mahavakyas, articulating the identity of Atman and Brahman, are understood.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group=note>See also kelamuni (2006), The Philosophy of Adi Shankaracharya, section "II. The Threefold Means," on Brahma Sutra Bhashya 4.1.2 and subitism.</ref> According to Rambachan, "it is not possible to reconcile Sankara's views with this seemingly well-ordered system."Template:Sfn

Mandana Misra, on the other hand, explicitly affirms the threefold practice as the means to acquire knowledge of Brahman, referring to meditation as dhyana.Template:Sfn He states that these practices, though conceptual, 'can eliminate both ignorance and coneptuality at the same time, leaving only the "pure, transparent nature" of self-awareness'.Template:Sfn

Bilimoria states that these three stages of Advaita practice can be viewed as sadhana practice that unifies Yoga and Karma ("action," referring here to ritual) ideas, and was most likely derived from these older traditions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn

GuruEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Advaita Vedānta school has traditionally had a high reverence for a Guru (teacher), and recommends that a competent Guru be sought in one's pursuit of spirituality, though this is not mandatory.Template:Sfn Reading of Vedic literature and reflection is the most essential practice.Template:Sfn Adi Shankara, states Comans, regularly employed compound words "such as Sastracaryopadesa (instruction by way of the scriptures and the teacher) and Vedāntacaryopadesa (instruction by way of the Upanishads and the teacher) to emphasize the importance of Guru".Template:Sfn According to Comans, this reflects the Advaita tradition which holds a competent teacher as important and essential to gaining correct knowledge, freeing oneself from false knowledge, and to self-realization.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, in the Bhamati-school the guru has a less essential role, as he can explain the teachings, but the student has to venture its further study.Template:Sfn

A guru is someone more than a teacher, traditionally a reverential figure to the student, with the guru serving as a "counselor, who helps mold values, shares experiential knowledge as much as literal knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who helps in the spiritual evolution of a student.<ref name=joelmlecko33>Joel Mlecko (1982), The Guru in Hindu Tradition Template:Webarchive Numen, Volume 29, Fasc. 1, pp. 33–61</ref> The guru, states Joel Mlecko, is more than someone who teaches specific type of knowledge, and includes in its scope someone who is also a "counselor, a sort of parent of mind and soul, who helps mold values and experiential knowledge as much as specific knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who reveals the meaning of life."<ref name=joelmlecko33/>

Pramana (means of knowledge)Edit

In classical Indian thought, pramana (means of knowledge) concerns questions like how correct knowledge can be acquired; how one knows, how one doesn't; and to what extent knowledge pertinent about someone or something can be acquired.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=dpsb>Template:Cite book</ref> In contrast to other schools of Indian philosophy, early Vedanta paid little attention to pramana.Template:Sfn The Brahmasutras are not concerned with pramana, and pratyaksa (sense-perception) and anumana (inference) refer there to sruti and smriti respectively.Template:Sfn Shankara recognized the means of knowledge,Template:Sfn Template:Refn but his thematic focus was upon metaphysics and soteriology, and he took for granted the pramanas.Template:Sfn For Shankara, sabda is the only means of knowledge for attaining Brahman-jnana.Template:Sfn According to Sengaku Mayeda, "in no place in his works [...] does he give any systematic account of them,"Template:Sfn taking Atman/Brahman to be self-evident (svapramanaka) and self-established (svatahsiddha), and "an investigation of the means of knowledge is of no use for the attainment of final release."Template:Sfn

Nevertheless, the Advaita tradition accepts altogether six kinds of Template:IAST.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn While Adi Shankara emphasized Śabda (शब्द), relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts with regard to religious insights,<ref name=dpsb/>Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and also accepted pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्षाय), perception; and anumāṇa (अनुमान), inference — Classical Advaita Vedānta, just like the Bhatta Purvamimamsaka school, also accepts upamāṇa (उपमान), comparison, analogy; arthāpatti (अर्थापत्ति), postulation, derivation from circumstances;<ref name=dpsb/>Template:Sfn and anupalabdhi (अनुपलब्धि), non-perception, negative/cognitive proof.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

SamadhiEdit

According to Dubois, Shankara's Advaita emphasizes that, since Brahman is ever-present, Brahman-knowledge is immediate and requires no 'action', that is, striving and effort;Template:Sfn yet, the contemporary Advaita tradition, which is a yogic Advaita synthesis which developed in the late mediaeval period, also prescribes elaborate preparatory practice, including yogic samadhi, posing a paradox which is also recognized in other spiritual disciplines and traditions.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Shankara regarded the srutis as the means of knowledge of Brahman, and he was ambivalent about yogic practices and meditation, which at best may prepare one for Brahma-jnana.<ref group=web name=Stanford_Dalal2021/> According to Rambachan, criticising Vivekananda, Shankara states that the knowledge of Brahman can only be obtained from inquiry of the Shruti, and not by Yoga or samadhi, which at best can only silence the mind.Template:Sfn The Bhamati school and the Vivarana school differed on the role of contemplation, but they both "deny the possibility of perceiving supersensuous knowledge through popular yoga techniques."Template:Sfn Later Advaita texts like the Dṛg-Dṛśya-Viveka (14th century) and Vedāntasara (of Sadananda) (15th century) added samādhi as a means to liberation, a theme that was also emphasized by Swami Vivekananda.Template:Sfn The Vivekachudamani, traditionally attributed to Shankara but post-dating him,Template:Sfn "conceives of nirvikalpa samadhi as the premier method of Self-realization over and above the well-known vedantic discipline of listening, reflection and deep contemplation."Template:Sfn Koller states that yogic concentration is an aid to gaining knowledge in Advaita.Template:Sfn

Anubhava ('experience')Edit

The role of anubhava, anubhuti ("experience," "intuition"Template:Sfn) as "experience" in gaining Brahman-jnana is contested. While neo-Vedanta claims a central position for anubhava as "experience," Shankara himself regarded reliance on textual authority as sufficient for gaining Brahman-jnana,Template:Sfn Template:Refn "the intuition of Brahman,"Template:Sfn and used anubhava interchangeably with pratipatta, "understanding".Template:Sfn Arvind Sharma argues that Shankara's own "direct experience of the ultimate truth" guided him in selecting "those passages of the scriptures that resonate with this experience and will select them as the key with which to open previously closed, even forbidden, doors."Template:Sfn Template:Refn

The Vivekachudamani "explicit[ly] declar[es] that experience (anubhuti) is a pramana, or means of knowing (VCM 59),"Template:Sfn and neo-Vedanta also accepts anubhava ("personal experience") as a means of knowledge.Template:Sfn Dalal and others state that anubhava does not center around some sort of "mystical experience," but around the correct knowledge of Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Nikhalananda concurs, stating that (knowledge of) Atman and Brahman can only be reached by buddhi, "reason,"Template:Sfn stating that mysticism is a kind of intuitive knowledge, while buddhi is the highest means of attaining knowledge.Template:Sfn

Adhyaropa Apavada - imposition and negationEdit

Template:See also

Since Gaudapada,Template:Sfn who adopted the Buddhist four-cornered negation which negates any positive predicates of 'the Absolute',Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn a central method in Advaita Vedanta to express the inexpressable is the method called Adhyaropa Apavada.Template:Sfn In this method, which was highly estimated by Satchidanandendra Saraswati, a property is imposed (adhyaropa) on Atman to convince one of its existence, whereafter the imposition is removed (apavada) to reveal the true nature of Atman as nondual and undefinable.Template:Sfn In this method, "That which cannot be expressed is expressed through false attribution and subsequent denial."Template:Sfn As Shankara writes, "First let me bring them on the right path, and then I will gradually be able to bring them round to the final truth afterwards."Template:Sfn For example, Atman, the real "I," is described as witness, giving "it" an attribute to separate it from non-self. Since this implies a duality between observer and observed, next the notion of "witness" is dropped, by showing that the Self cannot be seen and is beyond qualifications, and only that what is remains, without using any words:<ref group=web name=adhyAropa_apavAda>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Template:Error Template:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

The Mahavyakas - the identity of Ātman and BrahmanEdit

Moksha, liberation from suffering and rebirth and attaining immortality, is attained by disidentification from the body-mind complex and gaining self-knowledge as being in essence Atman, and attaining knowledge of the identity of Atman and Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to Shankara, the individual Ātman and Brahman seem different at the empirical level of reality, but this difference is only an illusion, and at the highest level of reality they are really identical.Template:Sfn The real self is Sat, "the Existent," that is, Atman/Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn Whereas the difference between Atman and non-Atman is deemed self-evident, knowledge of the identity of Atman and Brahman is revealed by the shruti, especially the Upanishadic statement tat tvam asi.

MahavakyasEdit

According to Shankara, a large number of Upanishadic statements reveal the identity of Atman and Brahman. In the Advaita Vedanta tradition, four of those statements, the Mahavakyas, which are taken literal, in contrast to other statements, have a special importance in revealing this identity.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn They are:

तत्त्वमसि, tat tvam asi, Chandogya VI.8.7. Traditionally rendered as "That Thou Art" (that you are),Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn with tat in Ch.U.6.8.7 referring to sat, "the Existent"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn); correctly translated as "That's how [thus] you are,"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn with tat in Ch.U.6.12.3, its original location from where it was copied to other verses,Template:Sfn referring to "the very nature of all existence as permeated by [the finest essence]"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
अहं ब्रह्मास्मि, aham brahmāsmi, Brhadāranyaka I.4.10, "I am Brahman," or "I am Divine."Template:Sfn
प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म, prajñānam brahma, Aitareya V.3, "PrajñānamTemplate:Refn is Brahman."Template:Refn
अयमात्मा ब्रह्म, ayamātmā brahma, Mandukya II, "This Atman is Brahman."

