Hindu philosophical concepts
>From Wikipedia
Hinduism comprises a large array of religious and philosophical
movements primarily found in the Indian subcontinent. Most of it is
based on ideas that align with the Vedas and thus includes the six
orthodox schools of Indian philosophy, known as the astika schools,
or more generally as the six branches of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta,
Yoga, Bhakti, Tantra are major parts of Hinduism en generale. In
addition, many aspects of Vedic astrology, Ayurveda, Indian
classical music and Bharatanatyam (South Indian classical dance)
draw from Hindu philosophical concepts and/or systems.
Subcategories
There are 12 subcategories to this category shown below (more may be
shown on subsequent pages).
F
[+] Four Yugas
[+] Four goals of life
[+] Four phases of life
H
[+] Hindu denominations
H cont.
[+] Hindu symbols
M
[+] Mantras
S
[+] Samkhya
T
[+] Tantra
[+] Tantric chakras
T cont.
[+] Three kinds of karma
V
[+] Vedangas
[+] Vedanta
Pages in category "Hindu philosophical concepts"
There are 146 pages in this section of this category.
A
Abhyasa
Advaita Vedanta
Aham Brahma asmi
Ahamkara
Ahimsa
Ajivika
Akasha
Anahata
Ankil
Ap (water)
Apaurusheyatva
Arya
Ashram
Astika
Atheism in Hinduism
Atman (Hinduism)
Avatar
Avidya
Avidyamaya and Vidyamaya
Ayurveda
Ayurveda-Agni
B
Bandhu
Bhakti
Bhūta
Bija
Brahman
C
Carvaka
Causal body
Causal plane
Chakra
D
Darsana
Day of Brahma
Dharma
Dvaita
F
Five Graded Analogies of Bhakti
G
Gotra
Guna
H
Harihara
Hindu eschatology
Hindu idealism
Hindu philosophy
Hindu units of measurement
Hindu views on God and gender
Hindu views on monotheism
I
Incarnation
Ishta-deva
Ishvara
J
Jagra
J cont.
Japa
Jivanmukta
Jivdani Mata
Jnana
K
Kaharingan
Kalki
Karma
Karma in Hinduism
Kosas
Kshatriya dharma
L
Lila
Linga sarira
Lingam
Loka
M
Maharishi Vedic Science
Mahāvākyas
Mandala
Mantra
Maya (illusion)
Mayavada
Mimamsa
Moksha
Monasticism
Mudra
Muhurta
Mukti-yogyas
N
Negative theology
Nirvana
Nirvikalpa
Nondualism
Nyaya
O
Omnipresence
P
Para Tattva
Parameshthin
Parameshwara (God)
Paramita
Parampara
Petal (chakra)
Pralaya
Pramana
Prana
Problem of evil
Hindu answers to the problem of evil
Punya
Purvashrama
R
Rajas
Reincarnation
Rta
S
Sacred cow
S cont.
Sahasranama
Samadhi
Samkhya
Sampradaya
Samsara
Samskara
Sant Mat
Sattva
Shakti
Shaktipat
Shuddhashuddha tattvas
Siddhanta
Sloka meter
Swapna
T
Tamas (philosophy)
Tantra
Tapa (India)
Tapasvin
Tapasya
Tat Tvam Asi
Tat tvam asi: advaita interpretation
Tat tvam asi: vishishtadvaita interpretation
Tattva
Theopanism
Third eye
Tirtha and Kshetra
Tithi
Transmigration of the soul
Trimurti
Turiya
Tāpatraya
U
Upadana
Upadhi
Upasana
User:GourangaUK/sandbox
V
Vairagya
Vaisheshika
Vastu Shastra
Vedanga
Vedanta
Videha mukti
Vishishtadvaita
Sri Vaishnavism
Vital currents
W
Wheel of time
Y
Yoni
Yoni mudra
Yuga
Yuga Dharma
Categories: Hinduism | Religious philosophy and doctrine | Eastern
philosophy
KONSEP FILSAFAT HINDU
Abhyasa, in Hinduism, is spiritual practice which is regular and
constant practice over a long period of time. It has been prescribed
by the great sage Patanjali Maharishi in his Yoga Sutras, and by
Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as an essential means to control
the mind together with Vairagya.
!
