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Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta (/ədˈvaɪtə vɛˈdɑːntə/; Sanskrit: अ ैत वेदा , IAST: Advaita Vedānta, literally,
"not-duality"), also known as Mayavāda,[1] is a school of Hindu philosophy, and originally known
as Puruṣavāda,[2][note 1] is a classic system of spiritual realization in Hindu tradition.[3] The term
Advaita refers to its idea that the true self, Atman, is the same as the highest metaphysical Reality
(Brahman). The followers of this school are known as Advaita Vedantins, or just Advaitins or
Mayavadins,[4] and they seek spiritual liberation through acquiring vidyā, meaning knowledge,[5]
of one's true identity as Atman, and the identity of Atman and Brahman.[6][7][8]

Advaita Vedanta traces its roots to the oldest Upanishads. It relies on three textual sources called
the Prasthanatrayi. It gives "a unifying interpretation of the whole body of Upanishads",[9] the
Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.[10][11] Advaita Vedanta is the oldest extant sub-school of
Vedanta,[note 2] which is one of the six orthodox (āstika) Hindu philosophies (darśana). Although
its roots trace back to the 1st millennium BCE, the most prominent exponent of the Advaita
Vedanta is considered by tradition to be the 8th century scholar Adi Shankara.[12][13][14]

Advaita Vedanta emphasizes Jivanmukti, the idea that moksha (freedom, liberation) is achievable
in this life in contrast to Indian philosophies that emphasize videhamukti, or moksha after
death.[15][16] The school uses concepts such as Brahman, Atman, Maya, Avidya, meditation and
others that are found in major Indian religious traditions,[11][17][18] but interprets them in its own
way for its theories of moksha.[19][20] Advaita Vedanta is one of the most studied and most
influential schools of classical Indian thought.[21][22][23] Many scholars describe it as a form of
monism,[24][25][26] others describe the Advaita philosophy as non-dualistic.[27][28] Advaita is
considered to be philosophy or spiritual pathway rather than a religion, it does not require those
who follow it to be of a particular faith or sect.[29][30][31]

Advaita influenced and was influenced by various traditions and texts of Hindu philosophies such
as Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, other sub-schools of Vedanta, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, the Puranas, the
Agamas, as well as social movements such as the Bhakti movement.[32][33][34] Beyond Hinduism,
Advaita Vedanta interacted and developed with the other traditions of India such as Jainism and
Buddhism.[35] Advaita Vedanta texts espouse a spectrum of views from idealism, including
illusionism, to realist or nearly realist positions expressed in the early works of Shankara.[36] In
modern times, its views appear in various Neo-Vedanta movements.[37] It has been termed as the
paradigmatic example of Hindu spirituality.[38][39]

Contents
Etymology and nomenclature
Darśana (philosophy) – central concerns
Moksha – liberation through knowledge of Brahman
Puruṣārtha – the four goals of human life
Moksha – liberation
Vidya, Svādhyāya and Anubhava
Mahavakya – The Great Sentences
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Stages and practices

Ontology
Levels of Reality, Truths
Three states of consciousness and Turiya
Absolute Reality
Empirical reality – illusion and ignorance
Epistemology
Pratyakṣa (perception)
Anumāṇa (inference)
Upamāṇa (comparison, analogy)
Arthāpatti (postulation)
Anupalabdi (non-perception, negative/cognitive proof)
Śabda (relying on testimony)
Ethics
Texts
Prasthanatrayi
Textual authority
History of Advaita Vedanta
Pre-Shankara Advaita Vedanta
Gaudapada and Māṇḍukya Kārikā
Adi Shankara
Post-Shankara – early medieval times
Late medieval times (Islamic rule of India) – "Greater Advaita Vedanta"
Modern times (Colonial rule and independence)
Contemporary Advaita Vedanta
Sampradaya
Monastic order: Advaita Mathas
Shri Gaudapadacharya Math
Shankara's monastic tradition
Relationship with other forms of Vedanta
Vishishtadvaita
Shuddhadvaita
Dvaita
Historical influence
Smarta Tradition
Other Hindu traditions
Relationship with Buddhism
Similarities with Buddhism
Gaudapada
Differences from Buddhism
Reception
Advaitic Meditation (Bhramara-kita-nyaya)
See also
Notes
References
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Sources
Printed sources
Web-sources
Further reading
External links

Etymology and nomenclature

The Advaita Vedanta school has been historically referred to by various names, such as Advaita-
vada (speaker of Advaita), Abheda-darshana (view of non-difference), Dvaita-vada-pratisedha
(denial of dual distinctions), and Kevala-dvaita (non-dualism of the isolated).[40]

According to Richard King, a professor of Buddhist and Asian studies, the term Advaita first occurs
in a recognizably Vedantic context in the prose of Mandukya Upanishad.[40] In contrast, according
to Frits Staal, a professor of philosophy specializing in Sanskrit and Vedic studies, the word
Advaita is from the Vedic era, and the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya (8th or 7th-century BCE[41][42]) is
credited to be the one who coined it.[43] Stephen Phillips, a professor of philosophy and Asian
studies, translates the Advaita containing verse excerpt in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, as follows:

स लले एकस् ा अ तस् भव त An ocean, a single seer without duality becomes he

एष लोकस् whose world is Brahman,
स ाट् त ह एनम् उवाच अनुशशास O King, Yajnavalkya instructed
या व स् This is his supreme way. This is his supreme
एषा अ परमा ग तस् एषा परमा achievement.
स द्
—Brihadaranyaka Upanishad —Transl: Stephen Phillips[45][note 3]
4.3.32[44]

Darśana (philosophy) – central concerns

Advaita is a subschool of Vedanta, the latter being one of the six classical Hindu darśanas. It, like
nearly all these philosophies,[note 4] has an integrated body of textual interpretations and religious
practices for what Hinduism considers four proper aims of life: virtue (dharma), material
prosperity (artha), desire (kama) and the fourth and final aim being moksha, the spiritual
liberation or release from cycles of rebirth (samsara).[47][48] Traditional Advaita Vedanta centers
on the study of the sruti especially the Principal Upanishads, along with the Brahma Sutras and the
Bhagavad Gita.[49][50]

Within the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism are many sub-schools, of which Advaita is one. Unlike
Buddhism, but like Jainism, all Vedanta schools consider the existence of Atman (real self, soul) as
self-evident.[51][52] The Vedanta tradition also posits the concept of Brahman as the eternal,
unchanging metaphysical reality. The sub-schools of Vedanta disagree on the relation between
Atman and Brahman. The Advaita darsana considers them to be identical.[53][6][7]

Advaita Vedanta believes that the knowledge of one's true self or Atman is liberating.[54] Along
with self-knowledge,[55] it teaches that moksha can be achieved by the correct understanding of
one's true identity as Ātman, the dispassionate and unmoveable observer, and the identity of
Ātman and Brahman.[56]

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The process of acquiring this knowledge entails realising that one's True Self, the Atman, is
essentially the same as Brahman. This is achieved through what Shankara refers to as anubhava,
immediate intuition. Shankara contends that this direct awareness is construction-free, and not
construction-filled. Self-knowledge is, therefore, not seen as an awareness of Brahman, but instead
an awareness that is Brahman, since one will transcend any form of duality in this state of
consciousness.[57]

Correct knowledge, which destroys avidya, psychological and perceptual errors related to Atman
and Brahman,[58] is obtained through three stages of practice, sravana (hearing), manana
(thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation).[59]

The Vedanta tradition of Hinduism rejects the dualism of Samkhya. The Samkhya school of Hindu
thought proposes two metaphysical realities, namely Purusha (spirit) and Prakriti (inert primal
matter), then states that Purusha is the efficient cause of all existence while Prakriti is its material
cause.[60] Advaita, like all Vedanta schools, states that Brahman is both the efficient and the
material cause, "that from which the origination, subsistence, and dissolution of this universe
proceed." What created all existence is also present in and reflected in all beings and inert matter,
the creative principle was and is everywhere, always.[61] This Brahman it postulates is sat-cit-
ananda (truth-consciousness-bliss). By accepting this postulation, various theoretical difficulties
arise which Advaita and other Vedanta traditions offer different answers for:[62] first, how did sat
Brahman without any distinction become manifold universe? second, how did cit Brahman create
material world? third, if ananda Brahman is pure bliss, why did the empirical world of sufferings
arise? These are the questions that Advaita Vedanta thinkers have historically attempted to answer,
as did the non-Advaita schools of Hinduism.[62]

Advaita establishes its truths, in part, from the oldest Principal Upanishads (sruti), the Brahma
Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and numerous other Hindu texts.[11] Reason is used to support
revelation, the sruti, the ultimate source of truth.[63] Reason clarifies the truth and removes
objections, according to the Advaita school, however it believes that pure logic cannot lead to
philosophical truths and only experience and meditative insights do. The Sruti, it believes is a
collection of experience and meditative insights about liberating knowledge.[64] The Advaita
literature also provide a criticism of opposing systems, including the dualistic school of Hinduism,
as well as non-Hindu philosophies such as Buddhism.[65]

Moksha – liberation through knowledge of Brahman

Puruṣārtha – the four goals of human life

Advaita, like other schools, accepts Puruṣārtha – the four goals of human life as natural and
proper:[66]

Dharma: the right way to life, the "duties and obligations of the individual toward himself and
the society as well as those of the society toward the individual";[67]
Artha: the means to support and sustain one's life;
Kāma: pleasure and enjoyment;
Mokṣa: liberation, release.
Of these, much of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy focuses on the last, gaining liberation in one's
current life.[68] The first three are discussed and encouraged by Advaitins, but usually in the
context of knowing Brahman and Self-realization.[69]

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Moksha – liberation
The soteriological goal, in Advaita, is to gain self-knowledge and complete understanding of the
identity of Atman and Brahman. Correct knowledge of Atman and Brahman leads to dissolution of
all dualistic tendencies and to liberation,[note 5] Moksha is attained by realizing one's true identity
as Ātman, and the identity of Atman and Brahman, the complete understanding of one's real
nature as Brahman in this life.[6] This is stated by Shankara as follows:

I am other than name, form and action.

My nature is ever free!
I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman.
I am pure Awareness, always non-dual.

— Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7, [6]

According to Advaita Vedanta, liberation can be achieved while living, and is called Jivanmukti.[70]
The Atman-knowledge, that is the knowledge of true Self and its relationship to Brahman is central
to this liberation in Advaita thought.[note 6] Atman-knowledge, to Advaitins, is that state of full
awareness, liberation and freedom which overcomes dualities at all levels, realizing the divine
within oneself, the divine in others and all beings, the non-dual Oneness, that Brahman is in
everything, and everything is Brahman.[72][73][74]

According to Rambachan, in Advaita, this state of liberating self-knowledge includes and leads to
the understanding that "the self is the self of all, the knower of self sees the self in all beings and all
beings in the self."[75]

Jivanmukta
In Advaita Vedanta, the interest is not in liberation in after life, but in one's current life.[76] This
school holds that liberation can be achieved while living, and a person who achieves this is called a
Jivanmukta.[70][77]

The concept of Jivanmukti of Advaita Vedanta contrasts with Videhamukti (moksha from samsara
after death) in theistic sub-schools of Vedanta.[78] Jivanmukti is a state that transforms the nature,
attributes and behaviors of an individual, after which the liberated individual shows attributes such
as:[79]

he is not bothered by disrespect and endures cruel words, treats others with respect regardless
of how others treat him;
when confronted by an angry person he does not return anger, instead replies with soft and
kind words;
even if tortured, he speaks and trusts the truth;
he does not crave for blessings or expect praise from others;
he never injures or harms any life or being (ahimsa), he is intent in the welfare of all beings;
he is as comfortable being alone as in the presence of others;
he is as comfortable with a bowl, at the foot of a tree in tattered robe without help, as when he
is in a mithuna (union of mendicants), grama (village) and nagara (city);
he does not care about or wear sikha (tuft of hair on the back of head for religious reasons),
nor the holy thread across his body. To him, knowledge is sikha, knowledge is the holy thread,
knowledge alone is supreme. Outer appearances and rituals do not matter to him, only
knowledge matters;

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for him there is no invocation nor dismissal of deities, no mantra nor non-mantra, no
prostrations nor worship of gods, goddess or ancestors, nothing other than knowledge of Self;
he is humble, high spirited, of clear and steady mind, straightforward, compassionate, patient,
indifferent, courageous, speaks firmly and with sweet words.

Vidya, Svādhyāya and Anubhava

Sruti (scriptures), proper reasoning and meditation are the main sources of knowledge (vidya) for
the Advaita Vedanta tradition.[80][81][59] It teaches that correct knowledge of Atman and Brahman
is achievable by svādhyāya,[82] study of the self and of the Vedic texts, and three stages of practice:
sravana (perception, hearing), manana (thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation),[59] a three-
step methodology that is rooted in the teachings of chapter 4 of the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad.[83][84]

Sravana literally means hearing, and broadly refers to perception and observations typically aided
by a counsellor or teacher (guru),[85] wherein the Advaitin listens and discusses the ideas,
concepts, questions and answers.[59][83] Manana refers to thinking on these discussions and
contemplating over the various ideas based on svadhyaya and sravana.[83][85][86] Nididhyāsana
refers to meditation, realization and consequent conviction of the truths, non-duality and a state
where there is a fusion of thought and action, knowing and being.[87][83] Bilimoria states that these
three stages of Advaita practice can be viewed as sadhana practice that unifies Yoga and Karma
ideas, and was most likely derived from these older traditions.[88][85]

Adi Shankara uses anubhava interchangeably with pratipatta, "understanding".[89] Dalal and
others state that anubhava does not center around some sort of "mystical experience," but around
the correct knowledge of Brahman.[81][90] Nikhalananda states that (knowledge of) Atman and
Brahman can only be reached by buddhi, "reason,"[91] stating that mysticism is a kind of intuitive
knowledge, while buddhi is the highest means of attaining knowledge.[92]

Mahavakya – The Great Sentences

Several Mahavakyas, or "the great sentences", have Advaitic theme, that is "the inner immortal
self and the great cosmic power are one and the same".[93]

Sr.
Vakya Meaning Upanishad Veda
No.

1 ानं (prajñānam Prajñānam[note 7] is

Aitareya V.3 Rigveda
brahma) Brahman[note 8]

2. अहं ा
(aham I am Brahman, or I am Brhadāranyaka Shukla
brahmāsmi) Divine[96] I.4.10 Yajurveda

3. त म स (tat tvam asi) That thou art

Chandogya
VI.8.7
Samaveda

4. अयमा ा (ayamātmā This Atman is Brahman Mandukya II Atharvaveda

brahma)

Stages and practices

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Advaita Vedanta entails more than self-inquiry or bare insight into one's real nature,[note 9] but also
includes self-restraint, textual studies and ethical perfection. It is described in classical Advaita
books like Shankara's Upadesasahasri[98] and the Vivekachudamani, which is also attributed to
Shankara.

