The Advaita Worldview

The Advaita Worldview
Author: Anantanand Rambachan
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 079148131X

2007 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title In this book, Anantanand Rambachan offers a fresh and detailed perspective on Advaita Vedanta, Hinduism's most influential and revered religious tradition. Rambachan, who is both a scholar and an Advaitin, attends closely to the Upanisads and authentic commentaries of Sankara to challenge the tradition and to reconsider central aspects of its current teachings. His reconstruction and reinterpretation of Advaita focuses in particular on the nature of brahman, the status of the world in relation to brahman, and the meaning and relevance of liberation. Rambachan queries contemporary representations of an impersonal brahman and the need for popular, hierarchical distinctions such as those between a higher (para) and lower (apara) brahman. Such distinctions, Rambachan argues, are inconsistent with the non-dual nature of brahman and are unnecessary when brahman's relationship with the world is correctly understood. Questioning Advaita's traditional emphasis on renunciation and world-denial, Rambachan expands the understanding of suffering (duhkha) and liberation (moksa) and addresses socioeconomic as well as gender and caste inequalities. Positing that the world is a celebrative expression of God's fullness, this book advances Advaita as a universal and uninhibited path to a liberated life committed to compassion, equality, and justice.

Advaita Vedānta

Advaita Vedānta
Author: Eliot Deutsch
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1980-12-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780824802714

Advaita Vedānta is the most important philosophical system in India. It involves a discipline of spiritual experience as well as a technical philosophy, and since the time of Samkara in the ninth century some of the greatest intellects in India have contributed to its development. In his reconstruction of Advaita Vedānta, Eliot Deutsch has lifted the system out of its historical/cultural context and has concentrated attention on those ideas which have enduring philosophical value. He has sought to formulate systematically one's understanding of what is of universal philosophical interest in Vedantic thought. Professor Deutsch's work covers the basic metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical ideas of Vedānta. Students and scholars of Western as well as of Indian philosophy will be interested in the lucid, organized manner in which the material is presented and in the fresh interpretations given. The book is written in a critical rather than simply "pious" spirit and should thus also be of interest to anyone interested in deepening his or her appreciation and understanding of the richness of Indian thought.

The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta

The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta
Author: Arvind Sharma
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2008-01-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0271039469

Philosophy of religion, as we know it today, emerged in the West and has been shaped by Western philosophical and theological trends, while the philosophical tradition of India flowed along its own course until the late nineteenth century, when active, if tentative, contact was established between the West and the East. This book provides a definite focus to this interaction by investigating issues raised in Western philosophy of religion from the perspective of Advaita Ved&_nta, the influential school of Indian thought. In promoting the emergence of a cross-cultural philosophy of religion, Arvind Sharma focuses on John H. Hick and his well-known work The Philosophy of Religion as representative of modern Western philosophy of religion, and on &_ankara, along with his modern successors such as M. Hiriyanna and S. Radhakrishnan, as representative of Advaita Ved&_nta.

Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita

Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita
Author: S. M. Srinivasa Chari
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1999
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9788120815353

This book presents a comprehensive exposition of Vedanta Desika`s Satadusani, a polemical classic of Visistadvaita Vedanta, devoted to the criticism of the doctrines of Advaita Vedanta. The thought-provoking arguments found in the Sixty-six Vedas of the original text are brought together, analysed and discussed in a systematic manner under eight broad headings: Pramanas Perception; Consciousness; Individual self; Brahman; Universe; Avidya; Sadhana and Mukti.In presenting the dialectics of Vedanta Desika in a vigorous and scholastic form the author deals with numerous issues that the Vadas raise--epistemological, ontological, religious, and ethical. Thought the issues are many, each discussing a specific problem, they are ultimately directed to refute the central doctrine of Advaita, viz., that Brahman which is pure consciousness devoid of all determinations, constitutes the sole Reality and every thing else is illusory. While carefully tracing the fundamental differences between the two systems of Vedanta, he points out that the differences are mostly due to the difference in the stand-points they adopt.Faithfully conforming to the original in letter and spirit, this work will serve as a useful introduction to the study of the Sribhasya of Ramanuja. A distincy contribution to the study of classical Hindu thought, this book should be of interest to students of Philosophy in general and Vedanta in particular.