Advaita Vedanta
Part of a series on
Hindu philosophy
Schools
Samkhya Nyaya
Vaisheshika Yoga
Purva Mimamsa Vedanta
Schools of Vedanta
Advaita Vishishtadvaita
Dvaita
Important figures
Kapila Gotama
Kanada Patañjali
Jaimini Vyasa
Medieval
Adi Shankara Ramanuja
Madhva Madhusudana
Vedanta Desika Jayatirtha
Modern
Ramakrishna Ramana
Vivekananda Narayana Guru
Aurobindo Sivananda
This box: view talk edit
Advaita Vedanta (IAST Advaita Vedānta; Devanagari
अद्वैत
वेदान्त; IPA
[ədvaitə vé:dα:ntə]) is a sub-school of the Vedānta
(literally, end
or the goal of the Vedas, Sanskrit) school of Hindu philosophy, the
other major sub-schools being Dvaita and Viśishṭādvaita.
Advaita
(literally, non-duality) is often called a monistic system of
thought. The word "Advaita" essentially refers to the identity of
the Self (Atman) and the Whole (Brahman[1]). The key source texts
for all schools of Vedānta are the Prasthanatrayi the canonical
texts consisting of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma
Sutras.
Adi Shankara, 788820 CE, was the first in the tradition of Advaita
Vedanta who consolidated the Advaita Vedanta siddhānta (system). He
wrote commentaries on the Prasthana Trayi. A famous quote from
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, one of his Prakaraṇa graṃthas
(philosophical
treatises) that succintly summarises his philosophy is:[2]
Brahma satyaṃ jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparah
Brahman is the
only truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no
difference between Brahman and individual self
This widely quoted sentence of his is also widely misunderstood. In
his metaphysics, there are three tiers of reality with each one
sublating the previous. The category Unreal in this system is unreal
only from the viewpoint of the absolutely real and is different from
the category of the Absolutely unreal. His system of vedanta,
besides being the most precisely developed of all the vedanta
systems, also introduced the method of scholarly exegesis on the
accepted metaphysics of the Upanishads and this style was adopted by
all the later vedanta schools. Another distinctive feature of his
work is his refusal to be literal about scriptural statements and
adoption of symbolic interpretation where appropriate. In a famous
passage in his commentary on the Brahmasutra's of Badarayana, he
says "..For each method of knowledge has a valid domain. The domain
of the scriptures is the knowledge of the Self. If the scriptures
say something about another domain - like the world around us -
which contradicts what perception and inference (the appropriate
methods of knowledge for this domain) tells us, then , the
scriptural statements have to be symbolically interpreted..."
Contents
[hide]
1 Adi Shankara
2 Prerequisites
o 2.1 The necessity of a Guru
o 2.2 Sādhana Chatuṣṭaya
3 Epistemology
o 3.1 Pramāṇas
4 Ontology
o 4.1 Kārya and kāraṇa
o 4.2 Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva
5 Salient features of Advaita Vedanta
o 5.1 Three levels of truth
o 5.2 Brahman
o 5.3 Māyā
 5.3.1 Status of the world
o 5.4 Īshvara
 5.4.1 Status of God
o 5.5 Ātman
o 5.6 Salvation
o 5.7 Theory of creation
o 5.8 Status of ethics
6 Advaita Vedanta in a summary
7 The impact of Advaita
8 Advaita and science
9 Mahavakya
10 List of texts
11 List of teachers
12 See also
13 External links
14 References
15 Notes
Adi Shankara
For more details on this topic, see Adi Shankara.
Adi Shankara (centre) with the Four Disciples; Sureshwaracharya,
Hastamalaka, Padmapada, and Totakacharya. Adi Shankara placed each
of the disciples in charge of a matha (a monastery or religious
order), one of which was located in each of the cardinal directions.
The first person to consolidate the principles of Advaita Vedanta
was Adi Shankara. Continuing the line of thought of some of the
Upanishadic teachers, and also that of his own teacher's teacher
Gaudapada, (Ajativada), Adi Shankara expounded the doctrine of
Advaita a nondualistic reality.
Adi Shankara's contributions to Advaita are crucial. His main works
are the commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi and the Gaudapadiya
Karikas. Another treatise said to be authored by him, is the
Upadesha Sahasri.
Adi Shankara is also well known for propounding bhakti (selfless
devotion) and composing several bhajans (devotional songs), which he
believed brought one closer to God. Some of his well-known bhajans
are Bhaja Govindam, Saundaryalahari and Śivānandalahari.
Prerequisites
The necessity of a Guru
Advaita vedānta requires anyone seeking to study advaita vedānta to
do so from a Guru (teacher). The Guru must have the following
qualities (see Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12):
1. Śrotriya must be learned in the Vedic scriptures and
sampradaya
2. Brahmaniṣṭha literally meaning established in Brahman;
must have realised the oneness of Brahman in everything and in
himself
The seeker must serve the Guru and submit questions with all
humility in order to remove all doubts (see Bhagavad Gita 4.34). By
doing so, advaita says, the seeker will attain moksha (liberation
from the cycle of births and deaths).
