Chapter VIII

VEDANTA
(Pre-Shankara)
Sem. Roy O. Plameras
Vedanta
• Veda + Anta – the end of
the Vedas or the
concluding portions of the
Vedas
• Was an idealist quest to solve the
supreme mystery that was supposed
to underlie the world of man’s
experience
 Badarayana
• First systematic expounder of
Vedanta
• Believed to have brought
together a harmonious and
unified system of idealist
philosophy, of the maze of
thought in the Upanishads
Badarayana
• might have lived
anytime during 500 to
200 BCE.
• Badarayana is the
compiler of Brahma
Sutras (an exposition on
Brahman)
Brahmasutra /Vedanta-Sutra
• Work of Badarayana
• Contained about 560
aphorisms
• Asked the question:
1. What is the primal cause
of motion in nature?
 What is an Aphorism?
• Aphorism (pronounced AFF-or-ism) is a
short statement of a general truth,
insight, or good advice. It’s roughly
similar to a “saying.” Aphorisms often use
metaphors or creative imagery to get
their general point across.
 Examples:

• If the shoe fits, wear it.

• The man who moves a mountain begins by
carrying away small stones.
• If you judge a fish by its ability to climb
trees, it will spend its whole life thinking it
is stupid. (Albert Einstein)
Answer: Brahma is the ultimate
principle.
Guadapada
• First systematic expounder of Advaita
(Non-Dualistic) Vedanta
 Gaudapada (c. 500 C.E.)
Gauḍapāda is one of the early
and most reputed philosophers
of the Vedānta school in the
Indian system of thought, who
is believed to have lived
roughly during 500 C.E.
 Ajativida
• The Doctrine of No-Origination
• Fundamental doctrine of
Guadapada
• There is no creation at all
• The world that we know is only
an appearance
• Only the Brahman is real
• This world, being only an appearance
is never created and the Absolute
Brahman being self-existent is non-
created
 Vedanta
• There is neither death nor
birth, neither disappearance
nor appearance; neither
destruction nor production;
neither bondage nor liberation;
there is none who works for
freedom
• None who desires salvation and none
who has been liberated; there is
neither aspirant nor the emancipated
– this is the highest truth
No-Origination

The non-dual appears to

be diverse only through
illusion
Guadapada
• Ordinary people cling to
the view that this world
exists, because they say
that the world is perceived
and there is practical utility
Buddhas, the Enlightened
• Proclaimed origination
from the phenomenal
standpoint for such
ordinary people, but
ultimately speaking, Reality
is No-Origination
Asparshayoga
• Doctrine that is considered
as Guadapada’s contribution
• Based on the Upanishads
but its development is
Guadapada’s contribution
• Based on the concepts found in the
Brihadaranyaka, the Chandogya and
Mandukya, Guadapa’s Non-dual
Absolute with Atman or Brahman can
be realized by Pure knowledge or
Asparshayoga.
 Non-dual Absolute Three Forms

1. Jagrat/Vishva (common to all)

• Its consciousness is of the objects of
the world
• Correspond to the waking state (clear
distinction between subject and object
2. Svapna/Taijasa (Luminous)
• Its consciousness is of objects from
inside man, it corresponds to the dream
state (objects are representations or
images or extramental realities
3. Prajna (Intelligent)
• Concentrated consciousness,
corresponds to the deep Sleep State
(no subject-object duality)
4. Turiya (fourth)
• Being pure and self luminous
Consciousness, it is All-seeing
• Here the God is reached
• The non-dual Absolute (Atman) is realized
• There is no going to or coming from it,
there is a cessation of all duality
• This is bliss, all plurality of the
phenomena ceases here
• This is pure consciousness
• It is Asparshayoga or the
Uncotaminated Meditation.
 Shankara Vedanta