Jnana Yoga – path of practice

Classical Advaita Vedanta emphasises the path of Jnana Yoga, a progression of study and training
to attain moksha.[99][100] It consists of fourfold qualities,[101] or behavioral qualifications
(Samanyasa, Sampattis, sādhana-catustaya):[102][103][104][note 10]

Nityānitya vastu viveka ( न ा न व ु ववेकम्) – The ability (viveka) to correctly discriminate

between the real and eternal (nitya) and the substance that is apparently real, aging, changing
and transitory (anitya).[102][104]
Ihāmutrārtha phala bhoga virāga (इहाऽमु ाथ फल भोग वरागम्) – The renunciation (virāga) of petty
desires that distract the mind (artha phala bhoga), willing to give up everything that is an
obstacle to the pursuit of truth and self-knowledge.[104][105]
Śamādi ṣatka sampatti (शमा द षट् क स ) – the sixfold virtues or qualities,

Śama (mental tranquility, ability to focus the mind).[104][105]

Dama (self-restraint,[note 11] the virtue of temperance).[104][105]
Uparati (dispassion, ability to be quiet and disassociated from everything;[104]
"discontinuation of religious ceremonies"[105])
Titikṣa (endurance, perseverance, ability to be patient during demanding
circumstances).[104][105]
Śraddhā (the faith in teacher and Sruti texts).[104]
Samādhāna (attention, intentness of mind).[104][105]
Mumukṣutva (मुमु ु म्) – A positive longing for freedom and wisdom, driven to the quest of
knowledge and understanding.[104][101]
Correct knowledge, which destroys avidya, psychological and perceptual errors related to Atman
and Brahman,[58] is obtained in jnanayoga through three stages of practice,[103] sravana
(hearing), manana (thinking) and nididhyasana (meditation).[59] This three-step methodology is
rooted in the teachings of chapter 4 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:[83][84]

Sravana, listening to the teachings of the sages on the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta,
studying the Vedantic texts, such as the Brahma Sutras, and discussions with the guru
(teacher, counsellor);[102][109][59]
Manana, refers to thinking on these discussions and contemplating over the various ideas
based on svadhyaya and sravana.[83] It is the stage of reflection on the teachings;[83][109]
Nididhyāsana, the stage of meditation and introspection.[104][web 2] This stage of practice aims
at realization and consequent conviction of the truths, non-duality and a state where there is a
fusion of thought and action, knowing and being.[87][83]

Samadhi
While Shankara emphasized śravaṇa ("hearing"), manana ("reflection") and nididhyāsana
("repeated meditation"), later texts like the Dṛg-Dṛśya-Viveka (14th century) and Vedantasara (of
Sadananda) (15th century) added samādhi as a means to liberation, a theme that was also
emphasized by Swami Vivekananda.

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Guru
Advaita Vedanta school has traditionally had a high reverence for Guru (teacher), and recommends
that a competent Guru be sought in one's pursuit of spirituality. However, the Guru is not
mandatory in Advaita school, states Clooney, but reading of Vedic literature and followed by
reflection is.[110] Adi Shankara, states Comans, regularly employed compound words "such as
Sastracaryopadesa (instruction by way of the scriptures and the teacher) and
Vedantacaryopadesa (instruction by way of the Upanishads and the teacher) to emphasize the
importance of Guru".[110] This reflects the Advaita tradition which holds a competent teacher as
important and essential to gaining correct knowledge, freeing oneself from false knowledge, and to
self-realization.[111]

A guru is someone more than a teacher, traditionally a reverential figure to the student, with the
guru serving as a "counselor, who helps mold values, shares experiential knowledge as much as
literal knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who helps in the spiritual
evolution of a student.[112] The guru, states Joel Mlecko, is more than someone who teaches
specific type of knowledge, and includes in its scope someone who is also a "counselor, a sort of
parent of mind and soul, who helps mold values and experiential knowledge as much as specific
knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who reveals the meaning of life."[112]

Ontology

Levels of Reality, Truths

The classical Advaita Vedanta explains all reality and
everything in the experienced world to be same as the
Brahman.[11] To Advaitins, there is a unity in multiplicity, and
there is no dual hierarchy of a Creator and the created
universe.[11][113] All objects, all experiences, all matter, all
consciousness, all awareness, in Advaita philosophy is not the
property but the very nature of this one fundamental reality The swan is an important motif in
Brahman.[11] With this premise, the Advaita school states that Advaita. It symbolises two things:
first, the swan is called hamsah in
any ontological effort must presuppose a knowing self, and this
Sanskrit (which becomes hamso if
effort needs to explain all empirical experiences such as the the first letter in the next word is /h/).
projected reality while one dreams during sleep, and the Upon repeating this hamso
observed multiplicity of living beings. This Advaita does by indefinitely, it becomes so-aham,
positing its theory of three levels of reality,[114] the theory of meaning, "I am That". Second, just
two truths,[115] and by developing and integrating these ideas as a swan lives in a lake but its
feathers are not soiled by water,
with its theory of errors (anirvacaniya khyati).[116][11]
similarly a liberated Advaitin lives in
this world but is not soiled by its
Shankara proposes three levels of reality, using sublation as maya.
the ontological criterion:[117][118][119]

Pāramārthika (paramartha, absolute), the Reality that is metaphysically true and ontologically
accurate. It is the state of experiencing that "which is absolutely real and into which both other
reality levels can be resolved". This reality is the highest, it can't be sublated (assimilated) by
any other.[117][120]
Vyāvahārika (vyavahara), or samvriti-saya,[121] consisting of the empirical or pragmatical
reality. It is ever changing over time, thus empirically true at a given time and context but not
metaphysically true. It is "our world of experience, the phenomenal world that we handle every
day when we are awake". It is the level in which both jiva (living creatures or individual souls)
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and Iswara are true; here, the material world is also true but this is incomplete reality and is
sublatable.[120][122]
Prāthibhāsika (pratibhasika, apparent reality, unreality), "reality based on imagination alone". It
is the level of experience in which the mind constructs its own reality. Well-known examples of
pratibhasika is the imaginary reality such as the "roaring of a lion" fabricated in dreams during
one's sleep, and the perception of a rope in the dark as being a snake.[120][123][124]
Advaita Vedanta acknowledges and admits that from the empirical perspective there are numerous
distinctions.[125] It states that everything and each reality has multiple perspectives, both absolute
and relative. All these are valid and true in their respective contexts, states Advaita, but only from
their respective particular perspectives. This "absolute and relative truths" explanation, Advaitins
call as the "two truths" doctrine.[115][125][126] John Grimes, a professor of Indian Religions
specializing on Vedanta, explains this Advaita doctrine with the example of light and darkness.[125]
From sun's perspective, it neither rises nor sets, there is no darkness, and "all is light". From the
perspective of a person on earth, sun does rise and set, there is both light and darkness, not "all is
light", there are relative shades of light and darkness. Both are valid realities and truths, given their
perspectives. Yet, they are contradictory. What is true from one point of view, states Grimes, is not
from another. To Advaita Vedanta, this does not mean there are two truths and two realities, but it
only means that the same one Reality and one Truth is explained or experienced from two different
perspectives.[125][127]

As they developed these theories, Advaita Vedanta scholars were influenced by some ideas from the
Nyaya, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy.[128][119] These theories have not enjoyed
universal consensus among Advaitins, and various competing ontological interpretations have
flowered within the Advaita tradition.[11][129][130]

Three states of consciousness and Turiya

Advaita posits three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), deep
sleep (suṣupti), which are empirically experienced by human beings,[131][132] and correspond to the
Three Bodies Doctrine:[133]

1. The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily world.[134] This is the
gross body.
2. The second state is the dreaming mind. This is the subtle body.[134]
3. The third state is the state of deep sleep. This is the causal body.[134]
Advaita also posits the fourth state of Turiya, which some describe as pure consciousness, the
background that underlies and transcends these three common states of
consciousness. [web 3][web 4] Turiya is the state of liberation, where states Advaita school, one
experiences the infinite (ananta) and non-different (advaita/abheda), that is free from the
dualistic experience, the state in which ajativada, non-origination, is apprehended.[135] According
to Candradhara Sarma, Turiya state is where the foundational Self is realized, it is measureless,
neither cause nor effect, all prevading, without suffering, blissful, changeless, self-luminous, real,
immanent in all things and transcendent.[136] Those who have experienced the Turiya stage of self-
consciousness have reached the pure awareness of their own non-dual Self as one with everyone
and everything, for them the knowledge, the knower, the known becomes one, they are the
Jivanmukta.[137][138][139]

Advaita traces the foundation of this ontological theory in more ancient Sanskrit texts.[140] For
example, chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad discuss the "four states of
consciousness" as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep.[140][141] One of the
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earliest mentions of Turiya, in the Hindu scriptures, occurs in verse 5.14.3 of the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad.[142] The idea is also discussed in other early Upanishads.[143]

Absolute Reality

Brahman
According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the highest Reality,[71][144][145] That which is unborn
and unchanging,[144][146] and "not sublatable",[71] and cannot be superseded by a still higher
reality.[147][note 12][note 13] Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material
objects and individuals, are ever-changing and therefore maya. Brahman is Paramarthika Satyam,
"Absolute Truth",[162] and

the true Self, pure consciousness  ... the only Reality (sat), since It is untinged by
difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not
sublatable".[71]

In Advaita, Brahman is the substrate and cause of all changes.[163][146] Brahman is considered to
be the material cause[note 14] and the efficient cause[note 15] of all that exists.[145][164][165] Brahman
is the "primordial reality that creates, maintains and withdraws within it the universe."[153] It is the
"creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".[166]

Advaita's Upanishadic roots state Brahman's qualities[note 16] to be Sat-cit-ānanda (being-

consciousness-bliss)[167][168] It means "true being-consciousness-bliss,"[169][170] or "Eternal Bliss
Consciousness".[171] Adi Shankara held that satcitananda is identical with Brahman and
Atman.[169] The Advaitin scholar Madhusudana Sarasvati explained Brahman as the Reality that is
simultaneously an absence of falsity (sat), absence of ignorance (cit), and absence of sorrow/self-
limitation (ananda).[169] According to Adi Shankara, the knowledge of Brahman that Shruti
provides cannot be obtained in any other means besides self inquiry.[172]

Atman
Ātman (IAST: ātman, Sanskrit: आ न्) is a central idea in Hindu philosophy and a foundational
premise of Advaita Vedanta. It is a Sanskrit word that means "real self" of the individual,[173][174]
"essence",[web 5] and soul.[173][175]

Ātman is the first principle in Advaita Vedanta, along with its concept of Brahman, with Atman
being the perceptible personal particular and Brahman the inferred unlimited universal, both
synonymous and interchangeable.[176] It is, to an Advaitin, the unchanging, enduring, eternal
absolute.[177][178] It is the "true self" of an individual, a consciousness, states Sthaneshwar
Timalsina, that is "self-revealed, self-evident and self-aware (svaprakashata)".[179] Atman, states
Eliot Deutsch, is the "pure, undifferentiated, supreme power of awareness", it is more than
thought, it is a state of being, that which is conscious and transcends subject-object divisions and
momentariness.[180]

Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as self-existent awareness, limitless and non-
dual.[72] It asserts that there is "spirit, soul, self" (Atman) within each living entity, which are same
as each other and identical to the universal eternal Brahman.[73] It is an experience of "oneness"
which unifies all beings, in which there is the divine in every being, in which all existence is a single
Reality, and in which there is no "divine" distinct from the individual Atman.[181][182][75]
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Atman is not the constantly changing body, not the desires, not the emotions, not the ego, nor the
dualistic mind in Advaita Vedanta.[183][184][185] It is the introspective, inwardly self-conscious "on-
looker" (saksi).[186] To Advaitins, human beings, in a state of unawareness and ignorance, see their
"I-ness" as different than the being in others, then act out of impulse, fears, cravings, malice,
division, confusion, anxiety, passions, and a sense of distinctiveness.[187][188][189]

Identity of Atman and Brahman

According to Advaita Vedanta, Atman is identical to Brahman.[190][191] This is expressed in the
mahavakya "tat tvam asi", "thou are that." There is "a common ground, viz. consciousness, to the
individual and Brahman."[191] Each soul, in Advaita view, is non-different from the infinite.[192]
According to Shankara, Atman and Brahman seem different at the empirical level of reality, but
this difference is only an illusion, and at the highest level of reality they are really identical.[193]

Moksha is attained by realizing the identity of Atman and Brahman, the complete understanding of
one's real nature as Brahman in this life.[6] This is frequently stated by Advaita scholars, such as
Shankara, as:

I am other than name, form and action.

My nature is ever free!
I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman.
I am pure Awareness, always non-dual.

— Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7, [6]

Empirical reality – illusion and ignorance

According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the sole reality. The status of the phenomenal world is
an important question in Advaita Vedanta, and different solutions have been proposed. The
perception of the phenomenal world as real is explained by maya (constantly changing reality) and
avidya ("ignorance"). Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material
objects and individuals, are ever-changing and therefore maya. Brahman is Paramarthika Satyam,
"Absolute Truth",[162] and "the true Self, pure consciousness, the only Reality (sat), since It is
untinged by difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not
sublatable".[71]

Causality
All schools of Vedanta subscribe to the theory of Satkāryavāda,[web 6] which means that the effect
is pre-existent in the cause. But there are different views on the causal relationship and the nature
of the empirical world from the perspective of metaphysical Brahman. The Brahma Sutras, the
ancient Vedantins, most sub-schools of Vedanta,[194][web 6] as well as Samkhya school of Hindu
philosophy,[web 6] support Parinamavada, the idea that the world is a real transformation
(parinama) of Brahman.[194]

Scholars disagree on the whether Adi Shankara and his Advaita system explained causality through
vivarta.[web 6][194][195] According to Andrew Nicholson, instead of parinama-vada, the competing
causality theory is Vivartavada, which says "the world, is merely an unreal manifestation (vivarta)
of Brahman. Vivartavada states that although Brahman appears to undergo a transformation, in
fact no real change takes place. The myriad of beings are unreal manifestation, as the only real
being is Brahman, that ultimate reality which is unborn, unchanging, and entirely without parts".
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The advocates of this illusive, unreal transformation based causality theory, states Nicholson, have
been the Advaitins, the followers of Shankara.[194] "Although the world can be described as
conventionally real", adds Nicholson, "the Advaitins claim that all of Brahman’s effects must
ultimately be acknowledged as unreal before the individual self can be liberated".[web 6]

However, other scholars such as Hajime Nakamura and Paul Hacker disagree. Hacker and others
state that Adi Shankara did not advocate Vivartavada, and his explanations are "remote from any
connotation of illusion". According to these scholars, it was the 13th century scholar Prakasatman
who gave a definition to Vivarta, and it is Prakasatman's theory that is sometimes misunderstood
as Adi Shankara's position.[195][note 17] Andrew Nicholson concurs with Hacker and other scholars,
adding that the vivarta-vada isn't Shankara's theory, that Shankara's ideas appear closer to
parinama-vada, and the vivarta explanation likely emerged gradually in Advaita subschool
later.[web 6]

According to Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedanta states that from "the standpoint of Brahman-
experience and Brahman itself, there is no creation" in the absolute sense, all empirically observed
creation is relative and mere transformation of one state into another, all states are provisional and
a cause-effect driven modification.[198]

Māyā (illusion)
The doctrine of Maya is used to explain the empirical reality in Advaita.[199][note 18] Jiva, when
conditioned by the human mind, is subjected to experiences of a subjective nature, states Vedanta
school, which leads it to misunderstand Maya and interpret it as the sole and final reality.
Advaitins assert that the perceived world, including people and other existence, is not what it
appears to be".[201] It is Māyā, they assert, which manifests and perpetuates a sense of false duality
or divisional plurality.[202] The empirical manifestation is real but changing, but it obfuscates the
true nature of metaphysical Reality which is never changing. Advaita school holds that liberation is
the unfettered realization and understanding of the unchanging Reality and truths – the Self, that
the Self (Soul) in oneself is same as the Self in another and the Self in everything (Brahman).[203]

In Advaita Vedanta philosophy, there are two realities: Vyavaharika (empirical reality) and
Paramarthika (absolute, spiritual Reality).[204] Māyā is the empirical reality that entangles
consciousness. Māyā has the power to create a bondage to the empirical world, preventing the
unveiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman. This theory of māyā
was expounded and explained by Adi Shankara. Competing theistic Dvaita scholars contested
Shankara's theory,[205] and stated that Shankara did not offer a theory of the relationship between
Brahman and Māyā.[206] A later Advaita scholar Prakasatman addressed this, by explaining, "Maya
and Brahman together constitute the entire universe, just like two kinds of interwoven threads
create a fabric. Maya is the manifestation of the world, whereas Brahman, which supports Maya, is
the cause of the world."[207]

Brahman is the sole metaphysical truth in Advaita Vedanta, Māyā is true in epistemological and
empirical sense; however, Māyā is not the metaphysical and spiritual truth. The spiritual truth is
the truth forever, while what is empirical truth is only true for now. Complete knowledge of true
Reality includes knowing both Vyavaharika (empirical) and Paramarthika (spiritual), the Māyā
and the Brahman. The goal of spiritual enlightenment, state Advaitins, is to realize Brahman,
realize the unity and Oneness of all reality.[204][208][74]

Avidya (ignorance)

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Due to ignorance (avidyā), Brahman is perceived as the material world and its objects (nama rupa
vikara). According to Shankara, Brahman is in reality attributeless and formless. Brahman, the
highest truth and all (Reality), does not really change; it is only our ignorance that gives the
appearance of change. Also due to avidyā, the true identity is forgotten, and material reality, which
manifests at various levels, is mistaken as the only and true reality.