See also: ‎Guru-shishya tradition
Sādhana Chatuṣṭaya
Any mumukṣu (one seeking moksha) has to have the following four
sampattis (qualifications), collectively called Sādhana
Chatuṣṭaya
Sampatti (the four-fold qualifications):
1. Nityānitya vastu viveka The ability (viveka) to correctly
discriminate between the real (nitya) substance (Brahman) and the
substance that is unreal (anitya).
2. Ihāmutrārtha phala bhoga virāga The renunciation
(virāga)
of enjoyments of objects (artha phala bhoga) in this world (iha) and
the other worlds (amutra) like heaven etc.
3. Śamādi ṣatka sampatti the six-fold qualities of
śama
(control of the antahkaraṇa[3][4]), dama (the control of external
sense organs), uparati (the refraining from actions; instead
concentrating on meditation), titikṣa (the tolerating of tāpatraya),
śraddha (the faith in Guru and Vedas), samādhāna (the
concentrating
of the mind on God and Guru).
4. Mumukṣutva The firm conviction that the nature of the
world is misery and the intense longing for moksha (release from the
cycle of births and deaths).
It has to be noted that advaita vedānta categorically states that
moksha is available only to those possessing the above mentioned
four-fold qualifications. Thus any seeker wishing to study advaita
vedānta from a teacher must possess these.
Epistemology
Pramāṇas
Pramā, in Sanskrit, refers to the correct knowledge, arrived at by
thorough reasoning, of any object. Pramāṇa (sources of knowledge,
Sanskrit) forms one part of a tripuṭi (trio), namely,
1. Pramātṛ, the subject; the knower of the knowledge
2. Pramāṇa, the cause or the means of the knowledge
3. Prameya, the object of knowledge
In Advaita Vedānta, the following pramāṇas are accepted:
Pratyakṣa the knowledge gained by means of the senses
Anumāna the knowledge gained by means of inference
Upamāna the knowledge gained by means of analogy
Arthāpatti the knowledge gained by superimposing the known
knowledge on an appearing knowledge that does not concur with the
known knowledge
Āgama the knowledge gained by means of texts such as Vedas
(also known as Āptavākya, Śabda pramāṇa)
Ontology
Kārya and kāraṇa
The kārya (effect) and kāraṇa (cause) form an important area
for
investigation in all the systems of Vedanta. Two kāraṇatvas (ways of
being the cause) are recognised:
1. Nimitta kāraṇatva Being the effective cause. For example,
a potter is assigned Nimitta kāraṇatva as he acts as the maker of
the pot and thus becomes the pot's effective cause.
2. Upādāna kāraṇatva Being the material cause. For
example,
the mud is assigned Upādāna kāraṇatva as it acts as the
material of
the effect (the pot) and thus becomes the pot's material cause.
Advaita assigns Nimitta kāraṇatva to Brahman vide the statements
from the Vedas (only two are given below):
Sarvāṇi rūpāṇi vicitya dhīraḥ.
Nāmāni kṛtvābhivadan yadāste That
Lord has created all the forms and is calling them by their names
(Taitiiriya Aranyaka 3.12.7)
Sa īkṣata lokānnu sṛjā iti He thought, "Let Me
create the worlds"
(Aitareya Upanishad[5] 1.1.1)
Advaita also assigns Upādāna kāraṇatva to Brahman vide the
statements from the Vedas (only two are given below):
Yathā somyaikena mṛtpinḍena sarvaṃ mṛnmayaṃ
vijñātaṃ
syādvācāraṃbhaṇaṃ vikāro
nāmadheyaṃ mṛttiketyeva satyaṃ Dear boy,
just as through a single clod of clay all that is made of clay would
become known, for all modifications is but name based upon words and
the clay alone is real (Chandogya Upanishad[6] 6.1.4)
Sokāmayata bahu syāṃ prajāyeti (He thought) Let me be
many, let me
be born (Taittiriya Upanishad[7] 2.6.4)
The Chandogya Upanishad[6] 6.2.1 states
Ekamevādvitīyaṃ It is One without a second
Thus based on these and other statements found in the Vedas, Advaita
concludes that Brahman is both the Efficient cause as well as the
Material cause.
Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva
Advaita states that kārya (effect) is non-different from kāraṇa
(cause). However kāraṇa is different from kārya. This principle
is
called Kārya-kāraṇa ananyatva (the non-difference of the effect
from
the cause). To elaborate,
If the cause is destroyed, the effect will no longer exist.
