'Philosophy based on the Upanishads'.
I A layman takes the term ior philosophy in general. But the fact is
that it is only one among the several classical systems of philosophy that
developed in ancient and medieval India. Based on the interpretation of the
Upanishads, there are many schools of Vedanta such as Advaita Vedanta,
Dvaita Vedanta, Visishtadvaita Vedanta, Dvaitadvaita Vedanta and
Shuddhadvaita Vedanta.
The earliest of them is Advaita Vedanta, expounded by Sankaracharya. Adi
Sankara is, however, not the pioneer of the doctrine of Advaita. The
earliest formulations of Advaita appear in the Mandukya Karika written by
Goudapadar.
This text purports to summarise the teachings of the Mandukya Upanishad,
one of the l0 major Upanishads. Goudapadar was the guru of Govinda Bhagavat
pada. Adi Sankara was Govinda Bhagavat pada’s disciple. Sankara called
Goudapadar his Parama guru (grand teacher).
Upanishads preach the philosophy of Brahman. Sankaracharya established that
the Upanishads speak of the philosophy of 'unity in diversity'. He said:
"All souls are one and the same. And they are identical with the Brahman,
the supreme reality". Thus, he established that the crux of Upanishadic
teaching is that of universal oneness.
Shankaracharya established his Advaita system refuting the doctrines of
flourishing systems of the time . His sharp intellect, and clear and
penetrating mind eclipsed many doctrines put forward by intellectual giants
such as Kumarila Bhatta, Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti and Vasubandhu. With his
towering personality, he established the supremacy of his system of
philosophy over the schools of Buddhism and Purva Mimamsa. His writings are
acclaimed for their clarity and simplicity. Writes Dr S. Radhakrishnan, in
'Indian Philosophy' (Volume II), "It is impossible to read Sankara's
writings, packed as they are with serious and subtle thinking, without
being conscious that one is in contact with a mind of a very fine
penetration and profound spirituality. Whether we agree or differ, the
penetrating light of his mind never leaves us where we are. For Samksara,
as for some of the greatest thinkers of the world, Plato, and Plotinus,
Spinoza and Hegel, philosophy is the austere vision of eternal truth,
majestic in its freedom from the petty cares of man's paltry life."
The term, Advaita', means 'non-dualistic'. Sankaracharya holds that
according to Upanishadic teaching no positive attributes can be predicated
of reality; one can say what it is not. That is why Upanishads talk of
the supreme
reality as neti neti ('not this, not this'). The crux of his teaching is
the oneness of individual souls (atman) and Brahman, the supreme reality: jeeva
brahma aikya. He proves that this truly is the purport of all Upanishads.
There is a famous hemistich in Sanskrit that puts in a nutshell the entire
gamut of Shankaracharya’s philosophy. It goes so:
Brahma satyam jagan mithyaa jeevo brahma eya na apat-jarah.
It means: the only reality is Brahman the external world is Mitya (just an
appearance though based on reality).
The individual soul is not different from Brahman. This statement is
simple, yet profound. To comprehend the statement, one needs to know a few
terms. For Sankara, satyaam (relied means 'that which is never sublated, it
means that a thing can be called lusion/appearance. It does not mean
'non-existent, in fact, Sankara holds that the illusory perception is not
baseless. {KR Maya means not in absentia, but perishable all) It is based
on reality. But it cannot be categorically specified either as existent or
non-existent. It is a dream-like experience. While dreaming the experience
appears to be real. It may trigger feelings such as fear resulting in
sweating and the like. But once awakened, the experience ceases to be real
or existent. Sankara does not sweepingly deny the reality of the external
world. He, thus, differs from Vijnanavada of Buddhism.
Sankaracharya accepts almost all the epistemic tools enunciated by
Bhatta Mimamsaka. Bhatta Mimamsa is a major school of Indian philosophy. It
is a branch of a system called Mimamsa. It is called Purva Mimamsa as well
(by the way, Vedanta is Uttara Mimamsa; Purva Mimamsa deals with, the
initial part of Vedic literature whereas Vedanta deals with the latter
part). This system has the ritualistic interpretation of Vedas as its main
concern. It has developed theories on verbal comprehension that baffles
even modern linguists and philosophers. Of language. This system has two
major branches – those propounded by Prabhakara and Kumarila Bhatta. The
former is called Praabhaakara Mimamsa and the latter Bhatta Mimamsa.
