The Advaitist

In this post I will try to answer this often asked question: " Why do Hindus worship cows? " For 7000 years or more ( some say 11,000 years ), since the days of Rig Veda , Hindus have been respecting and protecting cows. Go-hatya or the killing of cows was and continues to be a great offense for Hindus, as we consider Cows our mother, and therefore killing a cow is like killing our mother. Mahatma Gandhi said, “ One can measure the greatness of a nation and its moral progress by the way it treats its animals. Cow protection to me is not mere protection of the cow. It means protection of all that lives and is helpless and weak in the world. The cow means the entire subhuman world. ” (1) In historical period, the wealth of a person was measured by how many cows he had. (2) Cows used to be considered as a gift appropriate to be given to Brahmins and it was said that killing a cow was the same as killing a Brahmin. (3) Today however Godless communists , Saudi ...

In this post I will talk on 7 amazing facts about Hindu Philosophy. Facts about Hindu Philosophy # 1 Hindu Philosophy is the oldest philosophical system in the world. While all almost all Hindu works are philosophical, the pure philosophy part or the Upanishads can be dated to as early as 1000 BC. When Europe and Arab lands were populated by barbaric hunter gatherers, Hindu philosophers were composing awesome hymns! Facts about Hindu Philosophy # 2 Hindu Philosophy is the world's oldest philosophical system in continuous existence! 3000+ years of unbroken tradition is something not heard of anywhere else in the world ! In the West, given their love for materialistic pleasures, even children don't take care of their families, so tradition is a foreign concept to them. Facts about Hindu Philosophy # 3 The oldest Hindu Philosophical musings date back to as early as 2000 BC. They can be found in the Rig Veda , the oldest existing text in any Indo-European lang...

In this post I will talk about the purpose of Hindu Philosophy . As a religion Hinduism is very tolerant and quite different from intolerant and closed religions like Islam and Christianity . They have one book and one prophet and almost no philosophy so to speak, except for pre-Christian Greeks . Hinduism is like an ocean with hundreds of prophets, thousands of books and philosophy. In all this vastness, people get confused as to the purpose of Hindu Philosophy . 1. The purpose of Hindu Philosophy is the removal of sorrow and sufferings. As per all schools of Hindu philosophy, the cause of sorrow and sufferings is ignorance. When one is ignorant of the true nature of things, he is strapped in an illusion, similar to a fly caught in a spider's web. Photo Courtesy: geograph In order to remove sorrow and suffering, one must acquire knowledge of the true nature of things. 2. The purpose of Hindu philosophy is to provide a scientific framework using which one can...

All around us we find Gross Objects. These objects are perceived through our five senses (smell, taste, vision, touch and hearing). Not all senses are used in the identification of each and every object; a sub-set of senses is sufficient. Based on empirical observations it has been observed that gross objects may be classified into 5 groups known as elements: a. kShiti b. ap c. tejas d. marut and e. vyoman kShiti - Objects which may be smelt, tasted, seen, felt and heard ex. earth ap - Objects which may be tasted, seen, felt and heard ex. water tejas - Objects which may be seen, felt and heard ex. fire marut - Objects which may be felt and heard ex. wind vyoman - Objects which may be heard Each type of object is more subtle than the previous one. Note: atom = tan-matra kShiti-element = ap-element + smell-atom ap-element = tejas-element + taste-atom tejas-element = marut-element + vision-atom marut-element = vyoman-element + texture-atom vyoman-element = audio-atom Atoms as a group can...

Madhva was the founder of the Dvaita Vedanta or Dualistic System and was a firm proponent of Unqualified Dualism. His contention was that soul is a separate principle independent from the Ultimate Principle. He founded a Krishna temple at Udipi. His works are: a. anuvyAkhyAna, the commentary on Vedantasutra b. mahAbhAratatAtparyanirNaya

rAmAnuja, a famed Vaishnava leader founded the Vishistadvaita or Qualified Dualism , where he contends that there is only one Ultimate Principle but that souls or Spiritual Principle are also real although their existence is tied to the Ultimate Principle. According to him, in the end there is only the Ultimate Principle, but during the period of manifestation, the world and souls are separate in order to serve the Ultimate Principle. His life was dedicated to the study and spread of the Vaishnava cause and during his lifetime he restore many temples and converted many to Vishnavism. His important texts were: a. shrIbhAshya - commentary on Vedantasutra b. vedAntasAra c. vedArthasaMgraha d. vedAntadIpa

shaMkara founded the Advaita Vedanta (monism) where he contends that there is only one Ultimate Principle and everything else is an illusion (mAyA). His thesis was based on firm logic and not any other means like intuition. He founded four mathas/ monasteries i. Sringeri in Mysore ii. Puri in Orissa iii. Dvarka in Gujarat iv. Badrinath in the Himalayas His important texts were: a. commenaries on the prasthAnatraya b. vivekachUdAmaNi c. upadeshasahasrI d. AptavajrasUchI e. Atmabodha f. mohamudgara g. dashashloki h. aparokShAnubhUti

vedAnta was founded by bAdarAyaNa. It is an inquiry into the nature of the Ultimate Principle (Brahman). Vedanta aims to show that there is only one Ultimate Reality which presents itself to the sense as an illusion (mAyA). It shows that the universe with its various forms is only an appearance and that all things are but different manifestations of one and the same. Three related schools of thought developed from the vedAntasUtra i. advaita or non-dualism founded by shaMkara (~8th century C.E) ii. vishiShTAdvaita or qualified non-dualism founded by rAmAnuja (~11th century C.E) iii. dvaita or dualism founded by madhva (~12th century C.E) Advaita contends that there is only one Ultimate Principle and phenomenal existence is an illusion or like a projection. Vishishtadvaita contends that there is only one Ultimate Principle but in the objective world it has a dual manifestation. Dvaita beliefs in a separation of Ultimate Principle and Spiritual Principle.

