 |
||
|
||
| Advertise with us! |
|
|
> ======================================================================
> a d v a i t a v e d A n t a
> FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
> ======================================================================
> INTRODUCTION AND TABLE OF CONTENTS
> -----------------------------------
> REVISION: November 23, 1996
> AUTHOR: Vidyasankar Sundaresan
> Department of Chemical Engineering
> California Institute of Technology
> E-mail: vidya@cco.caltech.edu
> WWW: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/
> AVAILABILITY: WWW: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/ad_faq.html
> TABLE OF CONTENTS:
> FAQ1: What is advaita vedAnta?
> FAQ2: Who is the founder of advaita?
> FAQ3: What are the basic tenets of advaita?
> FAQ4: What is the relationship between advaita and buddhism? Is
> advaita a mere copy of buddhism?
> FAQ5: Why is advaita sometimes referred to as mAyAvAda?
> FAQ6: Isn't advaita falsified by everyday experience?
> FAQ7: What is the concept of scripture, according to advaita?
> FAQ8: How does worship by advaitins differ from worship in other
> schools of vedAnta?
> FAQ9: What is the advaita concept of liberation?
> FAQ10: What is the significance of jIvanmukti?
> FAQ11: Who are some of the leading scholars of Advaita?
> FAQ12: What are the advaita institutions of the present day?
> FAQ13: Is there a mailing list that discusses advaita?
> FAQ14: Where can I get more information about advaita vedAnta and its
> teachers?
> APPENDIX - I Transliteration scheme used.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ1: What is advaita vedAnta?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Literally, "non-dualism," advaita is the name of the oldest extant
> school of vedAnta. advaita bases itself upon the upanishads, the
> brahma-sUtras and the bhagavad-gItA. advaita asserts that the real
> identity of the jIva, the indvidual self, is nothing other than
> brahman iself. This teaching follows from upanishadic statements like
> tat tvam asi and aham brahmAsmi.
What is the difference between Brahma and PAAR BRAHM?
Can you define a Hindu as a Sikh is defined as the student of
spiritual knowledge?
It is in this cardinal doctrine that
> advaita differs from all other schools of vedAnta. The main tenets of
> advaita are detailed in commentaries written by SankarAcArya, the
> famous philosopher who lived in the 7th - 8th centuries A.D. Read
> http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita for a website dedicated to
> advaita vedAnta.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ2: Who is the founder of advaita?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> There is no single founder of advaita. Since the philosophy of advaita
> is rooted in the upanishads, which are part of the eternal vedas, the
> advaita tradition does not trace itself to a historical personality.
> However, because of his extensive writings and establishment of
> monasteries, SankarAcArya is venerated as the most important teacher of
> advaita in this yuga. Before SankarAcArya's time, the tradition was
> passed down mainly through oral instruction. Even today, the traditional
> way to learn advaita is to sit at the feet of an accomplished guru. Mere
> reading of the texts is insufficient. More details about the guru
> parampara of advaita are at http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/
> advaita-parampara.html.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ3: What are the basic tenets of advaita?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The essential identity of the Atman and brahman is the most important
> tenet of advaita. brahman is affirmed as the substratum on which all
> sense-phenomena are experienced, and also the antaryAmI, the inner
> controller of all beings. The Atman, the real Self, is the same as
> this inner controller, and therefore identical to brahman. Moksha
> consists in realizing this identity, not just as a matter of literal
> or intellectual understanding, but as something that is to be grasped
> by the individual in his/her own personal experience. Yogic practices
> help in the road towards such realization, because they help the
> seeker in practising control of the senses, and direct the antahkaraNa
> inwards. The practice of ashTAnga-yoga is recommended to seekers by
> teachers of advaita. However, it is important to remember that moksha
> is not a result of mere ritualistic practice. Being identical to
> brahman, moksha always exists. Ritualistic practices help only to the
> extent of achieving citta-Suddhi.
