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16-September-2008 16:15:15 - Advaita Vedanta Image:Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg This article contains Indic text. Without rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Indic characters; or irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. Part of a series on Hindu philosophy Aum Schools Samkhya · Yoga · Nyaya · Vaisheshika · Purva Mimamsa · Vedanta Advaita · Vishishtadvaita · Dvaita · Achintya Bheda Abheda Persons Ancient Gautama · Jaimini · Kanada · Kapila · Markandeya · Patañjali · Valmiki · Vyasa Medieval Adi Shankara · Chaitanya · Kabir · Madhusudana · Madhva · Namdeva · Nimbarka · Ramanuja · Tukaram · Tulsidas · Vallabha Modern Aurobindo · Coomaraswamy · Gandhi · Narayana Guru · Prabhupada · Radhakrishnan · Ramakrishna · Ramana Maharshi · Dayananda Saraswati · Sivananda · Swaminarayan · Vivekananda This box: view talk Advaita Vedanta IAST Advaita VedÄ?nta; Sanskrit अदà¥?वैत वेदानà¥?त; IPA: É™d̪vait̪ə veË?d̪ɑË?nt̪ə is a sub-school of the VedÄ?nta literally, end or the goal of the Vedas, Sanskrit school of Hindu philosophy.1 Other major sub-schools of VedÄ?nta are Dvaita and ViÅ›ishá¹Ä?dvaita. Advaita literally, non-duality is a monistic system of thought. Advaita refers to the identity of the Self Atman and the Whole Brahman.2 The key source texts for all schools of VedÄ?nta 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,3 while the first historical proponent was Gaudapada, the guru of Shankara's guru Govinda Bhagavatpada. Contents 1 Adi Shankara 2 Prerequisites 2.1 The necessity of a Guru 2.2 SÄ?dhana Chatuá¹£á¹aya 2.3 Alternative View 3 Epistemology 3.1 PramÄ?ṇas 4 Ontology 4.1 KÄ?rya and kÄ?raṇa 4.2 KÄ?rya-kÄ?raṇa ananyatva 5 Salient features of Advaita Vedanta 5.1 Three levels of truth 5.2 Brahman 5.3 MÄ?yÄ? 5.3.1 Status of the world 5.4 Īshvara 5.4.1 Status of God 5.5 Ä€tman 5.6 Salvation 5.7 Theory of creation 5.8 Status of ethics 6 The impact of Advaita 7 Mahavakya 8 List of texts 9 List of teachers 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 External links Adi Shankara For more details on this topic, see Adi Shankara. Adi Shankara consolidated the Advaita Vedanta, an interpretation of the Vedic scriptures that was approved and accepted by Gaudapada and Govinda Bhagavatpada siddhÄ?nta 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 VivekacÅ«á¸?Ä?maṇi, one of his Prakaraṇa graṃthas philosophical treatises that succinctly summarises his philosophy is:4 Brahma satyaṃ jagat mithyÄ?, jÄ«vo brahmaiva nÄ?parah - Brahman is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self This widely quoted sentence of his is also widely misunderstood.citation needed 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 knowledgePramaNam has a valid domain. The domain of the scriptures Shabda PramaNam is the knowledge of the Self. If the scriptures say something about another domain - like the world around us - which contradicts what perception Pratyaksha PramaNam and inferenceAnumana PramaNam the appropriate methods of knowledge for this domain tells us, then, the scriptural statements have to be symbolically interpreted... Adi Shankara's contributions to Advaita are crucial. His main works are the commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi Brahma SÅ«tras, Bhagavad GÄ«tÄ? and the UpaniÅŸads and the Gaudapadiya Karikas. He also wrote a major independent treatise, called UpadeÅ›a SÄ?hasrÄ«, expounding his philosophy. Prerequisites The necessity of a Guru Advaita vedÄ?nta requires anyone seeking to study advaita vedÄ?nta to do so from a Guru teacher.5 The Guru must have the following qualities see Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12: Åšrotriya - must be learned in the Vedic scriptures and sampradaya Brahmaniá¹£á¹ha - 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 SÄ?dhana Chatuá¹£á¹aya Any mumuká¹£u one seeking moksha has to have the following four sampattis qualifications, collectively called SÄ?dhana Chatuá¹£á¹aya Sampatti the