For example, if from the effect, cotton cloth, the cause, threads,
are removed, there will be no cloth, i.e., the cloth is destroyed.
Similarly if in the effect, thread, the cause, cotton, is removed,
there will be no thread, i.e., the thread is destroyed. This is
brought out by Adi Shankara in the Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya ,
commentary
on the Brahma sutra[8], 2.1.9, as:
Ananyatve'pi kāryakāraṇayoḥ kāryasya
kāraṇātmatvaṃ na tu kāraṇasya
kāryātmatvaṃ Despite the non-difference of cause and effect,
the
effect has its self in the cause but not the cause in the effect.
The effect is of the nature of the cause and not the cause the
nature of the effect. Therefore the qualities of the effect cannot
touch the cause.
During the time of its existence, one can easily grasp that
the effect is not different from the cause. However that the cause
is different from the effect is not readily understood. As to this,
it is not really possible to separate cause from effect. But this is
possible by imagining so. For example, the reflection of the gold
ornament seen in the mirror is only the form of the ornament but is
not the ornament itself as it (the reflection) has no gold in it at
all. Adi Shankara says in the Chāṃdogya Upaniṣad
Bhāṣya, commentary
on the Chandogya Upanishad, 6.3.2:
Sarvaṃ ca nāmarūpādi sadātmanaiva satyaṃ
vikārajātaṃ svatastu
anṛtameva All names and forms are real when seen with the Sat
(Brahman) but are false when seen independent of Brahman.
This way Advaita establishes the non-difference of effect from
cause. To put it in a nutshell,
Kārya is not different from kāraṇa; however kāraṇa
is different from
kārya
In the context of Advaita Vedanta,
Jagat (the world) is not different from Brahman; however Brahman is
different from Jagat
Salient features of Advaita Vedanta
Three levels of truth
The transcendental or the Pāramārthika level in which
Brahman is the only reality and nothing else;
The pragmatic or the Vyāvahārika level in which both Jiva
(living creatures or individual souls) and Ishvara are true; here,
the material world is completely true, and,
The apparent or the Prātibhāsika level in which even
material world reality is actually false, like illusion of a snake
over a rope or a dream.
Brahman
According to Adi Shankara, God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman
(pronounced as /brəh mən/; nominative singular Brahma, pronounced
as /brəh mə/) is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than
Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects
and individuals are false. Brahman is at best described as that
infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, impersonal,
transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being. It
(grammatically neutral, but exceptionally treated as masculine),
though not a substance, is the basis of the material world, which in
turn is its illusionary transformation. Brahman is not the effect of
the world. Brahman is said to be the purest knowledge itself, and is
illuminant like a source of infinite light.
Due to ignorance (avidyā), the Brahman is visible as the material
world and its objects. The actual Brahman is attributeless and
formless (see Nirguna Brahman). It is the Self-existent, the
Absolute and the Imperishable (not generally the object of worship
but rather of meditation). Brahman is actually indescribable. It is
at best, "Sacchidananda" (merging "Sat" + "Chit" + "Ananda", ie,
Infinite Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss). Also,
Brahman is free from any kind of differences. It does not have any
sajātīya (homogeneous) differences because there is no second
Brahman. It does not have any vijātīya (heterogeneous) differences
because there is nobody in reality existing other than Brahman. It
has neither svagata (internal) differences, because Brahman is
itself homogeneous.
Though Brahman is self-proved, Adi Shankara also proposed some
logical proofs:
Shruti the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma
Sutras describe Brahman in almost exact manner as Adi Shankara. This
is the testimonial proof of Brahman.
Psychological every person experiences his soul, or atman.
According to Adi Shankara, Atman = Brahman. This argument also
proves the omniscience of the Brahman.
Teleological the world appears very well ordered; the
reason for this cannot be an unconscious principle. The reason must
be due to the Brahman.
Essential Brahman is the basis of this created world.
Perceptible feeling many people, when they achieve the
turīya state, claim that their soul has become one with everything
else.
Māyā
Māyā (/mα: yα:/) is the most important contribution of Adi
Shankara.
Māyā is that complex illusionary power of Brahman which causes the
Brahman to be seen as the distinct material world. It has two main
functions one is to "cover up" Brahman from the human minds, and
the other is to present the material world in its stead. Māyā is
also indescribable. It is neither completely real nor completely
unrealhence indescribable. Its shelter is Brahman, but Brahman
itself is untouched by the profanity of Māyā, just like a magician
is not tricked by his own magic. Māyā is temporary and is destroyed
with "true knowledge". This Māyāvāda of Adi Shankara was highly
criticized and misunderstood. Bhaskaracharya described Adi Shankara
to be indebted to the Buddhists for his concept of Māyā. The term
Maya however appears in the Bhagavad Gita 7.14 and many Upanishads.
