Philosophy of Vedanta - Fundamentals
Major sub-schools in Vedanta philosophy:
There are five major sub-schools in Vedanta
philosophy. First, the Non-dualistic form of Vedanta propounded by Sage
Sankaracharya is called “Advaita Vedanta''. Secondly, Sage Ramanujacharya
propounded that “Qualified monism” is called “Vishishta Advaita Vedanta''. The
Dualistic form of Vedanta propounded by Sage Madhvacharya is called “Dvaita
Vedanta '' and is the third one. The fourth is the “Pure Non-dualism”
propounded by Sage Vallabhacharya is called “Shuddha Advaita ''. Fifth is the
“Dualistic Non-dualism '' propounded by Sage Nimbarkacharya is called “Dvaita
Advaita ''.
Vedanta is not a monistic platform particularly
“Advaita Vedanta” is a “Non-dualistic” philosophy by Sage Sankaracharya. Swami
Vivekananda propagated this form of non-dualistic Vedanta to America and Europe
and it was named "Vedantic humanism". Some western intellectuals doubt why Swami
Vivekananda had chosen the path of non-dualistic Vedanta for the western world.
While he was in India and spreading, the spiritual campaign had given equal
importance to “Qualified Monism” (“Vishishta Advaita Vedanta'') by Sage
Ramanujacharya and the “Dualistic form of Vedanta” (“Dvaita Vedanta”) by Sage
Madhvacharya.
The distinction of Vedanta:
Vedanta is not a monistic platform particularly
“Advaita Vedanta” is a non-dualistic philosophy by Sage Sankaracharya. Swami
Vivekananda propagated this form of non-dualistic Vedanta to America and Europe
and it was named "Vedantic Humanism". Some western intellectuals
doubt why Swami Vivekananda had chosen the path of non-dualistic Vedanta for
the western world. While he was in India and spreading, the spiritual campaign
had given equal importance to qualified monism (“Vishishta Advaita Vedanta'')
by Sage Ramanujacharya and the "Dualistic form of Vedanta" (“Dvaita Vedanta”) by
Sage Madhvacharya. The logical reason can be summarized as follows.
If he taught "qualified monism" (“Vishishta
Advaita Vedanta'') by Sage Ramanujacharya then everybody will argue that it is
like our “Christianity” religion with “Francis Assisi” as a saint. If Swami
Vivekananda preached a dualistic form of Vedanta (“Dvaita Vedanta”) by Sage
Madhvacharya who asserted that redemption is attained only through the grace of
“God”. Hence both of these philosophies would not have created any historical
and significant impact on the western world. The western world wanted to have a
religion that can accommodate the whole of humanity under one spiritual
umbrella. Unity of existence and the concept of universal religion was the
central theme of the interpretation of “Vedantic Humanism” by Swami
Vivekananda. The inclusiveness of all cultural values and human rights and
accommodation of all religious interfaith dialogues and debates are
contributions of the Philosophy of Vedanta. There are many perspectives on
interfaith relationships. The view of exclusivism or dogmatic approach of
priests and believers that my religion is right and other practices are wrong
is not tenable. The eclectic approach from different systems and religions and
adaptation is not rational and scientific. Every religion in its true form
contains certain eternal universal spiritual values that are primary in nature
and are to be emphasized. Simultaneously every religion also contains cultural,
anthropological, geographical and linguistic aspects which are secondary in
nature. Swami Vivekananda advocated for the adaptation of eternal universal
spiritual values and the exclusion of secondary things. This is called the
universal religion and is the humanistic interpretation of Vedanta. The
non-Dualist form of Vedanta proclaims that all human beings are divine and this
divinity exists with all the creatures of this universe. We will foster
brotherhood and love instead of hurting others since all creatures of this
world belong to the same and are part of the ultimate reality. Sage
Sankaracharya explain this absolute reality as one in the following sentence,
“Brahma satyam jagat mithya, jivo brahmaivva na
parah”
Which says that there is only one absolute
reality the level of the concept of reality in Vedanta, not two. To be
considered to be absolutely real there are three conditions to be taken into
consideration. If there is something which remains the same in the past,
present and future “Thrikalathitha” transcend the limitation of time,
space and causation. There is nothing in this world that doesn’t change
according to time. Even the universe that we are living in is 13.8 billion
years old and before the big bang, it did not exist and may after billions of
years it will not exist. So the universe itself is transient and it is not
absolute. Anything which comes in the existence sometime in the past may be
billions of years back and may vanish or exhaust after billions of years.
It is only relative it cannot be absolute. So anything that belongs to time is
limited by the framework of time, space and causation cannot be absolute and it
is only relative.
This is the logic behind Vedanta which says
“Jagath Mithya”. The word “Maya” and “Mithya” are terribly misunderstood and
are wrongly translated as illusions. Swami Vivekananda, in one of his talks in
England, delivered the true meaning of “Mithya” and corrected this wrong
translation of the word Maya and Mithya as an illusion. In the English language
illusion could mean “you see something where nothing exists, a pure and
non-existent entity that the image you see in front of you is an illusion”.