The notion of avidyā and its relationship to Brahman creates a crucial philosophical issue within
Advaita Vedanta thought: how can avidyā appear in Brahman, since Brahman is pure
consciousness?[209] Sengaku Mayeda writes, in his commentary and translation of Adi Shankara's
Upadesasahasri:

Certainly the most crucial problem which Sankara left for his followers is that of avidyā.
If the concept is logically analysed, it would lead the Vedanta philosophy toward
dualism or nihilism and uproot its fundamental position.[210]

To Advaitins, human beings, in a state of unawareness and ignorance of this Universal Self, see
their "I-ness" as different than the being in others, then act out of impulse, fears, cravings, malice,
division, confusion, anxiety, passions, and a sense of distinctiveness.[189][211]

Subsequent Advaitins gave somewhat various explanations, from which various Advaita schools
arose.

Epistemology
The ancient and medieval texts of Advaita Vedanta and other schools of Hindu philosophy discuss
Pramana (epistemology). The theory of Pramana discusses questions like how correct knowledge
can be acquired; how one knows, how one doesn't; and to what extent knowledge pertinent about
someone or something can be acquired.[212][213] Advaita Vedānta,[214] accepts the following six
kinds of pramāṇas:[215][216]

1. Pratyakṣa ( ाय) – perception

2. Anumāṇa (अनुमान) – inference
3. Upamāṇa (उपमान) – comparison, analogy
4. Arthāpatti (अथाप ) – postulation, derivation from circumstances[213][217]
5. Anupalabdi (अनुपल ) – non-perception, negative/cognitive proof[218]
6. Śabda (श ) – relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts[213][218]

Pratyakṣa (perception)
Pratyakṣa ( ाय), perception, is of two types: external – that arising from the interaction of five
senses and worldly objects, and internal – perception of inner sense, the mind.[219] Advaita
postulates four pre-requisites for correct perception: 1) Indriyarthasannikarsa (direct experience
by one's sensory organ(s) with the object, whatever is being studied), 2) Avyapadesya (non-verbal;
correct perception is not through hearsay, according to ancient Indian scholars, where one's
sensory organ relies on accepting or rejecting someone else's perception), 3) Avyabhicara (does
not wander; correct perception does not change, nor is it the result of deception because one's
sensory organ or means of observation is drifting, defective, suspect) and 4) Vyavasayatmaka
(definite; correct perception excludes judgments of doubt, either because of one's failure to observe
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all the details, or because one is mixing inference with observation and observing what one wants
to observe, or not observing what one does not want to observe).[220] The internal perception
concepts included pratibha (intuition), samanyalaksanapratyaksa (a form of induction from
perceived specifics to a universal), and jnanalaksanapratyaksa (a form of perception of prior
processes and previous states of a 'topic of study' by observing its current state).[221]

Anumāṇa (inference)
Anumāṇa (अनुमान), inference, is defined as applying reason to reach a new conclusion about truth
from one or more observations and previous understanding of truths.[222] Observing smoke and
inferring fire is an example of Anumana. This epistemological method for gaining knowledge
consists of three parts: 1) Pratijna (hypothesis), 2) Hetu (a reason), and 3) drshtanta
(examples).[223] The hypothesis must further be broken down into two parts: 1) Sadhya (that idea
which needs to proven or disproven) and 2) Paksha (the object on which the Sadhya is
predicated). The inference is conditionally true if Sapaksha (positive examples as evidence) are
present, and if Vipaksha (negative examples as counter-evidence) are absent. For rigor, the Indian
philosophies further demand Vyapti – the requirement that the hetu (reason) must necessarily and
separately account for the inference in "all" cases, in both sapaksha and vipaksha.[223][224] A
conditionally proven hypothesis is called a nigamana (conclusion).[225]

Upamāṇa (comparison, analogy)

Upamāṇa (उपमान), comparison, analogy.[213][217] Some Hindu schools consider it as a proper
means of knowledge.[226] Upamana, states Lochtefeld,[227] may be explained with the example of a
traveler who has never visited lands or islands with endemic population of wildlife. He or she is
told, by someone who has been there, that in those lands you see an animal that sort of looks like a
cow, grazes like cow but is different from a cow in such and such way. Such use of analogy and
comparison is, state the Indian epistemologists, a valid means of conditional knowledge, as it helps
the traveller identify the new animal later.[227] The subject of comparison is formally called
upameyam, the object of comparison is called upamanam, while the attribute(s) are identified as
samanya.[228]

Arthāpatti (postulation)
Arthāpatti (अथाप ), postulation, derivation from circumstances.[213][217] In contemporary logic,
this pramana is similar to circumstantial implication.[229] As example, if a person left in a boat on
river earlier, and the time is now past the expected time of arrival, then the circumstances support
the truth postulate that the person has arrived. Many Indian scholars considered this Pramana as
invalid or at best weak, because the boat may have gotten delayed or diverted.[230] However, in
cases such as deriving the time of a future sunrise or sunset, this method was asserted by the
proponents to be reliable.

Anupalabdi (non-perception, negative/cognitive proof)

Anupalabdi (अनुपल ), non-perception, negative/cognitive proof.[218] Anupalabdhi pramana
suggests that knowing a negative, such as "there is no jug in this room" is a form of valid
knowledge. If something can be observed or inferred or proven as non-existent or impossible, then
one knows more than what one did without such means.[231] In Advaita school of Hindu
philosophy, a valid conclusion is either sadrupa (positive) or asadrupa (negative) relation – both
correct and valuable. Like other pramana, Indian scholars refined Anupalabdi to four types: non-
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perception of the cause, non-perception of the effect, non-perception of object, and non-perception
of contradiction. Only two schools of Hinduism accepted and developed the concept "non-
perception" as a pramana. Advaita considers this method as valid and useful when the other five
pramanas fail in one's pursuit of knowledge and truth.[216][232] A variation of Anupaladbi, called
Abhava (अभाव) has also been posited as an epistemic method. It means non-existence. Some
scholars consider Anupalabdi to be same as Abhava,[213] while others consider Anupalabdi and
Abhava as different.[232][233] Abhava-pramana has been discussed in Advaita in the context of
Padārtha (पदाथ, referent of a term). A Padartha is defined as that which is simultaneously Astitva
(existent), Jneyatva (knowable) and Abhidheyatva (nameable).[234] Abhava was further refined in
four types, by the schools of Hinduism that accepted it as a useful method of epistemology:
dhvamsa (termination of what existed), atyanta-abhava (impossibility, absolute non-existence,
contradiction), anyonya-abhava (mutual negation, reciprocal absence) and pragavasa (prior,
antecedent non-existence).[216][234][235]

Śabda (relying on testimony)

Śabda (श ), relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts.[213][218] Hiriyanna
explains Sabda-pramana as a concept which means reliable expert testimony. The schools of
Hinduism which consider it epistemically valid suggest that a human being needs to know
numerous facts, and with the limited time and energy available, he can learn only a fraction of
those facts and truths directly.[236] He must rely on others, his parent, family, friends, teachers,
ancestors and kindred members of society to rapidly acquire and share knowledge and thereby
enrich each other's lives. This means of gaining proper knowledge is either spoken or written, but
through Sabda (words).[236] The reliability of the source is important, and legitimate knowledge
can only come from the Sabda of reliable sources.[218][236] The disagreement between Advaita and
other schools of Hinduism has been on how to establish reliability.[237]

Ethics
Some claim, states Deutsch, "that Advaita turns its back on all theoretical and practical
considerations of morality and, if not unethical, is at least 'a-ethical' in character".[238] However,
adds Deutsch, ethics does have a firm place in this philosophy. Its ideology is permeated with
ethics and value questions enter into every metaphysical and epistemological analysis, and it
considers "an independent, separate treatment of ethics are unnecessary".[238][239] According to
Advaita Vedanta, states Deutsch, there cannot be "any absolute moral laws, principles or duties",
instead in its axiological view Atman is "beyond good and evil", and all values result from self-
knowledge of the reality of "distinctionless Oneness" of one's real self, every other being and all
manifestations of Brahman.[240] Advaitin ethics includes lack of craving, lack of dual distinctions
between one's own soul and another being's, good and just Karma.[241]

The values and ethics in Advaita Vedanta emanate from what it views as inherent in the state of
liberating self-knowledge. This state, according to Rambachan, includes and leads to the
understanding that "the self is the self of all, the knower of self sees the self in all beings and all
beings in the self."[75] Such knowledge and understanding of the indivisibility of one's and other's
Atman, Advaitins believe leads to "a deeper identity and affinity with all". It does not alienate or
separate an Advaitin from his or her community, rather awakens "the truth of life's unity and
interrelatedness".[75] These ideas are exemplified in the Isha Upanishad – a sruti for Advaita, as
follows:

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One who sees all beings in the self alone, and the self of all beings,
feels no hatred by virtue of that understanding.
For the seer of oneness, who knows all beings to be the self,
where is delusion and sorrow?

— Isha Upanishad 6–7, Translated by A Rambachan[242]

Adi Shankara, a leading proponent of Advaita, in verse 1.25 to 1.26 of his Upadeśasāhasrī, asserts
that the Self-knowledge is understood and realized when one's mind is purified by the observation
of Yamas (ethical precepts) such as Ahimsa (non-violence, abstinence from injuring others in body,
mind and thoughts), Satya (truth, abstinence from falsehood), Asteya (abstinence from theft),
Aparigraha (abstinence from possessiveness and craving) and a simple life of meditation and
reflection.[243] Rituals and rites can help focus and prepare the mind for the journey to Self-
knowledge,[244] however, Shankara discourages ritual worship and oblations to Deva (God),
because that assumes the Self within is different than Brahman. The "doctrine of difference" is
wrong, asserts Shankara, because, "he who knows the Brahman is one and he is another, does not
know Brahman".[245]

Elsewhere, in verses 1.26–1.28, the Advaita text Upadesasahasri states the ethical premise of
equality of all beings. Any Bheda (discrimination), states Shankara, based on class or caste or
parentage is a mark of inner error and lack of liberating knowledge.[246] This text states that the
fully liberated person understands and practices the ethics of non-difference.[246]

One, who is eager to realize this highest truth spoken of in the Sruti, should rise above
the fivefold form of desire: for a son, for wealth, for this world and the next, and are the
outcome of a false reference to the Self of Varna (castes, colors, classes) and orders of
life. These references are contradictory to right knowledge, and reasons are given by the
Srutis regarding the prohibition of the acceptance of difference. For when the
knowledge that the one non-dual Atman (Self) is beyond phenomenal existence is
generated by the scriptures and reasoning, there cannot exist a knowledge side by side
that is contradictory or contrary to it.

— Adi Shankara, Upadesha Sahasri 1.44, [247][248]

Texts
The Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras are the central texts of the Advaita
Vedanta tradition, providing the truths about the identity of Atman and Brahman and their
changeless nature.[249][250]

Adi Shankara gave a nondualist interpretation of these texts in his commentaries. Adi Shankara's
Bhashya (commentaries) have become central texts in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, but are one
among many ancient and medieval manuscripts available or accepted in this tradition.[14] The
subsequent Advaita tradition has further elaborated on these sruti and commentaries.

Prasthanatrayi
The Vedanta tradition provides exegeses of the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the
Bhagavadgita, collectively called the Prasthanatrayi, literally, three sources.[10][249][250]

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1. The Upanishads,[note 19] or Śruti prasthāna; considered the Śruti (Vedic scriptures)
foundation of Vedanta.[note 20][253][254][255] Most scholars, states Eliot Deutsch, are convinced
that the Śruti in general, and the Upanishads in particular, express "a very rich diversity" of
ideas, with the early Upanishads such as Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Chandogya
Upanishad being more readily amenable to Advaita Vedanta school's interpretation than the
middle or later Upanishads.[256][257] In addition to the oldest Upanishads, states Williams, the
Sannyasa Upanishads group composed in pre-Shankara times "express a decidedly Advaita
outlook".[258]
2. The Brahma Sutras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana; considered the reason-based
foundation of Vedanta. The Brahma Sutras attempted to synthesize the teachings of the
Upanishads. The diversity in the teachings of the Upanishads necessitated the systematization
of these teachings. The only extant version of this synthesis is the Brahma Sutras of
Badarayana. Like the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras is also an aphoristic text, and can be
interpreted as a non-theistic Advaita Vedanta text or as a theistic Dvaita Vedanta text. This has
led, states Stephen Phillips, to its varying interpretations by scholars of various sub-schools of
Vedanta.[259] The Brahmasutra is considered by the Advaita school as the Nyaya Prasthana
(canonical base for reasoning).[260]
3. The Bhagavad Gita, or Smriti prasthāna; considered the Smriti (remembered tradition)
foundation of Vedanta.[260] It has been widely studied by Advaita scholars, including a
commentary by Adi Shankara.[261][262]

Textual authority
The identity of Atman and Brahman, and their unchanging, eternal nature,[263] are basic truths in
Advaita Vedanta. The school considers the knowledge claims in the Vedas to be the crucial part of
the Vedas, not its karma-kanda (ritual injunctions).[249] The knowledge claims about self being
identical to the nature of Atman and Brahman are found in the Upanishads, which Advaita
Vedanta has regarded as "errorless revealed truth."[249] Nevertheless, states Koller, Advaita
Vedantins did not entirely rely on revelation, but critically examined their teachings using reason
and experience, and this led them to investigate and critique competing theories.[249]

Advaita Vedanta, like all orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, accepts as an epistemic premise
that Śruti (Vedic literature) is a reliable source of knowledge.[264][265][266] The Śruti includes the
four Vedas including its four layers of embedded texts – the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the
Aranyakas and the early Upanishads.[267] Of these, the Upanishads are the most referred to texts in
the Advaita school.

