Vedanta
Vedanta is one of the six schools of orthodox Hindu philosophy. Veda means "knowledge" and anta means "end."
Syncretic Terms
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See Also
Notes
Vedanta (also incorrectly known as Hinduism) is the common root of India's sects.[1] According to the Swami,
"Vedanta teaches three fundamental truths:
- That Man’s real nature is divine. If, in this universe, there is an underlying Reality, a Godhead, then that Godhead must be omnipresent. If the Godhead is omnipresent, It must be within each one of us and within every creature and object. Therefore Man, in his true nature, is God.
- That it is the aim of Man’s life on earth to unfold and manifest this Godhead, which is eternally existent within him, but hidden. The differences between man and man are only differences in the degree to which the Godhead is manifest. All ethics are merely a means to the end of this divine unfoldment. “Right” action is action which assists the unfoldment of the Godhead within us: “wrong” action is action which hinders that unfoldment.... Because Man is divine, he has infinite strength and infinite wisdom at his command, if he will use them to uncover his true nature. This nature can be gradually uncovered and known and entered into by means of prayer, meditation and the living of a disciplined life—that is to say, a life which seeks to remove all obstacles to the divine unfoldment. Such obstacles are desire, fear, hatred, possessiveness, vanity and pride. The Vedantist prefers the word “obstacle” to the word “sin” because, if we think of ourselves as sinners and miserable, we forget the Godhead within us and lapse into that mood of doubt, despondency and weakness which is the greatest obstacle of all.
- Because the Godhead is within each one of us, Vedanta teaches not merely the brotherhood, but the identity of man with man. It says: “Thou art That.” Every soul is your own soul. Every creature is yourself. If you harm anyone, you harm yourself. If you help anyone, you help yourself. Therefore, all feelings of separateness, exclusiveness, intolerance and hatred are not only “wrong,” they are the blackest ignorance, because they deny the existence of the omnipresent Godhead, which is One.
- That truth is universal. Vedanta accepts all the religions of the world, because it recognizes the same divine inspiration in all. Different religions suit different races, cultures, temperaments. Every religion, like every individual, is involved in a certain measure of ignorance. But Vedanta does not concern itself with that ignorance. It insists on the underlying truth. Vedanta is impersonal, but it accepts all the great prophets, teachers and sons of God, and all those personal aspects of the Godhead who are worshipped by different religions. According to Vedanta “truth is one; men call it by various names.” That truth is what they call Brahman. The Vedantic belief is that all are manifestations of the one Godhead. Accepting all, it does not attempt to make converts. It only seeks to clarify our thought, and thus help us to a truer appreciation of our own religion and its ultimate aim."[2]
Vedanta may refer to any philosophy of school of thought that concerns itself with the interpretation of the three basic texts of Hindu philosophy, namely the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita
There are many schools of Vedanta the most prominent of which are Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita, Achintya-Bheda-Abheda, and Dvaita.
Vedantic schools all attempt to understand the relationship between Atman and Brahman, and the relationship between Brahman and the Physical Universe
