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"I am other than name, form and action.
My nature is ever free!
I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman.
I am pure Awareness, always non-dual."
Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7[1]
Advaita Vedanta (/ʌdˈvaɪtə vɛˈdɑːntə/; Sanskrit: अद्वैत वेदान्त, IAST: Advaita Vedānta) is a Hindu tradition of Brahmanical textual exegesis and philosophy, and a monastic institutional tradition nominally related to the Daśanāmi Sampradaya and propagated by the Smarta tradition. Its core tenet is that jivatman, the individual experiencing self, is ultimately pure awareness mistakenly identified with body and the senses,[2] and non-different ("na aparah") from Ātman/Brahman, the highest Self or Reality.[3][4][5][note 1] The term Advaita literally means "non-secondness", but is usually rendered as "nonduality".[6][7] This refers to the Oneness of Brahman,[8] the only real Existent, and is often equated with monism.[note 2]
Advaita Vedanta is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience.[note 3] It states that moksha (liberation from 'suffering' and rebirth)[9][10] is attained through knowledge of Brahman, recognizing the illusoriness of the phenomenal world and disidentification from body-mind and the notion of 'doership',[note 4] and by acquiring vidyā (knowledge)[11] of one's true identity as Atman/Brahman,[1][12][13][14] self-luminous (svayam prakāśa)[note 5] awareness or Witness-consciousness.[15][note 6] This knowledge is acquired through Upanishadic statements such as tat tvam asi, "that['s how] you are," which destroy the ignorance (avidyā) regarding one's true identity by revealing that (jiv)Ātman is non-different from immortal[note 7] Brahman.[note 1]
The Advaita vedanta tradition modifies the Samkhya-dualism between Purusha (pure awareness or consciousness) and Prakriti ('nature', which includes matter but also cognition and emotion) as the two equal basic principles of existence.[16][17] It proposes instead that Atman/Brahman (awareness, purusha) alone is ultimately real and, though unchanging,[18] is the cause and origin of the transient phenomenal world (prakriti). In this view, the jivatman or individual self is a mere reflection or limitation of singular Ātman in a multitude of apparent individual bodies.[19] It regards the material world as an illusory appearance (maya) or "an unreal manifestation (vivarta) of Brahman,"[20] the latter as proposed by the 13th century scholar Prakasatman of the Vivarana school.[21]
Advaita Vedanta is often presented as an elite scholarly tradition belonging to the orthodox Hindu Vedānta[note 8] tradition, emphasizing scholarly works written in Sanskrit;[22] as such, it is an "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture."[23] Yet contemporary Advaita Vedanta is yogic Advaita, a medieval and modern syncretic tradition incorporating Yoga and other traditions, and producing works in vernacular.[22] The earliest Advaita writings are the Sannyasa Upanishads (first centuries CE), the Vākyapadīya, written by Bhartṛhari (second half 5th century,[24]) and the Māndūkya-kārikā written by Gauḍapāda (7th century).[25] Gaudapada adapted philosophical concepts from Buddhism, giving them a Vedantic basis and interpretation.[26] The Buddhist concepts were further Vedanticised by Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), who is generally regarded as the most prominent exponent of the Advaita Vedānta tradition,[27][28][29][30] though some of the most prominent Advaita-propositions come from other Advaitins, and his early influence has been questioned.[31][32][note 9] Adi Shankara emphasized that, since Brahman is ever-present, Brahman-knowledge is immediate and requires no 'action' or 'doership', that is, striving (to attain) and effort.[33][34][35] Nevertheless, the Advaita tradition, as represented by Mandana Misra and the Bhamati school, also prescribes elaborate preparatory practice, including contemplation of the mahavakyas,[34][36][37][38][note 9] posing a paradox of two opposing approaches which is also recognized in other spiritual disciplines and traditions.[34][39][note 10]
Shankara's prominence as the exemplary defender of traditional Hindu-values and spirituality started to take shape only centuries later, in the 14th century, with the ascent of Sringeri matha and its jagadguru Vidyaranya (Madhava, 14th cent.) in the Vijayanagara Empire,[note 11] While Adi Shankara did not embrace Yoga,[40] the Advaita-tradition by then had accepted yogic samadhi as a means to still the mind and attain knowledge, explicitly incorporating elements from the yogic tradition and texts like the Yoga Vasistha and the Bhagavata Purana,[41] culminating in Swami Vivekananda's full embrace and propagation of Yogic samadhi as an Advaita means of knowledge and liberation.[42][43] In the 19th century, due to the influence of Vidyaranya's Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha,[44] the importance of Advaita Vedānta was overemphasized by Western scholarship,[45] and Advaita Vedānta came to be regarded as the paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality, despite the numerical dominance of theistic Bhakti-oriented religiosity.[46][47][45][note 9] In modern times, Advaita views appear in various Neo-Vedānta movements.[48]
- ^ a b Comans 2000, p. 183.
- ^ Tattvabodha 33, International Vedanta Mission
- ^ Menon 2012.
- ^ Deutsch 1973, p. 3, note 2; p.54.
- ^ Koller 2013, p. 100-101.
- ^ Deutsch 1988, p. 3.
- ^ Milne 1997.
- ^ Sajdek 2019, p. 46.
- ^ Sharma 1995, pp. 8–14, 31–34, 44–45, 176–178.
- ^ Fost 1998, pp. 387–405.
- ^ Nakamura 2004, p. [page needed].
- ^ Deutsch 1973, pp. 48–52.
- ^ Mayeda 2006, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Lipner 2000, p. 68.
- ^ Lipner 2000, p. 60.
- ^ Deutsch & Dalvi 2004, p. 8.
- ^ King 1995, p. 77.
- ^ King 1995, p. 78.
- ^ Indich 2000, p. 50.
- ^ Nicholson 2010, p. 27.
- ^ Mayeda 2006, pp. 25–27.
- ^ a b Allen 2017.
- ^ King 2002, p. 129-130.
- ^ Nakamura 2004, p. 426.
- ^ Nakamura 2004, p. 3.
- ^ Nakamura 2004, p. 13, 691.
- ^ Olivelle 1992, pp. x–xi, 8–10, 17–18.
- ^ Phillips 1998, p. 332, note 68.
- ^ Nakamura 2004, pp. 221, 680.
- ^ Madaio 2017.
- ^ Hacker 1995, p. 29–30.
- ^ King 2002, p. 128.
- ^ Dubois 2013, p. xvii.
- ^ a b c Barua 2015, p. 262.
- ^ Mayeda 1992, p. 182 (Up.I.18.103-104).
- ^ Deutsch 1988, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Comans 2000, pp. 125–142.
- ^ Mayeda 1992, p. xvii.
- ^ Fiordalis 2021.
- ^ Fiordalis 2021, p. 24, note 12.
- ^ Madaio 2017, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Rambachan 1994.
- ^ Nicholson 2010, p. [page needed].
- ^ Nicholson 2010, pp. 160.
- ^ a b Suthren Hirst 2005, p. 3.
- ^ Sharma 2006, p. 38–43, 68–75.
- ^ King 2013, p. 128–132.
- ^ King 2002, pp. 119–133.
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