The possibility of different interpretations of the Vedic literature, states Arvind Sharma, was
recognized by ancient Indian scholars.[268][262] The Brahmasutra (also called Vedanta Sutra,
composed in 1st millennium BCE) accepted this in verse 1.1.4 and asserts the need for the
Upanishadic teachings to be understood not in piecemeal cherrypicked basis, rather in a unified
way wherein the ideas in the Vedic texts are harmonized with other means of knowledge such as
perception, inference and remaining pramanas.[268][260] This theme has been central to the
Advaita school, making the Brahmasutra as a common reference and a consolidated textual
authority for Advaita.[268][269]

The Bhagavad Gita, similarly in parts can be interpreted to be a monist Advaita text, and in other
parts as theistic Dvaita text. It too has been widely studied by Advaita scholars, including a
commentary by Adi Shankara.[270][262]

History of Advaita Vedanta

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Advaita Vedanta existed prior to Adi Shankara but found in

him its most influential expounder.[271]

Pre-Shankara Advaita Vedanta

Of the Vedanta-school before the composition of the
Brahma Sutras (400–450 CE[272]), wrote Nakamura in
1950, almost nothing is known.[272] The two Advaita
writings of pre-Shankara period, known to scholars such as
Nakamura in the first half of 20th-century, were the
Vākyapadīya, written by Bhartṛhari (second half 5th
century[273]), and the Māndūkya-kārikā written by
Gaudapada (7th century CE).[272]

Scholarship after 1950 suggests that almost all Sannyasa

Upanishads have a strong Advaita Vedanta
outlook. [274][275][276] Six of these Sannyasa Upanishads –
Adi Shankara with Disciples, by Raja
Aruni, Kundika, Kathashruti, Paramahamsa, Jabala and Ravi Varma (1904)
Brahma – were composed before the 3rd-century CE, likely
in the centuries before or after the start of the common era,
states Sprockhoff; the Asrama Upanishad is dated to the 3rd-century.[277][278]

The strong Advaita Vedanta views in these ancient texts may be, states Patrick Olivelle, because
major Hindu monasteries of this period (early 1st millennium CE) belonged to the Advaita Vedanta
tradition.[274]

Earliest Vedanta – Upanishads and Brahma Sutras

The Upanishads form the basic texts, of which Vedanta gives an interpretation.[279] The
Upanishads do not contain "a rigorous philosophical inquiry identifying the doctrines and
formulating the supporting arguments".[280][note 21] This philosophical inquiry was performed by
the darsanas, the various philosophical schools.[282][note 22]

Bādarāyana's Brahma Sutras

The Brahma Sutras of Bādarāyana, also called the Vedanta Sutra,[284] were compiled in its present
form around 400–450 CE,[285] but "the great part of the Sutra must have been in existence much
earlier than that".[285] Estimates of the date of Bādarāyana's lifetime differ between 200 BCE and
200 CE.[286]

The Brahma Sutra is a critical study of the teachings of the Upanishads, possibly "written from a
Bhedābheda Vedāntic viewpoint."[web 6] It was and is a guide-book for the great teachers of the
Vedantic systems.[284] Bādarāyana was not the first person to systematise the teachings of the
Upanishads.[287] He refers to seven Vedantic teachers before him:[287]

From the way in which Bādarāyana cites the views of others it is obvious that the
teachings of the Upanishads must have been analyzed and interpreted by quite a few
before him and that his systematization of them in 555 sutras arranged in four chapters
must have been the last attempt, most probably the best.[287]

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Between Brahma Sutras and Shankara

According to Nakamura, "there must have been an enormous number of other writings turned out
in this period, but unfortunately all of them have been scattered or lost and have not come down to
us today".[272] In his commentaries, Shankara mentions 99 different predecessors of his
Sampradaya.[288] In the beginning of his commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad Shankara
salutes the teachers of the Brahmavidya Sampradaya.[web 7] Pre-Shankara doctrines and sayings
can be traced in the works of the later schools, which does give insight into the development of
early Vedanta philosophy.[272]

The names of various important early Vedanta thinkers have been listed in the Siddhitraya by
Yamunācārya (c.1050), the Vedārthasamgraha by Rāmānuja (c.1050–1157), and the
Yatīndramatadīpikā by Śrīnivāsa-dāsa.[272] Combined together,[272] at least fourteen thinkers are
known to have existed between the composition of the Brahman Sutras and Shankara's
lifetime.[272][note 23]

Although Shankara is often considered to be the founder of the Advaita Vedanta school, according
to Nakamura, comparison of the known teachings of these early Vedantins and Shankara's thought
shows that most of the characteristics of Shankara's thought "were advocated by someone before
Śankara".[289] Shankara "was the person who synthesized the Advaita-vāda which had previously
existed before him".[289] In this synthesis, he was the rejuvenator and defender of ancient
learning.[290] He was an unequalled commentator,[290] due to whose efforts and contributions the
Advaita Vedanta assumed a dominant position within Indian philosophy.[290]

Gaudapada and Māṇḍukya Kārikā

Gaudapada (6th century)[291] was the teacher of Govinda
Bhagavatpada and the grandteacher of Shankara.
Gaudapada uses the concepts of Ajativada and Maya[292] to
establish "that from the level of ultimate truth the world is a
cosmic illusion,"[293] and "suggests that the whole of our
waking experience is exactly the same as an illusory and
insubstantial dream."[294] In contrast, Adi Shankara insists
upon a distinction between waking experience and
dreams.[294]

Mandukya Karika
Gaudapada wrote or compiled[295] the Māṇḍukya Kārikā,
also known as the Gauḍapāda Kārikā or the Āgama
Śāstra.[296] The Māṇḍukya Kārikā is a commentary in
verse form on the Mandukya Upanishad, one of the
shortest Upanishads consisting of just 13 prose sentences. Statue of Gaudapada.
Of the ancient literature related to Advaita Vedanta, the
oldest surviving complete text is the Māṇḍukya Kārikā.[297]
Many other texts with same type of teachings and which were older than Māṇḍukya Kārikā existed
and this is unquestionable because other scholars and their views are cited by Gaudapada,
Shankara and Anandagiri, according to Hajime Nakamura.[298] Gaudapada relied particularly on
Mandukya Upanishad, as well as Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads.[297]

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The Mandukya Upanishad was considered to be a Śruti before the era of Adi Shankara, but not
treated as particularly important.[296] In later post-Shankara period its value became far more
important, and regarded as expressing the essence of the Upanishad philosophy. The entire Karika
became a key text for the Advaita school in this later era.[299][note 24]

Shri Gaudapadacharya Math

Around 740 AD Gaudapada founded Shri Gaudapadacharya Math[note 25], also known as Kavaḷē
maṭha. It is located in Kavale, Ponda, Goa,[web 8] and is the oldest matha of the South Indian
Saraswat Brahmins.[302][web 9]

Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara (788–820), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya,
represents a turning point in the development of Vedanta.[303] After the growing influence of
Buddhism on Vedanta, culminating in the works of Gaudapada, Adi Shankara gave a Vedantic
character to the Buddhistic elements in these works,[303] synthesising and rejuvenating the
doctrine of Advaita.[290] Using ideas in ancient Indian texts, Shankara systematized the foundation
for Advaita Vedanta in the 8th century CE, though the school was founded many centuries earlier
by Badarayana.[304] His thematic focus extended beyond metaphysics and soteriology, and he laid
a strong emphasis on Pramanas, that is epistemology or "means to gain knowledge, reasoning
methods that empower one to gain reliable knowledge". Rambachan, for example, summarizes the
widely held view on one aspect of Shankara's epistemology before critiquing it as follows,

According to these [widely represented contemporary] studies, Shankara only accorded

a provisional validity to the knowledge gained by inquiry into the words of the Śruti
(Vedas) and did not see the latter as the unique source (pramana) of Brahmajnana.
The affirmations of the Śruti, it is argued, need to be verified and confirmed by the
knowledge gained through direct experience (anubhava) and the authority of the Śruti,
therefore, is only secondary.[270]

Sengaku Mayeda concurs, adding Shankara maintained the need for objectivity in the process of
gaining knowledge (vastutantra), and considered subjective opinions (purushatantra) and
injunctions in Śruti (codanatantra) as secondary.[305] Mayeda cites Shankara's explicit statements
emphasizing epistemology (pramana-janya) in section 1.18.133 of Upadesasahasri and section
1.1.4 of Brahmasutra-bhasya.[305][306]

Adi Shankara cautioned against cherrypicking a phrase or verse out of context from Vedic
literature, and remarked that the Anvaya (theme or purport) of any treatise can only be correctly
understood if one attends to the Samanvayat Tatparya Linga, that is six characteristics of the text
under consideration:

1. The common in Upakrama (introductory statement) and Upasamhara (conclusions)

2. Abhyasa (message repeated)
3. Apurvata (unique proposition or novelty)
4. Phala (fruit or result derived)
5. Arthavada (explained meaning, praised point)
6. Yukti (verifiable reasoning).[307][308]

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While this methodology has roots in the theoretical works of Nyaya school of Hinduism, Shankara
consolidated and applied it with his unique exegetical method called Anvaya-Vyatireka, which
states that for proper understanding one must "accept only meanings that are compatible with all
characteristics" and "exclude meanings that are incompatible with any".[309][310]

Hacker and Phillips note that this insight into rules of reasoning and hierarchical emphasis on
epistemic steps is "doubtlessly the suggestion" of Shankara in Brahma-sutra, an insight that
flowers in the works of his companion and disciple Padmapada.[311] Merrell-Wolff states that
Shankara accepts Vedas and Upanishads as a source of knowledge as he develops his philosophical
theses, yet he never rests his case on the ancient texts, rather proves each thesis, point by point
using pranamas (epistemology), reason and experience.[312][313]

Historical context
Shankara lived in the time of the so-called "Late classical Hinduism",[314] which lasted from 650 to
1100 CE.[314] This era was one of political instability that followed Gupta dynasty and King Harsha
of the 7th century  CE.[315] It was a time of social and cultural change as the ideas of Buddhism,
Jainism, and various traditions within Hinduism were competing for members.[316][317] Buddhism
in particular influenced India's spiritual traditions in the first 700 years of the 1st millennium
CE.[315][318] Shankara and his contemporaries made a significant contribution in understanding
Buddhism and the ancient Vedic traditions; they then transformed the extant ideas, particularly
reforming the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism, making it India's most important tradition for more
than a thousand years.[315]

Writings
Adi Shankara is best known for his systematic reviews and commentaries (Bhasyas) on ancient
Indian texts. Shankara's masterpiece of commentary is the Brahmasutrabhasya (literally,
commentary on Brahma Sutra), a fundamental text of the Vedanta school of Hinduism.[319] His
commentaries on ten Mukhya (principal) Upanishads are also considered authentic by
scholars.[319][320] Other authentic works of Shankara include commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita
(part of his Prasthana Trayi Bhasya).[270]

Shankara's Vivarana (tertiary notes) on the commentary by Vedavyasa on Yogasutras as well as

those on Apastamba Dharma-sũtras (Adhyatama-patala-bhasya) are accepted by scholars as
authentic works of Adi Shankara.[321][322] Among the Stotra (poetic works), the Daksinamurti
Stotra, Bhajagovinda Stotra, Sivanandalahari, Carpata-panjarika, Visnu-satpadi, Harimide, Dasa-
shloki, and Krishna-staka are likely to be authentic.[321][323] He also authored Upadesasahasri, his
most important original philosophical work.[304][322] Of other original Prakaranas ( करण,
monographs, treatise), 76 works are attributed to Adi Shankara. Modern era Indian scholars
Belvalkar and Upadhyaya accept five and thirty nine works, respectively, as authentic.[324]

Several commentaries on Nrisimha-Purvatatapaniya and Shveshvatara Upanishads have been

attributed to Adi Shankara, but their authenticity is highly doubtful.[320][325] Similarly,
commentaries on several early and later Upanishads attributed to Shankara are rejected by
scholars[326] as his works, and are likely works of later Advaita Vedanta scholars; these include the
Kaushitaki Upanishad, Maitri Upanishad, Kaivalya Upanishad, Paramahamsa Upanishad,
Sakatayana Upanishad, Mandala Brahmana Upanishad, Maha Narayana Upanishad, and
Gopalatapaniya Upanishad.[325]

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The authenticity of Shankara being the author of Vivekacūḍāmaṇi[327] has been questioned, and
"modern scholars tend to reject its authenticity as a work by Shankara."[328] The authorship of
Shankara of his Mandukya Upanishad Bhasya and his supplementary commentary on
Gaudapada's Māṇḍukya Kārikā has been disputed by Nakamura.[329] However, other scholars
state that the commentary on Mandukya, which is actually a commentary on Madukya-Karikas by
Gaudapada, may be authentic.[321][325]

Influence of Shankara
Shankara's status in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta is unparallelled. He travelled all over India to
help restore the study of the Vedas.[330] His teachings and tradition form the basis of Smartism
and have influenced Sant Mat lineages.[331] He introduced the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the
simultaneous worship of five deities  – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi. Shankara
explained that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme
Being.[332]

Benedict Ashley credits Adi Shankara for unifying two seemingly disparate philosophical doctrines
in Hinduism, namely Atman and Brahman.[333] Isaeva states that Shankara's influence extended to
reforming Hinduism, founding monasteries, edifying disciples, disputing opponents, and engaging
in philosophic activity that, in the eyes of Indian tradition, helped revive "the orthodox idea of the
unity of all beings" and Vedanta thought.[334]

Some scholars doubt Shankara's early influence in India.[335] According to King and Roodurmun,
until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Mandana-Misra,
who was considered to be the major representative of Advaita.[336][337] Other scholars state that
the historical records for this period are unclear, and little reliable information is known about the
various contemporaries and disciples of Shankara.[338]

Several scholars suggest that the historical fame and cultural influence of Shankara grew centuries
later, particularly during the era of the Muslim invasions and consequent devastation of
India.[335][339] Many of Shankara's biographies were created and published in and after the 14th
century, such as the widely cited Vidyaranya's Śankara-vijaya. Vidyaranya, also known as
Madhava, who was the 12th Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380 to 1386,[340]
inspired the re-creation of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India in response to the
devastation caused by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate.[339][341] He and his brothers, suggest Paul
Hacker and other scholars,[335][339] wrote about Śankara as well as extensive Advaitic
commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma. Vidyaranya was a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire
and enjoyed royal support,[341] and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish
Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's
Vedanta philosophies, and establish monasteries (mathas) to expand the cultural influence of
Shankara and Advaita Vedanta.[335]