Vedanta
• An idealist quest to show the
mystery behind man’s sense
experience
 Shankara and Ramanuja
• Carried out the path of highly abstract
idealism
Shankara
• Founded a new idealist system known
as Advaita Vedanta, an Absolute Non-
Dualism
 Who is Shankara?
Shankara, also called Shankaracharya, (born
700?, Kaladi village?, India—died 750?,
Kedarnath), philosopher and theologian,
most renowned exponent of the Advaita
Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose
doctrines the main currents of modern
Indian thought are derived.
He wrote commentaries on the
Brahma-sutra, the principal
Upanishads, and the Bhagavadgita,
affirming his belief in one eternal
unchanging reality (brahman) and the
illusion of plurality and differentiation.
Shankara
 Who is Ramanuja?
Ramanuja, also called Ramanujacharya, or
Ilaiya Perumal (Tamil: Ageless Perumal
[God]), (born c. 1017, Shriperumbudur,
India—died 1137, Shrirangam), South
Indian Brahman theologian and
philosopher, the single most influential
thinker of devotional Hinduism.
Ramanuja
• The Upanishads contained
contradictory and divergent
viewpoints because the Upanishads
were not products of one mind nor
of one time
• Believed that the Vedas and the
Upanishads were the one and only
source of knowledge
• In establishing his philosophic system,
he leaned heavily on quotations from
the Srutis and the Smritis
 What is Sruti?

Shruti, (Sanskrit: “What Is Heard”) in

Hinduism, the most-revered body of
sacred literature, considered to be
the product of divine revelation.
Shruti works are considered to have
been heard and transmitted by earthly
sages, as contrasted to Smriti, or that
which is remembered by ordinary
human beings.
 What is Smriti?
Smriti, (Sanskrit: “Recollection”) that class
of Hindu sacred literature based on human
memory, as distinct from the Vedas, which
are considered to be Shruti (literally “What
Is Heard”), or the product of divine
revelation.
• Smriti literature elaborates,
interprets, and codifies Vedic
thought but, being derivative, is
considered less authoritative than
the Vedic Shruti.
 Shankara’s Advaita Theory

Atman/Brahman
• Ultimate Reality, pure consciousness
Brahman
• The Absolute, whose nature was
formed of existence (Sat),
Consciousness (chit) and Bliss (Ananda),
thus known as Sacchidananda, is the
only and pervasive reality
• Associated with its potency (Shakti)
better known as Maya, appears as
the qualified Brahman (Saguna
Brahman) or the Lord (Ishvara), who is
the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer
of this world which is his appearance
 Phenomenal World is Unreal
• Merely illusory
• The central tenet of the teaching of
Shankara
• From this, he came to the conclusion that
the jiva, the individual soul, was Brahman
itself
 Shankara’s Advaita Theory
• Seems to go against the phenomena of our
perception
Shankara
• Explained this in the introduction to his
commentary on the Brahma-Sutra
“Subject and Object – the self and the non-self – are
so radically opposed to each other
in notion and in practical life that it is
impossible to mistake the one for the
other. Yet, we find that the mistake is
universal and we cannot do without this
initial error… When we say, for example,
the mind, we confront the
subject with its own object. The soul is
erroneously identified with a finite body
and mind. The “I” or the ego is not,
therefore, the real self because it is
limited by the conditions of the body and
the soul. But, the body is like any
other material object – merely
appearance. If this is admitted, then the
only reality that remains is the soul which
is nothing but the ultimate Brahman.”
• Thought that the individual jiva was
identified with Brahman but somehow an
apparent contradiction came out
• Found his solution by making jiva a mere
appearance; not a reality
• Thus, he maintained that Brahman
appeared as jiva and the world
• The distinction of objects found in the
world did not really exist
• Brahman and the individual self and the
world are one and the same
Question: How did they appear different?
Answer: Jiva and the world were only
illusions
Maya
• Not pure illusion
• Positive wrong knowledge
• A cross between the real and the
unreal
• Better called superimposition
(adhyana)
 Shankara

• In his commentary on Guadapada’s

karika wrote that when a piece of rope
appeared as a snake, there was merely
a false imposition (adhyasa), that the
rope was mistaken for a snake
• The rope was the ground on which the
snake was superimposed
• When the right knowledge dawns, that
is, when one realizes that the object
perceived as a snake was not a snake,
but was nothing but a rope,
the illusionary appearance of the
snake did not bring a real snake into
existence, rather the snake was proved
to be non-existent
• It was merely an illusion
• Similarly, we take Brahman to be the
world.
• Brahman is the ground on which the
world appears through Maya
• When right knowledge sets in and the
essential unity of the jiva with the
Brahman is realized, Maya vanishes
• It should be observed, however, that the
snake existed as a snake while the
observer had not realized the truth
(that it was a rope).
• When real knowledge dawned on the
observer, the snake concept; only the
rope remained
• The condition of the world was the same
• With the attainment of the
knowledge, one would realize that
the world was dependent on
Brahman which was the truth, the
only Reality
• The phenomenal world was unreal (only
an appearance) but the appearance was
real
From Phenomenal Standpoint
• The world was quite real
• Not an illusion
• Real in a practical sense
From the Ultimate Standpoint
• The world was unreal/an illusion
The situation is comparable to a distinction
between a dream state and the waking
state
• When one is dreaming, all things seen in
the dream are quite true as long as the
dream lasts
• When one awakens, one realizes that the
things he saw in the dream were not real
• Similarly, the world is quite real to
one who has not arrived at true
knowledge, but when knowledge
dawns, he realizes that the world is
just a dream.
 Maya