fourfold qualifications: NityÄ?nitya vastu viveka - The ability viveka to correctly discriminate between the eternal nitya substance Brahman and the substance that is transitory existence anitya. IhÄ?mutrÄ?rtha phala bhoga virÄ?ga - The renunciation virÄ?ga of enjoyments of objects artha phala bhoga in this world iha and the other worlds amutra like heaven etc. ÅšamÄ?di á¹£atka sampatti - the sixfold qualities of Å›ama control of the antahkaraṇa67, dama the control of external sense organs, uparati the refraining from actions; instead concentrating on mation, titiká¹£a the tolerating of tÄ?patraya, Å›raddha the faith in Guru and Vedas, samÄ?dhÄ?na the concentrating of the mind on God and Guru. Mumuká¹£utva - 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. Advaita vedÄ?nta categorically stateswhere? that moksha, or liberation, is available only to those possessing the above-mentioned fourfold qualifications. Thus any seeker wishing to study advaita vedÄ?nta from a teacher must possess these. Alternative View Otherswho? have argued that there is in fact no need for Gurus nor for the possessing of certain legalistic qualifications in order to study Advaita Vedanta. Advaita Vedanta teaches that the Self is quite capable of knowing itself without these legalistic burdens. Realizing the monistic view of Self or Atman as it relates to Brahman is a matter of simply knowing that you know and can be obtained in an instant without outside direction. The very essential core belief of Advaita Vedanta is that you, physical manifestations, the universe and beyond are who you are, you are that, and thus you are your own Guru. You are the source of all knowledge, because you are knowledge itself. Realizing these basic facts, that the Self/Atman/You are Brahman, both immanent and transcendant can be attained in many ways. Teachers or Gurus are therefore helpful but not necessary. The only actual prerequisites are for one to be pure and true as stated in the Prashna Upanishad, The bright world of Brahman can be attained only by those that are pure and true. Epistemology PramÄ?ṇas PramÄ?, in Sanskrit, refers to the correct knowledge, arrived at by thorough reasoning, of any object. PramÄ?ṇa sources of knowledge, Sanskrit forms one part of a tripuá¹i trio, namely, PramÄ?tá¹›, the subject; the knower of the knowledge PramÄ?ṇa, the cause or the means of the knowledge Prameya, the object of knowledge In Advaita VedÄ?nta, the following pramÄ?ṇas are accepted: Pratyaká¹£a - the knowledge gained by means of the senses AnumÄ?na - the knowledge gained by means of inference UpamÄ?na - the knowledge gained by means of analogy ArthÄ?patti - the knowledge gained by superimposing the known knowledge on an appearing knowledge that does not concur with the known knowledge Ä€gama - the knowledge gained by means of texts such as Vedas also known as Ä€ptavÄ?kya, Åšabda pramÄ?ṇa Ontology KÄ?rya and kÄ?raṇa The kÄ?rya effect and kÄ?raṇa cause form an important area for investigation in all the systems of Vedanta. Two kÄ?raṇatvas ways of being the cause are recognised: Nimitta kÄ?raṇatva - Being the instrumental cause. For example, a potter is assigned Nimitta kÄ?raṇatva as he acts as the maker of the pot and thus becomes the pot's instrumental cause. UpÄ?dÄ?na kÄ?raṇatva - Being the material cause. For example, the mud is assigned UpÄ?dÄ?na kÄ?raṇatva as it acts as the material of the effect the pot and thus becomes the pot's material cause. Advaita assigns Nimitta kÄ?raṇatva to Brahman vide the statements from the Vedas only two are given below: SarvÄ?ṇi rÅ«pÄ?ṇi vicitya dhÄ«raḥ. NÄ?mÄ?ni ká¹›tvÄ?bhivadan yadÄ?ste - That Lord has created all the forms and is calling them by their names Taitiiriya Aranyaka 3.12.7 Sa Ä«ká¹£ata lokÄ?nnu sá¹›jÄ? iti - He thought, Let Me create the worlds Aitareya Upanishad8 1.1.1 Advaita also assigns UpÄ?dÄ?na kÄ?raṇatva to Brahman vide the statements from the Vedas only two are given below: YathÄ? somyaikena má¹›tpiná¸?ena sarvaṃ má¹›nmayaṃ vijñÄ?taṃ syÄ?dvÄ?cÄ?raṃbhaṇaṃ vikÄ?ro nÄ?madheyaṃ má¹›ttiketyeva 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 Upanishad9 6.1.4 SokÄ?mayata bahu syÄ?