Vedanta (Devanagari: वेदान्त, Vedānta) is a spiritual tradition explained in the Upanishads that is concerned with the self-realisation by which one understands the ultimate nature of reality (Brahman) and teaches the believer's goal is to transcend the limitations of self-identity and realize one's unity with Brahman. Vedanta is not restricted or confined to one book and there is no sole source for Vedantic philosophy. Vedanta is based on two simple propositions:
1. Human nature is divine.
2. The aim of human life is to realize that human nature is divine.
The goal of Vedanta is a state of self-realisation or cosmic consciousness. Historically and currently, it is assumed that this state can be experienced by anyone, but it cannot be adequately conveyed in language.
The word Vedanta is a Sanskrit compound word which can be treated as:
veda = "knowledge" + anta = "end, conclusion": "the culmination of knowledge" or "appendix to the Veda"
veda = "knowledge" + anta = "essence", "core", or "inside": "the essence of the Vedas". [2]
Vedānta is also called Uttara Mimamsa, or the 'latter' or 'higher enquiry', and is often paired with Purva Mimamsa, the 'former enquiry'. Pūrva Mimamsa, usually simply called Mimamsa, deals with explanations of the fire-sacrifices of the Vedic mantras (in the Samhita portion of the Vedas) and Brahmanas, while Vedanta explicates the esoteric teachings of the Āraṇyakas (the "forest scriptures"), and the Upanishads, composed from ca. the 9th century BC until modern times.
Hindu philosophy is divided into six Sanskrit āstika ("orthodox") schools of thought, or darshanas (literally, "views"), which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures, and three nāstika ("heterodox") schools, which do not accept the Vedas as supreme. The āstika schools are:
Sankhya, a strongly dualist theoretical exposition of mind and matter.
Yoga, a school emphasizing meditation closely based on Sankhya
Nyaya or logics
Vaisheshika, an empiricist school of atomism
Mimamsa, an anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy
Vedanta, opposing Vedic ritualism in favour of mysticism. Vedanta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period.
The nāstika schools are:
Buddhism
Jainism
Cārvāka, a skeptical materialist school, which died out in the 15th century and whose primary texts have been lost.
These nine philosophies form the nine gems of the Sanātana Dharma.
In Hindu history, the distinction of these six schools was current in the Gupta period "golden age" of Hinduism. With the disappearance of Vaishshika and Mimamsa, it was obsolete by the later Middle Ages, when the various sub-schools of Vedanta (Dvaita "dualism", Advaita "non-dualism" and others) began to rise to prominence as the main divisions of religious philosophy. Nyaya survived into the 17th century as Navya Nyaya "Neo-Nyaya", while Sankhya gradually lost its status as an independent school, its tenets absorbed into Yoga and Vedanta.
1. Human nature is divine.
2. The aim of human life is to realize that human nature is divine.
The goal of Vedanta is a state of self-realisation or cosmic consciousness. Historically and currently, it is assumed that this state can be experienced by anyone, but it cannot be adequately conveyed in language.
The word Vedanta is a Sanskrit compound word which can be treated as:
veda = "knowledge" + anta = "end, conclusion": "the culmination of knowledge" or "appendix to the Veda"
veda = "knowledge" + anta = "essence", "core", or "inside": "the essence of the Vedas". [2]
Vedānta is also called Uttara Mimamsa, or the 'latter' or 'higher enquiry', and is often paired with Purva Mimamsa, the 'former enquiry'. Pūrva Mimamsa, usually simply called Mimamsa, deals with explanations of the fire-sacrifices of the Vedic mantras (in the Samhita portion of the Vedas) and Brahmanas, while Vedanta explicates the esoteric teachings of the Āraṇyakas (the "forest scriptures"), and the Upanishads, composed from ca. the 9th century BC until modern times.
Hindu philosophy is divided into six Sanskrit āstika ("orthodox") schools of thought, or darshanas (literally, "views"), which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures, and three nāstika ("heterodox") schools, which do not accept the Vedas as supreme. The āstika schools are:
Sankhya, a strongly dualist theoretical exposition of mind and matter.
Yoga, a school emphasizing meditation closely based on Sankhya
Nyaya or logics
Vaisheshika, an empiricist school of atomism
Mimamsa, an anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy
Vedanta, opposing Vedic ritualism in favour of mysticism. Vedanta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period.
The nāstika schools are:
Buddhism
Jainism
Cārvāka, a skeptical materialist school, which died out in the 15th century and whose primary texts have been lost.
These nine philosophies form the nine gems of the Sanātana Dharma.
In Hindu history, the distinction of these six schools was current in the Gupta period "golden age" of Hinduism. With the disappearance of Vaishshika and Mimamsa, it was obsolete by the later Middle Ages, when the various sub-schools of Vedanta (Dvaita "dualism", Advaita "non-dualism" and others) began to rise to prominence as the main divisions of religious philosophy. Nyaya survived into the 17th century as Navya Nyaya "Neo-Nyaya", while Sankhya gradually lost its status as an independent school, its tenets absorbed into Yoga and Vedanta.
Courtesy : http://wikipedia.org/wiki/vedanta
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