> advaita is a non-dual teaching. When asked why duality is perceived in
> this world, advaita has a multi-pronged answer to the question. The
> world of multiplicity can be explained as due to mAyA, the power of
> creation. From the point of view of the individual, the perception of
> duality is attributed to avidyA (ignorance) due to which the unity of
> brahman is not known, and multiplicity is seen instead. This is akin to
> the false perception of a snake in a rope. When the rope is known, the
> snake vanishes. Similarly, on brahman-realization, the world of
> multiplicity vanishes. This does not mean that the external world is a
> creation of avidyA, the individual's ignorance. Such a view, called
> dr.shTi-sr.shTi vAda is close to subjective idealism, and is not held by
> any of the advaita writers except prakASAnanda. Most schools of advaita
> hold that the perception of multiplicity in the world instead of the One
> brahman, is due to ignorance. Removal of avidyA is therefore synonymous
> with brahman-realization, i.e. moksha.
> Read http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/ad-phil.html for a more
> detailed description.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ4: What is the relationship between advaita and buddhism?
> Is advaita a mere copy of buddhism?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> No, advaita is not a mere copy of buddhism. For a few centuries now,
> advaita has been criticized as being "pracanna bauddham" - buddhism in
> disguise. This criticism stems mainly from some of the vaishNava schools
> of vedAnta, but it is misplaced. Firstly, there is no one "buddhism" and
> for the criticism to be valid, it must be specified which school of
> buddhism is being referred to. SankarAcArya expends a lot of effort
> criticizing many of the philosophical positions taken by various
> schools of buddhism in his commentaries. Among modern academic scholars,
> advaita vedAnta is most often compared with the madhyamaka and yogAcAra
> schools of buddhism. The modern academic comparison between advaita and
> madhyamaka is mainly inspired by the fact that the mANDUkya kArikAs,
> written by gauDapAda, Sankara's parama-guru, exhibit a great familiarity
> with this school of buddhism.
> However, if it is held that advaita vedAnta is essentially the same as
> madhyamaka buddhism, it must be pointed out that such a view stems
> from a misunderstanding of the important tenets of both advaita
> vedAnta and madhyamaka buddhism. There are many key details in which
> advaita differs from the madhyamaka school of buddhism. As for
> yogAcAra, the points of similarity arise from the fact that both
> advaita vedAnta and yogAcAra buddhism have a place for yogic practice,
> as do other schools of Indian philosophy. For further details, consult
> http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita, and follow the link to
> gauDapAda.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ5: Why is advaita sometimes referred to as mAyAvAda?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The word mAyAvAda serves many purposes. Since advaita upholds the
> identity of the individual Atman with brahman, a doubt naturally arises
> about the origin of the variegated universe. The appearance of
> difference in the universe is explained to be due to mAyA. In popular
> parlance, mAyA means illusion, and a magician or a juggler is called a
> mAyAvI. Within advaita, mAyA has a technical significance as the
> creative power of brahman, which also serves to occlude, due to which
> the universe is perceived to be full of difference, and the unity of
> brahman is not known. See fuller details in response to Q. 4 above. Some
> vaishNava schools use the word mAyAvAda in a derogatory sense. However,
> this criticism interprets mAyA solely as illusion and criticizes advaita
> for dismissing the world as an illusion that is akin to a dream. Such a
> criticism neglects the philosophical subtlety of the concept of mAyA in
> advaita.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ6: Isn't advaita falsified by everyday experience?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> No. In fact, advaita acknowledges that everyday experience leads one
> to infer plurality, but it maintains emphatically that the
> transcendental experience of brahmAnubhava sublates the ordinary
> everyday experience that is based on perception through one's
> senses. The tradition holds that it is not correct to make one's
> conclusions on issues of metaphysics based only on normal everyday
> experience. All schools of vedAnta rely on scripture, i.e. the Vedas,
> as a valid source of knowledge. As advaita is learnt only from the
> upanishads, it is not falsified by everyday experience. On the other
> hand, the knowledge of brahman's identity sublates normal
> perception. It is also pointed out there would be no need for
> scripture if one's conclusions were based only on everyday experience.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ7: What is the concept of scripture, according to advaita?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> advaita's concept of scripture is essentially the same as that of the