That you areEdit

The longest chapter of Shankara's Upadesasahasri, chapter 18, "That Art Thou," is devoted to considerations on the insight "I am ever-free, the existent" (sat), and the identity expressed in Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 in the mahavakya (great sentence) "tat tvam asi", "that thou art."Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In this statement, according to Shankara, tat refers to 'Sat,Template:Sfn "the Existent"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Existence, Being,<ref group=web name="ShankaraBasya">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or Brahman,Template:Sfn the Real, the "Root of the world,"Template:Sfn Template:Refn the true essence or root or origin of everything that exists.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group=web name="ShankaraBasya"/> "Tvam" refers to one's real I, pratyagatman or inner Self,Template:Sfn the "direct Witness within everything,"Template:Sfn "free from caste, family, and purifying ceremonies,"Template:Sfn the essence, Atman, which the individual at the core is.Template:Sfnp Template:Sfn As Shankara states in the Upadesasahasri:

Up.I.174: "Through such sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own Atman, the Witness of all the internal organs." Up.I.18.190: "Through such sentences as "[Thou art] the Existent" [...] right knowledge concerning the inner Atman will become clearer." Up.I.18.193-194: "In the sentence "Thou art That" [...] [t]he word "That" means inner Atman."Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

The statement "tat tvam asi" sheds the false notion that Atman is different from Brahman.Template:Sfn According toNakamura, the non-duality of atman and Brahman "is a famous characteristic of Sankara's thought, but it was already taught by Sundarapandya"Template:Sfn (c.600 CE or earlier).Template:Sfn Shankara cites Sundarapandya in his comments to Brahma Sutra verse I.1.4:

When the metaphorical or false atman is non-existent, [the ideas of my] child, [my] body are sublated. Therefore, when it is realized that 'I am the existent Brahman, atman', how can anyduty exist?Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

From this, and a large number of other accordances, Nakamura concludes that Shankar was not an original thinker, but "a synthesizer of existing Advaita and the rejuvenator, as well as a defender, of ancient learning."Template:Sfn

Direct perception versus contemplation of the MahavakyasEdit

In the Upadesasahasri Shankara, Shankara is ambivalent on the need for meditation on the Upanishadic mahavakya. He states that "right knowledge arises at the moment of hearing,"Template:Sfn and rejects prasamcaksa or prasamkhyana meditation, that is, meditation on the meaning of the sentences, and in Up.II.3 recommends parisamkhyana,Template:Sfn separating Atman from everything that is not Atman, that is, the sense-objects and sense-organs, and the pleasant and unpleasant things and merit and demerit connected with them.Template:Sfn Yet, Shankara then concludes with declaring that only Atman exists, stating that "all the sentences of the Upanishads concerning non-duality of Atman should be fully contemplated, should be contemplated."Template:Sfn As Mayeda states, "how they [prasamcaksa or prasamkhyana versus parisamkhyana] differ from each other in not known."Template:Sfn

Prasamkhyana was advocated by Mandana Misra,Template:Sfn the older contemporary of Shankara who was the most influential Advaitin until the 10th century.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn "According to Mandana, the mahavakyas are incapable, by themselves, of bringing about brahmajnana. The Vedanta-vakyas convey an indirect knowledge which is made direct only by deep meditation (prasamkhyana). The latter is a continuous contemplation of the purport of the mahavakyas.Template:Sfn Vācaspati Miśra, a student of Mandana Misra, agreed with Mandana Misra, and their stance is defended by the Bhamati-school, founded by Vācaspati Miśra.Template:Sfn In contrast, the Vivarana school founded by Prakasatman (c. 1200–1300)Template:Sfn follows Shankara closely, arguing that the mahavakyas are the direct cause of gaining knowledge.Template:Sfn

Shankara's insistence on direct knowledge as liberating also differs from the asparsa yoga described in Gaudapada's Mandukyakarika III.39-46.Template:Sfn In this practice of 'non-contact' (a-sparśa), the mind is controlled and brought to rest, and does not create "things" (appearances) after which it grasps; it becomes non-dual, free from the subject-[grasping]-object dualism.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Knowing that only Atman/Brahman is real, the creations of the mind are seen as false appearances (MK III.31-33). When the mind is brought to rest, it becomes or is Brahman (MK III.46).Template:Sfn

Renouncement of ritualismEdit

In the Upadesasahasri Shankara discourages ritual worship such as oblations to Deva (God), because that assumes the Self within is different from Brahman.Template:Refn Template:Refn The "doctrine of difference" is wrong, asserts Shankara, because, "he who knows the Brahman is one and he is another, does not know Brahman".Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The false notion that Atman is different from BrahmanTemplate:Sfn is connected with the novice's conviction that (Upadesasaharsi II.1.25)

...I am one [and] He is another; I am ignorant, experience pleasure and pain, am bound and a transmigrator [whereas] he is essentially different from me, the god not subject to transmigration. By worshipping Him with oblation, offerings, homage and the like through the [performance of] the actions prescribed for [my] class and stage of life, I wish to get out of the ocean of transmigratory existence. How am I he?Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Recognizing oneself as "the Existent-Brahman," which is mediated by scriptural teachings, is contrasted with the notion of "I act," which is mediated by relying on sense-perception and the like.Template:Sfn According to Shankara, the statement "Thou art That" "remove[s] the delusion of a hearer,"Template:Sfn "so through sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own Atman, the witness of all internal organs,"Template:Sfn and not from any actions.Template:Sfn Template:Refn With this realization, the performance of rituals is prohibited, "since [the use of] rituals and their requisites is contradictory to the realization of the identity [of Atman] with the highest Atman."Template:Sfn

Philosophy: Reality/truth (Brahman, sat) and the worldEdit

File:SwansCygnus olor.jpg

The swan is an important motif in Advaita. The white colour of swan symbolises Sattva guṇa & the ability to discern Satya (Real, Eternal) from Mithya (Unreal, Changing), just as the mythical swan Paramahamsa discerns milk from water.

Classical Advaita Vedānta states that all reality and everything in the experienced world has its root in Brahman, which is unchanging intelligent Consciousness.Template:Sfn To Advaitins, there is no duality between a Creator and the created universe.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn All objects, all experiences, all matter, all consciousness, all awareness are somehow also this one fundamental reality Brahman.Template:Sfn Yet, the knowing self has various experiences of reality during the waking, dream and dreamless states,Template:Sfn and Advaita Vedānta acknowledges and admits that from the empirical perspective there are numerous distinctions.Template:Sfn Advaita explains this by postulating different levels of reality,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and by its theory of errors (anirvacaniya khyati).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Darśana (view) – central concernsEdit

File:Wassertropfen.jpg

The ripple, Jivatman, is non-different from the water, Brahman.

Template:Further

Vedānta is one of the six classical Hindu darśanas, the Indian traditions of religious philosophy and practice which accept the authority of the Vedas. The various schools of Vedanta aim to harmonise the diverging views presented in the Prasthantrayi, the Principal Upanishads,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn along with the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gitā, offering an integrated body of textual interpretations and religious practices which aim at the attainment of moksha, release or liberation from transmigratory existence.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Rejection of samkhya-dualismEdit

Template:Quote box The Brahma Sutras, the constituting text of the Vedanta-tradition, rejects the purusha-prakriti dualism of the samkhya-tradition,Template:Sfn and "much of the Brahmasutra appears to have been written to refute the perspective of the Samkhya school."Template:Sfn Samkhya postulates two independent primal principles, purusha (primal consciousness) and prakriti (nature, which includes both matter and cognition and emotions). In samkhya, prakriti consists of three qualities (Guṇas), which are in balance, until they come in contact with purusha and the equilibrium is disturbed. From this pradhana then evolves the material universe, distinct from purusha, thereby postulating purusha as the efficient cause of all existence, and prakriti as its material cause or origin.Template:Sfn

While closely related to Samkhya,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn the Advaita Vedānta tradition rejects this dualism, instead stating that Reality cannot evolve from an inert, consciousness- and intelligence-less principle or essence. Brahman, which is intelligent and consciousness,Template:Sfn is the sole Reality,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn "that from which the origination, subsistence, and dissolution of this universe proceed,"Template:Sfn as stated in the second verse of the Brahman Sutras. In Samkhya, purusha is the efficient cause, and prakriti is the material cause: purusha causes prakriti to manifest as the natural world. Advaita, like all Vedanta schools, states that Brahman, consciousness, is both the efficient and the material cause, that from which the material universe evolves.Template:Sfn Yet, in the Brahmasutras Brahma is a dynamic force, while the Advaita-tradition regards Brahman as an "essentially unchanging and static reality,"Template:Sfn since Brahman changing into something else would mean that Brahman would not exist anymore, while a partial change would leave Brahman divided.Template:Sfn

Theoretical difficultiesEdit

By accepting that Brahman is the sole, unchanging reality, various theoretical difficulties arise which are not answered by the Brahmasutras, which asserts that the Upanishadic views have to be accepted due to their scriptural authority, "regardless of logical problems and philosophical inconsistencies."Template:Sfn Advaita and other Vedānta traditions face several problems, for which they offer different solutions.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to Deutsch and Dalvi, "The basic problem of Vedanta [is] the relation between the plural, complex, changing phenomenal world and the Brahman in which it substantially subsists."Template:Sfn According to Mayeda, following the post-ShankaraTemplate:Sfn predicate sat-cit-ananda, three problems emerge. First, how did Brahman, which is sat ('existence'), without any distinction, become manifold material universe? Second, how did Brahman, which is cit ('consciousness'), create the material world? Third, if Brahman is ananda ('bliss'), why did the empirical world of sufferings arise? The Brahma Sutras do not answer these philosophical queries, and later Vedantins including Shankara had to resolve them.Template:Sfn

To solve these questions, Shankara introduced the concept of "Unevolved Name-and-Form," or primal matter corresponding to Prakriti, from which the world evolves,Template:Sfn coming close to Samkhya dualism.Template:Sfn Shankara's notion of "Unevolved Name-and-Form" was not adopted by the later Advaita tradition; instead, the later tradition turned avidya into a metaphysical principle, namely mulavidya or "root ignorance," a metaphysical substance which is the "primal material cause of the universe (upadana)."Template:Sfn In this view, Brahman alone is real, and the phenomenal world is an appearance (maya) or "an unreal manifestation (vivarta) of Brahman."Template:Sfn Prakasatmans (13th c.) defense of vivarta to explain the origin of the world, which declared phenomenal reality to be an illusion,Template:Sfn became the dominant explanation, with which the primacy of Atman/Brahman can be maintained.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Relation between jivatman and Atman/BrahmanEdit

A main question in all schools of Vedanta is the relation between the individual self (jiva) and Atman/Brahman.Template:Sfn As Shankara and his followers regard Atman/Brahman to be the ultimate Real, jivanatman is "ultimately [to be] of the nature of Atman/Brahman."Template:Sfn Template:Sfn This truth is established from a literal reading of selected partsTemplate:Sfn of the oldest Principal Upanishads and Brahma Sutras, and is also found in parts of the Bhagavad Gitā and numerous other Hindu texts,Template:Sfn and is regarded to be self-evident.Template:Sfn Template:Refn Great effort is made to show the correctness of this reading, and its compatibility with reason and experience, by criticizing other systems of thought.Template:Sfn Vidya, correct knowledge or understanding of the identity of jivan-ātman and Brahman, destroys or makes null avidya ('false knowledge'), and results in liberation.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Three levels of Reality/truthEdit

Template:See also

Shankara proposes three levels of reality, using sublation as the ontological criterion:Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Template:IAST (paramartha, absolute), the Reality that is metaphysically true and ontologically accurate. It is the state of experiencing that "which is absolutely real and into which both other reality levels can be resolved". This reality is the highest; it can't be sublated (assimilated) by any other.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Template:IAST (vyavahara), or samvriti-saya,Template:Sfn consisting of the empirical or pragmatical reality. It is ever changing over time, thus empirically true at a given time and context but not metaphysically true. It is "our world of experience, the phenomenal world that we handle every day when we are awake". It is the level in which both jiva (living creatures or individual Selfs) and Iswara are true; here, the material world is also true but this is incomplete reality and is sublatable.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn
Template:IAST (pratibhasika, apparent reality, unreality), "reality based on imagination alone". It is the level of experience in which the mind constructs its own reality. Well-known examples of pratibhasika is the imaginary reality such as the "roaring of a lion" fabricated in dreams during one's sleep, and the perception of a rope in the dark as being a snake.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Absolute and relative reality are valid and true in their respective contexts, but only from their respective particular perspectives.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn John Grimes explains this Advaita doctrine of absolute and relative truth with the example of light and darkness.Template:Sfn From the sun's perspective, it neither rises nor sets, there is no darkness, and "all is light". From the perspective of a person on earth, sun does rise and set, there is both light and darkness, not "all is light", there are relative shades of light and darkness. Both are valid realities and truths, given their perspectives. Yet, they are contradictory. What is true from one point of view, states Grimes, is not from another. To Advaita Vedānta, this does not mean there are two truths and two realities, but it only means that the same one Reality and one Truth is explained or experienced from two different perspectives.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp

As they developed these theories, Advaita Vedānta scholars were influenced by some ideas from the Nyaya, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy.Template:Sfnp Template:Sfn These theories have not enjoyed universal consensus among Advaitins, and various competing ontological interpretations have flowered within the Advaita tradition.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp Template:Refn

Pāramārthika - Sat (True Reality)Edit

ĀtmanEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also

Ātman (IAST: ātman, Sanskrit: आत्मन्) is the "real self"Template:Sfnp Template:Sfnp Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn or "essence"<ref group=web>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Refn of the individual. It is caitanya, Pure Consciousness,Template:Sfn a consciousness, states Sthaneshwar Timalsina, that is "self-revealed, self-evident and self-aware (svaprakashata),"Template:Sfn and, states Payne, "in some way permanent, eternal, absolute or unchanging."Template:Refn It is self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual.Template:Sfn It is "a stable subjectivity, or a unity of consciousness through all the specific states of individuated phenomenality."Template:Sfn Ātman, states Eliot Deutsch, is the "pure, undifferentiated, supreme power of awareness", it is more than thought, it is a state of being, that which is conscious and transcends subject-object divisions and momentariness.Template:Sfn According to Ram-Prasad, "it" is not an object, but "the irreducible essence of being [as] subjectivity, rather than an objective self with the quality of consciousness."Template:Sfn

According to Shankara, it is self-evident and "a matter not requiring any proof" that Atman, the 'I', is 'as different as light is from darkness' from non-Atman, the 'you' or 'that', the material world whose characteristics are mistakenly superimposed on Atman, resulting in notions as "I am this" and "This is mine."<ref name="ShankaraBSBpreamble"/> One's real self is not the constantly changing body, not the desires, not the emotions, not the ego, nor the dualistic mind,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn but the introspective, inwardly self-conscious "on-looker" (saksi),Template:Sfn which is in reality completely disconnected from the non-Atman.<ref name="ShankaraBSBpreamble"/>

The jivatman or individual self is a mere reflection of singular Atman in a multitude of apparent individual bodies.Template:Sfn It is "not an individual subject of consciousness,"Template:Sfn but the same in each person and identical to the universal eternal Brahman,Template:Sfn a term used interchangeably with Atman.Template:Sfn

Atman is often translated as soul,Template:Refn though the two concepts differ significantly, since "soul" includes mental activities, whereas "Atman" solely refers to detached witness-consciousness.

Three states of consciousness and TuriyaEdit

Advaita posits three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti), which are empirically experienced by human beings,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and correspond to the Three Bodies Doctrine:Template:Sfn

The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily world.Template:Sfn This is the gross body.
The second state is the dreaming mind. This is the subtle body.Template:Sfn
The third state is the state of deep sleep. This is the causal body.Template:Sfn

Advaita also posits "the fourth," Turiya, which some describe as pure consciousness, the background that underlies and transcends these three common states of consciousness.<ref group=web name=rm>Template:Cite book</ref><ref group=web name=sc1>Template:Cite book</ref> Turiya is the state of liberation, where states Advaita school, one experiences the infinite (ananta) and non-different (advaita/abheda), that is free from the dualistic experience, the state in which ajativada, non-origination, is apprehended.Template:Sfn According to Candradhara Sarma, Turiya state is where the foundational Self is realized, it is measureless, neither cause nor effect, all pervading, without suffering, blissful, changeless, self-luminous,Template:Refn real, immanent in all things and transcendent.Template:Sfn Those who have experienced the Turiya stage of self-consciousness have reached the pure awareness of their own non-dual Self as one with everyone and everything, for them the knowledge, the knower, the known becomes one, they are the Jivanmukta.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp Template:Sfnp

Advaita traces the foundation of this ontological theory in more ancient Sanskrit texts.Template:Sfn For example, chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad discuss the "four states of consciousness" as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp One of the earliest mentions of Turiya, in the Hindu scriptures, occurs in verse 5.14.3 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.Template:Refn The idea is also discussed in other early Upanishads.Template:Sfn

Svayam prakāśa (self-luminosity)Edit

Template:Quote box {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also

In the Advaita tradition, consciousness is svayam prakāśa, "self-luminous,"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn which means that "self is pure awareness by nature."Template:Sfn According to Dasgupta, it is "the most fundamental concept of the Vedanta."Template:Sfn According to T. R. V. Murti, the Vedanta concept is explained as follows:

The point to be reached is a foundational consciousness that is unconditional, self-evident, and immediate (svayam-prakāśa). It is that to which everything is presented, but is itself no presentation, that which knows all, but is itself no object. The self should not be confused with the contents and states which it enjoys and manipulates. If we have to give an account of it, we can describe it only as what it is not, for any positive description of it would be possible only if it could be made an object of observation, which from the nature of the case it is not. We "know" it only as we withdraw ourselves from the body with which we happen to be identified, in this transition.Template:Sfn Template:Refn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

According to Jonardon Ganeri, the concept was introduced by the Buddhist philosopher Dignāga (c.480–c.540 CE), and accepted by the Vedanta tradition;Template:Sfn according to Zhihua Yao, the concept has older roots in the Mahasanghika school.Template:Sfnp

BrahmanEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

According to Advaita Vedānta, Brahman is the true Self, consciousness, awareness, intelligent, possesed with will, and the only Reality (Sat).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn Brahman is Paramarthika Satyam, "Absolute Truth"Template:Sfn or absolute Real.Template:Sfn It is That which is unborn and unchanging,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and immortal.Template:Refn Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are ever-changing and therefore maya. Brahman is "not sublatable",Template:Sfn which means it cannot be superseded by a still higher reality:Template:Sfn

the true Self, pure consciousness [...] the only Reality (sat), since It is untinged by difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not sublatable".Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

In Advaita, Brahman is the substrate and cause of all changes.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Refuting samkhya, which considers pradhana or prakriti the material cause (primal matter) and purusha the efficient cause,Template:Sfn in Advaita Vedanta Brahman is considered to be the material causeTemplate:Refn and the efficient causeTemplate:Refn of all that exists.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp Template:Sfnp The Brahma Sutras I.1.2 state that Brahman is:

...that from which the origination, subsistence, and dissolution of this universe proceed.Template:Sfn Template:Refn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Advaita's Upanishadic roots state Brahman's qualitiesTemplate:Refn to be Sat-cit-ānanda,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp "true being-consciousness-bliss,"Template:Sfnp Template:Sfn or "Eternal Bliss Consciousness".Template:Sfn Template:Refn A distinction is made between nirguna Brahman, formless Brahman, and saguna Brahman, Brahman with form, that is, Ishvara, God. Nirguna Brahman is undescribable, and the Upanishadic neti neti ('not this, not that' or 'neither this, nor that') negates all conceptualizations of Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp

Vyāvahārika (conventional reality) – Avidya and Template:IASTEdit

Avidyā (ignorance)Edit

Avidyā is a central tenet of Shankara's Advaita, and became the main target of Ramanuja's criticism of Shankara.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In Shankara's view, avidyā is adhyasa, "the superimposition of the qualities of one thing upon another."Template:Sfn As Shankara explains in the Adhyasa-bhasya, the introduction to the Brahmasutrabhasya:

Owing to an absence of discrimination, there continues a natural human behaviour in the form of 'I am this' or 'This is mine'; this is avidya. It is a superimposition of the attributes of one thing on another. The ascertainment of the nature of the real entity by separating the superimposed thing from it is vidya (knowledge, illumination).{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Due to avidya, we're steeped in loka drsti, the empirical view.Template:Sfn From the beginning we only perceive the empirical world of multiplicity, taking it to be the only and true reality.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Due to avidyā there is ignorance, or nescience, of the real Self, Atman/Brahman, mistakenly identifying the Self with the body-mind complex.<ref group=web name="EB_Maya"/> With parmartha drsti ignorance is removed and vidya is acquired, and the Real, distinctionless Brahman is perceived as the True reality.Template:Sfn

The notion of avidyā and its relationship to Brahman creates a crucial philosophical issue within Advaita Vedānta thought: how can avidyā appear in Brahman, since Brahman is pure consciousness?Template:Sfnp For Shankara, avidya is a perceptual or psychological error.Template:Sfn According to Satchidanandendra Saraswati, for Shankara "avidya is only a technical name to denote the natural tendency of the human mind that is engaged in the act of superimposition."Template:Sfn The later tradition diverged from Shankara by turning avidya into a metaphysical principle, namely mulavidya or "root ignorance," a metaphysical substance which is the "primal material cause of the universe (upadana)," thereby setting aside Shankara's 'Unevolved Name-and-Form' as the explanation for the existence of materiality.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to Mayeda, "[i]n order to save monism, they characterized avidya as indefinable as real or unreal (sadasadbhyam anirvacanya), belonging neither to the category of being nor to that of non-being."Template:Sfn In the 20th century, this theory of mulavidya became a point of strong contention among Advaita Vedantins, with Satchidanandendra Saraswati arguing that Padmapada and Prakasatman had misconstrued Shanakara's stance.Template:Sfn

Shankara did not give a 'location' of avidya, giving precedence to the removal of ignorance.Template:Sfn Template:Refn Sengaku Mayeda writes, in his commentary and translation of Adi Shankara's Upadesasahasri:

Certainly the most crucial problem which Sankara left for his followers is that of avidyā. If the concept is logically analysed, it would lead the Vedanta philosophy toward dualism or nihilism and uproot its fundamental position.Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

The later Advaita-tradition diverged from Shankara, trying to determinate a locus of avidya,Template:Sfn with the Bhamati-school locating avidya in the jiva c.q. prakriti, while the Vivarana-school locates it in Brahman.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Template:IAST (appearance)Edit

In Advaita Vedanta, the perceived empirical world, "including people and other existence," is Māyā, "appearance."Template:Sfnp Template:Sfn Jiva, conditioned by the human mind, is subjected to experiences of a subjective nature, and misunderstands and interprets the physical, changing world as the sole and final reality.Template:Sfnp Due to avidya, we take the phenomenal world to be the final reality,<ref group=web name="EB_Maya"/> while in Reality only Sat ( True Reality, Brahman) is Real and unchanging.Template:Sfn

While Shankara took a realistic stance, and his explanations are "remote from any connotation of illusion," the 13th century scholar Prakasatman, founder of the influential Vivarana school, introduced the notion that the world is illusory.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to Hacker, maya is not a prominent theme for Shankara, in contrast to the later Advaita tradition, and "the word maya has for [Shankara] hardly any terminological weight."Template:Sfn

Five koshas (sheaths)Edit

Due to avidya, atman is covered by koshas (sheaths or bodies), which hide man's true nature. According to the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Atman is covered by five koshas, usually rendered "sheath".Template:Sfnp They are often visualized like the layers of an onion.Template:Sfnp From gross to fine the five sheaths are:

Annamaya kosha, physical/food sheath
Pranamaya kosha, life-force sheath
Manomaya kosha, mental sheath
Vijnanamaya kosha, discernment/wisdom sheath
Anandamaya kosha, bliss sheath (Ananda)

