Advaita Vedanta

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Advaita Vedanta (IAST, Advaita Vedānta; Sanskrit: अद्वैत वेदान्त; literally, not-two) is the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta – an orthodox (āstika) school of Hindu philosophy and religious practice. Advaita darśana (philosophies, world views, teachings) is one of the classic Indian paths to spiritual realization.[1][2] It postulates that the true Self – individual soul, Atman (Ātman), shorn of avidya – is the same as the highest reality, Brahman. The phenomenal world is described as an illusory appearance that is other than the real as well as the unreal (sadasadvilakṣaṇa).[3] Advaitins, the followers of Advaita darśana, seek Jivanmukti – a liberation, release, or freedom that is achieved in this lifetime[4][5] – by the realization (vidyā)[6] that Atman and Brahman are identical.

The principal, though not the first, exponent of the Advaita Vedanta interpretation was Adi Shankara (8th century CE). Shankara systematized and significantly developed the works of preceding philosophers into a cohesive philosophy.[7] Like all schools of Vedanta, Advaita derives its philosophy from a unifying interpretation of the Prasthanatrayi, literally the three sources (the main Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.[8][9][10] In its philosophical formulation, Advaita interprets these texts in a non-dualistic manner for its theories of moksha.[11]

Advaita Vedanta developed in a multi-faceted religious and philosophical landscape, in interaction with the other traditions of India such as Jainism and Buddhism.[12] Advaita influenced and was influenced by various traditions and texts of Hindu philosophies such as Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, the Puranas, the Agamas, other sub-schools of Vedanta, as well as social movements such as the Bhakti movement.[13][14][15]

Advaita Vedanta is one of the most studied and most influential schools of classical Indian thought.[16][17][18] While many scholars describe it as a form of monism,[19][20][21] Others describe the Advaita philosophy as non-dualistic.[22][23] Advaita Vedanta texts espouse a spectrum of views from idealism, including illusionism, to realist or nearly realist positions expressed in the early works of Shankara.[24]

In a process set in motion by Hindu responses to Muslim rule during the medieval period,[25] and further developed and made mainstream by the so-called neo-Vedantins and Hindu nationalists during the colonial period, Advaita Vedanta has in modern times acquired a broad acceptance in Indian culture and beyond as the paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality.[26]

Textual authority

Prasthanatrayi

The Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavadgita constitute the basis of Vedanta. Scholars of Advaita Vedanta, like those of all other schools of Vedanta, propound their philosophy by interpreting these texts, collectively called the Prasthanatrayi, literally, three sources.[8][27][28]

  1. The Upanishads,[note 1] or Śruti prasthāna; considered the Śruti (Vedic scriptures) foundation of Vedanta.[note 2][31][32][33] 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 Vedanta school's interpretation than the middle or later Upanishads.[34][35] In addition to the oldest Upanishads, states Williams, the Sannyasa Upanishads group composed in pre-Shankara times "express a decidedly Advaita outlook".[36]
  2. The Brahma Sutras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana; considered the reason-based foundation of Vedanta. 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 Vedanta text or as a theistic Dvaita Vedanta text. This has led, states Stephen Phillips, to its varying interpretations by scholars of various sub-schools of Vedanta.[37] The Brahmasutra is considered by the Advaita school as the Nyaya Prasthana (canonical base for reasoning).[38]
  3. The Bhagavad Gita, or Smriti prasthāna; considered the Smriti (remembered tradition) foundation of Vedanta.[38] It has been widely studied by Advaita scholars, including a commentary by Adi Shankara.[39][40]

The possibility of different interpretations of the Vedic literature, states Arvind Sharma, was recognized by ancient Indian scholars.[41][42] [note 3] Adi Shankara gave a non-dualist interpretation of these texts in his commentaries. His Bhashyas (commentaries) have become the central texts in Advaita philosophy. [note 4] The subsequent Advaita tradition has further elaborated on these sruti and commentaries.

Siddhi-granthas

Additionally there are five Siddhi-granthas that are taught in the Advaita-parampara, after study of the Prasthana-trayi:

  1. Brahmasiddhi by Mandana Mishra (750–850 CE),
  2. Naishkarmasiddhi by Sureswara, a disciple of Sankara (8th century CE) ,
  3. Ishtasiddhi by Vimuktananda (1200 CE)
  4. Advaita Siddhi,[web 1] written by Madhusudana Saraswati (1565-1665 CE)
  5. Svarajyasiddhi by Gangadharendra Saraswati (1800 CE)

History of Advaita Vedanta

Adi Shankara with Disciples, by Raja Ravi Varma (1904)

Advaita Vedanta existed prior to Adi Shankara but found in him its most influential expounder.[44]

Pre-Shankara Advaita Vedanta

Almost nothing is known of the Vedanta school before the composition of the Brahma Sutras (400–450 CE).[45] The two Advaita writings of the pre-Shankara period, known to scholars such as Nakamura in the first half of the 20th century, were the Vākyapadīya, written by Bhartṛhari (second half of the 5th century[46]), and the Māndūkya-kārikā, written by Gaudapada (7th century CE).

Earliest Vedanta - Upanishads and Brahma Sutras

Main article: Brahma Sutras
See also: Vedas, Upanishads, and Darsanas

The Upanishads form the basic texts, of which Vedanta gives an interpretation.[47] The Upanishads do not contain "a rigorous philosophical inquiry identifying the doctrines and formulating the supporting arguments".[48][note 5] This philosophical inquiry was performed by the darsanas, the various philosophical schools.[50][note 6]

The Brahma Sutras of Bādarāyana, also called the Vedanta Sutra,[52] is a critical study of the teachings of the Upanishads. It was and is a guide book for the great teachers of the Vedantic systems.[52] These sutras were compiled in their present form around 400–450 CE,[53] but "the great part of the Sutra must have been in existence much earlier than that".[53] Estimates of the date of Bādarāyana's lifetime differ between 200 BCE and 200 CE.[54] Bādarāyana was, however, not the first person to systematise the teachings of the Upanishads. The Brahma Sutras just happen to be the oldest extant work.[55] [note 7]

Between Brahma Sutras and Shankara

According to Nakamura, "there must have been an enormous number of other writings turned out in this period, but unfortunately all of them have been scattered or lost and have not come down to us today".[45] In his commentaries, Shankara mentions 99 different predecessors of his Sampradaya.[56] In the beginning of his commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Shankara salutes the teachers of the Brahmavidya Sampradaya.[web 2] Pre-Shankara doctrines and sayings can be traced in the works of the later schools, which does give insight into the development of early Vedanta philosophy.[45]

The names of various important early Vedanta thinkers have been listed in the Siddhitraya by Yamunācārya (c.1050), the Vedārthasamgraha by Rāmānuja (c.1050–1157), and the Yatīndramatadīpikā by Śrīnivāsa-dāsa.[45] Combined together,[45] at least fourteen thinkers are known to have existed between the composition of the Brahman Sutras and Shankara's lifetime.[45][note 8]

Although Shankara is often considered to be the founder of the Advaita Vedanta school, according to Nakamura, comparison of the known teachings of these early Vedantins and Shankara's thought shows that most of the characteristics of Shankara's thought "were advocated by someone before Śankara".[57] Shankara "was the person who synthesized the Advaita-vāda which had previously existed before him".[57] In this synthesis, he was the rejuvenator and defender of ancient learning.[58] He was an unequalled commentator,[58] due to whose efforts and contributions the Advaita Vedanta assumed a dominant position within Indian philosophy.[58]

Statue of Gaudapada, the first historical proponent of Advaita Vedanta

Gaudapada and Māṇḍukya Kārikā

Main article: Gaudapada

Gaudapada (6th century)[59] was the teacher of Govinda Bhagavatpada and the grandteacher of Shankara. Gaudapada uses the concepts of Ajativada and Maya[60] to establish "that from the level of ultimate truth the world is a cosmic illusion,"[61] and "and suggests that the whole of our waking experience is exactly the same as an illusory and insubstantial dream."[62] In contrast, Adi Shankara insists upon a distinction between waking experience and dreams.[62]

Gaudapada wrote or compiled[63] the Māṇḍukya Kārikā, also known as the Gauḍapāda Kārikā and as the Āgama Śāstra.[note 9] The Māṇḍukya Kārikā is a commentary in verse form on the Mandukya Upanishad, one of the shortest but most profound Upanishads, or mystical Vedas, consisting of just 13 prose sentences. The Māṇḍukya Kārikā is the earliest extent systematic treatise on Advaita Vedānta,.[64] It was, however, not the oldest work to present Advaita views,[65] nor the only pre-Sankara work with the same type of teachings.[65] In Shankara's time it was considered to be a Śruti, but not particularly important.[66] In later periods it acquired a higher status, and eventually it was regarded as expressing the essence of the Upanisad philosophy.[66]

Adi Shankara

Main article: Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara (788–820), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, represents a turning point in the development of Vedanta.[67] Amidst the growing influence of Buddhism in India, Shankara synthesized and rejuvenated the doctrine of Advaita.[58] Using Prasthanatrayi and the Kārikā as the basis, Shankara further developed and refined the doctrines of Gaudapada and other predecessors of the Advaita school.[68] His thematic focus extended beyond metaphysics and soteriology to place a strong emphasis on Pramanas (epistemology or "means to gain knowledge"), reasoning methods that empower one to gain reliable knowledge.[69]

Shankara devised a unique exegetical approach, where he integrated the methodology of Samanvayat Tatparya Linga previously used in the theoretical works of Nyaya school with Anvaya-Vyatireka (anvaya means "connection, association"-; vyatireka means "distinction, separateness, exclusion"),[70] to correctly understand a text.[71] This philosophical difference in scriptural studies, helped Shankara conclude that the Principal Upanishads primarily teach non-dualism with teachings such as Tat tvam asi.[72] Attending to the Samanvayat Tatparya Linga entails critically examining six characteristics of the text under consideration:

  1. The common in Upakrama (introductory statement) and Upasamhara (conclusions)
  2. Abhyasa (message repeated)
  3. Apurvata (unique proposition or novelty)
  4. Phala (fruit or result derived)
  5. Arthavada (explained meaning, praised point)
  6. Yukti (verifiable reasoning).[73][71]

Anvaya-Vyatireka means that for proper textual understanding, one must "accept only meanings that are compatible with all characteristics" and "exclude meanings that are incompatible with any".[74][75] Not everything in a text, states Shankara, has equal weight; some ideas are the essence of the expert's analysis.[76]

Mayeda (2006, pp. 46–47), citing Shankara's statements emphasizing epistemology (pramana-janya) in the Upadesasahasri (section 1.18.133) and in the Brahmasutra-bhasya (section 1.1.4), states that Shankara emphasised the need for objectivity in the process of gaining knowledge (vastutantra) and considered subjective opinions (purushatantra) and injunctions in Śruti (codanatantra) as secondary. However, Merrell-Wolff and other scholars disagree with the idea that Shankara considers Śruti to be secondary. They maintain that Shankara considers the Vedas and Upanishads as a source of knowledge as he develops his philosophical theses, yet he does not rest his case on the ancient texts, but rather proves each thesis point by point using pranamas (epistemology), reason, and experience.[77][78]

Historical context

See also Late-Classical Age and Hinduism Middle Ages.