ṃ prajÄ?yeti - He thought Let me be many, let me be born Taittiriya Upanishad10 2.6.4 The Chandogya Upanishad9 6.2.1 states EkamevÄ?dvitÄ«yaṃ - It is One without a second Thus, based on these and other statements found in the Vedas, Advaita concludes that Brahman is both the instrumental cause and the material cause. KÄ?rya-kÄ?raṇa ananyatva Advaita states that kÄ?rya effect is non-different from kÄ?raṇa cause. However kÄ?raṇa is different from kÄ?rya. This principle is called KÄ?rya-kÄ?raṇa 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 BrahmasÅ«tra BhÄ?á¹£ya , commentary on the Brahma sutra,11 2.1.9, as: Ananyatve'pi kÄ?ryakÄ?raṇayoḥ kÄ?ryasya kÄ?raṇÄ?tmatvaṃ na tu kÄ?raṇasya kÄ?ryÄ?tmatvaṃ - 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 ChÄ?ṃdogya Upaniá¹£ad BhÄ?á¹£ya, commentary on the Chandogya Upanishad, 6.3.2: Sarvaṃ ca nÄ?marÅ«pÄ?di sadÄ?tmanaiva satyaṃ vikÄ?rajÄ?taṃ svatastu aná¹›tameva - 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, KÄ?rya is not different from kÄ?raṇa; however kÄ?raṇa is different from kÄ?rya In the context of Advaita Vedanta, Jagat the world is not different from Brahman; however Brahman is different from Jagat This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. July 2008 Salient features of Advaita Vedanta Three levels of truth The transcendental or the PÄ?ramÄ?rthika level in which Brahman is the only reality and nothing else; The pragmatic or the VyÄ?vahÄ?rika 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 PrÄ?thibhÄ?sika 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 /brÉ™h mÉ™n/; nominative singular Brahma, pronounced as /brÉ™h mÉ™/ 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. Brahman is often described as neti neti meaning not this, not this because it cannot be correctly described as this or that. It is the origin of this and that, the origin of forces, substances, all of existence, the undefined, the basis of all, unborn, the essential truth, unchanging, eternal, the absolute. How can it be properly described as something in the material world when itself is the basis of reality? Brahman is also beyond the senses, it would be akin a blind man trying to correctly describe color. 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 avidyÄ?, 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 mation. Brahman is actually indescribable. It is at best Satchidananda 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 sajÄ?tÄ«ya homogeneous differences because there is no second Brahman. It does not have any vijÄ?tÄ«ya 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 turÄ«ya state, claim that their soul has become one with everything else. Georg Feuerstein summarizes the advaita realization as follows: The manifold universe is, in truth, a Single Reality. There is only one Great Being, which the sages call Brahman, in which all the countless forms of existence reside. That Great Being is utter Consciousness, and It is the very Essence, or Self Atman of all beings. 12 MÄ?yÄ? MÄ?yÄ? /mÉ‘Ë?jÉ‘Ë?/ According to Adi Shankara, MÄ?yÄ? is the complex illusionary power of Brahman which causes the Brahman to be seen as the material world of separate forms. It has two main functions - one is to hide Brahman from ordinary human perception, and the other is to present the material world in its stead. MÄ?yÄ? is also said to be indescribable, though it may be said that all sense data entering ones awareness via the five senses are MÄ?yÄ?, since the fundamental reality underlying sensory perception is completely hidden. It is also said that MÄ?yÄ? neither completely real nor completely unreal, hence indescribable. Its shelter is Brahman, but Brahman itself is untouched by the illusion of MÄ?yÄ?, just like a magician is not tricked by his own magic. MÄ?yÄ? is temporary and is transcended with true knowledge, or perception of the more fundamental reality which straddles MÄ?yÄ?. 