Post-Shankara – early medieval times

Sureśvara and Maṇḍana Miśra

Sureśvara (fl. 800–900 CE)[342] and Maṇḍana Miśra were contemporaries of Shankara, Sureśvara
often (incorrectly) being identified with Maṇḍana Miśra.[343] Both explained Sankara "on the basis
of their personal convictions".[343] Sureśvara has also been credited as the founder of a pre-
Shankara branch of Advaita Vedanta.[342]
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Maṇḍana Miśra was a Mimamsa scholar and a follower of Kumarila, but also wrote a seminal text
on Advaita that has survived into the modern era, the Brahma-siddhi.[344][345] According to
tradition, Maṇḍana Miśra and his wife were defeated by Shankara in a debate, after which he
became a follower of Shankara.[344] Yet, his attitude toward Shankara was that of a "self-confident
rival teacher of Advaita",[346] and his influence was such that some regard the Brahma-siddhi to
have "set forth a non-Shankaran brand of Advaita""[344] The "theory of error" set forth in this work
became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error.[347] It was Vachaspati Misra's commentary
on this work that linked it to Shankara's teaching.[348] His influential thesis in the Advaita
tradition has been that errors are opportunities because they "lead to truth", and full correct
knowledge requires that not only should one understand the truth but also examine and
understand errors as well as what is not truth.[349]

Hiriyanna and Kuppuswami Sastra have pointed out that Sureśvara and Maṇḍana Miśra had
different views on various doctrinal points:[350]

The locus of avidya:[350] according to Maṇḍana Miśra, the individual jiva is the locus of avidya,
whereas Suresvara contends that the avidya regarding Brahman is located in Brahman.[350]
These two different stances are also reflected in the opposing positions of the Bhamati school
and the Vivarana school.[350]
Liberation: according to Maṇḍana Miśra, the knowledge that arises from the Mahavakya is
insufficient for liberation. Only the direct realization of Brahma is liberating, which can only be
attained by meditation.[351] According to Suresvara, this knowledge is directly liberating, while
meditation is at best a useful aid.[346][note 26]

Advaita Vedanta sub-schools

After Shankara's death, several sub-schools developed. Two of them still exist today, the Bhāmatī
and the Vivarana.[web 10][288] Two defunct schools are the Pancapadika and Istasiddhi, which were
replaced by Prakasatman's Vivarana school.[353]

These schools worked out the logical implications of various Advaita doctrines. Two of the
problems they encountered were the further interpretations of the concepts of māyā and
avidya.[web 10]

Padmapada – Pancapadika school

Padmapada (c. 800 CE)[354] was a direct disciple of Shankara who wrote the Pancapadika, a
commentary on the Sankara-bhaya.[354] Padmapada diverged from Shankara in his description of
avidya, designating prakrti as avidya or ajnana.[355]

Vachaspati Misra – Bhamati school

Vachaspati Misra (800–900 CE)[356] wrote the Brahmatattva-samiksa, a commentary on
Maṇḍana Miśra's Brahma-siddhi, which provides the link between Mandana Misra and
Shankara[348] and attempts to harmonise Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Misra.[web 10]
According to Advaita tradition, Shankara reincarnated as Vachaspati Misra "to popularise the
Advaita System through his Bhamati".[356] Only two works are known of Vachaspati Misra, the
Brahmatattva-samiksa on Maṇḍana Miśra's Brahma-siddhi, and his Bhamati on the Sankara-
bhasya, Shankara's commentary on the Brahma-sutras.[348] The name of the Bhamati sub-school
is derived from this Bhamati.[web 10]

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The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach. It sees the Jiva as the source of avidya.[web 10] It
sees meditation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of the Vedas
and reflection are additional factors.[357]

Prakasatman – Vivarana school

Prakasatman (c. 1200–1300)[353] wrote the Pancapadika-Vivarana, a commentary on the
Pancapadika by Padmapadacharya.[353] The Vivarana lends its name to the subsequent school.
According to Roodurmum, "[H]is line of thought [...] became the leitmotif of all subsequent
developments in the evolution of the Advaita tradition."[353]

The Vivarana school takes an epistemological approach. Prakasatman was the first to propound the
theory of mulavidya or maya as being of "positive beginningless nature",[358] and sees Brahman as
the source of avidya. Critics object that Brahman is pure consciousness, so it cannot be the source
of avidya. Another problem is that contradictory qualities, namely knowledge and ignorance, are
attributed to Brahman.[web 10]

Vimuktatman – Ista-Siddhi
Vimuktatman (c. 1200 CE)[359] wrote the Ista-siddhi.[359] It is one of the four traditional siddhi,
together with Mandana's Brahma-siddhi, Suresvara's Naiskarmya-siddhi, and Madusudana's
Advaita-siddhi.[360] According to Vimuktatman, absolute Reality is "pure intuitive
consciousness".[361] His school of thought was eventually replaced by Prakasatman's Vivarana
school.[353]

Late medieval times (Islamic rule of India) – "Greater Advaita Vedanta"

Michael s. Allen and Anand Venkatkrishnan note that Shankara is very well-studies, but "scholars
have yet to provide even a rudimentary, let alone comprehensive account of the history of Advaita
Vedanta in the centuries leading up to the colonial period."[362]

Prominent teachers
According to Sangeetha Menon, prominent names in the later Advaita tradition are:[web 11]

Prakāsātman, Vimuktātman, Sarvajñātman (10th century)(see above)

Śrī Harṣa, Citsukha (12th century)
ānandagiri, Amalānandā (13th century)
Vidyāraņya, Śaṅkarānandā (14th century)
Sadānandā (15th century)
Prakāṣānanda, Nṛsiṁhāśrama (16th century)
Madhusūdhana Sarasvati, Dharmarāja Advarindra, Appaya Dīkśita (17th century)

Influence of yogic tradition

While Indologists like Paul Hacker and Wilhelm Halbfass took Shankara's system as the measure
for an "orthodox" Advaita Vedanta, the living Advaita Vedanta tradition in medieval times was
influenced by, and incorporated elements from, the yogic tradition and texts like the Yoga Vasistha
and the Bhagavata Purana.[363] The Yoga Vasistha became an authoritative surce text in the
Advaita vedanta tradition in the 14th century, while Vidyāraņya's Jivanmuktiviveka (14th century)
was influenced by the (Laghu-)Yoga-Vasistha, which in turn was influenced by Kashmir
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Shaivism.[364] Vivekananda's 19th century emphasis on nirvikalpa samadhi was preceded by

medieval yogic influences on Advaita Vedanta. In the 16th and 17th centuries, some Nath and
hatha yoga texts also came within the scope of the developing Advaita Vedanta tradition.[365]

Development of central position

Highest Indian philosophy

Already in medieval times, Advaita Vedanta came to be regarded as the highest of the Indian
religious philosophies,[366] a development which was reinforced in modern times due to western
interest in Advaita Vedanta, and the subsequent influence of western perceptions on Indian
perceptions of Hinduism.[37]

In contrast, King states that its present position was a response of Hindu intellectuals to centuries
of Christian polemic aimed at establishing "Hindu inferiority complex" during the colonial rule of
the Indian subcontinent.[367] The "humanistic, inclusivist" formulation, now called Neo-Vedanta,
attempted to respond to this colonial stereotyping of "Indian culture was backward, superstitious
and inferior to the West", states King. Advaita Vedanta was projected as the central philosophy of
Hinduism, and Neo-Vedanta subsumed and incorporated Buddhist ideas thereby making the
Buddha a part of the Vedanta tradition, all in an attempt to reposition the history of Indian culture.
Thus, states King, neo-Vedanta developed as a reaction to western Orientalism and
Perennialism.[368] With the efforts of Vivekananda, modern formulation of Advaita Vedanta has
"become a dominant force in Indian intellectual thought", though Hindu beliefs and practices are
diverse.[369]

Unifying Hinduism
Advaita Vedanta came to occupy a central position in the classification of various Hindu traditions.
To some scholars, it is with the arrival of Islamic rule, first in the form of Delhi Sultanate thereafter
the Mughal Empire, and the subsequent persecution of Indian religions, Hindu scholars began a
self-conscious attempts to define an identity and unity.[370][371] Between the twelfth and the
fourteen century, according to Andrew Nicholson, this effort emerged with a classification of astika
and nastika systems of Indian philosophies.[372] Certain thinkers, according to Nicholson thesis,
began to retrospectively classify ancient thought into "six systems" (saddarsana) of mainstream
Hindu philosophy.[373]

Other scholars, acknowledges Nicholson, present an alternate thesis. The scriptures such as the
Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, texts such as Dharmasutras and Puranas, and various ideas
that are considered to be paradigmatic Hinduism are traceable to being thousands of years old.
Unlike Christianity and Islam, Hinduism as a religion does not have a single founder, rather it is a
fusion of diverse scholarship where a galaxy of thinkers openly challenged each other's teachings
and offered their own ideas.[373] The term "Hindu" too, states Arvind Sharma, appears in much
older texts such as those in Arabic that record the Islamic invasion or regional rule of Indian
subcontinent. Some of these texts have been dated to between the 8th and the 11th century.[374]
Within these doxologies and records, Advaita Vedanta was given the highest position, since it was
regarded to be most inclusive system.[375]

Modern times (Colonial rule and independence)

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According to Sangeetha Menon, Sadaśiva Brahmendra was a prominent 18th century Advaita
Vedantin.[web 11]

Influence on Hindu nationalism

According to King, along with the consolidation of the British imperialist rule came orientalism
wherein the new rulers viewed Indians through "colonially crafted lenses". In response, emerged
Hindu nationalism for collective action against the colonial rule, against the caricature by Christian
and Muslim communities, and for socio-political independence.[376] In this colonial era search of
identity, Vedanta came to be regarded as the essence of Hinduism, and Advaita Vedanta came to be
regarded as "then paradigmatic example of the mystical nature of the Hindu religion" and umbrella
of "inclusivism".[377] This umbrella of Advaita Vedanta, according to King, "provided an
opportunity for the construction of a nationalist ideology that could unite Hindus in their struggle
against colonial oppression".[378]

Among the colonial era intelligentsia, according to Anshuman Mondal, a professor of Literature
specializing in post-colonial studies, the monistic Advaita Vedanta has been a major ideological
force for Hindu nationalism. Mahatma Gandhi professed monism of Advaita Vedanta, though at
times he also spoke with terms from mind-body dualism schools of Hinduism.[379] Other colonial
era Indian thinkers, such as Vivekananda, presented Advaita Vedanta as an inclusive universal
religion, a spirituality that in part helped organize a religiously infused identity, and the rise of
Hindu nationalism as a counter weight to Islam-infused Muslim communitarian organizations
such as the Muslim League, to Christianity-infused colonial orientalism and to religious
persecution of those belonging to Indian religions.[380][371][381]

Swami Vivekananda
A major proponent in the popularisation of this Universalist and Perennialist interpretation of
Advaita Vedanta was Vivekananda,[382] who played a major role in the revival of Hinduism,[383]
and the spread of Advaita Vedanta to the west via the Ramakrishna Mission. His interpretation of
Advaita Vedanta has been called "Neo-Vedanta". Vivekananda discerned a universal religion,
regarding all the apparent differences between various traditions as various manifestations of one
truth.[384] He presented karma, bhakti, jnana and raja yoga as equal means to attain moksha,[385]
to present Vedanta as a liberal and universal religion, in contrast to the exclusivism of other
religions.[385]

Vivekananda emphasised nirvikalpa samadhi as the spiritual goal of Vedanta, he equated it to the
liberation in Yoga and encouraged Yoga practice he called Raja yoga.[386] This approach, however,
is missing in historic Advaita texts.[387] In 1896, Vivekananda claimed that Advaita appeals to
modern scientists:

I may make bold to say that the only religion which agrees with, and even goes a little
further than modern researchers, both on physical and moral lines is the Advaita, and
that is why it appeals to modern scientists so much. They find that the old dualistic
theories are not enough for them, do not satisfy their necessities. A man must have not
only faith, but intellectual faith too".[web 12]

According to Rambachan, Vivekananda interprets anubhava as to mean "personal experience",

akin to religious experience, whereas Shankara used the term to denote liberating understanding of
the sruti.[80][388][389]
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Vivekananda's claims about spirituality as "science" and modern, according to David Miller, may
be questioned by well informed scientists, but it drew attention for being very different than how
Christianity and Islam were being viewed by scientists and sociologists of his era.[390]

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, first a professor at Oxford University and later a President of India,
further popularized Advaita Vedanta, presenting it as the essence of Hinduism.[web 13] According to
Michael Hawley, a professor of Religious Studies, Radhakrishnan saw other religions, as well as
"what Radhakrishnan understands as lower forms of Hinduism," as interpretations of Advaita
Vedanta, thereby "in a sense Hindusizing all religions".[web 13] To him, the world faces a religious
problem, where there is unreflective dogmatism and exclusivism, creating a need for "experiential
religion" and "inclusivism". Advaita Vedanta, claimed Radhakrishnan, best exemplifies a Hindu
philosophical, theological, and literary tradition that fulfills this need.[web 13][391][392]
Radhakrishnan did not emphasize the differences between Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism versus
Hinduism that he defined in terms of Advaita Vedanta, rather he tended to minimize their
differences. This is apparent, for example, in his discussions of Buddhist "Madhyamika and
Yogacara" traditions versus the Advaita Vedanta tradition.[392]

Radhakrishnan metaphysics was grounded in Advaita Vedanta, but he reinterpreted Advaita

Vedanta for contemporary needs and context.[web 13] He acknowledged the reality and diversity of
the world of experience, which he saw as grounded in and supported by the transcendent
metaphysical absolute concept (nirguna Brahman).[web 13][note 27] Radhakrishnan also
reinterpreted Shankara's notion of maya. According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict
absolute idealism, but "a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real."[web 13][394]

Mahatama Gandhi
Gandhi declared his allegiance to Advaita Vedanta, and was another popularizing force for its
ideas.[395] According to Nicholas Gier, this to Gandhi meant the unity of God and humans, that all
beings have the same one soul and therefore equality, that atman exists and is same as everything
in the universe, ahimsa (non-violence) is the very nature of this atman.[395] Gandhi called himself
advaitist many times, including his letters, but he believed that others have a right to a viewpoint
different than his own because they come from a different background and perspective.[396][397]
According to Gier, Gandhi did not interpret maya as illusion, but accepted that "personal theism"
leading to "impersonal monism" as two tiers of religiosity.[395]

Contemporary Advaita Vedanta

Contemporary teachers are the orthodox Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham; the more
traditional teachers Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), Chinmayananda Saraswati,[web 14] and
Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya);[web 14] and less traditional teachers such as Narayana
Guru.[web 14] According to Sangeetha Menon, prominent names in 20th century Advaita tradition
are Shri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswami, Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal,
Sacchidānandendra Saraswati.[web 11]

Influence on New religious movements

Neo-Advaita

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Neo-Advaita is a New Religious Movement based on a popularised, western interpretation of