Shankara lived in the time of the so-called "Late classical Hinduism",[79] which lasted from 650 to 1100 CE.[79] This era was one of political instability that followed Gupta dynasty and King Harsha of the 7th century CE.[80] It was a time of social and cultural change as the ideas of Buddhism, Jainism, and various traditions within Hinduism were competing for members.[81][82] Buddhism in particular influenced India's spiritual traditions in the first 700 years of the 1st millennium CE.[80][83] Shankara and his contemporaries made a significant contribution in understanding Buddhism and the ancient Vedic traditions; they then transformed the extant ideas, particularly reforming the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism, making it India's most important tradition for more than a thousand years.[80]

Writings

Adi Shankara is best known for his systematic reviews and commentaries (Bhasyas) on ancient Indian texts. Shankara's masterpiece of commentary is the Brahmasutrabhasya (literally, commentary on Brahma Sutra), a fundamental text of the Vedanta school of Hinduism.[43] His commentaries on ten Mukhya (principal) Upanishads are also considered authentic by scholars.[43][84] Other authentic works of Shankara include commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita (part of his Prasthana Trayi Bhasya).[85]

Shankara's Vivarana (tertiary notes) on the commentary by Vedavyasa on Yogasutras as well as those on Apastamba Dharma-sũtras (Adhyatama-patala-bhasya) are accepted by scholars as authentic works of Adi Shankara.[86][87] Among the Stotra (poetic works), the Daksinamurti Stotra, Bhajagovinda Stotra, Sivanandalahari, Carpata-panjarika, Visnu-satpadi, Harimide, Dasa-shloki, and Krishna-staka are likely to be authentic.[86][88] He also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work.[87][89] Of other original Prakaranas (प्रकरण, monographs, treatise), 76 works are attributed to Adi Shankara. Modern era Indian scholars Belvalkar and Upadhyaya accept five and thirty nine works, respectively, as authentic.[90]

Several commentaries on Nrisimha-Purvatatapaniya and Shveshvatara Upanishads have been attributed to Adi Shankara, but their authenticity is highly doubtful.[84][91] Similarly, commentaries on several early and later Upanishads attributed to Shankara are rejected by scholars[92] as his works, and are likely works of later Advaita Vedanta scholars; these include the Kaushitaki Upanishad, Maitri Upanishad, Kaivalya Upanishad, Paramahamsa Upanishad, Sakatayana Upanishad, Mandala Brahmana Upanishad, Maha Narayana Upanishad, and Gopalatapaniya Upanishad.[91]

The authenticity of Shankara being the author of Vivekacūḍāmaṇi[93] has been questioned, but scholars generally credit it to him.[94] The authorship of Shankara of his Mandukya Upanishad Bhasya and his supplementary commentary on Gaudapada's Māṇḍukya Kārikā has been disputed by Nakamura.[95] However, other scholars state that the commentary on Mandukya, which is actually a commentary on Madukya-Karikas by Gaudapada, may be authentic.[86][91]

Influence of Shankara

Shankara's status in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta is unparallelled. He travelled all over India to help restore the study of the Vedas.[96] His teachings and tradition form the basis of Smartism and have influenced Sant Mat lineages.[97] He introduced the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi. Shankara explained that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.[98]

Benedict Ashley credits Adi Shankara for unifying two seemingly disparate philosophical doctrines in Hinduism, namely Atman and Brahman.[99] Isaeva states that Shankara's influence extended to reforming Hinduism, founding monasteries, edifying disciples, disputing opponents, and engaging in philosophic activity that, in the eyes of Indian tradition, helped revive "the orthodox idea of the unity of all beings" and Vedanta thought.[100]

Some scholars doubt Shankara's early influence in India.[101] According to King and Roodurmun, until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Mandana-Misra, who was considered to be the major representative of Advaita.[102][103] Other scholars state that the historical records for this period are unclear, and little reliable information is known about the various contemporaries and disciples of Shankara.[104]

Several scholars suggest that the historical fame and cultural influence of Shankara grew centuries later, particularly during the era of the Muslim invasions and consequent devastation of India.[101][105] Many of Shankara's biographies were created and published in and after the 14th century, such as the widely cited Vidyaranya's Śankara-vijaya. Vidyaranya, also known as Madhava, who was the 12th Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380 to 1386,[106] inspired the re-creation of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India in response to the devastation caused by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate.[105][107] He and his brothers, suggest Paul Hacker and other scholars,[101][105] wrote about Śankara as well as extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma. Vidyaranya was a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire and enjoyed royal support,[107] and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedanta philosophies, and establish monasteries (mathas) to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta.[101]

Sureśvara and Maṇḍana Miśra

Main articles: Sureśvara and Maṇḍana Miśra

Sureśvara (fl. 800-900 CE)[108] and Maṇḍana Miśra were contemporaries of Shankara, Sureśvara often (incorrectly) being identified with Maṇḍana Miśra.[109] Both explained Sankara "on the basis of their personal convictions".[109] Sureśvara has also been credited as the founder of a pre-Shankara branch of Advaita Vedanta.[108]

Maṇḍana Miśra was a Mimamsa scholar and a follower of Kumarila, but also wrote a work on Advaita, the Brahma-siddhi.[110] According to tradition, Maṇḍana Miśra and his wife were defeated by Shankara in a debate, after which he became a follower of Shankara.[110] Yet, his attitude toward Shankara was that of a "self-confident rival teacher of Advaita",[111] and his influence was such that some regard the Brahma-siddhi to have "set forth a non-Shankaran brand of Advaita""[110] The "theory of error" set forth in this work became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error.[112] It was Vachaspati Misra's commentary on this work that linked it to Shankara's teaching.[113]

Hiriyanna and Kuppuswami Sastra have pointed out that Sureśvara and Maṇḍana Miśra had different views on various doctrinal points:[114]

Advaita Vedanta sub-schools

After Shankara's death, several sub-schools developed. Two of them still exist today, the Bhāmatī and the Vivarana.[web 3][56] Two defunct schools are the Pancapadika and Istasiddhi, which were replaced by Prakasatman's Vivarana school.[117]

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.[web 3]

Padmapada - Pancapadika school

Padmapada (c. 800 CE)[118] was a direct disciple of Shankara who wrote the Pancapadika, a commentary on the Sankara-bhaya.[118] Padmapada diverged from Shankara in his description of avidya, designating prakrti as avidya or ajnana.[119]

Vachaspati Misra – Bhamati school

Main articles: Bhamati and Vācaspati Miśra

Vachaspati Misra (800–900 CE)[120] wrote the Brahmatattva-samiksa, a commentary on Maṇḍana Miśra's Brahma-siddhi, which provides the link between Mandana Misra and Shankara[113] and attempts to harmonise Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Misra.[web 3] According to Advaita tradition, Shankara reincarnated as Vachaspati Misra "to popularise the Advaita System through his Bhamati".[120] Only two works are known of Vachaspati Misra, the Brahmatattva-samiksa on Maṇḍana Miśra's Brahma-siddhi, and his Bhamati on the Sankara-bhasya, Shankara's commentary on the Brahma-sutras.[113] The name of the Bhamati sub-school is derived from this Bhamati.[web 3]

The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach. It sees the Jiva as the source of avidya.[web 3] It sees meditation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of the Vedas and reflection are additional factors.[121]

Prakasatman - Vivarana school

Main article: Vivarana

Prakasatman (c. 1200–1300)[117] wrote the Pancapadika-Vivarana, a commentary on the Pancapadika by Padmapadacharya.[117] The Vivarana lends its name to the subsequent school. According to Roodurmum, "[H]is line of thought [...] became the leitmotif of all subsequent developments in the evolution of the Advaita tradition."[117]

The Vivarana school takes an epistemological approach. Prakasatman was the first to propound the theory of mulavidya or maya as being of "positive beginningless nature",[122] 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.[web 3]

Vimuktatman - Ista-Siddhi

Vimuktatman (c. 1200 CE)[123] wrote the Ista-siddhi.[123] It is one of the four traditional siddhi, together with Mandana's Brahma-siddhi, Suresvara's Naiskarmya-siddhi, and Madusudana's Advaita-siddhi.[124] According to Vimuktatman, absolute Reality is "pure intuitive consciousness".[125] His school of thought was eventually replaced by Prakasatman's Vivarana school.[117]

Later Advaita Vedanta tradition

According to Sangeetha Menon, prominent names in the later Advaita tradition are:[web 4]

Contemporary teachers are the orthodox Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham; the more traditional teachers Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), Chinmayananda Saraswati,[web 5] and Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya);[web 5] and less traditional teachers such as Narayana Guru.[web 5]

Sampradaya

Smarta Tradition

Main article: Smarta Tradition

Traditionally, Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacher[126] and reformer of the Smartha.[127] According to Alf Hiltebeitel, Shankara established the non-dualist interpretation of the Upanishads as the touchstone of a revived smarta tradition:

Practically, Shankara fostered a rapprochement between Advaita and smarta orthodoxy, which by his time had not only continued to defend the varnasramadharma theory as defining the path of karman, but had developed the practice of pancayatanapuja ("five-shrine worship") as a solution to varied and conflicting devotional practices. Thus one could worship any one of five deities (Vishnu, Siva, Durga, Surya, Ganesa) as one's istadevata ("deity of choice").[128]

The greatest influence of the gurus of the advaita tradition has been among followers of the Smartha Tradition, who integrate the domestic Vedic ritual with devotional aspects of Hinduism.[web 6] The Sringeri monastery is still the centre of the Smarta sect.[126] In recent times bhakti cults have increasingly become popular with the smartas,[129] and Shiva is particularly favored.[126] In modern times Smarta views have been influential in both the Indian and western understanding of Hinduism.

Monastic order: Advaita Mathas

(Vidyashankara temple) at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri

Advaita Vedanta is not just a philosophical system, but also a tradition of renunciation. Philosophy and renunciation are closely related:[web 6]

Most of the notable authors in the advaita tradition were members of the sannyasa tradition, and both sides of the tradition share the same values, attitudes and metaphysics.[web 6]

Shankara organized monks under 10 names and established mathas for them. These mathas contributed to the influence of Shankara, which was "due to institutional factors". The mathas which he built exist until today, and preserve the teachings and influence of Shankara, "while the writings of other scholars before him came to be forgotten with the passage of time".[130]

Shri Gaudapadacharya Math

Around 740 CE, Gaudapada founded Shri Gaudapadacharya Math[note 11], also known as Kavaḷē maṭha. It is located in Kavale, Ponda, Goa,[web 7] and is the oldest matha of the South Indian Saraswat Brahmins.[131][web 8]

Shankara's monastic tradition

Shankara, himself considered to be an incarnation of Shiva,[web 6] established the Dashanami Sampradaya, organizing a section of the Ekadandi monks under an umbrella grouping of ten names.[web 6] Several Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions, however, remained outside the organisation of the Dasanāmis.[132][133][134]

Sankara organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ) (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.[web 6] Each math was first headed by one of his four main disciples, and the tradition continues since then.[note 12] 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.