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 MÄ?yÄ?. Status of the world Adi Shankara says that the world is not realtrue, 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 realtrue. 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 realtrue. Truth is the thing which is unchanging. Since the world is changing, it is not realtrue. Whatever is independent of space and time is realtrue, and whatever has space and time in itself is realtrue. 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 realtrue. On the other hand, Adi Shankara claims that the world is not absolutely unrealfalse. It appears unrealfalse only when compared to Brahman. In the pragmatic state, the world is completely real-which 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, Sinha, 1993: If the world were unrealfalse, 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 unrealfalse. The Supreme Reality Brahman is the basis of this world. The world is like its reflection. Hence the world cannot be totally unrealfalse. 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 the following logical argument. A pen is placed in front of a mirror. One can see its reflection. To one's 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 /iË?ʃvÉ™rÉ™/, literally, the Supreme Lord - According to Advaita Vedanta, 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 instrumental 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 Ishvara is the Lord of Maya and she ie, Maya is always under his control, the living beings jÄ«va, 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 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 Shiva, Vishnu or Devi. 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. See, Karma in Hinduism for more information. Status of God To think that there is no place for a personal God Ishvara in Advaita Vedanta is a misunderstanding of the philosophy. Ishvara is, in an ultimate sense, described as false because Brahman appears as Ishvara only due to 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. See, Karma in Hinduism for more information. 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. Ä€tman 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 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 identical with Brahman. It is not a part of Brahman that ultimately dissolves into Brahman, but the whole Brahman itself. Now the arguers ask how the individual soul, which is limited and one in each body, can be the same as Brahman? Adi Shankara explains that the Self is not an individual concept. Atman is only one and unique. Indeed Atman alone is Ekaatma Vaadam. It is a false concept that there are several Atmans Anekaatma Vaadam. 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 discussed-eg., a person says I am blind, I am happy, I am fat etc. The common and constant factor, which permeates all these statements is the I which is but the Immutable Consciousness. When the blindness, happiness, fatness are inquired and negated, I the common factor which, indeed, alone exists in all three states of consciousness and in all three periods of time, shines forth. This proves the existence of Atman, and that Consciousness, Reality and Bliss are its characteristics. Atman, being the silent witness of all the modifications, is free and beyond sin and merit. It does not experience happiness or pain because it is beyond the triad of Experiencer, Experienced and Experiencing. It does not do any Karma because it is Aaptakaama. It is incorporeal and independent. When the reflection of atman falls on Avidya ignorance, atman becomes jÄ«va - 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 and thus unreal nature of the objective world and propounded the truth of the Advaita One without a second 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 cannot 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 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 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 is 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 Sr. No. Vakya Meaning Upanishad Veda 1 पà¥?