Introduction to Vedanta – Part I
4 years ago by SVBF
M. R. Dwarakanath
Vedanta literally means the end of the Vedas. Vedas are four in number; they are: Rg, Yajus, Sama and Atharva. Each of the Vedas is divided into four sections – Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads. The Samhita portion eulogizes various deities useful in worship. The Brahmanas deal with sacrificial incantations and the methodology of sacrifice. Sacrifices are undertaken by a member in the stage of a householder, under the direction of a priest. The Aranyakas consist of material for deep reflection in the solitude of a forest by the householder who having discharged his responsibility to society has embarked on introspection into the spiritual realm. The Aranyakas transition smoothly into the Upanishads which deal with the nature of reality, the self and the supreme.
The Upanishads are many. Some reckon them at 108 and others claim them to be innumerable. However ten of these are considered to be of sufficient merit, both Sankaracarya and Madhvacarya have written commentaries on them. Another eight have been widely quoted by the Acaryas. Upanishads, being a part of the Vedas, are regarded to not have originated from ordinary human intellect. They are believed to have been received as revelation by various sages while in deep meditation. The Vedas are believed to be ever present in space as divine vibrations and these vibrations were picked up by the sages when their intuition was tuned to these vibrations. This is analogous to a radio receiver tuned to the right frequency that picks up a particular broadcast. The Vedas have been passed down over generations by an oral tradition. The Upanishads are believed to form the Jnana Kanda or the knowledge portion while the rest of the Vedas are regarded as Karma Kanda or the ritual (action) portion. There is no unanimity of opinion in making this distinction.
The Brahma Sutras is also known by other names – Vedanta Sutras, Uttara Mimamsa etc. The composition of Brahma Sutras is attributed to Sage Badarayana Vyasa. Vyasa means to divide and the name stuck as Vyasa divided the Vedas into four branches, and entrusted each of the branches to one of his pupils for safe keeping. The epic Mahabharata is believed to be the work of Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. It is not clear whether Badarayana and Krishna Dvaipayana are the same or different personages.
The Upanishads being many and revealed by various sages appear to put forward divergent views about the nature of reality, the world, the souls and the Supreme. Sage Badarayana Vyasaundertook the task of harmonizing these apparently divergent views into a single unified view. This work is in the form of aphorisms or sūtrās which was a traditional way in which all philosophical works were written in ancient India. The sūtrās are required to be terse, free from any ambiguity, meaningful, multifaceted, error free and without excess verbiage. The Brahma Sūtrās are certainly laconic and meet many other criteria expected of a sūtrā , yet they are not unambiguous. Given the pithy nature of the sūtrās , it is not at all surprising that there should be no less than twenty-one separate interpretations of the sūtrās even by the time of Madhvacharya.
The text is divided into four chapters with each chapter further divided into four subchapters. Each subchapter is thematically unified and within each subchapter various topics are discussed. A topic may consist of one or more sūtrās . The total number of sūtrās range from 541 to 564 and the number of topics range from 156 to 223. Such is the divergence in its interpretation. The difficulty arises because in Vyasa’s work there are no delimiters to indicate the boundaries of sūtrās or adhikaranas or topics. Each adhikarana is supposed to be a commentary on a specific passage from one of the Upanishads, called visayavakya or the subject matter. Again there is no direct reference from Vyasa as to what the visayavakya is supposed to be. On many topics, there is no unanimous consent from the various interpreters about the topic at hand. Some interpreters have even suggested passages from the Gita and even the Puranas to be the topic. Some of the sūtrās are interpreted by a commentator as representing a dissenter’s point-of-view, while others consider it to be stating the final verdict. Such are the difficulties in the interpretation of the sūtrās .
The system of philosophy based on the Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana is termed Vedanta philosophy. There is much divergence of ideas in Vedanta. They are: one vs. many, unity vs. difference, self vs. god centrism, transcendence and immanence, Karma vs. Bhakti vs. Jnana leading to Moksha. The subject is at once philosophical and intellectual filled with wonder and mystery. It is also theology and soteriology. In popular literature, one gets the idea that Vedanta and Advaita are synonymous. This is an unfortunate impression left in the minds of many, especially in the west, because of the early effort by such luminaries as Swami Vivekananda to promote Advaita Vedanta in the west.
Prasthāna-traya constitutes the three source books of Vedanta with other corroborating texts acting as secondary texts. These are the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Although, all the interpreters of Vedanta accept the Upanishads to be un-authored, they do not attach equal importance to all the Upanishads. Ten Upanishads have been singled out for commentary by both Sankara and Madhva. The Upanishads from earlier periods thematically differ somewhat from the later Upanishads.