The table below gives an overview of the four Amnaya Mathas founded by Adi Shankara, and their details.[web 9]

Shishya
(lineage)		 Direction Maṭha Mahāvākya Veda Sampradaya
Padmapāda East Govardhana Pīṭhaṃ Prajñānam brahma (Consciousness is Brahman) Rig Veda Bhogavala
Sureśvara South Sringeri Śārada Pīṭhaṃ Aham brahmāsmi (I am Brahman) Yajur Veda Bhūrivala
Hastāmalakācārya West Dvāraka Pīṭhaṃ Tattvamasi (That thou art) Sama Veda Kitavala
Toṭakācārya North Jyotirmaṭha Pīṭhaṃ Ayamātmā brahma (This Atman is Brahman) Atharva Veda Nandavala

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 made by Shankara. While the dasanāmis associated with the Sankara maths follow the procedures enumerated by 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,[web 6][137] despite the historical links with Shaivism.[note 13] Nevertheless, contemporary Sankaracaryas have more influence among Saiva communities than among Vaisnava communities.[web 6]

Darśana (philosophy)

Main article: Hindu philosophy

Advaita Vedanta is one of the six classical Hindu darśanas, or view on spirituality.[138][note 14] According to Richard King, the Advaita Vedanta school has been referred to historically by various names:[140]

(Early names of the school have included) the doctrine of non-dualism (Advaita-vada), the school of non-difference (Abheda-darshana), the doctrine of the denial of dualism (Dvaita-vada-pratisedha), and non-dualism of the isolated (Kevala-dvaita). The term Advaita first occurs in a recognizably Vedantic context in the prose of Mandukya Upanishad 7, although it is to a certain extent prefigured in the Chandogya Upanishad's statement that Brahman is one without a second (ekam advitiyam).

— Richard King, Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism[140]

The identity of Atman and Brahman, and their unchanging, eternal nature,[141] are basic truths in Advaita Vedanta. The school considers the knowledge claims in the Vedas to be the crucial part of the Vedas, not its karma-kanda (ritual injunctions).[27] The knowledge claims about self being identical to the nature of Atman and Brahman are found in the Upanishads, which Advaita Vedanta has regarded as "error-less revealed truth."[27] 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.[27]

Aims

The main aim of Advaita Vedanta is to explain how moksha can be attained,[141] that is liberation and freedom in current life, which it concludes is attained by the correct knowledge of the identity of Atman (soul, self) and Brahman (ultimate reality), and their oneness, primal nature as the sole Reality.[142]

A main question is the relation between Atman and Brahman, which is solved by regarding them to be identical.[143][144] This truth is established from the oldest Principal Upanishads and Brahma Sutras, and is also found in parts of the Bhagavad Gita and numerous other Hindu texts,[10] and is regarded to be self-evident. The main aim of the commentaries is to support this nondualistic (of Atman and Brahman) reading of the sruti.[145] Reason is being used to support revelation, the sruti, the ultimate source of truth.[146]

Another major problem is raised by the rejection the dualism of Samkhya between purusha, primal consciousness, and prakriti, inert primal matter. The Reality of prakriti is rejected, instead stating that Atman/Brahman is the sole Reality. This rejection raises the question how to explain phenomenal reality. By declaring phenomenal reality to be an 'illusion,' the primacy of Atman/Brahman can be maintained.[143][144]

The commentaries also provide a criticism of opposing systems, including Samkhya and Buddhism.[145]

Ontology - the nature of Being

See also: Metaphysics and Ontology
The swan is an important motif in Advaita. It symbolises two things: first, the swan is called hamsah in Sanskrit (which becomes hamso if the first letter in the next word is /h/). Upon repeating this hamso indefinitely, it becomes so-aham, meaning, "I am That". Second, just as a swan lives in a lake but its feathers are not soiled by water, similarly a liberated Advaitin lives in this world but is not soiled by its maya.

Three Levels of Reality

Shankara uses sublation as the criterion to postulate an ontological hierarchy of three levels:[147][148] with footnotes

Absolute Reality

Brahman
Main articles: Brahman, Nirguna Brahman, and Satcitananda

According to Advaita Vedanta Brahman is the highest Reality,[150][151][152] That which is unborn and unchanging,[151][153] and "not sublatable",[150] and cannot be superseded by a still higher reality.[154][note 15][note 16] Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are ever-changing and therefore maya. Brahman is Paramarthika Satyam, "Absolute Truth",[168] and

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".[150]

Advaita's Upanishadic roots state Brahman's qualities[note 17] to be Sat-cit-ānanda (being-consciousness-bliss)[169][170] It means "true being-consciousness-bliss," [171][172] or "Eternal Bliss Consciousness".[173] Adi Shankara held that satcitananda is identical with Brahman and Atman.[171] The Advaitin scholar Madhusudana Sarasvati explained Brahman as the Reality that is simultaneously an absence of falsity (sat), absence of ignorance (cit), and absence of sorrow/self-limitation (ananda).[171] According to Adi Shankara, the knowledge of Brahman that Shruti provides cannot be obtained in any other means besides self inquiry.[174]

According to Paul Deussen,[175] Brahman is:

According to Eliot Deutsch, the sat or being, in this experience of Brahman, is the ontological principle of unity, and "the oneness not constituted in parts." Cit or consciousness points to illuminating awareness of unchanging witness of one's being. Ananda or bliss is an axiological concept, as the principle of value, one of joyous existence.[172] Yet, Brahman is not limited to "sat-cit-ananda", and expansively includes all "truth, knowledge, infinite", best conceptualized as unlimited in every sense through neti neti – "not this, not this".[176]

The universe, according to Advaita philosophy, does not simply come from Brahman, it is Brahman. Brahman is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe.[151] Brahman is the cause of all changes.[151][153] Brahman is considered to be the material cause[note 18] and the efficient cause[note 19] of all that exists.[152][177][178] Brahman is the "primordial reality that creates, maintains and withdraws within it the universe."[159] It is the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".[179]

Atman
Main article: Ātman (Hinduism)

Ātman (IAST: ātman, Sanskrit: आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that means "real self" of the individual,[180][181] "essence",[web 10] and soul.[180][182]

Ātman is the first principle,[183] the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. Atman is the Universal Principle, one eternal undifferentiated self-luminous consciousness, the Truth asserts Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism.[184][185]

Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual.[186] Advaita school asserts that there is "spirit, soul, self" within each living entity which is fully identical with Brahman – the Universal Soul.[187][188] This identity holds that there is One Soul that connects and exists in all living beings, regardless of their shapes or forms, there is no distinction, no superior, no inferior, no separate devotee soul (Atman), no separate God soul (Brahman).[187] The Oneness unifies all beings, there is the divine in every being, and that all existence is a single Reality, state the Advaita Vedantins.[189] Each soul, in Advaita view, is non-different from the infinite.[190]

To Advaitins, human beings, in a state of unawareness and ignorance of this Universal Self, see their "I-ness" as different than the being in others, then act out of impulse, fears, cravings, malice, division, confusion, anxiety, passions, and a sense of distinctiveness.[191][192] Atman-knowledge, to Advaitins, is that state of full awareness, liberation and freedom which overcomes dualities at all levels, realizing the divine within oneself, the divine in others and all living beings, the non-dual Oneness, that Brahman is in everything, and everything is Brahman.[186][187]

Empirical reality

Māyā
Main article: Maya (illusion)

The doctrine of Maya is used to explain the empirical reality in Advaita.[193][note 20] Jiva, when conditioned by the human mind, is subjected to experiences of a subjective nature, states Vedanta school, which leads it to misunderstand Maya and interpret it as the sole and final reality. Advaitins assert that the perceived world, including people and other existence, is not what it appears to be".[195] It is Māyā, they assert, which manifests and perpetuates a sense of false duality or divisional plurality.[196] The empirical manifestation is real but changing, but it obfuscates the true nature of metaphysical Reality which is never changing. Advaita school holds that liberation is the unfettered realization and understanding of the unchanging Reality and truths – the Self, that the Self (Soul) in oneself is same as the Self in another and the Self in everything (Brahman).[197]

In Advaita Vedanta philosophy, there are two realities: Vyavaharika (empirical reality) and Paramarthika (absolute, spiritual Reality).[198] Māyā is the empirical reality that entangles consciousness. Māyā has the power to create a bondage to the empirical world, preventing the unveiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman. This theory of māyā was expounded and explained by Adi Shankara. Competing theistic Dvaita scholars contested Shankara's theory,[199] and stated that Shankara did not offer a theory of the relationship between Brahman and Māyā.[200] A later Advaita scholar Prakasatman addressed this, by explaining, "Maya and Brahman together constitute the entire universe, just like two kinds of interwoven threads create a fabric. Maya is the manifestation of the world, whereas Brahman, which supports Maya, is the cause of the world."[201]

Brahman is the sole metaphysical truth in Advaita Vedanta, Māyā is true in epistemological and empirical sense; however, Māyā is not the metaphysical and spiritual truth. The spiritual truth is the truth forever, while what is empirical truth is only true for now. Complete knowledge of true Reality includes knowing both Vyavaharika (empirical) and Paramarthika (spiritual), the Māyā and the Brahman. The goal of spiritual enlightenment, state Advaitins, is to realize Brahman, realize the Oneness.[198][202]

Avidya (Ignorance)

Due to ignorance (avidyā), Brahman is perceived as the material world and its objects (nama rupa vikara). According to Shankara, Brahman is in reality attributeless and formless. Brahman, the highest truth and all (Reality), does not really change; it is only our ignorance that gives the appearance of change. Also due to avidyā, the true identity is forgotten, and material reality, which manifests at various levels, is mistaken as the only and true reality.

The notion of avidyā and its relationship to Brahman creates a crucial philosophical issue within Advaita Vedanta thought: how can avidyā appear in Brahman, since Brahman is pure consciousness?[203] 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.[204]

Subsequent Advaitins gave somewhat various explanations, from which various Advaita schools arose.

Koshas
See also: Kosha

Due to avidya, atman is covered by sheaths, or bodies, which hide man's true nature. According to the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Atman is covered by five koshas, usually rendered "sheath".[205] They are often visualised like the layers of an onion.[206] From gross to fine the five sheaths are:

  1. Annamaya kosha, food-apparent-sheath
  2. Pranamaya kosha, air-apparent-sheath
  3. Manomaya kosha, mind-stuff-apparent-sheath
  4. Vijnanamaya kosha, wisdom-apparent-sheath
  5. Anandamaya kosha, bliss-apparent-sheath (Ananda)

According to Vedanta the wise man should discriminate between the self and the koshas, which are non-self.