> pUrva mImAmsA, with one important exception. Thus, 1.The vedas, arranged
> into the r.k, yajus, sAma and atharva vedas are valid scripture. As they
> are not composed by human beings, they are said to be apaurusheya -
> unauthored. 2.Each veda has a karmakANDa, consisting of mantras and
> ritual injunctions (vidhis) and a jnAnakANDa, consisting of the
> upanishads and brAhmaNas. 3.The exception that advaita takes to pUrva
> mImAmsA is in the role of the jnAnakANDa. The upanishads are not merely
> arthavAda, as maintained in the pUrva mImAmsA school. The upanishads
> teach the knowledge of brahman, and are not meant to eulogize the fruits
> of ritual action.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ8: How does worship by advaitins differ from worship in
> other schools of vedAnta?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Very markedly. The orthoprax advaita tradition is closely allied to the
> smArta tradition. which follows the system of pancAyatana pUjA, where
> vishNu, Siva, Sakti, gaNapati and sUrya (alternatively skanda) are
> worshipped as forms of saguNa brahman. The worship is done both on a
> daily basis and on specific festival occassions dedicated to one of the
> Gods. Questions of who is superior, vishNu or Siva, which are very
> popular among many groups of Hindus, are not relished by advaitins. In
> the words of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati (1892 - 1954), the accomplished
> jIvanmukta, "you cannot see the feet of the Lord, why do you waste your
> time debating about the nature of His face?"
> That said, vishNu and Siva, the Great Gods of Hinduism, are both very
> important within the advaita tradition. The sannyAsIs of the advaita
> order always sign their correspondence with the words "iti
> nArAyaNasmaraNam". In worship, advaitins do not insist on exclusive
> worship of one devatA alone. As brahman is essentially formless (nirguNa
> ), all forms (guNas) are held to equally belong to It. The particular
> form that the devotee prefers to worship is called the ishTa-devatA. The
> ishTa-devatAs worshipped by advaitins include vishNu as kr.shNa, the
> jagadguru, and as rAma, Siva as dakshiNAmUrti, the guru who teaches in
> silence, and as candramaulISvara, and the Mother Goddess as pArvatI,
> lakshmI and sarasvatI. Especially popular are the representations of
> vishNu as a SAlagrAma, Siva as a linga, and Sakti as the SrI-cakra.
> gaNapati is always worshipped at the beginning of any human endeavor,
> including the pUjA of other Gods. The daily sandhyAvandana ritual is
> addressed to sUrya. The sannyAsis of the advaita sampradAya recite both
> the vishNu sahasranAmam and the SatarudrIya portion of the yajurveda as
> part of their daily worship.
> There is another significant distinction between worship in the advaita
> tradition and other kinds of Hindu worship. advaita insists that the
> distinction between the worshipper and God, the object of worship, is
> transcended in samAdhi. This position should not be confused with that
> of some Saiva schools, which call for a ritual identification of the
> worshipper with Siva, for the duration of the worship. The identity of
> Atman and brahman is a matter of absolute truth, not just a temporary
> ritual identification. Most vaishNava schools of vedAnta hold that the
> distinction between the worshipper and God, the object of worship, is
> eternally maintained.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ9: What is the advaita concept of liberation?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> In the advaita analysis, human life and behavior is explained on the
> basis of the theory of karma, which sets the cycle of rebirths into
> motion. All actions, good or bad, create their own karmic residues
> called vAsanas, which exhibit their results over a period of time. The
> karma which has already started taking fruit is called prArabdha karma.
> This is the karma that is responsible for the current birth. The
> accumulated karma which is yet to take fruit is called sancita karma. As
> long as the cycle of rebirths continues, more karma will be done in the
> future, and this is called Agamin karma. Liberation (moksha) is seen as
> the way out of this endless cycle.
> In advaita, moksha is synonymous with brahman. Sruti says "brahmavit
> brahmaiva bhavati" - He who knows brahman becomes brahman Itself. In the
> advaita understanding of this statement, the "becoming" is said to be
> metaphorical only. It is not as if something that was not brahman
> suddenly becomes brahman. Rather, "knowing brahman" means a removal of
> the ignorance about one's own essential nature as brahman. Thus, to
> "know brahman" is to "be brahman". The one who has realized the identity
> of his own Atman with the brahman is the jIvanmukta, one who is
> liberated even while embodied. Such realization should not and cannot
> just be a literal understanding of upanishadic mahAvAkyas. The
> jIvanmukta is one who has experienced the truth of the identity himself.
