Everything about Advaita totally explained
Advaita Vedanta (
IAST ;
Sanskrit अद्वैत वेदान्त; ) is a sub-school of the
Vedānta (literally,
end or the goal of the Vedas,
Sanskrit) school of
Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of
Vedānta are
Dvaita and .
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). The key source texts for all schools of are the
Prasthanatrayi – the canonical texts consisting of the
Upanishads, the
Bhagavad Gita and the
Brahma Sutras. The first person to explicitly consolidate the principles of Advaita Vedanta was
Adi Shankara.
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara consolidated the Advaita Vedanta, an interpretation of the Vedic scriptures that was approved and accepted by
Gaudapada and Govinda Bhagavatpada (system). 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.
He wrote commentaries on the
Prasthana Trayi. A famous quote from, one of his (philosophical treatises) that succinctly summarises his philosophy is:
— Brahman is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there's 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
illusion 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 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 he considered it appropriate. In a famous passage in his commentary on the Brahmasutra's of Badarayana, he says "For each means of knowledge by analysing the three states of experience of the atman — waking (vaishvanara), dreaming (taijasa), and deep sleep (prajna).
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 or
Ayyappa 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 can't lead one directly to
Moksha.
Theory of creation
In the relative 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 effect—and the effect is just a transformation of the cause. However, Samkhya believes in a sub-form of
Satkaryavada called Parinamavada (evolution) — whereby the cause really becomes an effect. Instead, Adi Shankara believes in a sub-form called
Vivartavada. According to this, the effect is merely an apparent transformation of its cause — like illusion. eg., In darkness, a man often confuses a rope to be a snake. But this doesn't 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's no place for ethics in Advaita, because everything is ultimately illusionary. But on analysis, ethics also has a firm place in this philosophy—the same place as the world and God. Ethics, which implies doing good Karma, indirectly helps in attaining true knowledge. The traditional ethical system put forth by Advaitins is that 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). However, no authoritative definition of Dharma was ever formulated by any of the major exponents of Advaita Vedanta. Unlike ontological and epistemological claims, there's room for significant disagreement between Advaitins on ethical issues.
The impact of Advaita
Advaita rejuvenated much of Hindu thought and also spurred debate with the two main theistic schools of Vedanta philosophy that were formalized later:
Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism), and
Dvaita (dualism).
Advaita further helped to merge the old Vedic religion with popular south-Asian cults/deities, thus making a bridge between higher types of practice (such as
jnana yoga) and devotional religion of ordinary people.
Mahavakya
Mahavakya, or "the great sentences", state the unity of Brahman and Atman. There are many such sentences in the vedas, but one sentence from each veda is usually chosen. They are shown below
List of texts
Prasthānatrayī
Advaita Vedānta, like other Vedanta schools of Hindu philosophy, recognises the following three texts (known collectively as the Prasthānatrayī) of the Hindu tradition: Vedas- especially the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras. Many advaitin authors, including Adi Shankara, have written Bhashyas (commentaries) on these texts. These texts are thus considered to be the basic texts of the advaita tradition.
Other texts
Other texts include, Advaita Siddhi, written by Madhusudana Saraswati, Shankara Digvijaya — historical record of Adi Shankara's life accepted by scholars worldwide, Avadhuta Gita and Ashtavakra Gita. Among modern texts, by Swami Vivekananda, and the Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo, with The Life Divine being the most prominent, deal with Advaita Vedanta.
Adi Shankara wrote (commentaries) on
Brahmasūtra
(Rigveda)
(Śukla Yajurveda)
Bhagavadgīta (Mahabhārata)
Vishnu Sahasranama (Mahabhārata)
Adi Shankara wrote the following treatises
(Crest-Jewel of Discrimination)
Upadeśasāhasri (A thousand teachings)
Śataśloki
Daśaśloki
Ekaśloki
Ātma bodha
Vākyasudha
Tattva bodha
Siddhānta Tattva Vindu
In fact, the consensus now among scholars is that only Upadeśasāhasri can be securely attributed to Shri Shankara himself.
Adi Shankara composed many hymns on Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha and Subrahmanya[2]
Śivānandalahiri
Saundaryalahiri
Śiva Mānasa Pūja
List of teachers
Advaita Vedanta has had many teachers over the centuries in India and other countries.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Advaita'.
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