Vedanta doesn’t state the world is an illusion and explains that the world is
only relative and all of us are relative and even our “God” is relative. The
universe may exist for 20 billion years or more and all are equally relative.
Insects may live for a few minutes so even the insects and all of us are within
the realm of relativity. This is the true meaning of “Jagath Mithya”. From the
scientific point of view, this world is an illusion, therefore, the universe
belongs to time, we all belong to time and it doesn’t mean that it is
nonexistent. Moreover, anything which is nonexistent we cannot even conceive
of, cannot never even intellectually conceive of. We cannot think about
anything which cannot even exist as an idea which cannot even be conceptualized.
So we can think of something which comes within our experience of the relative
world that we mistake to be real because we have not realized the truth.
According to Vedanta “Brahman” is the only absolute reality and there was never
a time when Brahman did not exist.
The famous illustration is the “Snake &
Rope” analogy which was described by “Sage Nagarjuna” in his scripture “Mula
Madhyamaka Karika” who was a great Indian thinker belonging to the “Mahayana
Sect of Buddhism”. If there is not enough light in the room and you see an
object lying in front of you may appear to be a snake. It was really a
piece of rope when you brought light into the room. This wrong notion happened
under the cover of darkness. This does not mean that the object snake never exists.
It exists in the forest, not in this room. What happens here is when we see a
snake and observe its shape and colour and when we see the rope in front of us
we superimpose the snake idea on the piece of rope which we could not differ
due to the absence of brightness. We wouldn't mistake the piece of rope for the
snake if there were enough light and the observation of the snake is
nonexistent. Similarly, we mistake this world's names and forms for something
absolutely real. But we look at the very world without using the prism of names
and forms and causation you can see only Brahman. When we look at the same
world in association with names and forms we mistake this world to be real.
Vedanta explains that the world is real only in a relative sense, not in the absolute
sense. It is not absolutely nonexistent but it is not absolutely existent
either; it is only relative. Anything to be called absolutely reality should be
the same in the past, present and future. According to Vedanta “Brahman” is the
only absolute reality and there was never a time when Brahman did not exist.
Since it was never born and there will not be a time when Brahman will not
exist. The Sages and Seers are watching this world as Brahman, which is only
one reality.
Vedanta further elucidates that it should be beyond six changes
(“Shad vikaratheetha”). Vedanta says that,
“Jayathe asthi padhathi viparinamathi
apaksheeyadhe nashyanthi”
This means that something that is born, exists,
grows, evolves, decays, dies and disappears and these are the six unavoidable
changes found in this empirical world. All living beings are subjected to these
types of transformations. Something that is born is a change; it is a transition
from a state of nonexistence to a state of existence. These transformations are
inevitable and they are reborn again. Hence anything which is subjected to
transformation cannot be real.
Again Vedanta emphasizes that,
“Thrishu kaleshu yadh na vyavicharathih sadhevah
sathyam”.
This means that everything that changes
according to time is only relative and is not absolutely real.
All living creatures undergo these changes,
especially human beings. We experience the three aspects of the waking world,
dream world and state of deep sleep or dreamless sleep. If we take the case of
human beings in the waking state, we see and experience different kinds of
objects through our senses. When the five senses come in contact with the mind
we perceive things. In a dream state, we see and imagine things and the mind is
projecting all these experiences. While in the deep sleep state we do not
experience anything and only after waking up do we experience that we had a
nice sleep. and this was recorded by an ontological reality. These
changes only regard external experiences and the same person witnesses external
subjects in all these states. A dream state is the re-experience and rehearsal
of what we had experienced in the state of wakefulness. There is an
ontological reality and eternal witness record these developments. There is a
“changeless experiencer” and “seer” who experiences these changes. According to
Vedanta, this changeless experiencer” is our own “true self”. This
“experiencer” is beyond this body, mind, intellect and external objects and
witnesses all these activities and developments. Everything else is changing
and it is only relative. We are not this body and when the body perishes the
immutable imperishable reality continues to exist which is called the “Atman”
and it is the substratum of everything. The transformation of the body
continuously is happening from baby, childhood, teenager, youth and old age and
may live for 100 years. It is a terrible existence that we remain as a skeleton
in the cemetery after death. We are also not this mind because it wavers
according to misery and joy. The intellect is also fluctuating according to
situations and developments.
Since it is a very scientific and rational
statement and powerful affirmation of the Philosophy of Vedanta that cannot be
challenged by any world-famous modern philosophers and psychologists like
William James, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, B.F.
Skinner, Leon Festinger, Walter Michelle and Albert Bandura and even by any of
the most modern philosophers and psychologists. Vedanta can counter any
philosophy and the debates between the Buddhists and Sages and Seers of Vedanta
lasted for over 1000 years and this resulted in the flowering and enrichment of
the Philosophy of Vedanta.