Advaita Vedanta and the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.[398] Neo-Advaita is being
criticised[399][note 28][401][note 29][note 30] for discarding the traditional prerequisites of knowledge
of the scriptures[403] and "renunciation as necessary preparation for the path of jnana-
yoga".[403][404] Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja,[405][398] his students
Gangaji[406] Andrew Cohen[note 31], and Eckhart Tolle.[398]

Non-dualism
Advaita Vedanta has gained attention in western spirituality and New Age, where various
traditions are seen as driven by the same non-dual experience.[408] Nonduality points to "a
primordial, natural awareness without subject or object".[web 19] It is also used to refer to
interconnectedness, "the sense that all things are interconnected and not separate, while at the
same time all things retain their individuality".[web 20]

Sampradaya

Monastic order: Advaita Mathas

Advaita Vedanta is not just a philosophical system, but also a
tradition of renunciation. Philosophy and renunciation are
closely related:[web 21]

Most of the notable authors in the advaita tradition

were members of the sannyasa tradition, and both
sides of the tradition share the same values,
attitudes and metaphysics.[web 21]
(Vidyashankara temple) at Sringeri
Sharada Peetham, Shringeri
Shankara organized monks under 10 names and established
mathas for them. These mathas contributed to the influence of
Shankara, which was "due to institutional factors". The mathas which he established remain active
today, and preserve the teachings and influence of Shankara, "while the writings of other scholars
before him came to be forgotten with the passage of time".[409]

Shri Gaudapadacharya Math

Around 740 AD Gaudapada founded Shri Gaudapadacharya Math[note 32], also known as Kavaḷē
maṭha. It is located in Kavale, Ponda, Goa,[web 22] and is the oldest matha of the South Indian
Saraswat Brahmins.[302][web 23]

Shankara's monastic tradition

Shankara, himself considered to be an incarnation of Shiva,[web 21] established the Dashanami
Sampradaya, organizing a section of the Ekadandi monks under an umbrella grouping of ten
names.[web 21] Several Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions, however, remained outside the
organisation of the Dasanāmis.[410][411][412]

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Sankara organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ)
(monasteries), called the Amnaya Mathas, with the headquarters at Dvārakā in the West,
Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri in the South and Badrikashrama in the North.[web 21] Each
math was first headed by one of his four main disciples, and the tradition continues since
then.[note 33] According to another tradition in Kerala, after Sankara's samadhi at Vadakkunnathan
Temple, his disciples founded four mathas in Thrissur, namely Naduvil Madhom, Thekke
Madhom, Idayil Madhom and Vadakke Madhom.

The table below gives an overview of the four Amnaya Mathas founded by Adi Shankara, and their
details.[web 24]

Shishya
Direction Maṭha Mahāvākya Veda Sampradaya
(lineage)
Govardhana Prajñānam brahma
Padmapāda East Rig Veda Bhogavala
Pīṭhaṃ (Consciousness is Brahman)
Sringeri Śārada Aham brahmāsmi (I am Yajur
Sureśvara South Bhūrivala
Pīṭhaṃ Brahman) Veda
Dvāraka Sama
Hastāmalakācārya West Tattvamasi (That thou art) Kitavala
Pīṭhaṃ Veda
Jyotirmaṭha Ayamātmā brahma (This Atman Atharva
Toṭakācārya North Nandavala
Pīṭhaṃ is Brahman) Veda

Monks of these ten orders differ in part in their beliefs and practices, and a section of them is not
considered to be restricted to specific changes made by Shankara. While the dasanāmis associated
with the Sankara maths follow the procedures enumerated by Adi Śankara, some of these orders
remained partly or fully independent in their belief and practices; and outside the official control of
the Sankara maths. The advaita sampradaya is not a Saiva sect,[web 21][415] despite the historical
links with Shaivism.[note 34] Nevertheless, contemporary Sankaracaryas have more influence
among Saiva communities than among Vaisnava communities.[web 21]

Relationship with other forms of Vedanta

The Advaita Vedanta ideas, particularly of 8th century Adi Shankara, were challenged by theistic
Vedanta philosophies that emerged centuries later, such as the 11th-century Vishishtadvaita
(qualified nondualism) of Ramanuja, and the 14th-century Dvaita (theistic dualism) of
Madhvacharya.[416]

Vishishtadvaita
Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualism Vedanta
schools,[417][418] both are premised on the assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the
state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya and his Dvaita subschool of Vedanta believed
that some souls are eternally doomed and damned.[419][420] Shankara's theory posits that only
Brahman and causes are metaphysical unchanging reality, while the empirical world (Maya) and
observed effects are changing, illusive and of relative existence.[421][422] Spiritual liberation to
Shankara is the full comprehension and realization of oneness of one's unchanging Atman (soul) as
the same as Atman in everyone else as well as being identical to the nirguna
Brahman.[418][423][424] In contrast, Ramanuja's theory posits both Brahman and the world of
matter are two different absolutes, both metaphysically real, neither should be called false or
illusive, and saguna Brahman with attributes is also real.[422] God, like man, states Ramanuja, has
both soul and body, and all of the world of matter is the glory of God's body.[417] The path to
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Brahman (Vishnu), asserted Ramanuja, is devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the
beauty and love of personal god (saguna Brahman, Vishnu), one which ultimately leads one to the
oneness with nirguna Brahman.[417][421][422]

Shuddhadvaita
Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 CE), the proponent of the philosophy of Shuddhadvaita Brahmvad
enunciates that Ishvara has created the world without connection with any external agency such as
Maya (which itself is his power) and manifests Himself through the world.[425] That is why
shuddhadvaita is known as 'Unmodified transformation' or 'Avikṛta Pariṇāmavāda'. Brahman or
Ishvara desired to become many, and he became the multitude of individual souls and the world.
Vallabha recognises Brahman as the whole and the individual as a 'part' (but devoid of bliss).[426]

Dvaita
Madhvacharya was also a critic of Advaita Vedanta. Advaita's nondualism asserted that Atman
(soul) and Brahman are identical, there is interconnected oneness of all souls and Brahman, and
there are no pluralities.[427][428] Madhva in contrast asserted that Atman (soul) and Brahman are
different, only Vishnu is the Lord (Brahman), individual souls are also different and depend on
Vishnu, and there are pluralities.[427][428] Madhvacharya stated that both Advaita Vedanta and
Mahayana Buddhism were a nihilistic school of thought.[429] Madhvacharya wrote four major
texts, including Upadhikhandana and Tattvadyota, primarily dedicated to criticizing Advaita.[429]

Historical influence
Scholars are divided on the historical influence of Advaita
Vedanta. Some Indologists state that it is one of the most
studied Hindu philosophy and the most influential schools of
classical Indian thought.[430][22][431] Advaita Vedanta, states
Eliot Deutsch, "has been and continues to be the most widely
accepted system of thought among philosophers in India, and
it is, we believe, one of the greatest philosophical achievements
to be found in the East or the West".[432]

Smarta Tradition
The Smarta tradition of Hinduism is an ancient
tradition,[note 35] particularly found in south and west India,
that revers all Hindu divinities as a step in their spiritual
pursuit.[434][435][436] Their worship practice is called
Panchayatana puja.[437][434] The worship symbolically
consists of five deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi or Durga, Surya
Mahatma Gandhi stated "I am an
and an Ishta Devata or any personal god of devotee's advaitist".[396][397]
preference.[435][438]

In the Smarta tradition, Advaita Vedanta ideas combined with bhakti are its foundation. Adi
Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacher[436] and reformer of the Smarta.[439] According to Alf
Hiltebeitel, Shankara's Advaita Vedanta and practices became the doctrinal unifier of previously
conflicting practices with the smarta tradition.[note 36]

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Philosophically, the Smarta tradition emphasizes that all images and statues (murti), or just five
marks or any anicons on the ground, are visibly convenient icons of spirituality saguna
Brahman.[441][437] The multiple icons are seen as multiple representations of the same idea, rather
than as distinct beings. These serve as a step and means to realizing the abstract Ultimate Reality
called nirguna Brahman. The ultimate goal in this practice is to transition past the use of icons,
then follow a philosophical and meditative path to understanding the oneness of Atman (soul, self)
and Brahman – as "That art Thou".[441][442]

Other Hindu traditions

Within the ancient and medieval texts of Hindu traditions, such as Vaishnavism, Shaivism and
Shaktism, the ideas of Advaita Vedanta have had a major influence. Advaita Vedanta influenced
Krishna Vaishnavism in the different parts of India.[443] One of its most popular text, the
Bhagavata Purana, adopts and integrates in Advaita Vedanta philosophy.[444][445][446] The
Bhagavata Purana is generally accepted by scholars to have been composed in the second half of
1st millennium CE.[447][448]

In the ancient and medieval literature of Shaivism, called the Āgamas, the influence of Advaita
Vedanta is once again prominent.[449][450][451] Of the 92 Āgamas, ten are Dvaita texts, eighteen
are Bhedabheda, and sixty-four are Advaita texts.[452][453] According to Natalia Isaeva, there is an
evident and natural link between 6th-century Gaudapada's Advaita Vedanta ideas and Kashmir
Shaivism.[454]

Shaktism, the Hindu tradition where a goddess is considered identical to Brahman, has similarly
flowered from a syncretism of the monist premises of Advaita Vedanta and dualism premises of
Samkhya–Yoga school of Hindu philosophy, sometimes referred to as Shaktadavaitavada
(literally, the path of nondualistic Shakti).[455][456][457]

Other influential ancient and medieval classical texts of Hinduism such as the Yoga Yajnavalkya,
Yoga Vashishta, Avadhuta Gita, Markandeya Purana and Sannyasa Upanishads predominantly
incorporate premises and ideas of Advaita Vedanta.[458][459][460]

Relationship with Buddhism

Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism share similarities and have differences,[461][462] their
relationship a subject of dispute among scholars.[463] The similarities between Advaita and
Buddhism have attracted Indian and Western scholars attention,[464] and have also been criticised
by concurring schools. The similarities have been interpreted as Buddhist influences on Advaita
Vedanta, while others deny such influences, or see them as variant expressions.[465] According to
Daniel Ingalls, the Japanese Buddhist scholarship has argued that Adi Shankara did not
understand Buddhism.[463]

Some Hindu scholars criticized Advaita for its Maya and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with
Buddhism.[466][467] Ramanuja, the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, accused Adi Shankara of
being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a "crypto-Buddhist",[468] and someone who was undermining
theistic Bhakti devotionalism.[467] The non-Advaita scholar Bhaskara of the Bhedabheda Vedanta
tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as "this despicable broken down
Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists", and a school that is undermining
the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.[467]

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A few Buddhist scholars made the opposite criticism in the medieval era toward their Buddhist
opponents. In the sixth century CE, for example, the Mahayana Buddhist scholar Bhaviveka
redefined Vedantic concepts to show how they fit into Madhyamaka concepts,[469] and "equate[d]
the Buddha's Dharma body with Brahman, the ultimate reality of the Upanishads."[470] In his
Madhyamakahṛdayakārikaḥ, Bhaviveka stages a Hinayana (Theravada) interlocutor, who accuses
Mahayana Buddhists of being "crypto-Vedantins".[471][472][note 37] Medieval era Tibetan Gelugpa
scholars accused the Jonang school of being "crypto-Vedantist."[473][474][note 38] Contemporary
scholar David Kalupahana called the seventh century Buddhist scholar Chandrakirti a "crypto-
Vedantist", a view rejected by scholars of Madhayamika Buddhism.[475]

The Advaita Vedanta tradition has historically rejected accusations of crypto-Buddhism

highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta and Brahman.[462]

Similarities with Buddhism

According to scholars, the influence of Mahayana Buddhism on Advaita Vedanta has been
significant.[467][476] Advaita Vedanta and various other schools of Hindu philosophy share
numerous terminology, doctrines and dialectical techniques with Buddhism.[477][478] According to
a 1918 paper by the Buddhism scholar O. Rozenberg, "a precise differentiation between
Brahmanism and Buddhism is impossible to draw."[477]

Both traditions hold that "the empirical world is transitory, a show of appearances",[479][480] and
both admit "degrees of truth or existence".[481] Both traditions emphasize the human need for
spiritual liberation (moksha, nirvana, kaivalya), however with different assumptions.[482][note 39]
Adi Shankara, states Natalia Isaeva, incorporated "into his own system a Buddhist notion of maya
which had not been minutely elaborated in the Upanishads".[477] Similarly, there are many points
of contact between Buddhism's Vijnanavada and Shankara's Advaita.[484]

According to Frank Whaling, the similarities between Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism are not
limited to the terminology and some doctrines, but also includes practice. The monastic practices
and monk tradition in Advaita are similar to those found in Buddhism.[467]

Dasgupta and Mohanta suggest that Buddhism and Shankara's Advaita Vedanta represent
"different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic
period to the time of Sankara."[485][note 40] The influence of Mahayana Buddhism on other
religions and philosophies was not limited to Vedanta. Kalupahana notes that the Visuddhimagga
of Theravada Buddhism tradition contains "some metaphysical speculations, such as those of the
Sarvastivadins, the Sautrantikas, and even the Yogacarins".[488] According to John Plott,

We must emphasize again that generally throughout the Gupta Dynasty, and even more
so after its decline, there developed such a high degree of syncretism and such
toleration of all points of view that Mahayana Buddhism had been Hinduized almost as
much as Hinduism had been Buddhaized.[489]

Gaudapada
The influence of Buddhist doctrines on Gaudapada has been a vexed question.[490][491]

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One school of scholars, such as Bhattacharya and Raju, state that Gaudapada took over the
Buddhist doctrines that ultimate reality is pure consciousness (vijñapti-mātra)[492][note 41] and
"that the nature of the world is the four-cornered negation, which is the structure of
Māyā".[492][495]

Of particular interest is Chapter Four of Gaudapada's text Karika, in which according to

Bhattacharya, two karikas refer to the Buddha and the term Asparsayoga is borrowed from
Buddhism.[490] According to Murti, "the conclusion is irresistible that Gaudapada, a Vedanta
philosopher, is attempting an Advaitic interpretation of Vedanta in the light of the Madhyamika
and Yogacara doctrines. He even freely quotes and appeals to them."[300] However, adds Murti, the
doctrines are unlike Buddhism. Chapter One, Two and Three are entirely Vedantin and founded on
the Upanishads, with little Buddhist flavor.[300] Further, state both Murti and King, no Vedanta
scholars who followed Gaudapada ever quoted from Chapter Four, they only quote from the first
three.[300][301] According to Sarma, "to mistake him [Gaudapada] to be a hidden or open Buddhist
is absurd".[496] The doctrines of Gaudapada and Buddhism are totally opposed, states Murti:[300]

We have been talking of borrowing, influence and relationship in rather general terms.
It is necessary to define the possible nature of the borrowing, granting that it did take
place. (...) The Vedantins stake everything on the Atman (Brahman) and accept the
authority of the Upanishads. We have pointed out at length the Nairatmya standpoint
of Buddhism and its total opposition to the Atman (soul, substance, the permanent and
universal) in any form.