रजà¥?नानम बà¥?रहà¥?म PrajñÄ?nam brahma Consciousness is Brahman aitareya Rig Veda 2. अहम बà¥?रहà¥?मासà¥?मि Aham brahmÄ?smi I am Brahman brihadÄ?ranyaka Yajur Veda 3. ततà¥?तà¥?तà¥?वमसि Tattvamasi That thou art chhandogya Sama Veda 4. अयमातà¥?मा बà¥?रहà¥?म AyamÄ?tmÄ? brahmÄ? This Atman is Brahman mandukya Atharva Veda List of texts See also: Works of Adi Shankara PrasthÄ?natrayÄ« Advaita VedÄ?nta, like other Vedanta schools of Hindu philosophy, recognises the following three texts known collectively as the PrasthÄ?natrayÄ« 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,13 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, Jnana yoga 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 BhÄ?á¹£ya commentaries on BrahmasÅ«tra Aitareya Upaniá¹£ad Rigveda Bá¹›hadÄ?raṇyaka Upaniá¹£ad Åšukla Yajurveda Īśa Upaniá¹£ad Åšukla Yajurveda TaittirÄ«ya Upaniá¹£ad Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda Kaá¹ha Upaniá¹£ad Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda ChÄ?ndogya Upaniá¹£ad Samaveda MÄ?ṇá¸?Å«kya Upaniá¹£ad Atharvaveda and Gauá¸?apÄ?da KÄ?rika Muṇá¸?aka Upaniá¹£ad Atharvaveda PraÅ›na Upaniá¹£ad Atharvaveda BhagavadgÄ«ta MahabhÄ?rata Vishnu Sahasranama MahabhÄ?rata GÄ?yatri Maṃtra Adi Shankara wrote the following treatises VivekacÅ«á¸?Ä?maṇi Crest-Jewel of Discrimination UpadeÅ›asÄ?hasri A thousand teachings ÅšataÅ›loki DaÅ›aÅ›loki EkaÅ›loki PañcÄ«karaṇa Ä€tma bodha Aparoká¹£Ä?nubhÅ«ti SÄ?dhana Pañcakaṃ NirvÄ?ṇa Åšatakaṃ ManÄ«Å›a Pañcakaṃ Yati Pañcakaṃ VÄ?kyasudha Tattva bodha VÄ?kya vá¹›tti SiddhÄ?nta Tattva Vindu Nirguṇa MÄ?nasa PÅ«ja In fact, the consensus now among scholars is that only UpadeÅ›asÄ?hasri can be securely attributed to Shri Shankara himself. Adi Shankara composed many hymns on Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha and Subrahmanya2 Bhaja Govindaṃ, also known as Mohamuá¸?gara ÅšivÄ?nandalahiri Saundaryalahiri ÅšrÄ« Laká¹£mÄ«ná¹›siṃha KarÄ?valamba Stotraṃ ÅšÄ?radÄ? Bhujangaṃ KanakadhÄ?ra Stotraṃ BhavÄ?ni Aá¹£á¹akaṃ Åšiva MÄ?nasa PÅ«ja List of teachers Main article: List of teachers of Advaita Vedanta Advaita Vedanta has had many teachers over the centuries in India and other countries. See also Nondualism Jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge Satsang, a sort of spiritual meeting Dvaita, an opposing philosophy that accepts duality Vishishtadvaita, an opposing philosophy that propounds qualified nonduality Notes ^ Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction, By Eliot Deutsch, University of Hawaii Press, 1980, ISBN 0824802713. ^ Brahman is not to be confused with Brahma, the Creator and one third of the Trimurti along with Shiva, the Destroyer and Vishnu, the Preserver. ^ Thirty-five Oriental Philosophers, By Diané Collinson, Robert Wilkinson, Routledge, 1994, ISBN 0415025966. ^ The authorship of this work is disputed. Most 20th-century academic scholars feel it was not authored by Sankara, and Swami Sacchidanandendra Saraswathi of Holenarsipur concurs. ^ ChÄ?ndogya Upanishad - Ä?cÄ?ryavÄ?n puruÅŸo veda. Also see the first prose chapter of Åšankara's UpadeÅ›asÄ?hasrÄ«. ^ Antahkarana- Yoga definition ^ In the vedÄ?ntic literature, the antahkaraṇa internal organ is organised into four parts: Manas mind - the part that controls sankalpa will or resolution Buddhi intellect - the part that controls decision taking Chitta memory - the part that deals with remembering and forgetting AhamkÄ?ra ego - the part that identifies the Atman the Self with the body as 'I' ^ Aitareya Upanishad at celextel.org ^ a b Chandogya Upanishad ^ Taittiriya Upanishad ^ Brahma Sutras by Swami Sivananda ^ Ð?dvaita - flame of nondualty - english ^ Advaitasiddhi.org References This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. Madhukar, The Simplest Way, ions India, USA India 2006, ISBN 81-89658-04-2 Madhukar, Erwachen in Freiheit, Lüchow Verlag, German, 2.ion, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-363-03054-1 Mishra, M., BhÄ?ratÄ«ya Darshan à¤à¤¾à¤°à¤¤à¥€à¤¯ दरà¥?