School of thought

Vedanta

Tradition

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Classification

Period
c. 200 CE onward
Regions
south asia
Domains
Metaphysics , Philosophy of Religion

Overview

Vedanta ('end of the Vedas') is the most influential school of Indian philosophy, interpreting the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita. Shankara's Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta teaches that Brahman alone is real, the world is maya (illusion), and the individual self (Atman) is identical with Brahman. Ramanuja and Madhva offered theistic alternatives. As a distinct darśana Vedānta is usually dated from the Brahma Sūtras, whose composition is placed anywhere between roughly 200 BCE and 400 CE; this entry takes 200 CE as a midpoint rather than a settled date.

Key ideas

  • Advaita (Non-Dualism): Shankara's radical teaching: the distinction between self and Brahman is caused by ignorance (avidya). In truth, there is only one reality — Brahman — and 'you are that.'
  • Maya: The world of multiplicity is not ultimately real but a superimposition (adhyasa) of ignorance upon Brahman — like mistaking a rope for a snake.
  • Three Levels of Reality: Shankara distinguishes paramarthika (absolute reality — Brahman), vyavaharika (empirical reality — the everyday world), and pratibhasika (illusory — dreams, mirages).

Key figures

Shankara (Adi Shankaracharya) · Ramanuja · Madhva · Badarayana

Methods used

Questions engaged

  • Existence of the Self

    Against no-self views, Vedānta affirms a real, enduring self (ātman) established by the Upaniṣads; its schools then differ on the self's relation to brahman — strict identity in Advaita, distinct-yet-dependent in Viśiṣṭādvaita and Dvaita.

Influenced by

Reacts to

  • Buddhism
  • Classical Samkhya

    Śaṅkara's Brahma-Sūtra commentary rejects Sāṃkhya's claim that unconscious prakṛti could produce an ordered cosmos, arguing that only conscious Brahman can be its source.

References

  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Śaṅkara
  • Karl H. Potter (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3: Advaita Vedānta up to Śaṃkara and His Pupils (Princeton University Press, 1981), introduction (dating of the Brahma Sūtras)
  • Śaṅkara, Brahma-Sūtra-Bhāṣya II.2.1–10 (refutation of Sāṃkhya)
  • Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3–4 (the ātman as the enduring witnessing self)
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Śaṅkara (Advaita reading of ātman and brahman)
  • Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5 (śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana — hearing, reflection, meditative contemplation)
  • Brahma Sutra Bhashya — Shankara
  • The Vedanta Sutras — Badarayana (trans. George Thibaut)
  • A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy — S. Radhakrishnan & Charles A. Moore