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(Sanskrit: Nondualism, or
Monism), most influential of the schools of
Vedanta, an orthodox philosophy of India. While its
followers find its main tenets already fully expressed in
the Upanisads and systematized by the Vedanta-sutras, it
has its historical beginning with the 7th-century thinker
Gaudapada, author of the Ma n d ukya-karika, a commentary
in verse form on the late Ma n d ukya Upanisad.
Gaudapada builds further on the Mahayana Buddhist
philosophy of S unyava-da (Emptiness). He
argues that there is no duality; the mind, awake or
dreaming, moves through maya (illusion); and
only nonduality (advaita) is the final truth. This truth
is concealed by the ignorance of illusion. There is no
becoming, either of a thing by itself or of a thing out
of some other thing. There is ultimately no individual
self or soul (jiva), only the atman (all-soul), in which individuals
may be temporarily delineated just as the space in a jar
delineates a part of main space: when the jar is broken,
the individual space becomes once more part of the main
space.
The medieval Indian philosopher Sankara, or Sankaracarya (Master
Sankara, c. 700750), builds further on Gaudapada's
foundation, principally in his commentary on the
Vedanta-sutras, the S ari-raka-mima msa-bha sya
(Commentary on the Study of the Self ).
Sankara in his philosophy does not start from the
empirical world with logical analysis but, rather,
directly from the absolute (Brahman). If interpreted
correctly, he argues, the Upanisads teach the nature of
Brahman. In making this argument, he develops a complete
epistemology to account for the human error in taking the
phenomenal world for real. Fundamental for Sankara is the
tenet that the Brahman is real and the world is unreal.
Any change, duality, or plurality is an illusion. The
self is nothing but Brahman. Insight into this identity
results in spiritual release. Brahman is outside time,
space, and causality, which are simply forms of empirical
experience. No distinction in Brahman or from Brahman is
possible.
Sankara points to scriptural texts, either stating
identity (Thou art that) or denying
difference (There is no duality here), as
declaring the true meaning of a Brahman without qualities
( nirguna ). Other texts
that ascribe qualities (saguna) to Brahman refer not to
the true nature of Brahman but to its personality as God
(I svara).
Human perception of the unitary and infinite Brahman as
the plural and infinite is due to human beings' innate
habit of superimposition (adhya sa), by which a thou is
ascribed to the I (I am tired; I am happy; I am
perceiving). The habit stems from human ignorance
(ajñana, avidya ), which can be avoided only by the
realization of the identity of Brahman. Nevertheless, the
empirical world is not totally unreal, for it is a
misapprehension of the real Brahman. A rope is mistaken
for a snake; there is only a rope and no snake, but, as
long as it is thought of as a snake, it is one.
Sankara had many followers who continued and elaborated
his work, notably the 9th-century philosopher Vacaspati
Misra. The Advaita literature is extremely extensive, and
its influence is still felt in modern Hindu thought.
"Advaita"
Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=3854&tocid=0&query=advaita[Accessed
[December 30, 2001].
Sanskrit Atman,
one of the most basic concepts in Hindu philosophy,
describing that eternal core of the personality that
survives after death and that transmigrates to a new life
or is released from the bonds of existence. While in the
early Vedic texts it occurred mostly as a reflexive
pronoun (oneself), in the later Upanishads it comes more
and more to the fore as a philosophic topic: atman is
that which makes the other organs and faculties function
and for which indeed they function; atman underlies all
the activities of a person, as Brahman (the absolute)
underlies the workings of the universe; to know it brings
bliss; it is part of the universal Brahman, with which it
can commune or even fuse. So fundamental was the atman
deemed to be that certain circles identified it with
Brahman. Of the various systems (darshans) of Hindu
philosophy, the schools of Samkhya and Yoga (which use
the term purusha to convey the idea of atman) and the
orthodox school of Vedanta particularly concern
themselves with the atman, though the interpretation
varies in accordance with each system's general
worldviews.
"atman"
Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?idxref=167686
[Accessed December 30, 2001].
Sankara
born
700? , Kaladi village?, India
died 750? , Kedarnath
also spelled Shankara , also called Sankaracarya
philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the
Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose
doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are
derived. He wrote commentaries on the Brahma-sutra and
the principal Upanisads, affirming his belief in one
eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of
plurality and differentiation.
