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[Full title: The Six Systems鈥擮rthodox philosophy (4): Vedanta]

Vedanta is also called Uttara-mimamsa or Brahma-mimamsa and has attracted maximum notice, both in the East and in the West. Literally it

means the end, anta, portion of the Veda which forms the Upanisads. Kalidasa uses the term in the invocatory stanza of his Vikramorvasiya in this sense: Vedantesu yam ahur ekapurusam vyapya sthitam rodasi. The Vedic literature is broadly divided into two, the Karmakanda, the ritual and the Jnanakanda, the (spiritual) knowledge. From the Samhitas down to the Aranyakas it is Karmakanda. The Upanisads are the Jnanakanda. Some of the Upanisads themselves are parts of the respective Aranyakas. The author of the Vedanta-sutra or the Brahma-sutra, the base text of the Vedanta philosophy was Badarayana. There is no unanimity about his date. Some place him in the 6 th cen.B.C. while others do so in 400 B.C. and still others in the middle of the 2 nd cen. B.C. The Brahma-sutra has four chapters of which the first establishes Brahman as the Supreme Reality, the second refutes opposite philosophical doctrines, the third outlines the means to obtain the knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-vidya) and the fourth the results of the Brahma-vidya. The Brahma-sutra doctrines are in full agreement with those of the Upanisads. The result: Badarayana expresses his full faith in the Vedas. He accepts one sole entity, Brahman as the Supreme Reality. The greatest contribution of Vedanta philosophy to the global philosophical thinking is the doctrine of Maya, Illusion which covers Brahman and through which the One comes to appear as many. According to Vedanta the creation has its existence only till there is no realization of Brahman. According to Samkhya the visible world is the transformation (parinama) of Prakrti. According to Vedanta it is the mere illusion (vivarta) while the reality is the Brahman, the Supreme Spirit. Among the older authorities on Vedanta Gaudapada is the most well-known. He wrote the Gaudapadiya-karika which in its 215 verses, expounds with cogent arguments the monistic

(Advaita) Vedanta. He is said to be the teacher of Govinda Bhagavatpada (600-650 A.D.), the teacher of the great Sankaracarya . The other noteworthy authority of this system is the great grammarian Bhartrhari who is said to have written a Bhasya, extinct now, on the Brahma-sutra. Sankaracarya in his Bhasya has referred to a philosopher of the name of Bhart prapanca who was of the opinion that Brahman is both One, Advaita and Two, Dvaita. Sankaracarya has referred to a Vrttikara. It is still uncertain as to who this Vrttikara was. Sankara School The most authoritative interpreter of Vedanta is Sankaracarya who is placed by Max Muller and other modern scholars in the period 788-820 A.D. According to the traditional view the period is the second half of the 7 th cen. A.D. (686-720 A.D.). Sankaracarya wrote Bhasyas on the Brhattrayi, also called Prasthanatrayi; the Upanisads, the Srimadbhagavadgita and the Brahma-sutra. The Bhasya on the Brahma-sutra is called Sariraka-bhasya. He also wrote a small work the Atmabodha where in just 67 verses he gave a summary of the Vedanta philosophy according to which Brahman is the Only Reality, the world is unreal and Jiva is not different from Brahman, both of them being identical: Brahma satyam jagan mithya jivo brahmaiva naparah. The Sariraka-bhasya carries on it commentaries by the adherents of two Schools called the Vivarana School and the Bhamati School. The Vivarana School is based on the Pancapadika of Padmapada which is a commentary on the first five Padas, chapters, of which it is available only on the first four sutras. Padmapada belonged to the last part of the 7 th cen. and the beginning of the 8 th cen. A.D. He was a senior pupil of Sankaracarya. Vivarana is a commentary by Prakasatman of the 8 th cen.A.D. (according to Radhakrishnan 1200 A.D.) on the Pancapadikara Vidyaranya, summarized the findings of the gitized S 3 Foundation USA