The concept of Māyā seems to be a hypothesis. Since according to the
Upanishads only Brahman is real, but we see the material world to be
real, Adi Shankara explained the anomaly by the concept of this
illusionary power Māyā.
Status of the world
Advaita teachings that the universe is false often confuse people.
Adi Shankara says that the world is not true, it is an illusion, but
this is because of some logical reasons. Let us first analyse Adi
Shankara's definition of Truth, and hence why the world is not
considered true.
Adi Shankara says that whatever thing remains eternal is
true, and whatever is non-eternal is untrue. Since the world is
created and destroyed, it is not true.
Truth is the thing which is unchanging. Since the world is
changing, it is not true.
Whatever is independent of space and time is true, and
whatever has space and time in itself is untrue.
Just as one sees dreams in sleep, he sees a kind of super-
dream when he is waking. The world is compared to this conscious
dream.
The world is believed to be a superimposition of the
Brahman. Superimposition cannot be true.
On the other hand, Adi Shankara claims that the world is not
absolutely false. It appears false only when compared to Brahman. In
the pragmatic state, the world is completely truewhich occurs as
long as we are under the influence of Maya. The world cannot be both
true and false at the same time; hence Adi Shankara has classified
the world as indescribable. The following points suggest that
according to Adi Shankara, the world is not false (Adi Shankara
himself gave most of the arguments [citation needed]):
If the world were false, then with the liberation of the
first human being, the world would have been annihilated. However,
the world continues to exist even if a human attains liberation.
Adi Shankara believes in Karma, or good actions. This is a
feature of this world. So the world cannot be false.
The Supreme Reality Brahman is the basis of this world. The
world is like its reflection. Hence the world cannot be totally
false.
False is something which is ascribed to nonexistent things,
like Sky-lotus. The world is a logical thing which is perceived by
our senses.
Consider a scientific logic. A pen is placed in front of a mirror.
One can see its reflection. To our eyes, the image of the pen is
perceived. Now, what should the image be called? It cannot be true,
because it is an image. The truth is the pen. It cannot be false,
because it is seen by our eyes.
Īshvara
Īshvara (pronounced as /ī:sh vərə/, literally, the Supreme
Lord)
when man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind,
under the influence of Maya, Brahman becomes the Lord. Ishvara is
Brahman with Maya the manifested form of Brahman. Adi Shankara
uses a metaphor that when the "reflection" of the Cosmic Spirit
falls upon the mirror of Maya, it appears as the Supreme Lord. The
Supreme Lord is true only in the pragmatic level his actual form
in the transcendental level is the Cosmic Spirit.
Ishvara is Saguna Brahman or Brahman with innumerable auspicious
qualities. He is all-perfect, omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal,
independent, Creator of the world, its ruler and also destroyer. He
is causeless, eternal and unchangeable and is yet the material and
the efficient cause of the world. He is both immanent (like
whiteness in milk) and transcendent (like a watch-maker independent
of a watch). He may be even regarded to have a personality. He is
the subject of worship. He is the basis of morality and giver of the
fruits of one's Karma. However, he himself is beyond sin and merit.
He rules the world with his Maya his divine power. This
association with a "false" knowledge does not affect the perfection
of Ishvara, in the same way as a magician is himself not tricked by
his magic. However, while Isvara is the Lord of Maya and she (ie,
Maya) is always under his control, the living beings (jīva, in the
sense of humans) are the servants of Maya (in the form of
ignorance). This ignorance is the cause of the unhappiness and sin
in the mortal world. While Ishvara is Infinite Bliss, humans are
miserable. Ishvara always knows the unity of the Brahman substance,
and the Mayic nature of the world. There is no place for a Satan or
devil in Hinduism, unlike Abrahamic religions. Advaitins explain the
misery because of ignorance. Ishvara can also be visualized and
worshipped in anthropomorphic form as deities such as Vishnu,
Krishna or Shiva.
Now the question arises as to why the Supreme Lord created the
world. If one assumes that Ishvara creates the world for any
incentive, this slanders the wholeness and perfection of Ishvara.
For example, if one assumes that Ishvara creates the world for
gaining something, it would be against his perfection. If we assume
that He creates for compassion, it would be illogical, because the
emotion of compassion cannot arise in a blank and void world in the
beginning (when only Ishvara existed). So Adi Shankara assumes that
Creation is a sport of Ishvara. It is His nature, just as it is
man's nature to breathe.