— TRV Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism[497]

Advaitins have traditionally challenged the Buddhist influence thesis.[490] Modern scholarship
generally accepts that Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhism, at least in terms of using Buddhist
terminology to explain his ideas, but adds that Gaudapada was a Vedantin and not a Buddhist.[490]
Gaudapada adopted some Buddhist terminology and borrowed its doctrines to his Vedantic goals,
much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and borrowed its doctrines to
Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings.[489][461] While
there is shared terminology, the Advaita doctrines of Gaudapada and Buddhism are fundamentally
different.[300][498]

Differences from Buddhism

Atman and anatta

Advaita Vedanta holds the premise, "Soul exists, and Soul (or self, Atman) is a self evident truth".
Buddhism, in contrast, holds the premise, "Atman does not exist, and An-atman (or Anatta, non-
self)[499] is self evident".[51][500]

In Buddhism, Anatta (Pali, Sanskrit cognate An-atman) is the concept that in human beings and
living creatures, there is no "eternal, essential and absolute something called a soul, self or
atman".[52] Buddhist philosophy rejects the concept and all doctrines associated with atman, call
atman as illusion (maya), asserting instead the theory of "no-self" and "no-soul".[51][501] Most
schools of Buddhism, from its earliest days, have denied the existence of the "self, soul" in its core
philosophical and ontological texts. In contrast to Advaita, which describes knowing one's own soul
as identical with Brahman as the path to nirvana, in its soteriological themes Buddhism has
defined nirvana as the state of a person who knows that he or she has "no self, no soul".[52][502]
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Some Buddhist texts chronologically placed in the 1st millennium of common era, such as the
Mahayana tradition's Tathāgatagarbha sūtras suggest self-like concepts, variously called
Tathagatagarbha or Buddha nature.[503][504] These have been controversial idea in Buddhism,
and "eternal self" concepts have been generally rejected. In modern era studies, scholars such as
Wayman and Wayman state that these "self-like" concepts are neither self nor sentient being, nor
soul, nor personality.[505][506] Some scholars posit that the Tathagatagarbha Sutras were written
to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.[507][508][509]

Epistemology
The epistemological foundations of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta are different. Buddhism
accepts two valid means to reliable and correct knowledge – perception and inference, while
Advaita Vedanta accepts six (described elsewhere in this article).[215][232][510] However, some
Buddhists in history, have argued that Buddhist scriptures are a reliable source of spiritual
knowledge, corresponding to Advaita's Śabda pramana, however Buddhists have treated their
scriptures as a form of inference method.[511]

Ontology
Advaita Vedanta posits a substance ontology, an ontology which holds that underlying the change
and impermanence of empirical reality is an unchanging and permanent absolute reality, like an
eternal substance it calls Atman-Brahman.[512] In its substance ontology, as like other
philosophies, there exist a universal, particulars and specific properties and it is the interaction of
particulars that create events and processes.[513]

In contrast, Buddhism posits a process ontology, also called as "event ontology".[514][513] According
to the Buddhist thought, particularly after the rise of ancient Mahayana Buddhism scholarship,
there is neither empirical nor absolute permanent reality and ontology can be explained as a
process.[514][515][note 42] There is a system of relations and interdependent phenomena (pratitya
samutpada) in Buddhist ontology, but no stable persistent identities, no eternal universals nor
particulars. Thought and memories are mental constructions and fluid processes without a real
observer, personal agency or cognizer in Buddhism. In contrast, in Advaita Vedanta, like other
schools of Hinduism, the concept of self (atman) is the real on-looker, personal agent and
cognizer.[517]

The Pali Abdhidhamma and Theravada Buddhism considered all existence as dhamma, and left
the ontological questions about reality and the nature of dhamma unexplained.[514]

According to Renard, Advaita's theory of three levels of reality is built on the two levels of reality
found in the Madhyamika.[518]

Shankara on Buddhism
A central concern for Shankara, in his objections against Buddhism, is what he perceives as
nihilism of the Buddhists.[519] Shankara states that there "must be something beyond cognition,
namely a cognizer,"[520] which he asserts is the self-evident Atman or witness.[521] Buddhism,
according to Shankara, denies the cognizer. He also considers the notion of Brahman as pure
knowledge and "the quintessence of positive reality."[519]

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The teachings in Brahma Sutras, states Shankara, differ from both the Buddhist realists and the
Buddhist idealists. Shankara elaborates on these arguments against various schools of Buddhism,
partly presenting refutations which were already standard in his time, and partly offering his own
objections.[522] Shankara's original contribution in explaining the difference between Advaita and
Buddhism was his "argument for identity" and the "argument for the witness".[523] In Shankara's
view, the Buddhist are internally inconsistent in their theories, because "the reservoir-
consciousness that [they] set up, being momentary, is no better than ordinary consciousness. Or, if
[they] allow the reservoir-consciousness to be lasting, [they] destroy [their] theory of
momentariness."[524] In response to the idealists, he notes that their alaya-vijnana, or store-house
consciousness, runs counter to the Buddhist theory of momentariness.[519] With regard to the
Sunyavada (Madhyamaka), Shankara states that "being contradictory to all valid means of
knowledge, we have not thought worth while to refute" and "common sense (loka-vyavahara)
cannot be denied without the discovery of some other truth".[525]

Reception
Advaita Vedanta is most often regarded as an idealist monism.[24][26] According to King, Advaita
Vedanta developed "to its ultimate extreme" the monistic ideas already present in the
Upanishads.[526] In contrast, states Milne, it is misleading to call Advaita Vedanta "monistic," since
this confuses the "negation of difference" with "conflation into one."[527] Advaita is a negative term
(a-dvaita), states Milne, which denotes the "negation of a difference," between subject and object,
or between perceiver and perceived. [527]

According to Deutsch, Advaita Vedanta teaches monistic oneness, however without the multiplicity
premise of alternate monism theories.[528] According to Jacqueline Hirst, Adi Shankara positively
emphasizes "oneness" premise in his Brahma-sutra Bhasya 2.1.20, attributing it to all the
Upanishads.[529]

Nicholson states Advaita Vedanta contains realistic strands of thought, both in its oldest origins
and in Shankara's writings.[36]

Advaitic Meditation (Bhramara-kita-nyaya)

Bhramara-kita-nyaya is based on the analogy of the butterfly and the caterpillar, which states how
the caterpillar gets transformed into a butterfly by transformative changes in time. Similarly, the
Jiva(Atman) becomes Brahman itself by ultimately transforming on Brahman.

See also
Cause and effect in Advaita Vedanta
Kashmir Shaivism
Pandeism
Pantheism

Notes
1. pg. 941 "Puruṣavāda appears a preferred terminology in the early periods, before the time of
Sankara." See also Purusha.
2. Literally: end or the goal of the Vedas.

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3. For an alternate English translation: Robert Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (https://a
rchive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n159/mode/2up), BU 4.3.32, Oxford
University Press, page 138.
4. It is not a philosophy in the western meaning of the word, according to Milne.[46]
5. Indian philosophy emphasises that "every acceptable philosophy should aid man in realising
the Purusarthas, the chief aims of human life:[66]
Dharma: the right way to life, the "duties and obligations of the individual toward himself
and the society as well as those of the society toward the individual";[67]
Artha: the means to support and sustain one's life;
Kāma: pleasure and enjoyment;
Mokṣa: liberation, release.
6. The true Self is itself just that pure consciousness, without which nothing can be known in any
way.(...) And that same true Self, pure consciousness, is not different from the ultimate world
Principle, Brahman  (...) Brahman (=the true Self, pure consciousness) is the only Reality (sat),
since It is untinged by difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not
sublimatable.[71]
7. "Consciousness",[94][web 1] "intelligence",[95][96] "wisdom"
8. "the Absolute",[94][web 1] "infinite",[web 1] "the Highest truth"[web 1]
9. Puligandla: "Any philosophy worthy of its title should not be a mere intellectual exercise but
should have practical application in enabling man to live an enlightened life. A philosophy
which makes no difference to the quality and style of our life is no philosophy, but an empty
intellectual construction."[97]
10. These characteristics and steps are described in various Advaita texts, such as by Shankara in
Chapter 1.1 of Brahmasutrabhasya,[104] and in the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10
11. Example self-restraints mentioned in Hindu texts: one must refrain from any violence that
causes injury to others, refrain from starting or propagating deceit and falsehood, refrain from
theft of other's property, refrain from sexually cheating on one's partner, and refrain from
avarice.[106][107][108]
12. Bill Clinton: "The buck stops here."
13. Brahman is also defined as:
The unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is all matter, energy,
time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe; that is the one supreme,
universal spirit without a second.[148][149]
The one supreme, all pervading Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal
universe.[150]
The supreme self. Puligandla states it as "the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the
world",[151]
The Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable. Brahman is indescribable.[152]
The "principle of the world",[153] the "absolute",[154] the "general, universal",[155] the "cosmic
principle",[156] the "ultimate that is the cause of everything including all gods",[157] the
"knowledge",[158] the "soul, sense of self of each human being that is fearless, luminuous,
exalted and blissful",[159] the "essence of liberation, of spiritual freedom",[160] the "universe
within each living being and the universe outside",[159] the "essence and everything innate
in all that exists inside, outside and everywhere".[161]
14. It provides the "stuff" from which everything is made
15. It sets everything into working, into existence
16. Svarupalakshana, qualities, definition based on essence
17. According to Hugh Nicholson, "the definitive study on the development of the concept of vivarta
in Indian philosophy, and in Advaita Vedanta in particular, remains Hacker's Vivarta.[196] To
Shankara, the word maya has hardly any terminological weight.[197]
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18. and other sub-schools of Vedanta with the concept of Maya.[200]

19. Many in number, the Upanishads developed in different schools at various times and places,
some in the Vedic period and others in the medieval or modern era (the names of up to 112
Upanishads have been recorded).[251] All major commentators have considered the twelve to
thirteen oldest of these texts as the principal Upanishads and as the foundation of Vedanta.
20. The Śruti includes the four Vedas including its four layers of embedded texts – the Samhitas,
the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the early Upanishads.[252]
21. Nevertheless, Balasubramanian argues that since the basic ideas of the Vedanta systems are
derived from the Vedas, the Vedantic philosophy is as old as the Vedas.[281]
22. Deutsch and Dalvi point out that, in the Indian context, texts "are only part of a tradition which
is preserved in its purest form in the oral transmission as it has been going on".[283]
23. Bhartŗhari (c.450–500), Upavarsa (c.450–500), Bodhāyana (c.500), Tanka (Brahmānandin)
(c.500–550), Dravida (c.550), Bhartŗprapañca (c.550), Śabarasvāmin (c.550), Bhartŗmitra
(c.550–600), Śrivatsānka (c.600), Sundarapāndya (c.600), Brahmadatta (c.600–700),
Gaudapada (c.640–690), Govinda (c.670–720), Mandanamiśra (c.670–750).[272]
24. Nakamura notes that there are contradictions in doctrine between the four chapters.[295]
According to Murti, the conclusion from Mandukya Karika is irresistible that Gaudapada is
attempting an advaitic interpretation of Vedanta school of Hinduism in the light of the
Madhyamika and Yogcara doctrines of Buddhism.[300] However, adds Murti, the doctrines are
unlike Buddhism. The first three chapters of the Karika are founded on the Upanishads, with
little Buddhist flavor.[300] Chapter Four is unlike the first three, and shows Buddhist terms and
influence.[301] Further, according to Murti, and Richard King, no Vedanta scholars who followed
Gaudapada ever quoted from Chapter Four of Karika, they only quote from the first
three.[300][301]
25. Sanskrit: ी सं ान गौडपदाचाय मठ, Śrī Sansthāna Gauḍapadācārya Maṭha
26. According to both Roodurum and Isaeva, Sureśvara stated that mere knowledge of the identity
of Jiva and Brahman is not enough for liberation, which requires prolonged meditation on this
identity.[342][352]
27. Neo-Vedanta seems to be closer to Bhedabheda-Vedanta than to Shankara's Advaita Vedanta,
with the acknowledgement of the reality of the world. Nicholas F. Gier: "Ramakrsna, Svami
Vivekananda, and Aurobindo (I also include M.K. Gandhi) have been labeled "neo-Vedantists,"
a philosophy that rejects the Advaitins' claim that the world is illusory. Aurobindo, in his The Life
Divine, declares that he has moved from Sankara's "universal illusionism" to his own "universal
realism" (2005: 432), defined as metaphysical realism in the European philosophical sense of
the term."[393]
28. Marek: "Wobei der Begriff Neo-Advaita darauf hinweist, dass sich die traditionelle Advaita von
dieser Strömung zunehmend distanziert, da sie die Bedeutung der übenden Vorbereitung nach
wie vor als unumgänglich ansieht. (The term Neo-Advaita indicating that the traditional Advaita
increasingly distances itself from this movement, as they regard preparational practicing still as
inevitable)[400]
29. Alan Jacobs: Many firm devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi now rightly term this western
phenomenon as 'Neo-Advaita'. The term is carefully selected because 'neo' means 'a new or
revived form'. And this new form is not the Classical Advaita which we understand to have
been taught by both of the Great Self Realised Sages, Adi Shankara and Ramana Maharshi. It
can even be termed 'pseudo' because, by presenting the teaching in a highly attenuated form,
it might be described as purporting to be Advaita, but not in effect actually being so, in the
fullest sense of the word. In this watering down of the essential truths in a palatable style made
acceptable and attractive to the contemporary western mind, their teaching is misleading.[401]
30. See for other examples Conway [web 15] and Swartz[402]
31. Presently Cohen has distanced himself from Poonja, and calls his teachings "Evolutionary
Enlightenment".[407] What Is Enlightenment, the magazine published by Choen's organisation,
has been critical of neo-Advaita several times, as early as 2001. See.[web 16][web 17][web 18]

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32. Sanskrit: ी सं ान गौडपदाचाय मठ, Śrī Sansthāna Gauḍapadācārya Maṭha