• Created the phenomenal world

• As long as one was caught by its power,
he was ignorant by the real nature of
things; he believed the world to be
creation of God, but when he attained
knowledge, he rea-
lized that nothing was really created and
that jiva was Brahman.
Brahman is seen from two different
standpoints
1. From the viewpoint of liberation,
Brahman is unconditional
2. From the standpoint of bondage,
Brahman appears to be the cause of
the universe
Shankara Advaita’s 2 Contradictory
Viewpoints
1. The first approach was in regard to
Absolute Truth; this was meant for the
intellectual elite who belonged to the
upper class
2. The second was concerned with the
worldly and practical; it was meant for
 the unenlightened common people
Advaita Vedanta
• Advocates the realization of the
absolute identity of the human soul
and the Brahman
Jnana/the cognition of Reality
• The way towards identity with Brahman
Knowledge
• Attained through the right discrimination
between the real and the unreal
• This can be done by control of the sense
and the mind and the giving up of all
earthly attachments
Shankara gives the following characteristics
of Maya:
1. It is something natural and unconscious
2. It is the inherent Power or Potency
(Shakti) of Brahman. It is coeval with
Brahman, absolute, dependent on
Brahman, and inseparable from
Brahman.
Maya is energized and acts as a
medium of the projection of this world
of plurality on the non-dual ground of
Brahman.
3. It is beginningless
4. It is something positive to emphasize that
fact that it is not merely negative though not
real
2 Aspects
• Negative – when it conceals reality for it
acts as a screen to hide Reality
• Positive – when it projects the world of
plurality on Brahman ground
5. It is indescribable and indefinable for it
is neither real nor unreal nor both. It is
said to be not real for it cannot exist apart
from Brahman; it is
not unreal for it projects the world of
appearance; it is not real for it vanishes
when knowledge sets in; it is not unreal for
it is true as long as it lasts.
6. It has phenomenal and relative character.
It is an appearance.
7. It is superimposition; a wrong cognition
Superimposition
• The mixing up of truth and error, that is
giving of attributes to an object that does
not have those attributes; the notion of a
thing in something else.
Maya
• Produces false notions of plurality
and difference
8. It disappears with right knowledge
 Shankara

• Did not condemned the world to be utterly

unreal
• Calls it unreal to emphasize the ultimate
unreality of the world
• The world is but an appearance, not
ultimately real
• It is a reality for practical purpose
• Appearances must have some degree
of truth in it
“No appearance is so low that the
Absolute does not embrace it.”
• It is the real which appears, hence every
appearance must have some degree of truth
in it, although none can be absolutely true.
Objection: How can unreal Maya cause the
real Brahman to appear in the phenomenal
world?
Shankara Answers: A person entangled in
mud can get out of it through the help of mud
alone. There are many instances in life to
show that even unreal things appear to most
real things: a reflection in a mirror is unreal
but it can correctly represent an object.
Also, if one imagines that he was bitten by a
snake, the imagination results in paling,
trembling and, sweating.
Many Critics
• Failed to understand the real significance of
the Maya Doctrine
 Real and Unreal
• The correct understanding of their true
meaning is the key to understand the
Maya concept
Shankara
• The world “real” and “unreal” are taken
in an absolute sense, namely:
“real” means “real” for all times; “unreal”
means absolutely unreal. Thus, if “real”
means “real for all times”, then only the
Brahman can be real in this sense; if “unreal”
means “unreal for all times”, then the world is
not unreal, but rather it is neither real nor
unreal.
The unreal will be something like a barren
woman’s son – a contradiction. The world
is neither real nor unreal, but true for
practical purposes only but it is
ultimately false; its truth is sublated when
true knowledge dawns.
Now, if “reality” would mean “eternal”
and “unreality” would mean non-
eternal, then if Brahman is the only
“real” (“eternal”), then the world is
“unreal” (Non-eternal).
Many Scholars
• Do not agree with Shankara’s view
Radhakhrisnan
“The Upanishads do not yield any
consistent view of the universe. Their
authors were many and not all of them
 Who is Radhakhrisnan?
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, (born
Sept. 5, 1888, Tiruttani, India—
died April 16, 1975, Madras
[now Chennai]), scholar and
statesman who was president
of India from 1962 to 1967.
belonged to the same period, and it is
doubtful whether they all intended to set
forth a simple view of the universe, but
Shankara insists on interpreting the
Upanishads in a single coherent manner.”
 Surendranath Dasgupta