The sole proof for Ishvara that Adi Shankara gives is Shruti's
mentions of Ishvara, as Ishvara is beyond logic and thinking. This
is similar to Kant 's philosophy about Ishvara in which he says
that "faith" is the basis of theism. However, Adi Shankara has also
given few other logical proofs for Ishvara, but warning us not to
completely rely on them:
The world is a work, an effect, and so must have real cause.
This cause must be Ishvara.
The world has a wonderful unity, coordination and order, so
its creator must have been an intelligent being.
People do good and sinful work and get its fruits, either in
this life or after. People themselves cannot be the giver of their
fruits, as no one would give himself the fruit of his sin. Also,
this giver cannot be an unconscious object. So the giver of the
fruits of Karma is Ishvara.
Status of God
Some people claim that in Adi Shankara's philosophy, there is no
place for a personal God (Ishvara), because Ishvara is also
described as "false". He appears as Ishvara because of the curtain
of Maya. However, as described earlier, just as the world is true in
the pragmatic level, similarly, Ishvara is also pragmatically true.
Just as the world is not absolutely false, Ishvara is also not
absolutely false. He is the distributor of the fruits of one's
Karma. In order to make the pragmatic life successful, it is very
important to believe in God and worship him. In the pragmatic level,
whenever we talk about Brahman, we are in fact talking about God.
God is the highest knowledge theoretically possible in that level.
Devotion (Bhakti) will cancel the effects of bad Karma and will make
a person closer to the true knowledge by purifying his mind. Slowly,
the difference between the worshipper and the worshipped decreases
and upon true knowledge, liberation occurs.
Ātman
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 water but its feathers are not soiled by water,
similarly a liberated Advaitin lives in this world full of maya but
is untouched by its illusion.
The soul or the self (Atman) is exactly equal to Brahman. It is not
a part of Brahman that ultimately dissolves into Brahman, but the
whole Brahman itself. Now the arguers ask that how can the
individual soul, which is limited and one in each body, be the same
as Brahman? Adi Shankara explains that the soul is not an individual
concept. Atman is only one and unique. It is a false concept that
there are several Atmans. Adi Shankara says that just as the same
moon appears as several moons on its reflections on the surface of
water covered with bubbles, the one Atman appears as multiple atmans
in our bodies because of Maya. Atman is self-proven, however, some
proofs are discussedeg., a person says "I am blind", "I am
happy", "I am fat" etc. So what is this ego here? Only that thing is
the ego which is there in all the states of that person this
proves the existence of Atman, and that consciousness is its
characteristic. Reality and Bliss are also its characteristics. By
nature, Atman is free and beyond sin and merit. It does not
experience happiness or pain. It does not do any Karma. It is
incorporeal.
When the reflection of atman falls on Avidya (ignorance), atman
becomes jīva a living being with a body and senses. Each jiva
feels as if he has his own, unique and distinct Atman, called
jivatman. The concept of jiva is true only in the pragmatic level.
In the transcendental level, only the one Atman, equal to Brahman,
is true.
Adi Shankara exposed the relative nature of the world and
established the truth of the Advaita by analysing the three states
of experience of the atman waking (vaishvanara), dreaming
(swapna), and deep sleep (sushupti). This idea of a fourth state of
consciousness (turīya) apart from these three states is presented in
the Mandukya Upanishad.
Salvation
Liberation or Moksha (akin to Nirvana of the Buddhists) Advaitins
also believe in the theory of reincarnation of souls (Atman) into
plants, animals and humans according to their karma. They believe
that suffering is due to Maya, and only knowledge (called Jnana) of
Brahman can destroy Maya. When Maya is removed, there exists
ultimately no difference between the Jiva-Atman and the Brahman.
Such a state of bliss when achieved while living is called Jivan
mukti. While one is in the pragmatic level, one can worship God in
any way and in any form, like Krishna as he wishes, Adi Shankara
himself was a proponent of devotional worship or Bhakti. But Adi
Shankara believes that while Vedic sacrifices, puja and devotional
worship can lead one in the direction of jnana, true knowledge, they
cannot lead one directly to Moksha.
Theory of creation
In the pragmatic level, Adi Shankara believes in the Creation of the
world through Satkaryavada. It is like the philosophy of Samkhya,
which says that the cause is always hidden into its effectand the
effect is just a transformation of the cause. However, Samkhya
believes in a sub-form of Satkaryavada called Parinamvada
(evolution)whereby the cause results in an action. Instead, Adi
Shankara believes in a sub-form called Vivartavada. According to
this, the effect is merely a superimposition of its causelike its
illusion. eg., In darkness, a man often confuses a rope to be a
snake. But this does not mean that the rope has actually transformed
into a snake.