Introduction to Hinduism - 01.1.1.1.1 Premise Basic premise on which nyAya is developed ( reference: Hindu Philosophy by Theos Barnard ): a. The world consists of uninterrupted flows of misapprehension, faults, activity, birth and pain b. By the cessation of the flow of this chain of consequences one shall be freed c. The way to break this chain is to obtain a fuller understanding of the true nature of things d. Once this is accomplished, likes and dislikes will no longer exist e. Thus there shall be no desire, which is the stimulus of action f. This in turn will free us from rebirth In order to attain the Supreme Knowledge, the true nature of the following 16 items must be understood. A. Logic ---------- 1. pramAna - means of right knowledge 2. prameya - object of right knowledge 3. saMsaya - doubt 4. prayojana - purpose 5. drishtAnta - illustrative example 6. siddhAnta - tenet 7. avayava - members of a syllogism 8. tarka - refute 9. nirnaya - ascertainment B....

Introduction to Hinduism - 01.1.1.1.1 Definition nyAya is a philosophical system which examines the means and methods to explore the fundamental problem of reality. It's focus is on the means of knowledge and not on the nature of knowledge. nyAya provides an analytical investigative framework to explore the objects and subjects of human knowledge. It is also known as tarkavidyA (science of reasoning) and vAdavidyA (science of discussion). Founder The founder of nyAya is gautama, who was also known as aksapAda (one whose eyes are directed towards the feet) and dIrghatapas (one who undertakes long penances) given his physical mannerisms especially during contemplations. His date of birth or when he lived is uncertain - he has been dated as early as 550 BC (by Hindu scholars) to as late as 200 AD (by Western Christian scholars). Texts 1. nyAya sUtra by gautama 1. The earliest commentary on the nyAya sUtra called vAtsyAyana bhAshya was written by vAtsyAyana. 2. udyotakara wr...

Astika (आस्तिक) and nAstika (नास्तिक) are technical terms in relation to Hindu philosophy indicating whether the philosophical schools accept the Vedas as the supreme authority or not, respectively. The six Astika schools (also known as sad darshana) are: nyAya Vaisheshika Samkhya Yoga Mimamsa Vedanta The common theme of all the schools of Hindu Philosophy is the same - to understand the Ultimate Reality - the difference lies in the depth and level of interpretation of the Ultimate Reality. Each of these schools focus on a particular aspect of the whole and answers specific questions. nyAya answers the question "What are the means by which I may gain knowledge about the Ultimate Reality?" vaisheShika (वैशॆषिक) answers the question "What are the various things to be known about the Ultimate Reality?" sAMkhya (सांख्य) is a metaphysical doctrine and tries to answer about the fundamental nature of Existence yoga (योग) links this metaphysical doctrine to t...

Introduction Hindu Philosophical thoughts have their origin in antiquity - for example, as early as the 10th book of Rk Veda,  in the Nasadiya Sukta (RV 10.129), we find the Seer contemplating on the Origin of Universe. However, by the Upanishadic age, dvelopment of various philosophical schools were in full swing. Differences in Philosophy Development Style in East and West Development of philosophical ideas in India, were quite distinct from the way it happened in the Western World. In Greece for example, a philosopher propounded his views. He himself or someone else, documented the ideas and others debated on it. The next philosopher entered the scene and did the same thing and so on. Thus a clear chronology of philosophical ideas is available to the student of history and philosophy. In India, things were different. First of all, there were different schools of philosophy as opposed to a single person, and the inter-school rivalry was intense. Secondly, the entire phil...

The Hindu World View, hereafter referred to as Hinduism for the sake of simplicity, is vast, Most Ancient and encompasses a lot of different practices and sects. How old is Hinduism? Hinduism is very ancient ancient - ask any average Hindu and he will say the same. Great men like Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Dr B R Ambedkar have also said the same. But during the period 1800 to 1900, Indologists like Max Muller, who were primarily driven by Christian missionary zeal, arbitrarily insisted that Hinduism started in 1200 BC - approximately 300 years after the Central Asian/ European barbarian tribesmen whom they dubbed as "Aryans" conquered the Indian sub-continent on horses and destroyed the "Indus Valley Civilization". This so called "Aryan Invasion Theory" has since been disproved although "Aryan Migration Theory", a linguistic hypothesis has found acceptance (and also non-acceptance). Modern Hinduism had its root in the...

Any Religion or World View has 3 levels: 1. The Core Philosophy 2. Ceremonies/ Rituals/ Practices 3. Myths --- Philosophy is the base of this 3-tiered classification. --- Different interpretations of the philosophy gives rise to different set of practices/ rituals which forms the middle-tier. --- Mythological stories make up the top-tier - myths are woven around the philosophy, the rituals ,  the ceremonies and the prevalent way of life at that point of time. Cutting across all these 3 tiers are the Religious Scriptures - which contain prayers, hymns and invocations. Using the above framework, the Hindu World View can be analyzed as under: Hindu World View 1. Hindu Philosophy -------- 1.1 Astika Schools ---------------- 1.1.1 Sad-darsana (Six Systems of Philosophy) ------------------------ 1.1.1.1 Nyaya ------------------------ 1.1.1.2 Vaisheshika ------------------------ 1.1.1.3 Samkhya ------------------------ 1.1.1.4 Yoga ------------------------ 1.1.1.5 Mimamsa -----------...