Vivarana in his Vivaranaprameyasangraha. He is generally identified with Madhava of the 14 th cen.A.D. Commentaries on the Sariraka-bhasya representing the Bhamati School are first the Bhamati of Vacaspatimisra, Kalpataru and the Sastradarpana of Amalananda (13 th cen. A.D.) and Parimala of Appayadiksita (16 th-17 th cen. A.D.). The Sankara School attracted a huge corpus of works; Since the Brahma-sutra, as the title itself would make it clear, is in the sutra, aphoristic style, it is not easy to follow it. It needs detailed elucidation. Apart from Sankara a number of thinkers tried their hand in explaining it, each in his own way, with the result that there came to develop different Schools espousing their views. Sankara's Vedanta follows non-dualism, Advaita, At the hands of others the Vedanta has undergone change. In their case it has come to be qualified with some word or the other and has come to be known by that. We may well take it up one by one. In the last part of the 7 th or the beginning of the 8 th cen. Suresvara traditionally indentified with Mandanamisra who had turned to be a disciple of Sankaracarya after his defeat in a scholarly disquistion wrote the Taittiriyopinsadbhasyavartika, the Brhadaranyakabhasyavartika, the Naiskarmyasiddhi and the Brahmasiddhi. In the 8 th cen. Sarvajnatmamuni wrote the Sanksepasariraka in verse. Avimuktatman or Muktatman, date not known, wrote the work Istasiddhi. In 1180 A.D. wrote Sriharsa the highly scholarly work the Khandanakhandakhadya. In the 14 th cen. A.D. Citsukha wrote the Pratyaktattvadipika which is better known after his name as Citsukhi. In the same century Vidyaranya wrote in verse the Pancadasi as also the Jivanmuktiviveka. In the 15 th cen. Sadananda wrote the Vedantasara which is a good monograph on Advaita Vedanta. A similar type of monograph is the Vedantaparibhasa of Dharmarajadhvarindra of the 16 th cen. which was commented upon by his son Ramakrsna of the 16 th 17 th cenAdDonThe title

of his commentary is Sikhamani. Nyayanirnaya of Anandagiri (14 th cen.) and the Ratnaprabha of Govindananda (15 th cen.) are the commentaries on Sankaracarya's Brahmasutrabhasya. Vijnanabhiksu wrote the commentary Vijnanamrta on the Brahma-sutra. Siddhantamuktavali of Prakasananda (15 th cen.), and the Advaitasiddhi of Madhusudana Sarasvati are two other more wellknown of the works on Advaita. Annambhatta of the 17 th cen. wrote a Bhasya Mitaksara on the Brahmasutra. Suddhadvaita. This owes its origin to Vallabhacarya. According to him Brahman is both saguna and nirguna, with attributes and without attributes. It is the one that really exists, sat, is pure consciousness, cit and ananda, bliss. This way it is saguna. It is devoid of the qualities common beings are endowed with. That way it is nirguna. Individual souls are a part, amsa, of Brahman. They are the sparks of Brahman-fire. So they are non-distinct from Brahman. The apparent distinction between the two is due to the wish of Isvara and not of Maya. Isvara through his own volition invests the individual self with a body as divine as its own self so that it can play to no end. This doctrine accepts the relationship of the type of nayaka-nayika, hero-heroine between Isvara and the Jivatman. The means for achieving the grace of Isvara is total devotion, ananya bhakti and self-surrender, atma-samarpana. In this School the deity to be worshipped is Srikrsna who is worshipped as Gopijanavallabha Govardhananatha or Srinatha. Purusottama, pupil of Vallabha wrote a commentary Bhasyaprakasa on his Bhasya which was commented upon by Yogesvara through his commentary Rasmi. Purusottama's Vedantadhikaranamala is an authoritative text of the Vallabha School. Visistadvaita This School owes its origin to Ramanuja of the 11 th cen. A.D. According tovahir Shisvaraecis the ultimate reality but it iss&

