Author: V. Ravi

Publisher: MANBLUNDER

Published:

Total Pages: 49

ISBN-13:

Vedānta is derived from Veda. Veda means knowledge and anta means conclusive. Therefore Vedānta means conclusive knowledge. Vedānta is a philosophy that clears doubts about the Brahman. Knowledge here means not the worldly knowledge. Worldly knowledge is materialistic in nature and is acquired for material prosperity. Worldly knowledge is all about temporal and corporeal objects. Spiritual knowledge is different from worldly knowledge. Spiritual knowledge deals with infinite and eternal Brahman. Worldly knowledge has different dimensions. Spiritual knowledge deals only with Eternity that is beyond normal human comprehension. It does not deal with objects. Worldly knowledge is gained by affirmation and spiritual knowledge is gained by negation. Let us take an example. We call a cup as a cup. The teacher tells her students about the cup by physically showing the cup. Therefore, students know how a cup would be. In spirituality, this is not possible. No one can really show God and say this is God. No body has seen the Brahman as He is beyond normal human comprehension. But, the potency of the Brahman is realized through experience. Material knowledge does not deal with omnipresence, whereas the spiritual knowledge deals only with omnipresence. Vedānta is a very deep subject, involving different schools of thought, different interpretations and different aspects. The ultimate goal of Vedānta is to realise the Brahman within. Here comes the difference between religion and spirituality. Religions consider God as someone with different shapes and forms and different from us, whereas spirituality affirms with authority that God exists everywhere and He is One, not many. Vedānta does not give names and forms to God. It calls Him as the Creator, Brahman, Supreme Soul, Ātman, etc. Vedānta says that spirituality alone leads to eternal joy and happiness, called as bliss. The first step to Vedānta is a simple question “who am I”. Vedānta answers this question from different view points. A spiritually ignorant person cannot realize the Brahman. A religious person also cannot realize the Brahman. Both of them do not have spiritual knowledge. Spirituality exclusively deals in realizing the Brahman, only by negations and affirmations. He cannot be described, as He is beyond description. At the most Brahman can be described sat-cit-ānanda (eternality, purest form of consciousness, bliss), satyam-jñānam-anantam (truth, knowledge and infinite). There are three types of Vedānata philosophy. They are Dvaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita and Advaita. Dvaita, the dualistic philosophy propagated by Mādhvācārya says that the Brahman and individual souls are different. Viśiṣṭādvaita is qualified non-dualism and propagated by Śrī Rāmānuja. According to him, Brahman and soul are different, yet the individual soul is dependent on the Brahman and has to ultimately become one with the Brahman. The third one is Advaita propagated by Śrī Śaṃkarācārya. According to advaita philosophy, individual soul is nothing but the Brahman. All that exists in the world is only the Brahman, thereby asserting the omnipresent nature of the Brahman. It is said that advaita philosophy is the supreme among the three. There is also another school of thought who says that one should begin his spiritual pursuit from dvaita philosophy, progress to viśiṣṭādvaita and end at advaita. Advaita beautifully answers the question ‘who am I’? Advaita says ‘I am That’, where, That refers to the Brahman. For knowing an object, there has to be a knower (the one who is trying to know), the known (the object) and the process of knowing. In Sanskrit, they are known as pramātā, prameya and pramāṇa. While realising the Brahman or the Self, advaita says that both pramātā and prameya (knower and known) are the same Self. This is based on the theory that individual soul is not different from the Supreme Soul, the basic concept of advaita. There are three ways of acquiring knowledge. One is the pratyakṣa pramāṇa or the direct perception, the knowledge acquired through sensory organs. The example is, knowing an elephant by seeing it. The next one is inference or anumāna pramāṇa, knowing something by inference. When there is smoke, there has to be fire. The fire is inferred on seeing the smoke. The third one is through description or śabda pramāṇa. This is by word of mouth, where sound is used to explain an object. Typical example is pointing out to an apple and saying this is an apple. Knowledge about the Brahman can be attained only through inference and descriptive words and not by direct perception. Brahma sūtra, Upaniṣad-s and Bhagavad Gītā make one understand the Brahman by means of negations and affirmations. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (II.iii.6) says, “Now the description of the Brahman. Not this, not this. Because there is no other or more appropriate description than ‘not this’.” The question naturally arises, why this negation. If some one asks showing the sun “is this the Brahman”, the answer has to be not this. By showing fire if some one asks “is this the Brahman”, the answer has to be not this. The fact is that there exists nothing to show as an example for the Brahman. Everything is negated to explain the Brahman because, He is beyond everything. After having negated all the objects to explain the Brahman, Upaniṣad-s proceed to affirm the Brahman. While affirming, they do not refer to objects, but to attributes. For example, Kaṭha Upaniṣad (I.ii.20) says, “aṇoraṇīyānmahato mahīyānātamā”. This means that the Self or the Brahman is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest. Again, Taittirīya Upaniṣad says (II.i.1), “satyaṁjñānamantaṁ brahma”, which means that truth, knowledge and infinity is the Brahman. Śiva Sūtra (I.1) says, “caitanyamātmā”, which means Consciousness is the Brahman. All these go to prove that Brahman is beyond physical description. If we look at the affirmations of Upaniṣad-s, they refer to truth, knowledge, infinity, consciousness, etc, which are all subtle in nature. Sensory organs are of no use in understanding the Brahman, as He has no form. When we are desperate to know Him, then what is the way out? He can be realised only through knowledge. Knowledge dawns at the end of all negations and affirmations. Negations lead to affirmations and affirmations in turn lead to knowledge. Taittirīya Upaniṣad said knowledge is Brahman. Therefore, knowledge is one of the sources, through which Self can be realized. Advaita philosophy is considered as the supreme, as according to advaita, Brahman alone prevails everywhere. There is no second in advaita. Everything is the superimposition on the Brahman, giving rise to various shapes and forms. When one understands the appearance of the universe is illusory in nature and the underlying factor is the Brahman, he is considered as a Self realised person. But this thought does not occur when one begins to pursue the spiritual path. One may claim to be an advaitin, but in reality, he may not. He may understand the fundamental philosophy of non-dualism; but knowledge is different from experience. Advaita says “I am Brahman”. If one simply repeats “I am the Brahman”, he does not become an advatin nor does he become a Self realised person. This is merely his statement. Only when his statement transforms into experience, he is said to have mastered the true advaita philosophy. Therefore, in the initial stages of spirituality, one is bound to feel the difference between the Brahman and his self. This happens because of ignorance. This ignorance can be dissolved not only by acquiring knowledge but also by personal experience. He has to transcend several stages and cross several impediments to ultimately realise, that Brahman and he are one. For this practice is essential. Practice is called sādhana. Sādhana can be explained as the practice that ultimately leads to the goal. Tattvabodha is one of the authoritative scriptures of advaita philosophy, authored by Śrī Śaṅkarācārya meant for the beginners of spirituality. This Sacred Scripture will be highly useful for those who are just entering the spiritual path.