शन, KalÄ? PrakÄ?shan. Sinha, H. P., Bharatiya Darshan ki ruparekha Features of Indian Philosophy, 1993, Motilal Benarasidas, Delhi-Varanasi. SwÄ?mi ParamÄ?nanda BhÄ?rati, VedÄ?nta Prabodha in Kannada, JnÄ?nasamvardhini Granthakusuma, 2004 Madhava Vidyaranya, Sankara-Digvijaya, translated by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2002, ISBN 81-7120-434-1. Purchase online at www.sriramakrishnamath.org Karl H. Potter ed., Advaita Vedanta up to Sankara and his Pupils: Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1981. Karl H. Potter, Austin B. Creel and Edwin Gerow, Guide to Indian philosophy, G. K. Hall, Boston, 1988. Eliot Deutsch and J. A. B. van Buitenen, A source book of Advaita Vedanta, University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, 1971. Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedanta: a philosophical reconstruction, East-West Center Press, Honolulu, 1969 Raghunath D. Karmarkar, Sankara's Advaita, Karnatak University, Dharwar, 1966. S. G. Mudgal, Advaita of Sankara, a reappraisal: Impact of Buddhism and Samkhya on Sankara's thought, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, A. Ramamurti, Advaitic mysticism of Sankara, Visvabharati, Santiniketan, 1974. Kapil N. Tiwari, Dimensions of renunciation in Advaita Vedanta, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1977. Kokileswar Sastri, An introduction to Adwaita philosophy : a critical and systematic exposition of the Sankara school of Vedanta, Bharatiya Publishing House, Varanasi, 1979. A. J. Alston, A Samkara source-book, Shanti Sadan, London, 1980-1989. Satyapal Verma, Role of Reason in Sankara Vedanta, Parimal Publication, Delhi, 1992. Arvind Sharma, The philosophy of religion and Advaita Vedanta : a comparative study in religion and reason, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995. M. K. Venkatarama Aiyar, Advaita Vedanta, according to Sankara, Asia Publishing House, New York, 1965. Sangam Lal Pandey, The Advaita view of God, Darshana Peeth, Allahabad, 1989. Rewati Raman Pandey, Scientific temper and Advaita Vedanta, Sureshonmesh Prakashan, Varanasi, 1991. Adya Prasad Mishra, The development and place of bhakti in Sankaran Vedanta, University of Allahabad, 1967. Natalia V. Isayeva, Shankara and Indian philosophy, SUNY, New York, 1993. V. Panoli, Upanishads in Sankara's own words : Isa, Kena, Katha, and Mandukya with the Karika of Gaudapada : with English translation, explanatory notes and footnotes, Mathrubhumi, Calicut, 1991-1994. Sriraman,B., Benesch, W., Consciousness and Science: An Advaita-Vedantic perspective on the Theology-Science dialogue. Theology and Science, vol.3, no.1, pp. 39-54, 2005 External links Open Directory - Society: Religion and Spirituality: Advaita Vedanta v d e Indian philosophy Topics Logic · Idealism · Monotheism · Atheism Ä€stika Samkhya · Nyaya · Vaisheshika · Yoga · Mimamsa · Vedanta Advaita · Vishishtadvaita · Dvaita · Acintya bheda abheda NÄ?stika CÄ?rvÄ?ka · Jaina Anekantavada · Syadvada · Buddha Shunyata · Madhyamaka · Yogacara · Sautrantika · Svatantrika Retrieved from http://en..org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta Categories: Hindu philosophical concepts | Monism | Sanskrit words and phrases | Indian philosophy | MysticismHidden categories: All articles with statements | Articles with statements since June 2007 | Vague or ambiguous geographic scope | Articles with specifically-marked weasel-worded phrases | Articles needing additional references from July 2008 | Articles lacking in-text citations Views Article Discussion this page History Personal tools Log in / create account Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Search Go Search Interaction Community portal Recent changes Contact Donate to Help Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this page Languages ÄŒesky Eesti Español Français Bahasa Indonesia Italiano ಕನà³?ನಡ Nederlands Polski Português РуÑ?Ñ?кий Simple English SlovenÄ?ina Svenska தமிழà¯? 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