Parinamavada and vivartavada - causality and changeEdit

Template:See also

Cause and effect are an important topic in all schools of Vedanta.Template:Refn Two sorts of causes are recognised, namely Template:IAST, the efficient cause, that which causes the existence of the universe, and Template:IAST, the material cause, that from which the matery of this universe comes.Template:Sfnp All schools of Vedānta agree that Brahman is both the material and the efficient cause, and all subscribe to the theory of Satkāryavāda,<ref group=web name="IEP_Bheda"/> which means that the effect is pre-existent in the cause.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

There are different views on the origination of the empirical world from Brahman. All commentators "agree that Brahman is the cause of the world," but disagree on how exactly Brahman is the cause of the world.Template:Sfn According to Nicholson, "Mediaeval Vedantins distinguished two basic positions." Parinamavada is the idea that the world is a real transformation (parinama) of Brahman.Template:Sfn Vivartavada is the idea that

the world is merely an unreal manifestation (vivarta) of Brahman. Vivartavada states that although Brahman appears to undergo a transformation, in fact no real change takes place. The myriad of beings are unreal manifestation, as the only real being is Brahman, that ultimate reality which is unborn, unchanging, and entirely without parts.Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Template:Quote box

The Brahma Sutras, the ancient Vedantins, most sub-schools of Vedānta,Template:Sfn<ref group="web" name="IEP_Bheda" /> as well as Samkhya argue for parinamavada.<ref group="web" name="IEP_Bheda" /> The "most visible advocates of Vivartavada," states Nicholson, are the Advaitins, the followers of Shankara.Template:Sfn "Although the world can be described as conventionally real", adds Nicholson, "the Advaitins claim that all of Brahman's effects must ultimately be acknowledged as unreal before the individual self can be liberated".<ref group="web" name="IEP_Bheda" />Template:Refn

Yet, Adi Shankara himself most likely explained causality through parinamavada.<ref group="web" name="IEP_Bheda" />Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In Shankara's works "Brahman constitutes the basic essence (svabhava) of the universe (BS Bh 3.2.21) and as such the universe cannot be thought of as distinct from it (BS Bh 2.1.14)." In Shankara's view, then, "The world is real, but only in so far as its existence is seen as totally dependent upon Brahman."Template:Sfn

Shankara introduced the concept of "Unevolved Name-and-Form," or primal matter corresponding to Prakriti, from which the world evolves,Template:Sfn but this concept was not adopted by the later Advaita tradition.Template:Sfn Vivartavada became the dominant explanation, with which the primacy of Atman/Brahman can be maintained.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Scholars such as Hajime Nakamura and Paul Hacker already noted that Adi Shankara did not advocate Vivartavada, and his explanations are "remote from any connotation of illusion".Template:Sfn Template:Refn Template:Quote box It was the 13th century scholar Prakasatman, who founded the influential Vivarana school, who gave a definition to vivarta, introducing the notion that the world is illusory. It is Prakasatman's theory that is sometimes misunderstood as Adi Shankara's position.Template:Sfn Andrew Nicholson concurs with Hacker and other scholars, adding that the vivarta-vada isn't Shankara's theory, that Shankara's ideas appear closer to parinama-vada, and the vivarta explanation likely emerged gradually in Advaita subschool later.<ref group="web" name="IEP_Bheda" />Template:Refn

EthicsEdit

Some claim, states Deutsch, "that Advaita turns its back on all theoretical and practical considerations of morality and, if not unethical, is at least 'a-ethical' in character".Template:Sfn However, Deutsch adds, ethics does have a firm place in this philosophy. Its ideology is permeated with ethics and value questions enter into every metaphysical and epistemological analysis, and it considers "an independent, separate treatment of ethics are unnecessary".Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Advaita Vedānta, states Deutsch, there cannot be "any absolute moral laws, principles or duties", instead in its axiological view Atman is "beyond good and evil", and all values result from self-knowledge of the reality of "distinctionless Oneness" of one's real self, every other being and all manifestations of Brahman.Template:Sfn Advaitin ethics includes lack of craving, lack of dual distinctions between one's own Self and another being's, good and just Karma.Template:Sfn

The values and ethics in Advaita Vedānta emanate from what it views as inherent in the state of liberating self-knowledge. This state, according to Rambachan, includes and leads to the understanding that "the self is the self of all, the knower of self sees the self in all beings and all beings in the self."Template:Sfn Such knowledge and understanding of the indivisibility of one's and other's Atman, Advaitins believe leads to "a deeper identity and affinity with all". It does not alienate or separate an Advaitin from his or her community, rather awakens "the truth of life's unity and interrelatedness".Template:Sfn These ideas are exemplified in the Isha Upanishad – a sruti for Advaita, as follows:

<poem> One who sees all beings in the self alone, and the self of all beings, feels no hatred by virtue of that understanding. For the seer of oneness, who knows all beings to be the self, where is delusion and sorrow? </poem> {{#if:Isha Upanishad 6–7Translated by A RambachanTemplate:Sfn|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Adi Shankara, in verse 1.25 to 1.26 of his Upadeśasāhasrī, asserts that the Self-knowledge is understood and realized when one's mind is purified by the observation of Yamas (ethical precepts) such as Ahimsa (non-violence, abstinence from injuring others in body, mind and thoughts), Satya (truth, abstinence from falsehood), Asteya (abstinence from theft), Aparigraha (abstinence from possessiveness and craving) and a simple life of meditation and reflection.Template:Sfn Rituals and rites can help focus and prepare the mind for the journey to Self-knowledge,Template:Sfn but can be abandoned when moving on to "hearing, reflection, and meditation on the Upanishads."Template:Sfn

Elsewhere, in verses 1.26–1.28, the Advaita text Upadesasahasri states the ethical premise of equality of all beings. Any Bheda (discrimination), states Shankara, based on class or caste or parentage is a mark of inner error and lack of liberating knowledge.Template:Sfn This text states that the fully liberated person understands and practices the ethics of non-difference.Template:Sfn

One, who is eager to realize this highest truth spoken of in the Sruti, should rise above the fivefold form of desire: for a son, for wealth, for this world and the next, and are the outcome of a false reference to the Self of Varna (castes, colors, classes) and orders of life. These references are contradictory to right knowledge, and reasons are given by the Srutis regarding the prohibition of the acceptance of difference. For when the knowledge that the one non-dual Atman (Self) is beyond phenomenal existence is generated by the scriptures and reasoning, there cannot exist a knowledge side by side that is contradictory or contrary to it.
{{#if:Adi Shankara, Upadesha Sahasri 1.44|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

TextsEdit

The Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gitā and Brahma Sutras are the central texts of the Advaita Vedānta tradition, lending authority to the doctrines about the identity of Atman and Brahman and their changeless nature.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Adi Shankara gave a nondualist interpretation of these texts in his commentaries. Adi Shankara's Bhashya (commentaries) have become central texts in the Advaita Vedānta philosophy, but are one among many ancient and medieval manuscripts available or accepted in this tradition.Template:Sfn The subsequent Advaita tradition has further elaborated on these sruti and commentaries. Adi Shankara is also credited for the famous text Nirvana Shatakam.

PrasthanatrayiEdit

The Vedānta tradition provides exegeses of the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavadgita, collectively called the Prasthanatrayi, literally, three sources.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The Upanishads,Template:Refn or Śruti prasthāna; considered the [[Sruti|Template:IAST]] (Vedic scriptures) foundation of Vedānta.Template:Refn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Most scholars, states Eliot Deutsch, are convinced that the Śruti in general, and the Upanishads in particular, express "a very rich diversity" of ideas, with the early Upanishads such as Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishad being more readily amenable to Advaita Vedānta school's interpretation than the middle or later Upanishads.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In addition to the oldest Upanishads, states Williams, the Sannyasa Upanishads group composed in pre-Shankara times "express a decidedly Advaita outlook".<ref>Stephen Phillips (1998), Classical Indian Metaphysics, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, p. 332 note 68</ref>
The Brahma Sutras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana; considered the reason-based foundation of Vedānta. The Brahma Sutras attempted to synthesize the teachings of the Upanishads. The diversity in the teachings of the Upanishads necessitated the systematization of these teachings. The only extant version of this synthesis is the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana. Like the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras is also an aphoristic text, and can be interpreted as a non-theistic Advaita Vedānta text or as a theistic Dvaita Vedānta text. This has led, states Stephen Phillips, to its varying interpretations by scholars of various sub-schools of Vedānta.<ref>Stephen Phillips (1998), Classical Indian Metaphysics, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, p. 332 note 69</ref> The Brahmasutra is considered by the Advaita school as the Nyaya Prasthana (canonical base for reasoning).Template:Sfn
The Bhagavad Gitā, or Smriti prasthāna; considered the Smriti (remembered tradition) foundation of Vedānta.Template:Sfn It has been widely studied by Advaita scholars, including a commentary by Adi Shankara.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Textual authorityEdit

The Advaita Vedānta tradition considers the knowledge claims in the Vedas to be the crucial part of the Vedas, not its karma-kanda (ritual injunctions).Template:Sfn The knowledge claims about self being identical to the nature of Atman/Brahman are found in the Upanishads, which Advaita Vedānta has regarded as "errorless revealed truth."Template:Sfn Nevertheless, states Koller, Advaita Vedantins did not entirely rely on revelation, but critically examined their teachings using reason and experience, and this led them to investigate and critique competing theories.Template:Sfn

Advaita Vedānta, like all orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, accepts as an epistemic premise that Śruti (Vedic literature) is a reliable source of knowledge.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Śruti includes the four Vedas including its four layers of embedded texts – the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the early Upanishads.<ref>Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1988), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, Manchester University Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 2–3</ref> Of these, the Upanishads are the most referred to texts in the Advaita school.

The possibility of different interpretations of the Vedic literature, states Arvind Sharma, was recognized by ancient Indian scholars.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Brahmasutra (also called Vedānta Sutra, composed in 1st millennium BCE) accepted this in verse 1.1.4 and asserts the need for the Upanishadic teachings to be understood not in piecemeal cherrypicked basis, rather in a unified way wherein the ideas in the Vedic texts are harmonized with other means of knowledge such as perception, inference and remaining pramanas.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn This theme has been central to the Advaita school, making the Brahmasutra as a common reference and a consolidated textual authority for Advaita.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The Bhagavad Gitā, similarly in parts can be interpreted to be a monist Advaita text, and in other parts as theistic Dvaita text. It too has been widely studied by Advaita scholars, including a commentary by Adi Shankara.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Other textsEdit

A large number of texts are attributed to Shankara; of these texts, the Brahma Sutra Bhasya (commentary on the Brahma Sutras), the commentaries on the principal Upanishads, and the Upadesasahasri are considered genuine and stand out.Template:Fact

Post-Shankara Advaita saw the composition of both scholarly commentaries and treatises, as well as, from late mediaeval times (14th century) on, popular works and compositions which incorporate Yoga ideas. These include notable texts mistakenly attributed to Shankara, such as the Vivekachudamani, Atma bodha, and Aparokshanubhuti; and other texts like Advaita Bodha Deepika and Dŗg-Dŗśya-Viveka. Texts which influenced the Advaita tradition include the Avadhuta Gita, the Yoga Vasistha, and the Yoga Yajnavalkya.Template:Fact

Sampradaya and Smarta traditionEdit

Monastic order - MathasEdit

Template:See also

File:Vidyashankara Temple at Shringeri.jpg

(Vidyashankara temple) at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri

Advaita Vedānta is not just a philosophical system, but also a tradition of monastic renunciation. Philosophy and renunciation are closely related:<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />

Template:Error Template:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

According to tradition, around 740 AD Gaudapada founded Shri Gaudapadacharya Math Template:Refn, also known as Template:IAST. It is located in Kavale, Ponda, Goa,<ref group=web>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is the oldest matha of the South Indian Saraswat Brahmins.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite book</ref><ref group=web>Kavale Math Official Website</ref>

Shankara, himself considered to be an incarnation of Shiva,<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" /> is credited with establishing the Dashanami Sampradaya, organizing a section of the Ekadandi monks under an umbrella grouping of ten names.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition">Sankara Acarya Biography – Monastic Tradition Template:Webarchive</ref> Several Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions, however, remained outside the organisation of the Dasanāmis.<ref>Karigoudar Ishwaran, Ascetic Culture</ref><ref>Wendy Sinclair-Brull, Female Ascetics</ref><ref>H.A. Rose, Ibbetson, Denzil Ibbetson Sir, and Maclagan, Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province, p. 857</ref>

Sankara is said to have organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four Template:IAST (Sanskrit: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) (monasteries), called the Amnaya Mathas, with the headquarters at Dvārakā in the West, Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri in the South and Badrikashrama in the North.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition"/> According to tradition, each math was first headed by one of his four main disciples, and the tradition continues since then. Yet, according to Paul Hacker, no mention of the mathas can be found before the 14th century CE.Template:Sfn Until the 15th century, the timespan of the directors of Sringeri Math are unrealistically long, spanning 60+ and even 105 years. After 1386, the timespans become much shorter.Template:Sfn According to Hacker, these mathas may have originated as late as the 14th century, to propagate Shankara's view of Advaita.Template:Sfn Template:Refn Template:Refn According to another tradition in Kerala, after Sankara's samadhi at Vadakkunnathan Temple, his disciples founded four mathas in Thrissur, namely Naduvil Madhom, Thekke Madhom, Idayil Madhom and Vadakke Madhom.

Monks of these ten orders differ in part in their beliefs and practices, and a section of them is not considered to be restricted to specific changes attributed to Shankara. While the dasanāmis associated with the Sankara maths follow the procedures attributed to Adi Śankara, some of these orders remained partly or fully independent in their belief and practices; and outside the official control of the Sankara maths. The advaita sampradaya is not a Saiva sect,<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />Template:Sfn despite the historical links with Shaivism.Template:Refn Nevertheless, contemporary Sankaracaryas have more influence among Saiva communities than among Vaisnava communities.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />

Smarta TraditionEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

The Smarta tradition of Hinduism is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought and practice, which developed with the Hindu synthesis, dating back to the early first century CE.Template:Refn It is particularly found in south and west India, and reveres all Hindu divinities as a step in their spiritual pursuit.<ref name="Harle1994p141"/><ref name="Flood1996p17"/>Template:Sfn Their worship practice is called Panchayatana puja.<ref name="Bühnemann2003p60">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Harle1994p141">Template:Cite book</ref> The worship symbolically consists of five deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi or Durga, Surya and an Ishta Devata or any personal god of devotee's preference.<ref name="Flood1996p17">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Smarta tradition, Advaita Vedānta ideas combined with bhakti are its foundation. Adi Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacherTemplate:Sfn and reformer of the Smarta.Template:Sfn According to Alf Hiltebeitel, Shankara's Advaita Vedānta and practices became the doctrinal unifier of previously conflicting practices with the smarta tradition.Template:Refn

Philosophically, the Smarta tradition emphasizes that all images and statues (murti), or just five marks or any anicons on the ground, are visibly convenient icons of spirituality saguna Brahman.<ref name="lexicon"/><ref name="Bühnemann2003p60"/> The multiple icons are seen as multiple representations of the same idea, rather than as distinct beings. These serve as a step and means to realizing the abstract Ultimate Reality called nirguna Brahman. The ultimate goal in this practice is to transition past the use of icons, then follow a philosophical and meditative path to understanding the oneness of Atman (Self) and Brahman – as "That art Thou".<ref name="lexicon">The Four Denominations of Hinduism Template:Webarchive, Basics of Hinduism, Kauai Hindu Monastery</ref><ref>Falk Reitz (1997), Pancayatana-Komplexe in Nordindien: Entstehung, Entwicklung und regionale Besonderheiten einer indischen Architekturform Template:Webarchive, PhD Thesis (in German), Awarded by Freie Universität Berlin</ref>

Buddhist influences on Advaita VedāntaEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Further

Similarities with BuddhismEdit

Advaita Vedānta and other schools of Hindu philosophy share numerous terminology, doctrines, and dialectical techniques with Buddhism.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to a 1918 paper by the Buddhist scholar O. Rozenberg, "a precise differentiation between Brahmanism and Buddhism is impossible to draw."Template:Sfn T. R. V. Murti notices that "the ultimate goal" of Vedānta, Sāṃkhya, and Mahāyāna Buddhism is "remarkably similar"; while Advaita Vedānta postulates a "foundational self", according to Murti "Mahāyāna Buddhism implicitly affirms the existence of a deep underlying reality behind all empirical manifestations in its conception of śūnyatā (the indeterminate, the void), or vijñapti-mātra (consciousness only), or tathātā (thatness), or dhārmata (noumenal reality)."Template:Sfn According to Frank Whaling, the similarities between Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism are not limited to the terminology and some doctrines, but also includes practice. The monastic practices and monk tradition in Advaita Vedānta are similar to those found in Buddhism.Template:Sfn

Mahāyāna philosophyEdit

The influence of Mahāyāna Buddhism on Advaita Vedānta has been significant.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Sharma points out that the early commentators on the Brahma Sūtras were all realists, or pantheist realists. He states that they were influenced by Buddhism, particularly during the 5th–6th centuries CE with the development of the Yogācāra school of Buddhist philosophy.Template:Sfn Von Glasenapp states that there was a mutual influence between Vedānta and Buddhism.<ref group=note name=helmithglasenapp2>Helmuth von Glasenapp (1995), Vedanta & Buddhism: A comparative study, Buddhist Publication Society, pages 2-3, Quote: "Vedānta and Buddhism have lived side by side for such a long time that obviously they must have influenced each other. The strong predilection of the Indian mind for a doctrine of universal unity has led the representatives of Mahāyāna to conceive Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa as two aspects of the same and single true reality; for Nāgārjuna the empirical world is a mere appearance, as all dharmas, manifest in it, are perishable and conditioned by other dharmas, without having any independent existence of their own. Only the indefinable "Voidness" (Śūnyatā) to be grasped in meditation, and realized in Nirvāṇa, has true reality [in Buddhism]".</ref> S. N. Dasgupta and Mohanta suggest that Buddhism and Advaita Vedānta represent "different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Śaṅkara."Template:Sfn Template:Refn

The influence of Buddhist doctrines on Gauḍapāda has been a vexed question.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Modern scholarship generally accepts that Gauḍapāda was influenced by Buddhism, at least in terms of using Buddhist terminology to explain his ideas, but adds that Gauḍapāda was a Vedantin and not a Buddhist.Template:Sfn Ādi Śaṅkara, states Natalia Isaeva, incorporated "into his own system a Buddhist notion of māyā which had not been minutely elaborated in the Upanishads".Template:Sfn According to Mudgal, Śaṅkara's Advaita view and Nāgārjuna's Mādhyamaka view of ultimate reality are compatible because they are both transcendental, indescribable, non-dual and only arrived at through a via negativa or neti neti. Mudgal concludes therefore that "the difference between Śūnyavāda philosophy of Buddhism and Advaita philosophy of Hinduism may be a matter of emphasis, not of kind".Template:Sfn Similarly, there are many points of contact between the Buddhist Yogācāra school and Śaṅkara's Advaita tradition.Template:Sfn According to S. N. Dasgupta,

Śaṅkara and his followers borrowed much of their dialectic form of criticism from the Buddhists. His Brahman was very much like the śūnya of Nāgārjuna [...] The debts of Śaṅkara to the self-luminosity Template:Refn of the Vijñānavāda Buddhism can hardly be overestimated. There seems to be much truth in the accusations against Śaṅkara by Vijñāna Bhikṣu and others that he was a hidden Buddhist himself. I am led to think that Śaṅkara's philosophy is largely a compound of Vijñānavāda and Śūnyavāda Buddhism with the Upanishadic notion of the permanence of self superadded.Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Differences from BuddhismEdit

The Advaita Vedānta tradition has historically rejected accusations of crypto-Buddhism highlighting their respective views on Ātman, Anattā, and Brahman.Template:Sfn Yet, some early Buddhist texts (1st millennium CE), such as the Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures Tathāgatagarbha Sūtras suggest "self-like" concepts, variously called Tathāgatagarbha or "Buddha nature".Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In modern era studies, scholars such as Wayman state that these "self-like" concepts are neither self nor sentient being, nor individual soul, nor personality.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Some scholars posit that the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "(...) it refers to the Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The epistemological foundations of Buddhism and Advaita Vedānta are different. Buddhism accepts two valid means to reliable and correct knowledge—perception and inference, while Advaita Vedānta accepts six (described elsewhere in this article).Template:Sfn<ref name=ds>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>John Clayton (2010), Religions, Reasons and Gods: Essays in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Religion, Cambridge University Press, Template:ISBN, p. 54</ref> However, some Buddhists in history, have argued that Buddhist scriptures are a reliable source of spiritual knowledge, corresponding to Advaita's Śabda pramana, however Buddhists have treated their scriptures as a form of inference method.<ref>Alex Wayman (1999), A Millennium of Buddhist Logic, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pp. xix–xx</ref>

Advaita Vedānta posits a substance ontology, an ontology which holds that underlying the change and impermanence of empirical reality is an unchanging and permanent absolute reality, like an eternal substance it calls Ātman/Brahman.Template:Sfn In its substance ontology, as like other philosophies, there exist a universal, particulars, and specific properties, and it is the interaction of particulars that create events and processes.<ref name="Bartley2011p91"/> In contrast, Buddhism posits a process ontology, also called as "event ontology".Template:Sfn<ref name="Bartley2011p91">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Buddhist philosophy, particularly after the rise of ancient Mahāyāna Buddhist scholarship, the concept of impermanence (anicca) is understood as one of the three marks of existence (trilakṣaṇa):<ref name="Siderits 2015"/> there is neither empirical nor absolute permanent reality, because all phenomena are characterized by their lack of a solid and independent existence (svabhāva), and ontology can be explained as a process.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn

In Buddhist ontology, there is a system of dependent origination and interdependent phenomena (pratītya-samutpāda) but no stable persistent identities, neither eternal universals nor particulars.<ref name="Siderits 2015"/> In Buddhism, thoughts and memories are mental constructions and fluid processes (skandhā) without a real observer, personal agent, or cognizer (anattā).<ref name="Siderits 2015"/> By contrast, in Advaita Vedānta and the other orthodox schools of Hinduism, the eternal, unchanging ultimate self (ātman) identical with Brahman is understood as the real observer, personal agent, and cognizer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, the historical Buddha considered this Brahmanical belief to be one of the six wrong views about the self; in fact, Buddha held that attachment to the appearance of a permanent self in this world of change is the cause of suffering (duḥkha), and the main obstacle to the attainment of spiritual liberation (mokṣa).<ref name="Siderits 2015">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Criticisms of concurring Hindu schoolsEdit