33. According to Pandey, these Mathas were not established by Shankara himself, but were
originally ashrams established by Vibhāņdaka and his son Ŗșyaśŗnga.[413] Shankara inherited
the ashrams at Dvārakā and Sringeri, and shifted the ashram at Śŗngaverapura to
Badarikāśrama, and the ashram at Angadeśa to Jagannātha Purī.[414]
34. Sanskrit.org: "Advaitins are non-sectarian, and they advocate worship of Siva and Visnu
equally with that of the other deities of Hinduism, like Sakti, Ganapati and others."[web 21]
35. Archeological evidence suggest that the Smarta tradition in India dates back to at least 3rd-
century CE.[433][434]
36. Practically, Shankara fostered a rapprochement between Advaita and smarta orthodoxy, which
by his time had not only continued to defend the varnasramadharma theory as defining the
path of karman, but had developed the practice of pancayatanapuja ("five-shrine worship") as a
solution to varied and conflicting devotional practices. Thus one could worship any one of five
deities (Vishnu, Siva, Durga, Surya, Ganesa) as one's istadevata ("deity of choice").[440]
37. Nicholson: "a Hīnayāna interlocutor accuses the Mahāyāna Buddhist of being a crypto-
Vedāntin, paralleling later Vedāntins who accuse the Advaita Vedānta of crypto-Buddhism."[471]
38. The Jonang school was influenced by Yogachara and taught Shentong Buddhism, which sees
the highest Truth as self-existent.[473][474]
39. Helmuth von Glasenapp writes: "The Buddhist Nirvana is, therefore, not the primordial ground,
the eternal essence, which is at the basis of everything and form which the whole world has
arisen (the Brahman of the Upanishads) but the reverse of all that we know, something
altogether different which must be characterized as a nothing in relation to the world, but which
is experienced as highest bliss by those who have attained to it (Anguttara Nikaya, Navaka-
nipata 34). Vedantists and Buddhists have been fully aware of the gulf between their doctrines,
a gulf that cannot be bridged over. According to Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 22, a doctrine that
proclaims "The same is the world and the self. This I shall be after death; imperishable,
permanent, eternal!" (see Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4, 4, 13), was styled by the Buddha a
perfectly foolish doctrine. On the other side, the Katha Upanishad (2, 1, 14) does not see a way
to deliverance in the Buddhist theory of dharmas (impersonal processes): He who supposes a
profusion of particulars gets lost like rain water on a mountain slope; the truly wise man,
however, must realize that his Atman is at one with the Universal Atman, and that the former, if
purified from dross, is being absorbed by the latter, "just as clear water poured into clear water
becomes one with it, indistinguishably."[483]
40. This development did not end with Advaita Vedanta, but continued in Tantrism and various
schools of Shaivism. Non-dual Kashmir Shaivism, for example, was influenced by, and took
over doctrines from, several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical
traditions.[486] These include Vedanta, Samkhya, Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas, and various
Buddhist schools, including Yogacara and Madhyamika,[486] but also Tantra and the Nath-
tradition.[487]
41. It is often used interchangeably with the term citta-mātra, but they have different meanings.
The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or "mind-only." Several modern
researchers object this translation, and the accompanying label of "absolute idealism" or
"idealistic monism".[493] A better translation for vijñapti-mātra is representation-only.[494]
42. Kalupahana describes how in Buddhism there is also a current which favours substance
ontology. Kalupahanan sees Madhyamaka and Yogacara as reactions against developments
toward substance ontology in Buddhism.[516]

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52. [a] Anatta (http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta), Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote:

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[b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David
Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-2217-5, page 64; Quote: "Central to
Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed
doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist]
doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";
[c] Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=3u
wDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2), p. 2, at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, pages 2–4;
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_With_Pursuing_Nirvana), Philosophy Now;
[e] David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and
Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65–74;
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[g] Bruno Nagel (2000), Roy Perrett (editor), Philosophy of Religion: Indian Philosophy,
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accept an imperishable Self, gives the Atman schools [Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism] a chance
to articulate the intellectual aspects of their way to meditative liberation".
53. Koller 2006.
54. Arvind Sharma (1993). The Experiential Dimension of Advaita Vedanta (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=oV6GVSQF3SwC). Motilal Banarsidass. p. 27. ISBN 978-81-208-1058-7., quote:
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55. Arvind Sharma (1993). The Experiential Dimension of Advaita Vedanta (https://books.google.co
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208-1058-7.
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105. George Thibaut, The Sacred Books of the East: The Vedanta-Sutras, Part 1 (https://books.goo
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125. John Grimes (2004). The Vivekacūḍāmaṇi of Śaṅkarācārya Bhagavatpāda: An Introduction
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127. John Grimes (1994). Problems and Perspectives in Religious Discourse: Advaita Vedanta
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129. Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad (2013). Advaita Epistemology and Metaphysics: An Outline of Indian
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130. Sthaneshwar Timalsina (2008). Consciousness in Indian Philosophy: The Advaita Doctrine of
'Awareness Only' (https://books.google.com/books?id=wO2SAgAAQBAJ). Routledge. p. xvii.
ISBN 978-1-135-97092-5., Quote: "Advaita can be approached from various angles. Not only
are there multiple interpretations of Advaita, there are different starting points from which one
can arrive at the conclusion of non-duality".
131. Arvind Sharma (2004), Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedånta, State University
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8120812512, pages 57–60
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134. Arvind Sharma (2004), Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedånta, State University
of New York Press, pages 15–40, 49–72
135. King 1995, p. 300 note 140.
136. Sarma 1996, pp. 122, 137.
137. Sarma 1996, pp. 126, 146.
138. Comans 2000, pp. 128–131, 5–8, 30–37.
139. Indich 2000, pp. 106–108;
Bruce M. Sullivan (1997). Historical Dictionary of Hinduism (https://books.google.com/books?id
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Bina Gupta (1998). The Disinterested Witness: A Fragment of Advaita Vedānta
Phenomenology (https://books.google.com/books?id=htyDEphsTjwC&pg=PA26). Northwestern
University Press. pp. 26–30. ISBN 978-0-8101-1565-1.
140. PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University New York Press,
ISBN 978-0887061394, pages 32–33
141. Robert Hume, Chandogya Upanishad – Eighth Prathapaka, Seventh through Twelfth Khanda
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142. Patrick Olivelle (1998). Upaniṣads (https://books.google.com/books?id=f9-2jV7sRuEC&pg=PA
77). Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-19-283576-5.;
Sanskrit (Wikisource (https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/बृहदार कोप नषद्)): ाणोऽपानो ान
इ ाव रा ण अ ा र ह वा एकं गाय ै पदम् एत ु हवा ा एतत् स याव ददं ा ण ताव जय त योऽ ा एतदवं पदं
वेद अथा ा एतदव तुरीयं दशतं पदं परोरजा य एष तप त य चतुथ त ुरीयम् दशतं पद म त द श इव षे परोरजा इ त
सवमु वे ैष रज उपयुप र तप ् एव हव या यशसा तप त योऽ ा एतदवं पदं वेद ॥ ३ ॥
143. Indich 2000, pp. 58–67, 106–108.
144. James Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen
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145. PT Raju (2006), Idealistic Thought of India, Routledge, ISBN 978-1406732627, page 426 and
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146. Jeffrey Brodd (2009), World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery, Saint Mary's Press, ISBN 978-
0884899976, pages 43–47
147. Puligandla 1997, p. 231.
148. Brodd, Jeffrey (2003). World Religions. Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-
725-5.
149. Sakkapohl Vachatimanont (2005), On why the traditional Advaic resolution of jivanmukti is
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151. Puligandla 1997, p. 222.
152. Merv Fowler (2005), Zen Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, p. 30:
"Upanisadic thought is anything but consistent; nevertheless, there is a common focus on the
acceptance of a totally transcendent Absolute, a trend which arose in the Vedic period. This
indescribable Absolute is called Brahman [...]
153. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
page 243, 325–344, 363, 581
154. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
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155. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
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156. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
pages 110, 315–316, 495, 838–851
157. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
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158. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
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159. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
pages 52, 110, 425, 454, 585–586, 838–851
160. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
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161. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814677,
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162. Venkatramaiah 2000, p. xxxii.
163. Lochtefeld 2002a, p. 122.
164. Mariasusai Dhavamony (2002), Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Theological Soundings and
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165. B Martinez-Bedard (2006), Types of Causes in Aristotle and Sankara, Thesis – Department of
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8120814684, page 91
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168. Eliot Deutsch (1980), Advaita Vedanta : A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii
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[b] John Bowker (2000), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford University
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[c] WJ Johnson (2009), A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-
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the other hand, stress an interior mysticism in which the devotee seeks to discover the identity
of individual soul (atman) with the universal ground of being (brahman) or to find god within
himself".;
[b] Richard King (1995), Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism, State University of New York
Press, ISBN 978-0791425138, page 64, Quote: "Atman as the innermost essence or soul of
man, and Brahman as the innermost essence and support of the universe. (...) Thus we can
see in the Upanishads, a tendency towards a convergence of microcosm and macrocosm,
culminating in the equating of atman with Brahman".
[c] Chad Meister (2010), The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity, Oxford University Press,
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191. Deutsch 1973, p. 49.
192. Potter 2008a, p. 510-512.
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204. Frederic F. Fost (1998), Playful Illusion: The Making of Worlds in Advaita Vedānta (https://www.
jstor.org/stable/1400333), Philosophy East and West, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Jul. 1998), pages 387–
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205. Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy. Cambridge University Press Archive,
1955, page 1-2
206. Pratima Bowes, "Mysticism in the Upanishads and Shankara's Vedanta" in Karel Werner, ed.,
The Yogi and the Mystic." Routledge, 1995, page 67.
207. Esther Abraham Solomon (1969), Avidyā: A Problem of Truth and Reality, OCLC 658823 (http
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208. Sharma 2007, pp. 19–40, 53–58, 79–86.
209. Kaplan, Stephen (April 2007). "Vidyā and Avidyā: Simultaneous and Coterminous?: A
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210. Mayeda, Sengaku (1992). A Thousand Teachings: The Upadesasahasri of Sankara. Albany:
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211. A. Rambachan (2006), The Advaita Worldview: God, World, and Humanity, State University of
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212. Karl Potter (2002), Presuppositions of India's Philosophies, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-
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213. DPS Bhawuk (2011), Spirituality and Indian Psychology (Editor: Anthony Marsella), Springer,
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215. Grimes 1996, p. 238.
216. Datta 1932, pp. 221–253.
217. Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-
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218. Eliott Deutsche (2000), in Philosophy of Religion : Indian Philosophy Vol 4 (Editor: Roy
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245. Sanskrit:Upadesha sahasri (http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_z_misc_shankara/upadeshasaa
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ISBN 978-8171200597, page 16-17; OCLC 218363449 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2183634
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246. Sanskrit:Upadesha sahasri (http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_z_misc_shankara/upadeshasaa

hasrii1.pdf)
English Translation: S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), Upadeshasahasri, Vedanta Press,
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1. Jiddu Krishnamurti, Saanen 2nd Conversation with Swami Venkatesananda 26 July 1969 (htt
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Further reading
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Primary texts

Robert Hume, Thirteen Principal Upanishads (https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa02844

2mbp#page/n7/mode/2up), Oxford University Press
Shankara, "A thousand teachings: the Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara", Translator Sengaku
Mayeda
Shankara, Brahma Sutras with Shankara's commentary (http://www.holybooks.com/wp-conten
t/uploads/Vedanta-Sutras-With-the-Commentary-by-Sankaracharya.pdf), translator George
Thibaut
Maṇḍana Miśra, translated by Allen W. Thrasher (1993), The Advaita Vedanta of Brahmasiddhi
(https://archive.org/details/TheAdvaitaVedantaOfBrahmaSiddhiAllenWrightThrasher), Delhi:
Motilal Barnasidass
Eliot Deutsch and J. A. B. van Buitenen (1971), A Source Book of Advaita Vedanta, Honolulu:
University Press of Hawaii, ISBN 978-0870221897

Introductions

Deutsch, Eliot (1969). Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction. Honolulu: East-West

Center Press.
Mayeda, Sengaku (1992), "An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Sankara" (https://archive.
org/details/thousandteaching00sank), in Mayeda, Sengaku (ed.), A Thousand Teachings: The
Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara (https://archive.org/details/thousandteaching00sank), State
University of New York City Press, ISBN 0-7914-0944-9
Comans, Michael (2000), The Method of Early Advaita Vedānta: A Study of Gauḍapāda,
Śaṅkara, Sureśvara, and Padmapāda, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Rambachan, A. (2006). The Advaita Worldview: God, World, and Humanity. State University of
New York Press. ISBN 978-0791468524.
Sarma, Chandradhar (2007), The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass,
ISBN 978-8120813120

History

T. M. P. Mahadevan, Preceptors of Advaita (https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/precepto

rs-of-advaita), 1968
Potter, Karl H. (1981), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3: Advaita Vedanta up to
Sankara and his Pupils, Princeton: Princeton University Press
Potter, Karl H. (2006), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies vol. 11: Advaita Vedānta from 800
to 1200, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
Isaeva, N.V. (1995), From Early Vedanta to Kashmir Shaivism: Gaudapada, Bhartrhari, and
Abhinavagupta, SUNY Press

Topical studies

Arvind Sharma (1995), The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta: A Comparative Study
in Religion and Reason, Pennsylvania State University Press
Satyapal Verma (1992), Role of Reason in Sankara Vedanta, Parimal Publication, Delhi
Sangam Lal Pandey (1989), The Advaita view of God, Darshana Peeth, Allahabad
Kapil N. Tiwari (1977), Dimensions of renunciation in Advaita Vedanta, Motilal Banarsidass,
Delhi
Jacqueline G Suthren Hirst (2005), Samkara's Advaita Vedanta: A Way of Teaching,
Routledge, ISBN 978-0415406017
Leesa Davis (2010), Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism: Deconstructive Modes of Spiritual
Inquiry, Bloomsbury Academic

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Gaudapada

King, Richard (1995), Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: the Mahāyāna context of the
Gauḍapādīya-kārikā, State University of New York Press, ISBN 9780791425138

Shankara

Natalia V. Isayeva (1993), Shankara and Indian philosophy, SUNY, New York
Elayath. K. N. Neelakantan (1990), The Ethics of Sankara, University of Calicut
Raghunath D. Karmarkar (1966), Sankara's Advaita, Karnatak University, Dharwar
Paul Deussen (Translated by Charles Johnston), The System of the Vedanta with Shankara
commentaries (https://books.google.com/books?id=DI7cCgAAQBAJ) at Google Books, Open
Court
Charles Johnston, The Vedanta Philosophy of Sankaracharya (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=sM2wBAAAQBAJ) at Google Books, Theosophical Society

Neo-Vedanta

King, Richard (2002), Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and "The Mystic
East", Routledge
Rambachan, Anantanand (1994). The limits of scripture: Vivekananda's reinterpretation of the
Vedas. [Honolulu]: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1542-4.

Neo-Advaita

Jacobs, Alan (2004), "Advaita and Western Neo-Advaita." (https://web.archive.org/web/201505

18100046/http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/mpath/2004/october/mp.swf), The Mountain Path
Journal, Ramanasramam: 81–88, archived from the original (http://www.sriramanamaharshi.or
g/mpath/2004/october/mp.swf) on 18 May 2015
Lucas, Phillip Charles (2011), "When a Movement Is Not a Movement. Ramana Maharshi and
Neo-Advaita in North America", Nova Religio, 15 (2): 93–114, doi:10.1525/nr.2011.15.2.93 (http
s://doi.org/10.1525%2Fnr.2011.15.2.93), JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2011.15.2.93 (https://www.jstor.or
g/stable/10.1525/nr.2011.15.2.93)
Sharf, Robert H. (2000), "The Rhetoric of Experience and the Study of Religion" (http://buddhist
studies.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/sharf/documents/Sharf1998,%20Religious%20Experience.
pdf) (PDF), Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7 (11–12): 267–87

Indian languages

Mishra, M., Bhāratīya Darshan (भारतीय दशन), Kalā Prakāshan.

Sinha, H. P., Bharatiya Darshan ki ruparekha (Features of Indian Philosophy), 1993, Motilal
Benarasidas, Delhi–Varanasi.
Swāmi Paramānanda Bhārati, Vedānta Prabodha (in Kannada), Jnānasamvardhini
Granthakusuma, 2004

External links
Bibliography of Advaita Vedanta (http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/biblio.html) Ancient to
9th-century literature
Bibliography of Advaita Vedanta (http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/biblio2.html) 9th-century
to 20th-century literature
Advaita Vedanta (https://curlie.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Advaita_Vedanta) at Curlie
Vedanta Hub (http://vedantahub.org) – Resources to help with the Study and Practice of
Advaita Vedanta
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