The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy

The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy
Author: Candradhara Śarmā
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Total Pages: 300
Release: 1996
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9788120813120

The present work is a comparative and critical study of Shunyavada, Vijnanavada, Advaita Vedanta and Kashmira Shaivism, the four main systems of Advaitavada or spiritual non-dualism which has been the most celebrated tradition in Indian philosophy. It is based on the author s study of original sources and when dealing with fundamental issues original texts are either quoted or referred to. The points of similarity and of difference among these systems are discussed in detail and with great clarity. Professor Sharma, with his unique gift of expressing abstruse metaphysical thoughts in a clear language, has eminently succeeded in correcting some misconceptions and in clarifying many difficult and obscure points about these systems. This work is indeed a masterly survey of Mahayana Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta and kashmira Shaivism which brings into rominence the author s original contributions some of which are of outstanding merit for a correct appreciation of the relation among these systems.The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy will be found eminently useful by the students of philosophy in universities and colleges and also by all those who are interested in Buddhism, Vedanta and Kashmira Shaivism and who want a clear and accurate exposition of the development of the Advaita tradition in Indian philosophical thought.

Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta

Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta
Author: Arvind Sharma
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0791484300

Indian philosophy bases itself on three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Deep sleep, or susupti, plays an important role in Advaita Vedanta, the major philosophical school that advocates a doctrine of pure consciousness. Explaining and savoring this paradox, this book shows how the concept of deep sleep can be used in Advaita Vedanta to reveal a philosophical insight, validate an argument, illustrate a moral, or adorn a tale. Arvind Sharma explores why sleep is a phenomenon that philosophers should be interested in and examines it in classical Hindu religious texts, including the Upanisads, and in foundational, early, and modern Advaita Vedanta.

Bhāmatī and Vivaraṇa Schools of Advaita Vedānta

Bhāmatī and Vivaraṇa Schools of Advaita Vedānta
Author: Pulasth Soobah Roodurmum
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2002
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9788120818903

This book is an attempt at presenting to the readers a critical analysis of the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta by comparing the views of the Bhamati and the Vivarana Schools, the two most important protagonists of Sankara`s philosophy, with a detailed study of the original text. It begins with a survery of the historical development of Advaitic thought, starting right from the Vedas to end up with the modern period. The author has taken up for discussion in this work the basic concepts of Advaita Vedanta as interpreted by Vacaspati Misra and Prakasatman, encompassing the concepts of Maya, Avidya, Adhyasa, Anirvacaniyata, Bimba-Pratibimba-vada, Vivartavada, the locus of Avidya, Brahmavagati, Jivanmukti, Videhamukiti etc.

Advaita as a Global International Relations Theory

Advaita as a Global International Relations Theory
Author: Deepshikha Shahi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2018-07-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351018019

The academic discipline of International Relations strives to attain a ‘global’ spirit to narrow the cognitive gaps between the West and the Rest. On the one hand, there is the hegemonic presence of mainstream universalist Eurocentric IR theories, and on the other the counter-hegemonic presence of particularist Post-colonial and De-colonial non-Eurocentric IR theories. Nevertheless, both theoretical traditions endorse ‘epistemological dualism’ that essentially separates the ‘theorizing-subject’ from the ‘theorized-object’; thereby failing to bridge the gaps. This book uses the monist schema of ‘subject-object merger’ in the ancient Indian philosophy of Advaita to inaugurate a Global IR theory. In the global theoretical schema of Advaitic monism, the apparent particularist reality is supplemented (not contradicted) with the hidden universalist reality – the net result of which is a reconciliation of dualism with monism at the theoretical-practical level. The possibilities of this reconciliation have not been estimated at either level and as such, this untapped intellectual strategy stands to enrich both Eurocentric IR and non-Eurocentric IR. Shahi establishes Advaita as an alternative epistemological-methodological tool to re-imagine the complex realities of contemporary international politics. This fully fledged Global International Relations Theory will appeal to students of international relations, political theory, administrative theory and philosophy.

The Concept of Bondage and Liberation in SAIVA SIDDHANTA AND ADVAITA

The Concept of Bondage and Liberation in SAIVA SIDDHANTA AND ADVAITA
Author: Harish Damodaran
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2012-12-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1300519231

A unique feature of all the different schools of Indian philosophy is that, irrespective of being orthodox or heterodox, they always struggle to answer the problem of the bondage and the liberation. Both the philosophies; Advaita and Saiva Siddhanta are no exceptions. Together they accept the existence of the bondage that keeps the individual self away from the realization of the absolute self and strive to find the most probable way of breaking down the bonds for gaining the ultimate freedom. This book is a critical approach to compare the ways in which both the schools of Saiva Siddhanta and Advaita attempt to solve the vital problem of bondage and liberation.