Some Hindu scholars have criticized Advaita Vedānta for its notion of māyā and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with Buddhism,<ref>Julius Lipner (1986), The Face of Truth: A Study of Meaning and Metaphysics in the Vedantic Theology of Rāmānuja, State University of New York Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 120–123</ref>Template:Sfn sometimes referring to the Advaita tradition as Māyāvāda.Template:Refn

Bhāskara, a Hindu philosopher of the Bhedabheda Vedānta school (9th century CE), accused Śaṅkara's Advaita tradition as "this despicable broken down Māyāvāda that has been chanted by the Mahāyāna Buddhists", characterizing it as a school that is undermining the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.Template:Sfn

Rāmāṉuja, a Hindu saint and founder of the Vishishtadvaita Vedānta school (12th century CE), similarly accused Ādi Śaṅkara of being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a "crypto-Buddhist",Template:Sfn and someone who was undermining the theistic Bhakti-oriented devotionalism.Template:Sfn

Relationship with other traditionsEdit

The Advaita Vedānta ideas, particularly of 8th century Adi Shankara, were challenged by theistic Vedānta philosophies that emerged centuries later, such as the 11th-century Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism) of Ramanuja, and the 14th-century Dvaita (theistic dualism) of Madhvacharya.Template:Sfn Their application of Vedanta philosophy to ground their faith turned Vedanta into a major factor in India's religious landscape.Template:Sfn

VishishtadvaitaEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualism Vedānta schools,<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp>J.A.B. van Buitenen (2008), Ramanuja – Hindu theologian and Philosopher Template:Webarchive, Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref name=cetternonplu/> both are premised on the assumption that all Selfs can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya and his Dvaita subschool of Vedānta believed that some Selfs are eternally doomed and damned.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Shankara's theory posits that only Brahman and causes are metaphysical unchanging reality, while the empirical world (Maya) and observed effects are changing, illusive and of relative existence.<ref name="Sydnor2012p87">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=joeschultz81>Template:Cite book</ref> Spiritual liberation to Shankara is the full comprehension and realization of oneness of one's unchanging Atman (Self) as the same as Atman in everyone else as well as being identical to the nirguna Brahman.<ref name=cetternonplu>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In contrast, Ramanuja's theory posits both Brahman and the world of matter are two different absolutes, both metaphysically real, neither should be called false or illusive, and saguna Brahman with attributes is also real.<ref name=joeschultz81/> God, like man, states Ramanuja, has both soul and body, and all of the world of matter is the glory of God's body.<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp/> The path to Brahman (Vishnu), asserted Ramanuja, is devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of personal god (saguna Brahman, Vishnu), one which ultimately leads one to the oneness with nirguna Brahman.<ref name=jabvanbuirhtp/><ref name="Sydnor2012p87"/><ref name=joeschultz81/>

ShuddhadvaitaEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 CE), the proponent of the philosophy of Shuddhadvaita Brahmvad enunciates that Ishvara has created the world without connection with any external agency such as Maya (which itself is his power) and manifests Himself through the world.<ref>Devarshi Ramanath Shastri, "Shuddhadvaita Darshan (Vol.2)", Published by Mota Mandir, Bhoiwada, Mumbai, India, 1917.</ref> That is why shuddhadvaita is known as 'Unmodified transformation' or 'Avikṛta Pariṇāmavāda'. Brahman or Ishvara desired to become many, and he became the multitude of individual Selfs and the world. Vallabha recognises Brahman as the whole and the individual as a 'part' (but devoid of bliss).<ref>"Brahmavād Saṅgraha", Pub. Vaishnava Mitra Mandal Sarvajanik Nyasa, Indore, India, 2014.</ref>

DvaitaEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Madhvacharya was also a critic of Advaita Vedānta. Advaita's nondualism asserted that Atman (Self) and Brahman are identical (both in bondage and liberation<ref name=":1">Tapasyananda, Swami. Bhakti Schools of Vedanta pg. 180-181</ref>), there is interconnected oneness of all Selfs and Brahman, and there are no pluralities.<ref name=stoker2011mc/><ref name=staffordbetty215/> Madhva in contrast asserted that Atman (Self) and Brahman are different (both in bondage and liberation<ref name=":1" />), only Vishnu is the Lord (Brahman), individual Selfs are also different and depend on Vishnu, and there are pluralities.<ref name=stoker2011mc>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name=staffordbetty215>Stafford Betty (2010), Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita: Contrasting Views of Mokṣa, Asian Philosophy: An International Journal of the Philosophical Traditions of the East, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp. 215–224</ref> Madhvacharya stated that both Advaita Vedānta and Mahayana Buddhism were a nihilistic school of thought.<ref name=smschari6/> Madhvacharya wrote four major texts, including Upadhikhandana and Tattvadyota, primarily dedicated to criticizing Advaita.<ref name=smschari6>SMS Chari (1999), Advaita and Visistadvaita, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pp. 5–7</ref>

Followers of ISKCON are highly critical of Advaita Vedānta, regarding it as māyāvāda, identical to Mahayana Buddhism.<ref group=web>Gaura Gopala Dasa, The Self-Defeating Philosophy of Mayavada Template:Webarchive</ref><ref group=web>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Influence on other traditionsEdit

Within the ancient and medieval texts of Hindu traditions, such as Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, the ideas of Advaita Vedānta have had a major influence.Template:Refn Advaita Vedānta influenced Krishna Vaishnavism in the different parts of India.Template:Sfn One of its most popular text, the Bhagavata Purana, adopts and integrates in Advaita Vedānta philosophy.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Bhagavata Purana is generally accepted by scholars to have been composed in the second half of 1st millennium CE.Template:Sfn<ref name="Archaism">Template:Cite book</ref>

In the ancient and medieval literature of Shaivism, called the Āgamas, the influence of Advaita Vedānta is once again prominent.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Of the 92 Āgamas, ten are Dvaita texts, eighteen are Bhedabheda, and sixty-four are Advaita texts.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to Natalia Isaeva, there is an evident and natural link between 6th-century Gaudapada's Advaita Vedānta ideas and Kashmir Shaivism.Template:Sfn

Shaktism, the Hindu tradition where a goddess is considered identical to Brahman, has similarly flowered from a syncretism of the monist premises of Advaita Vedānta and dualism premises of Samkhya–Yoga school of Hindu philosophy, sometimes referred to as Shaktadavaitavada (literally, the path of nondualistic Shakti).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Other influential ancient and medieval classical texts of Hinduism such as the Yoga Yajnavalkya, Yoga Vashishta, Avadhuta Gitā, Markandeya Purana and Sannyasa Upanishads predominantly incorporate premises and ideas of Advaita Vedānta.<ref>Template:Harvnb;
Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb;
Template:Harvnb;
Template:Harvnb</ref>

History of Advaita VedāntaEdit

File:Shri Gaudapadacharya Statue.jpg

Gaudapada, one of the most important pre-Śaṅkara philosophers in Advaita tradition

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

HistoriographyEdit

The historiography of Advaita Vedanta is coloured by Orientalist notions,Template:Sfn Template:Refn while modern formulations of Advaita Vedānta, which developed as a reaction to western Orientalism and Perennialism Template:Sfn have "become a dominant force in Indian intellectual thought."Template:Sfn According to Michael S. Allen and Anand Venkatkrishnan, "scholars have yet to provide even a rudimentary, let alone comprehensive account of the history of Advaita Vedānta in the centuries leading up to the colonial period."Template:Sfn

Early VedāntaEdit

The Upanishads form the basic texts, of which Vedānta gives an interpretation.Template:Sfn The Upanishads do not contain "a rigorous philosophical inquiry identifying the doctrines and formulating the supporting arguments".Template:Sfn Template:Refn This philosophical inquiry was performed by the darsanas, the various philosophical schools.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

The Brahma Sutras of Bādarāyana, also called the Vedānta Sutra,Template:Sfn were compiled in its present form around 400–450 CE,Template:Sfn but "the great part of the Sutra must have been in existence much earlier than that".Template:Sfn Estimates of the date of Bādarāyana's lifetime differ between 200 BCE and 200 CE.Template:Sfn The Brahma Sutra is a critical study of the teachings of the Upanishads, possibly "written from a Bhedābheda Vedāntic viewpoint."<ref group="web" name="IEP_Bheda" /> Bādarāyana was not the first person to systematise the teachings of the Upanishads.Template:Sfn He refers to seven Vedantic teachers before him.Template:Sfn

Early Advaita VedāntaEdit

Two Advaita writings predating Maṇḍana Miśra and Shankara were known to scholars such as Nakamura in the first half of 20th-century, namely the Vākyapadīya, written by Bhartṛhari (second half 5th centuryTemplate:Sfn), and the Māndūkya-kārikā written by Gauḍapāda (7th century).Template:Sfn Later scholarship added the Sannyasa Upanishads (first centuries CETemplate:Sfn) to the earliest known corpus, some of which are of a sectarian nature,Template:Sfn and have a strong Advaita Vedānta outlook.Template:Sfn<ref>Stephen H Phillips (1995), Classical Indian Metaphysics, Columbia University Press, Template:ISBN, p. 332 with note 68</ref><ref>Antonio Rigopoulos (1998), Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara, State University of New York Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 62–63</ref>

According to Nakamura, "there must have been an enormous number of other writings turned out in this period [between the Brahma Sutras and Shankara], but unfortunately all of them have been scattered or lost and have not come down to us today".Template:Sfn In his commentaries, Shankara mentions 99 different predecessors of his Sampradaya.Template:Sfn In the beginning of his commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Shankara salutes the teachers of the Brahmavidya Sampradaya.<ref group=web>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Pre-Shankara doctrines and sayings can be traced in the works of the later schools, which does give insight into the development of early Vedānta philosophy.Template:Sfn

Gauḍapāda and Template:IASTEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

According to tradition, Gauḍapāda (6th century)Template:Sfn was the teacher of Govinda Bhagavatpada and the grandteacher of Shankara. Gauḍapāda wrote or compiledTemplate:Sfn the Template:IAST, also known as the Template:IAST or the Template:IAST.Template:Sfn The Template:IAST is a commentary in verse form on the Māṇḍūkya Upanishad, one of the shortest Upanishads consisting of just 13 prose sentences. Of the ancient literature related to Advaita Vedānta, the oldest surviving complete text is the Māṇḍukya Kārikā.Template:Sfn The Māṇḍūkya Upanishad was considered to be a Śruti before the era of Adi Shankara, but not treated as particularly important.Template:Sfn In later post-Shankara period its value became far more important, and regarded as expressing the essence of the Upanishad philosophy. The entire Karika became a key text for the Advaita school in this later era.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Gaudapada took over the Yogachara teaching of vijñapti-mātra, "representation-only," which states that the empirical reality that we experience is a fabrication of the mind, experienced by consciousness-an-sich,Template:Sfn Template:Refn and the four-cornered negation, which negates any positive predicates of 'the Absolute'.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn Gaudapada "wove [both doctrines] into the philosophy of Mandukaya Upanisad, which was further developed by Shankara".Template:Sfn Template:Refn In this view,