> Thus, moksha is said to be not a result of ritual action (karma mArga)
> or of devotional service (bhakti mArga). These paths lead along the way,
> and constitute the "how" but not the "why" of liberation. For this
> reason, the way of advaita vedAnta is also called the path of knowledge
> (jnAna-mArga).
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ10: What is the significance of jIvanmukti?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> advaita holds that realization of brahman is possible on this earth
> itself. The highly evolved seeker, who approaches vedAntic study with a
> pure mind, and a strong tendency of mumukshutva, is fit to really
> experience brahman. Such a one who has actually realized brahman, is a
> jIvanmukta - he is liberated while still living. He continues to live in
> a material body, because of the momentum of the prArabha karma that has
> already started taking fruit. But he accumulates no further karma,
> because all Agamin karma and sancita karma are "burnt" in the knowledge
> of brahmajnAna. When the prArabdha karmas exhaust themselves, the body
> dies, and the jIvanmukta is said to have attained videhamukti. In
> accordance with the Sruti, "na sa punarAvartate," he does not enter into
> the cycle of rebirths any more.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ11: Who are some of the leading scholars of Advaita?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The earliest advaita scholars whose writings are available today are
> gauDapAda (5th - 6th cent. CE - mANDUKya kArikas) and SankarAcArya (7th
> - 8th cent. CE - brahmasUtra bhAshyas, bhagavadgItA bhAshya and various
> upanishad bhAshyas). Four disciples of SankarAcArya are known in the
> tradition - sureSvara, padmapAda, toTaka and hastAmalaka.
> Contemporaneous with SankarAcArya was maNDana miSra, who is
> traditionally identified with sureSvara. In the later post-Sankaran
> period, some of the leading scholars are vAcaspati miSra (9th cent. CE),
> jnAnaghana and sarvajnAtman (9th - 10th cent. CE), prakASAtman (11th
> cent. CE), SrIharsha (12th cent. CE), Anandagiri, bhAratI tIrtha,
> vidyAraNya and SankarAnanda (13th - 14th cent. CE), madhusUdana
> sarasvatI (15th cent. CE), appayya dIkshita (16th cent. CE), sadASiva
> brahmendra and upanishad brahmendra (18th cent. CE) and candraSekhara
> bhAratI and saccidAnandendra sarasvatI (20th cent. CE). Other than
> these, there are many other equally illustrious scholars who have not
> written texts, but who have taught their disciples through oral
> instruction.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ12: What are the advaita institutions of the present day?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> All present day advaitins trace their guru-parampara through the four
> disciples of SrI SankarAcArya. These disciples were the first leaders of
> the four AmnAya maThas (monasteries) at purI, Sr.ngeri, dvArakA and
> jyotirmaTh. All four maThas are functioning today. Other than these,
> there are a number of institutions in India that are also active in
> disseminating advaita philosophy and religion. These include the various
> daSanAmI akhADas all over north India, Kankhal ASram in Hardwar and
> Bombay, the advaita ASrama, Ramanasramam in Tiruvannamalai, the advaita
> maThas in Kaladi, Bangalore, Kudali, Ujjain, Rameswaram, Kanchipuram,
> Varanasi and other places, as well as branches of all these institutions
> in India and abroad. In addition to these, institutions like the
> Ramakrishna Mission established by Swami Vivekananda, Self-Realization
> Fellowship of Paramahamsa Yogananda and others also have advaita as
> their central philosophy. See
> http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/ad-today.html for further
> details.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ13: Is there a mailing list that discusses advaita?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> There is an unmoderated mailing list, ADVAITA-L, dedicated to discuss
> advaita vedAnta. To subscribe to this list, please send a mail to
> listserv@tamu.edu with a blank subject line and the body of text
> should contain only the following information.
