Universal Vedanta। Introduction to Vedanta। Part 3 | Detail Understanding of Vedanta

Welcome back to my blog. Let me take an opportunity to continue the introduction of Vedanta for the foundation of upcoming episodes on different Upanishads. Links given below to read or listen previous articles or videos.

Second part from https://universal-vedanta.blogspot.com/2022/07/universal-vedanta-introduction-to.html or listen it at https://youtu.be/kLlaajXHE-s.

First part from https://universal-vedanta.blogspot.com/2022/07/introduction-to-vedanta-part-1.html or listen it at https://youtu.be/bXji-nbAWy4. 

In my last article I mentioned there are 13 Mukhya or Principal Upanishads. They are – 

1. Īśā Upanishad

2. Kena Upanishad

3. Kaṭha Upanishad

4. Praṣna Upanishad

5. Muṇḍaka Upanishad

6. Māṇḍūkya Upanishad

7. Taittirīya Upanishad

8. Aitareya Upanishad

9. Chāndogya Upanishad

10. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad

11. Śvetāśvatara Upanishad

12. Kauṣītaki Upanishad

13. Maitrāyaṇīya Upanishad

 

Can you remember the number of minor Upanishads? Yes, there are 95 of them. Out of these 95, 21 Sāmānya Upanishads, 20 Sannyāsa Upanishads,14 Vaishnava Upanishads, 12 Shaiva Upanishads, 8 Shakta Upanishads, and 20 Yoga Upanishads. The list can be seen on the screen. Looking at their names one can imagine what would have been preached in them.

Around 100 new Upanishads are discovered. For example, Bashkala, Chhagaleya, Arsheya, Saunaka. New Upanishad’s subject or language do not match with any of 108 Upanishads referred to in Muktika Upanishad.

There are mainly 3 schools of thought that emerged based on Upanishads. 

Gourapada and Adi Shankaracharya’s Advaita Vedanta or Non-dualism talks about the non-dual nature of Brahman. That means Brahman or God and any living beings or self or Atman or I are the same reality. This universe or Jagat is mere illusion or Maya. 

Vishishthadvaita or qualified monism was founded by Sri Ramanuja. According to this school of thought though Brahman or Vishnu and Atman are same, but both are distinct. That means any living beings or self or I have all the qualities of God, but we are not God. We have all the potential to become God, or we can promote self to God through knowledge, devotion, surrender, actions, and enlightenment etc.

Dvaita school was formed by Madhavacharya. According to this school Brahman or Vishnu and Atman are not the same. That means all souls and Supreme self are separate. Living beings or self or I are not God. God is a super being. We can think of ourselves as his devotee or servant. By doing good karma, worship, and devotion we can get a place in heaven or Vishnuloka to serve Vishnu after death.

Other schools of Vedanta are Nimbarka's Dvaitadvaita, Vallabha's Suddhadvaita and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Achintya Bhedabheda.

In modern days, a new school of thought emerged namely neo-vedanta school of thoughts. The teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda was the foundation of this school initially. Later Sri Aurobindo, Sri Raman Maharshi, Radhkrishnan and other Indian and western philosophers contributed their thoughts to groom this modern school. This school of thoughts is mainly based on Advaita Vedanta but at the same time they accept and respect other schools. They talk about universal Vedanta, universal truth, inclusivity, acceptance of all schools, paths, and religion as true. They see Brahman or God as Nirguna or pure consciousness and Saguna or consciousness with certain characters both., They see Brahman or God as nirakara or formless and Sakara or with form both. The Self or living being can liberate themselves by practicing any or few or all the paths stated in Srimad Bhagavadgita. The paths are Gyanyoga or Knowledge, Karma Yoga or service without any desire, Bhakti Yoga or devotion and Raj yoga or meditation.

In the above pictures Brahman is shown as a fairy to make it understandable to readers. In reality Brahman is pure consciousness. It can not be shown in any form. The fairy is symbolic to Brahman. The same way Atman is also consciousness. In real sense it is formless and can not be displayed but as Atman always manifests in living beings, so, it is not a bad idea to show it as living beings.

Dear readers, the subject is too vast like the ocean. I feel this little introduction is sufficient to jump to the actual subject. The next episodes will be on verses of different Upanishads. Be with me in this journey of Universal Vedanta movement. If you find any information incorrect in article, please let me know in the comment.

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