Three states of consciousness

Advaita posits, on the authority of more ancient Sanskrit texts,[207][note 21] posits three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti), which are commonly experienced by human beings,[209][210] and correspond to the Three Bodies Doctrine:[211]

  1. The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily world.[212] This is the gross body.
  2. The second state is the dreaming mind. This is the subtle body.[212]
  3. The third state is the state of deep sleep. This is the causal body.[212]

Turiya, pure consciousness is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness.[web 11][web 12] In this consciousness both absolute and relative, saguna brahman and Nirguna Brahman, are transcended.[213] It is the state of liberation, where states Advaita school, one experiences the infinite (ananta) and non-different (advaita/abheda), free from the dualistic experience which results from the attempts to conceptualise (vipalka) reality.[214] It is the state in which ajativada, non-origination, is apprehended.[214]

Epistemology

See also: Pramana and Epistemology

The ancient and medieval texts of Advaita Vedanta and other schools of Hindu philosophy discuss Pramana (epistemology). The theory of Pramana discusses questions like:[215][216]

Advaita Vedānta,[217] accepts the following six kinds of pramāṇas:[218][219]

  1. Pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्षाय) - Perception. Perception is of two types: external - that arising from the interaction of five senses and worldly objects, and internal - perception of inner sense, the mind.[220] Advaita postulates four pre-requisites for correct perception: 1) Indriyarthasannikarsa (direct experience by one's sensory organ(s) with the object, whatever is being studied), 2) Avyapadesya (non-verbal; correct perception is not through hearsay, according to ancient Indian scholars, where one's sensory organ relies on accepting or rejecting someone else's perception), 3) Avyabhicara (does not wander; correct perception does not change, nor is it the result of deception because one's sensory organ or means of observation is drifting, defective, suspect) and 4) Vyavasayatmaka (definite; correct perception excludes judgments of doubt, either because of one's failure to observe all the details, or because one is mixing inference with observation and observing what one wants to observe, or not observing what one does not want to observe).[221] The internal perception concepts included pratibha (intuition), samanyalaksanapratyaksa (a form of induction from perceived specifics to a universal), and jnanalaksanapratyaksa (a form of perception of prior processes and previous states of a 'topic of study' by observing its current state).[222]
  2. Anumāṇa (अनुमान) - Inference. Inference is defines as applying reason to reach a new conclusion about truth from one or more observations and previous understanding of truths.[223] Observing smoke and inferring fire is an example of Anumana. This epistemological method for gaining knowledge consists of three parts: 1) Pratijna (hypothesis), 2) Hetu (a reason), and 3) drshtanta (examples).[224] The hypothesis must further be broken down into two parts: 1) Sadhya (that idea which needs to proven or disproven) and 2) Paksha (the object on which the Sadhya is predicated). The inference is conditionally true if Sapaksha (positive examples as evidence) are present, and if Vipaksha (negative examples as counter-evidence) are absent. For rigor, the Indian philosophies further demand Vyapti - the requirement that the hetu (reason) must necessarily and separately account for the inference in "all" cases, in both sapaksha and vipaksha.[224][225] A conditionally proven hypothesis is called a nigamana (conclusion).[226]
  3. Upamāṇa (उपमान) - Comparison and Analogy.[216][227] Some Hindu schools consider it as a proper means of knowledge.[228] Upamana, states Lochtefeld,[229] may be explained with the example of a traveler who has never visited lands or islands with endemic population of wildlife. He or she is told, by someone who has been there, that in those lands you see an animal that sort of looks like a cow, grazes like cow but is different from a cow in such and such way. Such use of analogy and comparison is, state the Indian epistemologists, a valid means of conditional knowledge, as it helps the traveller identify the new animal later.[229] The subject of comparison is formally called upameyam, the object of comparison is called upamanam, while the attribute(s) are identified as samanya.[230]
  4. Arthāpatti (अर्थापत्ति) - Postulation, derivation from circumstances.[216][227] In contemporary logic, this pramana is similar to circumstantial implication.[231] As example, if a person left in a boat on river earlier, and the time is now past the expected time of arrival, then the circumstances support the truth postulate that the person has arrived. Many Indian scholars considered this Pramana as invalid or at best weak, because the boat may have gotten delayed or diverted.[232] However, in cases such as deriving the time of a future sunrise or sunset, this method was asserted by the proponents to be reliable.
  5. Anupalabdi (अनुपलब्धि) - Non-perception, negative/cognitive proof.[233] Anupalabdhi pramana suggests that knowing a negative, such as "there is no jug in this room" is a form of valid knowledge. If something can be observed or inferred or proven as non-existent or impossible, then one knows more than what one did without such means.[234] In Advaita school of Hindu philosophy, a valid conclusion is either sadrupa (positive) or asadrupa (negative) relation - both correct and valuable. Like other pramana, Indian scholars refined Anupalabdi to four types: non-perception of the cause, non-perception of the effect, non-perception of object, and non-perception of contradiction. Only two schools of Hinduism accepted and developed the concept "non-perception" as a pramana. Advaita considers this method as valid and useful when the other five pramanas fail in one's pursuit of knowledge and truth.[219][235] A variation of Anupaladbi, called Abhava (अभाव) has also been posited as an epistemic method. It means non-existence. Some scholars consider Anupalabdi to be same as Abhava,[216] while others consider Anupalabdi and Abhava as different.[235][236] Abhava-pramana has been discussed in Advaita in the context of Padartha (पदार्थ, referent of a term). A Padartha is defined as that which is simultaneously Astitva (existent), Jneyatva (knowable) and Abhidheyatva (nameable).[237] Abhava was further refined in four types, by the schools of Hinduism that accepted it as a useful method of epistemology: dhvamsa (termination of what existed), atyanta-abhava (impossibility, absolute non-existence, contradiction), anyonya-abhava (mutual negation, reciprocal absence) and pragavasa (prior, antecedent non-existence).[219][237][238]
  6. Śabda (शब्द) - Relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts.[216][233] Hiriyanna explains Sabda-pramana as a concept which means reliable expert testimony. The schools of Hinduism which consider it epistemically valid suggest that a human being needs to know numerous facts, and with the limited time and energy available, he can learn only a fraction of those facts and truths directly.[239] He must rely on others, his parent, family, friends, teachers, ancestors and kindred members of society to rapidly acquire and share knowledge and thereby enrich each other's lives. This means of gaining proper knowledge is either spoken or written, but through Sabda (words).[239] The reliability of the source is important, and legitimate knowledge can only come from the Sabda of reliable sources.[233][239] The disagreement between Advaita and other schools of Hinduism has been on how to establish reliability.[240]

Goals of human life and soteriology

Main articles: Moksha and Jivanmukta

Moksha

Advaita, like other schools, accepts Puruṣārtha - the four goals of human life as natural and proper:[241]

Of these, much of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy focuses on the last, gaining liberation in one's current life.[243] The first three are discussed and encouraged by Advaitins, but usually in the context of knowing Brahman and Self-realization.[244] The soteriological goal, in Advaita, is to gain knowledge and complete understanding of the identity of Atman and Brahman. In Advaita Vedanta, the interest is not in liberation in after life, but in one's current life.[245] This school holds that liberation can be achieved while living, and a person who achieves this is called a Jivanmukta.[246][247]

Jivanmukta

The concept of Jivanmukti of Advaita Vedanta contrasts with Videhamukti (moksha from samsara after death) in theistic sub-schools of Vedanta.[248] Jivanmukti is a state that transforms the nature, attributes and behaviors of an individual, after which the liberated individual shows attributes such as:[249]

Ethics

Some claim, states Deutsch, that there is no place for ethics in Advaita, "that it turns its back on all theoretical and practical considerations of morality and, if not unethical, is at least 'a-ethical' in character".[250] However, adds Deutsch, ethics does have a firm place in this philosophy. Ethics, which implies doing good Karma, indirectly helps in attaining true knowledge.[251]

Adi Shankara, a leading proponent of Advaita, 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.[252] Rituals and rites can help focus and prepare the mind for the journey to Self-knowledge,[253] however, Shankara discourages ritual worship and oblations to Deva (God), because that assumes the Self within is different than Brahman. The "doctrine of difference" is wrong, asserts Shankara, because, "he who knows the Brahman is one and he is another, does not know Brahman".[254]

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.[255] This text states that the fully liberated person understands and practices the ethics of non-difference.[255]

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.

— Adi Shankara, Upadesha Sahasri 1.44, [256][257]

Moksha – liberation through knowledge of Brahman

Main article: Moksha

Traditional Advaita Vedanta centers around the study and what it believes to be correct understanding of the sruti, revealed texts, especially the Upanishads.[258][259] Correct understanding is believed to provide knowledge of the identity of atman and Brahman, which results in liberation. The main texts to be studied are the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras. Correct knowledge, which destroys avidya, psychological and perceptual errors,[260] is obtained by following the four stages of samanyasa (self-cultivation), sravana, listening to the teachings of the sages, manana, reflection on the teachings, and svādhyāya, contemplation of the truth "that art Thou".

Vidya, Svādhyāya and Anubhava

Main article: Svādhyāya

Sruti, revealed texts, and proper reasoning, are the main sources of knowledge (vidya) for Shankara and the subsequent Advaita Vedanta tradition.[261][262] Correct knowledge of Brahman is thought to be acquirable by svādhyāya,[263] study of the self and of the Vedic texts, and nididhyāsana, the study of and contemplation of the truths and non-duality.[264]

Nididhyasana leads to anubhava, direct cognition or understanding, which establishes the truth of the sruti.[265] Adi Shankara uses anubhava interchangeably with pratipatta, "understanding".[web 13] and considers it as the "non-dual realisation gained from the scriptures".[266] Dalal and others state that anubhava does not center around some sort of "mystical experience," but around the correct knowledge of Brahman.[262][267] Stressing the meaning of anubhava as knowledge, Saraswati states that liberation comes from knowledge, not from mere experience.[web 13] Nikhalananda notes that (knowledge of) Atman and Brahman can only be reached by buddhi, "reason,"[268] stating that mysticism is a kind of intuitive knowledge, while buddhi is the highest means of attaining knowledge.[269]

Moksha - liberation

Correct knowledge of Brahman is thought to lead to liberation,[note 22]

Liberation can be achieved while living, and is called Jivanmukti.[246]

Identity of Atman and Brahman

Moksha is attained by realizing the identity of Atman and Brahman, the complete understanding of one's real nature as Brahman in this life.[270] This is frequently stated by Advaita scholars, such as Shankara, as:

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 11.7, [270]

According to Potter,

1. The true Self is itself just that pure consciousness, without which nothing can be known in any way.

2. And that same true Self, pure consciousness, is not different from the ultimate world Principle, Brahman ...
3. ... Brahman (=the true Self, pure consciousness) is the only Reality (sat), since It is untinged by difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not sublimatable.[150]

Liberation in Advaita Vedanta is the nondual knowledge of Atman as infinitude, pure consciousness (Jnanam) and unity with the ultimate reality (Brahman), state Ranganathananda and Nelson.[271]

According to David Loy,

The knowledge of Brahman ... is not intuition of Brahman but itself is Brahman.[272]

Stages and practices

Advaita Vedanta gives an elaborate path to attain moksha. It entails more than self-inquiry or bare insight into one's real nature.[note 23]

Adi Shankara wrote a book, named Upadesasahasri to guide the practice of an Advaitin, with three prose chapters and a poetry section. One chapter is dedicated to Sravana (listening or reading the texts, discussions between the teacher and student), one chapter to Manana (thinking), and the third chapter to Nididhyasana (meditation).[274] The text also includes a guidebook on characteristics that establish a good teacher, ethics and personal qualities necessary for the Advaita student, and steps to learn about errors and nescience and about self-knowledge, epistemology and Yoga (particularly Jnana yoga and eight limbed yoga).[275] Shankara and Suresvara explicitly recommended the practice of Yoga in an Advaitin's life.[276]

Jnana Yoga – Four stages of practice

Main article: Jnana Yoga

Classical Advaita Vedanta emphasises the path of Jnana Yoga, a progression of study and training to attain moksha.[277][278] It consists of four stages:[279][280][note 24]

Samadhi

While Shankara emphasized sravana ("hearing"), manana ("reflection") and nididhyasana ("repeated meditation"), later texts like the Dŗg-Dŗśya-Viveka (14th century) and Vedantasara (of Sadananda) (15th century) added samadhi as a means to liberation, a theme that was also emphasized by Swami Vivekananda.