conglomerate of the conscious individual selves (jivatmans) and the inert (jada) world . He got inspiration for his doctrine primarily from the Tamil Gathas of the Alwar saints or the Nathamuni, Yamunacarya ( 10 th cen. A.D.) and other saints of South India. His Bhasya on the Brahma-sutra carries the title Sribhasya on which Sudarsana of the 13 th cen. A.D. wrote a commentary Srutaprakasika. The greatest of the exponents of this School was Venkatanatha Vedantadesika who wrote a commentary Tattvatika on the Sribhasya. Dvaitadvaita This owes itself to Nimbarka of about the 11 th cen. A.D. who wrote a Bhasya the Vedantaparijata on the Brahma-sutra. According to him Brahman is both saguna, with attributes and nirguna, without attributes. The world is its visible form, abhivyakti. It is both distinct and non-distinct from Brahman. The invidual self, Jivatman and Prakrti inhere in it. In this way the School accepts both Dvaita, dualism and Advaita, monism. Jivatman even in emancipated state is distinct and non-distinct, bhinnabhinna from Brahman. The emancipation of the indvidual is to turn into Brahman which, according to it, is possible through pure knowledge and self-surrender. The worship of the Supreme is in the form of meditating on Radha and Krsna. The Nimbarka School is also known as Sanaka School. Apart from the Bhasya on the Brahma-sutra Nimbarka had authored Satasloki which expounds his theory of Dvaitadvaita. His Bhasya was commented upon by his pupil Srinivasacarya. The commentary is titled Vedantakaustubha. Another scholar of this School Kesavacarya or Kesavakasmiri of the 15 th cen. A.D. wrote a commentary on the Bhasya of Nimbarkacarya apart from writing commentaries on the principal Upanisads, the Srimadbhagavadgita and the Kisnusahasranamadation USA

Dvaita Madhva whose date of birth is 1199 A.D. wrote the Brahmasutrabhasya as also prepared a shorter version of it under the title Brahmasutranubhasya or Anuvyakhyana where he supported Dualism, Dvaita. According to him Prakrti, Jivatman and Paramatman -all these three are eternal and are different from each other. The relationship between Jivatman and Paramatman is that between servant and master. amam He accepts three Pramanas, testimonies, Pratyaksa, Anumana and Sabda. Visnu is the Supreme Reality. The path to realize Him is devotion, bhakti. The Vedas are eternal and are the ultimate authority on matters spiritual. The Vaisnava Agamas and the Puranas are the authotative texts, the means of arriving at correct knowledge. After Madhva the great exponent of his philosophy was Jayatirtha (second half of the 14 th cen. A.D.), the pupil of Aksobhyatirtha. He wrote commentaries on all the works of Madhva: the prominent of which are the Nyayasudha on Brahmanuvyakhyana, the Pancika on the Prapancamithyatvakhandana, Prameyadipika on the Bhagavadgitabhasya. He also wrote two independent works: the Pramanapaddhati and Vadavali. The latter refutes the Maya theory of Advaita. Another noteworthy writer of this School was Vyasayati, the author of the Nyayamrta which refutes the Tattvadipika of Citsukha. He wrote commentaries on the works of Jayatirtha. Besides these he wrote commentaries on Madhva's Brahmasutrabhasya and the Bhagavadgita under the titles Tantradipika and Gitarthasangraha respectively. Other important votaries of this School who enriched its literature with their works are Vadiraja, Vijayindra and Srinivasatirtha. The Vedanta has captured the imagination of the thinkers and philosophers both of India and abroad and stands in terms

of popularity both in the past and the present at the apex. Rightly has it been said: tavad garjanti sastrani jambuka vipine yatha/ na garjati mahasaktir yavad vedantakesari// "Sastras assert themselves as howl jackals in a jungle, till the mighty lion in the form of Vedanta does not roar."