“The main thesis of Shankara consists of

the view that Brahman alone is the
ultimate reality, while everything else is
false. It was interested in the proving that
this philosophy was preached by the
Upanishads; but in the Upanishads
 Who is Surendranath Dasgupta?
S.N. Dasgupta, in full Surendranath
Dasgupta, (born October 1885, Kushtia,
India [now in Bangladesh]—died December
18, 1952, Lucknow, India), Indian
philosopher noted for his authoritative A
History of Indian Philosophy, 5 vol. (1922–
55).
Surendranath Dasgupta
there are many passages which are
clearly of basic and dualistic support, and
no account of linguistic trickery could
convincingly show that those would yield
a meaning which would support
Shankara’s Thesis.
 Post Shankara
RAMANUJA VEDA
 Shankara’s Advaita
• Challenged by other Vedantins
• Ramanuja was the most famous
Vishistadvaita (Identity-in-Difference)
• Ramanuja’s view
• The Absolute is an organic unity, an
identity which is qualified by diversity
 God or the Absolute
• Concrete whole consisting of interrelated
and interdependent subordinate elements,
namely matter and souls
• Immanent and controlling spirit who holds
together in unity the dependent matter and
individual souls (subordinate elements)
 3 Realities for Ramanuja

1. Matter 2. Soul 3. God

All these are substances
Matter and Soul
• Real but dependent on God
• In relation to God are considered as
attributes of God
• Are as the body of God and God is as soul to
them, God being the soul of nature as well as the
soul of souls
Human Soul
• Is soul in relation to the human body yet in
relation to God, the human soul is the body of
God and God is the soul
 Ramanuja
• The relation which exists between the body
and the soul is an inner, inseparable, vital,
and organic relation
Body
• Is that which is controlled supported, and
utilized for its purpose by a soul
• In the Organic Relation of the three
relation, Matter and soul are
controlled, the supported, the
attributes of God and God is their
substance
Matter and Souls
• Are eternal with God
The relation of God with matter and soul is
external and eternal
God
• The material and the instrumental cause of the
World
• The immanent, as well as the
transcendent ground of the world.
• Immanent in the whole world as its inner
controller
• God transcends the world in His Essence
 Ramanuja

• God is identified with the Absolute, this

Absolute is the Brahman, but this
Brahman is a justified unity, God stands
for the whole universe; matter and
souls form His body to which God is the
soul
• Believes that the individual soul is
essentially identical with God and shares
omniscience and bliss with Him
• The individual soul is also different from
God for it is an atomic mode of God
And because it is identical with as well as
different from God, the relation between
them is also that of identity and difference
• Both identity and difference cannot be
separately and equally real nor can they
have equal importance
 Identity

• The principal thing; always qualified

by difference, which has no separate
existence except as it determines the
identical subject to which it belongs
as an attribute
Ramanuja advocates the view of
Vishitadvaita or Identity-in-and-
through-and-because-of-difference or
Identity-as-qualified—by-difference.
 Summary

• This view upolds that individual souls

are organically related to the Absolute
• These souls form the body of God and
have no independent existence apart
from the Absolute
• Souls have their own individuality
and merely qualify God
• As essence, they are one with God;
as attributes, they are different from
God
If one looks deeply in Ramanuja’s concept of
God, one will find his concept of God as
Saguna Brahman in Shankara, the highest
manifestation of the Absolute (Nirguna
Brahman) in the world. It is to the credit of
Ramanuja that later religious traits picked up
their concept of God from him.
Dhanyavaad
(Thank
you!)