Guru

Main article: Guru

Advaita Vedanta school has traditionally had a high reverence for Guru (teacher), and recommends that a competent Guru be sought in one's pursuit of spirituality. However, the Guru is not mandatory in Advaita school, states Clooney, but reading of Vedic literature and followed by reflection is.[283] Adi Shankara, states Comans, regularly employed compound words "such as Sastracaryopadesa (instruction by way of the scriptures and the teacher) and Vedantacaryopadesa (instruction by way of the Upanishads and the teacher) to emphasize the importance of Guru".[283] 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.[284]

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.[285] 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."[285]

The Advaita philosopher Adi Shankara, in Chapter 1 of Upadesasahasri, states that teacher is the pilot as the student walks in the journey of knowledge, he is the raft as the student rows. The text describes the need, role and characteristics of a teacher,[253] as follows,

When the teacher finds from signs that knowledge has not been grasped or has been wrongly grasped by the student, he should remove the causes of non-comprehension in the student. This includes the student's past and present knowledge, want of previous knowledge of what constitutes subjects of discrimination and rules of reasoning, behavior such as unrestrained conduct and speech, courting popularity, vanity of his parentage, ethical flaws that are means contrary to those causes. The teacher must enjoin means in the student that are enjoined by the Śruti and Smrti, such as avoidance of anger, Yamas consisting of Ahimsa and others, also the rules of conduct that are not inconsistent with knowledge. He [teacher] should also thoroughly impress upon the student qualities like humility, which are the means to knowledge.

— Adi Shankara, Upadesha Sahasri 1.4-1.5[286][287]

Relationship with other forms of Vedanta

The Advaita Vedanta ideas, particularly of 8th century Adi Shankara, were challenged by theistic Vedanta philosophies that emerged centuries later, such as the 11th-century Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism) of Ramanuja, and the 14th-century Dvaita (theistic dualism) of Madhvacharya.[288]

Vishishtadvaita

Main article: Vishishtadvaita

Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualism Vedanta schools,[289][290] both are premised on the assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya and his Dvaita subschool of Vedanta believed that some souls are eternally doomed and damned.[291][292] 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.[293][294] Spiritual liberation to Shankara is the full comprehension and realization of oneness of one's unchanging Atman (soul) as the same as Atman in everyone else as well as being identical to the nirguna Brahman.[290][295][296] 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.[294] God, like man, states Ramanuja, has both soul and body, and all of the world of matter is the glory of God's body.[289] 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.[289][293][294]

Shuddhadvaita

Main article: Shuddhadvaita

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.[297] 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 souls and the world. Vallabha recognises Brahmn as the whole and the individual as a ‘part’ (but devoid of bliss).[298]

Dvaita

Main article: Dvaita

Madhvacharya was also a critic of Advaita Vedanta. Advaita's nondualism asserted that Atman (soul) and Brahman are identical, there is interconnected oneness of all souls and Brahman, and there are no pluralities[299][300] Madhva in contrast asserted that Atman (soul) and Brahman are different, only Vishnu is the Lord (Brahman), individual souls are also different and depend on Vishnu, and there are pluralities.[299][300] Madhvacharya stated that both Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism were a nihilistic school of thought.[301] Madhvacharya wrote four major texts, including Upadhikhandana and Tattvadyota, primarily dedicated to criticizing Advaita.[301]

Influence of Buddhism

Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism share many similarities. The similarities between Advaita and Buddhism have attracted Indian and Western scholars attention,[302] and have also been critcised by concurring schools. The similarities have been interpreted as Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta, while others deny such influences, or see them as expressions of the same eternal truth.[303]

Similarities with Buddhism

Scholars such as Belvalkar, Hiriyanna, Radhakrishnan and Thibaut state that Advaita's and Buddhism's theories on True Reality and Maya are similar,[304] and the influence of Buddhism on Advaita Vedanta has been significant.[305] Both traditions hold that "the empirical world is transitory, a show of appearances",[304][306] and both admit "degrees of truth or existence".[307] Both traditions emphasize the human need for spiritual liberation (moksha, nirvana, kaivalya), however with different assumptions.[308][note 25]

Frank Whaling states that the similarities between Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism are not limited to the terminology and some doctrines, but also includes practice. The monastic practices and monk tradition in Advaita are similar to those found in Buddhism.[305]

Influence of Mahayana Buddhism

Scholarly comments

Advaita Vedanta and various other schools of Hindu philosophy share numerous terminology and doctrines with Buddhism, which makes "a precise differentiation between Brahmanism and Buddhism [...] impossible to draw."[310] Advaita Vedanta was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism,[311][312] "borrowing some of the dialectical techniques, if not the specific doctrines, of the former."[313]

Ninian Smart, a historian of religion, quotes Mudgal view that "the differences between Shankara and Mahayana doctrines are largely a matter of emphasis and background, rather than essence".[314][note 26] Mudgal additionally states that the Upanishadic and Buddhist currents of thought "developed separately and independently, opposed to one another, as the orthodox and heterodox, the thesis and antithesis, and a synthesis was attempted by the Advaitin Shankara".[315]

Dasgupta and Mohanta suggest that Buddhism and Shankara's Advaita Vedanta represent "different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Sankara."[316][note 27]

Concurring schools

The similarities with Buddhism have been criticised by concurring Indian schools. Ramanujacharya, the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, accused Adi Shankara of being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a "crypto-Buddhist",[302] and someone who was undermining theistic Bhakti devotionalism.[305] The non-Advaita scholar Bhaskara of the Bhedabheda tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as "this despicable broken down Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists", and a school that is undermining the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.[305]

Gaudapada

Scholars are divided on possible Buddhist influence on Gaudapada's writing.

The influence of Mahayana on Advaita Vedanta, states Deutsch, goes back at least to Gaudapada, where he "clearly draws from Buddhist philosophical sources for many of his arguments and distinctions and even for the forms and imagery in which these arguments are cast".[313] Michael Comans states that Gaudapada, an early Vedantin, utilised some arguments and reasoning from Madhyamaka Buddhist texts by quoting them almost verbatim. However, Comans adds there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gaudapada, in that Buddhism has as its philosophical basis the doctrine of Dependent Origination according to which "everything is without an essential nature (nissvabhava), and everything is empty of essential nature (svabhava-sunya)", while Gaudapada does not rely on this principle at all. Gaudapada's Ajativada is an outcome of reasoning applied to an unchanging nondual reality according to which "there exists a Reality (sat) that is unborn (aja)" that has essential nature (svabhava) and this is the "eternal, fearless, undecaying Self (Atman) and Brahman".[319] Thus, Gaudapada differs from Buddhist scholars such as Nagarjuna, states Comans, by accepting the premises and relying on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads.[319]

Gaudapada, in his Karikas text, uses the leading concepts and wording of Mahayana Buddhist school but, states John Plott, he reformulated them to the Upanishadic themes.[320] The influence of Buddhism on Gaudapada, states John Plott, is undeniable and to be expected.[320] He writes,

We must emphasize again that generally throughout the Gupta Dynasty, and even more so after its decline, there developed such a high degree of syncretism and such toleration of all points of view that Mahayana Buddhism had been Hinduized almost as much as Hinduism had been Buddhaized.[320]

Mahadevan suggests that Gaudapada adopted Buddhist terminology and borrowed its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and borrowed its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings.[320]

Sharma (2000, pp. 60–63) points out that the early commentators on the Brahma Sutras were all realists, or pantheist realists. He states that they were influenced by Buddhism, particularly during the 5th and 6th centuries CE when Buddhist thought developing in the Yogacara school. Some scholars suggests that Gaudapada (6th Century CE) bridged Buddhism and Vedanta, by taking over the Buddhist doctrines that ultimate reality is pure consciousness (vijñapti-mātra)[note 28] and "that the nature of the world is the four-cornered negation".[323][59][note 29] According to Gaudapada, the Absolute Reality, that is Brahman, is not subject to birth, change and death. The Absolute is aja, the unborn eternal.[325][320]

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan also opines that Gaudapada's philosophy is different from that of Adi Shankara and Badarayan.[68] Bhattacharya (1943, p. 49), Renard (2010, p. 157) and Comans (2000, pp. 35–36) suggest that Gaudapada took over the Buddhist concept of ajāta from Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy, which uses the term anutpāda.[note 30] At the same time, Gaudapada emphatically rejected some theories of the Buddhists, such as the multiplicity and momentariness of consciousnesses, which were core doctrines of the Vijnanavada school, and their techniques for achieving liberation.[326] The Buddhist tradition usually uses the term "anutpāda" for the absence of an origin[327][328] or sunyata.[329] According to D.T Suzuki, "anutpada" is not the opposite of "utpada", but transcends opposites. It is the seeing into the true nature of existence,[330] the seeing that "all objects are without self-substance".[331]</ref> An equivalent theory of Ajātivāda, "the Doctrine of no-origination"[325][note 32] or "non-creation", is the fundamental philosophical doctrine of Gaudapada.[325]

Other scholars, however, refute the possibility of Buddhist influences. According to Murti (1955, pp. 114–115), Gaudapada's doctrines are unlike Buddhism. Gaudapada's influential text consists of four chapters; Chapter One, Two and Three of which are entirely Vedantin and founded on the Upanishads, with little Buddhist flavor. Chapter Four uses Buddhist terminology and incorporates Buddhist doctrines but Vedanta scholars who followed Gaudapada through the 17th century, state both Murti and Richard King, never referenced nor used Chapter Four, they only quote from the first three. While there is shared terminology, the doctrines of Gaudapada and Buddhism are fundamentally different, states Murti (1955, pp. 114–115).[332] Nikhilananda (2008, pp. 203–206) refutes the argument for Buddhist influence on Gaudapada's philosophy by arguing that the whole purpose of Gaudapada was to demonstrate the ultimate reality of the birth-less and non-dual Atman, a concept foreign to Buddhism. Scholars such as Murti state that, while there is shared terminology, the doctrines of Gaudapada and Buddhism are fundamentally different.[333][334]

Differences from Buddhism

Atman and anatta

Advaita Vedanta holds the premise, "Soul exists, and Soul (or self, Atman) is a self evident truth". Buddhism, in contrast, holds the premise, "Atman does not exist, and An-atman (or Anatta, non-self)[335] is self evident".[336][337]

Buddhists do not believe that at the core of all human beings and living creatures, there is any "eternal, essential and absolute something called a soul, self or atman".[338] Buddhists reject the concept and all doctrines associated with atman, call atman as illusion (maya), asserting instead the theory of "no-self" and "no-soul".[337][339] Buddhism, from its earliest days, has denied the existence of the "self, soul" in its core philosophical and ontological texts. In contrast to Advaita which describes knowing one's own soul as identical with Brahman as the path to nirvana, in its soteriological themes, Buddhism has defined nirvana as that blissful state when a person realizes that he or she has "no self, no soul".[338][340]

Epistemology

The epistemological foundations of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta are different. Buddhism accepts two valid means to reliable and correct knowledge – perception and inference, while Advaita Vedanta accepts six (described elsewhere in this article).[218][235][341] 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.[342]

