Śaṅkara (early 8th century)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew O. Fort
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta ◽  
Philosophy And Religion ◽  
Scriptural Exegesis ◽  
Forward Looking

Śaṅkara has been a highly influential figure in Hindu philosophy and religion from his lifetime (early eighth century; traditionally 788–820) to the present day. He is the most renowned teacher of nondualist (Advaita) Vedānta, which emphasizes realizing the nondual reality, Brahman, through hearing and contemplating the Upaniṣads, sacred knowledge which reveals the nature of human existence and the cosmos. Unlike many Western thinkers, who consider themselves forward-looking individuals putting forth new insights, Śaṅkara is self-consciously part of an ongoing tradition committed to scriptural exegesis. He honours prior teachers (such as Gauḍapāda), and his own writings are primarily explanatory commentaries on sacred Vedānta texts. Śaṅkara also requires certain purifying qualifications to pursue liberation, and vigorously contests other views prevailing in his time.

Not with a Ten-Foot Pole?

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66
Author(s):  
Marc A. Pugliese ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Alfred North Whitehead ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta ◽  
Buddhist Doctrine

This article brings together Alfred North Whitehead and Śaṅkara, the eminent eighth-century teacher of Advaita Vedanta, in a dialogue on causation. After arguing that comparative philosophical encounter is possible, the article investigates how Whitehead might benefit Śaṅkara in his critique of the Buddhist doctrine of momentariness and how Śaṅkara may assist Whitehead in responding to criticisms of his own doctrine of causation and his critique of Hume.

Radhakrishnan’s Thought and Existentialism

1998 ◽  
pp. 73-76
Author(s):  
Juthika Das
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Modern Time ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Immense Potential

I attempt to show the similarities between the viewpoints of Radhakrishnan and the existentialist thinkers. The philosophy of Radhakrishnan is an attempt to reinterpret and reconstruct the Advaita Vedanta of Sankara in the light of scientific knowledge and techniques of modern time. Existentialism is an attitude and outlook that emphasizes human existence. For Radhakrishnan, the human is essentially subject, not object. The existentialists assert that the human is not an object to be known, but a subject. Both Radhakrishnan and the existentialists emphasize the immense potential and present day condition of humanity. Radhakrishnan acknowledges the reality of suffering and misery of worldly existence. The existentialists maintain that there are antinomies, contradictions and distress at the root of existence. Radhakrishnan is concerned with liberation as a state of freedom. Freedom is the central concept around which the existential enquiry revolves. Though Radhakrishnan has certain affinities with existentialism, he regards it as a stage in the human's pilgrimage through life.

Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta

1982 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 468
Author(s):  
Albert Adams ◽  
William M. Indich
Keyword(s):  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta

Christ as Yogi: The Jesus of Vivekananda and Modern Hinduism

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-140
Author(s):  
David J. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Modern Hinduism ◽  
Swami Vivekananda

AbstractSwami Vivekananda was the most influential pioneer of a Yogi Christ, illustrating well over a century ago how the life and teachings of Jesus might be incorporated within a larger Hindu worldview—and then presented back to Western audiences. Appropriation of Jesus, one of the central symbols of the West, might be viewed as the ultimate act of counter-Orientalism. This article begins by providing a brief biography of Vivekananda and the modern Hinduism that nurtured him and that he propagated. He articulated an inclusivist vision of Advaita Vedanta as the most compelling vision of universal religion. Next, the article turns to Vivekananda's views of Christianity, for which he had little affection, and the Bible, which he knew extraordinarily well. The article then systematically explores Vivekananda's engagement with the New Testament, revealing a clear hermeneutical preference for the Gospels, particularly John. Following the lead of biblical scholars, Vivekananda made a distinction between the Christ of the Gospels and the Jesus of history, offering sometimes contradictory conclusions about the historicity of elements associated with Jesus's life. Finally, the article provides a detailed articulation of Vivekananda's Jesus—a figure at once familiar to Christians but, in significant ways, uniquely accommodated to Hindu metaphysics. Vivekananda demonstrated a robust understanding and discriminating use of the Christian Bible that has not been properly recognized. He deployed this knowledge to launch an important and long-lived pattern: an attractive, fleshed out depiction of Jesus of Nazareth, transformed from the Christian savior into a Yogi model of self-realization. Through his efforts, Jesus became an indisputably Indian religious figure, no longer just a Christian one. The Yogi Christ remains a prominent global religious figure familiar to Hindus, Christians, and those of other faiths alike.

scholarly journals Nothing but Gold: Complexities in terms of Non-difference and Identity. Part 2. Contrasting Equivalence, Equality, Identity, and Non-difference

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Anrò
Keyword(s):  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Main Issue ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta

AbstractThe present paper is a continuation of a previous one by the same title, the content of which faced the issue concerning the relations of coreference and qualification in compliance with the Navya-Nyāya theoretical framework, although prompted by the Advaita-Vedānta enquiry regarding non-difference. In a complementary manner, by means of a formal analysis of equivalence, equality, and identity, this section closes the loop by assessing the extent to which non-difference, the main issue here, cannot be reduced to any of the former. The following sections of this study will focus on the assessment of the eventual possibility of causation and transformation in non-difference.

Revisiting Brehier – Differences between Plotinus’ Enneads and Advaita Vedānta

Philotheos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Deepa Majumdar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta ◽  
Numinous Experience ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Concrete Concepts

Bréhier revives the possibility of Indian Upaniṣadic influence on Plotinus, specifically in the area of mysticism – asking what in Plotinus’ philosophy is foreign with respect to the Greek philosophical tradition. After Bréhier there are vigorous defenses of Plotinus’ Greek origins – not all of which respond directly to the key issues he raises, or address Plotinus’ mysticism specifically. My purpose in this paper is not to answer Bréhier, but to revisit him, for the purpose of delineating paradigmatic differences between Plotinus’ metaphysics and that in Advaita Vedānta. Starting with differences in their respective texts and conceptions of the Divine, I explore concrete concepts (Māyā, tolma, the forms, gun․as, etc.), so unique to each tradition that they comprise the heart and essence of their differences. I assert as well that their metaphysical distinctions imply dissimilarities in their modes of mysticism. In this effort I uphold numinous experience above historical influences. This paper therefore has four parts: (1) Revisiting Bréhier, Armstrong, and Others; (2) Defining Terms: Texts, Methods, and Conceptions of the Divine (Striking Similarities); (3) Contrasting Advaita Vedānta and the Enneads (Paradigmatic Differences); and (4) Conclusion.

Methods of Knowledge According to Advaita Vedanta

1968 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Hinck ◽  
Swami Satprakashananda
Keyword(s):  
Advaita Vedānta ◽  
Advaita Vedanta
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