There are at least 11 works that profess to be
biographies of Sankara. All of them were composed several
centuries later than the time of Sankara and are filled
with legendary stories and incredible anecdotes, some of
which are mutually conflicting. Today there are no
materials with which to reconstruct his life with
certainty. His date of birth is naturally a controversial
problem. It has been customary to assign him the birth
and death dates 788820. But the dates 700750,
grounded in 20th-century scholarship, are more
acceptable.
According to one tradition, Sankara was born into a pious
Nambudiri Brahman family in a quiet village called Kaladi
on the Curn a (or Purn a, Periyar) River, Kerala,
southern India. He is said to have lost his father,
Sivaguru, early in his life. He renounced the world and
became a sannyasin (ascetic) against his mother's will.
He studied under Govinda, who was a pupil of Gaudapada.
Nothing certain is known about Govinda, but Gaudapada is
notable as the author of an important Vedanta work, Ma n
d ukya-karika, in which the influence of Mahayana
Buddhisma form of Buddhism aiming at the salvation
of all beings and tending toward nondualistic or monistic
thoughtis evident and even extreme, especially in
its last chapter.
A tradition says that Siva, one of the principal gods in
Hinduism, was Sankara's family deity and that he was, by
birth, a S akta, or worshipper of Sakti, the consort of
Siva and female personification of divine energy. Later
he came to be regarded as a worshipper of Siva or even an
incarnation of Siva himself. His doctrine, however, is
far removed from Saivism and S aktism. It is ascertained
from his works that he had some faith in, or was
favourable to, Vais navism, the worship of the god
Vishnu. It is highly possible that he was familiar with
Yoga (one of the classical systems of Indian philosophy,
as well as
a technique to achieve salvation). One study has
suggested that in the beginning he was an adherent of
Yoga and later became an Advaitin (Nondualist).
Biographers narrate that Sankara first went to Ka s i
(Varanasi), a city celebrated for learning and
spirituality, and then travelled all over India, holding
discussions with philosophers of different creeds. His
heated debate with Man dana Misra, a philosopher of the
Mima msa (Investigation) school, whose wife served as an
umpire, is perhaps the most interesting episode in his
biography and may reflect a historical fact; that is,
keen conflict between Sankara, who regarded the knowledge
of Brahman as the only means to final release, and
followers of the Mima msa school, which emphasized the
performance of ordained duty and the Vedic rituals.
Sankara was active in a politically chaotic age. He would
not teach his doctrine to city dwellers. The power of
Buddhism was still strong in the cities, though already
declining, and Jainism, a nontheistic ascetic faith,
prevailed among the merchants and manufacturers. Popular
Hinduism occupied the minds of ordinary people, while
city dwellers pursued ease and pleasure. There were also
epicureans in cities. It was
difficult for Sankara to communicate Vedanta philosophy
to these people. Consequently, Sankara propagated his
teachings chiefly to sannyasins and intellectuals in the
villages, and he gradually won the respect of Brahmans
and feudal lords. He enthusiastically endeavoured to
restore the orthodox Brahmanical tradition without paying
attention to the bhakti (devotional) movement, which had
made a deep impression on ordinary Hindus in his age.
It is very likely that Sankara had many pupils, but only
four are known (from their writings): Padmapada,
Suresvara, Totaka (or Trotaka), and Hastamalaka. Sankara
is said to have founded four monasteries, at S r ngeri
(south), Puri (east), Dvaraka (west), and Badarinatha
(north), probably following the Buddhist monastery
(vihara) system. Their foundation was one of the most
significant factors in the development of his teachings
into the leading philosophy of India.
More than 300 workscommentative, expository, and
poeticalwritten in the Sanskrit language, are
attributed to him. Most of them, however, cannot be
regarded as authentic. His masterpiece is the
Brahma-sutra-bha sya, the commentary on the Brahma-sutra,
which is a fundamental text of the Vedanta school. The
commentaries on the principal Upanisads that are
attributed to Sankara are certainly all genuine, with the
possible exception of the commentary on the Sveta svatara
Upa ni sad. The commentary on the Ma n d ukya-karika was
also composed by Sankara himself. It is very probable
that he is the author of the Yoga-sutra-bha sya-vivarana,
the exposition of Vyasa's commentary on the Yoga-sutra, a
fundamental text of the Yoga school. The Upadesasahasri,
which is a good introduction to Sankara's philosophy, is
the only non-commentative work that is certainly
authentic.