Ontology

Advaita Vedanta is a substance ontology, an ontology "which holds that underlying the seeming change, variety, and multiplicity of existence there are unchanging and permanent entities (the so-called substances)".[343] In contrast, Buddhism is a process ontology, according to which "there exists nothing permanent and unchanging, within or without man".[344][note 33]

Advaita three levels of reality theory, states Renard, is built on the two levels of reality found in the Madhyamika.[346]

Influence on modern Hinduism

Unifying Hinduism

Main article: Unifying Hinduism

Advaita Vedanta came to occupy a central position in the classification of various Hindu traditions. With the onset of Islamic rule, hierarchical classifications of the various orthodox schools were developed to shield Hindu Philosophy from Islamic influences.[25] According to Nicholson, already between the twelfth and the sixteenth century,

... certain thinkers began to treat as a single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas, and the schools known retrospectively as the "six systems" (saddarsana) of mainstream Hindu philosophy.[347]

The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by Burley.[348] Lorenzen locates the origins of a distinct Hindu identity in the interaction between Muslims and Hindus,[349] and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim other",[350] which started well before 1800.[351] Both the Indian and the European thinkers who developed the term "Hinduism" in the 19th century were influenced by these philosophers.[347]

Within these doxologies, Advaita Vedanta was given the highest position, since it was regarded to be most inclusive system.[25] Vijnanabhiksu, a 16th-century philosopher and writer, is still an influential representant of these doxologies. He's been a prime influence on 19th century Hindu modernists like Vivekananda, who also tried to integrate various strands of Hindu thought, taking Advaita Vedanta as its most representative specimen.[25]

Contemporary views

Historical influence

Scholars are divided on the historical influence of Advaita Vedanta. Some Indologists state that it is one of the most studied Hindu philosophy and the most influential schools of classical Indian thought.[210][17][352] Advaita Vedanta, states Eliot Deutsch, "has been and continues to be the most widely accepted system of thought among philosophers in India, and it is, we believe, one of the greatest philosophical achievements to be found in the East or the West".[353]

In contrast, King states that its present position as the key Indian philosophy is a modern phenomenon, which developed under western Orientalism and Perennialism.[354]

Indian nationalism and Hindu Universalism

With the onset of the British Raj, the colonialisation of India by the British, there also started a Hindu renaissance in the 19th century, which profoundly changed the understanding of Hinduism in both India and the west.[355] Western orientalist searched for the "essence" of the Indian religions, discerning this in the Vedas, and meanwhile creating the notion of "Hinduism" as a unified body of religious praxis and the popular picture of 'mystical India'.[356] This idea of a Vedic essence was taken over by the Hindu reformers, together with the ideas of Universalism and Perennialism, the idea that all religions share a common mystic ground.[357] The Brahmo Samaj, who was supported for a while by the Unitarian Church,[358] played an essential role in the introduction and spread of this new understanding of Hinduism.[359]

Vedanta came to be regarded as the essence of Hinduism, and Advaita Vedanta came to be regarded as "then paradigmatic example of the mystical nature of the Hindu religion".[102] These notions served well for the Hindu nationalists, who further popularised this notion of Advaita Vedanta as the pinnacle of Indian religions.[360] It "provided an opportunity for the construction of a nationalist ideology that could unite HIndus in their struggle against colonial oppression".[361]

In modern times, states King, Advaita Vedanta has acquired a broad acceptance in Indian culture and beyond as the paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality.[354]

Swami Vivekananda

A major proponent in the popularisation of this Universalist and Perennialist interpretation of Advaita Vedanta was Vivekananda,[362] who played a major role in the revival of Hinduism,[363] and the spread of Advaita Vedanta to the west via the Ramakrishna Mission. His interpretation of Advaita Vedanta has been called "Neo-Vedanta".[364] Vivekananda discerned a universal religion, regarding all the apparent differences between various traditions as various manifestations of one truth.[365] He presented karma, bhakti, jnana and raja yoga as equal means to attain moksha,[366] to present Vedanta as a liberal and universal religion, in contrast to the exclusivism of other religions.[366]

Vivekananda emphasised samadhi as a means to attain liberation.[367] Yet this emphasis is not to be found in the Upanishads nor with Shankara.[368] For Shankara, meditation and Nirvikalpa Samadhi are means to gain knowledge of the already existing unity of Brahman and Atman. Vivekananda also claimed that Advaita is the only religion that is in agreement with modern science. In a talk on "The absolute and manifestation" given in at London in 1896 Swami Vivekananda said,

I may make bold to say that the only religion which agrees with, and even goes a little further than modern researchers, both on physical and moral lines is the Advaita, and that is why it appeals to modern scientists so much. They find that the old dualistic theories are not enough for them, do not satisfy their necessities. A man must have not only faith, but intellectual faith too".[web 19]

Mukerji criticizes this view of Vivekananda:

Without calling into question the right of any philosopher to interpret Advaita according to his own understanding of it, ... the process of Westernization has obscured the core of this school of thought. The basic correlation of renunciation and Bliss has been lost sight of in the attempts to underscore the cognitive structure and the realistic structure which according to Samkaracarya should both belong to, and indeed constitute the realm of māyā.[364]

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan further popularized Advaita Vedanta, presenting it as the essence of Hinduism.[web 20] Radhakrishnan saw other religions, "including what Radhakrishnan understands as lower forms of Hinduism,"[web 20] as interpretations of Advaita Vedanta, thereby Hindusizing all religions.[web 20] His metaphysics was grounded in Advaita Vedanta, but he reinterpreted Advaita Vedanta for a contemporary understanding.[web 20] He acknowledged the reality and diversity of the world of experience, which he saw as grounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman.[web 20][note 34] Radhakrishnan also reinterpreted Shankara's notion of maya. According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict absolute idealism, but "a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real."[web 20]

Neo-Advaita

Main article: Neo-Advaita

Neo-Advaita is a New Religious Movement based on a popularised, western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta and the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.[370] Neo-Advaita is being criticised[371][note 35][373][note 36][note 37] for discarding the traditional prerequisites of knowledge of the scriptures[375] and "renunciation as necessary preparation for the path of jnana-yoga".[375][376] Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja,[377][370] his students Gangaji[378] Andrew Cohen[note 38], and Eckhart Tolle.[370]

Non-dualism

Main article: Nondualism

Advaita Vedanta has gained attention in western spirituality and New Age, where various traditions are seen as driven by the same non-dual experience.[380] Nonduality points to "a primordial, natural awareness without subject or object".[web 25] 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".[web 26]

Scholarly perceptions of Advaita Vedanta

Advaita Vedanta is one of the most studied and most influential schools of classical Indian thought.[210][17][352] Already in medieval times, it came to be regarded as the highest of the Indian religious philosophies,[25] a development which was reinforced in modern times due to western interest in Advaita Vedanta, and the subsequent influence on western perceptions on Indian perceptions of Hinduism.[26]

Advaita Vedanta is most often regarded as an idealist monism. It was strongly influenced by Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogacara,[381] and it further developed "to its ultimate extreme" monistic ideas already present in the Upanishads.[19][382][21] According to Dandekar, Gaudapada's Gaudapadakarika aligns Buddhist ideas with Upanishadic ideas, "creating an irresistible impression" that those ideas are consistent with each other.[381]