Template:Error Template:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Gauḍapāda uses the concepts of Ajātivāda to explain that 'the Absolute' is not subject to birth, change and death. The Absolute is aja, the unborn eternal.Template:Sfn The empirical world of appearances is considered unreal, and not absolutely existent.Template:Sfn

Early medieval period - Maṇḍana Miśra and Adi ShankaraEdit

Maṇḍana MiśraEdit

Maṇḍana Miśra, an older contemporary of Shankara,Template:Sfn was a Mimamsa scholar and a follower of Kumarila, but also wrote a seminal text on Advaita that has survived into the modern era, the Brahma-siddhi.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to Fiordalis, he was influenced by the Yoga-tradition, and with that indirectly by Buddhism, given the strong influence of Buddhism on the Yoga-tradition.Template:Sfn For a couple of centuries he seems to have been regarded as "the most important representative of the Advaita position,"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn and the "theory of error" set forth in the Brahma-siddhi became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error.Template:Sfn

Adi ShankaraEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also

Very little is known about Shankara. According to Dalal, "Hagiographical accounts of his life, the Śaṅkaravijayas ("Conquests of Śaṅkara"), were composed several centuries after his death,"<ref group=web name=Stanford_Dalal2021/> in the 14th to 17th century, and established Shankara as a rallying symbol of values in a time when most of India was conquered by Muslims.Template:Sfn He is often considered to be the founder of the Advaita Vedānta school, but was actually a systematizer, not a founder.<ref group=web name=Stanford_Dalal2021/>Template:Sfn

Systematizer of Advaita thoughtEdit

Shankara was a scholar who synthesized and systematized Advaita-vāda thought which already existed at his lifetime.Template:Sfn According to Nakamura, comparison of the known teachings of the early Vedantins and Shankara's thought shows that most of the characteristics of Shankara's thought "were advocated by someone before Śankara".Template:Sfn According to Nakamura, after the growing influence of Buddhism on Vedānta, culminating in the works of Gauḍapāda, Adi Shankara gave a Vedantic character to the Buddhistic elements in these works,Template:Sfn synthesising and rejuvenating the doctrine of Advaita.Template:Sfn According to Koller, using ideas in ancient Indian texts, Shankara systematized the foundation for Advaita Vedānta in the 8th century, reforming Badarayana's Vedānta tradition.<ref name=johnkoller/> According to Mayeda, Shankara represents a turning point in the development of Vedānta,Template:Sfn yet he also notices that it is only since Deussens's praise that Shankara "has usually been regarded as the greatest philosopher of India."Template:Sfn Mayeda further notes that Shankara was primarily concerned with moksha, "and not with the establishment of a complete system of philosophy or theology,"Template:Sfn following Potter, who qualifies Shankara as a "speculative philosopher."Template:Sfn Lipner notes that Shankara's "main literary approach was commentarial and hence perforce disjointed rather than procedurally systematic [...] though a systematic philosophy can be derived from Samkara's thought."Template:Sfn

WritingsEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Adi Shankara is best known for his reviews and commentaries (Bhasyas) on ancient Indian texts. His Brahmasutrabhasya (literally, commentary on Brahma Sutra) is a fundamental text of the Vedānta school of Hinduism.Template:Sfn His commentaries on ten Mukhya (principal) Upanishads are also considered authentic by scholars.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Other authentic works of Shankara include commentaries on the Bhagavad Gitā (part of his Prasthana Trayi Bhasya).Template:Sfn He also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work.<ref name=johnkoller>John Koller (2007), in Chad Meister and Paul Copan (Editors): The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Routledge, Template:ISBN, pp. 98–106</ref><ref name=halbfassyoga>Wilhelm Halbfass (1990), Tradition and Reflection: Explorations in Indian Thought, State University of New York Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 205–208</ref> The authenticity of Shankara being the author of Template:IAST<ref>Adi Shankaracharya, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi S Madhavananda (Translator), Advaita Ashrama (1921)</ref> has been questioned, and "modern scholars tend to reject its authenticity as a work by Shankara."<ref>John Grimes (2004), The Vivekacudamani of Sankaracarya Bhagavatpada: An Introduction and Translation, Ashgate, Template:ISBN, p.23</ref>

Influence of ShankaraEdit

While Shankara has an unparalleled status in the history of Advaita Vedanta, scholars have questioned the traditional narrative of Shankara's early influence in India.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Maṇḍana Miśra, who was considered to be the major representative of Advaita.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Only when Vacaspati Misra, an influential student of Maṇḍana Miśra, harmonised the teachings of Shankara with those of Maṇḍana Miśra, Shankara's teachings gained prominence.Template:Sfn Some modern Advaitins argue that most of post-Shankara Advaita Vedanta actually deviates from Shankara, and that only his student Suresvara, who's had little influence, represents Shankara correctly.Template:Sfn In this view, Shankara's influential student Padmapada misunderstood Shankara, while his views were manitained by the Suresvara school.Template:Sfn According to Satchidanandendra Sarasvati, "almost all the later Advaitins were influenced by Mandana Misra and Bhaskara."Template:Sfn Template:Refn Until the 11th century, Vedanta itself was a peripheral school of thought;Template:Sfn Vedanta became a major influence when Vedanta philosophy was utilized by various sects of Hinduism to ground their doctrines,Template:Sfn such as Ramanuja (11th c.), who aligned bhakti, "the major force in the religions of Hinduism," with philosophical thought, meanwhile rejecting Shankara's views.<ref group=web name=EB_Ramanuja>Encyclopædia Britannica, Ramanajua Template:Webarchive</ref>

The cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta started only centuries later, in the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn when Sringeri matha started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire and became a powerful institution.Template:Sfn Vidyaranya, also known as Madhava, who was the Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from ca. 1374–1380 to 1386Template:Sfn played a central role in this growing influence of Advaita Vedanta, and the deification of Shankara as a ruler-renunciate.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn From 1346 onwards Sringeri matha received patronage from the Vijayanagara kings, and its importance and influence grew rapidly in the second half of the 14th century.Template:Sfn Template:Refn Vidyaranya and the Sringeri matha competed for royal patronage and converts with Srivaisnava Visistadvaita, which was dominant in territories conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire,Template:Sfn and Madhava (the pre-ordination name of Vidyaranya) presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all darsanas, portraying the other darsanas as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings.Template:Sfn The subsequent Shankara Digvijayam genre, following the example of the earlier Madhva Digvijayam,Template:Sfn presented Shankara as a ruler-renunciate, conquering the four quarters of India and bringing harmony.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The genre created legends to turn Shankara into a "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his digvijaya ("universal conquest") all over India like a victorious conqueror."Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Shankara's position was further established in the 19th and 20th century, when neo-Vedantins and western Orientalists, following Vidyaranya, elevated Advaita Vedanta "as the connecting theological thread that united Hinduism into a single religious tradition."Template:Sfn Shankara became "an iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta.Template:Sfn

Advaita Vedanta sub-schoolsEdit

Two defunct schools are the Pancapadika and Istasiddhi, which were replaced by Prakasatman's Vivarana school.Template:Sfn The still existing Bhāmatī and Vivarana developed in the 11th-14th century.<ref group=web name =BhamatiVivarana/>Template:Sfn These schools worked out the logical implications of various Advaita doctrines. Two of the problems they encountered were the further interpretations of the concepts of māyā and avidya.<ref group=web name =BhamatiVivarana />

Padmapada (c. 800 CE),Template:Sfn the founder of the defunct Pancapadika school, was a direct disciple of Shankara. He wrote the Pancapadika, a commentary on the Sankara-bhaya.Template:Sfn Padmapada diverged from Shankara in his description of avidya, designating prakrti as avidya or ajnana.Template:Sfn

Sureśvara (fl. 800–900 CE)Template:Sfn was a contemporary of Shankara,Template:Sfn and often (incorrectly) identified with Maṇḍana Miśra.Template:Sfn Template:Refn Sureśvara has also been credited as the founder of a pre-Shankara branch of Advaita Vedānta.Template:Sfn

Mandana Mishra's student Vachaspati Miśra (9th/10th century CE),Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn who is believed to have been an incarnation of Shankara to popularize the Advaita view,Template:Sfn wrote the Bhamati, a commentary on Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya, and the Brahmatattva-samiksa, a commentary on Mandana Mishra's Brahma-siddhi. His thought was mainly inspired by Mandana Miśra, and harmonises Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Miśra.Template:Sfn<ref group=web name=BhamatiVivarana>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach. It sees the Jiva as the source of avidya.<ref group=web name=BhamatiVivarana /> It sees contemplation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of the Vedas and reflection are additional factors.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Vimuktatman (c. 1200 CE)Template:Sfn wrote the Ista-siddhi.Template:Sfn It is one of the four traditional siddhi, together with Mandana's Brahma-siddhi, Suresvara's Naiskarmya-siddhi, and Madusudana's Advaita-siddhi.Template:Sfn According to Vimuktatman, absolute Reality is "pure intuitive consciousness".Template:Sfn His school of thought was eventually replaced by Prakasatman's Vivarana school.Template:Sfn

Prakasatman (c. 1200–1300)Template:Sfn wrote the Pancapadika-Vivarana, a commentary on the Pancapadika by Padmapadacharya.Template:Sfn The Vivarana lends its name to the subsequent school. According to Roodurmun, "[H]is line of thought [...] became the leitmotif of all subsequent developments in the evolution of the Advaita tradition."Template:Sfn The Vivarana school takes an epistemological approach. It is distinguished from the Bhamati school by its rejection of action and favouring Vedic study and "a direct apprehension of Brahma."Template:Sfn Prakasatman was the first to propound the theory of mulavidya or maya as being of "positive beginningless nature",Template:Sfn and sees Brahman as the source of avidya. Critics object that Brahman is pure consciousness, so it cannot be the source of avidya. Another problem is that contradictory qualities, namely knowledge and ignorance, are attributed to Brahman.<ref group=web name=BhamatiVivarana />

Another late figure which is widely associated with Advaita and was influential on late Advaita thought was Śrīharṣa.