At the pragmatic level, the universe is believed to be the creation
of the Supreme Lord Ishvara. Maya is the divine magic of Ishvara,
with the help of which Ishvara creates the world. The serial of
Creation is taken from the Upanishads. First of all, the five subtle
elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth) are created from
Ishvara. Ether is created by Maya. From ether, air is born. From
air, fire is born. From fire, water is born. From water, earth is
born. From a proportional combination of all five subtle elements,
the five gross elements are created, like the gross sky, the gross
fire, etc. From these gross elements, the universe and life are
created. This series is exactly the opposite during destruction.
Some people have criticized that these principles are against
Satkaryavada. According to Satkaryavada, the cause is hidden inside
the effect. How can Ishvara, whose form is spiritual, be the effect
of this material world? Adi Shankara says that just as from a
conscious living human, inanimate objects like hair and nails are
formed, similarly, the inanimate world is formed from the spiritual
Ishvara.
Status of ethics
Some claim that there is no place for ethics in Advaita, because
everything is ultimately illusionary. But on analysis, ethics also
has a firm place in this philosophythe same place as the world and
God. Ethics, which implies doing good Karma, indirectly helps in
attaining true knowledge. The basis of merit and sin is the Shruti
(the Vedas and the Upanishads). Truth, non-violence, service of
others, pity, etc are Dharma, and lies, violence, cheating,
selfishness, greed, etc are adharma (sin).
Advaita Vedanta in a summary
Adi Shankara's treatises on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and
the Brahma Sutras are his principal and almost undeniably his own
works. Although he mostly adhered to traditional means of commenting
on the Brahma Sutra, there are a number of original ideas and
arguments. He taught that it was only through direct knowledge of
nonduality that one could be enlightened.
Adi Shankara's opponents accused him of teaching Buddhism in the
garb of Hinduism, because his non-dualistic ideals were a bit
radical to contemporary Hindu philosophy. However, it may be noted
that while the Later Buddhists arrived at a changeless, deathless,
absolute truth after their insightful understanding of the unreality
of samsara, historically Vedantins never liked this idea. Although
Advaita also proposes the theory of Maya, explaining the universe as
a "trick of a magician", Adi Shankara and his followers see this as
a consequence of their basic premise that Brahman is real. Their
idea of Maya emerges from their belief in the reality of Brahman,
rather than the other way around.
Adi Shankara was a peripatetic orthodox Hindu monk who traveled the
length and breadth of India. The more enthusiastic followers of the
Advaita tradition claim that he was chiefly responsible for "driving
the Buddhists away". Historically the decline of Buddhism in India
is known to have taken place long after Adi Shankara or even
Kumarila Bhatta (who according to a legend had "driven the Buddhists
away" by defeating them in debates), sometime before the Muslim
invasion into Afghanistan (earlier Gandhara).
Although today's followers of Advaita believe Adi Shankara argued
against Buddhists in person, a historical source, the Madhaviya
Shankara Vijayam, indicates that Adi Shankara sought debates with
Mimamsa, Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika and Yoga scholars as keenly as
with any Buddhists. In fact his arguments against the Buddhists are
quite mild in the Upanishad Bhashyas, while they border on the
acrimonious in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya.
The Vishistadvaita and Dvaita schools believe in an ultimately
saguna Brahman. They differ passionately with Advaita, and believe
that his nirguna Brahman is not different from the Buddhist Sunyata
(wholeness or zeroness) much to the dismay of the Advaita school.
A careful study of the Buddhist Sunyata will show that it is in some
ways metaphysically similar as Brahman. Whether Adi Shankara agrees
with the Buddhists is not very clear from his commentaries on the
Upanishads. His arguments against Buddhism in the Brahma Sutra
Bhashyas are more a representation of Vedantic traditional debate
with Buddhists than a true representation of his own individual
belief.[9]
The impact of Advaita
Ever since Shankara, Advaita Vedanta has so thoroughly dominated the
philosophical and spiritual circles in India that the word "Vedanta"
has become synonymous with Advaita Vedanta. Each of the later 4
Vedanta schools are successively more theistic along the lines of an
anthropomorphic god. Advaita rejuvenated much of Hindu thought and
also spurred on debate that led to the expounding of Vishishtadvaita
(qualified nondualism) and Dvaita (dualism). Advaita is definitely a
very influential philosophy of India.
Advaita and science
According to some followers of Advaita, it may very well be a place
where the scientific world intersects with the spiritual world. They
point to the relationships between mass, frequency, and energy that
20th century physics has established and the Advaitic 'Unity of the
Universe' as the common ground. They feel that these relationships,
formalized as equations by Planck and Einstein, suggest that the
whole mesh of the Universe blend into a One that exhibits itself as
many (namely, mass, energy, wave etc), and that this follows
Advaita's view that everything is but the manifestation of an
omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent "One". It must be remembered
however, that none of these physicists have talked of
an 'omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent "One"'.
They also connect the De Broglie waves of modern physics to Aum in
Hindu philosophy. However, scientists in India and abroad clarify
that the de Broglie waves (or matter waves) are neither optical nor
acoustic waves, but are "just functions of a probability
distribution of finding a particle, which may be represented as a
Fourier sum of constituent probability waves."
However, notable scientists like Erwin Schrödinger and Robert
Oppenheimer were also Vedantists. Fritjof Capra's book, The Tao of
Physics, is one among several that pursue this viewpoint as it
investigates the relationship between modern, particularly quantum
physics and the core philosophies of various Eastern religions,
including Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism.
It must be noted that Advaita does not share the same ground on
science as other schools of philosophy do. For example, Adi Shankara
rejected the idea of momentariness of the universe in his Brahma
Sutra commentary since Brahman is immanent in the Universe, while
Buddhists affirm that the universe on its own accord, due to the
causality of the dharmas, is constantly changing. The Dvaita-
enthusiasts on the contrary, blame Adi Shankara for inconsistency,
since he adopts the view that the Universe is momentary in many of
his other works like the Upanishad Bhashya. Dvaita-enthusiasts see
the Universe as a creation of God, while Advaitins see it as a
manifestation of Brahman; Buddhists on the other hand see it as a
flux of changes, originating from natural phenomena leading to its
formation.
Mahavakya
Mahavakya, or "the great sentences", state the unity of Brahman and
Atman. They are four in number and their variations are found in
other Upanishads.
Sr. No. Vakya Meaning Upanishad Veda
1 प्रज्नानम
ब्रह्म (Prajñānam brahma) Brahman
is pure consciousness
aitareya Rig Veda
2. अहम
ब्रह्मास्मि
(Aham brahmāsmi) I am Brahman
brihadāranyaka Yajur Veda
3.
तत्त्त्वमसि
(Tattvamasi) That thou art chhandogya Sama
Veda
4. अयमात्मा
ब्रह्म (Ayamātmā brahmā)
This Atman is Brahman
mandukya Atharva Veda
Aham Brahma asmi
>From Wikipedia
Aham Brahma asmi or "I am the Brahman" is one of the corner piller
of the hindu Philosophy.
A crude translation would be "I am the world" (or I am the creator
of the world"), As there is no world (My world) with out me, I am
the one who creates my world, the good the bd, the relations in it,
the happiness in it the sorrow in it, so I am the god of my world.
Max Muller makes it more explicit when he says: If people conceive
God as a kind of Jupiter, or even as a Jehovah, then the idea can
only be considered blasphemous
But after the Deity had been freed
from its mythological character, the human mind, whether in India or
elsewhere, had once realised the fact, that God was all in all, that
there could be nothing besides God, that there could be one Infinite
only, not two, the conclusion that the human soul also belonged to
God was inevitable. "Brahman" is finally posited as the uncaused
cause, both formal and material. The enquiry seems to be more
logical than empirical. "Brahman" needs to be defined, illustrated,
made comprehensible. We have a number of metaphors to explain the
nature of Brahman in relation to human experience, as the source of
being, as the sustenance of becoming.Since it is the logical limit
of human thought, explaining the nature of this Entity generates
contradictions. It is formless yet sustains forms, it is without
attribute and yet it generates all attributes of all the things and
objects. It is the knower and the known. All such definitions point
up to the fact that the ultimate reality partakes of all the
attributes and yet remains unqualified. The concept of Brahman is
not derived from any empirical investigation of the grounds of
existence, rather the quest is conducted according to the principles
of logic.Causality as a form has been common to all logical
undertakings whether the philosopher seeks to explain the nature of
the world, the structure of the universe or the functions of
existence. The principle of causality remains the main plank and
conceptual basis for all scientific investigations. Similarly,
science in search of the ultimate form of matter has arrived at the
equivalence of mass and energy which in more vitalistic language can
be represented as matter and life. Upanishadic concept of Brahman is
the limit of Being and becoming, the process of genesis that
supplied its own material. In a sense the seers had to begin their
teaching with their first discourse on the origin of the world and
the origin of life. They had little knowledge about the topography
of the visible universe.
(to be continued)
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:
1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi
4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