According to Milne, advaita is a negative term, which denotes the "negation of a difference," between subject and object, or between perceiver and perceived. It is, states Milne, misleading to call Advaita Vedanta "monistic," since this confuses the "negation of difference" with "conflation into one."[383] Deutsch, in contrast, states Advaita Vedanta teaches monistic oneness, however without the multiplicity premise of various monism theories.[384] According to Jacqueline Hirst, Adi Shankara positively emphasizes "oneness" premise in his Brahma-sutra Bhasya 2.1.20, attributing it to all the Upanishads.[385] Nicholson points out that Advaita Vedanta also contains realistic strands of thought, both in its oldest origins and in Shankara's writings.[24] The Brahma Sutras take a bedhabheda stance,[381] and Shankara's writings also contain realistic elements.[24]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Many in number, the Upanishads developed in different schools at various times and places, some in the Vedic period and others in the medieval or modern era (the names of up to 112 Upanishads have been recorded).[29] All major commentators have considered the twelve to thirteen oldest of these texts as the principal Upanishads and as the foundation of Vedanta.
  2. ↑ The Śruti includes the four Vedas including its four layers of embedded texts – the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the early Upanishads.[30]
  3. ↑ The Brahmasutra (also called Vedanta Sutra, composed in 1st millennium BCE) accepts this in verse 1.1.4 and asserts the need for the Upanishadic teachings to be understood not in a piecemeal cherry-picked basis, but 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.[41][38] This theme has been central to Advaita, making the Brahmasutra a common reference and a consolidated textual authority for Advaita.[41][43]
  4. ↑ These are, however, only one among many ancient and medieval manuscripts available or accepted in this tradition.[7]
  5. ↑ Nevertheless, Balasubramanian argues that since the basic ideas of the Vedanta systems are derived from the Vedas, the Vedantic philosophy is as old as the Vedas.[49]
  6. ↑ Deutsch and Dalvi point out that, in the Indian context, texts "are only part of a tradition which is preserved in its purest form in the oral transmission as it has been going on".[51]
  7. ↑ Badarayan refers to seven Vedantic teachers before him. Quote: From the way in which Bādarāyana cites the views of others it is obvious that the teachings of the Upanishads must have been analyzed and interpreted by quite a few before him and that his systematization of them in 555 sutras arranged in four chapters must have been the last attempt, most probably the best.[55]
  8. ↑ Bhartŗhari (c.450–500), Upavarsa (c.450–500), Bodhāyana (c.500), Tanka (Brahmānandin) (c.500–550), Dravida (c.550), Bhartŗprapañca (c.550), Śabarasvāmin (c.550), Bhartŗmitra (c.550–600), Śrivatsānka (c.600), Sundarapāndya (c.600), Brahmadatta (c.600–700), Gaudapada (c.640–690), Govinda (c.670–720), Mandanamiśra (c.670–750).[45]
  9. ↑ Nakamura notes that there are contradictions in doctrine between the four chapters.[63]
  10. ↑ According to both Roodurum and Isaeva, Sureśvara stated that mere knowledge of the identity of Jiva and Brahman is not enough for liberation, which requires prolonged meditation on this identity.[108][116]
  11. ↑ Sanskrit: श्री संस्थान गौडपदाचार्य मठ, Śrī Sansthāna Gauḍapadācārya Maṭha
  12. ↑ According to Pandey, these Mathas were not established by Shankara himself, but were originally ashrams established by Vibhāņdaka and his son Ŗșyaśŗnga.[135] Shankara inherited the ashrams at Dvārakā and Sringeri, and shifted the ashram at Śŗngaverapura to Badarikāśrama, and the ashram at Angadeśa to Jagannātha Purī.[136]
  13. ↑ Sanskrit.org: "Advaitins are non-sectarian, and they advocate worship of Siva and Visnu equally with that of the other deities of Hinduism, like Sakti, Ganapati and others."[web 6]
  14. ↑ It is not a philosophy in the western meaning of the word, according to Milne.[139]
  15. ↑ Bill Clinton: "The buck stops here."
  16. ↑ Brahman is also defined as:
    • The unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe; that is the one supreme, universal spirit without a second.[155][156]
    • The one supreme, all pervading Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe.[157]
    • The supreme self. Puligandla states it as "the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world",[158]
    • The Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable. Brahman is indescribable.
    • The "principle of the world",[159] the "absolute",[160] the "general, universal",[161] the "cosmic principle",[162] the "ultimate that is the cause of everything including all gods",[163] the "knowledge",[164] the "soul, sense of self of each human being that is fearless, luminuous, exalted and blissful",[165] the "essence of liberation, of spiritual freedom",[166] the "universe within each living being and the universe outside",[165] the "essence and everything innate in all that exists inside, outside and everywhere".[167]
  17. ↑ Svarupalakshana, qualities, definition based on essence
  18. ↑ It provides the "stuff" from which everything is made
  19. ↑ It sets everything into working, into existence
  20. ↑ and other sub-schools of Vedanta with the concept of Maya.[194]
  21. ↑ 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.[207][208]
  22. ↑ Indian philosophy emphasises that "every acceptable philosophy should aid man in realising the Purusarthas, the chief aims of human life:[241]
    • Dharma: the right way to life, the "duties and obligations of the individual toward himself and the society as well as those of the society toward the individual";[242]
    • Artha: the means to support and sustain one's life;
    • Kāma: pleasure and enjoyment;
    • Mokṣa: liberation, release.
  23. ↑ Puligandla: "Any philosophy worthy of its title should not be a mere intellectual exercise but should have practical application in enabling man to live an enlightened life. A philosophy which makes no difference to the quality and style of our life is no philosophy, but an empty intellectual construction."[273]
  24. ↑ These characteristics and steps are described in various Advaita texts, such as by Shankara in Chapter 1.1 of Brahmasutrabhasya,[280] and in the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10
  25. ↑ Helmuth von Glasenapp writes: "The Buddhist Nirvana is, therefore, not the primordial ground, the eternal essence, which is at the basis of everything and form which the whole world has arisen (the Brahman of the Upanishads) but the reverse of all that we know, something altogether different which must be characterized as a nothing in relation to the world, but which is experienced as highest bliss by those who have attained to it (Anguttara Nikaya, Navaka-nipata 34). Vedantists and Buddhists have been fully aware of the gulf between their doctrines, a gulf that cannot be bridged over. According to Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 22, a doctrine that proclaims "The same is the world and the self. This I shall be after death; imperishable, permanent, eternal!" (see Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4, 4, 13), was styled by the Buddha a perfectly foolish doctrine. On the other side, the Katha Upanishad (2, 1, 14) does not see a way to deliverance in the Buddhist theory of dharmas (impersonal processes): He who supposes a profusion of particulars gets lost like rain water on a mountain slope; the truly wise man, however, must realize that his Atman is at one with the Universal Atman, and that the former, if purified from dross, is being absorbed by the latter, "just as clear water poured into clear water becomes one with it, indistinguishably."[309]
  26. ↑ Ninian Smart is a proponent of the so-called "common core thesis", which states that all forms of mysticism share a common core. See also [web 14] and [web 15]
  27. ↑ This development did not end with Advaita Vedanta, but continued in Tantrism and various schools of Shaivism. Non-dual Kashmir Shaivism, for example, was influenced by, and took over doctrines from, several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical traditions.[317] These include Vedanta, Samkhya, Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas, and various Buddhist schools, including Yogacara and Madhyamika,[317] but also Tantra and the Nath-tradition.[318]
  28. ↑ It is often used interchangeably with the term citta-mātra, but they have different meanings. The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or "mind-only." Several modern researchers object this translation, and the accompanying label of "absolute idealism" or "idealistic monism".[321] A better translation for vijñapti-mātra is representation-only.[322]
  29. ↑ 1. Something is. 2. It is not. 3. It both is and is not. 4. It neither is nor is not.[web 16] [324]
  30. ↑ An means "not", or "non"; utpāda means "genesis", "coming forth", "birth"[web 17] Taken together anutpāda means "having no origin", "not coming into existence", "not taking effect", "non-production".[web 18] Gaudapada, states Raju (1992, pp. 177–178), "wove Buddhist doctrines into a philosophy of the Mandukaya Upanisad, which was further developed by Shankara".[note 31]
  31. ↑ The influence of Mahayana Buddhism on other religions and philosophies was not limited to Vedanta. Kalupahana notes that the Visuddhimagga of Theravada Buddhism tradition contains "some metaphysical speculations, such as those of the Sarvastivadins, the Sautrantikas, and even the Yogacarins".<ref name='FOOTNOTEKalupahana1994206'>Kalupahana 1994, p. 206.
  32. ↑ "A" means "not", or "non" as in Ahimsa, non-harm; "jāti" means "creation" or "origination;[325] "vāda" means "doctrine"[325]
  33. ↑ Kalupahana describes how in Buddhism there is also a current which favours substance ontology. Kalupahanan sees Madhyamaka and Yogacara as reactions against developments toward substance ontology in Buddhism.[345]
  34. ↑ Neo-Vedanta seems to be closer to Bhedabheda-Vedanta than to Shankara's Advaita Vedanta, with the acknowledgement of the reality of the world. Nicholas F. Gier: "Ramakrsna, Svami Vivekananda, and Aurobindo (I also include M.K. Gandhi) have been labeled "neo-Vedantists," a philosophy that rejects the Advaitins' claim that the world is illusory. Aurobindo, in his The Life Divine, declares that he has moved from Sankara's "universal illusionism" to his own "universal realism" (2005: 432), defined as metaphysical realism in the European philosophical sense of the term."[369]
  35. ↑ Marek: "Wobei der Begriff Neo-Advaita darauf hinweist, dass sich die traditionelle Advaita von dieser Strömung zunehmend distanziert, da sie die Bedeutung der übenden Vorbereitung nach wie vor als unumgänglich ansieht. (The term Neo-Advaita indicating that the traditional Advaita increasingly distances itself from this movement, as they regard preparational practicing still as inevitable)[372]
  36. ↑ Alan Jacobs: Many firm devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi now rightly term this western phenomenon as 'Neo-Advaita'. The term is carefully selected because 'neo' means 'a new or revived form'. And this new form is not the Classical Advaita which we understand to have been taught by both of the Great Self Realised Sages, Adi Shankara and Ramana Maharshi. It can even be termed 'pseudo' because, by presenting the teaching in a highly attenuated form, it might be described as purporting to be Advaita, but not in effect actually being so, in the fullest sense of the word. In this watering down of the essential truths in a palatable style made acceptable and attractive to the contemporary western mind, their teaching is misleading.[373]
  37. ↑ See for other examples Conway [web 21] and Swartz[374]
  38. ↑ Presently Cohen has distanced himself from Poonja, and calls his teachings "Evolutionary Enlightenment".[379] What Is Enlightenment, the magazine published by Choen's organisation, has been critical of neo-Advaita several times, as early as 2001. See.[web 22][web 23][web 24]