Sankara's style of writing is lucid and profound.
Penetrating insight and analytical skill characterize his
works. His approach to truth is psychological and
religious rather than logical; for that reason, he is
perhaps best considered to be a prominent religious
teacher rather than a philosopher in the 20th-century
sense. His works reveal that he was not only versed in
the orthodox Brahmanical traditions but also was well
acquainted with Mahayana Buddhism. He is often criticized
as a Buddhist in disguise by his opponents
because of the similarity between his doctrine and
Buddhism. Despite this criticism, it should be noted that
he made full use of his knowledge of Buddhism to attack
Buddhist doctrines severely or to transmute them into his
own Vedantic
nondualism, and he tried with great effort to
vedanticize the Vedanta philosophy, which had
been made extremely Buddhistic by his predecessors. The
basic structure of his philosophy is more akin to Sa
nkya, a philosophic system of nontheistic dualism, and
the Yoga school than to Buddhism. It is said that Sankara
died at Kedarnatha in the Himalayas. The Advaita Vedanta
school founded by him has always been preeminent in the
learned circles of India.
"Sankara"
Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=67216&tocid=0
[Accessed December 30, 2001].
Sanskrit
Brahman, in the Upanishads (Indian sacred
writings), the supreme existence or absolute, the font of
all things. The etymology of the Sanskrit is uncertain.
Though a variety of views are expressed in the
Upanishads, they concur in the definition of brahma as
eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent,
spiritual source of the universe of finiteness and
change. Marked differences in interpretation of brahma
characterize the various subschools of Vedanta, the
orthodox system of Hindu philosophy based on the writings
of the Upanishads.
According to the Advaita (Nondualist) school of Vedanta,
brahma is categorically different from anything
phenomenal, and human perceptions of differentiation are
illusively projected on this reality. The Bhedabheda
(DualistNondualist) school maintains that brahma is
nondifferent from the world, which is its product, but
different in that phenomenality imposes certain
adventitious conditions (upadhis) on brahma. The Visis t
advaita (Nonduality of the Qualified) school maintains
that a relation between brahma and the world of soul and
matter exists that is comparable to the relation between
soul and body and that phenomenality is a glorious
manifestation of brahma; the school identifies brahma
with a personal god, Brahma, who is both transcendent and
immanent. The Dvaita (Dualist) school refuses to accept
the identity of brahma and world, maintaining the
ontological separateness of the supreme, which it also
identifies with a personal god.
In early Hindu mythology, brahma is personified as the
creator god Brahma and placed in a triad of divine
functions: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and
Siva the destroyer.
"brahma"
Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?idxref=167689
[Accessed December 30, 2001].
Nirguna: (Sanskrit:
distinctionless), concept of primary
importance in the orthodox Hindu philosophy of Vedanta,
raising the question of whether the supreme being,
Brahman, is to be characterized as without qualities
(nirguna) or as possessing qualities (saguna).
The Advaita (Nondualist) school of Vedanta assumes on the
basis of selected passages of the Upanisads that Brahman
is beyond all polarity and therefore cannot be
characterized in the normal terms of human discursive
thought. This being the case, Brahman cannot possess
qualities that distinguish it from all other magnitudes,
as Brahman is not a magnitude but is all.
The fundamental text of this tenet is the Brhadaranyaka
Upanisad definition of Brahman as neti-neti (not
this! not that! 2.3.6). The scriptural texts that
ascribe qualities to Brahman, leading to the conception
of a qualified Brahman (saguna) are, according to the
Advaita school, merely preparatory aids to meditations.
Others, notably the theistic schools of Vedanta (for
example, Visis t advaita), argue that God (Brahman) is
possessed of all perfections and that the scriptural
passages denying qualities deny only imperfect ones.
"nirguna"
Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?idxref=167690
[Accessed December 30, 2001].
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