> SUBSCRIBE ADVAITA-L Your_full_name
> Example:
> SUBSCRIBE ADVAITA-L Joe Smith
> Once you subscribe, you will get a welcome message explaining how to
> set the other mailing options (like digest format). In case you have
> any problems in subscribing, please contact Ravi (msr@tamu.edu). This
> forum is kept open and unmoderated with the hope that the members will
> use self moderation and discuss advaita vedAnta with reverence.
> Archives of the mailing list is available in web browsable form and
> can be read from http://tamvm1.tamu.edu/~advaita/
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> FAQ14: Where can I get more information about advaita vedAnta
> and its teachers?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> There is an advaita vedAnta web-site at the URL
> http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita. All the questions in this
> FAQ are discussed in greater detail in various pages at this
> site. There is a www version of this FAQ at this site, while the text
> of this FAQ is periodically posted to the ADVAITA mailing list and to
> the internet newsgroups soc.religion.hindu and soc.religion.vaishnava.
> The number of online resources relating to contemporary teachers from
> the advaita tradition is growing rapidly. Here is a collection of links
> you might be interested in visiting:
> http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/sringeri
> About the Sringeri Math, the most ancient advaita monastery,
> established by Adi Sankara.
> http://www.sivananda.org
> Yoga Vedanta of Swami Sivananda.
> http://www.rsl.ukans.edu/~pkanagar/divine
> The Divine Life Society of Swami Sivananda.
> http://www.yogananda-srf.org -
> Self Realization Fellowship of Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda.
> http://www.tezcat.com/~bnaik/chinmiss.html
> Chinmaya Mission, Swami Chinmayananda's organization.
> http://www.ccacyber.com/bdirect/ramana
> About Sri Ramana Maharishi.
> http://www.peg.apc.org/~firehorse/philos/papaji/welcome.html
> About Poonjaji, a disciple of Sri Ramana Maharishi.
> http://www.SATRamana.org
> Society for Abidance in Truth, Santa Cruz, California.
> http://srv.global2000.net/SRV.html
> Ramakrishna Mission Information.
> http://www.rfl.com/vedanta.html
> Joan Sotkin's page on the Ramakrishna group of organizations.
> http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/veda.html
> An introduction to Vedanta by Giridhar Madras.
> http://ddi.digital.net/~egodust
> Egodust's Pathways to Metaphysics page.
> ftp://jaguar.cs.utah.edu/private/sanskrit/sanskrit.html
> General things of interest for Sanskrit lovers.
> If you wish to add any site to this list, please inform the author of
> this FAQ at vidya@cco.caltech.edu.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> APPENDIX - I Transliteration scheme used
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> It is impossible not to use sam.skr.ta words when talking of advaita
> vedAnta. I have preferred to keep philosophical terminology, which have
> meanings specific to the school of advaita, in the original sam.skr.ta,
> rather than translate into English.
> Here is the key to the transliteration scheme that I follow when I use a
> sam.skr.ta word in the middle of English text. This scheme makes no
> claims to being perfect, but is meant for easy transliteration to the
> international Roman alphabet. The intention is to convey a flavor of the
> original pronunciation of the sam.skr.ta words. I have avoided the use
> of additional diacritical marks as much as possible, by making use of
> upper-case letters. Basic knowledge of the devanAgari script is assumed.
> ========================================
> Vowels
> a A i I u U r. R. lr. e ai o au m. :
> Consonants
> k kh g gh n
> c ch j jh n
> T Th D Dh N
> t th d dh n
> p ph b bh m
> y r l v/w
> S sh s h jn
> ========================================
> TRANSLITERATION TABLE
> ========================================
> Notes:
> =====
> 1.The pronunciation of vowels is closer to German usage than to English.
> Note the dots "." used in the vowel list. "r." is used in words such as
> r.shi, br.had etc. R. and lr. are included for the sake of completeness.
> 2.The avagraha sign (indicating an elided "a") is depicted as ' - an
> apostrophe. This sign is not included in the above table.
> 3.Nasals associated with gutturals, palatals and dentals are
> transliterated as "n". The pronunciation is clear from the context, as
|
||
|
||
| Advertise with us! |
|
|