References

  1. ↑ Sharma 2007, p. 6.
  2. ↑ Deutsch 1988, p. 4.
  3. ↑ Hiriyanna 2008, p. 156.
  4. ↑ Sharma 2007, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Fort 1998, pp. 114-120.
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  242. 1 2 Puligandla 1997, p. 8.
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  245. ↑ Comans 2000, pp. 183-184.
  246. 1 2 Lochtefeld 2002, p. 320.
  247. ↑ Paul Deussen, The philosophy of the Upanishads, Translated by A.S. Geden (1906), T&T Clark, Edinburgh
  248. ↑ Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Vol 1 & 2, ISBN 978-81-208-1467-7
  249. ↑ [a] K.N. Aiyar (Transl. 1914), Thirty Minor Upanishads, University of Toronto Robart Library Archives, Canada, pp 140-147; [b] S. Nikhilananda (1958), Hinduism : Its meaning for the liberation of the spirit, Harper, ISBN 978-0911206265, pp 53-79; [c] Andrew Fort (1998), Jivanmukti in Transformation: Embodied Liberation in Advaita and Neo-Vedanta, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-3904-6
  250. ↑ Deutsch 1969, p. 99.
  251. ↑ Deutsch 1969, p. 100-101.
  252. ↑ Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  253. 1 2 Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  254. ↑ Sanskrit:Upadesha sahasri
    English Translation: S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), Upadeshasahasri, Vedanta Press, ISBN 978-8171200597, page 16-17; OCLC 218363449
  255. 1 2 Sanskrit:Upadesha sahasri
    English Translation: S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), Upadeshasahasri, Vedanta Press, ISBN 978-8171200597, page 17-19; OCLC 218363449
  256. ↑ Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. pp. 226–227. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  257. ↑ English Translation: S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), Upadeshasahasri, Vedanta Press, ISBN 978-8171200597, page 32; OCLC 218363449;
    Sanskrit: तच् चैतत् परमार्थदर्शनं प्रतिपत्तुमिच्छता वर्णाश्रमाद्यभिमान-कृतपाञ्क्तरूपपुत्रवित्तलोकैषणादिभ्यो व्युत्थानं कर्तव्यम् । सम्यक्प्रत्ययविरोधात् तदभिमानस्य भेददर्शनप्रतिषेधार्थोपपत्तिश्चोपपद्यते । न ह्येकस्मिन्नात्मन्यसंसारित्वबुद्धौ शास्त्रन्यायोत्पादितायां तद्विपरीता बुद्धिर्भवति । न ह्य् अग्नौ शितत्वबुद्धिः, शरीरे वाजरामरणबुद्धिः । तस्मादविद्याकार्यत्वात् सर्वकर्मणां तत्साधनानां च यज्ञोपवीतादीनां परमार्थदर्शनिष्टेन त्यागः कर्तव्यः ॥ ४४॥ Upadesha sahasri
  258. ↑ Isaeva 1993, p. 237.
  259. ↑ Dalal 2009, p. 16, 26-27.
  260. ↑ Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  261. ↑ Rambachan 1984.
  262. 1 2 Dalal 2009, p. 22.
  263. ↑ Sivananda 1977, p. viii.
  264. ↑ Dalal 2009, p. 16.
  265. ↑ Rambachan 1991, p. 5.
  266. ↑ Hirst 2005, p. 68.
  267. ↑ Rambachan 1991, p. 1-14.
  268. ↑ Nikhalananda 1931, p. viii.
  269. ↑ Nikhalananda 1931, p. viii-ix.
  270. 1 2 Comans 2000, p. 183.
  271. ↑ Swami Ranganathananda & Elva Linnéa Nelson 1991, p. 109.
  272. ↑ Loy 1997, p. 62.
  273. ↑ Puligandla 1997, p. 11.
  274. ↑ Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. pp. xvi–xvii. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  275. ↑ Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. pp. xi–xvii, 229. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  276. ↑ David Carpenter and Ian Whicher (2010), Yoga: The Indian Tradition, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415600200, pages 6-7
  277. ↑ Deutsch 1988, pp. 104-105.
  278. ↑ Comans 2000, pp. 125-142.
  279. 1 2 3 4 Puligandla 1997, p. 251-254.
  280. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Eliot Deutsch (1980), Advaita Vedanta : A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824802714, pages 105-108
  281. ↑ Adi Shankara, Tattva bodha (1.2)
  282. 1 2 3 4 5 6 George Thibaut, The Sacred Books of the East: The Vedanta-Sutras, Part 1, p. 12, at Google Books, Oxford University Press, Editor: Max Muller, page 12 with footnote 1
  283. 1 2 Comans 2000, p. 182.
  284. ↑ Comans 2000, pp. 182-183.
  285. 1 2 Joel Mlecko (1982), The Guru in Hindu Tradition Numen, Volume 29, Fasc. 1, pages 33-61
  286. ↑ Sanskrit: शिष्यस्य ज्ञानग्रहणं च लिन्गैर्बुद्ध्वा तदग्रहणहेतूनधर्म लौकिकप्रमादनित्यानित्य(वस्तु) विवेकविषयासञ्जातदृढपूर्वश्रुतत्व-लोक-चिन्तावेक्षण-जात्याद्यभिमानादींस्तत्प्रतिपक्षैः श्रुतिस्मृतिविहितैरपनयेदक्रोधादिभिरहिंसादिभिश्च यमैर्ज्ञानाविरुद्धैश्च नियमैः ॥ ४॥ अमानित्वादिगुणं च ज्ञानोपायं सम्यग् ग्राहयेत् ॥ ५॥ Source;
    English Translation 1: S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), Upadeshasahasri, Vedanta Press, ISBN 978-8171200597, pages 3-4; OCLC 218363449
    English Translation 2: Śaṅkarācārya; Sengaku Mayeda (2006). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-8120827714.
  287. ↑ Karl Potter (2008), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Vol. III, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120803107, pages 218-219
  288. ↑ Fowler 2002, pp. 238–243, 288–294, 340–342.
  289. 1 2 3 J.A.B. van Buitenen (2008), Ramanuja - Hindu theologian and Philosopher, Encyclopedia Britannica
  290. 1 2 Christopher Etter (2006). A Study of Qualitative Non-Pluralism. iUniverse. pp. 57–60, 63–65. ISBN 978-0-595-39312-1.
  291. ↑ Sharma, Chandradhar (1994). A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 374–375. ISBN 81-208-0365-5.
  292. ↑ Bryant, Edwin (2007). Krishna : A Sourcebook (Chapter 15 by Deepak Sarma). Oxford University Press. pp. 361–362. ISBN 978-0195148923.
  293. 1 2 Jon Paul Sydnor (2012). Ramanuja and Schleiermacher: Toward a Constructive Comparative Theology. Casemate. pp. 84–87. ISBN 978-0227680247.
  294. 1 2 3 Joseph P. Schultz (1981). Judaism and the Gentile Faiths: Comparative Studies in Religion. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 81–84. ISBN 978-0-8386-1707-6.
  295. ↑ Indich 2000, p. 1–2, 97–102.
  296. ↑ Roy W. Perrett (2013). Philosophy of Religion: Indian Philosophy. Routledge. pp. 247–248. ISBN 978-1-135-70322-6.
  297. ↑ Devarshi Ramanath Shastri, "Shuddhadvaita Darshan (Vol.2)", Published by Mota Mandir, Bhoiwada, Mumbai, India, 1917.
  298. ↑ "Brahmavād Saṅgraha", Pub. Vaishnava Mitra Mandal Sarvajanik Nyasa, Indore, India, 2014.
  299. 1 2 Stoker, Valerie (2011). "Madhva (1238-1317)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  300. 1 2 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, pages 215-224
  301. 1 2 SMS Chari (1999), Advaita and Visistadvaita, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120815353, pages 5-7
  302. 1 2 Biderman 1978, pp. 405-413.
  303. ↑ N.V. Isaeva (1993), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, SUNY Press, pages 12-14
  304. 1 2 Helmuth Von Glasenapp (1995), Vedanta & Buddhism: A comparative study, Buddhist Publication Society, pages 2-3, Quote: "Vedanta 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 Mahayana to conceive Samsara and Nirvana as two aspects of the same and single true reality; for Nagarjuna 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" (Sunyata) to be grasped in meditation, and realized in Nirvana, has true reality [in Buddhism]".
  305. 1 2 3 4 Whaling 1979, pp. 1-42.
  306. ↑ Dasgupta & Mohanta 1998, pp. 351-352.
  307. ↑ Dasgupta & Mohanta 1998, p. 354.
  308. ↑ David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 22, Issue 1, pages 65-74
  309. ↑ Helmuth Von Glasenapp (1995), Vedanta & Buddhism: A comparative study, Buddhist Publication Society, pages 1-2
  310. ↑ Isaeva 1993, p. 172.
  311. ↑ Grimes 1998, pp. 684–686.
  312. ↑ S. Mudgal, Advaita of Sankara, A Reappraisal, Impact of Buddhism and Samkhya on Sankara's thought, Delhi 1975, p.187"
  313. 1 2 Deutsch & Dalvi 2004, p. 126, 157.
  314. ↑ Ninian Smart (1992), Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy. Brill, page 104
  315. ↑ S Mudgal (1975), Advaita of Shankara: A Reappraisal, Motilal Banarasidass, page 175
  316. ↑ Dasgupta & Mohanta 1998, p. 362.
  317. 1 2 Muller-Ortega 2010, p. 25.
  318. ↑ Muller-Ortega 2010, p. 26.
  319. 1 2 Comans 2000, p. 88–93.
  320. 1 2 3 4 5 John Plott (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Patristic-Sutra period (325 - 800 AD), Volume 3, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120805507, pages 285-288
  321. ↑ Kochumuttom 1999, p. 1.
  322. ↑ Kochumuttom 1999, p. 5.
  323. ↑ Sharma 2000, p. 60-63.
  324. ↑ Garfield 2003.
  325. 1 2 3 4 5 Sharma 1996, p. 127.
  326. ↑ Sharma 1996, p. 152–154.
  327. ↑ Renard 2010, p. 157.
  328. ↑ Bhattacharya 1943, p. 49.
  329. ↑ Renard 2010, p. 160.
  330. ↑ Suzuki 1999, p. 123-124.
  331. ↑ Suzuki 1999, p. 168.
  332. ↑ Gaudapada, Devanathan Jagannathan, University of Toronto, IEP
  333. ↑ Murti 1955, pp. 114–115.
  334. ↑ Potter 1981, p. 81.
  335. ↑ Anatta, Encyclopedia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self")."
  336. ↑ Dae-Sook Suh (1994), Korean Studies: New Pacific Currents, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824815981, page 171
  337. 1 2 John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120801585, page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".
  338. 1 2 [a] KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, ISBN 978-8120806191, pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards; [b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791422175, page 64; "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."; [c] Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction, p. 2, at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, pages 2-4; [d] Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist ‘No-Self’ Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?, Philosophy Now
  339. ↑ Helen J Baroni (2002), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 978-0823922406, page 14
  340. ↑ David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65-74
  341. ↑ John Clayton (2010), Religions, Reasons and Gods: Essays in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Religion, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521126274, page 54
  342. ↑ Alex Wayman (1999), A Millennium of Buddhist Logic, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120816466, page xix-xx
  343. ↑ Puligandla 1997, p. 49-50.
  344. ↑ Puligandla 1997, p. 40-50.
  345. ↑ Kalupahanan 1994.
  346. ↑ Renard 2010, p. 130.
  347. 1 2 Nicholson 2010, p. 2.
  348. ↑ Burley 2007, p. 34.
  349. ↑ Lorenzen 2006, p. 24-33.
  350. ↑ Lorenzen 2006, p. 27.
  351. ↑ Lorenzen 2006, p. 26-27.
  352. 1 2 Brannigan 2009, p. 19.
  353. ↑ Eliot Deutsch (1996), Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824802714, page 3
  354. 1 2 King 2002, p. 118-142.
  355. ↑ King 2002.
  356. ↑ King 2002, p. 118.
  357. ↑ King 2002, p. 119-120.
  358. ↑ Jones & Ryan 2006, p. 114.
  359. ↑ King 2002, p. 123.
  360. ↑ King 2002, p. 129-130.
  361. ↑ King 2002, p. 133.
  362. ↑ King 2002, p. 135-142.
  363. ↑ Dense 1999, p. 191.
  364. 1 2 Mukerji 1983.
  365. ↑ Rambachan 1994, p. 91-92.
  366. 1 2 Rambachan 1994, p. 91.
  367. ↑ Comans 1993.
  368. ↑ Comans 2000, p. 307.
  369. ↑ Gier 2012.
  370. 1 2 3 Lucas 2011.
  371. ↑ Marek 2008, p. 10, note 6.
  372. ↑ Marek 2008, p. 10 note 6.
  373. 1 2 Jacobs 2004, p. 82.
  374. ↑ Swartz, James (10 July 2012). "What is Neo-Advaita?". advaita.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  375. 1 2 Davis 2010, p. 48.
  376. ↑ Yogani 2011, p. 805.
  377. ↑ Caplan 2009, p. 16-17.
  378. ↑ Lucas 2011, p. 102-105.
  379. ↑ Gleig 2011, p. 10.
  380. ↑ Katz 2007.
  381. 1 2 3 Dandekar 2005, p. 9545.
  382. ↑ King 1995, p. 65; Quote: "The prevailing monism of the Upanishads was developed by the Advaita Vedanta to its ultimate extreme".
  383. ↑ Milne 1997, p. 168.
  384. ↑ Deutsch 1988, pp. 3, 10, 13-14 with footnotes.
  385. ↑ Jacqueline Hirst (2005), Samkara's Advaita Vedanta: A Way of Teaching, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415406017, page 79

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Web-sources

  1. ↑ "Advaitasiddhi.org". Advaitasiddhi.org. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  2. ↑ advaita-deanta.org, Advaita Vedanta before Sankaracarya
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE BHAMATI AND VIVARANA SCHOOLS
  4. ↑ Sangeetha Menon (2007), Advaita Vedānta, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  5. 1 2 3 Advaita Vision, teachers
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sankara Acarya Biography – Monastic Tradition Archived 8 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Asram Vidya Order, Biographical Notes About Sankara And Gaudapada
  8. ↑ Shri Kavale Math
  9. ↑ "Adi Shankara's four Amnaya Peethams". Archived from the original on 26 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  10. ↑ Sanskrit Dictionary, Atman
  11. ↑ Ramana Maharshi. States of Consciousness.
  12. ↑ Sri Chinmoy. Summits of God-Life.
  13. 1 2 Advaita Academy, Experience versus knowledge – a brief look at samAdhi (Part 2 of 2) Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ Stanford Encyclopedia of Mysticism, Mysticism
  15. ↑ Richard King (1999), Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India, and 'The Mystic East.
  16. ↑ Anthony Peter Iannini (2001), Nāgārjuna's Emptiness and Pyrrho's Skepticism
  17. ↑ Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit, Utpāda
  18. ↑ Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit, Anutpāda
  19. ↑ Wikisource:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Jnana-Yoga/The Absolute and Manifestation
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Michael Hawley, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888—1975), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  21. ↑ Timothy Conway, Neo-Advaita or Pseudo-Advaita and Real Advaita-Nonduality
  22. ↑ What is Enlightenment? 1 September 2006
  23. ↑ What is Enlightenment? 31 December 2001
  24. ↑ What is Enlightenment? 1 December 2005
  25. ↑ Undivided Journal, About the Journal
  26. ↑ Jerry Katz on Nonduality, What is Nonduality?

Further reading

Primary texts
Introductions
Practice
History
Topical studies
Shankara
Sringeri Sharada Peetham
Neo-Advaita
Indian languages

External links

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