Late medieval India - yogic AdvaitaEdit

Michael S. Allen and Anand Venkatkrishnan note that Shankara is very well-studied, but "scholars have yet to provide even a rudimentary, let alone comprehensive account of the history of Advaita Vedānta in the centuries leading up to the colonial period."Template:Sfn

While indologists like Paul Hacker and Wilhelm Halbfass took Shankara's system as the measure for an "orthodox" Advaita Vedānta, the living Advaita Vedānta tradition in medieval times was influenced by, and incorporated elements from, the yogic tradition and texts like the Yoga Vasistha and the Bhagavata Purana.Template:Sfn Yoga and samkhya had become minor schools of thought since the time of Shankara, and no longer posed a thread for the sectarian identity of Advaita, in contrast to the Vaishnava traditions.Template:Sfn

The Yoga Vasistha became an authoritative source text in the Advaita vedānta tradition in the 14th century, and the "yogic Advaita"Template:Sfn Template:Sfn of Vidyāraņya's Jivanmuktiviveka (14th century) was influenced by the (Laghu-)Yoga-Vasistha, which in turn was influenced by Kashmir Shaivism.Template:Sfn Vivekananda's 19th century emphasis on nirvikalpa samadhi was preceded by medieval yogic influences on Advaita Vedānta. In the 16th and 17th centuries, some Nath and hatha yoga texts also came within the scope of the developing Advaita Vedānta tradition.Template:Sfn

According to Andrew Nicholson, it was with the arrival of Islamic rule, first in the form of Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire, and the subsequent persecution of Indian religions, that Hindu scholars began a self-conscious attempts to define an identity and unity.Template:Sfn<ref name="gaborieau7">Template:Cite journal</ref> Between the twelfth and the fourteenth century, this effort emerged with the "astika and nastika" schema of classifying Indian philosophy.Template:Sfn

VidyāraṇyaEdit

It is only during this period that the historical fame and cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta was established.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Advaita Vedanta's position as most influential Hindu darsana took shape as Advaitins in the Vijayanagara Empire competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their sect.Template:Sfn Sringeri matha started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara EmpireTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn who shifted their allegiance from Advaitic Agamic Shaivism to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy.Template:Sfn

Central in this repositioning was Vidyāraṇya,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn also known as Madhava, who was the Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380 to 1386<ref name="Chisholm, Hugh 1911">Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mādhava Āchārya". Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> and a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire.Template:Sfn He inspired the re-creation of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India, in response to the devastation caused by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn but his efforts were also targeted at Srivaisnava groups, especially Visistadvaita, which was dominant in territories conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire.Template:Sfn Sects competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their own sectarian system, and Vidyaranya efforts were aimed at promoting Advaita Vedanta.Template:Sfn Most of Shankara's biographies were created and published from the 14th to the 17th century, such as the widely cited Śankara-vijaya, in which legends were created to turn Shankara into a "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his digvijaya ("universal conquest") all over India like a victorious conqueror."Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Vidyaranya and his brothers wrote extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma to make "the authoritative literature of the Aryan religion" more accessible.Template:Sfn In his doxography Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha ("Summary of all views") Vidyaranya presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all darsanas, presenting the other darsanas as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings, which was regarded to be the most inclusive system.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Vaishanava traditions of Dvaita and Visitadvaita were not classified as Vedanta, and placed just above Buddhism and Jainism, reflecting the threat they posed for Vidyaranya's Advaita allegiance.Template:Sfn Bhedabheda wasn't mentioned at all, "literally written out of the history of Indian philosophy."Template:Sfn Vidyaranya became head of Sringeri matha, proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support,Template:Sfn and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries (mathas) to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta.Template:Sfn

Modern AdvaitaEdit

Niścaldās and "Greater" AdvaitaEdit

Michael S. Allen has written on the influence and popularity of Advaita Vedanta in early modern north India, especially on the work of the Advaita Dādū-panthī monk Niścaldās (ca. 1791–1863), author of The Ocean of Inquiry (Hindi: Vichāra-sāgara), a vernacular compendium of Advaita.Template:Sfn According to Allen, the work of Niścaldās "was quite popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: it was translated into over eight languages and was once referred to by Vivekananda as having 'more influence in India than any [book] that has been written in any language within the last three centuries.'"Template:Sfn

Allen highlights the widespread prominence in early modern India of what he calls "Greater Advaita Vedānta" which refers to popular Advaita works, including "narratives and dramas, “eclectic” works blending Vedānta with other traditions, and vernacular works such as The Ocean of Inquiry."Template:Sfn Allen refers to several popular late figures and texts which draw on Advaita Vedanta, such as the Maharashtrian sant Eknāth (16th c.), the popular Adhyātma-rāmāyaṇa (ca. late 15th c.), which synthesizes Rama bhakti and advaita metaphysics and the Tripurā-rahasya (a tantric text that adopts an advaita metaphysics).Template:Sfn Other important vernacular Advaita figures include the Hindu authors Manohardās and Māṇakdās (who wrote the Ātma-bodh). Advaita literature was also written in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, and Oriya.Template:Sfn

Neo-VedantaEdit

File:MKGandhi.jpg

Mahatma Gandhi stated "I am an advaitist".<ref name=jordens116>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=long194>Template:Cite book</ref>

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

According to King, with the consolidation of the British imperialist rule the new rulers started to view Indians through the "colonially crafted lenses" of Orientalism. In response Hindu nationalism emerged, striving for socio-political independence and countering the influence of Christian missionaries.Template:Sfn Among the colonial era intelligentsia the monistic Advaita Vedānta has been a major ideological force for Hindu nationalism,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with Hindu intellectuals formulating a "humanistic, inclusivist" response, now called Neo-Vedānta, attempting to respond to this colonial stereotyping of "Indian culture [as] backward, superstitious and inferior to the West."Template:Sfn

Due to the influence of Vidyaranya's Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha, early Indologists regarded Advaita Vedanta as the most accurate interpretation of the Upanishads.Template:Sfn Vedānta came to be regarded, both by westerners as by Indian nationalists, as the essence of Hinduism, and Advaita Vedānta came to be regarded as "then paradigmatic example of the mystical nature of the Hindu religion" and umbrella of "inclusivism".Template:Sfn Colonial era Indian thinkers, such as Vivekananda, presented Advaita Vedānta as an inclusive universal religion, a spirituality that in part helped organize a religiously infused identity. It also aided the rise of Hindu nationalism as a counter weight to Islam-infused Muslim communitarian organizations such as the Muslim League, to Christianity-infused colonial orientalism and to religious persecution of those belonging to Indian religions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=gaborieau7/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Neo-Vedānta subsumed and incorporated Buddhist ideas thereby making the Buddha a part of the Vedānta tradition, all in an attempt to reposition the history of Indian culture.Template:Sfn This view on Advaita Vedānta, according to King, "provided an opportunity for the construction of a nationalist ideology that could unite Hindus in their struggle against colonial oppression".Template:Sfn

Vivekananda discerned a universal religion, regarding all the apparent differences between various traditions as various manifestations of one truth.Template:Sfn Vivekananda emphasised nirvikalpa samadhi as the spiritual goal of Vedānta, he equated it to the liberation in Yoga and encouraged Yoga practice which he called Raja yoga.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Refn With the efforts of Vivekananda, modern formulations of Advaita Vedānta have "become a dominant force in Indian intellectual thought", though Hindu beliefs and practices are diverse.Template:Sfn

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, first a professor at Oxford University and later a President of India, further popularized Advaita Vedānta, presenting it as the essence of Hinduism.<ref group=web name="IEP" /> According to Michael Hawley, Radhakrishnan saw other religions, as well as "what Radhakrishnan understands as lower forms of Hinduism," as interpretations of Advaita Vedānta, thereby "in a sense Hindusizing all religions".<ref group=web name="IEP" /> Radhakrishnan metaphysics was grounded in Advaita Vedānta, but he reinterpreted Advaita Vedānta for contemporary needs and context.<ref group=web name="IEP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Refn

Mahatma Gandhi declared his allegiance to Advaita Vedānta, and was another popularizing force for its ideas.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Contemporary Advaita VedāntaEdit

Contemporary teachers are the orthodox Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham; the more traditional teachers Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916-1993),<ref group=web name="AV_Teachers" /> Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya) (1930-2015), Swami Paramarthananda, Swami Tattvavidananda Sarasvati, Carol Whitfield (Radha), Sri Vasudevacharya (previously Michael Comans)<ref group=web name="AV_Teachers" /> and less traditional teachers such as Narayana Guru.<ref group=web name="AV_Teachers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Sangeetha Menon, prominent names in 20th century Advaita tradition are Shri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswami, Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal, Sacchidānandendra Saraswati.<ref group=web name="Menon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Influence on new religious movementsEdit

Advaita Vedānta has gained attention in western spirituality and New Age as nondualism, where various traditions are seen as driven by the same non-dual experience.Template:Sfn Nonduality points to "a primordial, natural awareness without subject or object".<ref group=web name="Undivided">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is also used to refer to interconnectedness, "the sense that all things are interconnected and not separate, while at the same time all things retain their individuality".<ref group=web name="whatisnond">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Neo-Advaita is a new religious movement based on a popularised, western interpretation of Advaita Vedānta and the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.Template:Sfn Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn his students Gangaji Template:Sfn Andrew Cohen Template:Refn, and Eckhart Tolle.Template:Sfn

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

SourcesEdit

Printed sources Template:Refbegin

Template:Refend

Web-sources

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Advaita Vedānta by Sangeetha Menon, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Bibliography of Advaita Vedānta Ancient to 9th-century literature
Bibliography of Advaita Vedānta 9th-century to 20th-century literature
Vedānta Hub – Resources to help with the Study and Practice of Advaita Vedānta
sankaracharya.org Spiritual Library
Vedanta Spiritual Library

Template:Reflist Template:Hindudharma

Template:Indian Philosophy Template:Authority control

Advaita Vedanta

Etymology and nomenclatureEdit

EtymologyEdit

Advaita VedantaEdit

Advaita traditionEdit

MonismEdit

Soteriology: moksha – liberating knowledge of BrahmanEdit

Knowledge is liberatingEdit

Attaining vidyā (knowledge)Edit

Preparation: the fourfold qualitiesEdit

The threefold practice: sravana (hearing), manana (thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation)Edit

GuruEdit

Pramana (means of knowledge)Edit

SamadhiEdit

Anubhava ('experience')Edit

Adhyaropa Apavada - imposition and negationEdit

The Mahavyakas - the identity of Ātman and BrahmanEdit

MahavakyasEdit

That you areEdit

Direct perception versus contemplation of the MahavakyasEdit

Renouncement of ritualismEdit

Philosophy: Reality/truth (Brahman, sat) and the worldEdit

Darśana (view) – central concernsEdit

Rejection of samkhya-dualismEdit

Theoretical difficultiesEdit

Relation between jivatman and Atman/BrahmanEdit

Three levels of Reality/truthEdit

Pāramārthika - Sat (True Reality)Edit

ĀtmanEdit

Three states of consciousness and TuriyaEdit

Svayam prakāśa (self-luminosity)Edit

BrahmanEdit

Vyāvahārika (conventional reality) – Avidya and Template:IASTEdit

Avidyā (ignorance)Edit

Template:IAST (appearance)Edit

Five koshas (sheaths)Edit

Parinamavada and vivartavada - causality and changeEdit

EthicsEdit

TextsEdit

PrasthanatrayiEdit

Textual authorityEdit

Other textsEdit

Sampradaya and Smarta traditionEdit

Monastic order - MathasEdit

Smarta TraditionEdit

Buddhist influences on Advaita VedāntaEdit

Similarities with BuddhismEdit

Mahāyāna philosophyEdit

Differences from BuddhismEdit

Criticisms of concurring Hindu schoolsEdit

Relationship with other traditionsEdit

VishishtadvaitaEdit

ShuddhadvaitaEdit

DvaitaEdit

Influence on other traditionsEdit

History of Advaita VedāntaEdit

HistoriographyEdit

Early VedāntaEdit

Early Advaita VedāntaEdit

Gauḍapāda and Template:IASTEdit

Early medieval period - Maṇḍana Miśra and Adi ShankaraEdit

Maṇḍana MiśraEdit

Adi ShankaraEdit

Systematizer of Advaita thoughtEdit

WritingsEdit

Influence of ShankaraEdit

Advaita Vedanta sub-schoolsEdit

Late medieval India - yogic AdvaitaEdit

VidyāraṇyaEdit

Modern AdvaitaEdit

Niścaldās and "Greater" AdvaitaEdit

Neo-VedantaEdit

Contemporary Advaita VedāntaEdit

Influence on new religious movementsEdit

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

ReferencesEdit

SourcesEdit

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit