Vedanta

Vedanta is a school or branch of Hindu philosophy and is the most prominent and influential of the Astika (sometimes translated as "orthodox") schools. Originally, the term Vedanta, which means "end [or higher purpose] of the Veda," referred to the Upanishads, a collection of Hindu texts from the Vedas. While all of the Vedic texts are important in Hinduism, the Upanishads contain much of the material that was central to the development of Indian philosophy, especially concerning human salvation and the nature of reality. As a result, the work of philosophers who dealt with these concepts came to be called "the Vedanta school," a name that continued to be used even when they were not directly addressing material from the Upanishads.

In addition to the Upanishads, which includes 108 total texts, the most critical texts for the Vedanta school are the Brahma Sutras, a collection of verses that summarize and clarify the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita, a 700-verse section of the epic Mahābhārata that takes the form of a dialogue about the proper way to attain moksha (liberation from the suffering of the world).

Background

In Indian tradition, schools of philosophy have classically been referred to as either Astika or nastika (which means simply "not Astika"). They are often translated as "orthodox" and "heterodox," but this is a Western (and specifically Christian) conflation rather than a literal translation. Astika has a much more specific meaning: those who accept the authority of the Vedas (or according to some authorities, those who accept the existence of the Atman—the Hindu concept of the soul—or the existence of the supreme being of Ishvara). The Vedas are the foundational texts of Hinduism, created by the Vedic civilization that existed in India from about 1500 BCE to 500 BCE: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the Atharvaveda.

There is often some confusion because in modern Hindi and some other Indian languages, astika and nastika mean "theist" and "atheist," respectively, but in the context of philosophical schools as discussed above, the words do not have these meanings. Astika Hinduism includes both monotheism and polytheism, both theism and atheism, and a great many practices that seem unrelated or at cross-purposes from a Western perspective. This is typically difficult for Westerners from a Judeo-Christian background to understand at first.

The major Astika schools are Vedanta, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, and Mimamsa. Buddhism, which was founded in India at the end of the Vedic period, is almost always considered nastika—the Vedas are not considered authoritative by Buddhists—but this is complicated by the fact that the Buddha himself is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu by many Hindu schools. As with so much in Hinduism, generalizations are not easy. Further, while Hindus consider Jains to be nastika, Jains often use the term to refer to non-Jains. (There is also some history of South Asian Buddhists using the term to refer to Buddhists who had adopted ideas considered contrary to the Buddha's teachings.)

The six major Astika schools are closely related. Vedanta has borrowed ideas from Yoga and Nyaya, especially, over the centuries. Nyaya has influenced and been influenced by Vaisesika, and Yoga is closely related to Samkhya.

Overview

The Vedanta school is sometimes also called Uttara Mimamsa, the "higher inquiry" or "latter inquiry," in contrast with the Mimamsa school, the full name of which is actually Purva Mimamsa, "primary inquiry" or "former inquiry." The Mimamsa school is concerned with explications of the fire sacrifices in the earlier Vedic mantras, which predate the Upanishads that provide the Vedanta school's focus.

There are numerous individual schools of Vedanta thought. The oldest still practiced is Advaita Vedanta, which is devoted to the idea that the Atman (the soul or true self) is the same as the Brahman (the ultimate reality of the universe). Advaita Vedanta gurus promote the belief that moksha is achievable in this life (with the proper guidance), which not all schools of thought subscribe to. Advaita is the most influential Vedanta school, and thus one of the most influential schools of Hindu thought. It began with Gaudapada in the sixth century, and was further developed by Adi Shankara in the early eighth century.

Related to the Advaita Vedanta school is the Vishishtadvaita school, which teaches that only the Brahman exists. Understanding this requires understanding the relationship between the sentient (all living souls), the insentient, and Ishvara, the creator of the universe. In this model of reality, all living things are simply modes of the single ultimate truth of Brahman, and the sentient and insentient together form the body of Ishvara. Unlike some enlightenment-seeking philosophies, Vishishtadvaita thus does not deny the reality of the physical world. The Vishishtadvaita school was founded by Ramanuja in the eleventh century, specifically to refute the Advaita work of Shankara.

Advaita and Vishishtadvaita are both non-dualistic schools. Dvaita Vedanta is a dualistic school that posits two separate realities: the higher absolute reality of Brahman, and a separate reality which is dependent on the first reality but equally real. It is in this second reality that the physical universe and individual souls exist and the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth takes place. Moksha for the Dvaita school requires coming to an understanding of the lesser reality's dependence on the absolute reality. The Dvaita school was established by Madhva Acharya in the thirtenth century, through his explication of the Brahma Sutras.

Within Vedanta, therefore, there are at least three different opinions on the relationship between the individual soul (Atman) and Brahman: they may be the same (Advaita), the Atman may be part of the Brahman (Vishishtadvaita), or they may be distinct and separate (Dvaita). Because of the centrality of this question, Vedanta schools typically take their name from how they conceptualize the Atman-Brahman relationship.

The Vedanta schools in general and Madhva Acharya specifically were instrumental in the Bhakti movement of medieval India. Bhakti (from the Sanskrit for "devotion") is the Hindu practice of directing devotion and worship to a particular personal god. The Bhakti movement saw a rise in the importance of devotional practices for many Hindus, as well as a more egalitarian approach to worship, shifting away from the historical focus on asceticism.

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