Sankara accepts all the six means of valid knowledge (pramanas) put
forward by Kumarila. They are pratyaksha (direct perception), anumaana
(inference), upamaana (comparison), shabda (verbal testimony), arhthaapami
(postulation or derivation of a fact from two non-congruent facts) and
anupalabdhi (non-perception or the perception of absence). The saying,
uyauahaare bhaattanayah, is popular when one speaks of the epistemic tools
accepted by followers of Advaita Vedanta. For empirical reality we go by
Bhatta Mimamsaka’ s epistemic analysis, Advaita philosophers declare.
What is empirical reality? Sankaracharya speaks of three levels of
reality- absolute reality empirical or pragmatic reality and the apparent
reality. Absolute reality, Paramarthikam sattra, is that the experience of
which is never negated by another cognition at any point of time. Brahman
alone is the absolute reality, according to Advaita. Empirical reality is
called uyaauahaarika sattaa. It does not have a metaphysical reality. It
may be sublated later by a better experience of reality. All our worldly
experiences come under this head. It is similar to the dream experience.
The apparent reality is called Praatibhasika sattaa. It is only
imaginary/erroneous and not real. The erroneous perception of a snake in a
piece of rope caused by mild darkness is a classic example for this.
What is the ultimate goal of Advaita studies? Mahat is liberation,
according to Advaita Vedanta? How can one overcome the pains 4nd pleasures
that are unavoidable in Samsara The system proclaims that the ultimate goal
is the realisation of Brahman. It is the realisation, the total conviction,
that one's self is not different from Brahman, the simple nature of which
is boundless bliss. That is, the real conviction that one is identical with
the supreme reality the proper cognition of jeeua brahma aikya (identity of
Mind-dual souls with the Brahman), is the supreme goal to be attained. But
mind it, once you each this stage you are certain to lose yourself. For,
the system maintains that one who has realised Brahman gets merged into it
(Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati) is the dictum). That is why the Dvaita
philosopher and the followers of Bhakti ask then, what is the charm in
your philosophy? If you are unable to enjoy the boundless love and grace of
God, then why all the pains and struggles of intellectual exercise?
Everything is futile. If the ant becomes one with the sweetmeat, then
how can it relish anymore? The Advaitin's answer is simple: this is your
real nature and it is boundless bliss. To understand that one who realises
Brahman becomes no one other than itself, we should know what is
Brahman-The Upanishads Proclaim that no Positive attribute can be
predicated about Brahman. It is devoid of any attribute Nirguna. It eludes
expression and comprehension. Thus, it is beyond the reach of mind and
speech. Yato Vaacho nivrutanthe, apprapya manasaa saha, proclaim the
Upanishads. It can be defined or pointed out only metaphorically. All the
Mahavakya of the Upanishads like tat tvam asi are mere attempts to express
it metaphorically. It can be explained like this: it is sat-chid-aananda. (KR
This Ananada is not colloquial mundane happiness as wrongly quoted by
someone)
This is not a literal statement. If it were, it would mean that
Brahman can be expressed. Now what is sat-chid-aananda It means that
Brahman is absolute existence, absolute consciousness and absolute bliss.
These are not its attributes but the very nature. 'When You express or
comprehend something, it is implied that the thing is limited. But Brahman
is boundless. If every soul is nothing but absolute bliss then how come all
living beings undergo Perpetual pain and Pleasure in mundane life? It is
here the concept of Maya comes into play. MAYA is the potency of Brahman.
It’s focus and object are also Brahman. It is neither existent nor
non-existent. Thus, it is beyond any kind of definition. To Put in lucid
terms, it is ignorance or auidya (the doctrine is deep and demands
technical understanding; theoretically both are not identical). Avidya has
two forms I - cosmic ignorance of Moola – auidya and individual ignorance
or Thoola avidya. Maya has two kinds of innate Powers – that The Upanishads
proclaim that no positive attribute can be predicated about Brahman. It is
devoid of any attribute of covering the real nature of things and that of
projecting illusory attributes on them. They are called avarana shakti and
vikshepa shakti respectively. Maya veils the unity of Brahman and projects
this phenomenal world of variety upon it. Hence for the realisation of
Brahman, one has to remove ignorance.
Ignorance automatically disappears at the dawn of knowledge. Hence
knowledge alone can bring in emancipation. The stand that knowledge alone
brings absolute emancipation is one of the unique features of.
Shankaracharya’s Advaita philosophy Gnananda eva thu kaivalyam). He
vehemently opposes the theory that atma and jnaana (knowledge) together
constitute the cause of complete liberation. According to him, all the
karmas enjoined by the Vedas and other scriptures go to puri$/ the mind and
thus pave the way for Proper knowledge. But they cannot lead to Kaivalya.
The consistent learning of the Maha vakyas like Tat tvam asl proclaimed by
the Veda in the enjoined way (Shravana), proper and deep analysis leading
to conviction of their meaning (manana) and contemplation leading to
realisation (Nidhidyasanam) together constitute the modus operandum for the
realisation of Brahman.
Another cardinal Point of Advaita Vedanta is the Brahma vivartavaada.
It is the doctrine that the external world is just an illusory appearance
of Brahman. The theory stands in opposition to the Prakrti parinaama vaada
of the Sankhya system of philosophy (it maintains that the external world
is the transformed state of Prakṛti and the Brahma parinaama vaada (this
world is the transformed state of Brahman) of the pre-Sankara school of
advaihtin.
One may ask what is Ishvara’s role or status in the scheme of Advaita
Vedanta? Ishvara is called saguna brahman in contrast with the nirgunatva
(atttibuteless nature) of Brahman. The Brahman reflected in Maaya is
Ishvara. Tradition ascribes many devotional compositions praising many
deities to Sankaracharya. The Saundaryalahari, the Kanakadhaara stotra and
the Dakshina Moorthi Stotra are some of them. Scholastic stand is that many
of the voluminous corpus of stotra compositions ascribed to him could have
been born of his pen.
He might have written some of these devotional songs for the benefit of
the layman. This goes hand in hand with the establishment of monasteries at
different corners of the country for the propagation of his philosophy.
Besides the commentaries on the major Upanishads, the Brahmasutras and the
Bhagauadgeetha, Sankaracharya is known to have written several independent
works such as the Upadesha- sahasre elucidating the doctrine of the Advaita
Vedanta. Various scholars defended and amplified Shankaracharya’s
doctrines. Thus the system branched into two schools - the Vivarana school
and the Bhaamati school.
The former gets its name from the work named Vivarana written by
Prakasatman. It is a commentary on the Panchapaadika, which in turn is a
commentary on the Brahmasutra Bhashya of Sankaracharya. The Bhamati school
gets its name from a work of the same name written by Vachaspati Misra, a
polymath of the ninth/lOth century.
A voluminous corpus of literature has come down from many later
scholars. Among them, the Vedantaparibhasha written by Dharmaraja
Adhvareendra and the Vedantasaara written by Sadananda are considered as
introductory texts dealing with logical and epistemological aspects. And
the Advaita Siddhi (authored by Madhusudana Sarasvathi) and the Laghu
Chandrika commentary (authored by Brahmaananda) are the best-known
polemical works on Advaita.
Sankaracharya never claimed that his is a new philosophy. Instead, he
emphasised the fact that his doctrine was nothing other than Upanishadic
teaching. Upanishads taught that behind the differences seen in the
phenomenal world, there is one unchanging reality. They implicitly
preached, "Love every living being as your own self, because the whole
universe is one. Do not hurt any living being in any way, for, thereby you
will be injuring yourself. The best way for liberation is self- negation
and sacrifice."
Shankaracharya’s towering personality, along with his wonderful
philosophy, has exercised a strong influence on many generations. The
philosophy has influenced many later developments - be it the practical
Vedanta of Swami Vivekananda, or the Vicharamarga of Ramana Maharshi, or
the progressive ideals of social reformers such as Keshab Chandra Sen and
Narayana Guru, or the writings and Practical revolutionary measures of
great leaders of the Indian national movement.
His acceptance of the phenomenal world, more or less, resembles the
'subjective idealism and the 'relativity arguments' of Bishop Berkley. And
the 'transcendental idealism' of Immanuel Kant bears some resemblance to
Brahmavivartta-vada of Sankaracharya. An advocate of universal harmony, Adi
Sankara ranks among the greatest intellectuals ever. And his philosophy
implies the timeless concept of unity in diversity.
Vivekovo i ro gyo gunoti rekooc chuddhotvomoosodyo mono vimuktyoi
bhovotyoio buddhimoto mumuksos toobhyom drdhobhyoom bhovitovyomogre
(When the mind has been made pure through discrimination and
dispassion, it turns to liberation. Hence, the wise seeker of liberation
must first strengthen these qualities,) - From Vivekachoodamani
K Rajaram IRS 10524
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