The Bhagavad Gῑtā appears in the Bheesma Parva of the great epic,Mahabharata. It is set on the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the form of a dialog between Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna the scion of the Pandavas was eager to fight against his cousins to regain the kingdom that was rightfully theirs, but develops cold feet at the prospect of having to fight and kill his preceptors, kith and kin. In this setting, Krishna instructs Arjuna about his moral duty and social responsibility as a member of the warrior class. This text is very much a situational instruction manual with metaphysics and theology added. Krishna knew that Arjuna was initially arrogant and vindictive but had a change of heart after seeing the arrayed army consisting of people whom he loved and revered. He tries to justify his change of heart by appealing to higher moral and ethical standards. Krishna gave various reasons why Arjuna cannot retreat now; instead, he advised how Arjuna had to discharge his responsibility of upholding dharma. Krishna’s teachings dwell on dharma, professional responsibility, life and death, attachment and hate, renunciation, right knowledge, right conduct, right devotion, faith, the spirit, God and many other topics. Thus, the Bhagavad Gita has come to be called the essence of the Upanishads. It is perhaps the most recognized book in the west about Indian philosophical traditions.
The Bhagavad Gita is a metrical work in 700 verses written in a lucid style. It is easy to understand with a working knowledge of Sanskrit. However, even this text has been interpreted variously. The Gita appears to be a field guide for navigating the world one lives in. Its principle message seems to be one of how to control one’s emotions so as not to get overpowered by them. Excessive attachment or hate can have disastrous consequences and thus such emotions have to be tamped down. As one cannot remain without action, Krishna suggested engagement without attachment in discharging one’s duties and responsibilities. In the course of his message, he touched on the inevitability of death, the eternality of spirit, the need for devotion and faith in work. Mostly, it is about viewing life with the right attitude. Krishna takes the moderate approach to food and fasting, sleep and wakefulness, meditation in a comfortable position etc. The Gita places great emphasis on Nishkama Karma or action without attachment. Duty for duty’s sake! Such actions are not binding. They do not generate reactions. On the theistic plane, Krishna revealed his universal form to Arjuna and urged Arjuna to heed him, worship him and take refuge in him, and in turn, Krishna promised to deliver him of his sins.
The Purāṇās are stories of yore. There are eighteen major Puranas and many more minor ones. The Puranas are like parables. They combine history, legend and morals into gigantic novels. They too teach the same concepts present in the three source books but in an easy narrative. However, the Puranas have not been preserved with the same care given to the Vedas in their guardianship. The Vedas have been preserved in its original form with many layers of cross-checks even though it has been an oral tradition until the modern times. The Puranas have not had the same checks; folklore and family-lore have unfortunately crept into them. Thus, the statements in the Puranas cannot be totally trusted although they do provide useful insights in simple to understand narratives.
The epics are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These are epic size stories of clans engaged in pursuit of dharmic life. They too are both useful and not utterly reliable like the Puranas for philosophical discourse.
The Agamas are manuals for conducting worship, temple consecration, and other rituals. They form part of the scriptures. Other scriptural texts include the Dharma Shastras which deal with the code of conduct of individuals in conformity with their social standing and station in life. They address both moral and spiritual conduct and responsibilities. They are very detailed in nature and address every contingency in life. The Manu Smrti is a law manual.
The Vedanta Schools are many. There are as many schools as there are interpretations of the Vedanta Sutras. As mentioned earlier, there were at least twenty-one different commentaries on the Sutras by the time of Madhva. Some of these interpreters are: Upavarsha, Bhartrhari, Bodhayana, Tanka, Dramida, Bhartrprapanca, Sabaraswamin, Bhartrmitra, Srivatsanka, Sundarapandya, Brahmadatta, Jnananidhi, Gaudapada, Govinda, Mandana Mishra, Sankara, Guhadeva, Kapardin, Bharuchi, Dravidacarya, Yadavaprakasha, Ramanuja, Bhaskara, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Baladeva etc. There may be an occasional duplication of names here as some of them were known by more than one name. The extant commentaries are from the time of Sankara.
The post Sankara schools of Vedanta are the following:
Advaita Darshana of Sankara – 8th century CE
Bhedabheda Darshana of Bhaskara – 8/9th century CE
Vishistadvaita Darshana of Ramanuja – 11th century CE
Tattvavada of Madhva – 13th century CE
Dvaitadvita Darshana of Nimbarka – 13th century CE
Shuddhadvaita of Vallabha – 15/16th century CE
Acintya Bhedabheda of Caitanya Mahaprabhu – 16th century CE
Gaudiya Vaishnavism of Baladeva – 17th century CE
At the present time, the three systems due to Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva have a wide following especially in South India, where they dominate. There are pockets of regional following for the schools of Nimbarka, Vallabha, Caitanya and Baladeva. Sankara’s Advaita enjoys the largest following and Caitanya’s followers may be seen in the Hare Krishna movement. The later systems seem to have taken a tilt in the direction of Vaishnavism. The three systems that form the core of the articles to follow are known as – Mata-traya or threefold sects. These systems include both philosophy and religion. At an intellectual level, they represent philosophy as they discuss the nature of reality, God, souls and their interrelationships. At an emotional level, they are religious? as the focus is God, worship and salvation. They are sects as the followers are mostly born into them. Rare is the person who switches to a system different from the one born into, out of conviction of the greater validity of the chosen system.